Coral

"How is he?" I ask Drega, the massive blue alien dragon shifter, as he exits the room set aside for the most badly injured of the Sarkarnii.

"Better, but he needs to shift to continue healing, and I doubt he'll be able to do that for a while." He reaches behind him and half drags, half lifts Daeos. The big red ball of chaos looks, for once, slightly droopy.

"Exactly how much of a transfusion did Drasus need?" I query.

"Mos' of me," Daeos slurs, eyelids flickering.

The transfusion of blood was at my suggestion. Drega had been busy with the other males injured in battling the Belek and the Rak, when I discovered Drasus, set aside on a bed, almost forgotten and so damn pale I thought he was already dead.

Once I raised the alarm, I was sharply shoved aside by Drega until I made my suggestion, and he asked me to get Daeos, stat. With all the other patients in the makeshift clinic, both Sarkarnii and the collateral damage to the Jiaka, the small furry creatures with three eyes I'm looking after, I had to send my friend and fellow human, Jade, out to find him.

Drega has been at odds with my doctor status since I was abducted by aliens from my hospital carpark and dumped in the Kirakos, a prison maze filled with massive alien males who can turn into dragons.

They are here, along with other species. Some of them are thieves, some of them have done other things I probably don't want to know about.

But all of them have been dumped here to get them out of the galaxies' hair. All save us humans. We don't know why we're here. But we are.

The big red Sarkarnii, Daeos, is in a relationship with my friend Opal, whom I've sent away to get some rest, even though she wanted to stay with the red peril. She's pregnant, like many of the humans who've entered into relationships with the huge Sarkarnii, and hanging around waiting wouldn't have done her any good.

So, yes, humans are compatible with Sarkarnii, very compatible if the rate of conception is anything to go by. Although exactly what my new friends see in these mad, bad, and dangerous to know males, I'm not entirely sure.

"Take him back to his mating quarters." Drega shoves Daeos at a waiting warrior. "He'll be fine after some food and time with his mate."

I mutter something under my breath about bedside manner and, although Drega pretends to ignore my comment, I don't miss the sharp-eyed look he gives me.

"I need to send word to his mate first, so she can be ready for him," I say, pointedly.

Drega growls under his breath as Daeos leans heavily on him and murmurs the word "mate" with a soggy smile.

"Do it," he says, dropping Daeos onto a nearby empty bed where he sprawls out, Sarkarnii spreading. "And quickly. I don't need him cluttering up the clinic."

I hurry out and thankfully spot Jade walking across the main square. I hate having to keep asking her to be a messenger, but I have so much to do. It's never ending these days.

"When was the last time you ate?" Jade calls out as she approaches. "You can't spend all hours down there, it's not good for you."

"Most of the Sarkarnii are healed, as best as they can be. I have a few Jiaka left, but they'll be gone soon too. Then I can eat."

"And sleep." Jade sniffs at me. "And take a bath." She wrinkles her nose, her smattering of freckles standing out against her pale skin and dark hair.

I'm absolutely sure I look like a complete mess, my chestnut hair a bird's nest in a bun on the top of my head and no doubt rings under my eyes from lack of sleep.

"You don't have to do any of this, you know," Jade adds.

"And you didn't have to make us underwear, but you did," I point out, given Jade's been the one using her skills to keep us contained in all the right places following our individual alien abductions. "So, I'm doing what I can. Plus I have all of you lot to take care of."

"If you think I'm getting knocked up by any of these dragon-twats, you've got another thing coming." Jade chortles in her signature Yorkshire accent.

"As you've constantly pointed out," I reply. "Can I ask a favor? Can you go let Opal know they'll be bringing Daeos back shortly and he's a bit…"

"Of a right royal pain in the arse?" Jade finishes my sentence with a grin.

"Out of it. He gave Drasus a lot of blood. He'll be absolutely fine, probably within the hour knowing Daeos, but I wanted to warn Opal first." I see the look on Jade's face. "Gently," I add with a warning tone.

"You're no fun anymore," Jade huffs.

"I hadn't realized I was fun before." I yawn, exhaustion hitting me.

"Get some fucking rest," Jade says, clapping a hand on my shoulder. "I'll go tell Opal her precious Daeos is coming back to her, albeit drained of all his fluids."

"Be kind," I call after her. Opal is an absolute darling, and her ability to let just about anything flow over her has to be legendary, but I don't want her upset about her massive dragon…mate.

I'm contemplating whether or not to go find some food when Draco, the erstwhile leader of the Sarkarnii, a massive golden-scaled male with eyes like pits of flame, comes striding toward me from the armory and is joined out of the sky by an equally huge green dragon, his brother, Draxx. They make a pretty formidable pair and become more so as Drega, the third brother comes past me, without much of a sideways glance, to greet them.

"Drasus?" Draco queries.

"Daeos' blood helped for the time being, but he can't be moved in his current condition. Not even to the Golden Orion," Drega says, his voice low. "We were close to losing him."

All three of them look grim. It was important, for some reason, they left the Kirakos soon. I'm still not so sure about leaving, even if I do feel like I owe my human friends. They're going to need a human doctor, given all bar one are pregnant with human/sarkarnii hybrids.

"We're going to struggle to leave anyway," Drega says. "We still haven't found the human Sarkarnii pairing who can unlock the map."

"What does it matter?" Draco asks. "We have it, it's installed on the Golden Orion, we can work it out while we get on with other business."

"We need access codes if we're to get past the automated defenses set in the space around the Kirakos. Those codes can only be accessed once we have the map." Drega runs his hand over his face.

"Any reason you didn't tell me this earlier, brother?" Draco snarls.

"I thought we'd have found our pairing by now." Drega sighs.

I attempt to back down the steps into the clinic without being noticed, but I kick a rock, and all three turn, fiery eyes fixed on me.

I hold up my hands. "Don't look in this direction, I'm not mating any of you. I'm with Jade on that one," I say forcefully. "You're going to have to find another way out of here, which doesn't involve us."

All three turn their gazes back to each other. Draxx gives Drega a firm nod.

"The female has spoken. You'd better start work on finding those codes another way."

I practically flee back into the clinic, but even so, I still see Drega's sidelong look at me.

There will be no matchmaking, not by any big dragon or by Opal who shoves me at any warrior she can, given half the chance.

I'm dedicated to my job. Always have been, always will be. Not even being abducted by aliens is going to change that fact.