by S. E. Smith
Jaguin’s Love:
Dragon Lords of Valdier Book 8
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 Sally, Debbie, Julie, Jolanda and Narelle, who listen to me, read my stories, and encourage me to be me.
—S. E. Smith
Montana Publishing
Science Fiction Romance
JAGUIN’S LOVE: DRAGON LORDS OF VALDIER BOOK 8
Copyright © 2016 by Susan E. Smith
First E-Book Published June 2016
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, locales, or organizations are strictly coincidental.
Summary: An alien warrior discovers his mate close to death and will do whatever it takes to heal her, even if it means setting her free.
ISBN: 978-1-942562-93-1 (Paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-942562-94-8 (eBook)
Published in the United States by Montana Publishing.
{1. Science Fiction Romance. – Fiction. 2. Science Fiction – Fiction. 3. Paranormal – Fiction. 4. Romance – Fiction.}
www.montanapublishinghouse.com
Synopsis
Jaguin is one of the finest trackers on Valdier. To date, there is only one thing he has never been successful at finding – his true mate. That failure is eating away at him and his dragon. Even his symbiot is feeling the drain as the centuries crawl by with no end to the emptiness gnawing away at them. Hope flares with the discovery of a species that is compatible with their own. The Lords of Valdier have found their true mates on a distant planet, bringing hope to the warriors of Valdier where females are few and true mates almost non-existent.
Jaguin is rewarded for his help in tracking one of the Lord’s stubborn females with the promise of a chance to find his own true mate on the planet called Earth. His search appears fruitless until the last mission before they are to leave.
Sara Wilson is a botanist working with the National University of Colombia. Her love of plants and their potential for medicinal uses consume her life. She feels confident she is on the verge of a breakthrough when she is kidnapped by a cartel boss with only one thing on his mind – to extract revenge. A revenge that not only comes close to taking her life, but will change it forever.
After a fruitless search for his mate, Jaguin accepts one last assignment to guard Lord Creon’s mate, Carmen, during a mission to seek justice against the man who brutally murdered her husband back on Earth. Instead, he finds his true mate in the
man’s cruel clutches, barely clinging to life. His only thought is to spirit her away where he and his symbiot can heal her and his dragon can claim her.
The scars left during her captivity run deep inside Sara as she struggles to come to terms with her new life. She is no longer on Earth but the fear and terror still haunt her.
She needs time to discover who she is again and whether this is a life she can accept.
Can Jaguin’s love heal the scars on the inside or will his true mate believe she has traded one monster for another?
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
About the Author
Chapter 1
With growing apprehension, Jaguin moved down the long interior corridor of the building he and his companions just entered. His gaze swept warily over the area, searching for danger. This mission was supposed to be simple, protect the mate of his prince, Carmen Walker-Reykill. The trouble was that there was never anything simple when it came to the unusual human female. Personally, he would have felt much better if Creon, her mate, had simply tied Carmen up and left her on board the spaceship or back at the ranch belonging to their human ally, Paul Grove.
Pushing down the feeling, he once more scanned the interior walls inside Javier Cuello’s house, searching for any type of detection equipment, or weapons, that might warn the human that they were there. There was nothing but polished dark wood and off-white walls. A few paintings hung to brighten the décor, but that was all as far as he could tell.
He suspected the human male they were seeking was overconfident. Cuello was relying on those he hired to protect him. It might have worked – against other humans – but the few soldiers patrolling the area or stationed in the tall towers outside were no match against him, Gunner, Creon, or their symbiots.
They were not from this world, but from Valdier, an alien world light-years away. The Valdier were a dragon-shifting species known in their star system for their fierceness in battle. It did not take them long to take care of the men outside before moving to the interior where Javier Cuello lived. As a Valdier warrior, he and the others of his kind were a powerful opponent when on a mission. They were made up of not one, but three components that made them a deadly force against their enemies. The first is the man; the secondary form is his dragon; and then his symbiot. They worked as a team to overcome any threat. It was the Goddess’ way of balancing them. Their curse was that they could only find their true mate when all three accepted the female.
That was an almost impossible task given how hard-headed and picky my symbiot and dragon are, he thought with a sigh of resignation and acceptance.
Jaguin’s gaze moved once more to the female beside him. A wave of envy swept through him for a moment. He and many of the other warriors on Valdier had given up hope of ever finding their true mates. Unmated females on Valdier had grown fewer and fewer over the centuries, leaving most warriors with a growing feeling of despair from never finding a mate. Without one, they eventually lost all hope. Their dragon’s need to mate would drive them mad and they could only hope to die in battle before that occurred. Jaguin understood those feelings and the growing concern all too well.
The fact that he was having difficulty controlling his dragon at this moment proved he was nearing the time when he would have to return to his home in the mountains. He would have to admit to the elders that his time had come to move on to the next life.
He had hoped to find a true mate among the humans, just as Creon and his brothers did. He had searched for the last few weeks, but none of the females he saw from a distance stirred the dragon in him or excited his symbiot. It was time to admit that it was not his destiny to find a mate in this lifetime.
This was not the Valdier’s first trip to this planet, though it was for him. Zoran Reykill, the leader of the Valdier, had discovered this strange, beautiful world after escaping captivity from a traitorous group of individuals intent on restarting the war between the Valdier, Curizan, and Sarafin. The previous visits were to retrieve the father of Kelan Reykill’s true mate, Paul Grove. This trip was different, though. This time they were there so that Carmen Reykill could find closure against the man who had
killed her previous mate and unborn child.
Jaguin understood Carmen’s need for revenge. He also knew the dangers involved in such a mission. Emotions often ran high in situations such as this and they could lead to deadly mistakes. It was his and Gunner’s responsibility to make sure that nothing happened to Carmen. If she died, then so would their prince to whom they had sworn their allegiance. What made it even more challenging was the fact that Carmen was obviously pregnant. The male in him wanted to protect her, while the dragon wanted to lock her in a padded room where nothing could touch her.
The wave of unease flowing through him increased, clawing at his insides like his dragon shredding the flesh of his prey. He could feel both his symbiot and his dragon pushing against him. Something was wrong. He felt the sensation growing the closer they got to the compound. Scales rippled over his skin beneath the cover of his shirt, re-enforcing the feeling of his dragon’s growing agitation the closer they got to the room.
Something not right, his dragon suddenly growled inside of him. I smell blood.
Jaguin could almost taste the coppery-scent in the air. Concerned, he shot a sharp glance to Creon Reykill. Creon returned his wary look with a barely perceptible nod. He smelled it as well.
Jaguin felt his symbiot’s agitation as it moved beside him. Its body shimmered, reflecting the colors of the hallway, and it continually shifted from one form to another as if it wasn’t sure what to expect. That in itself heightened Jaguin’s concern for the delicate, yet fierce female between him and Gunner.
“I don’t like this,” Gunner mumbled under his breath. “Creon, I think one of us should escort Lady Carmen out of here.”
“No,” Carmen hissed, staring at a door at the end of the corridor that a young human female silently pointed to when they entered the building. “I have to finish this.”
“Stay close,” Creon growled under his breath. “Remember your promise to me, Carmen.”
Jaguin saw Carmen’s gaze soften for a moment when she turned to look at Creon. “I will. I promise,” she whispered.
“At the first sign of danger, get her out of here,” Creon muttered to him before turning back toward the door. “Open it!” He ordered with a wave of his hand to his symbiot.
Jaguin heard Creon’s soft curse before he waved his hand to his symbiot. In a flash, the golden body shot forward, bursting through the thick double doors at the end of the corridor. The symbiot’s body shifted, forming long tentacles that reached out and wrapped around the men inside the room. Jaguin moved forward to cover Carmen’s body with his own while Gunner took the position behind her.
The first thing that struck Jaguin when they entered was the overwhelming smell of blood. His symbiot surged past him and he felt a sharp pain lance through his body at its distress. The intensity of it left him stunned and he actually stumbled a step before recovering. His gaze swept the room before it froze in horror on the figure hanging limply from a roughly constructed frame. The body of the slender human female was covered in blood; her head was bent forward, allowing the long, thick braid of blonde hair to partially conceal her face. Her arms were stretched at a painful angle, supporting her body and making the torture that much worse.
A suffocating rage struck him hard followed by an intense wave of unexpected grief. Shock held him motionless for a moment. The rage he could understand… but the grief? He drew in a shaky breath when his symbiot turn to him. He could feel its plea for help. His dragon strained to get to the woman. It was then he understood their powerful reaction, he had finally found the one thing he had spent centuries searching for.
Our mate! His dragon roared in grief.
*.*.*
Sara Wilson clung to the small thread of life like a starving dog to a bone. She had passed beyond pain, her mind in a dazed fog. She knew enough about the human body to know that her body wasn’t ready to give up yet. Her heart was still young and strong. It was her spirit that was slowly fading.
She was barely conscious. A part of her was afraid to give into the darkness clouding the corners of her vision. She was afraid if she did, that she might never wake up again. She wanted to live despite what was happening to her.
Her arms ached from holding her weight. There was nothing she could do about it, her legs refused to support her any longer. A part of her wished she had been a little more vocal when she called the men in the room sick cowards who didn’t have the balls to face her one at a time. The sane part of her brain chided her for provoking them in the first place.
Emma had warned her. The younger girl gave Sara broken and tortured words of caution not to fight against the men.
“They’ll kill you like they did the other girl,” Emma had whispered. “They’ll beat you and let you heal before they beat you again. Don’t fight them. They killed her when she fought back.”
Emma had grown quiet after that, not talking. Sara understood why now. This was her second session with the insane bastards. The first time she had listened to Emma and kept her mouth shut.
They laughed when they beat her the first time. Her face, arms, and torso still showed the marks of that beating. She didn’t know who the woman – Carmen – was that Cuello kept calling her when he struck her, she just hoped to hell that the bastard never found the woman. The hatred in his gaze and in his words was easy to understand, he wanted to kill her. She and Emma were, unfortunately, a poor substitute for Carmen Walker.
Sara tried to keep quiet when their guard shoved them into the room, she really did, at least until she saw what they were planning! The guard grabbed Emma first. Sara couldn’t stand the thought of the younger, more delicate, woman being whipped. She fought – and lost.
She cursed them, struggling to break free of the bonds. When the first licks of the whip slashed across her flesh, she screamed. She sealed her lips together after realizing that the more she cried out, the more Cuello laughed. Her silence infuriated him. The only thing that helped Sara was that Cuello had no idea just how stubborn she could be. She grew up surrounded by ten cousins, all boys, in a home from hell. Her mom was young when she had Sara. It was easier to dump Sara on her older sister and pretend that the birth never happened.
The problem was her aunt had five boys of her own and discovered being a foster mom earned her extra cash. The only girl, Sara, was shuffled to the attic of the old farmhouse along with all the discards and forgotten pieces of junk.
Sara learned two important things during her time in the hills of the Appalachian Mountains: stay outside as much as possible and never show your fear. She grew up fighting for leftovers at the dinner table among other things. When some of the boys, including two of her cousins, thought it would be fun to play doctor, she learned to fight with her fists, feet, and anything else she could use.
When she complained to her aunt and uncle, they both called her a troublemaker looking for attention and shuffled her up to the attic to think about her wicked ways. Sara snuck out of the window and climbed down the old water tower next to the house.
When she was sixteen, she left and never looked back. A teacher during her tenth year at school introduced her to the freedom she could have if she focused on her education. Sara did that, not stopping until she reached her dream of independence. She achieved her Doctorate in Herbal Medicine and Botany. That was the only thing she could credit to her childhood – her fascination with plants and what they could be used for.
Sara didn’t know what had stopped the agonizing torture, but she was thankful. The sound of an explosion pulled her back from the brink of oblivion. She tried to raise her head, but it took more energy than she had left inside her. Instead, she vaguely hoped that it was the Colombian army invading to stop Cuello. She doubted that was the case, but a detached part of her brain held to the stubborn wish.
The soft sound of claws against the polished wood caught her attention. Forcing her eyelids to open, she thought she saw a flash of gold. A moan escaped her as she sagged, causing even more of a strain on her al
ready stretched arms.
“Cut her down,” a voice said behind her.
The stubborn hope flared once again. Her session was over. She only hoped that didn’t mean it was Emma’s turn. Fear rose inside her and she weakly struggled against the restraints.
“No,” she protested, her voice a faint, thread of sound.
“You’re alive!” A husky male voice responded.
Another moan escaped Sara as her wrists were suddenly freed. Something soft and warm moved over her skin and covered her shredded back. Almost immediately, the pain dissolved. Hard, muscular arms wrapped around her when she started to sink to the floor.
“Don’t…,” she forced out, unable to open her eyes to look at the man holding her.
“Don’t what, my mate?” The voice whispered.
Sara’s foggy brain heard the words, but couldn’t comprehend them. It was taking everything inside her to remain conscious despite the soothing feeling along her back. Whatever they had decided to place on it was taking all the pain, burning and stinging away. She wondered if it was a type of plant found locally.
“Don’t… hurt Emma,” she finally finished, forcing her tired brain back to her current situation. “I… can take… it.”
A warm, soothing hand ran down along her face, brushing the loose strands of hair back. She wanted to turn her cheek into it. Fear pulled at her. What if this was another trick? What if they wanted her to think they were stopping only to start all over again? Her mind shattered at the thought and she released the slender hold she had on her consciousness. Warmth surrounded her as she fell into the inky darkness. For the first time in her life, for a few brief seconds, Sara felt safe, protected. Then, she let go and everything went blissfully silent.
“Never, my fierce flower, never again,” the voice said.