Dragon Lords Books 1 - 4 Box Set: Anniversary Edition

by Michelle M. Pillow

  Phase one of her plan wasn’t working. Olena decided to go to stage two.

  Keeping quiet, she pulled her shirt off and set it behind her by Yusef’s feet. She supported her weight as she leaned over. Letting her nipples graze his chest, she lightly rubbed her breasts over him. She bit her lips, closing her eyes as the sensations spread like wildfire through her.

  Olena lifted on all fours, getting slightly carried away as she moved her erect nipples up toward his face. Naughtily, she parted his lips with the tight bud, shivering to feel his hot breath against it. She wanted nothing more than for him to open his mouth and suck it deeply between his lips.

  When she pulled back to once more settle her hips on his, she felt as if he had aroused some beneath her. Without thinking, she said fervently, “Stage three.”

  Olena climbed off the bed, only to strip completely out of her clothes. Once naked, she got back on top of him. Sitting astride his thick, muscular thighs, she drew the drawstring apart at his waist. With a tug, she drew the waistband down, over his hips to expose his member nestled in dark hair. Even prone, his cock was daunting in its size.

  Olena didn’t stop. She ran her hands to his thighs, running up his hip bones and stomach as she tried to get up the nerve to touch his member. She rubbed her breasts over his hips next, pressing more fully when she discovered the shocking pleasure of his hair roughened thighs on her sensitive nipples.

  Yusef’s member twitched between her breasts. Olena was hot for him. She could feel the moistness his nearness stirred between her thighs. Without thought, she crawled up his taut body, administering her kisses like medicine to his skin. Beginning at the flat navel carved into his stomach, she licked her way up his chest, flicking her tongue over his nipples, before continuing to his neck. His pulse had sped up since she last checked it. Or was that her heart she felt beating so hard and fast?

  Her hips settled next to his groin, heating it to grow with her moist fire. It stirred and twitched against her, driving her mad with a powerful lust. Pleasure shot through her to feel him. His arousal became thick and she let it press intimately into her. Slowly, her hips rubbed along him, rocking, building tension and need. Feeling his arousal, she needed him more than anything to wake up and finish the ache he’d created in her that first night in the tent.

  Going to his ear, she bit the lobe and said, more for her own naughty pleasure than a real promise, “Blast it, Yusef, if you wake up right now I’ll give you the wildest night of sex you’ve ever had.”

  She moved her kisses to his mouth. It wasn’t like he could hear her anyway.

  * * *

  Yusef felt himself coming out of a black hole into a whole new kind of dream. This dream was hot and moist and was doing wicked things to his prone body. His lips were parted. He tried to move, but he was too weak to do anything about the erotically charged tracing of his mouth.

  Was that a tongue that slipped into him? No, it wasn’t wet like a tongue.

  “Stage three,” he heard a whisper and the heat was gone from his body. His entire being lurched in protest. He wanted the heat to come back before the black hole consumed him once more.

  His wish was answered. The heat came to him, only this time it was on his hips. He felt a brush to his naked cock, awakening as it had his mouth. Whatever was doing it, he didn’t want it to stop.

  Oh, he thought in dazed pleasure, now that is a tongue.

  The ruthlessly delightful caress moved over his stomach and chest, detouring at his nipples, only to continue to his neck and ear. His loins lurched at the sensation. Then, he felt the press of womanly offering. His erection filled with painful urgency, ready to probe the damp and torturous heat.

  The tongue met his ear, swirling around the rim, and teeth were soon behind it to bite his lobe. Hearing words he would never forget, in a voice that called to him like a siren’s song, Olena said to him, “Damn it, Yusef, if you wake up right now I’ll give you the wildest night of sex you’ve ever had.”

  His hand twitched, fighting against all odds to move.

  “If you get out of this hospital tomorrow, I’ll even give you a second night as your love slave,” Olena swore.

  Yusef heard. He memorized. He planned to collect.

  Her tongue dipped in short thrusts to tempt his mouth to moving. Hotly, she said against his lips, “I’ll do any sordid thing you want, in any position, in any place. Just come out of this blasted coma.”

  Breaking free, Yusef moaned. He lifted his hands to her hips, running over her smooth waist. His lips parted and he pressed her teasing mouth more fully to his, deepening to an instantly passionate kiss.

  Olena jolted in surprise, but as his expert lips parted to taste her, she forgot her attempt to stop. He edged his finger up to her breasts, tweaking the hard nipples. His wife moaned.

  “Oh, firebird.” His voice was husky. She felt like a soft, warm dream. Her sex worked along his cock, not taking him in, but not pulling away as she rocked herself against the hardened length.

  He pulled his hands from her breasts, knowing what her body wanted from him. He wanted it too. With a strength he shouldn’t have been capable of, he firmly grabbed her hips and lifted her up. Olena gasped in surprise, pulling up and away from his lips. It was too late to stop his intent.

  Yusef positioned himself with blind ease. Her fire called to him. He didn’t stop to think. A woman as bold and passionate as this would know what she asked for. With a jerk of his strong hands, he impaled his arousal deeply into her warm, tight body.

  Olena froze as he broke through the tight seal of her pussy. A cry left her lips in a soft whimper. She trembled softly, but nothing more than a light plea came out.

  Yusef felt her passion draining to be replaced by fear. Suddenly, the uncomfortable tightness of her body sunk into his dazed brain. His eyes blinked open, already shifted to yellow in his passion. He saw her clearly, the stunned horror of her expression.

  “What was that, firebird?” His mind might have been subdued, but his thick arousal was still ready to complete its task.

  “Oh,” she said instead of answering, catching her breath. She struck out in the only way she could think to answer. “I should have known you were faking sick, knight!”

  Yusef glanced around the hospital room, completely confused.

  Olena sprang into action. She pulled herself off of him, flinching once the hardness was gone. Without stopping, she hopped down to the floor, her legs wobbling as she landed. Digging through the sheets at his feet, she tossed one over his naked body to hide him from view. She refused to look at him, as she found her shirt and tugged it over her head.

  Yusef tried to sit up, but it was too hard to move. Pain shot over his back. Olena bent over and he saw the telltale sign of blood on her creamy inner thigh. It hit him like bricks to the gut. She had been pure.

  Only when she was completely covered, did she turn back to look at him. She had regained some of her fiery composure, but her eyes were not so mischievous when she looked at him. Her lips opened, looking as if they were ready to scream. Her jaw snapped closed and she clearly did the most dignified thing she could think of. She ran away.

  Yusef watched her leave, desperate to go after her. Her confusion and torment washed over him, and he wanted nothing more than to pull her back into his arms and show her that coupling didn’t have to be like this—that if she had told him she was innocent, he would never had embedded himself into her so roughly or deeply. He would have broken her body in slowly. If she’d told him right away, he would have taken a different approach to her passions.

  How was he supposed to know the brazen beauty he had married wasn’t as brazen as she seemed? The woman kissed like an expert. She walked around, seemingly free with her nudity as if it were the most natural thing for her to do, as if many had seen her body and she knew how to use it.

  “Olena,” he whispered, wishing he had the strength to command her back to him. “Don’t go.”

  * * *

&n
bsp; Olena didn’t turn back. Hitting the button on the wall, she watched as the door slid open. To her mortification, she realized Yusef’s parents were waiting literally right outside the door. Seeing her pale face, they shot forward in worry.

  “Your son’s awake,” she croaked to stop their questions. With that she took off down the corridor, leaving the confused king and queen to stare after her before rushing to their son.

  * * *

  Yusef was surprised to see his parents. He had been doing his best to work his pants back over his hips and was glad they were mostly righted before they walked in. Seeing the concern in his mother’s eyes, he shot her a crooked smile. Instantly, she relaxed.

  “Yusef,” She didn’t touch him now that he was awake, but the motherly instinct was strong in her, and he read it well in her face, without her having to say a word.

  “Where did Olena go?” he asked, trying to sit up.

  “She took off down the hall,” the king said. “Don’t worry. All the guards have orders not to let the princesses out of the castle.

  Seeing Yusef’s concern, Queen Mede added, “She’d been by your side since she got here. I’m sure her running off is because she’s embarrassed.”

  Yusef frowned. Did his parents know what just happened between him and his wife?

  “Olena was kidnapped by the Var,” the king said. The queen frowned, but sat back to let the men talk. Father and son had their own ways. The king quickly filled him in on the whole story, finishing with, “She handled herself well.”

  Yusef nodded, his heart racing to think what could have happened if his family hadn’t been there.

  “You see,” the queen added, breaking in with her soft wisdom. “She wouldn’t let us check her in the medic for internal injury. When your father and brothers found her, she was tied to a tree, naked from the waist up. It’s our fear that she’s…”

  Yusef thought of what just happened. He knew it wasn’t possible she’d been raped.

  “Well, that could be why she ran out of here so fast,” the queen said. “She might be ashamed by what happened. She has a proud, fighting spirit.”

  Yusef nodded. “I will speak to her.”

  Queen Mede sighed, knowing her son wouldn’t judge Olena for it. Rape was never the victim’s fault.

  Glancing at his wife, the king said, “Go get the doctor.”

  Queen Mede nodded and stood.

  “Now, about your attack,” the king began when they were alone, looking Yusef over. “What exactly happened?”

  Chapter 28

  Olena didn’t stop as she hurried past the front entrance to the castle. The guard nodded at her as she went by him but did not block her way. By the expression on his face, he didn’t know who she was.

  Seeing the village before her in the valley, she ran for the forest path that would lead down to the paved roads. It was dusk, but the three suns merely tamed themselves, giving a dark blue haze to the ground that she could easily see by. All she had to do was reach the Outpost to grab her Galactic ID’s and some clothes. Then she would be out of Yusef’s life for good.

  Even if she had to go before King Attor of the Var and make a deal, she would never go back to the Draig palace. Nothing and no one could make her.

  “Captain Olena.”

  Olena froze as the dark, deep words came calmly from the forest. It was as if their speaker had been waiting for her. Her jaw lifted. The voice was not of her crew.

  “I didn’t realize you were pirating these parts,” the man’s words continued. “It seems a little beneath your skills.”

  Olena looked around the colossal forest, seeing the red earthen path before her surrounded by yellow ferns that looked green in the twilight. She didn’t move until she detected movement at her side. It was the flick of a match and a lighting of an old fashioned cigar. Only one person she knew smoked cigars.

  “Doc?” Olena asked in surprise. She never imagined she would find a head of the Medical Alliance here. Taken aback, she couldn’t speak through her confusion. Doc Aleksander was someone she had crossed paths with a few times on minor jobs. He stayed out of her way and she stayed out of his, after paying a small fee of rights of course. It was robbery on his part, but Olena just smiled. It was usually robbery on hers. Finding her voice, as the orange glow illuminated the man’s dark face, she said, “I didn’t know the Alliance was doing missionary work on this forsaken planet. What brings you?”

  Aleksander stepped out from the trees, pushing off the rough bark, as if he were in the finest of gentleman’s clubs. His movements were graceful and refined. When he waved his cigar around, it was with an air of elegance. He wore a dark suit, expensive and handsomely cut. His hair was slicked back, the locks matching the black of his thick mustache, which twitched when he spoke or took a long draw, as he was doing now. He smiled as the smoke curled out of his lips.

  “A minor detour,” he dismissed with a wave.

  Olena didn’t dare move. She didn’t dare show fear. Men like Doc Aleksander never traveled alone. She could just imagine the biogenic goons he had hidden in the trees. Pretending as if she had all the time in the world, she said, “Me too.”

  “So you don’t have something going, Captain?” His eyes roamed over her tousled hair and pale cheeks. Taking in her lithe body, he let an interested smile form on his lips.

  “Sorry, Doc,” Olena said.

  She held her ground as he stepped daringly closer. Nerves jumped all over her skin. This man was bad news. She’d heard horror stories about what he’d done to people who merely looked at him wrong. He’d surgically remove their eyes without letting them pass out first.

  “You know I’ve always been straight with you,” Olena said. “I lost my ship and had to hitch a fast ride. The ride landed me here. If I had a scam, I’d let you in on it. But you know me. I always end up where the money is. I’ll find something to pay my insurance policy with. I just need a little time first to get the angle. For a primitive race, these shifters aren’t too badly off.”

  “Shifters?” the Doc asked. Olena thought he would have known. His type usually knew everything there was to know. His eyes narrowed slightly in displeasure. He was also rumored to be a purist. He put up with alien races out of necessity, but he didn’t think they were good enough to wipe a human’s…well… “Tell me Olena, do you know your way around here pretty well?”

  “Well enough,” she answered, forcing herself to shrug. “There’s not much to know. This place is dreadfully barbaric.”

  The man’s arm came forward to leisurely drape over her shoulders, as he strolled down the path with her, leading her deeper into the forest, away from the palace. Suddenly, her stomach lurched and she thought of Yusef. Doc’s cigar dipped dangerously close to her cheek, warming her skin. She smiled slightly, ignoring it. She didn’t for a moment think it was an accident.

  “How would you like for you and your crew to never pay another insurance premium again?” he asked.

  Olena’s ears perked up, intrigued by his offer. Such an opportunity never came up lightly. “I’m listening.”

  “Do you think you could steal me a prize?” he asked smoothly, stopping to turn to her. His arm slid across the back of her shoulders as his free hand rose to touch the base of her throat. “It would be worth your while.”

  “How worth?” she asked like a true pirate. Doc grinned in appreciation of her, as his hand trailed leisurely over her neck to rest lightly above her breasts. She didn’t flinch as he touched her, but she wanted to. His embrace was nothing like Yusef’s—even if her body still ached from where he’d skewered her.

  “Name your price.” Doc moved his hand to flick the cigar before puffing. He dropped his hands from her chest. “Ah, damn, it’s too bad I’m a married man.”

  Olena ignored the confession as his gaze moved over her like he wanted nothing more than to press her into the earthen floor. Feeling the twinge Yusef had put in her body, she said, “Passage off this rock.”

  “Don
e.” Doc nodded.

  “Fifty thousand,” she continued to barter, as was expected.

  “Done.”

  “My own spacecraft?” she questioned, letting an impish smile cross her features.

  “I appreciate your greed,” he chuckled heartily. “Don’t push it.”

  Knowing he wouldn’t be trying anything, she shrugged and pursed her lips together. She affected a sultry pout. “Can’t blame a girl for trying.”

  “Especially one as devious as you, my dear Captain,” the Doc said. There was only pleasure in his tone, no disapproval.

  Passage and fifty thousand? Not to mention immunity from the Medical Alliance for her and her crew. This deal was too good to pass up. The only drawback was that she had the feeling she would be going back inside the palace. If what he wanted was outside the fortress, he would have just taken it himself. She did not relish facing Yusef again. She was too mortified. But, if she refused Doc Aleksander’s direct request, she’d end up dead.

  Better humiliation than torture, she thought.

  “So, boss, what you looking to get?” she asked with a forcibly bright smile and a sparkle to her mischievous eyes. “If it can be lifted off the ground, Captain Olena can rightly steal it.”

  The Doc’s smile wavered from his features, as his expression lost all its charm. “My daughter, Nadja.”

  Chapter 29

  The palace keep was a dazzling place. For a fortress designed and decorated by a race of antiquated, warrior men, it was well done. There were five wings built into, up, and around the small mountain. Olena was told that each prince had designed his own section. Too her amazement, and judging by their homes, she discovered that the brothers were anything but carbon copies of each other. Whereas Morrigan’s home with Ualan was all fire, marble, and fur, Zoran and Pia’s wing was constructed with a wood finish, giving the place a real oriental lodge feeling to it. Yusef’s home was too plain, though she had a feeling the Outpost is where he spent most of his time.