Page 1 of Cherished By the Alien Outlaw

Chapter 1

Firion

Weeks ago, I’d left my city, soaring off our suspended island and through the sky on the back of my ryvar, Perrin. It would be a long, lonely journey, but my mission was vital not only to my Dastalon Clan, but all the other clans in the area.

In my pouch strapped to Perrin, I held the treaty I’d present to the king of the Veerenad city. If he accepted our offer, we’d grant the lizard people more land to expand their homes and in exchange, we’d receive precious goods only they could provide.

It took days to cross the vast forests, stopping only to spend my nights on the ground. Eventually, the forest gave way to scruffy brush and then the desert, and I swept my ryvar out over it. The lizard city lay to the north, and it would take many days to reach it.

The sun beat down on my back, making my blood feel like it boiled. Sweat leaked down my spine. I itchedand shifted in my seat, grateful that flight, if nothing else, provided a breeze.

Below me and stretching on as far as my eye could see in every direction, dunes rolled like ocean waves, shadows etched into their contours. The sand shimmered in the sunlight, a smooth wasteland broken only by intricate patterns, mostly tiny footprints left behind by unseen creatures traveling at night, the only time they dared venture above the ground.

If I didn’t need to see the distant lavender mountains to guide me, I, too, would only travel at night when the sun no longer cooked the air, and the night breezes might cool me. As it was, I only flew Perrin for a few hours at dawn and dusk to preserve his strength while still gaining distance. We rested during the heat of the day.

I’d stopped at an oasis the day before and filled my flasks, and I hefted one, carefully undoing the top and placing the edge against my mouth before I upended it. Each drop was more precious than a breath, and I’d do anything not to spill this liquid, the only thing standing between me and death.

The wind carried a dry, almost metallic scent, broken only by a rare bit of sweetness from the few flowers blooming on spiky vegetation peppering the landscape.

Far in the distance, dust spiraled into a whirlwind. Something big traveled there. I’d need to sleep with one eye open tonight to make sure whatever it was didn’t catch my scent and track me.

It was hard to believe the lizard people had chosensuch a inhospitable place to build their city, though they lived on the northern edge of the desert. Long ago, the Veerenad ship crashed in the desert, and instead of finding a way to leave my planet, they settled, constructing homes and finding a new way to live. They’d left us Zuldruxians alone, and we ignored them until a few rogue packs of Veerenads attacked the Zuldruxian clans living in their area. Their traedor had come to us and suggested we form a truce with conditions regarding behavior. If they kept the peace, so would we.

Hence why I, a traedor myself, was making this journey. Their king indicated he’d only respect speaking to someone his equal. If I was in luck, I’d wrap the deal up quickly and could turn Perrin and fly home with everything we needed.

As the sun started to edge toward the distant horizon, it got harder to see. Time to look for a likely place to land and set up camp for the night. I’d continue my journey before dawn, and I should arrive at the Veerenad city a few days after that.

I’d hoped to find another oasis to rest in tonight, but that didn’t appear to be the case. A dry camp, but it did no good to grumble. Oases appeared seemingly at their whim or held themselves back even if they felt we had need.

I guided Perrin lower, his wings flapping hard and driving sand up from the surface. It choked my throat and brought out my cough, and it coated my skin in a gritty wave. Even after I’d bathed in the sea at least tentimes on my return to my clan, I doubted I’d ever get that coarse feeling out of every crevice in my skin.

There. I spied a rocky outcropping, a good place to spend the night. I could build a fire with downed branches from the spiky plants speckling this wasteland and put my back to the rocks. At least nothing would be able to attack me from the front. Perrin would keep watch while I slept, but he needed to drink and eat too. He’d leave me as soon as I dismounted, returning after he’d found an oasis and took in his fill and prey to satisfy his hunger. If only I could speak to him, ask him to take me to the oasis instead of leaving me to find those infrequent spots on my own. But as loyal and affectionate as my ryvar was, we couldn’t communicate outside of a few simple hand and foot gestures.

I guided him to the outcropping, and he pulled up, extending his clawed hind feet to land. A slight jar, and he settled on the ground, his claws sinking into the sand and his wings tucking into his sides. I slid off his back and released the harness holding my various packs, before going around to his front to stroke his long, deep purple beak.

He huffed and nudged my belly, and I grinned and gave him a good rubdown. He adored when I scratched beneath his chin and chest, so I took time to give him extra attention in those areas.

As I groomed him all over, I inspected his feathers to make sure they didn’t show wear. If they did, I’d have to remain here for a time to allow him to replace the old with new.Fortunately, he appeared fine.

He towered over me, at least three times my height, and I was a tall male for my species. At my urging, he dropped to his belly on the ground, and I finished looking over the feathers along his back and his long-feathered tail.

I tugged small bits of dried meat from my pack and started eating as I patted him some more, before I nudged his side.

“Go. Have a safe flight. Return for me in the morning.”

He cocked his head, his beady eye on this side narrowing in on me, before he took flight, soaring up into the sky with way more vigor than me. I’d ridden on his back all day while he’d done the hard work. Yet this creature held more energy in his hollow bones than I did even if I’d spent a day lounging in a cool pool, eating my fill and slaking my endless thirst with cold water.

I watched until he’d flown out of view, then scurried around, collecting downed spiked plant limbs, piling them near the cluster of rocks. When night fell in this part of the world, it did so all at once, the sun sucking the warmth from the air and leaving only a desolate, cold loneliness behind.

Not that my feelings were much different even when I was surrounded by my clan. As traedor, I was treated with the respect I’d earned, but it was rare for anyone to invite me to join them for a meal or a chat. I was seen as the serious leader, not one of their friends who might enjoy sitting and sharing a carafe of drink and a tale or two.

I had no mate, and I expected that was how it was always going to be.

My brother was incredibly lucky. He’d been gifted with a precious woman, and it made my chest ache to see them so happy together. I didn’t feel pain because I wanted her; I felt pain because I worried it would never be my time to find love.

With so few females, and me having met every one in my clan and those in the others without a spark firing in my heart, the odds of me bonding with a mate remained slim.

Unless my clan gods, those of stone, sent a mate to me.

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