A Pet for the Dragons

56.

ARIKA

I shifted in my sleep, searching for the sound of sea waves and the gentle sway of the boat, but there was nothing. It made me feel uncomfortable. I was used to falling asleep with those things, and without them, I got nightmares. There was no scent of the sea either, no sound of the sea wind howling around my cabin.

It was odd.

My head throbbed with pain as I slowly started to stir awake. I began to feel the biting chill seep into my bones, making me shudder in the cold.

My throat felt tight. It felt like something was wrapped around it, choking me. Whatever it was, it was also cold and uncomfortable.

I was still half asleep as I reached for whatever was around my neck and tried to yank it off, but it didn't budge. Instead, it seemed to get tighter around my throat, sending me into a coughing fit.

I heard a deep rumble somewhere around me. It sounded like that of a wild animal. I shuddered, wondering where the heck I was as I grew more and more awake. The unfamiliarity of the place was getting more and more noticeable.

It took me a few seconds to open my eyes. At first, I saw nothing but absolute darkness. However, as soon as my eyes adjusted, I realised everything wasn't completely dark.

A dim light floated above me, illuminating only a radius of one meter around me. Beyond that, everything was pitch black. As I blinked my eyes more rapidly, focusing my vision, I heard the deep rumble again. I felt its vibration on the floor and then travel through my body, sending a shiver down my spine.

I gently lifted my head, and the throbbing grew worse with that, but I ignored it and tried to sit up. Whenever I moved, I felt the strange thing around my neck digging deeper. It felt like a collar. I tried to take it off after sitting up, but again, nothing happened.

As soon as I was fully awake, I noticed other things—especially the strange tingling around my ankle. That was when I looked down at my body and realized I wasn't wearing the clothes I'd been wearing the last time.

What was going on? Where was I? How did I get here?

I tried to remember my last memory. It was of me driving down a frozen road before the truck skidded off and hit a tree. Just as I recalled everything, a pair of glowing red eyes blinked at me from the darkness.

I sucked in a breath, and my heart started ramming into my chest because I knew instantly who it was. A pair of glowing grey and dark eyes followed the glowing red eyes.

The three dragons who captured me.

Terror bubbled in my chest as I stared at the three of them in shock. I wondered if this was a dream. Maybe this was a nightmare. But I knew this wasn't a nightmare when a red dragon man with a nasty scar splitting his face stepped out of the wall of darkness.

No. I was in a nightmare. This nightmare was my reality. The dragons had caught me... Especially by the surliest one. Radrox. His red glowing eyes dug into me intensely. I could feel his stare in my bones.

He looked angry, and the scar made him look more furious and more dangerous than a dragon should ever be. For some reason, the tingling around my ankle grew worse. It burned into my skin, just like the collar around my neck.

As I focused on Radrox, I felt Ivret and Zorge's eyes on me. They still lingered in the darkness, watching me intensely.

Radrox stopped when he was right in front of me and crouched low. I was a statue as he hooked a claw under the collar and tugged me forward with a rough jerk that made me gasp.

"How dare you do this to us?" he growled deeply. His voice reverberated around me, reminding me of what he was capable of. I was too shocked, stunned, and terrified to say anything.

But there was another part of me, a teeny-tiny part that was glad to see him and the others.

No...it'll not be the same between us anymore, not after what I did to them.

"How dare you accuse me wrongly of hurting you?" Radrox growled. His face was inches away from mine, and his red glowing eyes were harrowing. I looked away for once because I found it hard to look directly into his eyes after what I'd done to him. The guilt was slowly starting to seep in.

Behind Radrox, I saw Zorge and Ivret step out of the wall of darkness. There wasn't a single emotion on their face. I looked at Ivret, and he looked like an entirely different dragon. He looked cold and heartless. There wasn't a hint of kindness or softness in his face, which terrified me.

I did this to him... I reminded myself. Zorge was staring at me the same way, but there was something sinister about his face that terrified me.

These weren't the same dragons I left behind.

"Speak," Radrox growled, clutching my face with his other hand. His claws were painfully digging into my cheek, making me blink tears.

"I did it to escape," I told him, but my voice sounded weak because my throat was tight with a lump, and the guilt of what I'd done to them was growing thicker quickly. It seemed like I had developed a conscience while with them because I'd done worse to people as a pirate, and I never felt a thing about it.

Radrox laughed in my face in a demeaning manner.

"You won't be able to escape again," Radrox growled. His red glowing eyes looked like embers up this close, threatening to burn me alive. "We've hunted you, and now it's time for us to claim our prizes,"

"No..." I whispered, feeling horrified. I didn't know what he meant by that, but I was sure it was nothing good.

"You don't have a say in this anymore. You lost your say when you marred my honour and used our hospitality and generosity before running away. I shouldn't be surprised. Humans are this way. They lack integrity and honour. They lie and deceive easily. They've always been the ones to betray alliances in the past. You aren't any different."

Radrox's words dug into my skin, but I didn't have anything to counter that because what he said was true, at least for me. I was a pirate, and I'd done worse to get my way, but this was the first time I got my feelings involved, and now, I had to face the consequences of my actions.

I can't run anymore. The realization was terrifying, but at the same time, that small part of me felt glad about this. I'd been running for a long time, and it seemed like it was finally time for me to grow some balls and face the shit that I created. My pendulum of luck had swung the other way.

"What are you going to do to me?" I asked. I needed to know. I knew that I wouldn't be able to escape anymore. I needed to prepare for whatever they were putting me through. "Are you going to kill me? Are you going to rape me?" I asked, feeling my chest tighten.

"We didn't enter the southern territory just to kill you or rape you," Zorge spoke for the first time. Ivret remained silent all the while, watching. Seeing him like that hurt the most because I felt like a monster for breaking his heart.

He'd been sweet, kind, nurturing and considerate about me since the beginning. Seeing him so cold and distant made me feel worse. Maybe I broke him. I'd hate myself if that were the case.

"You don't have to worry about all that. We dragons are much more honourable than humans," Radrox snarled at me. If it were another situation, I'd have bitten back at that, but I kept my mouth shut.

"Then what are you going to do with me?" I asked, feeling more and more restless. The collar around my neck seemed to be choking me.

"That depends on many things, but first, let's complete the unfinished business," Radrox said. "Where are the computers, Arika?" 

~

Read the next 50+ chapters on Patreon. I'll be accepting new members starting from 30th August. The link is in my bio.

Thanks for reading <3