Warrior's Curse

by Cara Bristol

  “She who is pure of heart shall know the power of the Goddess,” Meloni murmured, and stood up. “For the Goddess is within.”

  Carinda, Kor, and Garat stared at him as if he spoke gibberish.

  Meloni snorted in disgust. “Is there not one of you who has read the tome?”

  Ellynna appeared. “I’ve read it.”

  “Mother!” They hugged, and then the queen turned to Garat. “When you have recovered we will discuss how best to get the Lahon the water they need.”

  “Thank you, Shara,” he answered. For a man who’d gotten what he wanted, he didn’t look happy. He rose and staggered toward Reena. She fell into his arms and clung to him as if she might never see him again.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Reena dove beneath the water and glided along the sandy bottom, schools of fish swimming beside her, drawn by her crystal. Though it didn’t spark anymore, it continued to glow. She had to sleep with her arm under the pillow because the light kept her awake.

  Meloni had said the answers were in The Goddess’s Tome, and she’d begun reading it, but the language was archaic, the message cryptic. Frankly, it made her sleepy, so she plowed through it, reading only a little each day.

  What did you expect? You’d find your name spelled out? “You, Reena, are the chosen one.”

  The very thought—the explanation Meloni suggested terrified her. She didn’t want to be the chosen one, and read the blessed book more for hope that she wasn’t than she was.

  Much begged for explanation. Why had her crystal never turned blue? Why did it vibrate and hum? Why had it begun to emit light? It had saved Garat but killed Honna. What if she inadvertently injured someone innocent?

  “Read the tome and we’ll talk,” Meloni had said. “I’ll work with you to help you understand and harness your power.”

  Power? One day she would be crowned Shara, but Reena wasn’t sure she wanted any more power than that. No, she was sure. She didn’t want any more.

  Her lungs were beginning to burn. so she fluttered upward and surfaced. Garat stood on the bank, shedding his tunic and breeches. She swam to meet him in shallow water.

  “They told me I would find you here,” he said. His eyes never left her face as he waded toward her, until no separation existed between them. Her heart took up an arrhythmic beat and, deep inside, her core melted.

  Lips fused, tongues met and mated, blood pounded in love, lust, and desperation. Many long days had passed since their last coupling. Only the Goddess knew when the next time would be, for he had a calling to guide his people just as she did with hers.

  She kneaded his shoulders as she kissed him, and he cupped the cheeks of her ass to haul her against his tumescence. Hard. Rigid. Exciting. His need caused her desire to coil.

  He lifted her up and into his arms until her toes skimmed his shins and he could fasten his mouth on her nipple. Sweet, hot sensation poured over her. He carried her out of the water and laid her on a linen blanket he’d spread over the beach sand.

  Her chest hurt. Would this be good-bye?

  Do not the spoil the moment. Rejoice in what you have; do not rue what you have not.

  She shoved aside regrets and slipped a hand between their bodies to clasp his erection. He filled her palm, warm and hard, a marvel of smooth length and girth, rigidity. How very unSharonalike it was. How unSharonalike he was.

  Garat submitted to her caresses with a hiss, closing his eyes. A muscle ticked in his jaw. Then his eyes flew open, and he swooped to claim her mouth. And her collarbone, her breasts, her abdomen. And then he was too far away to reach, and her hand fell away from his cock, while he continued his descent, teasing her ticklish navel with his tongue before covering her sex with his mouth.

  Reena arched, releasing an involuntary shrill cry that split the silence of the grotto. She’d left orders she was not to be disturbed so no one would come to save her if she cried out. She did not wish to be saved from this.

  His tongue ignited heated vibrations similar to the way her crystal buzzed, but far more pleasurable. She clutched his hair, wound her fingers through the thick, silken strands.

  Just when she thought she might shatter in ecstasy, he pressed a hot kiss to the inside of her thigh and fitted himself to her body. In a thrust, he was inside. Stretching. Heating. Loving. Rapture shared, they rode the crest together, shuddering in tandem, crying out in unison.

  Garat panted against her neck, his breath steamy. His heavy weight pressed her against the ground, the sand beneath the linen like a soft mattress.

  She hugged his neck. I’ll remember this always. Squeezing her eyes shut, she shooed at the despair lurking on the fringes of lassitude. Would he leave in the morn?

  Why must the Sharona and the Lahon live apart? Surely there had to be a way they could coexist without being distracted by mating fever. Perhaps if all Sharona and Lahon found their heartmates…

  Perhaps The Goddess’s Tome held the answer. She vowed to redouble efforts to get through it.

  Garat’s manhood softened and slipped out of her, and, with a sigh, he rolled off and then pulled her into the crook of his arm. Reena curled her fingers into the whorls of hair on his chest. She could not let an opportunity pass without touching him, because she did not know when the next chance would come.

  She swallowed the tears backing up in her throat. “How did the discussion go with my mother?”

  “It’s all settled. We break ground on the aqueduct in the spring,” he said. “We’ve decided on a line of demarcation. The Sharona will build the aqueduct on their side, the Lahon on ours. A Lahon liaison will ensure the entire channel is built to the same specifications. We’ll use the unguent as needed to ensure the workers can stay focused.”

  “Good,” she responded, her heart breaking. “I’m happy for you and the Lahon. I assume Kor will be the liaison and oversee the construction?”

  “He’s the logical choice, and he wants to because it would allow him to spend time with Carinda.”

  “They’re heartmates, aren’t they?”

  “It appears so,” he agreed.

  Since Kor had no specific duties demanding his attention at the settlement, he and Carinda could be together—at least for the time it took to construct the waterway. And when Meloni trained her to use her power, he could visit her mother. Only she and Garat would be separated. She could not help envying them.

  She threaded her fingers through his unbound hair. If only she could weave a rope of it and tie him to her. But she couldn’t. He had his duty. And she would lead the force to round up her cousin’s supporters before they could regroup. Who knew how deeply they had been poisoned by her cousin’s hatred? They might have even been hexed. Hopefully, the evil hadn’t consumed them, and they could be counseled and rehabilitated.

  “Evil does not surrender. It must be destroyed,” the healer had said. His own warning, she’d thought, until she read it in the tome, except the phrasing was, Evil does not surrender. She who is chosen must destroy it.

  Garat’s arms tightened around her. “Kor will visit the palace to see Carinda, but he will not supervise construction of the aqueduct. I will.”

  Reena sprang up and stared at his face. “What about your people?” She could not forget the power Honna had been able to harness while the queen was distracted by grief. Who could say something similar could not occur among the Lahon?

  “Nothing is more important to the Lahon right now than water.”

  So he stays for the Lahon, not for you. She understood duty, but hurt stabbed at her.

  “And nothing is more important to me, than you,” he said. “Kor is the logical choice. However, he is not my choice.”

  Joy swelled, but happiness was not yet assured. “W-who will lead the Lahon?”

  “I will. Kor will fill in, and I will divide my time between the settlement and the palace. Your mother has invited me to stay as needed. Perhaps, when I travel back to the settlement, you will join me on occasion?”

&n
bsp; “I would like that,” she said, heart and pulse racing. “What happens when the aqueduct is completed?”

  “We are heartmates. We will be together, I promise,” he said. “I do not wish to walk the path of your mother and Meloni. Any separation is too long.”

  A joyful smile trembled on her lips. “And perhaps we can unite our two peoples as well.”

  “That would be my hope.”

  “We will set the set the example that Sharona and Lahon are meant to be together. That the mating fever, the warrior’s curse, is not a curse but a blessing.” Happiness and resolve filled her. “My heartmate.” She caressed his face.

  “My heartmate.” He kissed her.

  * * * *

  Thank you for reading Warrior’s Curse. If you enjoyed Reena and Garat’s story, you might also like Under Fyre (Alien Dragon Shifters 1), which is another enemies-to-lovers romance. Read on for a sneak peek excerpt…

  Under Fyre

  Chapter One

  “Take a human? As a mate?” K’ev had guessed the news wouldn’t be good when his father, King K’rah, had summoned him, but he hadn’t expected it to be this bad. Humans were so…human.

  An image of a fearless child with ice-blue eyes and hair blazing like the sacred flame in the Temple of the Eternal Fyre flickered in his mind’s eye. When other children had fled in terror, she’d held her ground. Due to short lifespans, humans quickly matured into adulthood. The girl child would be a woman now. What would she look like? Did her hair still blaze? Were her eyes still as clear as ice floes? Had she grown into the perfidy so second nature to her race?

  It didn’t matter what had happened to her. She meant nothing to him. He doused the image.

  “Not a mate,” the king corrected. “Dragons and humans can’t mate. Humans have no fyre. Taking one as a consort, however, is a different matter.”

  “Why me?”

  “You’re the one most familiar with humans. You have studied them, and you’re the only member of the royal family to have visited Earth.”

  “Because you ordered it,” K’ev said. Fifteen years ago, relations with Earth had been cautiously amicable. He hadn’t wanted to go to Earth at all, and visiting had cemented his unfavorable opinion. With the exception of the little girl, he hadn’t met a single human he’d liked. But, as much as they repelled him, they fascinated him in the way a catastrophe attracted onlookers, so he’d eavesdropped on their electronic signals to learn about their culture. If he’d realized his curiosity would lead to this…

  The king grimaced and leaned back in his throne. “I don’t like it any better than you do, but it has been suggested a more intimate, personal relationship between a member of the royal family and a human might foster detente between Draco and Earth and restore an alliance.”

  It wasn’t like the king to retreat from a course of action he’d set. After discovering signs of mining operations on Elementa, Draco had severed relations with the blue planet and placed them on notice that any further incursion would result in decisive consequences.

  “Who suggested it?” K’ev asked, racking his brain to figure out which advisor could have been so bold—and misguided.

  “What is done is done.”

  “Why seek an alliance at all?” he persisted, trying to wiggle out of the inevitable. “They are thieves and liars. You can’t trust anything they say.” It was almost impossible to fool a dragon. Deceit had a strong, distinctive odor. Most humans stank, period. Bring one into his personal space? He shuddered, and his dragon growled.

  “They will not be stealing from us anymore.” His father’s eyes flashed. “I want this matter settled. As much as I personally prefer a decisive outcome, the truth is, war would be a distraction from the critical problem facing us.”

  Their home world was dying. Geologists had forecast in a mere thousand years Draco’s molten core would cool beyond an ability to sustain life. Draconians had been searching for a new homeland for eons without success until discovering Elementa a few years ago. Dragons required heat and fire to thrive, and most planets in the habitable zone were too cool. On his tour of Earth during its “hot” season, K’ev had damn near frozen to death.

  Elementa was very similar to what Draco used to be, with hundreds of thousands of active volcanoes, underground magma pools, and lava rivers winding over the surface. Draconian scientists had been monitoring the planet’s geology to verify its suitability as a replacement homeland.

  And then a recent scan detected mining operations.

  “You’re certain Earth removed the metals?” K’ev didn’t doubt it, but he thought he’d better ask.

  “Our flag disappeared, and we found one of theirs.”

  His dragon roared in outrage. Staking a flag was the first step in galactic protocol to claim ownership of a planet. “Why are they doing this? They can’t inhabit it. Elementa’s atmosphere is toxic to them.”

  “Obviously, they desire the precious metals.”

  While Elementa’s wealth of natural resources had immense value, nothing mattered more than life. They needed the planet if they were going to survive—which made the change of direction incomprehensible. Dragons didn’t ask or coax, and they never surrendered. While the passage of time had tempered their aggression somewhat, they remained warriors born of the sacred fyre. They fought. They claimed what was rightfully theirs without apology.

  They didn’t instigate conflicts, but they finished them the Draconian way.

  K’ev disliked humans; his father despised them. Nothing in the years since K’ev’s visit had given them reason to revise their opinions. Rather than confront directly and honestly, humans lied and sneaked and plotted. They would kill while smiling. They weren’t even intelligent. Technologically, they’d advanced little beyond infancy. If Draco hadn’t pointed out the fold in space giving them a shortcut to the rest of the galaxy, they still would have been wandering around their solar system, searching for life in the rocks on Mars.

  “We will try this,” his father said. “The humans have one last chance to repair the broken trust. The president of one of their nations has agreed to send his daughter to become your consort.”

  “I doubt they’re doing this to make amends. They have some ulterior motive.”

  “Of course they do. As do I. You know the old saying, ‘It is better to have an enemy inside the hall breathing fire out, than outside breathing fire in’? The president’s daughter is one of his closest advisors. I believe we could use her.”

  “Use me, you mean,” he said.

  His father’s neck frill flared. “Remember who you’re speaking to. You are my son, the fifth child of my beloved mate, but I am the king, and you serve me. I do not serve you.”

  “My apologies, Your Majesty.” He bowed his head. No one defied the monarch and lived, which indicated the incongruity of the decision. Draco wasn’t the offender. Earth was. No conciliation on Draco’s part was required. They should swoop in and eliminate the problem.

  Big ice-blue eyes. Hair like a flame. That smile. The child, now a woman, would die if Draco settled the problem the way they should.

  “Of course I will do whatever you command.” Why me? Why now? Although five siblings had mated and had produced eighteen granddragons among them, his youngest brother was unmated and had no regular consort, either. And while his oldest brother, T’mar, had taken three dragonesses as concubines, what was one more added to the harem? Why not one of them?

  “You are unmated and directionless.” Sometimes K’ev feared his father could read his thoughts. The king had been chosen by the priestess of the Eternal Fyre. Who knew the power she had conferred upon the monarch when she crowned him? “You lack a consort of any consequence or longevity. Your relationships have been meaningless, short-term dalliances.” His lip curled with disapproval.

  In truth, K’ev hadn’t found a woman who could hold his attention for long, so, until his fyre chose his mate, he wished to remain free to do as he pleased.

  “Since
the president’s daughter is only a consort, you can still take other concubines,” he said in a softer voice. “They will betray their motives soon, and the arrangement will be annulled. Worst-case scenario—it will last only the length of the human lifespan, so you won’t be bound to her forever.”

  “How old is she now?” Humans lived to be about eighty, one hundred max.

  “Twenty? Thirty?” The king shrugged.

  Fifty to sixty years out of eternity amounted to a mere blip until you were the one tied to an unwanted, perfidious, malodorous human. Then it seemed like forever. Two hundred fifteen years old, K’ev would still be young when this ordeal ended, but that afforded little consolation.

  The urge to shift burgeoned. Talons extended from his fingertips, and he had to forcibly retract them. His tail twitched with the tension coiling inside. “What happens if I join with her and then meet my mate?”

  Arising out of affection, friendship, simple lust, or, in this case, an interplanetary treaty, a consort relationship was, at best, a tepid one. A mating? The red-hot, consuming, possessive bond united two fyres into one flame. If he encountered his mate, all others would cease to exist for him. Nothing was stronger or more revered than a mating bond. If he mated, what would happen to the precious treaty?

  “Given how many females you have…sampled without finding a suitable mate, the likelihood of that happening in the near future is remote, but if it occurred, it would nullify the treaty, and the consort would return to her planet.”

  How many females he’d sampled? Had his father been keeping track? K’ev frowned. There hadn’t been that many.

  It was said when a dragon found his mate, a second without her became an eternity. A second with a human would be an eternity. Red hair and bold blue eyes as deep as infinity itself flashed. He blocked the image from his consciousness and focused on his father’s voice.