Enchanting Eilagh (Dragon Warriors) (2 page)

Poor Carina. The hell she'd been though and kept to herself for all this time.
Eilagh’s fingers tightened into fists and her jaw clenched as she remembered the details. Those bastards who’d raped her friend, deserved to pay in blood for their crimes. She forced herself to calm, slowly unfurling her hands and loosening her jaw. Her anger was not going to help Carina. She needed love, support, and comfort—not more violence and anger.

She turned away from the beautiful sunrise and started poking at the coals in the fire pit to get them going again. Just as she was placing the
round lightweight metal billycan full of water on the fire, she heard the tent flaps rustle and looked over to see her four rather sleepy looking friends stumble out. She smiled up at them from where she was crouched by the fire.

"Good morning
, ladies. Sorry, coffee's not quite ready."

In amongst the grumbles she heard
, "How can she be so perky without coffee?"

Eilagh chuckled at her friends. She’d always been a morning person and an early riser—drove the others nuts at school sleepovers. They were all fully-fledged night owls.

"Come on, just look at Uluru with all her colors out. What's not to love?"

"You do know Uluru does that at night
, too? When the sun sets?" Skye said with a wink.

With them all now chuckling, they headed back into the tent to get dressed and packed up for the day ahead.

An hour later, they were all fed, caffeinated, and packed up. As they hiked toward Kata Tjuta, Eilagh swore she could smell honey in the air.

"Can any of you smell honey all of the sudden?" She took a deep breath, confirming the air around them did indeed smell sweet.

"Yeah, now you mention it. I wonder where the hive is?" Becky said.

"Nowhere near here I hope! I'm enjoying myself
, and a bee sting would seriously dent that enjoyment," Binda ground out. Binda was allergic to bees. She carried an EpiPen with her always just in case, but still, prevention was so much better than cure.

"I can't hear them
. If we were close enough to a hive to smell the honey we should be able to hear the buzz," Eilagh wondered out loud.

"Well, let's just keep exploring. If we start to hear buzzing we'll change direction
," Skye suggested.

They continued hiking up the dry creek bed they'd been following when all of a sudden a strong gust of wind shot past them from a gorge between two of the large boulders to their left.

"That was just plain weird, and now I can smell fresh apples!" Binda exclaimed.

"Okay, we just gotta go check that out. No way could apples be growing out here in the middle of the outback
," Becky said as she began making her way toward the gorge.

Eilagh and the others followed after Becky toward the gorge. As they entered the cool shadows of the gorge's high sides, the wind picked up around them. Eilagh frowned as she moved to stand closer to the others. The wind picked up speed
, going faster and faster, spinning around them picking up dust and small rocks from the ground. Before long there was enough dust in the air that they couldn't see through it. It was as if a cyclone surrounded them. Her chest began to tighten in fear as she moved her hand toward the wall of wind to see if she could push through to escape. She couldn't even get close. She was still inches away from the wall when she heard a crackle of electricity and lightning began to spark before her. A bolt struck out past her with a bright flash and she heard Carina scream, but before she could turn to see if she was all right, another bolt struck out. This time Skye screamed. Two more bolts quickly followed. Terror coursed through Eilagh’s body, making her shake uncontrollably as she turned to see that she was the only one standing. The others lay at her feet—out cold.

She looked up as she heard another crackle, and her gaze caught an image through the wind. A man with blood red hair and bronzed skin. She leaned forward to see better when she felt a jolt hit her between her shoulder blades
, causing her to scream out in agony as black spots formed across her vision.

Chapter Two

Max strolled up and down the rows of apple trees. He was on edge, his whole body tense in readiness. He'd picked up the same vibes as his twin had earlier. Something was going to happen and soon. He just couldn't pinpoint the where, who, or how of it. He reached the end of the row and stopped in front of the beehive. After the
liaths had been destroyed, the orchard had been planted to cleanse the soil of their evil, for this was the site where the Great Wind had dumped the small group of liaths after it had taken them from their own world.

Apples—representing new life—were chosen. Beehives were placed at both ends of each row as a tribute to the Goddess, in the hope she would be pleased and bless them with renewed life. He placed his palm over the top of the white timber of the hive and watched as the bees covered his hand. Entranced, he stood motionless as they crawled over his flesh. The feel of their tiny legs moving over his skin calmed him, just as it always had. Bees were the Goddess'
s favorite pets. They, and the honey they made, were precious, used only in religious ceremonies and rituals.

After a few minutes, he felt a lot calmer
. All the tension had left his body. He spoke the sacred words of gratitude to the bees and the Goddess before slowly withdrawing his hand. Max watched as the bees peacefully flew back into their hive. As he began walking through the orchard back to the castle, a sudden gust filled with the scent of honey blew past him. He spun around to face the direction the wind came from and noticed the beginnings of a wind tunnel in the center of the row he had just walked down.
Oh no. Not again.
He drew his dagger from his belt as he mentally called for his brother to come quickly—with reinforcements—to the orchard. They were about to get more visitors.

Max braced himself in a fighter’s stance. He briefly contemplated shifting to his dragon form as he watched the wind tunnel rise up high into the air, but decided to stay human for the moment,
as otherwise he wouldn't be able to communicate with anyone who wasn’t a dragon shifter. In dragon form he couldn’t speak out loud, and dragon shifters could only communicate with other shifters telepathically.

The tunnel changed from translucent white to a bright red before lightning began to spark. He caught a glimpse of black hair and caramel skin as the fifth bolt arced through the tunnel. Soon after, the wind began to settle
, and within minutes the air was still allowing him his first good look at the visitors the Great Wind had left behind this time. Inside a ring of bright red sand and small rocks lay five unconscious females. All five had glossy black hair and varying shades of caramel colored skin. He slowly made his way over to the females. He gently checked each of them for a pulse, confirming they were all still alive. As his fingers came into contact with the flesh of the last female his instincts flared to life.
Mine. My Desired.
The words ripped through his head so suddenly and with such force he fell forward onto his hands and knees beside her. The sound of approaching footsteps caught his attention, and he forced his head up to look at who was coming. He ended up staring straight into his brother’s golden gaze.

"What did they do to you, brother?" Max grabbed the hand Dimitri offered and allowed his brother to pull him up off the ground.

"They did nothing. The Great Wind brought them. It struck each of them with lightning before it left them here. I've checked, they're all alive, but they need to be taken to the clinic right away."

He glanced around at the other men that had come with Dimitri, who were all stripping the bags from the females before picking them up. One of the men, Drake, moved toward the female by his side
, and Max couldn't stop the deep growl from escaping his mouth.

Drake jumped back with a confused scowl on his face. "What the hell, Max? You said yourself they need to be taken to the clinic."

"Take another, Drake. This one is mine."

"None of the females belong to anyone yet
. They need to be examined and tested. We cannot afford a repeat of the liaths," Dimitri told him sternly before turning on Drake, "Drake, please take another of the females, I shall take this one—while my twin calms down." Dimitri shot him a glare that said loud and clear
back the hell
off
.

Shaking his head to clear it, Max watched as his brother carefully stripped off the female's bag, then picked her up. Funny, he didn't feel like growling at his twin. It felt right to see her in his arms. Max slung her bag over his shoulder as Dimitri stood with her cradled against his bare chest. He froze and looked down at the female with a frown.

"You feel it, too, don't you, Dimitri? You feel her calling out to your instincts just like I did earlier." Max whispered so only his brother could hear.

Dimitri locked eyes with him. "Could it be? Is this from the Goddess? A solution to our problem?"

Drake's loud voice pulled them both from their trance. "Let's take this inside and get these females seen to. Then we'll decide what to do about all of our instincts flaring."

At Drake's words, he looked up to see that every one of the men was looking very territorial over the female they were holding or standing near. How very interesting.

****

Dimitri gently laid his precious bundle down on one of the clinic's beds before he stepped back beside his brother to allow the healer access to her. Baxter rushed over to him. "What do we have—is that a female?"

"Yes, Baxter, it's a female. There are five, and they have all been struck with the Great Wind's lightning and need healing."

Baxter nodded at his words.

"Well, okay then. I'm going to need their clothes off to do a full scan for injuries." After both Dimitri and Max growled he added, "We can leave their undergarments on. I'll allow you both to strip her while I get what I need."

Dimitri stepped up to the bed as Max moved in on the opposite side. He reached for the top of her shirt as Max reached for the bottom. They undid the buttons, meeting in the middle.

"Let's sit her up and lean her against your chest, Max. It will make getting her shirt off easier and jostle her around less."

Max cradled her head gently against the center of his chest as Dimitri eased her thin
, cotton shirt over her shoulders and down her arms, his hands touching her skin the whole way. He took each of her hands and carefully pulled the shirt over each one.

"Her skin is so soft and silky. I would be content to simply be able to stroke it all day and night long."

He looked at her face and watched as Max stroked her cheek. "Yeah, she is stunningly gorgeous."

They laid her back down leaving her dark red lacy chest covering in place.
Dimitri couldn't resist touching her, so he ran a finger along the fancy edge, over the topside of her large, plump breast. "So beautiful."

They made their way down her body to her feet where they efficiently removed her foot coverings, and removed her short pants, revealing more dark red lace covering her mound. Arousal coursed through Dimitri’s body at the sight she made. Baxter wisely chose that moment to return and begin his examination. Dimitri and Max stepped away from the table to allow him to work.

"We have to make her ours, brother. I've never felt like this, even before the plague. No female has ever made me feel this way," Max whispered to him.

Dimitri looked around the room and noticed that each of the females had warriors standing over them.
Interesting.

"First we need to make sure they’re all healthy and that they pose no danger to us. I will not allow a repeat of the
liath fiasco simply because I lusted after one of them." Dimitri spoke in a quiet yet firm voice, but he didn't feel strong. He suspected that no matter what the answers to any of those questions were, he would not be letting this little female go.

Ever.

Max huffed at him. "This is not lust, brother, but the call of our heart and soul's Desired. She is calling to us. The Goddess has answered our prayers and sent us five saviors, and she blessedly has made one of them ours."

Dimitri smiled up at his brother, holding his gaze. Since the dawn of time, dragon brothers had shared a female between them. As teenagers he and Max had often discussed what they thought their female would be like
. Then the virus had taken them all, and Dimitri had thought they may never find the one female destined to be theirs. By the look in Max’s eyes, they were thinking the same thing—
Thank the Goddess, we’ve found her.

Dimitri looked up as Baxter approached them.

"The scans reveal the females are human, no signs of any shifter or liath DNA. As far as injuries, this lovely lady will fully recover. The Great Wind's lightning is magic based, not real, so she wasn't electrocuted. She just needs to rest. It would seem portal travel is rather harsh on the human body. Do you wish for her to remain here for me to monitor?"

"Until she wakes, I think that would be wise. Thank you, Baxter. How about the other females? Will they make a full recovery
, too?"

"Yes, all the females will recuperate perfectly. You need to inform everyone what is to be done with them, though. Each of the females has caught the eye of more than one warrior each, myself included."

Dimitri scanned the room, and sure enough, just as he'd noticed before, two females had three warriors guarding them, one had two, and the last had only one, Baxter’s brother, Zane. No doubt Baxter would be by his side if there weren’t medical issues at hand. Dimitri sighed. This was going to be difficult. He didn't want the females hurt or fought over. He turned back to Baxter. "It would appear a meeting is in order. I will leave you in charge of all of their care until we resolve what is to be done."

Baxter nodded slightly in acknowledgement.

Dimitri raised his voice loud enough for all the room to hear. "Warriors, we need to discuss and resolve what is to be done in regard to the females. We shall proceed to the Gathering Hall. It is not far away, and Baxter will stay and watch over the females while we are gone."

***
*

Eilagh came awake with a shiver. After opening her eyes, she had to blink a few times before she could focus on the high white ceiling above her. Using her arms, she sat up and frowned in confusion. Where the hell was she? She looked around and was relieved when she saw all four of her friends lying on similar bedding platforms near her and starting to come around. She swung her legs over the side of the bed to stand up when she felt a restriction on her bicep. She looked down to see a wide metal band around it. She twisted her arm around to find a release catch
, but the metal was smooth the whole way around, leaving her with no way of getting it off and the band was too tight to simply slide off. Suddenly it occurred to her that being able to see her upper arm meant she didn't have her shirt on any more. She looked down at herself and felt both horrified and relieved to discover her bra and knickers remained in place. She grabbed the sheet that had been covering her as she stood and wrapped it around herself. Then she made her way around the room rousing each of the others to make sure they were all unharmed. She soon discovered that, just like her, they all had been stripped down to their underwear and had irremovable armbands.

"Is everyone okay?" she asked as they all climbed on the bed with Carina
, who still hadn't woken up. No one spoke, but heads nodded.

"Carina, honey? Come on
, sweetie, please wake up for us." Skye crooned in Carina's ear while stroking her hair. She didn't wake, didn't move a muscle.

Eilagh watched as Becky pressed her fingers against Carina’s neck. "Her pulse is strong. I can't see any injuries,
so surely she'll wake up soon, right?"

"I don't know
. We were all hit with lightning," Binda whispered, and they all gasped as Binda's armband glowed a soft green.

"What the hell! Why is it glowing?" Becky leaned forward to touch the glowing metal as she spoke.

"I have no idea. Does it feel different?" Eilagh asked.

"No
, it doesn't feel—oh shit. Yours is glowing, too!"

Eilagh looked down to see that hers was now glowing green as well.

"I just answered your question. Do you think it's responding somehow to our answers? Maybe we should test it, you know, see if it’s different if we lie maybe. Binda, how old are you?"

"Forty-three
," Binda lied, and her armband glowed red. "Shit, I think you might be onto something, Eilagh. Becky, what's your favorite flavored ice cream?"

"Choc-chip mint of course." They all watched as Becky's armband glowed green.

"Bloody hell! We've all been fitted with lie detectors! Where the hell are we?" Skye had a look just shy of panic in her eyes as she'd spoken.

Their conversation was broken by the sound of the door to their room being opened, allowing
entry to a group of very large, muscular men wearing only tight leather pants. Every man's chest had an intricate tattoo of a dragon. Its head was in the center with a wing spread over each pectoral and the tail curling around their belly button. Each tattoo had been inked with black except for one. The man standing in front of the others, his tattoo had been inked in blood red. Eilagh looked up at his face and sucked in a sharp breath. His shoulder length hair was a similar blood red color to his tattoo, and his honey golden eyes stood out against his bronzed skin. The strong line of his jaw and regal looking nose teamed together with his lush lips heated her up from the inside out. She mentally shook her head. What the hell was she thinking? These men were holding them captive. She raised her chin as she glared at the man with the red tattoo.