She couldn’t believe this was happening. Her freedom from this asshole, right in her reach and he sought to take that away from her as well. She’d had enough of his antics.
Dominic squared back his shoulders and looked to the others near him. Their expressions revealed nothing; this was his decision to make after all, as ruler of them all.
“My prince–”
Jen’s words were cut off by the sudden squeezing of her arm, claws digging into her flesh. He wanted her to remain quiet. He couldn’t threaten her here, however, not with such a big audience. This wasn’t Earth anymore. He no longer played the role of predator.
That convinced her to speak up even more.
“If you knew what he’d done on my planet, the atrocities he committed to bring us here, you wouldn’t be so eager to let me leave with him.”
Dominic raised his brow and continued his way down the short steps towards them. He gave Torfan a vicious look as he rested his hand on the other’s wrist. The wolf-like creature relented his grip on her with a huff. Jen chanced a look at him and could tell he was afraid.
“Is this true? What have you done, Torfan?”
“They killed our children, destroyed an entire generation. That was our recompense.”
“As if you don’t already breed like rabbits. Nothing wrong with a little culling.” Dominic starred down his nose at the alien, folding his hands behind his back.
Jen stood back to remove herself from the conversation. Being a fly on the wall, she watched as Torfan slowly shrunk in size, his teeth bared in nervous fashion as he tried to explain himself.
Jen was deaf to the words that came out because the longer she watched, the more she realized her plan was coming to fruition.
And she smiled.
“How many, I asked.”
Dominic’s words pulled her back from her daydream, and she lowered her head once more.
“We are the only ones left, just the five of us.”
She heard his dissatisfied groan and felt his warm hand wrap around her arm. As much as she wanted to pull away, to protest, she let it happen. If she convinced him she was the victim here, she would have him eating right out of her hand.
“An entire planet. How would you expect our working relationship to continue if you have no more women to bring us, Torfan?”
The wolf hemmed and hawed, until he eventually grew silent. He realized how much he fucked up and had no answer to give.
“Get out of my sight. Our contract is over. You can tell your people the news and who is to blame for it.
“My lord–”
“And you are banished. If you set foot here again, you will be executed and your ashes will be jettisoned into the sun. Your name will be stripped from the history books and everything you own until there is nothing left but the faint memory of a coward who ruined it for his people.”
“Mister Draxor…”
Dominic hadn’t expected the woman at his side to speak and turned his head in surprise. Who was so foolhardy to interrupt his speech?
“Why spare him when you can kill him now? Make an example of him to the others so they never do this again?” Jen hung her head in shame and wiped away an absent tear from her eye. She was definitely hamming it up for effect.
The look on Torfan’s face, however, was definitely worth it. He looked absolutely terrified as well as angry that she would turn on him like this.
Yet the hand on her arm released her and drew her behind him. Pulling her out of the way as if she was being tucked away in a cupboard for later use.
“You’ve heard my terms,” Dominic repeated, as if Jen’s outburst hadn’t happened. “Do you accept them?”
What choice did Torfan really have? Surrounded by all these people, he couldn’t raise a protest nor could he physically challenge.
“Yes, my lord.” He bowed his head once more. When he stood up, he gave Jen a long and angry look.
She maintained her expression, not giving herself away.
The five women watched as the aliens made their way back to the large ship, entered, and immediately took off.
The others, save for Jen, held onto each other as the rush of the engines whipped at their hair and dresses. She had the height and width of this Dominic to save her from most of it.
He finally turned to her once the ship was nothing more than a dot in the sky.
“I’m sure you’re exhausted from your long trip. Come, let’s get you ladies well-rested before we consider what to do with you.”
Dominic slipped his hand around Jen’s waist and led her back through the crowds. She knew she should have protested but there was something about him that made her feel safe. Secure. The weight of his hand on her hip kept her close and she could think of nothing else but going with him.
She looked to the others, but they were all embroiled in their own conversations with several of the other regal members. She wouldn’t be getting any help from them any time soon.
“Can I at least get your name?”
“Jen. It is Jen Davis.”
“Dominic Draxor. You can call me Dom, if that is easier.”
As he smiled, she saw a flicker in his eyes she was sure was a trick of the light. And maybe his canine looked a little sharper than normal, but she couldn’t be sure. She couldn’t be sure of a lot of things after the day she’d had.
“Sure, Dom. It is lovely to meet you.”
“Oh, the pleasure is all mine. And I hope I can share that with you for as long as you choose to stay here.”
Choose?
Chapter 7
The more they strolled through the city with the others in tow, the more Jen had to be impressed about. The buildings were even much taller from the ground, the streets that much cleaner.
For a city this size, there wasn’t many people either, despite the crowds she had seen earlier. They were already dispersed and milling around, tending to the rest of their daily tasks. Back home, there would have been barely more than elbow room in the streets for people to get by.
“You were saying something about choosing.” She tried to sound casual.
Dominic’s gaze shifted and the corner of his mouth twitched.
“Later. Let’s just enjoy the moment together, shall we? You and your friends.”
This wasn’t so bad. It felt foolish now that this is what she had been fearing during those long hours on the ship. Hindsight and all that…
* * *
It was a struggle for Dominic to keep himself in check, both at having such a beautiful woman on his arm and with his recent spat with Torfan. An entire planet, dead. It was going to take a long time before they found another planet with human women on them. Even longer to find someone else to bring them all this way.
Or he could leave this planet himself.
He grumbled, knowing what the others would say to that suggestion. To leave would mean death. There was nothing out in the galaxy for him and his kind. Stuck in their old-fashioned ways.
A shifting against his side drew his attention away from his thoughts.
“You are...uh… growling.” The blonde woman at his side looked concerned. Or was it fear?
“My apologies.” He tugged closed the ends of his flimsy robes and quelled the vibrations within his chest. He was glad his fire hadn’t roused itself without him knowing.
“My anger gets the better of me sometimes. It’s nothing you should worry about.”
There were other things to worry about, things she didn’t know about yet.
Things he still needed to put into proper words so as not to scare her off. Because most of them always ran, no matter how he approached the subject. They would run or scream or try to fight him off or faint. Never had any of these interactions ever started peacefully once they discovered the truth.
The walk was long and purposely slow, as Dominic pointed out the different areas of the city. The promenade, the market, the path to the great forests. He had given the same speech a hundred times,
and never found it boring.
His guest, on the other hand, seemed distracted.
“I am boring you?”
“Huh? Oh, no, it’s not you. It was just a long trip and after everything... I really just want to get away from the excitement of all this.”
“Ah, I see. That’s fair.” He turned and gestured to the others, who broke off with each of the women in tow.
Jen gave them one last look before the large group went in different directions. Many of them seemed engaged in their conversations and missed her look, missed the chance to give a little wave goodbye.
But not Wendy. Her gaze was fixed on Jen, her arms wrapped around the tall thin woman and an equally tall man walking on either side of her. Their expressions were pinched, their eyes narrowed slits that revealed very little of the color of their eyes.
The mirrored jawlines told Jen they were twins... and not at all fun-loving twins from the stiff way they carried themselves.
Wendy glared back before she flipped her hair over her shoulder and turned away. So much for trying to bury the hatchet with that one.
Up they went, along a long trail of shallow steps, also white and pristine, as it curved around a small gathering of tall bushes. Rounding the corner revealed an extravagant house covered in stained glass windows, a deep-blue shingled roof, and stonework that left Jen impressed, if she wasn’t already from the sheer size of the place.
She was rendered speechless as they continued to the sweeping double front doors. They swung open by unseen hands and greeted the pair with the light smell of something sweet, spicy, and refreshing. It breathed new life into Jen’s disposition and she felt herself brightening instantly.
“This place is huge!” Jen spun around to take in the sight of the home. Thick, soft carpets greeted her bare toes and the warm lights bathed her skin in a glow that made Dominic’s face feel warm.
Seeing the innocence on her face at seeing these new surroundings was refreshing. He would never get used to seeing that on a new somewhat bride-to-be’s face.
“Are we going to be sharing this with the others?” She turned and looked up at him with blue eyes.
Dominic chuckled. How sweet.
“Sharing? No, darling, this is all for us. Why would you think…?”
He smiled as her face turned a little red. As endearing as she was, he didn’t need to make fun of her at this moment.
“Where would you like to start the tour?” He slipped his arm around her once more as a distraction.
She gasped lightly at the sudden pull but settled comfortably against his side.
“Anywhere you’d like, I guess.”
“Perfect. I always enjoyed starting in the kitchen. And you do look hungry.”
Her face reddened even more as she looked down at herself. Her brows knitted together before glancing away, looking somewhat embarrassed.
“Did I say something wrong?”
“I can’t tell if you’re being honest or making fun of me.”
He looked her up and down. He knew nothing about her, had no clue about her background except for the death of her people.
“You said I looked hungry.” She looked up at him with a pout as she grabbed her figure. “I know I’m not the perfect picture of a princess, but there’s no need to poke fun. I know I’m fat. And if you don’t like that–”
Dominic pressed a finger to her lips and she shushed instantly. The redness to her cheeks deepened but he was more concerned about her words.
“What you look like… I don’t care. I mean, I do care, but only in regards to how you are comfortable with yourself. There is nothing wrong with you or your curves, or your height, or your age. I don’t care. I think you are beautiful. All of you.”
Her brows unknitted themselves the more he spoke and he swore he saw a small glimmer in her eyes.
“I have said something else wrong.”
“No. No. You just remind me of someone I knew on Earth.”
“A lover.” It was easy to see the pain in her eyes and understand what it meant. Why it hurt so much for her to be here.
She nodded.
A woman already taken. It touched his heart to learn she had been loved by another and that person had been ripped from her grasp. If only he had been there, if only he’d had a firmer hand on the wolves, then maybe they would still be together and he...
He would still be searching. He wouldn’t be blessed with the woman currently at his side, but there would always be another. He was flexible that way.
But what he couldn’t deny was the chemistry he felt building between them. Where there had been tension before, an animosity she held so tightly in her fists, there was only a sense of calm and acceptance of her situation. Her hostility had trickled from her grasp and melted into a puddle at her feet, useless and forgotten.
“I’m sorry. I know I keep apologizing, I just don’t know what else to say. I can’t go back and undo all those horrible things.”
“Your concern is enough.” She dabbed her knuckle against her eye and stepped away from his grasp, needing a little air.
His side felt cold without her there but it would feel selfish to demand her return.
“I hope, over time, that I can do more for you. It isn’t fair for you to be in this situation, especially against your will.” Dominic folded his hands behind his back and continued to the kitchen.
It was a large room with a sprawling table of goods, much of it prepared just for her. He could hear the churning of her stomach once she spied the food.
“Come, sit. We can eat together.” He gestured to the table and took the nearest seat. She was kind enough to take the one next to his.
He watched earnestly as she took a plate and filled it to the brim with several things. Her gaze was hungry as she picked at and tasted each one in turn.
“Did they not feed you on the ship?” He kept his temper at bay this time, not wanting to scare her again with the temper of the scaly creature that dwelled within.
“Oh, they did, several hours ago. It was quite good, to be honest. I just... I stress eat.”
“Stress eat?” He wasn’t sure he understood the concept.
“When I get upset or stressed out, I tend to eat my feelings.” Jen looked a little embarrassed as she went to work on the contents of her plate. “What? Is that not something you do?”
Dominic shook his head.
“No, when I get stressed, I tend to take care of the problem that’s bothering me. That seems to make everything right again.”
“Sure. But I can’t exactly fix this, can I?” She gestured to the room around her with a shrug of her shoulder. Satisfying her hunger seemed to be the only solution at the moment.
Dominic’s mirth faded. So she felt like she was trapped. Typical. He couldn’t fault her for that. That seemed to be the typical line of thinking every time he’d had this conversation. He just needed to prove to her that she wasn’t trapped.
“Once you’re done, we can finish the rest of the tour, get you into a nice hot shower, and a fresh change of clothes,” he added, for a change of subject. He didn’t want to bombard her with too much information on her first day here.
Jen, on the other hand, was left exhausted and still with no answers. Every time there was a moment to bring up this “choice” he’d talked about, he would change the subject or point out something new or interesting for her to look at.
She followed along to satiate him, wanting to remain on his good side so it would be easier to make her request again.
But that moment melted away in the passing hours during the tour of the house. It was extravagant to see and definitely awe-inspiring. But it wasn’t what she wanted to talk about. It didn’t help that he insisted on her showering and laying out some new clothes for her to choose from, as her body wanted to give in more and more to her exhaustion. Until she was downright annoyed with herself for climbing into bed and succumbing to the plush mattress beneath her and the soft sheets cuddling her close.<
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“You look upset.” Dominic waved his hand and the overhead lights dimmed. Technology or something else, Jen didn’t know.
“You haven’t told me anything. I still don’t know what all this is about.”
Dominic sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
“We can discuss everything in the morning, I promise.” The bed sank under his weight as he sat, watching as she tugged the sheets higher above her chest. She looked almost like a sulking child not wanting to go to bed.
“I want to talk about it now.” She dug her knuckle against her eye in some vain attempt to keep herself awake.
He was surprised she managed to stay awake this long after the hearty meal she’d had. “I want to know what you plan to do with us. Why you look like this instead of what I was led to believe you would look like.”
Dominic’s smile faded. So she knew. That idiot Torfan must have told her.
“So you know. I was hoping to wean you into everything over time, but it seems it can’t be helped now. What else did Torfan tell you?”
“That you need us for breeding.” The softness in her voice was gone; she sounded downright disgusted.
Again, another screw-up on Torfan’s part.
“That part was true, yes. But it’s not like we’re lining you up like animals for you to pump out babies for us. What we... what I do is a long-term commitment. To build a relationship with you. To discover if we can love each other. And if not, then you’re free to do as you wish.”
“There you go again, with that free thing. Saying I have a choice when I don’t.”
“Of course you do. We could easily fly you back to your home planet and–”
“You remember what Torfan said. He killed everyone in my city save for the five of us. There’s no home to go back to. I don’t ever want to lay eyes on that place ever again.”
What Jen really didn’t want to do was think about Dennis’ body lying in the street, turning into bones and dust. She couldn’t go back there and pretend as if none of it had happened.
The Dragon’s Gift Page 6