Dragon Lords Books 1 - 4 Box Set: Anniversary Edition

by Michelle M. Pillow

  * * *

  Yusef sighed, slipping into his clothes. Olena still hadn’t come home and he was tired of waiting around for her. Just because the spy had been caught did not mean she was safe to roam. There could be others lurking in the palace.

  Slipping on his boots, he heard a pounding at the door. He frowned, standing. Yusef strode into the front hall, calling for the door to open.

  “Where is your wife?” Olek demanded, storming inside. He looked around.

  “She’s gone.” Yusef scowled at the rude intrusion.

  “Then would you mind explaining the meaning of her letter to me?” Olek asked. He handed over a piece of paper.

  Yusef glanced down, reading, Your wife’s father is coming for her. Ask her what that means. I go to put him off. You must keep her safe. He is an evil man.

  “I don’t understand,” Yusef stated, confused.

  “It was delivered by a servant from your wife,” Olek said, his face tightly drawn.

  “Where is she?” Yusef demanded, starting to panic. He ran out the front door to find her.

  “I was hoping you could tell me,” Olek was right behind him. “My wife is missing too.”

  Chapter 37

  Olena blinked, fighting to regain consciousness. Her head filled with wild images—images of the past, of nightmares, of death and blood, of her crew, of random men she had seduced and stabbed with her firefly pin, of the crash, of Yusef. They jumbled in her head, confusing her, making her feel like a helpless child, making her feel like a woman, making her feel like a prisoner.

  No, that would be the ties on her hands that made her feel like a prisoner.

  Olena flinched, blinking rapidly in the dim blue light. She moaned, but a gag stopped the sound from leaving her lips. Her mouth worked, trying to be free of it. It was clamped too tightly, hurting her jaw with its tight pull.

  Taking quick stock of her surroundings, she saw that she was in a tent. The bold curve of the Medical Alliance Missionary symbol was on the outside wall, glowing dark in the blue artificial illumination of a camp light. She didn’t know where she was, but she guessed she was still on Qurilixen. Doc wouldn’t leave until he had Nadja. Plus, she highly doubted Doc planned on taking her along as excess baggage.

  By the feel of the gurney beneath her back and the restraints on her hands, she wasn’t going to get much farther than this.

  “Father, no!”

  Olena froze. That was Nadja screaming. She twisted her head around, trying to get her bearings. The tent flap was behind her head. She saw it flutter in the breeze, showing a little crack of what was happening outside. Nadja was strapped down to a chair, her eyes pleading with her father for mercy. Olena struggled to get free. The unbreakable steel bonds were too tight.

  “There, there Nadja,” she heard Doc answer. “If you’re telling me the truth, you have nothing to worry about.”

  Olena couldn’t see what was happening. She tried to force her hand to slide through the wrist clamp. The raw sting of tearing flesh hurt, but she pulled harder. Blood wet her hands. She couldn’t get free. Nadja’s whimpering surrounded her. Olena stopped fighting her binds. If this man was willing to torture his own daughter, then he wouldn’t think twice about hurting a pirate.

  “Go make sure she wasn’t followed,” Doc ordered. Olena again tried to see out, but the flap wouldn’t move. The breeze had died down. She shook violently. Her mind yelling to Yusef to come for her, to save her just one more time.

  * * *

  “Olena.” Yusef stopped, his head tilting to the side. He glanced around the red passageway of the palace. Panic overwhelmed him with a sense of urgency. Turning to Olek, he said, “Quick. Our wives are in trouble.”

  * * *

  “Who have you whored for?” Doc Aleksander yelled at his daughter. She strained to hear more but couldn’t for a long while. “Give me his name.”

  Olena heard footsteps coming around to the tent flap. Quickly, she whipped her hair over her face and held completely still. The hair would allow her to peek without being detected. A presence entered the room. She saw a large, looming shadow pass her vision, moving behind her.

  “Last chance,” Aleksander warned. “I’ll have a name.”

  Olena realized he was still outside the tent. She forced herself to stay motionless as Nadja whimpered in continued agony. She couldn’t hear everything that was said, but she didn’t need to.

  “Unfortunately, I don’t have all night,” Aleksander said. His henchman didn’t move from Olena’s tent. You see, daughter, I have made some friends of my own on this accursed planet. It seems your precious Draig aren’t liked by my friends. And if I help them, they’ll help me. So tell me, which prince is yours?”

  There was no answer.

  Olena stiffened. The henchman was at her feet. The gurney was slowly rolled forward toward the flap. She wanted to scream, but knew she had to be calm. Fear only defeated, and she needed a plan.

  “You are such a disappointment.” Aleksander said in disgust to his daughter. “Well, if hurting you won’t get us anywhere, what if I hurt one of your little friends?”

  Oh no. It was time to panic.

  To Olena’s horror, the Doc yelled, “Bring out the pirate!”

  Olena closed her eyes and didn’t move. Her heart hammered wildly in her chest. Everything she had, called to Yusef, begging him to save her, to come for her. Her face was angled in the wrong direction and she couldn’t see anything but the passing of trees and tents.

  “She had nothing to do with this,” Nadja said.

  “Olena,” she heard the Doc say gently. He hovered close, as his fingers moved to tap lightly at her face. “Time to wake up.”

  Olena blinked, automatically stiffening against her bonds at the feel of his hand on her. She thrashed back and forth to throw his fingers off her.

  “What shall I do to her, Nadja?” Doc didn’t take his eyes away from his newest victim. There was a perverse pleasure on his face as he looked down at her, more perverse than his carnal attraction had been. He took a laser scalpel to Olena’s face. Olena stopped moving, her wide eyes following as it moved down. “Carve out her eyes? Her nose? Take off her lips?”

  The inert tip of the laser skimmed the bow of her upper lip, grazing lightly. Olena didn’t dare move, braced for the worst.

  “Don’t.” Nadja sounded weak.

  Don’t! Olena’s mind screamed in unison.

  “Then tell me what I want to know. Who is the father of that bastard you carry?” he bellowed, storming away from Olena to scream at his daughter. Olena relaxed slightly as the blade was drawn away. Her nose flared with each heavy breath as she tried to gain control of her fear. She had to get out. She pulled desperately to be free. She had to get Nadja out. If she’d just told Yusef what was going on, they wouldn’t be here now. “That bastard inside you will be dissolved.”

  Olena stopped to watch from the corner of her eye. To her surprise, the manacles were freed from Nadja’s wrists and she was allowed to move. She couldn’t see all that was happening, but Nadja was pulled to her feet.

  “The time for being a child is over, Nadja,” Doc whispered. “It’s time for you to take your place amongst your peers.”

  Olena felt tears coming to her eyes. She mumbled against the gag. Her mind and body called out for Yusef. She needed him. She couldn’t get out of this on her own. Not this time.

  “Do you love me, Nadja?” Olena heard Doc ask. She didn’t hear Nadja’s answer, but his next words left her cold. “Then dissect her.”

  “What…?” Nadja breathed hard, her gaze wild as she looked at Olena strapped to the table.

  Olena saw the large laser scalpel in Nadja’s hand. Doc pointed in her direction. She fearfully looked at Olena and then back at her father. She had been pushed to the edge. Blood trailed down one of the woman’s arms from a narrow cut. Nadja didn’t pay attention to the wound.

  “She is a common thief, a pirate.” Doc gave his daughter a shove toward Olena.
“She broke her word to me.”

  “No.” Nadja gasped. The scalpel fell from her fingers to the ground. Olena took a deep, gasping breath of relief. Nadja turned to run. Her father caught her easily.

  “Cut out her eyes,” he ordered his daughter with a cruel twist of his lips. “Or I’ll burn your lying ones from your head.”

  To prove his point he motioned for a hot poker to be brought from the fire. The angry red metal smoked and curled with heat. Olena screamed against her gag for him to stop. She jerked her feet.

  “Hold her down.” Doc motioned toward Nadja. Olena tried to get free, but her wrists only bled more.

  “No!” Nadja screamed.

  Hands were instantly on Nadja, gripping her shoulders and arms, lifting her legs into the air when she would kick. Her father took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. The hot poker waved dangerously at the action.

  “It’s time you learn, Nadja,” he told her. “You don’t lie to your father.”

  Nadja kicked, trying to get free. The poker loomed closer to her face.

  “Will you do as you’re told?” His voice mocked his daughter with its calmness.

  To Olena’s horror, Nadja nodded.

  “Let her go.” Doc handed the poker back to one of the men who threw it into the flames. Then, reaching to the ground, he retrieved the scalpel. Nadja took it at his insistence, her fingers shaking horribly as she pressed the button. A laser shot out, nearly six inches long and sharper than the most deadly of blades.

  Olena moaned, shaking her head as her eyes pleaded Nadja to stop.

  “Take the eyes,” Doc ordered.

  Nadja sniffed, the calmness returning to her as Doc led her forward to Olena. Her fingers trembled slightly as she lifted her hand to Olena’s cheek.

  Olena pleaded with her eyes, begging Nadja to stop. Nadja’s fingers slipped in Olena’s tears, her own falling to splash in droplets on Olena’s shoulder.

  Oh, damn Jack and his theory on fear. She was terrified! She had no plan of action, no way out. Yusef was her only idea.

  Yusef, her mind cried out. Yusef, please!

  “I’m sorry.” Nadja lifted the scalpel close to Olena’s temple. Olena closed her eyes, trying to turn her head away, knowing that her eyelids were no match for the scalpel. Nadja’s fingers pressed deeper into her skin to hold her still. The laser dipped close to Olena’s cheek. She heard it humming softly, felt its heat ready to sear her flesh. Olena peeked at Nadja, trying to plead with her. The woman didn’t see her, was looking through her. Then, Nadja turned to her father and said, “I love you.”

  Doc Aleksander smiled. To Olena’s utter disbelief, Nadja turned, thrusting the blade into her father’s heart. The man blinked in surprise. Nadja stood completely frozen, unable to move as a fine mist of blood sprayed from Doc’s chest over the two women. Doc fell to his knees.

  Chaos erupted all around the campsite. Yusef and Olek burst from the trees, subduing Doc’s men with slashes to their throats and rips through their guts. Olena’s heart leapt in her chest. He had come for her,

  Nadja didn’t move throughout the whole fight. Olena moaned at her, trying to get her attention. Nadja didn’t hear her. She stared down at her father.

  Soon Yusef was above his wife, his body shifted to dragon form. Olena would recognize him anywhere. His hands were on her wrist, pulling at the steel with all his strength. He opened it enough to let her slip free before doing the second one.

  Olena gasped, tears streaming down her shaken face. Her bloodied hands reached up and Yusef pulled her into his chest.

  “You came,” She desperately clung to him, feeling him shifting to human form beneath her fingers. She didn’t dare open her eyes. This was one dream she didn’t want to end. “You came.”

  Yusef ran his fingers over her body, as if to make sure she was unharmed. Aside from her raw and bloodied wrists, she was fine. Olek went to Nadja who kneeled on the ground by her father. The danger was gone. Olek motioned Yusef to go. Yusef nodded in ready agreement.

  Yusef lifted her into his arms and sprinted to the safety of the palace. Olena clung to him. His voice rang out as he called up commands to the guards, ordering them to help Olek.

  Olena shivered, unsure if it was gratitude or residual fear. He didn’t stop running until he reached the medical ward. The doctors came at his call while he set her on a bed.

  Olena blinked. Looking at Tal, she said, “They injected me with something.”

  Tal looked questioningly at Yusef, but did not ask her to clarify.

  “Her wrists,” Yusef added.

  “Put her in the medical unit,” Tal said. “We’ll do a complete set of tests to make sure she is unharmed.”

  Yusef picked up his wife, refusing to let her walk as he carried her to the back room. He set her down, standing her between two large metal plates.

  Then, pressing a button on the unit’s control panel, Tal said, “We have to go in the other room. The unit will X-ray her and test her to make sure she wasn’t poisoned.”

  Yusef ran his fingers to tenderly brush back Olena’s hair, and all she could think to whisper was, “You came.”

  Chapter 38

  Olena was in the medical unit for what felt like hours. After it finished scanning her body, Tal came back in the room to start the next sequence of tests. Yusef was there, watching her from the doorway, trying to smile whenever she caught his eye. Then, to her surprise, she saw Nadja standing beside him.

  She whispered something to Yusef, who frowned but nodded his head. He motioned to Tal. Tal pushed a button and the two women were left alone.

  “I’m sorry,” Nadja said instantly. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  Olena chuckled lightly. “Don’t apologize. You saved my life.”

  “I couldn’t let him kill again. You have nothing to worry about.” Nadja swayed on her feet and Olena could tell she was worn out. “As Doc’s heir, I dissolved the family. They won’t be back.”

  Nadja moved over to the machine as it beeped. Absently, she reached to the panel and pushed a button for it to continue. She pulled up a chair, waited as it cycled, and then pressed another button.

  “Nadja, I’m sorry. I know he was your father.”

  Nadja held up a hand to stop her. “I am one of the few who could have done it without backlash. No, it was time for his terror to end.”

  “Still,” Olena began.

  Tears came to Nadja’s eyes and she sniffed. Shaking her head, she held her hand for silence. No more words were needed on the subject. “Thank you.”

  The unit beeped again and Nadja glanced down to the screen.

  “Are you in pain?” Nadja asked at the panel’s prompting.

  “No,” Olena said.

  Nadja pressed a button.

  “How’s your baby?” Olena asked, remembering what Doc had said.

  Nadja read the panel and grinned. Laughing lightly, she said, “Hopefully as healthy as yours.”

  * * *

  She was pregnant. Olena wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Nadja had looked at her like she should have been ecstatic. She was numb. Should a pirate even have children? Should an ex-pirate? Surely there was some sort of cosmic law against it—or at least there should have been. Olena would make a terrible mother. She didn’t know the first thing about babies, except to avoid them. And children? The only children she knew were…

  She couldn’t even think about the past.

  Nadja erased the information about her pregnancy for her, saying that men should find out from their wives, not nosy medics. Olena also had the feeling that Nadja understood her hesitance and was giving her the precious gift of time to mull the news over.

  Dawn was fast approaching. Yusef waited up all night by her side. Sometimes, when it was allowed, he sat beside her, not saying a word. Olena kept her eyes closed and her head back, resting against the machine. She pretended she was too tired to talk.

  As she finally finished with the extensive checkup, it was de
termined that she had near perfect health. Tal said she was well enough to leave, warning her to be more careful in the future—though it was clear he knew the warning was lost on Olena.

  Yusef nodded his thanks to the man as he lifted his wife into his arms. Olena’s head rested on his shoulder, snuggling into his warmth. By the time Yusef got her home, she was fast asleep.

  * * *

  Yusef woke his wife in the late morning hours by stroking her cheek and smoothing his fingers over her hair. Tenderly, he kissed her temple and said, “I have to go. Agro discovered Pia was right about King Attor’s motives. He seeks to kill Morrigan, Nadja, and Pia.”

  Olena furrowed her brow, appearing almost hurt. “What about me?”

  Yusef chuckled. “It seems he’s taken a liking to you, firebird. He saw me cart you away at the Breeding Festival and decided he wanted you for himself. That is why you were kidnapped and I was attacked.”

  “Well,” she murmured, still sleepy. She yawned and covered her mouth. “Can you really blame him?”

  Yusef laughed louder, just happy she was safe. Everything else could be figured out in time. “The spy gave Agro directions to King Attor’s hidden camp. The trackers go there even now to confirm it. If he is there, then I’ll go with my brothers to face him.”

  Olena sat up, forcing herself awake. “No, you can’t leave.”

  “Do you think I’ll dishonor you in battle?” He frowned. “I am healed enough to make you proud.”

  “No,” she dismissed. “I know you will beat him. I just want you to stay here with me today. Can’t you go killing another time?”