2

Chapter Two

Okay. They rode the dimensional waves. Lynn was still off balance an hour later as she led the men to the bedrooms she had chosen for them on the upper floor of the house, close to Ariel’s. As powerful as she knew they were, she wanted them close by. The heightened awareness of danger was shifting inside her even before the arrival of the three aliens. Her chest wasn’t as tight nor her body as wired with the premonitions of attacks, but her fears for her own emotional and mental safety were rising.

Alyx, Dragon Prime, had claimed her. Standing right there in the sitting room, his silver eyes glowing with promise, he had stated his intentions. As though he had known before arriving that she would be there and that she belonged to him. She fought to still the trembling in her body, the instinctive urge to flee the house. She could feel him; literally feel his gaze caressing her back, her buttocks and her thighs as she walked ahead of him. Like ghostly fingers caressing her flesh, sneaking between her legs to lick at the sensitized flesh and causing the slick juices there to pool thickly. It was disconcerting. It made her too aware of her body, too aware of the fact that she had never placed any importance on the fact that she was a woman as well as a psychic warrior. Alyx was making her remember that she was a woman.

“Here’s your room.” It was at the end of the hall away from Ariel’s suite. A large bedroom with dark oak furnishings and a king-sized bed. Big enough for his unusual height with room to play.

Lynn swallowed tightly. She had no intentions of playing with him. God only knew why something so ridiculous had entered her head.

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Dragon Prime

She had intended to stand at the door as he entered but a firm hand at her back had her moving forward in surprise. The door closed behind them, leaving them alone within the dim light of the room.

Heavy shades blocked the sunlight from the large picture window on the far side of the room. The lack of clear light only added to the intimacy that seemed to swirl around them.

“Very nice.” He didn’t seem to care one way or the other. Lynn turned slowly, trying to control the hard thump of her heart as she realized he was indeed staring down at her intently, those strange silver eyes seeming to see into her soul.

“I’ll let you get settled in then.” Why did she keep imagining the dragon of her dreams unfolding around him?

“Lynn.” His hand gripped her arm gently when she would have passed, holding her to him as the breath seemed to lock in her throat. “You know me. Do not pretend you don’t.”

“No,” she gasped. “We’ve never met.”

She knew she was deliberately evading the meaning. Unfortunately, she had a terrible feeling she did indeed know him. She fought to remind herself that she did not believe in reincarnation. She did not. She would not.

“Lynn.” The soft, unfamiliar accent of his Guardian birth gave his voice a rough, dark sound. “Do not lie to me. I can see the truth in your eyes each time you gather your courage to meet my gaze. Why deny what we both are aware of?”

She was breathing harshly now and couldn’t seem to control it. His hand was holding her firmly but she could have easily broken away from him. She wanted to break away from him. Didn’t she?

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Lora Leigh

“You’re here to do a job, Alyx. Just as I am. Nothing more,” she reminded him, though she fought to accept that information herself. “We aren’t here to play. And I don’t play with Guardians in any way, shape or form. You should remember that.”

“There was a time when you were willing to play with me,” he whispered. The vision swamped her. A shaded forest; she was dressed in unfamiliar clothes. Soft tan leather pants, a tunic of sorts. Her hair was long, unbound, flowing in the breeze as the large warrior held her pinned on her back, her wrists shackled by his. She was lifting to him…

“Stop this,” she ordered fiercely, jerking away from him and moving several steps into the room to escape the warmth that seemed to emanate from his body and wrap around hers. “I don’t like these mind tricks you’re trying to play. You’re here to do a job, just as I am. Don’t turn it into anything more.”

“Our jobs are perhaps vastly dissimilar, Lynn,” he said quietly, his voice reflective now. “You are here to protect the woman, while I am here merely to claim what is mine. If helping you complete your job paves the way for my goals, then I will do this.”

Incredulity seared through her system. “You don’t care if she lives or dies, do you?”

He swiped his fingers through the long strands of silver hair. It wasn’t the color of middle age, but a rich, vibrant silver, like mercury. Like his eyes.

“I care if she lives or dies, but I cannot make the choice in her life. I will protect her because I am here, and am bound to her life through yours. I am restricted from interfering in human life or death, Lynn. It is for this reason that Prime Warriors do not aid your people as you have continually requested.”

“But you are now,” she sneered. “How convenient that you can change the rules as you wish.”

He sighed in irritation. “I have not changed the rules. You did so when you accepted your destiny in taking this mission. You have come full circle. That circle involves me.”

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Dragon Prime

Lynn hid her shock, or so she hoped. She had known from the start that something was different about this job, something different about the friendship that emerged between her and Ariel over the weeks. But this was more than she was willing to accept at the moment.

“Convenient,” she said mockingly. “Too bad I’m not fooled so easily, Alyx. I am not unaware of the Prime Warriors, the Guardians or their link to Jonar. I don’t trust you or your other alien buddies, so that isn’t going to fly with me.”

A grin tipped his lips. “I never expected you to do so without a fight,” he murmured. “But you will accept the knowledge in time, just as your soul accepted the gifts you now carry during your first life. I have no worries, Lynn. You will accept me now, just as you accepted me before.”

There was no amusement in his voice as he finished his declaration. There was rather stone-hard purpose.

“I’ve had enough of this.” She moved to brush past him, to leave the room, to leave the temptation and the questions he represented.

Once again he caught her. He didn’t just shackle a wrist, though, he jerked her into his harder, taller body, gripping her hips and lifting her to him as her feet left the ground by several inches.

“Let me go…” She would have torn into him with a furious barrage of orders and insults if his lips hadn’t covered hers.

If he had taken the kiss with rough demand, she could have fought him. If he had held her with anything less than tenderness, she would have struggled. She was used to being manhandled. It was required in her training when she pitted herself physically and mentally against her brothers as well as the men she worked with. But she wasn’t used to this.

He kept his eyes open, staring down at her with almost drowsy sensuality as his lips rubbed against hers. The friction sent shards of heat piercing her womb, her pussy. 23

Lora Leigh

It had her gasping, her lips opening, making way for the wicked, gentle stroke of his tongue against the seam of her lips. And still he watched her. Lynn whimpered, gripping his shoulders for balance, her gaze caught and held by his as powerful, destructive pleasure whipped through her. As though the mere joining of lips had set off a quake of major proportions within her body. She hadn’t come close to finding a way to combat the weakening sensations, when he released her. He lifted his head, those strange eyes glowing with heat, and allowed her to slide down his body. From her thighs to her belly she felt the rock hard impression of his erection burning through her clothes.

“Deny that, little one,” he whispered. “If you can.”

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Dragon Prime