Men of Anderas II: Dak the Protector by Cheryl Johnson Read Free Book Online

crystal projected all of her fears
into his mind. Even her calm acceptance of death came through loud
and clear. There was a bounty on her head, a large one if Talon was
to be believed.
    You’re no criminal, Kierin. I’d stake my
life on it. So what’s the real story? You said you were sorry.
Sorry for what? For buying me? For enslaving me with this rock? Or
is it something else? Something more sinister? Something dangerous
to both of us? Is this the reason you needed to buy a slave?
Someone from so far away from your home that he wouldn’t know why
you were hunted? Do you need my protection, little witch ?
    I touched her again. Just reached out and
grabbed her away from Talon’s threat. How? Is the crystal losing
its power? Is it only when I’m threatened? Or Kierin? What makes
the difference? I even talked to Talon before he asked a
question. How? By all the Ancient Prophets, I grow weary of these
endless questions .
    He spent the next several hours following
each line of reasoning, trying to find the common thread. There had
to be a reason and the sooner he figured it out the sooner he’d be
on his way home.
     

Chapter Five
    Talon woke up as quickly as he went to
sleep. "You didn’t wake me for my turn at watch,” his low pitched
voice barely reached Dak’s ears.
    “Like I said,” Dak replied with a careless
shrug, “I’ve spent most of the past two days sleeping.” He wasn’t
about to admit than he didn’t completely trust him. Instincts
aside, Talon was still a stranger. A stranger who knew secrets
about Kierin. Secrets he intended to learn. “She called you a
bounty hunter and an assassin. Which are you?”
    “Both. I’m more bounty hunter than
assassin but if the target is truly evil according to the law, I
don’t have a problem with killing. Some of the less scrupulous
members of my profession have blurred the line between the two.
    “From the sound of the engines, I’d say
we’re getting close to the transfer dock.” Talon stretched before
turning his attention back to Dak. “We just may survive another
day.”
    “Is she really in that much danger?” Dak
asked with a glance at the sleeping crystal witch. Her hair had
come unbound while she slept and now lay like a snowy white blanket
over her shoulders to pool in her lap and around her hips like
liquid silk. He rubbed his palms against the course weave of his
pants to keep from burying his hands in all that softness.
    “More than she realizes, I’m afraid. The
fact that all crystal witches have the same coloring has helped to
keep her undetected. No one's willing to risk the consequences of
insulting the wrong crystal witch. But Draagon knows who she
is and he's closing in for the kill. I think she’s lived with this
so long that it's a natural part of her life. That makes her
vulnerable and vulnerable women are no match for Draagon and his
Phantom Riders. If her father or brother had lived maybe she could
have survived. But now ….”
    A strong wave of protectiveness for the
alien woman surged through Dak. This constant upheaval of rioting
emotions was making him crazy. Rage. Regret. Despair. Humiliation.
He knew them well. They filled his darkest nightmares in every
combination known to man. And when you least expected it,
loneliness jumped right out of nowhere to really mess things up. He
owed her no sympathy. She owned him--bought him like a
length of fabric then treated him like a trained animal.
    Damn her and her rock .
    His hollow curse made him feel petty. His
dignity and pride were badly dented but he'd live through this and
find a way to return to Falcon Tor and his family. Kierin probably
wouldn't live to see the first snows of winter and there wasn't a
thing she could do to prevent it. If she bought him to protect her,
he'd do what he could for as long as he was forced to wear the
amulet. After that, she was on her own. He tried hard to convince
himself that the sour sensation in his stomach was from the herbs
she forced