Dragons of Mars Box Set

by Leslie Chase

  Dragons of Mars

  Books 1 - 5

  Leslie Chase

  Juno Wells

  Cover Design by Resplendent Media

  Editing by Sennah Tate

  Copyright 2020 Leslie Chase

  All rights reserved

  This is a work of fiction intended for mature audiences. All names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Foreword

  Dragon Prince’s Mate

  1. Josie

  2. Verikan

  3. Josie

  4. Verikan

  5. Josie

  6. Verikan

  7. Josie

  8. Verikan

  9. Josie

  10. Verikan

  11. Josie

  12. Verikan

  13. Josie

  14. Verikan

  15. Josie

  16. Verikan

  17. Josie

  18. Verikan

  19. Josie

  20. Verikan

  21. Josie

  22. Josie

  Epilogue

  Dragon Pirate’s Prize

  1. Laura

  2. Rorax

  3. Laura

  4. Rorax

  5. Laura

  6. Rorax

  7. Laura

  8. Rorax

  9. Laura

  10. Rorax

  11. Laura

  12. Rorax

  13. Laura

  14. Rorax

  15. Laura

  16. Rorax

  17. Laura

  18. Rorax

  19. Laura

  20. Rorax

  21. Laura

  22. Rorax

  23. Laura

  24. Rorax

  25. Laura

  26. Rorax

  Epilogue

  Dragon Guardian’s Match

  1. Markath

  2. Amanda

  3. Markath

  4. Amanda

  5. Markath

  6. Amanda

  7. Markath

  8. Amanda

  9. Markath

  10. Amanda

  11. Markath

  12. Amanda

  13. Markath

  14. Amanda

  15. Markath

  16. Amanda

  17. Markath

  18. Amanda

  19. Markath

  20. Amanda

  21. Markath

  22. Amanda

  23. Markath

  24. Amanda

  Epilogue

  Dragon Lord’s Hope

  1. Gillian

  2. Zardan

  3. Gillian

  4. Zardan

  5. Gillian

  6. Zardan

  7. Gillian

  8. Zardan

  9. Gillian

  10. Zardan

  11. Gillian

  12. Zardan

  13. Gillian

  14. Zardan

  15. Gillian

  16. Zardan

  17. Gillian

  18. Zardan

  19. Gillian

  20. Zardan

  21. Gillian

  22. Zardan

  23. Gillian

  24. Zardan

  25. Gillian

  Epilogue

  Dragon Warrior’s Heart

  1. Ashley

  2. Kosar

  3. Ashley

  4. Kosar

  5. Ashley

  6. Kosar

  7. Ashley

  8. Kosar

  9. Ashley

  10. Kosar

  11. Ashley

  12. Kosar

  13. Ashley

  14. Kosar

  15. Ashley

  16. Kosar

  17. Ashley

  18. Kosar

  19. Ashley

  20. Kosar

  21. Ashley

  22. Kosar

  23. Ashley

  24. Kosar

  25. Ashley

  Epilogue

  About Leslie Chase

  About Juno Wells

  Sci Fi Romance by Leslie Chase

  Paranormal Romance by Leslie Chase

  Sci Fi Romance By Juno Wells

  Foreword

  Thanks for choosing to read the collection of our Dragons of Mars stories. We had great fun writing these five books, and every once in a while think about going back to the setting. If you’d like to see more Dragons of Mars books, let us know at Leslie@leslie-chase.com

  This book wouldn’t exist without the support of our friends, Ash, Beth, and Lindsay — not to mention the Saucy Sprints writing group, without which it would have taken far longer if it had happened at all. Thank you all!

  Dragon Prince’s Mate

  1

  Josie

  The airlock cycled with a slow hiss, and Josie Connor felt her spacesuit inflate as the air left the chamber. The outer door slid open, and she stepped out onto the surface of Mars.

  Behind her, the base lights shone out casting her shadow across the red landscape ahead of her. With a sigh of relief, she made her way towards the edge of the crater that sheltered the base. Any chance to get away from the cramped confines of her Martian home was something to savor.

  Her radio crackled and Commander Woods' voice spoke in her ear. "Where are you off to, Josie?"

  She rolled her eyes and bit back the answer she wanted to give. Telling her boss that she wanted to get a few miles away from him wouldn't be the most prudent response.

  "I'm checking on the sensor package in sector three, Mike," she said instead. "Might as well get it out of the way."

  That was true enough — there had been some weird malfunction and the sensors were sending strange signals back. It wasn't high priority, exactly, not when there were plenty of faults for her to repair back at the base. Cheap technology that barely held together gave her plenty of work to do.

  Her reason for doing this now wasn't that it was urgent. It was much more about getting away from Commander Mike Woods and the rest of the men. There was only so much a woman could take, and being one of only two on the crew hadn't been as romantic as she might have hoped. On the other hand, she was on Mars. On the surface of another planet. Josie was willing to put up with a lot for that.

  "You shouldn't be out there on your own, Josie," Commander Woods said, his voice hissing over the comms. "I'll come along and keep you company."

  "You don't have to do that," Josie told him, picking up her pace. He was the worst of the guys, possibly because he was in charge, possibly because his family were the ones paying for the expedition. Getting some time away from him was the whole point of heading out onto the surface.

  "It's no trouble, and you know the regs say none of us should be out on our own," Woods said.

  "No one minds it when you guys go off alone," Josie groused. "I'll be fine, and you need to look after Amanda."

  That brought silence to the comms for a moment, and Josie grinned to herself. Amanda Cain hadn't adjusted to Mars well, and her attempt to improvise a still to relieve her suffering hadn't gone very well either. She was sick as a dog, and no one wanted to be around her right now.

  Which wouldn't have been too bad if Cain wasn't the crew's doctor. Someone had to try and take care of her and it was arguably the Commander's job.

  For the thousandth time, Josie thought that the mission hadn't been that well thought out. But that was the only reason she was on Mars — a well-run expedition would be full of world-class experts, and she knew she wasn't one of those. None of them were. The Woods Corporation had put it togeth
er in a rush when they'd gotten the exploration rights, and all of the crew had speculated that the only real purpose of the base was to secure the company's claim on a section of Mars.

  There were several other colonies on Mars, each better equipped and supplied, with more due to arrive soon. The new space drive made it easy to get around the solar system, and Woods had managed to get over in the first wave by doing everything as quickly and cheaply as possible. Sometimes Josie was surprised that the Red Horizon, their ship, had actually made it across at all. But here they were, some of the first humans on Mars.

  As she crested the crater wall, Josie looked down over the rocky red wastes and the mountains that rose in the distance. Looking out over the bleak, beautiful expanse she could let all her frustrations fade away. The badly planned mission, the assholes she had to work with, the ridiculous limitations of her work, none of that mattered. This was what she was here for, the beautiful sights that so few people had ever seen before.

  Earth hung above the horizon, a bright point in the evening sky. Every time that she saw it, the sight hit Josie hard. A mix of awe, homesickness and the sheer joy of being able to see her homeworld from the surface of another planet filled her heart.

  Smiling, Josie waved up at the neighbors she'd left behind. None of them were doing anything like this — and that made the company she had to endure worthwhile.

  The journey to the sensor array was a half hour walk across the red sand, and she enjoyed every second of it. The feel of a strange world's surface underfoot, the sight of the majestic mountains that no human had seen with their own eyes before she and her crew arrived, those were things that she'd never tire of. When I get home, I'm going to have such stories to tell. She ran, the lower gravity of Mars letting her move faster than she ever would have on Earth, enjoying her freedom and leaving behind her worries.

  Her helmet display showed her vital signs, her heart pounding from the exercise, and she grinned wildly. Racing across the surface of another world was the kind of thing that she'd dreamed of doing as a child but no one had ever believed that she would make it. And, to be fair, it wasn't as though she'd have made it as a normal astronaut. Woods and his company had given her a chance she wouldn't have had otherwise, though her gratitude for that had long since been worn thin by his suggestive comments and looks he gave her.

  Coming to a rest beside the sensors, Josie leaned against it catching her breath. They stood on the edge of a fissure beside the mountain range, looking exactly like each of the other arrays around the base. But this was the only one that was sending strange signals.

  Activating the sensor's control console, she checked the log and frowned. There wasn't any sign of a problem with the system, but the impossible signals were still showing up. The guys had argued about them for hours, and the only explanation any of them could come up with apart from an error was a radio signal from below. And since there couldn't possibly be anything under the surface of Mars, there had to be a problem.

  Now that she looked at it, though, there wasn't any sign of a technical issue. The most obvious idea was one of the dishes getting misaligned, but they were all pointed where they should be. And there was no sign of damage. Checking the sensors over again, she sent a more detailed log of the system data back to base and stopped to think.

  There's got to be something, she told herself. A software error didn't make any sense since all the sensors had the same programming — if one was malfunctioning, they all should be. It had to be a physical problem, that was the only thing that made sense.

  Maybe there's a reflection? It could be picking up Earth's signals bouncing off something underground. That didn't seem likely, but it was the only serious possibility left. Josie made her way over to the edge of the fissure and looked down into the darkness, hoping that she could see some sign of whatever was reflecting the radio waves.

  The pit seemed to go on forever, but she knew that was an illusion. It was just so dark down there that she couldn't see the bottom. Switching on her flashlight she peered into the blackness. It was wide and seemed to widen as it went down until it bottomed out far below her.

  Something gleamed in the light, shining bright like a star, and she frowned. She wasn't a geologist, that was Radcliff's job, but she didn't think there should be anything like that in the rocks around here.

  Maybe I've found Mars diamonds? Josie smiled at the thought. That would make for a hell of a souvenir if nothing else.

  The radio crackled in her helmet as she was securing a rope to one of the surface rocks, preparing to climb down.

  "What is it now, Mike?" she said wearily, testing the rope to make sure it would hold her weight.

  "Just checking in," he said. Even through the static, Josie could hear the forced casualness in his voice. "Got to make sure you're safe, you know? And, uh, we've got a new order from Earth. I sent them the data you transmitted, and now HQ says we're to check that fault you're chasing with 'utmost urgency.' Is there any sign of what's causing it?"

  Josie blinked at that, pausing before she answered. HQ — which in their case meant Woods' father — never cared about the faults in their gear. The whole mission was thrown together, and a lot of their tech had problems on Mars. It wasn't exactly an easy environment to work in.

  "I can't see anything wrong with the system itself," she said. "I'm just going to go down and have a look at the terrain."

  "Okay." Commander Woods paused for a long second, and Josie wondered if that was all he was going to say. As she backed her way into the ravine, though, he continued. "I'm going to come out, and bring Radcliff to have a look."

  "I don't need my hand held, Mike," she said with a frown, "If there's something here I'll find it."

  "I'm sure you will," Woods said. The condescending tone in his voice was painfully clear. "But it can't hurt to have another couple of — skrt"

  A burst of static cut off the comms as Josie lowered herself down the fissure. She frowned. That wasn't supposed to happen, the comms should carry through at least some of the rock — and the signal shouldn't cut off that sharply, anyway. For a moment she considered going back up to get back in touch, but no. The guys didn't think that she could do anything on her own, and she was tired of that. If she just waited for them to arrive, they'd assume she was afraid.

  Anyway, they're on their way. If something happens, they'll know where I am. Josie lowered herself further into the darkness.

  She'd been right, the fissure did open up as it went deeper. At the bottom it was comfortably wide, and the floor was smooth. Almost as though it had been made that way, but that was a ridiculous idea. Trying to shake it off, she steadied herself and shone her flashlight around.

  There — the gleam of something reflective caught her eye, and following it she saw something that made her heart stop for a moment. The reflection was from a gemstone, and not just a raw one either. It was a polished and cut emerald, set in the fissure wall. And beside it, recessed into the surface of the wall, was a doorway.

  Not an opening, or a cave mouth. Hidden from above by an overhang, it was definitely a doorway, here on Mars, where there couldn't possibly be one. No one had been on this part of Mars before.

  No one human, anyway.

  Trying to shake off the chills that thought sent through her, Josie tried her radio again. All she heard was static. She couldn't even contact the sensors above her, let alone the base. Nonetheless she broadcast a report, hoping that the base could hear her even if she couldn't get their signals. This wasn't something to keep quiet about.

  Closing her eyes, she counted to three before opening them again. The doorway was still there, unchanged. It was big, easily wide enough for two men to walk side by side, and the door itself was made from smooth stone. The frame, on the other hand, was carved to look as though it was the mouth of some great monster. Swallowing nervously, Josie approached, wondering again if she ought to wait for someone else.

  How many times do you get a chance to do someth
ing like this? She took a deep breath and stepped closer to the door. If I wait, they'll just take it from me. Woods will want to be the first person through the door, and won't care who found it. I'll be lucky if he even mentions me in the logs. Hell, I'll be lucky if he lets me through at all.