Dragon Lords Books 1 - 4 Box Set: Anniversary Edition (39 page)

“Yes, I do mind,” she said. “It’s none of your business.”

“Nadja,” he warned.

“Weren’t you just yelling at me a minute ago? Something about you not trusting me? Or was it that you think I’m too stupid and would kill you by accident?”

“What are you up to?” Olek asked, suddenly realizing that he may have intense feelings for his wife, but the crystal didn’t make him know her. There was a wealth of secrets behind her eyes he needed to discover. The passion was there. The connection was shaky at best.

“Come sit on the couch and I’ll tell you,” she purred with mock sweetness.

Olek grew wary, seeing her expression. There was an impending scheme lurking within her. He moved to sit by her side.

Nadja licked her lips, coming closer to his mouth with hers. He tensed. Her hand slowly worked its way up his strong biceps. He froze in expectation. He anticipated her light touch all over his body. His cock lurched in excitement, becoming full.

“I was working,” she said, blinking innocently. “And I just earned five hafoe eggs for my breakfast.”

Olek furrowed his brow, confused. Her mouth hovered closer. Her hand worked to the side of his face. He tensed, waiting.

“As for you and your distrust, I have two words,” she murmured softly. “Sweet dreams.”

“Sweet…?” Too late he saw the large plant in her hands as she crushed it under his nose. With a curse dying on his lips, he was out again.

T
his time
, Nadja pushed him over onto his pillow.

Taking his papers out from underneath him, she stacked them neatly on the floor, grabbed his glass of wine for herself and went to bed, leaving him fast asleep on the couch.

It felt great helping the farmer and she wasn’t about to let Olek ruin it for her. Although she wasn’t sure what a hafoe was, in the end it didn’t really matter. She’d earned her pay.

N
adja was missing
when Olek awoke, but he was in too foul of a mood to go and look for her. He was dejected, confused. There was so much she wouldn’t tell him about herself and he didn’t know exactly where he had gone wrong with her. That night in the tent had held so much promise for their future, but it had all just come spiraling down since.

His body was sore from Zoran’s thorough workout and he decided to skip his exercise yet again. Let his brother take his foul temper out on someone else for a while. Olek had his own demons to deal with.

Smiling sadly, he saw he wasn’t the only one hiding out. Ualan stared out from the shores of Crystal Lake. Olek followed his brother’s gaze and glanced over the waters. The surface shimmered like glass, reflecting the light in waving patterns.

Beneath the surface, low on the lakebed’s floor was where their sacred crystals formed and grew. Whenever a son was born, the father would dive, grab the first piece he could find, and give it to the baby. From then until marriage, the crystal protected the son and gave him power. When the son married and the crystal was crushed, it transferred some of that power to his wife and secured their joined fates.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. It wasn’t just the sons. If a rare Draig female, like the queen, was born, she would get a crystal as well. Olek assumed it worked the same for female children, though his mother was the only female born Draig, so there wasn’t much basis for comparison. As a boy, he’d asked the queen about her crystal and had been met with his parents’ laughter. They never did explain the joke to him.

Once his—
or her
—crystal was destroyed, a Draig’s life was only whole with their other half. Without their mate, they would feel hollow.

“You missed practice again, brother,” Olek said, looking down at where Ualan sat against a giant tree.

Ualan smiled, having assuredly sensed his approach. Olek did nothing to hide it. His brother lifted his hand in greeting, not bothering to explain his absence. He didn’t need to. It was written on his face. Like Olek, his other half was fractured and his life wasn’t whole.

Ualan bared a strong resemblance to Olek, with the same build and same brown hair. The main difference was that Ualan had solid blue eyes whereas Olek had green.

The nearby stream filled the silence with its flowing water. Olek, always the more amiable of the two, managed a wry laugh as he took a seat next to his brother. He plucked a weed from the nearby grasses and placed it between his lips to chew. “I see we are both cursed.” A sofliar tweeted loudly above them. Olek glanced up at the clouds moving over the green skies. He continued, with a bit of a sulk to his words, “Or else you wouldn’t be avoiding your duty or me mine.”

Ualan didn’t bother to deny it. “My wife has proclaimed herself a slave. Since she’s the one to indenture herself, I cannot release her.”

Olek sighed. “I cannot help you there. The law states clearly that only she can seek the royal pardon.”

He gave his brother a meaningful look. Olek would pardon his new sister in an instant if only to ease Ualan’s torment.

“She won’t,” Ualan responded to the unasked question. “And I have no idea how to persuade her.”

“Does she know who you are? Does she know it is you who can help clear her?”

“Always trying to act the part of the ambassador,” Ualan said.

“I am the ambassador.”

“I have no wish for her to know who I am yet, not before she admits she is my wife.” Ualan’s shoulders lifted with a tired stretch and he rubbed his eyes. “I would not have her considering my royal birth. That would defeat the purpose of the masks. Gardener or king, it is the same to the crystal bearers. And if I cannot find a way to tell her she is a princess, I’m not sure how I’ll tell her I’m a dragon-shifter.”

“I think our king is considering never doing business with Galaxy Brides again,” Olek said. “For they have sent all his sons and nephews
mor-forwyns
.”

“That they have,” Ualan agreed.

“Is it true she announced she was leaving you right after breaking your crystal?” Olek inquired.

Ualan’s grumble was accompanied by a weary nod. “Woe that Morrigan should find a spaceport.” The burden of his frown deepened.

“Woe if she found a spaceport of our enemy.” Olek gave a meaningful nod. He had spoken with his father, and it would seem that whoever broke into the offices had been searching the palace’s blueprints. When Ualan glanced over in surprise, he said, “There have been rumors that our brides have not been seen within the castle.”

“And who would dare to spread such a rumor?” Ualan’s eyes narrowed in irritation.

“Supporters of the Var would be my guess. Our father has decreed a feast in honor of his new daughters to coronate them. We have a week to convince them.”

“A week? Has he lost his mind? I do not relish the idea of our brides meeting. I should not like to see them banded together.” Ualan grumbled under his breath. As the future king, his eldest brother would feel the weight of that responsibility on his shoulders. Olek didn’t envy him, though his job was just as troublesome. “I can’t hide the fact she is a slave. I can’t bring her out.”

“Ah, so you didn’t hear?” Olek let a soft smile come over him. “Our mother has started a rumor amongst her maids that Princess Morrigan does it out of embarrassment for how she acted after binding you with the crystal. Soon it will be common news. She will be respected for purging her honor.”

Queen Mede’s diplomatic ways were a great complement to their gruff warrior father. The others always said he’d gotten his tact from her. Though, Olek liked to think he had enough of his father in him to make him a formidable opponent on the battlefield. But, come to think of it, he’d bet his mother would fiercely take out the entire Var kingdom if given a chance.

“The king fears that the Var have spies within our walls.” Olek turned his thoughts back to the serious topic at hand. “That is why he has ordered us to get our affairs in order. He wants to show the people our family is whole and the rumors against us are merely rumors.”

“And you, Ambassador?”

“I was heading to the shadowed marshes before the wedding began but I couldn’t get away from festival duties. The cat-shifters have become uncommonly bold.” Olek thought of Nadja and wondered how he could convince her to pretend she was in love with him for one evening. He wasn’t sure it could be done. “I can sense it in them. They plan something.”

“Hmm.”

“I know something that will cheer you, brother.” Olek suddenly chuckled, brightening for a moment. “Yusef’s bride turned his own blade against his manhood. He was honor bound to put her in chastisement.”

The brothers shared a robust laugh. Their amusement rang out around them.

“Did she…?” Ualan snorted.

“No.” Olek laughed harder, barely able to catch his breath. “Just a nick.”

“I hear Zoran’s princess screams like a tree witch every time he’s tried to touch her,” Ualan said. “I’m glad he lives on the far side of the palace.”

Olek nodded, taking the weed from his mouth and tossing it on the ground. He watched it roll away in the breeze. “Mother is quite upset by it all. It seems Zoran felt compelled to disfigure his wife and cut off all her hair. The castle is humming with the rumor, and no one has seen her about the palace.”

“That makes no sense.” Ualan was obviously perplexed. “Zoran would not shame his wife.”

“Our father says he saw it. He’s upset because of the celebration.” Olek gestured helplessly. Nothing about this year’s marriages made sense to him. “My wife has these female contraptions, I’ll see if one won’t grow the poor woman’s hair back for her.”

“Yeah, if what you say is true, we cannot let more shame come to the family. We’ll be lucky to get through the night without one of our brides trying to kill us,” Ualan said.

Olek nodded resignedly.

“And you, brother?” Ualan turned to study him. “What ails your bride that she won’t have you?”

Olek moved to stand. He held his hand down and helped pull Ualan to his feet. How could he answer when he didn’t know himself? Nadja was a mystery that he didn’t know how to solve. He couldn’t discover her secrets by asking or torturing or yelling. She kept herself and her past well-guarded.

“I truly don’t know,” Olek said after a time, “but I think I am the most cursed of us all. My little solarflower wants nothing to do with me. At least your women fight you. Mine will barely even speak to me, let alone yell. How can I win a battle that won’t be fought?”

“A battle can always be fought, brother,” Ualan said wisely. “It’s finding the right weapon that proves most difficult.”

The brothers walked through the forest, silently agreeing to go around the long way, far from Zoran and the exercise field.

“Ah, curse the married life anyway,” Olek grumbled. “At least with warriors you can always draw your sword and lop off their heads when they get too aggravating. With a woman, what can you do? They should have sent directions along with these vixens.”

Ualan agreed with a laugh. “That they should have, little brother. That they certainly should have.”

N
adja doubled
over in intense pain, pushing deeply at her stomach as she begged any god who would listen to end her suffering. She rocked for a moment on the floor, trying to catch her breath. She had sensed its coming. She felt like such a wimp, as she again held her breath in an effort to stop the unbearable agony.

Nadja hated her menstrual cycle. Ever since she was a young girl, the cramps had been unbearable. Groaning, she looked around the bathroom. There were no pain pills, no handheld medic unit, no bottle of New Earth scotch. Ok, so the scotch wasn’t the ideal treatment, but anything had to be better than writhing on the bathroom floor. Hearing the outside door open, she tried not to whimper.

“Nadja?” she heard Olek call.

Nadja’s cheeks heated in embarrassment, but it hurt too much to stand. Grimacing in determination, she yelled in irritation, “What?”

“Where are you?”

Nadja flinched. She finally managed to push herself up, if only to keep from being discovered in such a vulnerable state. Wiping her teary eyes, she ground out, “Leave me alone.”

“Nadja?” Olek’s voice was closer.

She glared at him as he came through the bathroom door. “Don’t you ever knock?”

“Nadja, what’s wrong? What happened?” Olek started for her in concern and she flinched.

“It’s nothing, go away,” Nadja muttered, trying to turn from him. The pain steadily got worse and she watched her face pale in the reflective surface of the mirror. She wanted to scream but she bit her tongue.

“Nadja, has something happened? Are you hurt?”

She felt his hand on her shoulders and stiffened. He began to massage her and, oh, but it felt really good. Her eyes closed. Her body swayed and she silently willed his hand to move lower on her back.

A light, passionate moan left his lips and he began kissing the back of her neck. Nadja tensed in shock. When she turned around, his eyes were glassy and he moved as if he would kiss her mouth next. She frowned, about ready to yell at him, when his hands cupped her face. Undeterred by her ill humor, his lips met with hers.

Nadja jumped a little in surprise at his instant passion. Not that she minded terribly when his mouth moved with such unrelenting skill. But, her breasts were swollen to the point of exploding and her stomach throbbed with a horrific pain. She moaned and hit his shoulder.

Olek growled in primal response, deepening the onslaught of his gently probing mouth. Nadja gasped as his hands found her backside, eagerly lifting her up only to set her on the side of the counter. She hit his arm and then again, harder. He wouldn’t stop. His lips moved more aggressively.

Nadja ripped her mouth from his and gasped for air. His lips instantly found her neck and sucked hard at the flesh there. Weak with growing pleasure, she ordered, “Olek, stop.”

He didn’t seem to hear her. His hands were on his pants, undoing the laces.

“Olek,” Nadja said louder, wondering what had gotten into him. He was senseless. His eyes opened slightly, completely hazed over.

Olek leaned as if to again kiss her parted lips. Nadja pulled back. She hit him hard on the shoulder. He blinked in confusion. His eyes cleared and he looked at her, puzzled.

“What…?” Olek started to pull away.

“What is wrong with you?” Nadja asked with a look akin to dismay. “Didn’t you hear me?”

Olek furrowed his brow. He looked down at his pants around his ankles. His cock was bare and reaching toward her. Nadja glared at him.

“How did I get…?” He quickly picked up his pants and tied them at his waist, clearing his throat in discomfiture.

Nadja hopped down from the counter, pressing her fist into her hip as she did so. Glaring at him, the hormones making her surlier than usual, she demanded, “What came over you? You were all…weird.”

Olek cleared his throat. “Sorry. It’s…you’re breeding aren’t you?”

“Breeding?” Nadja’s cheeks flamed in a combination of apprehension and mortification. “No, I’m not!”

Olek let loose a deep breath, smiling sheepishly. “I can tell.”

Her frown only deepened. “I’m not pregnant,” Nadja denied hotly. “How dare you.”

Olek chuckled. “Not carrying,
bleeding
.”

Nadja tried to skirt past him, mortified. “I’m not discussing this with you and stop calling it that.”

His hand stopped her and he rubbed a persistent trail against her arm. Olek’s gaze threatened to turn cloudy again.

“I need a medical unit,” Nadja stated, seeing his ever-growing reaction.

Olek blinked again, clearly doing his best to concentrate on her words. “A what…?”

“A medical unit,” she whispered, trying to meet his hazed eyes with her calm ones. Seeing that he was about to pounce mindlessly on her again, she added, “Or a medical booth. Fast.”

“Are you hurt?” His eyes instantly cleared in his worry.

“Just cramps.” Seeing his nostrils sniffing at her, she pulled back. “If I can use a medical booth or a handheld unit it will take care of the pain. Please tell me you have one. If not then Lophibian slug cream? Poxian pills? Any type of pain reliever? I’d even settle for the Hippon witchdoctor ceremony at this point.”

Olek nodded and awkwardly adjusted his waistband. The full height of his arousal pressed against the pants. “Yes, we have a medical booth. I’ll take you.”

He led her from the bathroom. Nadja followed him out the door into the hall. She kept a steady eye on him as he led her forward. Her cramps became slightly worse and she frowned, glancing down at her waist.

Before she could look back up, Olek had her pinned against a wall. His hand was on her breast and his mouth was seeking her throat. Nadja moaned in surprise. He found her thigh and lifted it along his waist so that he could press between her legs. His hard length rubbed against her, still at full erection. Hot sparks of pleasure erupted all over her skin.

Nadja gasped, looking around the passageway. His wild passion was overwhelming, but she couldn’t help noticing they were in danger of being caught. She hit his arm, insisting, “Olek, stop it!”

“Nadja,” he breathed hotly to her throat and she thought she might swoon from the rush of desire that overcame her. “Just…a little longer, please. I want to kiss you.”

O
lek’s body
stirred with a depth of uncontrolled feelings he’d never experienced before. They were raw, potent and primal. The dragon inside him threatened to shift if he didn’t fulfill the needs of the man. He couldn’t have sex in dragon form and shifting would ease his physical ache. Closing his eyes, he breathed her in. The pheromone he detected lit a fire in him. The scent of her filled his head and Olek took another steadying breath. It was hard to concentrate.

“I just
need
to kiss you,” he said against her neck, unable to catch his breath. He felt his eyes burn, knowing if he pulled back to look at her they’d be filled with liquid gold. So help him if she tried to run right now. The pheromones were bad enough, but to add a chase? A man could only take so much.

For the Draig, the woman’s breeding time was almost regarded as sacred. The pheromones a wife’s body emitted could make husbands mad with lust, and the need to procreate—or so the legends had said. If strong enough, it turned them into true beasts. And, from what he’d been told, although women were not made to conceive at such a time it didn’t stop the effect. Draig seed could stay within the woman, waiting inside her until her new cycle, causing a belated pregnancy.

But Olek wasn’t thinking about procreation at the moment. He wanted much more than that. His body had been denied since their wedding night and the full effects of such deprivation surged forth to urge him on.

“Mmm,” he moaned, fighting his innate desire to take her like an animal in heat. The dragon inside him wanted him to lay claim to his woman. His fingers prickled, threatening a shift so that his talons might cut through the material keeping them apart.

He nipped at her shirt, as he kissed a hot trail with her breast cupped in his palm. His hips thrust wildly into her, grinding against her clothes. He wanted nothing more than to bend her over on the floor and take her wildly from behind.

“Mmm, Nadja.” Olek groaned against her nipple as it peaked beneath the cotton material of her shirt, right between his lips. His hand was at her back, twisting insistently into her waistband, ready to strip her of her clothes.

“Olek,” Nadja hit his arm harder to get his attention. “
Oleeek!
”

Olek abruptly stopped at the panicked sound of her voice. Nadja heaved for breath. He forced all traces of the dragon out of his features before pulling away from her body.

Panting, he gazed steadily into her eyes, unashamed of his actions. “Tell me to take you back to our bedroom.” He dipped forward to kiss and lick playfully at her parted lips. “You won’t regret it, I promise. I’ll make you scream my name for hours.”

Nadja shook her head in denial. “Take me to the medic unit.”

Olek grinned, despite the raging fire in his body. He let her go. “Perhaps that would be best.”

The medical wing was deserted when they arrived. There was a row of large, empty beds against one wall, a reception desk by the other along with rows of glass cases. In the back were two private exam rooms and an operating room.

Olek glanced at one of the empty beds, his eyes lit with suggestion. Nadja instantly shook her head in denial.

“Don’t even think it,” she said under her breath, moving toward the private rooms to put distance between them.

“But…” He affected a wounded expression at her heated denial.

She held up her hand to stop his advance. “Where is the unit?”

He lifted his jaw indicating behind her.

Nadja backed away from him before turning to check the backrooms. The last room had a standard medical unit. He heard her turn it on before moving to follow. Coming inside the room just in time to see her grab a long, thin instrument off a nearby table, he watched her jam it lightly into the unit’s side panel. The controls slipped open and she smiled in satisfaction.

Olek frowned, reaching to take the instrument from her before she ruined their medical equipment. “What are you doing? We only have one of those.”

“I’m not breaking it,” she muttered under her breath, biting her lip as she reprogrammed the machine. She paused to press at her stomach as if willing the pain to lessen.

“Are you sure you don’t want to…?” Olek tilted his head to the side to eye her firm ass as she leaned over. He licked his lips.

“Stay back, barbarian.” Nadja glanced at him only long enough to direct him a frown. Her words lacked heat.

Olek shrugged, extremely disappointed.

“When is the last time you’ve had this upgraded?” she asked. “I haven’t seen this model for years.”

“Are you a medical booth technician?” he inquired, curiously. She did appear to know what she was doing.

“No.” Nadja finished. Pushing the panel back into place, she said, “There.”

Standing, she climbed between the two plates of the machine and reached around the corner to press a button before drawing her hand to her side. The plates came forward, trapping her within.

The cloud of desire lifted from Olek’s one-tracked brain and he could again function rationally. The pheromone scent was gone. The machine beeped once and opened. Nadja climbed out, sighing in relief.

“Are you better?” Nadja asked wryly. “I know I am.”

Olek frowned. Indeed he was recovered. The desire was still there, but no longer the desperate urge to mate. “What did you do?”

“I took my womanly away,” she smiled brightly. “No blood, no pain, no mess. I should market that little adjustment trick to women all over the stars. I would be a starrillionaire!”

Nadja indeed looked very proud of herself at the moment.

“You mean you made yourself sterile?” Olek asked in alarm. He wasn’t so pleased.

“Well, yes, I suppose you could look at it like that,” she answered.

Olek marched forward and pointed into the machine. “Get back in there and fix it immediately.”

“What? The unit? It’s not broken,” Nadja answered, confused. “I just had to reprogram it so it would—”

“Fix your body,” Olek demanded angrily. His face contorted and he took her arm, urging her inside the medical unit. She jerked away.

“What —?” Nadja gasped suddenly as if finally understanding what he referred to. “I can’t change it back. It doesn’t work like that.”

Olek felt as if she’d kicked him. She didn’t want his children.

“It’s only for this month. It won’t last,” she said. “It’s never permanent.”

That eased him some, but he was still hurt.

“I thought we said we wouldn’t have children right away,” she defended against his silence. “I had no idea you wanted to knock me up so quickly.”

“Knock you?” he questioned in disgust. “I have never hit you!”

“What? No. Knock me up, make me in the family way, get me pregnant.”

Olek scowled. Grumbling, he said, “Don’t call it that.”

“Okay,” she sighed, shaking her head. “It’s just a saying. I didn’t mean anything by it. What’s gotten into you?”

“Nothing.” His expression darkened and he knew he should just walk away before he said something he’d regret later.

“Olek?” Nadja said in concern, coming after him.

“Let’s just go home. It’s late and I have a lot of work to finish before tomorrow.”

Olek stayed silent as he led her the rest of the way home. He tried not to glance at the spot in the hall where only moments before he had been pawing her like a mindless animal. Once home, Olek still said nothing as he went to his office.

“If I didn’t know better, I would say you just started a womanly of your own,” she muttered to herself, clearly having no indication of how good his shifter hearing really was.