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

by Laura Jo Phillips

  “Ah, there you are, Highness,” Jackson said. “I was about to give up.”

  “Jackson,” Garen greeted shortly. “Do you have news for us?” he asked, too interested in the reason for the contact to engage in chit-chat.

  Bearen nodded. “I do, but it is…odd. We were unable to find anyone who would admit to seeing Barc after he was tossed in the holding cell the other night. So, I put in a request for the security camera data. I spent a day or so in red tape before I decided to use your name.” Bearen paused. “I hope you don’t mind,” he said with a grin.

  “Not at all,” he replied, returning the grin.

  “Once I used your name they transmitted the data immediately. It took us a while to sort the data, and to find the right time frame. I apologize for that, but there was no way around it.”

  “I understand,” Garen said. “What did you find?”

  “We saw a guard go into Barc’s cell, talk to him, then leave with him. Problem is, nobody remembers ever seeing that guard. His face is not in the employee image bank, and the numbers on the uniform he was wearing don’t match up to anything being used now, or ever.”

  “So, dead end,” Garen said, disappointed.

  “Not exactly,” Bearen replied. “I decided to take a look myself.”

  Garen allowed himself another smile.

  “I had to use your name again, but I got some areas cleared so that our search would not cause a panic,” he continued.

  “Excellent,” Garen said. “And were you able to find some trace of our missing human?”

  “Yes, but here’s the odd part. I picked up his scent, and the guard’s from the cell, and I followed them to an unfrequented section of the skyport, then into an emergency rations storage room. Once inside the room, the guard’s scent just…changed. It wasn’t like anything I had ever encountered before. Outside the door he smelled human. Inside the storage room, he didn’t. He smelled…” Bearen hesitated, frowning in thought. “I know this will sound strange, but he smelled like something wearing human scent. Like a woman wears perfume. I have no idea what the hell he was, or is.”

  Garen frowned, as did Val and Trey, but they did not interrupt.

  “That’s not all. There was another scent in the room as well. One I had never come across before. I don’t know why, but it burned my nose and raised my hackles. It was very strange. But here’s something stranger…that scent began and ended in that room. There was no sign or scent of it leaving by the door or even the vents. And there was nothing in that room at all except for Barc’s clothes.”

  Bearen grimaced and rubbed his nose as though remembering a particularly bad smell. Garen waited patiently. He knew Bearen to be a straightforward man. Whatever he had to say, Garen guessed, it must be fairly bad.

  Bearen cleared his throat. “I think that the guard, whatever it was, ate Barc,” he said finally. Whatever Garen had expected to hear, it wasn’t that.

  “I know it sounds bad, but believe me, it smelled worse than it sounds. Another odd thing is that there was almost no trace at all of Barc. No blood, no bones, nothing. I smelled death though, in the room and on Barc’s clothes. Whatever that thing was, it took his clothes off of him after he died, then ate him, pretty much whole as far as I can tell. Barc’s scent ended in that room. The thing that burned my nose, I don’t know how it got in the room or left it. The human version of the guard’s scent left the store room, and I was able to follow it for a time, then it just stopped. It didn’t fade away or get covered over. It just stopped right in the middle of a hallway.”

  Garen knew that Jackson had shifted into his Bearenca to perform the scent search, and bearencas were extremely good trackers. He did not for one moment doubt anything that Jackson told him. He just wished he understood what it meant.

  “So, we know that Barc is dead, which is good news for us,” Garen summarized after a moment’s thought. “We just don’t know what killed him, and that could be a problem.”

  “We went through Barc’s locker here at the spaceport, as well as his dwelling. The man lived well within his means, low rent building, nothing fancy inside, no ground-car. But I decided to do a little sniffing around his place, and found a hidden stash box. There were five ident cards in it, his image, different names. For each one he had a bank account, each with a very large balance. I haven’t figured out yet where the money came from, but I know it’s dirty.

  “I’m wondering if maybe he was paid to grab your Arima, flubbed the job, and whoever hired him sent in the thing that got him, either to punish him for failing, or to keep him quiet.”

  Garen thought about that. There was a lot that Bearen didn’t know, but he had still come to a conclusion that made a lot of sense. It seemed likely that Loggia had silenced Barc permanently.

  “Good job Bearen,” Garen said. “Please keep us posted if you learn anything new. We would very much like to know the source of Barc’s money.”

  “Will do, Highness,” Bearen replied. Garen flicked a switch and the vid screen returned to blue stand-by mode.

  Lariah sat on the patio wearing a dress that Val had picked for her. The fabric was soft and flowing, a delicate blend of blues and greens that complimented her eyes and skin tones. It was the most feminine thing she had ever worn and it made her feel incredibly sexy.

  She had spent the day doing nothing, as she had promised. She had read for awhile, played with Tiny a bit, then read some more before falling asleep while reading in bed. When she awoke, the storm had passed and the view from her window showed a glittering landscape as the late afternoon sun shone down on the wet earth. After drinking her fill of the sight, she’d decided to take a shower to wake herself up.

  As soon as the clouds were gone, the temperature outside had warmed so there was no chill in the air, even though the sun was setting. She sighed and leaned her head back, eyes closed, face to the sinking sun, the gentle breeze caressing her skin and riffling through her hair, carrying the delightful scents of earth, flowers and life to her. Tiny, asleep at her feet, snorted loudly and shifted a bit before resuming his deep regular snoring. She smiled.

  “You are stunning,” Val said softly as he stepped onto the patio. Lariah opened her eyes, her smile widening at the sight of him. She was struck anew by how handsome he and his brothers were. So tall and broad shouldered, all sculpted muscle covered with warm, cinnamon skin. She found herself wondering again if that skin tasted as hot and spicy as it looked. She felt a newly familiar tightening within her body as she imagined herself licking his skin, discovering for herself what it tasted like.

  Val’s eyes dropped to her breasts and she knew he could see that her nipples had hardened against the soft fabric. Instead of feeling shy or embarrassed, this time she enjoyed the way his stare made her feel. Sexy. Feminine. Aroused. His tongue peeked out from between his lips and heat shot through her as she remembered how his tongue had felt on her body.

  She felt Trey’s approach before he stepped onto the patio behind Val, barely noticing that she had felt him before seeing him. It had become almost normal to her now. The two men staring at her with heat in their eyes caused her nipples to harden even further, almost to the point of pain, and her pussy to spasm wetly. She daringly dropped her eyes to below their waists, the sight of the thick, hard bulges in their jeans causing the breath to catch in her throat. Surely those bulges indicated they at least liked what they saw, she told herself. Her confidence rising, she stood up and walked slowly toward them, putting her worries and fears behind her. She had decided during her shower that if she wanted them, she needed to let them know. And she had never wanted anything more in her life.

  She stopped in front of the two men and placed one hand on each broad chest. Raising herself up on her toes, she slowly leaned into Val for a kiss. His head lowered obligingly, his lips meeting hers, but letting her do what she wanted. She licked his lips slowly, teasing him, tasting him, then tilted her head and pressed her mouth to his in a deep kiss. The first she had ever in
itiated. After a moment, she pulled back, her eyes wide, her heart skipping a beat when she saw the unbridled lust in Val’s gray eyes.

  Her confidence now soaring, she leaned toward Trey and repeated the kiss. Trey’s eyes flared with heat, his arms coming around her and lifting her to his mouth when she began to pull back. She did not resist him, but melted into his arms as he plunged his tongue into her mouth.

  “Now there is a beautiful sight,” Garen breathed softly from the doorway. She had known Garen was there before he stepped outside. She turned her head slightly to face him, and smiled.

  Trey passed her tenderly into Garen’s arms and Lariah kissed him the same way she had kissed Val and Trey; long and deep.

  When she raised her head and licked her lips, she tasted Garen, Trey and Val all blended together. She shuddered as heat raced through her, hotter than anything she’d felt before. She felt Garen shiver in response, and she looked up into his eyes. He wanted her, and she knew it with every feminine instinct she possessed. So when Garen stiffened and stepped back away from her, letting his arms fall to his sides, she didn’t know what to think.

  For a moment she was so surprised she just stood there staring at him. Then, his deliberate rejection hit her with the force of a blow. She felt the blood drain from her face as she bowed her head, her shoulders hunching as she wrapped her arms around herself. She had never been more humiliated in her life, and worse, she knew that it was her own fault. She should never have thrown herself at them. She should have accepted their signals that they did not want her instead of trying to change their minds. What could she have been thinking? They were beautiful, strong, sexy, intelligent, not to mention royalty for goodness sake. She was too small, too weak, too freckled, too shy, too strange. Why in the name of all the stars would they want her?

  She could feel all three of them staring at her intently and she turned blindly toward the garden, her only thought to flee. She needed to be as far away from them as she could get before she humiliated herself further by bursting into tears.

  Before she had gone three steps Val stopped her, his strong arms wrapping gently but firmly around her. She trembled with the effort to hold back her tears as she tried to break his hold on her.

  “Easy, my heart,” he said softly, his lips brushing her ear as he spoke. She shook her head, unable to speak, and began to struggle harder.

  Her body froze before her mind fully registered Trey’s deep warning growl.

  “You hurt her,” Trey snapped angrily.

  There was a long, heavy silence that seemed to stretch forever before Garen broke it with his own rumbling growl.

  Oh no, she thought frantically, they cannot fight over me. Not because of me. She began to pant, harsh gasps interspersed with soft whimpers that she did not even notice as panic began to engulf her mind.

  “Lariah needs us,” Val snapped at his brothers, his voice low and hard. The growls ceased immediately, but Lariah didn’t notice. The panic already had her in its grip.

  Trey and Garen hurried to Val’s side, reaching out to place their hands on Lariah as they sent calming magic into her. She responded at once, her breathing slowing, her body beginning to relax, the whimpers fading away to silence. They waited patiently while Lariah came back to herself, giving her all the time that she needed. Only when she pressed her palms against Val’s chest, indicating a desire for distance, did they move. Val released her as Garen and Trey dropped their hands from her shoulders, allowing her to take a few steps back from them.

  Lariah kept her head bowed, her eyes on the ground. She opened her mouth as though to speak, then closed it, shaking her head slightly. She was just beginning to turn away from them when Garen took a step forward.

  “Forgive me, sharali,” he said. “I did not mean to hurt you, or to push you away.” Lariah’s shoulders twitched, a tiny movement that none of them missed. “I was so focused on withholding my own desires that I unintentionally hurt you.”

  Lariah’s head came up, her eyes meeting Garen’s, her expression one of wariness and confusion. Garen felt something twist inside of him to see that look in her eyes and know that he had put it there. At least she was listening, he thought. That meant he had a chance to repair the damage he had caused.

  “We want you so much,” he said, for once not trying to hide his own desperate need for her. “But after what we did to you in the bathroom your first day here, we have been trying to avoid pressing you into a sexual relationship.”

  Lariah frowned and gave her head a tiny shake.

  “When we become sexually excited we exude pheromones which increase and enhance a female’s sexual excitement,” he explained. “When we burst into your bath and saw you, we were so shocked, so unprepared, so filled with instant desire at the very sight of you, that our bodies automatically released a flood of pheromones. Usually we can control it, but it happened so quickly we didn’t have a chance. Nor did we stop to think that engaging in a sexual relationship so quickly was not in your best interests. And for that, we were shamed.”

  Garen sighed. “Afterward, we realized that we had not given you a choice. How could you help but react the way you did? We decided that we would wait, give you time to know us.”

  Lariah had been listening carefully up until that one sentence. How could you help but react the way you did? She heard nothing after that. Again hurt and humiliation swamped her. She blinked hard in an effort to hold back the tears.

  She had always known her fantasies were unacceptable. It was why she had never told anyone her deepest desires. Why she had never let anyone get close to her. Why she had lived her life in books and unfulfilled dreams. Until now. These men. It had been so perfect, she thought. What she had waited for. Longed for. Dreamed of. Now it was all ashes.

  Garen watched the color drain from Lariah’s face again, saw her shoulders tense and her fists clench. Something he had said had hurt her. What? He glanced at his brothers for help, but they looked as confused as he was. This was not going well at all.

  Garen thought rapidly, searching for the right thing to say. “Lariah,” he said, keeping his voice extra gentle. “We want only to make you happy and to please you. Why don’t you just tell us what types of things you generally prefer during sex?” There, he thought. That should be simple enough.

  Two bright spots of color appeared on her cheeks, the rest of her face so pale she was nearly white. Her body trembled. Garen began to feel panicky. He did not understand her reaction, what she was thinking or feeling, or why.

  “Lariah,” he tried again, but stopped when she lifted her chin and stared him straight in the eye.

  “I can’t tell you that as I have never had sex before,” she said in a flat voice. Then she turned and fled across the patio and into the guest room, sliding the door shut behind her.

  Garen stared speechlessly at Val and Trey. They were as startled as he was. He quickly went over everything he had said to Lariah and her reactions, in light of this stunning new information. He thought of how she had reacted to them in the bathroom, and the things they had said to her. His shoulders hunched as he realized that they had, in fact, both hurt and confused her.

  His head snapped up, his eyes glittering. Enough, he thought. They would settle this right now. No more of this tip-toeing around. Forget the advice of the council. Forget the concerns of every male-set on the planet. She was their Arima, and they would handle this their way, a decree he related to Val and Trey in no uncertain terms. They agreed with him completely.

  They paused for a moment to exult over the fact that Lariah was yet untouched. It would have changed nothing if she’d had a thousand sex partners before them. They still would have claimed her as their own, and it would not have changed how they felt about her or how they saw her. But there was something primitive in them that rejoiced in the knowledge that they would be the first, and last men to touch her intimately. Then they squared their shoulders and went in search of their Arima.

  They found her cu
rled into a ball in the middle of the large guestroom bed. Garen picked her up, settled himself against the headboard and cradled her in his lap. Val and Trey kicked off their shoes and lay down on either side of them, their heads near the foot of the bed so they could see her face.

  Her tears nearly broke their hearts. Val leaned in and kissed them away as Trey removed her sandals and rubbed her ankles. Garen brushed his thumbs back and forth against her stomach in a soothing gesture. They waited patiently until her tears stopped and she quieted.

  “We are very sorry for hurting you Lariah,” Trey said. “It was not our intent.”

  “Because you are the first Arima in thousands of years, we have received some...well, more than some...actually, more like mountains of advice from just about every member of our race on how best to treat you,” Val added. “Everyone is afraid we will scare you away. Their fear made us worry we had pushed you too hard with our pheromones, and also with our own intense desires and needs.”

  “We should have followed our own instincts Lariah. That we did not has caused you pain. Please forgive us,” Garen said softly.

  Lariah looked at each of them, their sincerity plain to see on their faces, in their voices and in their eyes. She sighed and snuggled herself a bit more comfortably into Garen’s arms.

  “We would now speak honestly with you Lariah,” Garen said, “and we would have you speak honestly with us. Do you agree?”

  Lariah bit her lip, and hesitated, but hope rose above her uncertainty.

  “Yes,” she replied. All three of the men released a sigh of relief, surprising Lariah. This meant a great deal to them, she realized. Suddenly she felt much better.

  “We are sexually dominant men,” Garen began, “and we want our woman, you, to be sexually submissive. As it was between us in the bathroom the other day.

  “At the same time, we do not want our needs to be the only ones addressed. We recognize that just because that is what we want, it may not be what you want. We meant only to give you a choice. We need you to tell us what you want.”