The Dracons' Woman: Book 1 of the Soul-Linked Saga

by Laura Jo Phillips

  Lariah threw herself between the man and the pile of refuse, which, Garen suddenly realized, was not refuse, but an animal of some sort. Luckily for the man he was slow and clumsy. If he had been faster, Val and Trey might not have been able to place themselves between him and Lariah before he’d swung that leg forward. Had he come remotely close to touching her, they would have killed him where he stood. As it was, that he had even threatened Lariah had Garen’s eyes glowing.

  Lariah was right, Garen thought. The man was despicable.

  The man’s face paled as Val and Trey suddenly appeared before him, seemingly from out of nowhere. Garen growled menacingly, still several yards behind the man. When he heard the growl, the man slowly turned his head, his face turning a sick shade of green when he spotted Garen.

  “You have insulted and threatened our Arima,” Garen said softly. “For that alone, I could, by our laws, kill you instantly.”

  He heard Lariah’s shocked gasp and, for her sake alone, reined in his anger. For all of her fury, she was a sensitive little thing. He didn’t want her having nightmares because she witnessed the disgusting, smelly man being turned into a smear on the pavement.

  Ignoring the human male for a moment, he looked to Lariah. She was on her knees beside the animal which Garen thought might be a dog. A very large dog. The dog was panting, emitting an occasional soft whimper of pain. Lariah knelt by the animal’s impossibly huge head, her hands stroking its grimy fur, tears running unchecked down her face as she murmured soothingly to it.

  Suddenly, Garen understood what had happened. The man had beaten the animal, probably kicking it, and somehow Lariah had felt the blows as though they were her own. He glared at the human male, fighting to remember that the man had not actually kicked Lariah, she had only felt as though he had. He wanted to kill the man so badly his hands shook with it.

  “By the power vested in me as High Prince I hereby banish you forever from Jasan and all space and territories subject to its jurisdiction,” Garen said, his voice more growling animal than man. “I further impose upon you the penalty of full forfeiture of all valuable properties and funds you may possess, save and except only what you are wearing and one cubic meter of clothing and personal items. Said banishment will become effective twenty four hours from this moment.” Garen stretched his lips widely, baring his teeth. “If you return, you will die.”

  The man’s eyes widened in shock at the decree. He opened and closed his mouth several times, but obviously he knew who Garen was, and some sense of self-preservation succeeded in holding his tongue. He executed a short and clumsy bow, then turned and entered the back door of the restaurant, slamming the door behind him. Garen made a mental note to inform his foreman of the incident, and have the man watched until he left the planet.

  He turned his attention back to Lariah, the sight and sound of her tears making his throat tight. He knelt beside her, Val and Trey standing close by with identical expressions of near horror at the sight of her tears. “What can we do?” he asked her softly.

  “He is in so much pain,” Lariah sobbed. “I think he has some broken ribs and maybe a broken leg. He has a deep cut in his head and so many other wounds. Can you help him please?” she asked, her soft pleading making his heart ache.

  “Shh…easy precious one. We will help your small friend,” Garen promised, trying to coax a smile from her. She tried to smile through her tears, but it was clear that she was feeling the animal’s pain as her own. Worse, he guessed she was remembering what had been done to her, and identifying with the animal.

  “I will get the ground-car,” Val offered before racing off down the alley.

  Trey knelt down on the other side of Lariah. “We will take him back to the ranch where Doc can care for him. He is a very good physician, little love. There is none better on the planet whether it be for animals or people. But first, we must send your friend to sleep so that we do not cause him too much pain when we move him.”

  Lariah nodded, and lowered her head close to the dog’s so that she could look into his large brown eyes. She whispered softly to him, and Garen was surprised at the expression of trust in the animal’s eyes. How could an animal that was abused so badly by one human so quickly trust another, he wondered. Perhaps it was like Lariah trusting them, even though she had been hurt so badly by someone else.

  Trey bent forward and placed his hands gently on the dog’s chest, and Garen placed his on the dog’s neck. Together, they eased the wounded animal into a deep, painless sleep.

  When they were sure that the dog was sleeping quietly and that his heart and lungs were working correctly, Lariah gestured to a thick, heavy chain welded around the dog’s neck. Trey made short work of that and Lariah removed it, revealing that the tight chain had left a raw wound encircling the animal’s neck. Garen was coldly furious. Obviously this poor animal had been kept chained here and abused for some time. For all of its size, the dog was skin and bones, it was so dirty that it was impossible to tell what color his coat was, and he had many wounds in various stages of healing. Why no one had reported this, or done anything about it, he did not know. But he intended to find out.

  Val arrived with the ground-car and they used magic to raise the dog up and slide him into the back gently so that none of his ribs were disturbed. They added a thick cushion of air beneath him so that he would not bounce against the floor of the ground-car. Satisfied that the animal would ride safely, they all climbed in and headed back to the ranch at top speed.

  Garen watched Lariah, noting her shaking hands, the tension through her body, and the lingering anger in her expression, all softened by the sadness in her eyes.

  “Lariah, tell us,” he said softly. Lariah’s entire body jerked and her fists clenched tightly in her lap. She turned toward the window, silent for so long that he didn’t think she would respond at all. When she finally turned to face him, he was pleased to see that the overriding expression on her face was still one of anger rather than fear. The fear was still there, but the incident had brought anger to the forefront.

  “I have a sister,” she began, her voice, as always, low, but clear. “Her name is Ellicia and she’s two years older than I am. We do look somewhat alike, but we are very different. Ellicia is psychic. She has an especially strong talent for finding objects. If the item she is searching for is on the same planet she is on, she will find it. She works for a special branch of the IALEC, helping investigate thefts with organized crime or security connections.

  “Ellicia’s identity is secret and the IALEC bureau she works for is so secret I’m not sure it even has a name. We just call it the Agency. But I’m her sister. We are all the family either of us has. Because of that, she refused to work for the Agency unless I could be in on the secret.” Lariah paused for a moment, the corners of her mouth turning up in a tiny smile. “She told them that she wasn’t going to give me up for a job. She is good enough at what she does that they agreed to her demand rather than lose her.” Lariah’s smile faded as she fell silent for a long moment. She lifted one shoulder in a little shrug and continued.

  “One day she called me at work. She was on an assignment, and there were a few things she needed that she’d forgotten to pack.” Lariah paused again, the tiny smile returning. “That’s Ell for you,” she said. “She can find anything on the planet, but she can’t remember to pack enough underwear for a trip.”

  Lariah stared down at the clenched fists in her lap and slowly relaxed her hands, spreading her fingers wide. Garen, Trey and Val waited patiently, knowing she had to do this in her own way. After a few moments she took a slow deep breath, and went on with her story, her eyes still on her hands.

  “I’d done it before and I didn’t mind,” she said with another shrug. “All I had to do was get a few things, take them over to an Agency front office, and they would take care of sending them to her. It wasn’t like I had anything else to do anyway.” Lariah took another deep breath, and Garen noted that her hands had clenched into
tight fists again.

  “When I stepped into Ellicia’s apartment, there were two men waiting. They were on me so fast that I didn’t even have the chance to scream.” She paused again as she looked up at Garen, her brows drawn into a thoughtful frown.

  “Before I went into Ellicia’s building that night, I had this…episode. All of a sudden I was completely terrified. I could barely breathe I was so scared. The feeling lasted maybe a minute. I never really thought about it again until the day I arrived on Jasan. Just before I stepped off the shuttle, the same thing happened again. I was standing in line to get off the shuttle and suddenly I was terrified. I looked around, but I couldn’t find a reason for it. That’s when I remembered it had happened before. But, when I thought about what happened after the first time I’d gotten that feeling…well…I sort of forgot all about the weird feeling. It was only when that guard grabbed me that I remembered.” Suddenly she smiled, a real smile this time that eased some of the tension in Garen’s chest. “That’s why I agreed to go to your ranch with you,” she said. “I just had this strong feeling that it was the right thing to do. Ignoring those strange feelings wasn’t really working for me, so I decided to go with one for a change and see what happened.”

  Her teasing note was not missed by Garen, Val or Trey, and as difficult as it was, they all made the effort to smile back at her in response. After a moment she sighed and dropped her eyes back to her lap, once more focusing on relaxing the fists and spreading her fingers out. Only when that was done did she continue speaking.

  “They thought I was Ellicia,” she said. “Somehow they had discovered her identity and her talent. They knew that she was the one responsible for putting a serious dent in their profits, as well as putting a lot of their men behind bars. Ellicia and her team had gotten very good at identifying certain types of thefts and Ellicia was finding the stolen goods, and the men who had stolen them, long before they had a chance to get the stuff off-planet.

  “The head of the organization decided he wanted me…or rather…her, to switch sides and work for him instead. I suppose he was also angry with her for costing him so much money, since he decided beating and torturing her was the best method of convincing her to agree with what he wanted. There was a specific artifact that he wanted her to find for him as proof of her agreement. As soon as she told him where to find the item he wanted, he promised to stop…convincing her.” Lariah paused again, and none of them were surprised to note that her hands were once more clenched into tight fists.

  “They had me for three days. I only know because that’s what I was told later. Honestly, if I could have given them what they wanted, I would have. But I couldn’t. Nor could I tell them that I was not Ellicia. I knew if I did they would simply kill me and then go after her. They were going to kill me eventually anyway because I couldn’t give them what they wanted, so I saw no reason to give Ellicia to them.” Lariah shrugged again, that small lift of her shoulders that seemed to indicate that it didn’t really matter. “I figured if they killed me, while still thinking I was Ellicia, then they would have no reason to go after her because they’d think she was dead. And I would win. In spite of everything they did to me, I would beat them.” Another tiny shrug. “I needed something to hang onto. That was it.”

  Garen was horrified by the story Lariah was telling them, but even so, he felt pride blossom in his chest. This small, delicate, utterly feminine woman had as much, or more, courage than any warrior he had known. He did not know exactly what she had endured, but it was obvious she had been tortured. Yet she had not only withstood her captors, she had found a way to beat them.

  “It was Ellicia who discovered where I was, though I don’t remember very much about it,” she continued. “I heard yelling, weapons fire, fighting. I remember when they…well…released me. That was…difficult. After that, I don’t remember much. I was in a healing tank for a couple of weeks. I needed to be in longer, but the Director had me pulled early. The man who had me wanted me, or rather, Ellicia, back. He almost succeeded twice.

  “The Director, Ellicia’s boss, had already sent Ellicia off-planet, and was sending me away as well. He had some clothing for me, all of it too big because he’d gotten it from someone he knew personally, not from the agency. He said it would help disguise me. He wanted me to cut my hair and dye it, but I refused.” Lariah looked up and met Garen’s eyes with a wry smile. “I suppose my temper got the better of me. But I wasn’t going to be allowed to return to my home, so I lost everything I had except for my handbag and what was in it. I had to leave Earth, so obviously I lost my job, I didn’t know where my sister was and still don’t. I couldn’t even be allowed to heal first.” Lariah shook her head. “When he told me I had to cut my hair and dye it, I dug in my heels and decided I’d lost enough. I wasn’t letting go of anything else, even if it was just my hair. The Director got a little angry with me, but I just didn’t care by then. Eventually he got a wig and a little canvas bag for the clothes he’d found for me. I got dressed, got a few orders from the physician and some pain meds, and almost before I knew it, I was on the next shuttle.”

  Lariah blew out a long breath and fell silent. It took a few moments for Garen to realize that she had finished telling them all she planned to tell them. He didn’t want to press her, but there were a few things he needed to know.

  “What is the man’s name, sharali?” he asked, making an effort to keep his tone as gentle as possible.

  “Stefan Loggia,” Lariah replied without hesitation. “He’s head of the biggest organized crime syndicate in that part of the galaxy. He’s very powerful, very wealthy, and a complete sadist. He also likes pretty things.”

  “Pretty things?” Val asked, a dangerous note in his voice that caught Lariah’s attention. She shook her head. “No, not pretty things as in me. His tastes in women seem to fall more in the tall, dark, skinny dominatrix category.” Lariah’s tone was wry, but the tightening of her fists, the tremor that ran through her body, told them that the woman she had just described had been a part of what was done to her.

  “When I said ‘pretty things’,” Lariah continued, unaware of the silent signals the men had picked up on, “I really meant things, like ancient artifacts, rare gems, antique jewelry, art, the types of things you would see in a museum. He likes to keep a lot of the items he steals. Unfortunately, he never keeps them on Earth or any other IALEC Member Worlds, so Ellicia has never been able to catch him.”

  “So, this director, he just put you on a shuttle to the other end of the known galaxy with nothing but a few borrowed items of clothing?” Garen asked.

  Lariah looked up at him, noting that his eyes were beginning to glow.

  “No,” she said, placing one hand over his on the seat between them. “It wasn’t like that really,” she said quickly. “He did not allow me to return to my own home because he knew the hospital was being watched. He promised that he would hire a service to pack up all of my belongings and have them stored indefinitely. He asked me where I wanted to go and I told him. He purchased all of my tickets, pushed through all the identification documents, and gave me cash for the journey. A lot of cash. He also set up a bank account for me here on Jasan. I don’t know how much money he put in it, but he said it would be enough for any needs I might have.”

  Lariah rubbed her thumb back and forth across the back of Garen’s hand, soothing them both with the gentle gesture. “I made him sound worse than he was because I was angry,” she admitted. “The truth is that when I say ‘he’ did these things, I meant that he, personally, did them. He did not want anyone else in the agency to be aware of my travel plans, when I left or even what I looked like when I left the hospital. He believed that there was a mole in the agency and I agree with him.”

  “I do not understand why a rodent infestation is an issue here,” Garen interrupted testily.

  Lariah stared at him blankly for a long moment as she struggled to understand what he was talking about. She began to shake her head w
hen it finally hit her. She grinned, a real honest grin that eased some of the tension in the ground-car.

  “A mole is a term used to indicate a spy, or infiltrator,” Lariah explained.

  “I see,” Garen replied, not really understanding the term, but glad that the misunderstanding had made her smile. He wished he could drop the subject, but he still needed more information.

  “So the Director suspected a traitor?”

  “Yes. Loggia knew too much about Ellicia…her talent, where she lived, and who she worked for. The one oddity is that he didn’t seem to really know what she looked like.”

  Garen lifted a brow in silent question and Lariah shrugged. “Like I said, we do look alike, in some ways. We’re both the same size, have the same build, and our facial features are similar. But there are also big differences. My hair is long and red, hers is short and light blonde. Also, my eyes are green, Ell’s are blue, and she doesn’t have a single freckle to her name.” Lariah frowned. “I suppose that whoever gave Loggia the information about Ell had never seen her.”

  “Did the Director ever tell you where Ellicia went?” Trey asked.

  “No, and I didn’t want him to,” she replied. “I was afraid that if Loggia got hold of me again I might not be able to hold out a second time. I didn’t want to have any information that could hurt Ellicia.”

  “Your courage is humbling,” Garen said softly. “I have never heard of its like.”

  Lariah shrugged and refused to meet his eyes. He glanced at Val, then met Trey’s eyes in the mirror. They both nodded. Lariah had told them an incredible story of courage, strength of will and character. But she had not told them what was actually done to her during her captivity. She had skipped right over that part. Unfortunately, that was the part she needed to tell them, to open it up and let it go before it could grow and poison her mind.

  Garen was considering the best way to go about pressing the issue when he suddenly realized they had almost reached their destination. Later then, he promised himself.