“How do they work?” he asked.
Salena pressed her lips together and shook her head with a small shrug. “I don’t know. Pheromones? Brainwaves? Magic? That’s one of the things the Federation would like to find out. When I’m not interrogating for them, they want to poke around my head to see if my ability can be replicated.” Her hands trembled, and she felt moisture gathering in her eyes. She closed them, willing tears not to fall. “I can’t live like that. I don’t want to hurt people. I don’t want to be hurt. Anything is better than being used like that.”
“I assume you can lie to people, even if they can’t lie to you?” he asked.
Salena nodded. “But I’m not lying.”
“I know,” he said, even though there was no way he could know for sure that she spoke the truth. “I want to thank you for telling me when you did not have to. I will guard your secrets and cherish your trust in leaving them with me.”
Were these dragon-men for real? For a moment, she wondered if this was a hallucination and she was really on the Federation’s operating table being poked and prodded.
Feeling a pebble digging uncomfortably into her ass, she determined things were a little too real to be drug induced. At least she hoped so.
“Are you going to shift and sleep like the others?” she wondered.
“No. I would rather stay close to you if you will allow it.” His hand dropped from his knee to rest on the ground beside him.
Salena looked at his strong fingers and inched her hand closer. “I’d like that.”
Their fingers touched but it might as well have been her entire body. She felt him against her, as if somehow their souls had escaped to be near each other. It was a fanciful notion, but that didn’t make the sensation any less real.
“What happened to your sisters? How were you separated?”
I’m sure that we should run, Fiora’s voice whispered through her memories.
I can see that we should stay, Piera’s answered.
“I hesitated. That’s what happened. I hesitated, and they found us.”
“Who found you?” His hand slipped on top of hers, causing her to shiver under the warmth of his touch.
“Local thugs working for politicians. We were playing and ran into a rally in the woods. It wasn’t on purpose. We knew better than to go around townsfolk. Suddenly the politicians started confessing a bunch of random sins in front of everyone. The villagers became angry, and the politicians blamed us. It was the final straw. When our parents refused to allow them to take us away to what they called a private school facility—which they ended up confessing was just whichever trade ship would take us first—they came back and killed them. We were sleeping in our room under the house. When we heard my father’s boots pounding above, we knew we had to run, so we hid in the forest. And then I hesitated. We were caught and separated. I never saw them again.”
“It’s not your fault.” His hand slid up her forearm and back down in a comforting gesture.
“It’s sweet that you believe that, but I was there. I know what happened. I was the one who wanted to run in the forest. We were sixteen, foolish, and thought the woods were our domain. I should have known better. Later, I was the one who hesitated. If I had done anything other than freeze, we would have been safe.”
“You were a girl,” he countered.
“Hardly,” she said. “It’s not like I’ll live to be five hundred years old. By Noire customs I was already a woman.”
“You might if you stayed here with me. I’d share my lifespan with you.” His eyes dipped down to her mouth. “I want you to stay with me.”
“I can’t.” She wanted to, but it would be cruel to tell him as much when she couldn’t stay. But there was something she could do, something she could remember later.
Salena pulled her hand from under his and touched his bearded cheek. Hopefully this time the others wouldn’t interrupt them. She pushed up on her knees and moved closer.
Salena brushed his hair out of his face. He was beautiful to look at, strong and proud, but he had kind eyes and a raw, primitive energy. She traced his lip, feeling the firm texture of it against the pad of her fingertip. His warm breath moved over her hands.
“I want you,” he whispered. “Every time you touch me, I want you more.”
With him, she definitely did not mind the flow of honesty when he spoke. “I want you too.”
She kissed him, drawing her mouth against his in a gentle caress. His beard tickled, and she smiled.
A strong hand moved along her hip as he rolled her onto her back. The soft natural bed cushioned her as his weight pressed down. It was enough that she could feel him, but not so much that it hurt. She felt safe, unafraid of the light or the woods. She knew he would protect her with his life.
Even though he didn’t say that, she knew. It was an overwhelming feeling.
Air hit her leg as he pulled at her skirt. Her body ached, and she didn’t want to wait. Every moment since they’d met had felt like foreplay, and she couldn’t take much more. She gasped, arching into him. His arousal pressed into her, letting her feel how much he desired this. She reached for his hip, desperate to feel flesh. Her hand found what it was looking for, and she massaged her fingers along his naked ass. His lips moved to her neck.
His weight dropped down, crushing her. At first, she didn’t mind, but when he didn’t ease up, she tapped his hip. “Grier.”
His lips stopped.
Was he…sleeping?
“Grier?” She ran her fingers into his hair and lifted his head to look at his face. His eyes were dazed, and he blinked heavily. “Grier, what’s wrong?”
Salena wiggled until his weight slid to the side but his body pinned her clothes to the ground, still trapping her. She took a deep breath. A metallic dart poked from his shoulder.
Fear propelled her into action. She yanked the dart from him and moved with renewed purpose. She struggled to get her tangled skirts free so that she could protect Grier from whatever was happening.
She managed to turn onto her side and begin pulling at her skirt as she crawled free. Feet came from above and landed in front of her. She gasped, lifting her arms to the side to shield Grier.
“Get back,” she ordered.
Her answer came in the form of a sharp sting in her chest. She blinked in surprise, her head instantly dizzy as she looked down. A dart stuck out from beneath her collarbone. The sight pulled forth a painful memory, and the drugs confused her thoughts. She wanted to pull it out, but her hands did not obey her brain as her arms dropped, lifeless.
A man snorted. “I told you it was…”
Salena’s mind fell into darkness.
15
“We have to run now,” Fiora whispered.
Salena didn’t want to run as she clutched her sisters’ hands. They were safe in the dark where the monsters couldn’t see. She didn’t want to run. She didn’t want to be here.
The small pit where they had dug clay smelled familiar and safe. She wanted the firm ground beneath her bare feet to pull her in. This was home. She knew nothing else.
They knew nothing else.
“No. They’ll find us if we run.” Piera tugged her hand from Salena’s and rubbed her eyes as if that gesture could erase all that she had seen. “We have to stay here.”
“I’m sure that we should run,” Fiora argued under her breath. Blood dried on her forehead but was still moist enough in places that it reflected hints of light when she moved.
“I can see that we should stay.” Piera had mud caked along her arm from where she’d fallen.
“Salena?” they both whispered in unison, staring at her as they forced her to be the deciding vote.
Her unsettling dreams turned to blurred daylight as Salena was jerked awake. The lingering feel of her sisters’ hands caused her palms to tingle until she realized she had balled her hands into tight fists. The ground moved beneath her body so quickly that she bounced. Her feet were elevated over her he
ad as she lay on her back. It took a moment to find her bearings as she struggled to move.
She’d been tied to a travois with her wrists, ankles, and waist bound with rope to keep her in position. A cloth had been tied around her mouth, pulled so tight that it was between her teeth and against her tongue. It absorbed the moisture from her mouth and replaced it with the taste of dirt.
A man’s large hands enveloped the poles by her feet as he dragged her behind him. He jogged through the forest, keeping a fast pace. His clothing was a bastardized version of what she’d seen the cat-shifters wear. It hung on his frame with small tears along the seams. The cross-laces had been frayed to the point they’d been torn apart and retied in a few places. They held his tunic together but were loose at the bottom where they swung against his hips with each step.
Her heartbeat quickened, and she blinked as tears rolled down her temples into her hair. Hard bits of debris and rocks ran along her back as she was pulled over them. Fear made her desperate to escape, but it also made it hard to rationalize how. This wasn’t the Federation. If it had been, she’d know what they wanted from her.
Cysgodian? Marsh farmer? Var recluse? A new threat she hadn’t thought of? It didn’t really matter. In the end, she was under someone else’s control.
We have to run now, Fiora’s voice whispered through her mind, brought forth from her nightmares. Salena, run.
Being at a downward angle caused uncomfortable pressure in her head. She tried to kick, but the straps kept her foot locked into place and all she did was rock to the side. The man didn’t even turn around to check. That’s how little of a threat he thought her.
All her life, she’d been feared for what she might reveal but dismissed as a threat otherwise. Her would-be controllers were wrong to dismiss her. Salena wasn’t going to wait around for Grier to save her. She might lack the natural physical strength of a man, but she was smart. She might not be able to knock a guy out with her fist, but she could swing a club.
With that in mind, she began tugging at her wrists, testing to see if she could force a hand to slip free. She used the rhythm of her captor’s gait to pull, keeping her eyes on him lest he became annoyed with her rocking and turned around. He didn’t.
Pain shot up her wrists as she pressed her thumb toward her pinkie. The friction hurt, but better scraped wrists than whatever lies at the end of this journey.
“Aah!” A larger rock slammed into her back right beneath her shoulder blade, sending her off the ground only to crash-land seconds later. She cried out again. The blow was enough to help yank a hand free. However, her cry caught the attention of her captor.
Actually, captors.
The man dragging her glanced back and grunted to see her free hand. She pulled at the cloth tied around her mouth, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Watch the cargo.” A second man appeared within her eyesight as he dropped back to run behind her. He gave her a creepy little smile as he passed, and his eyes flashed with the glint of a shifter.
Until that moment, she hadn’t realized there was anyone else there. She tried to lean up to look and glimpsed a third man leading the way. By their clothes, she could safely assume they were cat-shifters. Perhaps that is how none of the others had detected their being near the campsite.
Salena felt the rocks at her back and reached her hand to the side without stretching out her arm. A stone hit her palm. She tried to grab it but missed. She attempted a few more times before finally getting one. She turned her hand toward her skirt to hide it and waited to see if the man behind her would say something and was surprised that he hadn’t noticed her grab it.
Salena craned her neck to look behind her. Seeing the shifter studying the nearby trees, she launched the rock as hard as she could over her head. He was close enough that she was able to smack him in the face and send him into a dazed stumble.
This time she wasn’t subtle as she rummaged for another rock. Her transporter slowed. Finding a second stone, she lifted her arm so she’d be ready to hit the transporter in the face the moment he turned.
“You bloody gwobr!” The injured shifter seized her wrist from behind at the same time her transporter dropped his poles. Her feet crashed to the ground, and the momentum allowed her to wrench her sore wrist free from his grasp while still holding the second rock.
It didn’t matter that three of her limbs were immobile. Salena had one arm, and she was going to use it. Holding the rock like a weapon, she swung it back. She heard a thud as it made contact. She struck blindly, unable to land another blow. Seeing her transporter coming for her, she screamed against the gag and threw the rock at him. He tried to dodge, and it hit him on the neck.
“Sacred cats, what the hell are you two infants doing?” The shifter leading the pack took one look at her, and then his two comrades, before striding toward her. She flinched and covered her face with her free hand, only to detect a shadow pass by.
“Curtis, are we stop—?”
She looked in time to see the leader uppercut the smaller man, cutting off his surprised words. He flew backward out of her view, and she did not hear him get up.
“Beat up by a human. Valter’s no use to us. Leave him.” Curtis’ eyes flashed gold as he let her see his anger. He grabbed her sore wrist and forced it back into position. He wrapped the rope around her. The pressure stung her wound. When he had finished, he lifted his fist and shook it in the air a few times in front of her face. It was a warning. “Pick up your load, Fergal. The sooner we deliver, the sooner we’re paid. And make sure she doesn’t get that mouthpiece loose. Her words are poisonous. We don’t want her talking to us.”
Fergal grabbed the poles and lifted her feet once more. Curtis turned his back on her, as if she were no more than a cart of dirt they were hauling through the woods. Her attempt at an escape might have backfired, but at least she had slightly better odds now, thanks to Curtis’ temper.
16
“It was a mistake to bring her out here. I should have sent her with the pirates off this planet the second I knew the Federation wanted her.” Grier rubbed his shoulder. It throbbed where he’d been hit. The only sign they had of Salena were drag marks where someone had pulled her across the ground away from him before disappearing into the woods. He stood at the end of those tracks, looking around for a clue as to where they had gone. There was no sign of her, and there was no clear idea of how long she’d been missing. By the sunlight, he could guess it had been several hours.
“Salena,” he yelled. “Call out if you can hear me!”
She did not answer.
What if she is hurt?
What if she is dead?
What are they doing to her?
Why can’t I detect her?
Why take her and not me?
“I’ve never seen these.” Roderic turned the metal dart in his fingers. “They’re too sophisticated for marsh farmers.”
All four shifters had been hit with the darts. Whoever had done it either knew the forest well enough to slip around undetected or was some kind of elite super soldier.
Federation?
Cysgodians?
Aliens?
Var?
Farmers?
“Is it possible the farmers have a nef trade deal with the Federation?” Payton asked. “They are the only ones who would know the forest well enough to slip around undetected. Otherwise, I don’t know how someone could get past four shifters.”
“Or mask Salena’s scent from me,” Grier added. His heart beat faster, the fear filling him.
“They dislike royals, so it’s possible they are trying to create their own agreements with off-worlders,” Roderic answered, only to mumble under his breath, “those drunken idiots.”
“Drunken skilled idiots,” Payton corrected.
“The Federation won’t harm her,” Jaxx said. “They want her alive. That’s good news for us. I think we head toward the city. It’s our best bet.”
She has to be alive.
She needs me.
I need her.
I must find her
Find her.
Salena!
Find Salena.
Grier tried to focus on what needed to be done, but it was difficult with panic tightening his chest. His flesh tingled, and he felt his skin hardening. He had promised Salena that he would protect her on this journey, and instead he’d let his emotions overrule his purpose. He’d been kissing her when he should have been guarding her.
It is no wonder the gods don’t think me fit to have a wife.
Don’t hurt her. Please, don’t hurt her.
“We have to get her back.” Grier’s voice was gruff and came out a half growl. He tightened his fists. This was the same feeling of desperation he’d felt outside the marriage tents. The urge to shift built within him. The dragon wanted free.
The dragon wanted to kill.
“And we will.” Payton touched his arm, and he jolted at the contact, almost swinging at her. She backed away with her hands raised before her to show she meant no harm.
“Cousin, look at me.” Jaxx stood in front of him and lowered his jaw to stare intently at Grier. The man’s eyes filled with gold, warning that he could shift at any time. “We all know you carry the unbroken crystal in your pocket. We know what that means, but you need to focus and keep control. You’re beginning to act a little wild.”
Grier breathed deeply, barely hearing him. His heart beat faster and faster. He would shift and tear the forest apart to find her. He would burn the entire area to the ground. He would—
“Well, I tried.” Jaxx drew back his fist and slammed it hard into Grier’s face.
The blow sent him flying onto his back. Grier skidded across the dirt. When he stopped, he looked up in surprise, blinking hard as his vision began to clear.
“Feel better?” Jaxx placed his hands on his hips but looked ready to do it again if he had to.
“Ow.” Grier rubbed his jaw. “Yeah, thanks.”
“Anytime.” Jaxx reached out a hand to lift him from the ground.
Dragon Prince Page 13
