Hearts Enchained Page 6

  Jax stepped forward, retrieved the towel and wrapped it carefully around Sorcha, holding her by the upper arms until she steadied.

  Kae watched them both through heavy-lidded eyes. Sorcha belonged to them now. She’d given them her body last night, her responsiveness and passion driving them to extraordinary heights. But today was about so much more than the physical. She softened for Kae even though she felt hurt and angry. She told them she didn’t want to see them anymore but she curled up in Kae’s lap like she knew she belonged there. And now she was standing quietly while Jax took care of her, allowing him to stroke her arms, grounding himself in her sweet acceptance.

  Yes, she was theirs now. All Kae had to do was to stop Sorcha and Jax from killing their relationship before it even had a chance to develop. Just the thought of it gave him a headache.

  He stepped forward to give his woman one more lingering kiss and escorted Jax from the room. It felt like a long walk back to their den and neither of them said a single word on the way.

  Sorcha was wrung out. Once again Jax and Kae had wound her up, sent her flying over the edge and left her standing alone and confused on the other side. The kissing and touching was mind-blowing, the orgasms were shattering but the aftercare totally sucked ass. The one-hundred-eighty-degree turnaround from intimately connected to standing solo and confused was the loneliest experience of her life. And that was quite an achievement considering her previous benchmark was being taken to an alien planet where she had nothing and no one to call her own.

  Well, at least she didn’t have to worry about crying this time. Apparently a person could get to a point where she was so hollowed out she was beyond anything as cathartic as tears. A lesson she could have done without.

  Keeping a firm grip on the towel, she wandered out into the living room.

  Chelsea looked up from her seat on the couch. “You okay, honey?”

  “Nope.” She was feeling more isolated by the minute and perversely enough she didn’t want to be around anyone right now. “I just want to get dressed and go home.”

  “Of course.” Chelsea got up and led the way into one of the bedrooms. “I’ve got fresh clothes for you here. I’ll help you dress and then we’ll organize someone to fly you back.”

  “Not Tengale or Jaysada.” Sorcha shuddered at the thought. “I don’t want anything to do with them or their bastard riders.”

  She pulled a chemise over her head, picked up the corset and turned so her best friend could lace her up.

  “Would you like to talk about it?” Chelsea asked.

  “Honestly, I just don’t have it in me right now.” Sorcha didn’t think she’d ever want to talk about last night or today ever again.

  “Sorry, honey, but I have to ask. Did they hurt you?”

  “No.” Not in the way anyone could see. Not in a way that would heal with time or medical intervention. The kind of hurt she was carrying went bone deep and there wasn’t a plaster big enough to cover it over. “No,” she repeated. “Physically, I’m fine.”

  Sorcha knew Chelsea was smart enough to see she was hurting but like the good friend she was the Aussie kept her silence. Sorcha dressed, pinned her hair up neat and tight and followed Chelsea back into the living room to arrange transport.

  Chelsea’s husbands, Ari and Tarkan, were standing in the middle of the room staring off into the distance.

  “Dragon talking,” Chelsea explained.

  Sorcha looked at them and wondered if the blank, no-one’s-home stare was the same one she sported when she spoke with Tengale and Jaysada. She sure hoped not.

  Ari blinked and just like that he was back to his usual self. “Sorcha, are you well?”

  That question covered a lot of ground and she wasn’t about to tread any of it with the Enforcer. “Yes, I’m fine, thank you.”

  Tarkan held out his arm and Chelsea glided across the room, tucking herself tight to his side. She looked up at him and when he smiled down at her the love arced between them like a living thing. Sorcha turned away, too raw from her own experience to be exposed to that much joy.

  A big body moved into her line of sight and when she looked up she found Ari looking at her with concern in his purple eyes. “Chelsea tells us you want to go back to Addestet House.”

  “Yes, if someone will give me a ride.”

  He gave her an apologetic smile. “There might be a slight problem with that.”

  “Oh?” If Jax I-think-I’m-god Randovar was throwing his weight around Sorcha would track him down herself and beat him bloody. “Is Jax pulling rank?”

  Ari shook his head. “Worse.”

  Sorcha frowned. What could be worse than Jax? “Oh my god. That fucking dragon.”

  Holding up a hand to Ari, she turned her attention inward and called to the scaly pain in her ass. Tengale! Tengale, you can’t stop me from leaving.

  Why not? The only way out of the den is by air and no dragon will carry you if I forbid it.

  I’m not staying here. I don’t know what you think you can achieve by keeping me against my will but I promise you I will climb down the dumbwaiter and walk back to town if I have to. I won’t spend another hour in the den.

  There was a long pause and Sorcha could almost hear Tengale’s brain ticking over. Hopefully he was smart enough to understand she wasn’t bluffing. She’d steal a set of leathers and climb down the outside of the cliff-face if it came to that but she wasn’t spending any more time in the hell-den than she absolutely had to. And once she got back to town she was never getting on a dragon’s back again. For any reason.

  You’re still angry at our males.

  Yes. I am very angry and the only way for me to calm down is to put some physical distance between me and them. How did one explain personal space to a creature who thought he owned all the space there was? The longer you keep me here the angrier I will become. If you keep me here I will refuse to speak to or see Jax and Kae and I will refuse to answer if you or Jaysada speak to me.

  It was the best explanation of the silent treatment she could come up with on short notice. Let me go home.

  This will calm you?

  Yes.

  And when you are calm you will allow our males to apologize to you and make you happy again?

  Yes. Just as soon as hell froze over and the Pope converted to paganism.

  Very well. I will take you home.

  No. She didn’t trust Tengale any more than she trusted the white-haired bastard who rode him. I don’t want to be around any males. Only a female will soothe me.

  Okay, that sounded weird and all kinds of wrong but she was too far over the edge for sensible arguments.

  She felt the black’s sigh in her head. Jaysada will take you to town, if you insist.

  I do insist. Thank you, Tengale.

  Chapter Nine

  Sorcha was so desperate to get out of the den she didn’t have enough emotion left over to feel anxious about her first solo ride on a dragon. Tengale might have refused permission for anyone else to carry her but clearly that prohibition didn’t extend to her escort. She flew back to town on Jaysada with Ari and Tarkan on either side of her. Their dragons flew so close she was sure their wingtips must have brushed together.

  Addestet House came into view. The ornate marble building was immense, rising five stories and sprawling out in neat, orderly lines. Carefully tended gardens surrounded the mansion and a large expanse of lawn was kept clear for the battle dragons to use should the need arise.

  As soon as they touched down, the Enforcers unbuckled her harness and helped her dismount. After a quick “thank you” to the dragons and a brotherly kiss on the forehead from Chelsea’s husbands, Sorcha stood back and watched the blacks leave the ground in a heave of muscle.

  And she stayed there on the wide carpet of emerald green, watching them until they disappeared from sight. She knew she wasn’t destined for Jax and Kae, that she didn’t fit into life at the den, but god knew that was what she wanted.

  Lo
nging rose up inside her, sharp and painful and the sheer futility of it made her want to scream. She needed to get a grip. She had to find some way of not only dealing with the reality of her life but making peace with it somehow. Kicking at her long skirts in frustration, she spun on her heel and headed toward the dorm.

  She jerked to a halt when Medalyn Consbaregh stepped out from behind a flowering hedge.

  “Councilman,” she said, offering a polite nod before moving forward to continue on her way.

  “Sorcha.” He waited until the last moment to move, deliberately blocking her progress along the path.

  “Can I help you with something?” She tried to keep her voice calm but she really wasn’t in the mood for this shit.

  Since her second night on Gemarra and her first official dinner, Medalyn had made it very clear he was interested in her. He was in his early forties, handsome, urbane and he seemed willing to give Sorcha whatever time she needed to feel comfortable with him. Only none of it rang true. It was nothing she could pinpoint, there was just something a little too slick, a little too polished to have a ring of authenticity. He didn’t creep her out and he wasn’t repellent in any way, he was just not quite right.

  And after spending so much time with the overly direct Enforcers, the Councilman felt a bit too much like an oily politician.

  He nodded his head in the direction of the den. “You spent the night up there.”

  She pressed her lips together, waiting until the urge to tell him to mind his own business had passed. He might be interested in her but that would only get her so far. If she pissed him off he had the power to make her life very difficult.

  She did her best to keep her tone mild. “My friend Chelsea had her wedding reception last night and I was her maid of honor. We expected the party to run late so we made plans for me to stay the night.”

  He tilted his perfectly groomed, shining blond head. “And did you sleep alone?”

  “Medalyn, that is none of your business.” He had no claim over her but she knew the quickest way to get rid of him and to get him off this line of questioning was to satisfy his curiosity. “If you must know, I spent the night alone.” Right after she left Jax and Kae’s bed.

  Stepping forward, he reached out to grip the back of her neck, harder than he had to. “Good, I wouldn’t like to think I had any competition.”

  Sorcha froze. In that moment his public face disappeared and the hard look in his eyes left her in no doubt she was in danger. “There is no competition,” she said. “This world is still new to me and I’ve got so much to learn. I’m not ready for any romantic entanglements.”

  He smirked at her. “Romantic entanglements. Is that what you think I’m offering you?”

  “I wasn’t aware you were offering me anything.” She tried not to flinch as he pulled their bodies even closer.

  “Liar.” He leaned down, sniffing at her as though he smelled something unpleasant. “You bathed. Was it so you could wash the stench of Enforcer from your skin?”

  Her heart sped up, her breath coming in shorter and faster. “I told you I slept alone last night.”

  “Another lie.” He ground his erection into her belly. “Your eyes are so exotic, so clear and bright. And they betray you at every turn to a man who knows how to look. You, my fair Sorcha, did not come back from the den untouched. So now two questions remain. Who fucked you? And how hard is it going to be to get rid of him?”

  A chill washed over her body and something cold and dark clutched at her insides. She’d sensed Medalyn was a bit off but she would never have predicted he had this kind of ruthlessness in him. He was scaring the hell out her.

  “You don’t own me, Councilor.” Thank god her voice was still steady, but the gut-deep knowledge she was in danger chilled her bones. Locking her knees, she glared at him eye to eye. “You have no right to dictate to me, nor do you have the right to run an interrogation.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong, my dear. I most certainly do own you; you just don’t realize it yet.”

  Jerking her head closer, he smashed his mouth on hers and tried to force his tongue past her closed lips. She struggled against him, pushing at his chest and ignoring the way he ground his cock against her pussy. He pushed his tongue at her lips again and when she still wouldn’t let him in he bit her, hard and vicious.

  When he pulled back, there was blood on his mouth and she could feel the coppery sting on her own lips. She swung at him but he grabbed her hand, forcing it hard and high behind her back.

  “I’ve been patient,” he said, panting his hot breath on her face. “I was willing to give you the time you needed to come to terms with your situation. To realize I was the best choice for your new life.” He pulled her arm higher and forced her hips to cant into his. “And you repaid my kindness by whoring yourself out to the first dragon rider to drop his pants.”

  Sorcha tensed, readying her body to fight, but in that split second Medalyn took her to ground and covered her body with his. She didn’t even have time to spit the grass out of her mouth before she felt a sharp sting at the back of her neck. Then everything went dark.

  Medalyn sat back in his carriage and looked at his newest prize as she lay stretched out on the seat opposite him. Long and willowy with high, firm breasts and red hair that simply begged to be unbound, Sorcha Meehan was going to make him the envy of every male in Allsgate. Or at least, the influential few who would be allowed to be in the same room as her.

  He had planned to woo her, to offer her a life of luxury and comfort. But she was smart and she sensed the man who hid beneath the public veneer in a way very few people did. Which made her dangerous. Too dangerous to be permitted free rein to do as she wished.

  Her position as official mistress seemed the logical course and he’d made arrangements for her to be housed at one of his remote estates. But she’d thrown that strategy into disarray when she revealed the Den Commander’s dragon spoke to her mind-to-mind. A feat unheard of in Ivastan history.

  No one but an Enforcer ever spoke to a dragon, yet Medalyn’s future mistress had stalked into a specially convened council meeting and proclaimed her talent to the world. Because she spoke to the battle-dragon, Medalyn couldn’t risk keeping her in Ivasta. Luckily for him, as Trade Ambassador he had an apartment in Allsgate and a legitimate reason for frequent travel to the northern continent. All he had to do was evict his current captive and redecorate his apartment in a style more suited to Sorcha’s personality.

  He’d had her under surveillance for weeks and his people were in place. All that was left for him to do was wait for the right opportunity.

  The fact he’d been leaving Addestet House when Sorcha and her dragon escort arrived from the den was nothing more than dumb luck. But he hadn’t reached his position as head of the Consbaregh Family by ignoring fate or allowing opportunities to slip by. He was a man of quick and decisive action when the need arose.

  By the time his new slave woke up she’d be on the other side of the planet in his luxury apartment in Allsgate, all alone and with no one but him to guide her way.

  Sorcha jerked, her consciousness slamming back into a body that was not where she’d left it. When she blacked out she’d been lying on the lawn near Addestet House with a criminal version of Medalyn Consbaregh pinning her to the ground. Now she was lying on black silk sheets in a bed big enough to fit Tengale, in a bedroom that looked like it belonged in a high-end brothel. Someone had removed her clothes and she wore nothing but a filmy nightgown with spaghetti straps and too much sheer lace.

  She looked around the room, taking in the high ceilings and spacious dimensions. Everything looked expensive, from the soft lighting to the black-leather and chrome furnishings, but there was nothing personal in the room. It was a showpiece and she had a sinking feeling she was about to become the star attraction.

  Not wanting to be caught at any more of a disadvantage than she already felt, Sorcha wriggled her way to the edge of the bed and swung her fe
et to the floor. Pushing her unbound hair behind her shoulders, she stood and worked her way around the room, taking inventory.

  The draws held an array of sexy underwear she swore would never touch her skin. The walk-in dressing room was empty except for a dozen or so nightgowns and robes in an array of colors and designs. The anxiety pinging through her body hit a new level when she realized there were no shoes and no outer wear of any kind. This was a room designed for a woman who had no life outside the bedroom.

  She made her way to a small table and pulled out the top drawer. The shallow compartment was four feet long, lined in black velvet and housed a half dozen full sets of the most gorgeous jewelry she’d ever seen. Diamonds and colored gems were set into necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings and hair ornaments—each one sparkling like sunshine on water. Snapping that drawer shut, she pulled out the next one and the next until she’d looked in all five drawers. They were full of jewels and their combined value would have been enough to clear America’s national debt. It spoke of the kind of wealth that defied imagination. The kind of wealth that would enable a man to hide a woman from the entire world and keep her in luxury.

  Suddenly the room seemed too small, the walls started closing in and there wasn’t enough air to breathe. Clutching the tabletop, Sorcha fought for oxygen and waited for the room to stop spinning.

  She hadn’t quite gotten herself under control when she heard the outer door open and a masculine voice call out to her. Snatching a robe off the nearest hanger, Sorcha belted it firmly around her waist and tried to at least look as though she had her shit together. Forcing her shoulders back and head up, she left the dressing area and walked into the bedroom.

  She had expected to see Medalyn, which would have been scary enough, but the man who stood just inside the doorway slowed the blood in her veins to ice.

  “Sergeant Edrick.”

  He smiled and offered her a half bow. “Lady Medalyn, I’m flattered you remember me.”