14. Tarek

"The humans will be released to Earth."

A fist slammed onto one of the tables, and I was certain it was one of my brothers. None of us were pleased by an emergency meeting that was proving to be frivolous.

It should never have been called, but something was up, and I needed backup for whatever the Galactic Federation had up their sleeve. This, however, wasn't anything I would have expected.

"Excuse me?" I asked. I wasn't sure which of my brothers had grabbed my arm as I attempted to charge the seats of the other members.

"The humans. They have been stolen, and this is against the Federation agreements."

I hated these creatures. They could follow the rules but lacked anything like empathy.

"The rules say that if they are to be mated willingly to a Pyrothian, they are to be allowed to remain," I spouted back the rules that they failed to keep in mind.

I watched another one of the creatures. They were from a far off system that lacked much of a sun at all. They lacked the ability to even protect themselves. Why were they the ones sitting here stating that we were breaking laws? The thing was nearly purple in color, and I always struggled to tell where they actually spoke from, let alone if the things were irritated or not.

"These humans were not brought willingly to the Federation's territories."

I rolled my eyes.

"Willingly? None of the creatures on that fight ship were there willingly, and yet some are being given refuge on more conducive planets that will allow them peace of mind since they cannot be returned without causing mass panic on their home planets. What is the difference? These females all have a dragon mate willingly waiting for them, even if they have not yet been marked."

The creatures turned to each other, their words all filled with unease. As one of the few representatives at this emergency session, I now regretted showing up. Something was amiss. Someone was orchestrating these otherwise uninterested planets to take too much of an interest in the affairs of the Pyrothians.

"But was a home delivery ever attempted?" the purple creature asked, its voice laden with suspicion.

"Sentient beings are a highly subjective matter," my dragon companion interjected. We had brought in another from a planet of a similar dragon species with a similar plight as ours. We needed the backup. The creatures even questioned him. The stupidity was that they would only be sabotaging one of the greatest forces in the Federation.

"Why is this up for debate? There have been no laws broken. We have not abducted anyone. The treaties have always dictated the return of most creatures. However, exceptions are made for those too primitive to comprehend what happened and if we find our mates. What has changed?"

The translators ensured we could all understand the conversations, but some nuances didn"t quite translate, or perhaps I simply didn"t care.

"This is useless," Ciro remarked with frustration.

I grunted in agreement but refused to turn away from the four other planetary forces nearly strong enough to rival our own. The key word was "nearly." Each carbon-based creature failed to harness the powers of our goddess, the creator. They would be crippling the protective forces if they failed to allow us our mates.

"Need we remind you that Pyroth and our sister planets all require human females? This treaty has been in place for far longer than most of your planets have had the capabilities to even be a part of the treaties. Most of you failed to be able to come up with technology without help."

With every word, I felt my dragon growing angrier and angrier. My claws were already out, and my words were becoming more guttural as I was losing the battle against my shift. We would not lose our mate.

Multiple hands reached for me, pulling me back. I did everything in my power to rein in my soul, trying to get my dragon to see between the words.

Something else is going on, brothers. I transmitted my thoughts to each of them. Akio, the most logical among us, approached me, the red of his dragon showing through the scales covering his arms. We were all transformed between human and dragon forms, granting us the ability to survive nearly anywhere. Yet, this ship, a floating neutral zone, made us sitting ducks. It had been brought up countless times over the years, yet the change in authority had never altered it. Still, that made our dragons all too close to the surface at times.

"There appears to be some change in opinion since my brother was last here. The Federation should not have convened an emergency session simply to scold us over three humans. They are logical beings who would be returned to Earth if it were safe. At this point, returning them to a planet that already suspects alien interactions but lacks the ability to integrate into our world would only fuel their suspicions," said Akio.

I nodded as he stepped back again.

"Yes, we will take this into consideration again. The Federation provided new information, and we are simply ensuring that the laws and treaties remain intact. Without order, there is no peace."

What has them spooked? Solan, the quietest among us, asked, pinpointing what felt wrong here.

The strangest problem might have been who was absent.

"Where are the other nations? You do not speak for all of us. We never act without a majority. Additionally, this is unconventional and goes against the accords. We will be leaving now," I stated firmly.

Anyone else find it interesting that any other planets relying on human mates were not invited? Just us, I asked my brothers with our link to avoid those with ears that didn't need to hear.

My brothers grunted, but no one said anything. Tonight was supposed to be about celebration and yet we weren't even on Pyroth.

"We will be taking our leave. No laws or accords were broken. No agreements have been violated. Goodbye."

My brothers had already started backing away before I had even finished driving home the fact that we were not playing this game. The problem was that we didn't know the rules to the game that they were trying to drag us into.

"I need to get back to my mate before she spooks again," I whispered while we walked down the halls.

Ciro nodded. "Aurora has already been asking me over and over if we will make it back in time."

Elio frowned as we made it to the dock that would lead us to the ship. "We all have far bigger issues. How the Federation has any time to have a say on any of our private matters is questionable. We have been in our mating ages for several turns of the suns. We need to ensure our own existence. I will not stand by and listen to this. Neither will the sister planets, but they are not under attack. We are. And we are only several of the seats on the council."

There was no arguing, we were all in agreement.

"Let's push this off for another day. Many of us can celebrate that the goddess has indeed smiled upon our hoard and soon we shall find mates for all our brothers," Ciro said, like the leader he was born to be.

It couldn't be helped as we all eyed the uncharacteristic joy Ciro seemed to be displaying.

"For us all to be as lucky as you," I said, thinking back to the female in my bed. She had said strange things. Compared me to another male. What was one to do with this knowledge? It is not strange that she might have known another, but to be thinking of him in my presence?

I would make it my personal mission that she should never think of another male's name ever again. Starting tonight.