by S. E. Smith
Cornering Carmen: Dragon Lords of Valdier Book 5
Cornering Carmen:
Dragon Lords of Valdier Book 5
By S. E. Smith
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my husband Steve for believing in me and being proud enough of me to give me the courage to follow my dream. I would also like to give a special thank you to my sister and best friend Linda who not only encouraged me to write but who also read the manuscript. And last but not least, to my friend Lisa S. who listens to me, reads my stories, and encourages me to be me.
—S. E. Smith
Science Fiction Romance
CORNERING CARMEN: DRAGON LORDS OF VALDIER BOOK 5
Copyright © 2012 by Susan E. Smith
First E-Book Published December 2012
Cover Design by Melody Simmons
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission from the author.
All characters, places, and events in this book are fictitious or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations are strictly coincidental.
Synopsis
Carmen Walker has spent the last three years of her life focusing on avenging the murder of her husband. Following leads to the man responsible, she finally has a chance to bring closure to the overwhelming pain and grief that is slowly eating away at her. Catching a ride on the business jet her sister is co-piloting, she heads to California to meet with her informant. Plans change when one of the women on board is kidnapped when they land and Carmen is mortally wounded. She wakes to find herself on board an alien warship heading to a distant world.
Creon Reykill's skills as a warrior are legendary among the Valdier. He is credited with ending the wars between the Valdier and the Cruizan and Sarafin worlds and building a strong alliance with their former enemies. But, that victory came at a cost. Creon has given up hope of ever finding his true mate, believing his soul is too dark to ever be gifted with one.
That all changes when a small, delicate female unlike anything he has ever seen before is brought to his world. The moment he sees her, he knows she belongs to him. His dragon will do anything to claim her, his symbiot will do anything to protect her, and he would do anything to chase the shadows from her eyes. For he knows he has found the light to his darkness.
Now, the challenge will be to corner her long enough for her to realize he is the only one in the universe who can heal her shattered heart. She will fight him at every turn to return home to finish what she has started. He will do everything in his power to keep her by his side. It will take every skill he possesses to stay one step ahead of her.
Can he convince her to give love a second chance before she risks everything - including her life - for revenge?
Contents
Prologue 6
Chapter 1 11
Chapter 2 13
Chapter 3 19
Chapter 4 23
Chapter 5 28
Chapter 6 34
Chapter 7 40
Chapter 8 47
Chapter 9 53
Chapter 10 60
Chapter 11 67
Chapter 12 72
Chapter 13 77
Chapter 14 84
Chapter 15 91
Chapter 16 99
Chapter 17 110
Chapter 18 117
Chapter 19 124
Chapter 20 133
Chapter 21 140
Chapter 22 147
Chapter 23 154
Epilogue 158
PrologueFlorencia, Colombia three years earlier…
“Carmen, remember to watch your back,” Scott said as he brushed a kiss across her lips. He had a bad feeling about tonight. “I don’t like it. This meeting is too important for the drug cartel to ignore. If the governor of this region gets the support he needs the cartel will lose their hold on this area.”
Carmen smiled at her husband of four years. They may have only been married for a short time but he had been the love of her life since the first day of kindergarten when he stood up for her against another little girl who was picking on her. She wound her arms around his neck and buried her face against it, inhaling his wonderful scent.
“I will,” she whispered. “I have a good reason to be extra careful now,” she giggled.
Scott pulled back and looked down into Carmen’s glowing face. His eyes widened as her meaning sunk in. His face tightened with sudden concern. He should never have accepted this last assignment. He cursed under his breath as his mind ran through everything that might happen.
“Shush,” Carmen grinned up at him. “Tonight should be easy. You and your team are covering the governor and his wife. My team will cover their son. We meet at the airport and get them all on the plane. After that, the assignment is complete and we go home. We’ve covered every scenario,” she added as his arms wrapped around her tightly.
“When… when did you find out,” Scott asked hoarsely, moving one of his hands down to rest on Carmen’s still flat stomach.
“This morning,” she giggled again. “I had Maria get me a home pregnancy test while she was out.”
Scott wrapped his arms back around Carmen and held onto her as if she was the most precious thing in the world. She was to him. He had fallen in love with her the moment he stared into her dark brown eyes when they were both five years old. She had been standing in the playground with her fists raised and a stubborn, fierce expression on her face. He had stood there watching as Sally Mae took a step back as Carmen advanced on her. Sally Mae had been pulling on Carmen’s pigtails and she’d had enough of it. When one of Sally Mae’s second grade friends pushed Carmen down, Scott had enough. He went in swinging. No one messed with the little girl with eyes the color of dark chocolate, hair the color of the sun and the prettiest face he had ever seen.
Sally Mae and her friends had beaten him up but it was worth it. From that day forward, Carmen and he had been inseparable. When they reached high school, he had asked her to be his girl forever and she had agreed. Their parents had worried at first, but finally accepted the amazingly special feelings that Carmen and Scott had for each other. Scott had promised both his parents and Carmen’s he would wait until they married before he acted on his feelings. When Carmen’s parents were killed in a car accident during their senior year of high school, it had sealed his determination to care for the girl of his dreams. They had married days after graduation and embarked on the life of adventure they had talked about for years.
Now as Scott looked down into Carmen’s excited eyes, he wondered if he had made the right decisions. He should have called it quits six months ago. Carmen had wanted to accept this last assignment but he should have said no. Yes, it would give them the extra money they needed to set up their own business back home but the fear that something might happen to her flooded him with a need to protect her unlike anything he had ever felt before.
“I love you, Carmen Walker,” Scott said quietly. “Tonight is the last time. Tomorrow we go home and start a new life,” Scott murmured as he pulled back. “I don’t want you to go with the team tonight. I want you to wait for me here, where I know you will be safe.”
Carmen shook her head, laughing. “Are you getting all protective on me, Scott Michael Walker? Because if you are, let me remind you…” Carmen’s voice faded away as Scott pressed his lips against hers.
“Yes, I am. I’m also the boss of this operation if in case you don’t remember,” Scott said thickly. “Stay in the car at least. The rest of the team can make sure Jose is safely on board the plane.”<
br />
Carmen softened when she saw the fear in Scott’s eyes. “Okay,” she agreed, lovingly running her hand over his cheek.
*.*.*
Later that night the teams headed out. Each team would take a different route and use several different vehicles to transport the governor of the local providence in Colombia and his family to the airport. There had been increased threats against him from the local cartel group and Scott was taking every one of them seriously. He gave strict commands to the teams to not take any risks.
Scott came up to Carmen as she was about to get into the vehicle with Governor Alvaro’s ten year old son, Jose. He pulled her to one side and pressed a hard kiss to her lips. His eyes glittered with determination as he gazed down at her.
“If there is any trouble, if you get even the slightest itch that something is wrong, you get the hell out of there,” he said grimly. “You do whatever you have to do to remain safe, Carmen. You are my life. I love you.”
Carmen smiled up into Scott’s light green eyes. “Ditto for you. I love you so much. Stay safe,” she laid a protective hand over her stomach. “… For the both of us.”
Scott pressed another hard kiss on her lips before pulling away and yelling for everyone to get moving. He looked back at Carmen one last time before he moved toward the vehicle with the governor.
*.*.*
Carmen looked out at the darkness that surrounded the vehicle. The ride to the airport was thankfully uneventful. They had made several cutbacks before turning to come in from the north. Carmen was the only one who knew how they were approaching. Scott had made sure only the team leader of each vehicle knew the route in order to reduce the chance of a leak.
The black SUV pulled up to the gate. Marcus, one of their advance team members, opened the gate with a nod. He gave the signal that Scott and the others were already there. Scott was standing near the plane when they pulled up. Carmen slid out first, looking around. She nodded to the other two men in the car that it was clear. She smiled down at the frightened face of the little boy who had ridden in silence in the back seat.
“You will walk with me?” Jose asked in a small voice.
“Sí,” Carmen said gently in Spanish. “Come on, let’s get you to your parents.”
She reached her hand out and squeezed his in encouragement when he placed his smaller hand in hers. “It’s almost over,” she whispered with a wink.
His tentative smile broke her heart. A child should never have to feel this kind of fear. Scott had warned her that the cartel might target the boy in an effort to get back at the governor’s crackdown on them. Carmen would make sure they never got to him. Children were the essence of innocence and should be protected at all cost.
She was half way to the plane when the SUV they had just exited exploded, throwing all of them to the ground. Carmen instinctively rolled her body over Jose and covered his head. She heard the sounds of automatic gunfire in the distance above the sound of the jet’s engines revving up. She shook her head to clear the ringing in her ears. Carlos and Enrique were struggling to get up next to her. She forced her body up, pulling Jose with her. She made sure she shielded him as she pushed him toward the plane. Carlos was firing behind them at several vehicles that burst through the gates and were approaching at a high rate of speed.
Carmen saw Scott returning fire at the approaching vehicles even as he ran toward her. Carmen gasped out as she felt a bullet pierce her thigh. She collapsed with a cry. Enrique swooped in, grabbing Jose up and running toward the plane with Carlos covering his back. Carmen rolled, gripping her leg with one hand while she fired her semi-automatic 9 mm handgun at the vehicles.
Gunfire erupted again and Carmen jerked as one of the bullets hit her in the arm knocking her backwards into the pavement. Her head turned when she heard other bullets hitting something else not far from her. A cry of denial ripped from her as she watched Scott’s body jerk as a series of shots cut through him. He collapsed about eight feet from her. Carmen fought through the agony searing through her body, determined to get to the man she loved. She made it to within three feet of him before a set of polished shoes stood in her line of vision.
The figure bent down, gripping her uninjured shoulder, and turned her over until she was staring straight up into the black eyes of Javier Cuello. Carmen’s eyes moved away from his cold ones, trying to find Scott. Her only thought was to get to him.
“So much beauty,” Javier said softly, brushing a strand of white blonde hair back from Carmen’s face and turning her head toward him. “I heard about the young American security team that was protecting the governor and his family. My informants did not lie when they said the woman was of exceptional beauty,” he said, chuckling when Carmen tried to turn her head again.
Javier looked over to where Scott was lying, fighting for breath. “He means something to you, sí? The others, they do not care so much for you. They have left you all alone,” he tsked, shaking his head and running his thumb over her bottom lip. “Perhaps I should keep you as a prize.”
Carmen’s eyes glittered with fury. “Go to hell. You are a coward and a bully,” Carmen choked out hoarsely.
Javier chuckled. “A bully?” He responded, laughing out loud as he looked at his men. “I have not been called a bully since I was a child,” he said, turning to look back down at Carmen with a cold smile. “No little American, I am not a bully. I am a cold-hearted murderer.”
A sob escaped Carmen as she followed Javier as he stood up and walked over to where Scott was lying. Scott looked up at Javier before he turned his eyes to Carmen. She saw love, acceptance, and regret in his eyes.
“No!” Carmen tried to scream out. “You get away from him! You get away from him!” She sobbed out, struggling to move.
Javier nodded to one of his men to hold Carmen down as he used his foot to nudge Scott. “You do not need to worry. I will take very good care of your woman,” Javier grinned as he pulled a handgun out of his pocket. “For a very, very long time,” he added before he pulled the trigger.
Carmen’s screams pierced the night. Tears burned but refused to fall as she watched the man who meant the world to her jerk once before remaining still. A cold enveloped her body and soul as she stared into Scott’s sightless eyes. Her fingers gripped the knife she had unsheathed at her side. Her eyes moved back to Javier who shook his head in distaste before he slid the handgun back into his pocket.
“Now, I have taken care of the competition,” he said casually, moving to squat down next to Carmen again. “Now, you will be mine.”
“When hell freezes over,” Carmen said in an emotionless voice as she raised the knife she had clutched tightly in her fist.
She buried the knife as far as it would go in Javier’s thigh. He fell backwards with a strangled curse, grabbing the knife sticking out of his leg. One of his men drew his gun and fired it into Carmen several times while several other men pulled Javier away from her. She smiled as she listened to the faint sounds of Javier’s screams as they moved him back to his vehicle. In the distance, she heard the sounds of sirens but none of it mattered to her. She used the last of her strength to reach her good arm out to where Scott lay near her. She needed to touch him one last time. A sob caught in her battered body even as the flashing lights swirled around them.
I need to touch him… one… last… time, she thought hazily as her fingers tenderly skimmed his cheek before darkness swept her away.
Chapter 1Aboard the Valdier Warship V’ager: Present Day
Carmen stood frozen on the transporter platform. A part of her wanted to rebel against leaving the alien warship she had woken up on weeks before. She was afraid that once she was off the warship all chances of finding a way home would be gone. She looked over at her sister. She knew deep down Ariel was relieved at the strange turn of events in their lives. Ariel believed that Carmen would have to give up her thirst for revenge now.
That would never happen, Carmen thought sadly. If it is the last thing I ever do,
I will return to Earth.
Carmen didn’t remember the actual moment she was brought aboard the warship. She had been dying. The man who kidnapped Abby, the artist who had been traveling with them, had pulled a knife on her. She didn’t see him pull it until it was too late. She had been distracted by the sounds of some wild animals they had spooked. Or at least, she had thought they were wild animals. Carmen wasn’t sure what category men who changed into dragons would be classified as in the scientific world. Personally, she really didn’t give a rat’s ass. Her biggest concern was to get back home.
At first, a part of her was furious that she would die before she had finished what she had promised Scott. Even as that fury washed through her, another part of her was relieved that the intense pain she had lived with for the past three years was about to end once and for all. She had given in to the sense of peace that enfolded her in its tight arms, ready to join Scott at last.
When she awoke almost a month ago in the medical unit aboard an alien warship, fury flooded her. She had cheated death again. She had spent the first week taking her rage out on the men on board the warship in the hope they would just put her out of her misery. After the first week, though, she had to reluctantly admit she had grown to like the oddball aliens. They had an off-the-wall sense of humor about them.
And, they were good fighters, she thought, glaring at a couple of the men looking at her in a way that made her uncomfortable.
She knew they only went to the medical unit to make her feel good. She might have given them a few new bruises but she had never really hurt any of them. Well, except for the couple of guys the first time when she was still in the medical unit. Ariel, Trisha, and she had taken them by surprise and used a couple of less than fair blows to knock them out. That was when the anger had been at its zenith. Afterwards, it was almost fun when one of the warriors would come to the door of their rooms anticipating her response.
She used that time to practice and develop her skills. She learned from the men she fought, enjoying their greater strength and agility. It helped her get back into shape, made the time aboard seem to fly by, and honed her fighting skills. She figured she could use all the skills she could learn when she got back to Earth. She would need them to get to Cuello when she found him.