Men of Anderas II: Dak the Protector (20 page)

“When is the next time?” She asked softly,
arching her breasts into his chest and pulling him deeper. Her
reward was a surging erection and a kiss that curled her toes. When
he pulled free of her, she cried her dismay.

“Easy, little witch. I’m only going to that
bowl of water on your chest. “

Kierin marveled at Dak’s confidence; his
total lack of concern for his nudity. His body was a masterpiece of
masculine beauty. Hard ridges of toned muscle rippled with every
movement. The scars of battle and abuse did nothing to detract from
his perfection. When he dipped a cloth into the tepid water and
cleaned himself, she turned away from the sight and prayed her face
wasn’t as fiery red as it felt.

When he touched her intimately with the
cloth, Kierin jumped and tried to twist away. His grip on her knee
held her steady.

“You can’t … it’s too personal … please
don’t …,” her embarrassment threatened to choke her.

“It’s not any more personal than what we
just did and what we’re going to continue doing. Let me care for
you, little witch.” His touch was gentle, almost reverent, when he
cleaned the residue of their joining from between her legs.

She really had no choice. Her awkwardness
was quickly giving way to need. When she traced the line of his jaw
with her fingertip Dak turned his burning gaze to her face. Flames
of desire scorched the last remnants of shyness into dust.

“You said something about a next time.” She
whispered.

Grinning like a fool, Dak tossed the cloth
in the general direction of the bowl. “Your wish is my command, my
lady.”

When she spread her knees he shook his head
slowly. “Not this time, Kierin. This time we take it slow. Let’s
get rid of this gown.”

Her pale skin glowed ivory in the
candlelight. By the Beard of the Prophet he dreamed of her laid
before him like a pagan offering. The necklace with its pulsing
orange stone caught on the hardened nub of her nipple. He was going
to remove it as well when he scraped the chain against her
sensitive breast. Her back arched and a gasp of pleasure had him
reevaluating that decision.

Warming to the game, he used that chain on
first one nipple then the next until she writhed with need.
Stretching out beside her, Dak took one nipple into his mouth,
sucking strongly while he played with the chain on the other. Her
orgasm took them both by surprise. Giving her no chance to recover,
he moved to the other breast until her fingers tangled in his hair.
He didn’t know if she was trying to push him away or pull him
closer.

“Dak.” She gasped. “Please. It’s too
much.”

“Whatever you say, little witch.” With a
wolfish grin, he slowly kissed his way across her abdomen. The tiny
whorl of her navel received as much attention as her breasts. When
he nipped at the soft skin of her inner thigh she tried to pull
away.

“Wha … what are you doing? You can’t … I
can’t ….”

“Yes you can and yes I can. Just relax,
little witch. You’ll like it as much as I do. I promise.” He
lowered his head and worshiped her. The scent of wildflowers
mingled with the natural honey of her arousal and a spicy something
that was uniquely Kierin. His tongue delved deep before circling
the knot of hypersensitive nerves. Using all the skill at his
command, he kept her on the razor edge of release. With a final
flick of his tongue he climbed back up her body until he was
holding her face between his palms.

Aqua eyes glazed with passion; her lips
swollen from her own teeth; she was elemental woman. Every man’s
vision of hot, mind-blowing, sex. And she was his. Never breaking
eye contact, Dak slowly slid into the slick channel of her body. He
waited until her body adjusted fully to his before moving. Wanting
to go slow doesn’t mean squat to a body screaming for release.
Within minutes he was pounding into her. Whatever worries he had
about hurting her disappeared when she wrapped her legs around his
waist and met him lunge for lunge. When the tingling in his back
warned of impending release, he increased his tempo even more. His
roar melded with her scream when their orgasms seized their bodies,
their breath, and their very souls.

Dak rolled to his side, bringing Kierin with
him. Exhausted, drained and feeling better than he’d ever felt in
his life, he was just drifting off to sleep when he noticed the
stone in her necklace. It no longer glowed with inner fire nor
pulsed with her heartbeat. Dread slithered down his spine.

“What’s wrong with your necklace, little
witch?” He asked softly.

Her answer was a sharp gasp and a death grip
on the stone. In that instant, while they still shared the mental
connection, he knew what caused her panic. Kierin was at the peak
of her fertility
and she had conceived a child
!

Shock and pain crushed him but the days and
weeks of little sleep caught up with him. As he slid into exhausted
slumber, he whispered, “What have you done, little witch?”

Chapter Sixteen

Betrayed!
The reality of last night
crashed around Dak with all the devastation of a super nova. He
knew without looking that Kierin was no longer in the room. He was
alone in bed. The bed he made especially for her. The bed that made
her so happy she giggled like a little girl. Her enjoyment of his
effort took on a sinister note when seen through the events of last
night.

Did you
feed
me the need for a bed
big enough for two? Was that part of this plan of yours? Why,
Kierin? You gave me your word!

Throwing off the blankets, Dak stormed naked
from the room. Never in his life had he ever thought of
violence
and
woman
together. Until this morning.
Until Kierin manipulated him. He needed to confront her but he
needed to control the swirling cauldron of emotions ripping at his
sanity first and he needed to rid himself of her scent. Everything
around him reeked of sex and wildflowers.

The water was too hot but that didn’t stop
him from crawling into the tub. He scrubbed his skin until it was
red but he could still smell her soap. This was his fault for
letting his guard down and trusting her, for wanting to make her
happy for just a little while. He loved making her laugh. She
treated every item he made like gold and he felt pride in knowing
he helped make her home a little more comfortable. By the Beard of
the Prophet, he was a fool.

Home. Anderas was home but he would never
see it again. His actions last night violated one of their most
stringently enforced laws. It wouldn’t matter to the Tribunal that
a piece of rock and a devious crystal witch were to blame. She
carried his child. The penalty was death.

His child.
Dak clenched his fists
against the crushing pain in his chest. He almost wished he were a
weaker man. A man who could cleanse his soul with tears. Instead he
turned the pain into anger. Fed the anger with the loss of his
future, his dreams, and his home. He ruthlessly pushed aside all
the gentle memories of the past month. Buried the guilt of leaving
her alone. He even tried to convince himself that the sex wasn’t
the best he’d ever had--
and
silence the stupid little voice
that kept whispering that it wasn’t the sex but the partner.

When he felt in control he left the tub,
dressed and threw the remainder of his clothes into the saddle bag.
As far as he was concerned their contract agreement was null and
void. He would find another way to locate his crew. It was time to
confront the crystal witch.

He found her sitting at the table, staring
into the fire. She still wore the nightgown from last night and had
a thin blanket wrapped around her shoulders. When she saw him, she
wiped the tears from her face and straightened in the chair. For a
fleeting moment he thought he saw regret in her eyes before her
face went totally blank.

“Why?” He kept his voice calm, his tone
even. He had to remain in control.

“You left me no choice.”

“You had choices. You just refused to
consider any of them. What did that damned piece of rock do to
me?”

“Nothing.” She mumbled.

“Don’t give me that crap! I deserve the
truth--although I doubt you’re capable of knowing the
difference.”

“It … enhances … everything about me that
makes me female. Nothing more.”

“Nothing more my ass! You used the fact that
I wanted to fuck you blind from the minute I got rid of that rock
around my neck.” He ignored her flinch at his crude comments.
“We’ve been picking up each other’s thoughts for weeks. You used
that knowledge. You used
me
--without any regard for the
consequences. I told you what would happen if I fathered your child
but you blindly followed your own agenda. I trusted you, Kierin!
You betrayed that trust in the most despicable, underhanded ….”

Dak took a deep breath and a firmer hold on
his control. Nothing he said would change the results. “I’m
leaving. Today. If you’re smart, you’ll take that piece of rock you
have hidden back there,” he indicated the tunnel with a jerk of his
head. “Find somewhere to hide. Somewhere Draagon can’t follow.”

“I can’t.” She whispered.

“Then you’re going to die, Kierin. If
Draagon doesn’t kill you, some over-zealous bounty hunter will take
care of the problem for him.”

Dak grabbed his bag and started out.

“Dak!”

He stopped and turned to face her. “Make it
quick.”

“I promised to pay you for your protection
and to give you the list from Murdock’s. I don’t have much money
….”

“If you have even a tiny molecule of
self-preservation you will
not
offer me money.” His anger
and hurt twisted like acid in his chest.
Stud service! She wants
to pay me for stud service!

“It’s not for
that
.” Her face flamed
when she picked up his bitter thoughts. “Will you accept the
list?”

By all the Ancient Prophets, he wanted to
toss that handful of papers into the fire. He couldn’t abandon his
men. If there was any chance in hell of finding them alive he had
to try. Just because he couldn’t go home didn’t mean they had to
suffer. He reached for the list and if his fingers lingered just a
little longer against her hand, it was just an accident. Without
another word he headed for the stable. The sooner he left the
sooner he could forget all about Kierin and her problems.

She was waiting at the gate to let him out
and without a word he walked the horse into the barren wasteland.
Just before she closed the portal he thought he heard her whisper
I’m sorry
but he ignored her voice as completely as the
little voice in his head that kept telling him he was making the
biggest mistake of his life.

* * * *

With nothing but the open desert around him,
Dak was free to study the list from Murdock’s slave market. There
truly was no honor among thieves. Murdock documented every sale
with the name of the buyer, his home base, the particular variety
of crime said buyer specialized in committing and a note detailing
a recent job. It was his insurance policy against a dissatisfied
customer coming back for a refund.

His ship had a crew of seventy-five when
they landed. He counted sixty-eight transactions which meant some
of his men didn’t survive long enough for a sale or more than one
man went to the same buyer. He would deal with that when he found
the survivors. They were now part of a gang. Dak almost smiled
knowing these thugs would play hell getting his men involved in
their underground world.

That she managed to talk Murdock into giving
her the list was proof positive of the degree of fear his little
crystal witch instilled in the slave trader.

Get it through your thick skull that she
is not
your
crystal witch. She’s not your anything. You have
got to keep the woman out of your head! She betrayed you! Remember
that.

There was nothing in the quiet solitude
around him to keep his mind occupied and away from Kierin. Images
of the month he spent with her flashed like lightning with no rhyme
or reason. Her delight at the bath tent when they arrived on her
planet replaced the image of that pathetic doll. The night she
tasted her first bite of roasted
kava
mutated into the sight
of her in the middle of that huge bed. On and on it went through
the morning hours. Each memory triggered a different emotion. From
anger to lust; from contentment to frustration; from vengeance to
betrayal and through it all the crushing pain in his chest
threatened to destroy him.

In the distance he saw a cloud of dust and
the unmistakable flash of a laser gun blast. Fragmented voices
carried by the wind gave no hint of who was fighting or why. With
nothing but clumps of grass in any direction, sneaking up on the
fight was out of the question. With any luck, they were more
interested in continuing their battle than in watching for an
approaching rider. Dak was close enough now to make out individual
figures and it looked like there were about a dozen men shooting at
a man pinned under his dead horse. Voices were clearer now and what
he heard made his blood run cold.

Talon! Phantom Riders! They’re going to kill
Talon! The lousy bastards are toying with him like a cat with a
mouse. They could have killed him with a single blast but they’re
slowly cutting his horse to pieces until they can start on him! Not
bloody likely! Not today!

Dak armed his laser gun and kicked his horse
into a gallop. Since stealth wasn’t an option, he’d go with shock.
With a roar of primal rage, he raced toward Talon, firing as he
rode.
This
was the outlet he needed for his rage and hurt.
This
he could control. The surprised Riders recovered
quickly but not before Dak killed three of their patrol. By the
time he reached Talon he was a mad man. A man gone berserk. In less
than fifteen minutes it was over. Draagon’s Phantom Riders and
their horses lay in bloody pieces. Never again would they prey on
the defenseless.