The Next Night

Val cringed at the loudness of the music in the saloon. Last night she was mingling with dragon-shifter aliens, kings, and generals. She danced with both Markus and Sonar, though she had to practically drag Sonar out on the dance floor.

Tonight, she was working her evening shift at the saloon with her fellow humans. None of them knew the truth about their neighbors on King R Ranch. They probably wouldn’t be able to handle that, either.

Markus didn’t want her to come back to work but she insisted. To compromise, he sent Sonar to watch over her while he and General Ranier discussed travel plans for the Zyon with the kings.

She had expected the Drakonians to look down on her, but they didn’t. They were all curious about her and why she was able to bond when other humans couldn’t. That was just as much a mystery to her as it was to them.

Her thoughts were pulled back to the bar when JJ yelled out for another round of beer for his table. The bar owner and the sheriff had agreed that JJ was not to receive any more hard liquor, and he had a cut off of four bottles of beer.

Val walked over to his table and placed the bottles of beer on the table in front of JJ and his friends. She turned to walk away but JJ caught her wrist. Not this again. She glared at him and he let her go immediately.

“I just wanted to make sure we’re okay. You know I didn’t mean to act that way. It’s just that…you know…my mom’s death…”

“It’s fine, we’re good.” Turning to walk away, she knew she had cut him off but she didn’t want to talk to him about his problems. She wasn’t dating him anymore and now that she was in a serious relationship with Markus, she didn’t have time for anyone else.

Sonar had watched the exchange the entire time and if looks could kill, JJ would be dead. “It’s okay, Sonar. JJ’s not trying anything. He just wanted to apologize for his previous behavior.”

“He touched you.”

“He didn’t hurt me, he just apologized. I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Markus is like a brother to me, which makes you my new sister. I won’t let anyone hurt my family.”

That was actually really sweet of him. She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “You are the best, Sonar.”

His face turned red. To take his mind off what was obviously a shy moment for him, she went around the bar and grabbed a bottle of beer to hand it to him. “Here, on the house. I’ve got to take this trash bag to the back—it’s getting overfilled.”

“I should go with you.”

“No no, I won’t be but a moment.” She motioned for him to stay where he was. This whole having a bodyguard thing was ridiculous. Other than a few boneheads who might start a fight, she was relatively safe. The sheriff station wasn’t that far away and most of the customers were local and knew her. She was safe.

She was about to leave the bag of trash by the back door but felt ridiculous. The dumpster wasn’t but a few feet outside the door. Opening the door, she dragged the bag behind her.

“What the hell is in here? It’s heavy as shit,” she mumbled to herself.

“I hear that you mated with a Drakonian,” a male voice said from behind her.

She jumped in surprise as she turned and bumped into the side of the dumpster. It took a moment for her to recognize the man because she had only seem him once, briefly, but it was definitely that Drakonian king who had tried to stab Markus but got her instead.

“Dyson, what do you want?”

“It’s King Dyson, and I simply want answers. Is it true that you bonded with Warrior Markus?”

“Yes, we are fully bonded.”

“Were you able to accept his dragon fire?”

“I would be dead now if I hadn’t been able to, thanks to you. You clawed me deeply and I was dying. His dragon fire healed me.” She started to move past him but he blocked. “Look, I answered your questions. Get out of my way.”

“I’m not done with you yet. I want to study you, find out why you were able to accept the dragon fire when other humans couldn’t.”

That seemed to be the million-dollar question, but she didn’t have to answer to this guy. “I’m not interested in helping you.”

“I’m not asking you.” Dyson motioned for his men to move forward to grab her. Val wasn’t going to be able to fight them, they were huge. She screamed as she dropped down and dodged their hands. She made it three feet before one of the men grabbed her by her hair and yanked her backward.

The back door to the saloon burst open and Sonar came rushing out. He yelled out a really ear-bursting noise, then he fought with Dyson and the other warrior. Two against one wasn’t exactly a fair fight. Sonar was holding his own though, but unfortunately Dyson didn’t play fair. Another male came out of nowhere and attacked Sonar from behind.

“Watch out!” Val yelled out a warning, too late. The man holding her slapped her hard. She felt pain throughout her entire head. Her eyes were blurry and she tasted blood from having bit her inner cheek. Another roar from the men fighting had her turning and looking in horror as two men held Sonar immobile as Dyson shifted to dragon form and used his claws to cut off Sonar’s head. She screamed and her air supply was cut off. She lost consciousness, but as her vision faded to black, the last image she saw was Sonar’s limp and dead body lying on the ground.