ASHTAR

I wake up the next morning in a good mood and touch my neck. No slave collar rests there. I send out a bolt of mental speech, and though it is not received, it does not blind me with pain to do so. No one is blocking me anymore. Maybe I am as free as they have said. In my arms, the small, brown-haired human female burrows against my warmth, pressing cold, small fingers against my skin and sleeping soundly. Her friend snores against my back. I do not care about the friend, though.

I care about Veronica.

I stroke the waves of brown hair back from her face. Her scent touches my nostrils, heady and sweet. There is no arousal there—not yet—but there is no fear either. I asked her to battle me, but she seemed embarrassed. A drakoni woman would send me away or receive my attentions. I think. It has been so long since I have been around other drakoni I don't recall all of our customs. But I do remember how very fierce my mother was when she wanted my father, and that they would take to the air in a furious battle and then disappear, only to return a short while later, limbs twined around each other in the aftermath of pleasure.

But Veronica won't be flying in battle with me. I do not know a lot about humans, but I have seen enough alien species to know that there are many that cannot shift forms as I do. If they could, surely they would have flown out of this ship instead of letting the mesakkah—sa-khui—drive it along the ground.

So. My human will not be able to battle me. I will need to learn the human mating customs, then. I stroke her hair back from her face and wonder what it takes to entice a female human into mating. Perhaps I can ask one of the other male aliens who has a human mate. I glance over at the fire, and one of the blue sa-khui is glaring at me from afar, as if he doesn't approve of my touching the human.

Foolish one. As if I would harm her. Out of all the females here, Veronica's scent calls to me like nothing ever has before. She could be my mate, this one. I've never been so fascinated with a scent. I don't plan on letting her go. A drakoni with his mate is the most protective of beings.

I'll shift forms and snap the head off of anyone that so much as tries to touch her.

The protectiveness surges inside me, and I bare my fangs at the male near the fire, letting him know my displeasure, even as I tighten my arms around Veronica.

She lifts her head suddenly, banging the top of her skull into my chin. I groan, falling backward even as she howls in pain and rolls away. "My head!"

"Are you all right?" I reach for her, only to be pushed aside by the blue warrior who helps Veronica to her feet.

Veronica moans and holds onto him, rubbing her head, and it takes everything I have not to snatch her from his arms. I bare my teeth, scowling as he leads her toward the fire and makes her sit down. "Here. Eat," he says in the human tongue, and pushes food into her hand. "It will be a long day today." He straightens and looks over at me for a long moment, warning in his eyes, before he moves to the other female who slept next to me. I forget her name. Breedit or some such. She lets the blue alien help her to her feet and he moves her next to the fire as well. "Sit. Eat."

I get to my feet, adjusting the annoying loincloth that feels tight in all the wrong places. I take a step forward, only to have the blue alien shake his head at me. "Go and find the other males," he tells me.

"I want to sit with my female—"

The alien stands in front of her and crosses his arms. Another comes to his side and does the same, and then I am staring down two of them.

Rage blisters through me and I can feel my eyes going black with anger. They think they will keep my female from me? My mate? I can feel the fire forming in my chest, like a hot coal, and I curl my claws. They do not know what they are doing, these fools. I can tear them limb from limb and char the ashes before they will have a chance to draw their puny spears. They—

Veronica is watching me from beside the fire. Her eyes go wide and she stares at me. I can smell her fear-scent touch the air. She looks uncertainly at the blue aliens, then at me, and hunches her shoulders ever so slightly, as if trying to make herself smaller.

And that makes the anger fade out of me. My eyes bleed back to a calmer shade and I straighten. I want Veronica at my side…but not if I am scaring her. She does not have my fires yet. I send a mental surge to her, but there is no response.

Patience, I tell myself. I must be patient until I can give her my fires. Unfortunately, patience is not a thing drakoni are good at. We are excellent at fighting and raging…not with patience. But Veronica is important, so I clench my jaw and stalk away to find the other gladiator males.

Maybe one of them will feel like sparring.