Dragons of Mars Box Set

by Leslie Chase

  "Come on, Dakar," someone in the crowd shouted. "Don't tell me you're going to let a human female beat you up."

  Dakar roared in anger at the taunt, leaping at his foe. She ducked under his swinging arms, sweeping his legs out from under him as he tried to recover his balance. With a crash, he landed in the fire pit, sending burning cinders flying into the air.

  The crowd burst into laughter as Dakar scrambled out of the flames. Dragon shifters weren't easily hurt by fire, but falling face first into one like that would sting nonetheless. Smoke rose from his body and his wings flexed angrily.

  Now he was taking the fight seriously, and Rorax was afraid of what he might do if he won.

  9

  Laura

  Laura didn't even know what the fight was about. One minute her captors, Grorg and Tamak, had been laughing and joking with their new companions. The next, someone had punched Grorg and whoever this asshole was had grabbed her arm. She thought he might be the alien she'd embarrassed before the flight, but she wasn't sure and he didn't seem to feel like explaining himself.

  I tried to avoid a fight, she told herself. It was cold comfort. Now that the fight had started, she was the focus of the pirates' attention and she wasn't sure how they'd respond if she won. On the other hand, the anger in her opponent's eyes made it clear that losing could only be worse.

  Rising out of the fire like an angry demon, he looked a lot more frightening than he had before. Smoke rose from his wings, and she backed away warily, looking around for some way out of the fight.

  Why do they have to be assholes as well as pirates? One or the other is bad enough, but both is too much!

  He grabbed for her, and her long-trained reflexes let her knock his hand aside almost without thought. Ducking away, she played for time, trying to think. He followed, limping a little, and she circled to the side of his injured leg. He was bigger, stronger, and heavier. She needed every advantage she could get.

  That kick should have left him unable to walk, she thought unhappily. He wasn't just strong, he was tough as well. A human would have been out of the fight already.

  Not this alien, though. Darting forward, he swung a powerful punch at her, almost too fast to see. Laura managed to duck under it, kicking at his injured knee and sending him tumbling to the floor again. Rolling away from him, she looked around while he was recovering.

  The pirates had gathered into a circle to watch them fight and there was nowhere for her to run. That was almost a relief — getting away might be the smart thing to do, but it wasn't what she wanted. She'd had enough of being pushed around and what she wanted now was to win. Her opponent slowed, favoring his injured left knee, and she knew that she was in with a chance.

  But he had some tricks of his own. His wings caught the air as he leaped toward her, carrying him further and faster than she'd expected. His hand grazed her as she dived aside, the impact turning her dodge into a tumble that sent her crashing into the audience. Hands grabbed her before she could recover, and then her attacker was on her. Laura fought like a wildcat, kicking and squirming in an attempt to get free.

  It was impossible. Two aliens had her arms pinned, and there was no time to wriggle free before her attacker grabbed her throat. She kicked him, catching his injured knee again, but it wasn't enough. Grunting in pain he squeezed hard, his eyes blazing with fury. Laura felt herself weakening as she struggled to breathe past his grip.

  At least I kept Adele safe, she thought as her vision darkened. Even if I fucked up later, that's something.

  Then her attacker vanished backward, yanked off her from behind. Rorax held him by the hair, his face dark with rage, roaring something in the dragons' language. His fist slammed into the face of the alien who'd attacked her, smashing him to the ground. Before the man could recover, Rorax lifted him and threw him bodily into the crowd with enough force to scatter them.

  The men holding her stumbled back away from Rorax, letting her go as they put some distance between themselves and the enraged warrior. Behind him, Laura saw Korgan watching, a thoughtful and amused expression on his face.

  She picked herself up, and Rorax grabbed her. She didn't even try to dodge — somehow, she felt safe, despite his rage, and her reflexes didn't kick in. His arms held her to him, and she knew that he would shield her from harm.

  Before she knew what was happening, he'd taken to the air, his mighty wings beating and carrying them skyward, away from the men who'd threatened her. The pirate camp vanished beneath them as he carried her towards one of the broken crystal towers, landing on top of it and letting her go. She took a step backward, glaring at him.

  "I could have beaten him, you know." The words were out before she knew what she was going to say, and she flushed. It was a stupid way to thank him, but she was still full of adrenaline and the urge to fight was strong.

  He laughed, and her blush deepened. "Maybe you could have if he'd fought fair. Not him and all his friends though."

  "There's no 'maybe' about it," she said, but she knew that he was right about the second part. Once the other pirates took her attacker's side, she'd been doomed. "Why do you care, anyway? I'm just a bargaining chip to you."

  Rorax actually winced at that accusation, turning and stepping to the edge of the tower. Looking back towards the distant fire, he sighed. Looking at him there, Laura considered pushing him off the edge. She discarded the idea as quickly as it arrived.

  He can fly, she reminded herself. And even if he couldn't, it would just leave me stranded up here until the rest of the pirates found me again.

  Those were good reasons not to try it, but they weren't the real one. Laura wasn't willing to admit it to herself, but she didn't want to try and hurt him. She felt suddenly aware of how alone they were up here, and her pulse raced. It was difficult to keep her mind from straying to just how attractive he was, and how he looked at her.

  She took a step backward, uncomfortably aware of how small the space on top of the tower was.

  "You are much more than a bargaining chip to me," Rorax said eventually, breaking the moment. "I know it doesn't appear that way, but I swear it's true. I don't want to see you hurt, and I'm sorry I had to drag you into this."

  "Not sorry enough," she said, hands on her hips. "You still kidnapped me, didn't you?"

  "I had no choice, not if I was going to make this work," he said. He spoke so quietly that, if he hadn't been speaking English, she'd have thought that he was talking to himself. "I needed something to buy my way into Korgan's favor. But I promise you, I'll keep you safe and make sure you get home intact."

  "Doesn't that depend on the ransom being paid?" Laura asked. "And maybe you mean to get me home safe, but I'm pretty sure that asshole who tried to grab me down there had other plans."

  "If Dakar touches you again, I'll tear his wings off," Rorax said, cold fury filling his voice. Laura didn't doubt that he meant it.

  "Only if I don't do it first," Laura muttered. The fierce protectiveness in his voice made her melt inside, and she had to remind herself again that it was his fault that she was in this mess.

  Rorax laughed, sounding surprised, and then shook his head. "I wouldn't put it past you, Adele. You were certainly holding your own against him until the rest of them joined in."

  Adele. The deception felt strange and wrong, and Laura almost felt guilty for lying to him. Which was, she knew, stupid. He was the criminal, the kidnapper, the pirate. And who knew what would happen if he found out that she wasn't the heiress he had come looking for?

  "I could have taken him," she said again, needing something to distract her from her thoughts. "I could take any one of you. Doubt me? I'll show you."

  Not quite the distraction I wanted, she admitted to herself as she imagined their bodies locked together in combat. That only made her want him more.

  Rorax looked her up and down, a long and careful examination that made her shiver. He wasn't just measuring her combat abilities, she could tell that from the way his gaze li
ngered and from the bulge that grew in his pants.

  When he looked her in the face again, he smiled an arrogant smile and shook his head.

  "You're skilled, that's clear. Better trained than most humans I've faced in combat. But I'm not going to fight you," he said. "I promised to keep you safe, and beating you up is no part of that."

  Laura nodded, grinned, and let her center of mass sink slightly. A subtle change of posture put her into fighting readiness. "Chickening out of a challenge? I figured pirates for cowards, but—"

  She didn't get to finish that sentence. Just as she'd expected, Rorax could only be pushed so far.

  He lunged toward her, blindingly fast. Her reflexes had already sent her into a sideways roll by the time her brain caught up to what was happening. Bouncing up to her feet, Laura stepped inside his next attack, ducking and letting his hands grab empty air as she drove her fist into his stomach.

  It was like punching a tree. Laura slipped around Rorax before he could recover, glad for the padding in her gloves. Any human she'd punched like that would have doubled over, but the alien was made of sterner stuff.

  The impact did make him gasp for breath, and he took a moment to recover. When he turned to face her, Laura could see the respect in his eyes. His advance toward her was slower now, cautious and careful. At least I've taught him not to underestimate me, Laura thought as she backed away slowly, mindful of the edge of the tower behind her. It was a long way down.

  "You've proved your point," he said, voice a low growl. "We don't need to keep doing this."

  Despite his protests, she could hear the joy of combat in his words and knew that he wanted this fight as much as she did. Both of them had stress that they wanted to get out of their systems. She met his eyes and shook her head.

  "I said I could beat you, and I will," she told him. "You want to surrender, go ahead. I'm not backing down."

  Flexing her fingers, she watched him for warning signs. Despite that, when his attack came it was so fast she almost missed it. Rorax had gotten inside his arm's reach of her, and his punch was almost too fast to see.

  Laura dropped under it, just getting out of the way. Her back hit the crystal tower hard enough to drive the air out of her lungs, and Rorax followed her down. He'd never intended the punch to connect, she realized. It had been a ruse, and she'd done exactly what he'd intended.

  He's not the only one with tricks up his sleeve, she thought, managing to brace her foot against his stomach. Rolling backward, she pulled him with her, catching him by surprise. She straightened her leg, sending him flying over her and off the edge of the tower.

  For a moment, her heart stopped as she thought that she'd killed him. They were high enough that the fall was surely fatal even to someone as tough as he was. But his wings spread and caught the air with a snap, and he soared back up, laughing. He landed on the far side of the tower from her and grinned as she rolled to her feet.

  "That's a clever trick," he said. "I think we can call the fight a draw."

  Laura glared, putting her hands on her hips. It's not over, she wanted to say. Neither of them had won that, and she still wanted to find out who would have. Rorax wasn't just big and strong, he knew what he was doing. In her experience, a lot of men his size coasted on their raw physical power, but he was as skilled as anyone she'd ever fought. Maybe more so.

  "You were pulling your punches," she said accusingly. "It wasn't a fair test, either way."

  "Fair enough," he admitted, holding up his hands. "I won't hurt you, so I can't fight at full strength. Maybe that's not fair, and I shouldn't have let you goad me into that fight. But we're not having a rematch. I won't risk hurting you."

  Both of them were breathing heavily, and the sheen of sweat on his body just made him more attractive. Laura stepped back, shaking her head, and trying to keep her mind on other things. It wasn't easy, with his tempting body right there.

  "You're not what I thought a pirate would be like," she said. "I thought you'd all be, well..."

  Her wave back toward the fireside camp took in all the other pirates. The rest were easier to think about, criminals who were in it for whatever they could get for themselves. Rorax was different, confusingly so, and she didn't quite know how to react to that.

  Laura wanted to ignore all that, to forget about her questions and confusion and doubt. It would be so easy to give in to her desires and throw herself at him, let him have his way with her. From the way he looked at her with his strange, alien eyes, she could see that he was wrestling with the same feelings.

  But he was a pirate, she reminded herself firmly. She was only here because he'd attacked her and tried to kidnap her client. And if he was better than the rest of the pirates here, so what? She was only at their mercy because he'd brought her here.

  Her body didn't care about any of that. The fight had only made that clearer — she wanted him, wanted to feel the heat of his body against hers, wanted to discover what his scaled skin felt like under bare fingers, wanted to touch and feel and taste him. It took an effort to get her mind off that.

  "God dammit, why did you have to be a pirate?" she asked, speaking to herself more than to him. He looked at her, an unreadable expression on his face, and she saw a flash of pain under his iron mask of control. For a second, she thought he was going to answer her, but he kept his silence.

  Before she could say anything more, he turned his back and leaped from the tower, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

  10

  Rorax

  Rorax felt his prisoner's eyes on his back as he left, and regretted his decision instantly. Abandoning her like that wasn't kind, or fair to her. But if he'd spoken to her any longer he wouldn't have been able to resist the desire that the sight of her woke in him.

  Fighting her was a mistake, he admitted to himself. Even through her spacesuit, the feel of her body against his had been too much for him. And the fact that she could take on a trained dragon warrior like that had made an impression on him, too. What are they teaching princesses these days?

  Adele St. George seemed more like a knight than a princess, and that intrigued him. Everything about her drew him to her, and if he'd stayed a moment longer he knew they wouldn't be able to restrain themselves.

  The rest of the pirates seemed to have forgotten the fight by the time he rejoined them, all except Dakar. He sat at the side of the camp nursing a bottle of something strong and watching Rorax with a dark glower that promised future trouble. Rorax returned the look steadily, not giving him an inch.

  "Where's the girl?" Grorg asked. He and Tamak rested a little apart from the other dragons, warier now than they had been before. It was clear that they weren't yet considered part of this crew, and that they needed to be careful.

  "She's safe, away from these assholes," Rorax answered, forcing a smile. "I don't want to risk her getting broken before we have a chance to ransom her."

  It took an effort to speak about her like that, as though she were an object to be bargained with rather than a person. But he couldn't let the others see that he cared, they'd take it as a weakness. Rorax couldn't risk giving them any hint that something was wrong.

  "Keeping her to yourself, little brother?" Korgan's booming laugh filled the cave, and Rorax found himself tensing up, his fists clenching. That was dangerous; whatever else he might be, Korgan wasn't stupid. He was all too good at reading Rorax's emotions, especially when it came to spotting a weakness.

  Forcing himself to keep smiling, Rorax turned to face his brother. "Seeing as your men were going to ruin her, yeah, I'll keep her out of sight until everything's arranged. That way we all get what we want."

  "As you like," Korgan said. "I don't care what happens to one human, but the resources we can get from her father are another thing. With those, we'll be able to set ourselves up with a proper base of operations. That'll show the loyalists that there's nothing to gain from the empire."

  There was a rumble of agreement from the surrounding dragon
s. If they could split up the forces that had stuck with Emperor Verikan, they'd be safe from his reprisals. That would make piracy a much safer way of life.

  Which is exactly what I'm here to prevent, Rorax thought. It would be a terrible irony if his plan to get close enough to the pirates to bring them down ended up being the thing that made them too powerful to stop.

  All I need to do is send our location to the emperor, he reminded himself. That and make sure the pirates are here when the imperial guards turn up. Realizing that he had a predatory grin on his face, he made the best of it.

  "How do we get them to pay up, then?" he asked his brother. "That's the bit I couldn't figure out on my own."

  "It is the hard part, isn't it?" Korgan said with a grin of his own. "Getting paid and getting away safely. A small crew like yours couldn't do that, but with all of us? We've worked out a way to do it that's safe enough."

  Waving for Rorax to follow, he led the way to his tent. It was bigger than the other pirates' tents, roomier and more impressively decorated. The pirate king had to have the showiest home, Rorax supposed, but once he was inside he saw that there was a functional reason as well. The back of the tent was full of equipment, pieced together from a mix of human and dragon technology.

  There were even a couple of humans, working as technicians on the primitive Earth technology. Rorax raised an eyebrow, and Korgan laughed.

  "First thing I went looking for was a human communication system," he said. "It's so much easier to arrange a ransom when we don't have to risk speaking to the humans face-to-face. These humans have the technical skills I needed, and I'm rewarding them well for their work. And mixed with our own technology like this, there's no risk of anyone tracking back the signals to our location. You've got to think long term here — too many of the crews are just thinking about their next catch, if that. Together the two of us can keep them in line, get them to plan ahead a little further."