The Witch and the Dragon

Zak knew they were no longer in his quarters. One moment he'd been listening, mesmerized, to Alluna's beautiful voice singing to him, the next a curtain of red rage had fallen over his eyes when the weretigre had dared touch his female.

The thirst to kill was overwhelming. His skin felt unbearably tight. He needed to be free—burst free from the human form that bound him. Pain slashed his back, enraging him even more. Another female gripped him, her scent familiar. He didn't want to hurt her.

Anniel.

He was suffocating—couldn't breathe. Body feeling crushed. He roared in pain, even as his vision blurred, glowing blue eyes staring into his.

Zak. Remember who you are—

Devon's voice in his mind.

Devon.

The feel of the metallic floor of the transport hangar under his palms, a heavy weight on his back, his body afire.

"Do it, Zak," Remi's voice shouted, the echo of the demand reverberating around him. "Shift."

Shift.

Again, the beast stirred beneath his skin. Zak snarled, his eyes focusing on his hands...only they were no longer human hands. They were scaly claws with sharp, gleaming talons that looked as if made of pure gold.

"No," he screamed, terror and revulsion filling him. "No."

His face hit the floor, his body shaking in a fit of convulsions.

"Easy, Zak. I'm here."

Devon was in his arms, Zak almost crushing him, his fingers burying into the mane of black gloss that was his commander's hair—his beloved

brother.

"Please don't let it happen, Dev," Zak panted. "I can't stand it."

"I've got you," Dev replied smoothing his hands over Zak's back.

His voice sounded strained and Zak eased his hold reluctantly.

Terror was replaced by anger—anger at being so damned weak, pathetic, and undisciplined.

"What the

fuck

just happened?" he snarled disentangling himself from Devon.

As he stood, he looked around. The sight of their gleaming black Vipers lined about one hundred paces away, as well as Angel, Remi, Anniel, and Seth made him blink in confusion.

He'd been in his quarters before—hadn't he?

Zak rubbed his burning eyes, his mind fuzzy.

"I had to teleport you here," Devon said.

Zak lowered his hands and fixed him with a cold stare.

"You were going to push me to shift?"

Devon crossed his arms over his chest, his look just as stern, but there was more in his commanders glowing blue stare. Love. Devon loved him. The heat of that love sizzled over and through Zak's very core making his eyes grow moist for a second. "No one was pushing you, Zachariel. You lost control of yourself when Seth kept Alluna from entrancing you."

In two blinks, the tears that had welled in his eyes were gone as he scowled at Devon. "She wasn't entrancing me."

Devon's eyes narrowed. His Alpha Angel brothers and sisters now appeared surrounding them. "What were you feeling when she began to sing," Devon asked.

Zak looked around at the faces surrounding them. Seth, as usual, was frowning, Anniel's brows were drawn together, her hand curled against her chest as if trying to keep herself from reaching out to him. Angel clutched Devon's meaty bicep, her bottom lip tucked between her teeth, and Remi...

Zak scowled. Remi had a smug smirk on his face. Zak's hand itched to slap it away, but it would be a useless gesture since the annoying weredragon loved being slapped.

And spanked and whipped and paddled—

Remi directed into his mind with a snicker.

"You're sick," Seth said curling his lip in disgust at Remi.

"Don't knock it till you've tried it, boy-o," Remi answered, his grin broadening.

"Enough," Devon snapped when Seth growled. His glowing eyes regarded Zak again. "You haven't answered me yet. What were you feeling as she sang to you?"

Zak's skin prickled with goose bumps and his chest tightened as he remembered that beautiful angelic voice singing to him.

His eyes closed, his entire body flushed hot. "God help me. I'm in love," he rasped trembling.

He heard Devon curse under his breath as Seth spat "I told you so."

***

Alluna's head throbbed. Her eyes watched the glowing fire flickering in the fire pit before her. She was on Alpha 7. It had once been the farther most defensive space station the Edenian government had circling their solar system. Their first line of defense. For millennia, Master Guardians inhabited the space station, different species of beings at first since the few powerful Earth dwellers they'd recruited to guard the planet had abused their powers once they were aware of them.

The last alien race to Guard the Edenian solar system were the Seraphs, the white-winged humanoids from Seraphia. Most humans regarded them as divine angles. Although they weren't, legend had it that they were a race descended from a real divine angel that had been cast from Heaven by Lucifer. She'd crashed upon Seraphia, her newly acquired humanoid body mortally damaged. A male from the planet had tended her injuries and she'd fallen in love with him. Together they had spawned the Seraphian race, a race of winged people.

Alluna rubbed her temples, marveling at all she knew now.

The Seraphian's were divided into many different varieties of colors; most predominantly had shades of white to blue to cream colored wings, none were so striking as the reapers whose wings were jet black.

Alluna looked around the room she was in. The black and red shades in the room let her know that these quarters belonged to Remien Fyre and Rowie Enoray, once one of Edenia's elite Master Guardians. They'd been trapped in suspended animation orbs for three hundred years. The entire galaxy suspected they were at fault for the galactic war that broke out at the time of their disappearance. They were regarded as demons by most, others revered them as gods or angels. They'd called themselves Alpha Angels, like the legendary seven angels of love Lucifer had thrown from Heaven into their realm.

Devon appeared before her. His hair was blacker than pitch and his blue eyes glowed as if the fires of Hell burned within them. Alluna felt a mixture of terror and mind-numbing awe at the beauty of his face.

When she would have fallen off the couch to her knees, he reached down and hauled her up against his body.

Black lines of lacey veins appeared at his temples as his rose-kissed lips pulled back in a sneer.

"I won't let you hurt him," his deep voice hissed.

Alluna's mouth dropped open, her eyes roving the milk white of his face. He was terrifyingly magnificent. Too beautiful.

Harsh hands gripped her tighter, making her wince as they shook her a bit.

"Snap out of it, damn you," he spat.

Angel appeared behind him, her eyes wide as she looked at him and touched his shoulders. "Baby, take it easy."

They loved each other; were mated.

Alluna's gaze lowered to look at Angel's distended belly. The girl was pregnant, part of her long white hair spilling over her shoulders to rest against the round bulge of her belly.

Devon and Angel's baby.

Visions of Devon mounting Angel filled her mind—the pretty blonde girl down on hands and knees, moaning and crying out in pleasure as Devon worked his stiff cock in and out of her tight little cunt.

That's what Zachariel Wilder wanted to do to her too. He wanted to fuck her. Own her.

The vision of his face and body filled her mind with new images—her hands chained above her head, her nipples pinched in tight clamps, a heavy chain swinging between them. Her ass burned from having taken a crop to it. She rose on tip-toes, arching her back, begging her Master to fuck her as the heat of his body pressed against her from behind. Alluna could feel his cock tracing the seam of her ass, her own honey trickled down her quivering thighs, her pussy swollen with lust.

***

Zak wiggled his toes within his black boots, the snug feel of the leather comforting. He still couldn't believe he'd almost killed Seth, had almost shifted into...

He shuddered and cursed his disease. Next to him, Remi snorted.

"It's not a fucking disease."

"My parents were human," Zak snapped. "I was born in southern California on Earth. I'm not supposed to be this. I'm a fucking freak of nature."

"Yeah, I know, Zak-o," Remi sighed as if bored. "You were some fancy-pants rich kid. An only child."

Zak shook his head, taking a deep breath to calm himself. "My father hated me because of..." he glanced down at his hands, remembering how they'd looked scaly and clawed. "My parents were both blond, blue-eyed. They were tall, willowy people. The whole family was. Even before I started working out, I was..." he trailed off, flexing his pectorals as he gazed down at all his muscles.

"Built like a star freighter?" Remi supplied for him.

"Yeah. Even as a kid, I was head and shoulders above all the other kids around my age. My mother was ecstatic over me, but my dad...he hated me." Zak's memories flashed in his mind.

So many times, he tried to make his father proud. He'd taken up playing instruments, the piano, violin, cello and guitar. When that hadn't worked, he'd taken up fencing and would have tried to join the polo team, but the horses were terrified of him. He felt like a freak of nature.

Most boys his age hated him because all the females were drawn like a magnet to him. His first female was turned on by being submissive and Zak discovered the dominant side of his nature.

"Heather was a senator's daughter. She was a spoiled little thing and I fucking got her pregnant. She told me she wanted to run away with me, and I'll admit, I wanted more than anything to just go off with her, far from my father's disapproval and hers."

"Her dad hated you too?"

Zak nodded remembering the looks of cold disdain the silver haired male would cast him when he came to pick Heather up.

"Well, you can't blame the dude. He must've known you were bangin' his little girl," Remi chuckled.

Zak sneered. "His little girl was a little slut. She'd banged half the state, trust me. I'd forgotten how much she liked rape play. I couldn't stomach it, can't even pretend to take a female against their will, so I guess she found someone else to act out her darkest fantasies with. We went to the academy fair together one night. Our school always held this annual fair to raise funds for charity. My band was playing that night. I was on stage when I heard her screams. I took off, running off stage. The little slut was out in the parking lot, in a Sliver Comet transport, her clothes ripped, legs around this asshole jerk who was fucking her like a mad dog." Zak clenched his fists, remembering the smell of aroused pussy and male...of sex.

"You lost it then," Remi said in a low voice next to him. "Your mind saw another man fucking your female and it flipped your switch."

Zak nodded. "Her face was all full of his hand prints. He'd slapped her black and blue, bitten her breasts, but she was loving every minute of it."

"You shifted."

Zak shuddered, remembering the killing rage that had overtaken him back then. "I lost touch with my humanity. There was fire, and I would have crushed the Silver Comet beneath me, but I remember batting it with a...claw. I just started crushing transports beneath my claws, throwing them with my tail, spitting fire on everything. Everyone was running and screaming and then Devon and Anniel were there. I don't remember how, but I was kneeling before Devon, crying. He was holding me, telling me everything was going to be alright and then we were in his Viper heading...here."

"He told me the Edenian government wanted you executed."

Zak nodded. "Devon appealed to them and when that didn't work he threatened. They backed off after that, but it was the beginning of their hatred toward us. We became a threat. I tried to sneak back to see my parents..."

Zak remembered hiding in the shadows of his mother's favorite shopping mall waiting for her to come out to her to her transport. She'd been talking and laughing with their chauffer as they approached making him ache for her. Didn't she miss him?

He stepped out from behind another transport, towering over her. The chauffer gasped, turning white with terror as his mother's eyes traveled up Zak's six-foot-seven body. When her big blue eyes locked onto his, they looked upon him as though he were a stranger.

"M-mother?"

Her eyes searched his for a moment. He saw compassion there and almost fell to his knees when she reached up with a smile to caress his cheek. "Such a big, sexy, young man. I can't really say I'm sorry not to be your mother, but I'm too old for you anyway, gorgeous."

The memory made Zak recoil. His father had wiped his mother's mind clear of any recollection of him.

"That sucks," Remi sighed beside him. "Ever thought that maybe the man you called

father

wasn't your sperm donor?"

Zak shook his head, although when he was a young teen, the thought had crossed his mind plenty of times.

"Your parents were loaded, Zak. I'm pretty sure that if your old man was shooting blanks, he probably tried to cover it up by buying your mom some frozen—"

"Enough," Zak snapped, not wanting to imagine his sweet mother inserting some anonymous male's sperm into herself.

God, but that's probably what happened—

he thought miserably, scrubbing his face with his hands in frustration.

"My mother got her shit fresh and from the source."

Zak turned to gape at Remi. The red-haired weredragon only shrugged. "She was a whore."

"Geez, Remi."

Remien only smiled. "You think I give a shit my mother was a whore. I was one of about twenty kids she had. Some were black, some white, others Asian. Hell, I had a Lizdrac brother and a Fey sister, so she didn't even stick to allowing just Edenians between her legs, but you know something, Zak, that woman loved all of us. She got food in our bellies every night and kept a roof over our heads."

Zak swallowed, turning his gaze from Remi's flashing green eyes.

"Ever wonder who your father is?"

Remi shrugged. "I used to. Really don't care. He was a weredragon, obviously. I'm grateful for the genes like you have no idea."

Zak turned with a frown to Remi. Pride shone in his green eyes. His Alpha Angel brother had piercings and tattoos all over his body, but nothing identified Remi more than his pride in being a weredragon.

Remi grinned, the silver snakebite piercings he sported on his lower lip glinting in the lights of the transport hangar. "One day, you'll get over your ridiculous fear of your beast and you'll be proud too. We're special—magical. Legend has it that the first Alpha Angel Lucifer tossed from Heaven created us to find and guard the other angels."

Zak snorted. He didn't believe in those fairytale legends like Remi

Remi only rolled his eyes with a sigh. "Whatever, dude." He then crossed his arms over his chest. "What are you going to do with the witch?"

"Her name is Alluna." Zak jumped to his feet. "God! Where is she? Did she see me shift? Is she okay? Where is she?"

Remi pursed his lips, regarding him with his enormous black-ringed green eyes. "Devon is talking with her right now."

Zak clenched his fists, anger zipping through him. Devon was part cambion; Incubus, mixed with Seraphian and human, his blood tainted with demon's blood. He didn't do it on purpose, but Devon emitted a pheromone that made people desire him, find him fascinating and too beautiful too bear not to touch. Zak still remembered having to fight the urge to crush Devon to him and take his mouth the first weeks aboard Alpha 7. Zak wasn't gay and the confusion and torment to fuck his commander had been his private hell those first few days.

Alluna. Would she fall in love with him when she gazed upon his inhumanly perfect features? Would she no longer want Zak as her Master?

"I'll beat him black and blue," Zak snarled.

***

Alluna savored the sweet cup of hot cocoa Anniel had given her. They sat on a furry white rug inside Anniel's bed chamber.

The erotic visions she'd had in Remien's chambers and left her nearly fainted in Devon's arms. He'd called upon Anniel to take her away to her quarters and soothe her.

Alluna couldn't take her eyes off the beautiful female. Her skin was a deep, rich, golden brown, her hair, lit with fiery tones, fell in a mass of thick curls to the middle of her back. Her pouty lips smiled as she sprayed a cool substance onto Alluna's toes.

"You're going to love this," her throaty voice purred.

Using a silver pen-like wand, she touched Alluna's big roe on her right foot. The nail turned a deep metallic blue, almost the same shade as Zak's eyes.

"You like?" She grinned at Alluna.

Her eyes were a mix of green, gold and brown, like the autumn leaves in the northern hemisphere of Earth. Alluna's eyes lowered to the girls breasts. The twin swells pushed against her black tank top, twice the size of Alluna's. Now she knew males found these mounds of flesh extremely enticing. Did Zak like this splendorous female with her cinnamon skin, mane of fire and eyes of autumn?

"Hey, if you don't like the color I can make it different. You don't have to cry," Anniel pouted.

Alluna shook her head, wiping her cheek. "No. It's a lovely color. It's just..." Alluna bit her lip, keeping her traitorously teary eyes on her toes.

"Just what?" Anniel urged in a soft tone. "You can trust me. I want to be your friend. Zak likes you...allot"

Her soft giggle had Alluna looking back up at her. "Do you...do you love him?"

The female's eyes blinked, her full lips parting. "Of course. I love Zak with all my heart and soul."

Alluna's face crumpled.

"Hey, what gives cutie?" Anniel scooted up next to her, her arm sliding around Alluna's shoulders in a hug.

Alluna wanted to hate the woman, but it wasn't her fault she was so pretty while Alluna was a plain little nobody from a backwards, uncivilized planet—a stupid girl to have fallen head over heels in love with Zachariel Wilder; Alpha Angel and intergalactic rock star.

"Alluna?"

"I have to leave. You must help me get back home." Alluna turned beseeching tear filled eyes to Anniel.

Anniel's eyes widened apprehensively. "Oh, honey, that's not a good idea."

"But I

must

return home. I refuse to be held captive here like some...some pathetic little pet for Zachariel to throw scraps to."

Anniel frowned in confusion. "He'd never... You've got it all wrong, cutie. He really has feelings for you."

Alluna shook her head. She had to leave before mama found them all and hurt them. Her mother was a powerful sorceress. Alluna had been witness to all the terrible things she could do. The memory of the petrified vampire made her shudder. The poor thing was slumped over a headstone and someone had embedded angels wings deep into his back, making him look like the sculpture of a weeping angel.

Mama was searching for another dragon, a wolf and tiger to complete her list of elements for her black ritual... the one where she drew the fallen angel, Davariel's other self from the world of reflections.

Alluna gulped as she looked into Anniel's concerned face. Anniel was a werewolf, Seth a weretigre, and Remi and Zak were dragon's.

They were doomed if mama got a hold of them. Everyone would be doomed.