Dragon Twins Bride: A Paranormal Menage Baby Romance Page 4

  Xuan had done thorough reconnaissance. They would set off alarms if they tried to do anything else, so they were going to do this in the light.

  The Draka were fiercely possessive of anything that they considered “theirs.” Even things that weren’t for sale were kept behind many doors that could only be accessed with the right passes.

  The right kind of access passes had taken a month to acquire. Phuong felt them nestled next to her stomach in the bottom half of her dress.

  She felt like the Drakan guards could see through her clothes straight to the contraband passes. She was sweating, and she was grateful that her makeup seemed to be holding up.

  Xuan and Phuong drifted towards the secret door while appearing to peruse the auction items. The guards kept their eyes on them. With their slightly darker skin, they stuck out in a room of Drakans. There had been enough intermarriage between Yore and Drakans that they could be Drakan nobility, but they didn’t carry themselves with the same kind of pure confidence that was bred in the bone.

  Right on time, a bit of smoke wafted through the ventilation. Phuong could see the guards’ eyes widen as they quickly went to the source of the smoke, which was safely as far away as possible from the secret door while still being inside of the auction house.

  Without any supervision, Phuong and Xuan walked towards the door, pulled out the pass, swiped their pass, and entered the protected halls of the auction house, the ones that would take them to the tunnels.

  The secret door closed with a loud thunk. Xuan thought that there were probably security cameras around here, but whoever was watching them wasn’t part of the normal guard.

  Phuong crept right along the wall. Xuan turned to give her a wink as they made their way even deeper in.

  She pulled out a second pass, but there was a Draka guard.

  “What are you two doing here? Nobody is supposed to be…”

  Phuong gritted her teeth as her eyes turned silver.

  “We belong here,” she intoned. “You never saw us.”

  “You belong here,” he repeated. “I’ve never seen you.”

  The moment passed as the guard moved along.

  “You belong here,” he repeated again.

  Phuong told Xuan, “I hope that he’s not stuck like that.”

  “It’s fine. It’ll wear off. Don’t worry about it. Focus on the mission.”

  Phuong hated being a thief. Yes, they had the right talent for it, but she didn’t like taking things that belonged to other people.

  As they went through each door, they got closer to the Illinium. Phuong wondered how they were going to get out quickly, but she decided not to borrow trouble.

  “Just one more door and we’ll be in Marc’s hoard.”

  Then they went through the door using the pass, and they were greeted with the sight of more treasure than they ever knew existed.

  “What is all of this stuff?”

  It looked like a crazy person’s home. There were a lot of different things all over the place.

  “Search for anything that might contain Illinium.”

  “How much time do we have?”

  “Not very. About 10 minutes.”

  All that effort, over a month of working, just for 10 minutes inside of the hoard. Phuong really hoped that their mission was successful. It would stink if they’d worked so hard for nothing.

  13

  Glittering Hoard

  Phuong

  Phuong looked at the wealth in the auction’s underground tunnels. How many families could it feed? Nobody on Vestra would ever need to go hungry again.

  She tried to focus on the Illinium. They wouldn’t have a buyer for anything else, but Xuan’s contact was very interested in acquiring Illinium, and he had a good underground reputation among the Peddlers, a reputation good enough for Xuan to go on this incredibly risky mission.

  They’d already used up at least 8 minutes of their time, if not more. Phuong wished that they had practiced this part beforehand. They hadn’t found as much Illinium as they wanted, and surely the guards would’ve noticed that the dark-skinned duo was gone.

  They also had to make it through all of the doors that they had passed through on the way in. Carrying the Illinium and running out would be harder.

  There was a pouch for it under the skirt of Phuong’s dress. She just hoped that they didn’t ask her about her sudden pregnancy.

  There would be no second chances. The effort involved in getting in was intense, and the whole auction house would be on high alert once they realized that they had been robbed.

  “I’ve got enough,” Xuan told her. “One minute to go. Let’s get out of here.”

  The two of them hurried out. Xuan didn’t even take the time to put the Illinium in its hiding place. Their first priority was getting out. Not that many people knew what Illinium looked like. They thought that it was just platinum.

  They were nearly to the door when Phuong tripped over an object, which would have been a big deal, except she fell to the side.

  All of a sudden, the floor gave way. She held back a scream as she fell downwards at least 20 feet.

  “Phuong!” Xuan looked around. “We don’t have time for this. Grab my hand.”

  Phuong shook her head. “Xuan, get out of here and take the Illinium with you.”

  Xuan put the Illinium down and reached down as far as he could to no avail.

  Their mission had failed. Yes, they’d gotten Illinium, but they wouldn’t make it out of here.

  Phuong looked around her, but the pit didn’t have any way to climb out. Her eyes stung as she acknowledged the truth: she was truly caught. Xuan already knew it.

  “You need to get out of here right now, before someone comes.”

  “I’m not abandoning you.”

  “Don’t be stubborn and get caught.”

  “I’m not going to leave you here.”

  “They’ll be nicer to me than they would be to you. Get out of here. Sell the Illinium. When I can, I’ll come back to our home.”

  They could both hear the echoes of footsteps and the murmur of voices.

  “Go!”

  “I can’t.”

  “I will never forgive you if you don’t save yourself now. You know that the penalty for theft is hard labor for the rest of your life. I won’t tell anybody about us. I’ll say that this was my job, solo. You need to go.”

  Xuan hesitated only a second more before darting off the way that they came.

  14

  Racing Smoke

  Olivier

  “Are you sure that we should go?” Olivier turned to Gahariet as they exited their levi-car.

  “We might as well. It’s better for us to keep an unofficial eye on Marc than to be left in the dark.”

  “He’s one of the Fontaines, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Keep your friends close.”

  “Your enemies closer. Yeah, I know. They could’ve fleeced our great-grandfather out of his throne.”

  “Why don’t we fly?”

  “Instead of taking the car?” Olivier shrugged. “It’s easier to let something take care of everything. Our levi-car can navigate better than I can. I’m pretty bad with maps.”

  “Race you!”

  Running to some open space, Gahariet shifted into his dragon form.

  “Cheater!” Olivier shouted at his twin before he shifted, too. He followed his twin straight to the auction house.

  The twins were nearly identical in their dragon form, but Olivier had amber eyes while his twin had green ones.

  They raced quickly through the air, twining around each other and nudging each other as if they were children.

  They got to the auction house swiftly. With twin thuds, the dragons landed on the rooftop of the auction house. They switched back to human form, the wind rustling their hair.

  Gahariet ran a hand through his hair. “Let’s go down.”

  They found a door in the roof and went down.

>   Immediately, they were stopped by an armed guard.

  “Who are you?”

  “Princes Olivier and Gahariet,” Olivier snapped back. “Marc invited us himself.”

  The guard grunted as he pulled something up on his holo-screen.

  “You’re clear.” The guard got out of the way.

  “Honestly,” Olivier said to Gahariet.

  “He’s just doing his job.”

  “I hope this auction is worth the trip.”

  “I think that Marc was just pulling our strings.”

  “Maybe, but it’s unlikely that the Yore seers would lie to him about what’s happening tonight. It could get interesting.”

  As they got into the main room, a very beautiful young Draka girl dressed in a periwinkle gown with transparent sleeves and a deep V-neck came up to them, a tablet in one hand.

  “Hello. I’m Lana. Such a pleasure to meet you two, Your Highnesses. Is there anything that I can do for you two?”

  “Just get us a couple drinks and we’ll be fine,” Olivier said. She was a lot nicer than auction employees had been to them before. Still, they’d need the alcohol to handle Marc, even if his brood was suddenly kinder to them tonight. Marc always wanted to be the best, which was hard to do if you were competing with princes.

  But Gahariet and Olivier made their way around the first room, noticing that not many people were all that interested in antiques.

  Where was their host? After a half hour, Olivier knew that something was strange.

  The cheaper items were on display now, but the more expensive items were always auctioned by Marc himself. He also always showed his gallery of display pieces, just to rub it in the noses of his clientele that he had possessions that they couldn’t buy.

  It was always a good show.

  15

  Captured

  Phuong

  Phuong tried to figure out how to hide under the mountain of pink minerals that lined the pit.

  She heard the door open and she knew that Xuan was safe.

  Her gut twisted as she thought about what would happen to her. She’d known that something would go wrong, but Xuan was always going on about positive affirmations. She wanted to support and believe in him. She didn’t know that she’d be trapped in the auction house.

  She heard footsteps getting closer and closer to the pit. Then she saw a face peer inside.

  Her heart sank. The Drakan’s face was curious. She held her breath as they made eye contact.

  “I’d wondered where you’d gone. Going into an auction house that you’re planning to steal from and attracting every eye in the room is a stupid plan.”

  He smiled at her. She didn’t like it at all.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Phuong.”

  Marc shook his head. “We’ll have to do better than that.”

  Phuong didn’t like the look in his eyes at all.

  “It was foolish for the two of you to come here. But I will accept you in exchange for whatever your brother stole. I’ll get someone to help you out.”

  He walked away. Phuong hugged herself down in the pit.

  Soon, there was a metal basket lowered into the pit. She stepped inside and was lifted high. When she got to the ground level, she tried to get out, but the basket’s metal rods were extended.

  “Hey!” she said.

  “You need to be in your display case. Showtime is too soon.”

  Display case? Phuong didn’t like the sound of that.

  “Who are you?” The operator of the lift wasn’t Marc.

  “My name isn’t important.”

  “Where’s Marc?”

  “None of your business. I need to hurry if you’re going to be displayed on time.”

  Phuong screamed as her cage was swung into a slot in the treasure room, a wall of sections that were like a honeycomb, each section a separate, smaller room within the large one.

  She found herself in a smaller room with an elderly Draka woman.

  “Yore girls are so plump,” she said disapprovingly. “Don’t you ever think of cutting back on your food?”

  Phuong bit back a retort. Food had been in scarce supply lately, and she still looked curvy.

  The woman sighed. “I might be able to find something that might fit you. Something stretchy or maybe a wrap dress. Wait.”

  Since Phuong was literally in a cage, she couldn’t really do much else.

  “Wrap dress, I think. Let’s get…that…off of you.”

  Phuong looked at her dress. She hadn’t noticed before, but her fall had ripped the bodice of her gown. Things were popping out, giving Marc and the lift operator a free show.

  Phuong’s cheeks turned pure red. She pulled together the pieces of her expensive but ruined dress with one hand, but the damage had been done.

  “Off,” the woman said impatiently. “Are you slow?”

  Phuong pulled her ruined dress off. The woman thrust a floor-length scarlet dress through the bars of Phuong’s cage.

  “Hurry up. You have to be ready in time.”

  Phuong looked at the red gown and thought about refusing.

  “Don’t even try,” the woman warned. She crossed to the side and took a wand.

  “Do you know what this is?”

  “No.”

  “It can send different voltages through you at a distance. If you would like to be shocked into behaving, I’m more than happy to do it. You Yore don’t know how to act.”

  “I don’t need a cattle prod. I’m not a cow!”

  “Then don’t behave like one.”

  She looked at the red gown again. In other circumstances, she’d be happy to wear something so beautiful. It was a princess’s dress, and she was just an orphan. How could something that looked so innocuous be part of something bad?

  Now she was a doll, a possession. She would wear what they wanted her to wear.

  She didn’t know if they would report her, but the Draka justice system didn’t have a lot of mercy for Yore renegades. Even something as simple as stealing was punishable by death. There were far fewer Draka than Yore. The Draka maintained their stranglehold on the planet by being as brutal as they could be. If any Yore put a toe out of line, her life would be forfeit. Any of the Draka could make the call.

  She felt sick to her stomach. She’d gone here for their very last job, and now she would be trapped for only stars knew how long.

  She didn’t like being caged or displayed, but she put the red dress on anyway. The bodice seemed simple enough when she’d first gotten it, but it showed far too much of the shadow between her breasts for her comfort. What were they going to do to her?

  “What is that unsightly bump at the base of your skull?” the woman asked.

  “It’s my implant.”

  “That will definitely be removed today. Now. I don’t want any buyers to think that you’re defective.”

  Phuong’s heart soared. Could she get the implant removed today, even without paying an exorbitant amount to a black market surgeon?

  The woman went to a glow pad on the door. Phuong’s cage was pushed out into the main room and placed into a small room that smelled like antiseptic.

  “Hello,” a man wearing a healer’s white robes said to her, ignoring the fact that she was caged.

  “I hear you have an implant that I should remove.”

  “Yes,” Phuong whispered, terrified that he would change his mind.

  “I’m afraid I’ll have to knock you out for its removal. General anesthesia for a little while.”

  With that, he slapped a button. A robot arm grasped a needle firmly. Before Phuong even had time to relax, the needle was jabbed into her.

  Her eyes closed.

  16

  Collector

  Marc

  Marc adjusted his cuffs and checked every inch of himself in the mirror. He gave himself a disarming smile. If he charged premium prices, he needed to look the part. He smoothed his hair into place, making sure that there
weren’t any wayward strands.

  He turned to his body servant.

  “I want you to fetch my new prize.”

  “Which prize, sir?”

  “The girl. Make sure they dose her before she’s put on display. We wouldn’t want her to cause any trouble. It’s her first night here, so she doesn’t understand how we do things.”

  “Very good, sir.” His body servant went out the door.

  Marc would display her alongside the other priceless objects that he only displayed with a simple NFS on the sign to tell people that they weren’t for sale. A lot of objects passed through his hands, but this girl, Phuong, was something special. He’d have to think of a better name for her, a Draka one instead of her boring Yore one.

  Something about her was so enticing…maybe entrancing was a better word.

  On another night, he would’ve brought her to see his Yore seers so that they could sample her energy and find out more about her.

  She was extraordinarily beautiful, with dark skin and pure silver hair. He’d never seen a woman like her. She looked like an angel, with perfect, full lips, which were two-toned.

  If Marc had believed in a deity, then he would’ve thought that she was created by a loving one. She’s the kind of woman a Drakan would love to fill with babies.

  Fertile women were in short supply on the Draka home planet, and they’d found to their delight that Yore women had an easy time conceiving, which had resulted in quite a few Draka-Yore hybrids.

  Marc left his room and went to the one-way glass pane that he kept so that he could survey his kingdom.

  He snorted when he saw Olivier and Gahariet. The twin brats were in his auction house; they’d taken him up on his offer. They were wastrels, and their station was totally wasted on them.

  Marc smiled slowly. He couldn’t help but love the ability to strut a little in front of them. This auction house was his domain.

  A never-ending thirst for treasure was in dragon blood, and Marc had built an empire by using that thirst. He’d started from nearly nothing. Giving people what they wanted was surprisingly hard, but that was why he was the best.