5. Zara

What the hell was wrong with me? The second his hands had touched me, my stomach seemed to do an odd little flip while the rest of me heated and… fucking hell. I was pretty sure this was what women had meant when they said that they'd just gotten pregnant from a walking wet dream.

How could he touch me like that? Why did I react like I was starving? Maybe because I had never wanted to be touched like that ever. Damn it.

He talked like he had a mate. Mate? Who called their spouse a mate?

I was pacing the bathroom, which had plenty of room, considering the massive bathtub was more of a small pool. It took me plenty of steps to cross the whole thing. Aria was in the small closet that was in here. I'd never had a walk-in closet for my clothes, let alone one for a toilet.

I couldn't get a handle on my breathing. Why did it bother me he had a mate? Why did it bother me that some good-looking man that seemed to turn into a dragon was showing me kindness?

The thing was, I still wasn't absolutely sure I hadn't been committed, and this was all a medicated delusion. But it felt so real.

I jumped at the knock on the door just as Aria walked up to me, placing her hand on my shoulder.

"Zara? Aria?"

"Come in," Aria called as she studied me.

That beyond beautiful and too perfect woman pushed open the door quietly. She seemed very human, but she also seemed, well, something more.

"Hi. I'm Aurora. We never really got acquainted during that little issue."

I looked her up and down.

"Little issue? We all were taken from our homes. How are you so at home here?"

She smiled at me, and although it was sincere, I wasn't sure that she had all her marbles right now.

"Oh. Well, I'm from here. Born and raised on Pyroth from the first generation of human colonizers."

From here?

"Human colonizers? Is that a thing? I've never read about that ever."

She shrugged. "No idea why. We have books that speak of lost cities. The Pyrothian dragons have been going to Earth for centuries and they worked to come to an agreement with some of the Earth leaders. It saves the Pyrothians lots of time and has helped. Our history talks of Roanoke among other places of our origination. Small islands and towns that no one would miss. Come now and get dressed. I want to introduce you to your new home."

I froze.

"New home? We aren't going back?"

Aurora paused.

"Perhaps I should allow Tarek to talk with you. I believe that once you give us a chance, you will find Pyroth a beautiful upgrade, really." Aurora backpedaled toward the bed and started to untie the ribbons holding the boxes together.

I followed, unsure of what to think. No more Earth?

My mind flashed back to Tarek. Why was he my first thought rather than all the things I'd left behind?

"This is your box, Zara. It was picked out specifically for you."

I pulled out one of the items, letting it glide over my fingers. It was a dress.

"We wear dresses?" It was a question and maybe it was a statement. The idea of actually looking beautiful after being rescued looking like some kind of cheap space trash was appealing. I swallowed, trying not to think about why it was appealing or who I wanted to think I was appealing to.

The fabric looked as soft as it felt and swayed with every movement.Ipulled out a few of the items and laid them out, watching them flow and flutter. This wasn't exactly my style, but I sure as hell was intrigued.

"We do. Do females on Earth not wear dresses?" Aurora smoothed out her own dress.

"Wait." I was going back to the whole missing cities thing. "What do you mean for centuries? And solved a lot of problems?"

Yup. I think I'd cracked from stress.Except no matter how many times I blinked, it didn't wake me up or change the fact Aurora still stood here. She was reaching into the box and pulling out more things, and I didn't care what at this moment.

"Yes. It has helped them find mates. Their species doesn't have any females. Not anymore. Even when they did, there were never enough. The dragon must find its fated mate to tether the human and the dragon in the same plane or the man loses control and disappears. Earth really never talks of this?"

"Did I hit my head?"

I looked between Aurora and Aria.

"No. I don't think so. Not unless I hit mine too." Aria was still going through her box.

"So, what you're saying is, we are both seeing the same delusion?"

Aria just shrugged and started trying to figure out the bra. It was a little more ribbon and had no clasps. Strange.

Aurora shrugged and helped Aria untie it so she could get it on. Modesty had gone out the window the moment we spent time naked and terrified in cages. But here, we were clean. The planet smelled amazing, or… well… I sniffed again. Tarek's scent lingered, and that gave me a shiver of excitement. I liked his scent.

I glanced at the box and back at Aria.

The nightgowns we were in weren't all that different from anything in the boxes. Sheer, lightweight, flowy. It was actually quite comfy.

"Females? Why not just say girls or women?"

Aurora smiled while she laced up the dress Aria had chosen.

"That's what we call the feminine kind here. Women? I suppose maybe that word is used in our history books. Perhaps you just would prefer the word mates? The dragon lords rule this planet, and they need mates."

That damn word again. And there was that bit of damn misplaced jealousy.

"Are you Tarek's mate, then?" I asked. Lord knows I had some major gaps in my knowledge. What had he said about mates? He called me something like my Zara. What did that mean?

Why in the hell did I care?

Because I fucking did, and logic be damned, I was fucking jealous. No. This was the sex deprived part of my brain latching onto the hero of my story. That's all this was. Some kind of odd hero worship. Breathe. That was all I needed to do. No. I needed to pinch myself.

"Ouch."

"Oh dear, are you okay?" Aurora asked.

I glared.

"No. No, I am not okay. We were abducted, not once, but twice. I don't care that this abduction has showers and clothing and food. I don't care that there are hot-looking guys. All men are the damn same. No one is loyal. Fuck. You even seem nice."

Aurora's hand came to rest on my shoulder, and I stopped the pacing I didn't even know I was doing. I looked into her eyes.

"Zara, right?"

I nodded.

"It's okay. I can't imagine being where you are. But to answer the question that might be the cause of this, well, your stress. No. I am not his mate. My mate is Ciro."

Why did that make taking a breath so much easier?

Shit. I didn't want to unpack what was going on here.

"Uh. Okay. Thanks. I don't know why you thought that was causing me stress. I mean, are you even human?"

When she giggled, she sounded human.

"I forget you have no knowledge of any of this. How about I help you two get dressed, and then we start from the beginning?"

She said this as she reached into my boxes.

"I don't know what the latest Earth fashions are, but we've found a much more comfortable corset design."

Aria reached into one of her boxes.

"Corset? We don't wear those anymore. You do?"

Aurora looked at the garment.

"Well, not right now. You can't wear a corset while pregnant."

That had me checking her out. There was still a ribbon laced up the front of the dress. Also, she was still wearing a dress. What kind of backwoods planet was this?

"You're pregnant?"

I noticed just how much she glowed when I asked that. Well, damn. These people were so not human.

The thing was, I felt that pang of jealously all over again, and this time it wasn't just for a dragon man that I had no right to even think about wanting. I wasn't blind to their size. In fact, looking at Aurora, I was sort of wondering if maybe her, er, mate was smaller because she was shorter than me.

"Congrats?"

The woman never stopped smiling. "Thank you."

Something about the way her eyes lingered on me made me think there was something else, but when she didn't continue, I just swallowed my crazy and sidled up to her.

"Anything but the corset, and I will try it. Unless there are pants?"

She started to rifle through the layers of fabric.

"We do have pants."

What she pulled out looked like a half folded pile of silky fabric that was sheer and, well. What creature could wear that?

"One, I have two legs. Two, you can see through it."

It was then that I realized these people didn't exactly hide a whole hell of lot. She had something under her dress that hid the important bits, but most of her was easy enough to see without an imagination.

"Of course it is. This planet is hot, and the domes never change temperature. This is nothing new. Here."

She handed me a smaller box that had been packed inside in the corner.

"What fits in here?"

She pointed to herself.

"Earth calls them underwears or modesty garments, I think."

It wasn't that I wasn't following, but what the holy hell?

"What year do you get your knowledge from?"

She tipped her head to the side.

"Well, it's been roughly two hundred years since the domes were established. We just had our bicentennial celebration a week ago."

My jaw dropped. Two hundred years?

"You think it's still 1824?"

There was a pause in her pulling out clothing.

"No silly. We've come a long way since then. But, well, we assumed you would develop similar to us. Did you not?"

I suppose they had no idea. I'd been abducted in pants, jeans, to be exact. But everything had been stripped away. Everything except some stupid sheath. I still couldn't figure out why we were prizes when I saw these guys, aliens, whatever. I wouldn't have thought I would have been of use to any of them.

"Yeah. No. It's super similar. Probably. So let's just figure out these pant things and get food." As if on cue, my stomach growled.

Aria twirled in her dress. I suddenly could see the style and where all those straps went. I noticed that the bra thing and underwear, although sheer, did cover the parts that mattered. If I couldn't go home, I would at least do as the locals did and show off my assets that no one had admired much back home.

"Put on your underwears."

I looked at Aurora and it seemed like she really thought that was the correct way to say underwear, as if it couldn't be plural or singular. Whatever. This girl, or woman, or alien, really seemed to be trying and had some kind of ties to Earth. That gave an odd sense of comfort.

"Alright. Well, how about you show me how to put these pants on, and then I'll manage to dress myself."

I couldn't be sure that I would actually be able to tie these pants back up. There might have been something like this on Earth, but I couldn't remember. Lots of ties and ribbons, and the way they secured on? There were slits down the entire side. I guess if I wanted to run, I could still do so. Right now, though? I sort of liked the way the fabric was cool to the touch and flowed around my legs with every step down the stairs. This wasn't much different from a dress, but Aurora had tried.

The corset had won out though. The top was boxy, and the bra struggled to hold up my breasts. I would admit that it didn't seem to matter what your body type was here. These styles made you look, well, beautiful. I felt beautiful, and a little part of me was curious to see what Tarek's response would be.

Rolling my eyes at myself seemed like a better idea than having Stockholm syndrome Moon eyes. And yet, I still watched every step, still watched my posture and still looked for him as we walked the hallway toward what must have been the kitchen.

The only thing that was keeping me from being irrational was the want for knowledge. I wanted to know where I was. I wanted to know why I was here and if home was really not an option. That thought was distracting.

My steps slowed. What was back home for me anyway?

Nothing.

But what was here? I paused as the universe seemed to answer.

"Mate, I'm pleased that you were able to help our guests. Everything go well?" The big guy with—were those purple eyes?—he must be Ciro. And the way he bent down and picked up Aurora and kissed her? Well, hell. I didn't have anything like that to go home to. I didn't even have a fish.

"Everything is well, I think," Aurora said as he put her down. I turned my eyes away from what seemed like a private conversation, even if no one was talking.

It was easier to ignore what I couldn't see. Too bad I was jealous again, but this time for the way they looked at each other. I didn't know why. But it was hard to ignore them until I saw an appealing pair of eyes.

Strange, though, how each of the men's eyes looked like nothing I'd ever seen and yet something about it was addicting. The beauty and the color were more disarming than the fact everything here was just familiar enough to remind me that I wasn't home.

His eyes? They were different and addicting and greener than even the most beautiful cliffs in all those images of Ireland I'd always wanted to travel to.

I swallowed down the foreign lump in my throat. I wasn't strong enough to break whatever this connection was. I was drowning in him, and I didn't realize just how close he'd gotten.

"You look beautiful in my color."

I blinked and looked down. His color? I was wearing green.

"Uh sure. It doesn't match your eyes exactly."

I had more to say, I think, but he was so close that I swore I could hear every breath he took.

"Personal space much?"

I didn't mean it. But damn if I couldn't fucking think with him right here.

"Personal space? Space is owned by no one, my little starfire."

I snorted. "Starfire?" This was an alien planet. I should have expected something dumb. "Okay, let's try again. Wouldn't your mate be a little irritated at how close you're standing to me? It's not Aurora, but you had alluded to a mate. So where is she?"

He tilted his head, and the entire room seemed to grow quiet. Or maybe it was that everything around us ceased to exist with the way he watched me. The way my back hit a wall, and he trapped me between his arms.

"I don't think she would mind. Do you?"

I held my breath.

"What? Why does it matter what I think? Or are you?—"

My words were cut off as he closed the gap. All there was was him. The strange fiery smoke and musk of all that was him.

"You wear my color for a reason. Of all the colors you could have chosen, you chose mine."

It was just a blink, but his skin went from human to scales and then was gone. He was green. All green. Not just his eyes.

"So, little starfire. My Zara. Do you mind being this close to your mate?"