The Dracons' Woman

DEDICATION

For my husband.  Thank you for having an imagination as big as mine, and spending so many hours talking about a fantasy world with fantasy people and fantasy rules.  I never could have done this, and had so much fun doing it, without you.

For Mom, Grandma, and Great-Grandma---Thank you all for the creativity you passed along to me, as well as the heart to do something with it.  There is a little bit of each of you in these books, just as there is a little bit of each of you in me. 

Special Bonus!

Turn to the back of this book for Chapter 1 of

The Lobos’ HeartSong

Book Two of the Soul-Linked Saga

by

Laura Jo Phillips

Available Christmas 2011

Chapter
1

Lariah Daniels huddled in her seat near the back of the shuttle, watching as the other passengers prepared to disembark.  The majority of her fellow travelers were young women contracted to be brides on Jasan.  One of the reasons she had selected Jasan as her destination was the scarcity of women on the planet, and the high regard in which women were held as a result.  Another reason was that she had dreamed of visiting Jasan since seeing images of it as a child.  There was something about the wide-open plains of blue grass, the lavender skies and gigantic fresh water lakes set against a backdrop of enormous white rock mountain ranges that had appealed to her, even then.  The planet seemed to her to be a pastel dream of earth, water and sky, evoking a feeling of cleanliness, peace and simplicity that touched something deep inside of her.  

Sighing softly, she listened to the excited chatter of the young women as they gathered their bags, smoothed their clothing, checked their makeup and fussed with their hair before lining up in the aisle, waiting to step off the shuttle and embark on their new lives as treasured wives.  She was honest enough with herself to admit that she envied them.  The beauty of Jasan had captured the imagination of the child she had been, but it was what she’d learned of its inhabitants as an adult that had captured the fantasies of the woman she now was.  Just thinking of it had her squeezing her thighs tightly together.

“Stop it,” she admonished herself silently.  “That’s not why you’re here, so just forget it.”  Unfortunately, thinking of why she
wasn’t
here reminded her why she
was
here.  That was a memory that made her shudder and hunch her shoulders, wrapping her arms around herself protectively.  For a long moment she couldn’t breathe as unwelcome images and sensations crashed through her mind.

Lariah closed her eyes and forced herself to relax her shoulders and breathe deeply.  There was nothing to be afraid of here, she told herself.  Nobody knew where she had gone except the Director himself, and he had promised her that the information would remain classified indefinitely.  No one would ever suspect that she would willingly choose to flee to Jasan.  Although she had always had an interest in the planet, she had never shared that interest with anyone.  Even the Director had expressed surprise when, upon being offered her choice of destinations within the Thousand Worlds, she had chosen the rural, low-tech planet of Jasan.  And he was a man who never showed what he thought of anything.  Well, almost never. 

She jerked her attention back to the present.  She would NOT think about that.  Not now.  She opened her eyes and focused on the dwindling line of young brides as they made their way toward the exit.  They reminded her of images she had once seen of a flock of butterflies and it suddenly occurred to her how different she was from them.  They were all dressed in brightly colored, high fashion clothing: short skirts, tight slacks, high heels, their hair and lips and eyes shining in the dim overhead lights as they talked and gestured and laughed with unrestrained, nervous excitement.

In contrast, Lariah herself was dressed simply in jeans and a long sleeved white top, her clothes a couple of sizes too large for her slender frame.  She understood why the brides were decked out as they were, but she thought they were a bit overdone for Jasan.  After all, it was a planet known for raising the best livestock in the galaxy, and its simple, almost backward, culture.  From what Lariah had read, life on Jasan was styled much like the 19
^th
century Old West of North America on Earth.  That was actually one of the things that appealed most to her about the planet.  As a historical librarian she had her pick of reading material, and 21
^st
century romance novels set in the Old West had always been her favorite. 

There were only a few passengers left on the shuttle when Lariah finally took a deep breath and stood up.  She ran her fingers through her shoulder-length black hair with a little grimace and slipped her arms into her jacket.  She had no idea what the weather was like outside but, until she found out, it was easier to wear the jacket than carry it.  She opened the locker next to her seat and removed the single canvas tote bag that contained all she had left in the universe, bent to retrieve her handbag, and made her way up the aisle to the end of the line. 

Suddenly, Lariah felt the blood drain from her face as her entire body tensed with fear.  She looked around frantically, searching for the cause of her unreasoning terror, but saw only the nearly empty shuttle cabin, two women ahead of her still waiting to disembark, and one of the stewards moving slowly up the aisle, checking the empty seats for forgotten belongings.  She had experienced just such a feeling only once before, the memory of what had happened afterward causing her body to shudder violently.  The inexplicable fear was swept away before the overwhelming horror of the memories that mercilessly flooded her mind.

“I will not think of this,” she told herself firmly.  “Not now. Not ever again.”  She held her breath as she waited for the waking nightmare to fade.  Her heart was pounding so hard she pressed her palm to her chest, her other hand gripping the handles of her bag so tightly her knuckles turned white. 

“Are you alright Miss?” 

Lariah looked up into the concerned eyes of the shuttle steward.  She made a fleeting effort to smile, but quickly gave up.  “I’m fine,” she said, wincing inwardly at the breathless sound of her own voice, wondering again if her full voice would ever return to her, or if she would have to get used to sounding whispery for the rest of her life.

“Perhaps you should sit down for a few moments,” he suggested.  “We won’t be taking on passengers for the next launch for a while yet, so there is no hurry.”

This time Lariah was able to offer the man a small, but genuine smile.  “Thank you,” she said, appreciating the kindness more than she could say.  “I just had a bad moment, but I’m fine now.”

The steward looked into her eyes for a second.  “Very well,” he said.  “However, there is a med-station in the spaceport.  It’s not big, but it is well equipped.  It’s just to your left as you enter the main hub.  Even if you just need a place to rest and get your bearings, they will be happy to accommodate you.”

Lariah blinked in surprise.  Her journey from Earth to Jasan had taken her over a month—exactly 39 days of transport pods, warp ships and short range planet shuttles.  While none of the various stewards, officers and crew had ever been less than polite, this man’s sincere concern was a definite first.