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

by Laura Jo Phillips

  “Why, then, do you say she is wise?” Garen asked.

  “Because she is correct,” Eldar Hamat pointed out. “She is human, and as such she cannot be your Arima. Yet. Therefore, she is your potential Arima.”

  “I had not thought of it that way,” he said. “Still, there is a chance that performing the ritual with her could harm, or even kill her.”

  Eldar Hamat remained silent. What Garen said was true, and he would not encourage them one way or another in this. No matter what anyone else thought, this was a decision that must be made by the Princes alone.

  Garen stood and bowed deeply, Trey and Val doing the same at his sides. “We thank you for your wise counsel Eldar Hamat,” he said. “You have given us much to think on.”

  Eldar Hamat stood, and returned the bow, touched by the honor done to him. “If you have any questions, or wish to discuss the matter further, I am always at your disposal,” he said sincerely before reaching out and closing the connection.

  As the screen went dark Garen sat down and looked to his brothers. “Eldar Hamat has given us much to think about that is interesting. But nothing has changed. I still cannot bear to risk losing her,” he admitted.

  “Nor I,” Val said. “But she is correct. We did not ask her what she wanted. I had no idea that she wanted children and a family so much. How is it that we did not know that about her?”

  “Because we did not want to know it,” Trey said. “She was also correct that we made our decision based on what we want, and we want her above all things. We do not want to know or hear anything that will risk her.”

  “That is true,’ Garen said, “but even knowing that our decision hurts her and is unfair to her, I cannot change it. I cannot risk her. I love her.”

  “We all do,” Trey said. “Just as we all know she will call Sanctuary the first chance she gets and then she will be lost to us unless we break our own laws. We must think of a way to change her mind. Or at least compromise with her.”

  “That is not going to be easy,” Garen argued. “We need more time.”

  “So, let’s ask her to give us more time,” Val suggested. “What is the hurry? “

  “You are correct,” Garen said. “There is no reason to rush this. It is a decision that can be made at any time.”

  “Good,” Trey said. “Let’s go and ask her to give us time.

  Lariah lay on the bed, her heart aching with the knowledge of what she had to do. She had hoped that Garen, Val and Trey would agree to let her go, but she had not really believed that they would. Now she would have to leave behind their backs, and she knew that would hurt them.

  She would wait until they were out of the house and then she would use the vox to contact the Sanctuary. She knew that once a female requested sanctuary, not even the princes would be able to force them to release her. Once she entered Sanctuary, she would remain there for the rest of her days.

  She felt Garen, Val and Trey approaching before she heard the door open. A moment later Garen scooped her up, then lay down on the bed and settled her on top of him. As Trey and Val joined them, one on either side, snuggling close so that they could put their arms around her, she knew that she should ask them to leave, but she could not bring herself to do it. She needed the feel of them surrounding her. If it was selfish of her when she knew she was going to leave, then so be it.

  “We ask for a compromise, sharali,” Garen said, his chest rumbling against her ear as he spoke.

  She opened her eyes and looked into Trey’s blue-green gaze. The sadness she saw there put a lump in her throat. “What kind of compromise?” she asked.

  “We want time,” Trey said.

  Lariah felt her heart leap but she quickly stifled it. She had to be realistic.

  “Time for what?” she asked.

  “Riata has said that she believes it possible to make the needed alterations to your genetic code to prevent the degenerative aging process,” Val told her.

  “So I would live forever, knowing I could never give you children?” Lariah asked.

  Garen’s arms tightened around her. “Perhaps, given more time, a way will be found to make that possible,” he said.

  “Do you not care enough for us to give us this chance?” Trey asked. Though he tried to hide it, she heard the sadness in his voice. Tears filled her eyes.

  “Of course I do,” she said. “I love you, all of you. You know that.”

  “Will you give us this time then?” Garen asked.

  “Yes, of course,” Lariah agreed.

  Garen smiled.

  “But, you have to promise me that you will not keep information about this from me. You must share with me whatever is learned on this matter.”

  “Very well, you have our word,” Garen said, Val and Trey nodding in agreement.

  “Thank you,” she said, relief filling her. She didn’t have to leave now.

  Garen turned her over and the three of them began removing her clothes. “I think we should destroy these clothes of yours,” Val said grumpily. “I never want to see them on you again.”

  “I agree,” Trey said. A loud tearing sound filled the room and she turned her head to see the remains of her shirt flutter to the floor, a satisfied expression on Val’s face. Another tearing sound and she turned toward Trey, biting back a smile at the smug look on his face as he tossed the remains of her baggy jeans toward a corner of the room.”

  “That reminds me,” Garen said, the tone of his voice warning her that she might not like what was coming. “Your accusation that we would simply wait for you to die, then go find another woman, was unfair and unwarranted.”

  Lariah craned her neck around so she could see his face. He spoke lightly, but she heard the hurt hidden beneath, and saw it in his eyes.

  “I am sorry,” she said, meaning it. “I was not trying to be hurtful, just honest.”

  “Nevertheless, you should know that you are the only woman for us. There cannot be another. Should something happen to you, we will spend the remainder of our days alone, missing you until we are able to join you in the next life.”

  Lariah was stunned. “No, I do not want that for you,” she said quickly. “No matter what happens to me, you must live your lives and be happy.”

  “It is not a choice for us Lariah,” Val said. “You are our Arima, the only woman we will ever love or feel desire for. That is the way of things for Jasani. Besides, even if we could select another woman, we would not. We love you Lariah,” Val said. “We will always love you, and we will never be happy without you.”

  “I am sorry,” she said again, unable to think of anything else to say.

  “There is no need to say you are sorry precious one,” Garen said with a smile, “as we intend to punish you.”

  Lariah felt the familiar clenching of her pussy at his words, but she tried not to let her reaction show.

  “Punish me?” she asked archly. “For being honest?”

  “No, for spouting nonsense,” Garen growled at her.

  “What kind of punishment?” she asked, unable to stop the question from slipping out.

  “What you said was very hurtful to us,” Garen said. “We think it deserves a spanking.”

  “In fact, we each plan to spank you,” Val added.

  “You are going to be red for a week.” Trey promised her.

  Lariah shuddered, her pussy so wet from their words that she could already feel her cream running down her thighs.

  “And when do you plan on doing this?” she asked, her voice a husky whisper.

  “Oh, right now,” Garen said, pulling her up for a hot kiss as Trey and Val slid off the bed and began removing their clothes.

  Lariah wasn’t worried. She knew that while her men would definitely spank her, it would be done in a way that brought pleasure to all of them.

  She was right.

  Slater was beside himself with frustration. After weeks of repeated attempts to work the spell into the human male’s flesh, his success was not what
he had desired it to be. He wanted to be able to set Frith loose, on his own, to perform the desired task, with no risk to himself. But it hadn’t quite worked out that way.

  Frith was exceedingly angry, and consistently willing to go back to Jasan and kill the Dracons’ woman. In that respect the spell had worked very well.

  Unfortunately, the spell had also destroyed Frith’s ability to hold any other thought in his head for longer than a few short hours. And that time was becoming increasingly shorter. There was also the strange phenomenon that caused him to be unable to hold any nourishment. Slater wasn’t sure what had caused that. Fortunately, Frith had been very fat to start with. He was thin now, but Slater thought he would last a bit longer. Whatever he was going to do, he needed to do it soon or Frith would simply die of starvation.

  Slater sighed, a long, drawn out hiss that caused Frith to twitch in his sleep. Obviously he could not be sent to Jasan on his own. Slater had checked a map of Jasan and knew that the spaceport was several hours from Granite Falls, the town nearest the Dracons’ ranch. Frith would never manage to hold his concentration long enough to make the trip on his own.

  On the other hand, he should be able to focus for the length of time it would take him to travel from Granite Falls to the ranch. Slater was certain Frith would single mindedly go after and kill, or attempt to kill, the woman so long as he was set loose close enough to her.

  Slater hissed again, his tail twitching angrily. He had planned all along to accompany Frith to the skyport. That was necessary in order to get the man through the security check. It would require a large amount of magic for Slater to accomplish that, but he had every confidence that he could do it. What made Slater angry was the realization that if he wanted the plan to work, and he very much did, then he was going to have to accompany Frith to the planet surface. And that was something he had not planned on doing.

  Slater reined in his anger and tried to concentrate. After a while, he decided that his original plan for Frith to get from the spaceport to Granite Falls was still the best one. The only difference would be that Slater would have to manage the details, and the driving, himself. That decided, Slater felt much better.

  The only remaining problem was that he had not planned a return trip for Frith. There had been no need. Even if Frith succeeded in his task and escaped afterward, Slater had no need or desire for the human to return to him. Now however, Slater did need a return plan. For himself.

  Slater sat so long trying to solve the problem that Frith had awakened, wandered around mumbling for awhile and fallen asleep again. Then, at long last, a thought occurred to him. At first, the idea was so startling that Slater initially rejected it. But it kept coming back until, finally, he examined the idea. In the end, he decided, why not? The more he thought about it, the more appealing the idea became. His face stretched into a terrifying smile that, had Frith been awake to see it, might well have frightened the angry bully to death.

  Chapter 16

  Garen closed his connection and sat staring at the blank vid screen for a long time. The meeting had been unexpected, but very good news. Jung Del had stretched his considerable resources thin by placing an agent in as many skyports, transfer stations and fuel docks as possible between Earth and Jasan in the hope that Loggia would be spotted. Finally, luck had been on their side. Loggia and his men were sighted refueling at a transfer station near Sheara 4. They had not stayed long, and had gone off the screens immediately after leaving the dock, but that was expected. Now they knew where Loggia was, and it seemed clear that he was, indeed, heading for Jasan. Just as they had planned. They also now knew that it would take about another month for them to complete their journey. Garen was excited and could hardly wait to share the news with his brothers.

  He stood and hurried across the office, his step light. He paused in the living room doorway, a sense of peace and completeness stealing through him at the sight before him.

  Trey sprawled in the corner of the sofa, one foot on the floor, the other stretched out before him, Lariah cradled in his lap, leaning against his chest, her bare legs stretched out alongside Trey’s. Val sat on the floor, his back against the sofa, his head back and resting against Lariah’s hip. Trey had one hand in Lariah’s hair, stroking her soothingly as he read from a report held in his other hand. Lariah held a book in her lap, one hand in Val’s hair. They were all relaxed, connected, at peace.

  His heart swelled with the happiness and pride he felt, with the love he felt for them all. Children had never been more than a distant dream to him, something he had wanted, but always second to their Arima. He knew that having little ones would be an added blessing to their lives, but he was willing to set that dream aside in favor of the reality that was Lariah.

  Sensing his presence, his family looked up at him. Family, he thought, rolling the word around in his mind, testing it. He, Val and Trey had always been brothers, always a team, but until Lariah had come into their lives, they had not been a family. Somehow, she completed them, connected them, even without the ability to link their souls together. Because of her, they were now a family.

  Garen crossed the room and joined Trey and Lariah on the sofa, sitting at the opposite end and lifting her feet into his lap. “How is your bottom feeling tonight?” he asked her. She blushed red.

  It was amazing to him how quickly she blushed, even after all they had done together. He hoped she never stopped. He found he greatly enjoyed her blushes. He remembered how red she had gotten when they discovered, after her punishment for trying to leave them, that so long as her bottom was red and hot from a spanking, she remained hot and wet for them. Even her tender pink bud, which was usually tense and required careful preparation, remained relaxed and ready for them so long as she was still feeling the effects of a sound spanking. They quickly discovered that as soon as the redness faded, so did the constant arousal. They had since spent a lot of their free time trying to think up reasons to punish her. Her most recent punishment had been for forgetting to eat lunch while working with Pater in the garden.

  “It’s fine,” she said, trying to sound casual.

  “Is it still red and hot?” he asked.

  “Not so much,” she replied, her eyes stubbornly glued to the book in her lap.

  “Ah, that is too bad,” he said. She peeked up at him and lifted a brow. He attempted to look sad. “We just love the sight and feel of that little bottom when it is so red and hot.”

  “Yes, interesting isn’t it?” Val asked innocently. “The longer we spank her, the hotter and wetter that sweet pussy stays for us.”

  “Let’s not forget her ass,” Trey added. “That stays hot and soft for days as well, if we keep it well spanked. Then it’s so easy to just slide in and fuck hard and deep.”

  None of them missed Lariah’s reactions to their talk. She was squeezing her thighs together, her fists clenched in her lap, her breathing getting heavy, though she tried to hide it. They could smell her arousal, knew she was already hot and wet for them.

  “Well, I haven’t done anything wrong so you can’t punish me again,” she said as primly as she could manage considering the heat washing through her.

  Garen sighed. “That is true,” he agreed. “Too bad.”

  “Hey, I have an idea,” Val said, sounding as though it was anything but a new “idea.”

  Lariah did not rise to the bait, so Trey was forced to. “What is that, Val” he asked, his tone way too innocent.

  “What if we bribe her?” Val suggested. Lariah narrowed her eyes at him but he pretended not to notice.

  “I think that is a great idea!” Garen exclaimed with far too much enthusiasm. “What do you think sharali, can we bribe you into letting us spank you red again?”

  Lariah shuddered. She was hopeless. But she wasn’t going to give in that easily, even if she did want it as much as they did.

  “I don’t know,” she replied. “I guess it depends on how good the bribe is.” If they thought she could be bought with
sweets and kisses, they had better think again.

  “Hmmm…,” Garen said, tapping his cheek thoughtfully. “You know, there was a delivery today that I think might do the trick. What do you guys think?”

  Val and Trey shrugged. “It’s worth a try,” Trey replied.

  “I agree,” Garen said. He removed Lariah’s feet from his lap, then got up and left the room. When he came back he was carrying a large wooden crate which he placed on the low table in front of the sofa. He flipped up the lid and lifted out the item on top, grinning at the expression of shocked wonder on Lariah’s face.

  She reached out one hand to touch the green leather cover of the book, as though testing to see if it was real. “This is one of those books that was on display in that window.”

  “Yes,” he said simply, placing the large book in her hands before reaching into the crate for another one. Lariah gasped and stood up to look down into the crate.

  “You bought all of them?” she asked, her voice squeaking with surprise.

  “Of course,” Garen replied smugly. “What good would it be without all of them? I believe there are twelve volumes in all.”

  “But, they must have been so expensive,” she said.

  “You wanted them, we wanted you to have them,” Garen said with a shrug.

  Her eyes suddenly filled with tears. Garen’s eyes widened in horror and he looked quickly at his brothers. They were equally horrified by her reaction.

  “Did you not want them?” he asked uncertainly.

  She wiped her eyes and smiled. “Yes, very much,” she replied. “I have always dreamed of owning a real book, but on Earth such things are not possible unless one is very wealthy.” She shrugged. “Even money cannot buy what does not exist. Printed books are very difficult to find.”

  “Well little love,” Trey said, “this is not Earth, and the expense is not an issue.”

  “Are you certain?” she asked doubtfully.

  “Trust us in this,” Val said.

  She nodded her head slowly. “Alright,” she agreed. She turned her gaze back to the books and smiled radiantly as she ran her fingers over the rich, smooth covers. After a moment she set them carefully on the table, stood up and threw her arms around Garen’s neck, kissing him soundly. She then did the same for Trey and Val. “I hardly know how to thank you,” she said.