Page 3 of When Dragons Play

His voice trailed off, and his eyes lingered on the colorful assortment of pies. He nervously patted his pockets, searching for his credentials, before remembering with a sinking feeling that he had left them in his coat pocket. He had forgotten his coat in the closet.

Rotating on his heel, he strode into his bedroom. Opening the closet, he felt in the pockets. They were empty. Bowing his head, he rested his forehead against the cool metal.

“I guess now isn’t the time to tell you that they took our new starship for a test drive,” Barrack muttered.

Brogan shook his head. “No, now probably isn’t the time.” He heaved a sigh before he raised his head. “We need to get home. They shipped a delivery of Tasiers to the house.”

“Oh, man. Delilah isn’t going to like that,” Barrack muttered.

Brogan choked back a laugh. He was normally the less calm one of the two of them. The absurdity of the situation made it impossible to stay angry. It didn’t help that his brother was licking the remains of a Kayman pie off his fingers. He shook his head.

This calls for a higher power than we have the patience for, he thought with wry amusement as his vidcom pinged again with another delivery.

Chapter 1

The muscles in Kelan’s jaw ached as he followed the guards down to the cell block. The Madaris Spaceport station manager had notified him of Brogan and Barrack’s wayward charges after recognizing they were Valdier warriors. The lot had been having a fine time thanks to Brogan’s credit. He had settled with the barkeeper for the damages that came after the four got into a fight with a group of miners.

A soft chuckle of amusement next to him pulled him out of the debate he was having on whether to give up and kick the lot out or let them rot on an Antrox mining asteroid. His gaze softened at Trisha’s amused expression. He reached out and cupped her hand.

To hell with not showing public displays of affection, he mused.

He swore his mate grew more beautiful each day. She squeezed his fingers when his dragon purred in agreement with his thoughts. She pulled her hand free when the doors to the cell block slid open. An octagon of cubes, each with glowing red laser bars, greeted them. In the center was a guard with a huge belly who looked no happier to be there than the prisoners warily watching them enter.

“Lord Kelan for prisoners in cells 2 and 3,” a guard said.

The rotund guard behind the console rolled to his feet. His four chins drooped even lower with gravity. Twin, beady dots that looked more like polished pebbles than eyes stared back at them.

“Documents,” he mumbled, holding out a beefy hand.

Kelan dropped the chip containing the release documents from the station manager into the guard’s hand. The guard slipped it into the console. Seconds later, the red glowing bars on the two cells flickered before disappearing.

“Good luck with those four,” the guard mumbled before he sat down in the chair again.

“He’s a bucket of fun,” Trisha remarked under her breath.

Kelan pressed his lips together to stifle his laughter. He sighed, knowing he had to tackle the issue before him. His focus lingered on the four men.

The two in cell 2 were watching him with wary eyes. Timber was standing near the opening, his eyes flickering to the exit, his hands in his back pockets. Rumor was sitting on the bolted cot, his elbows on his knees, his hands loosely clasped together, his eyes cool, dismissive, yet cautious.

The two in cell 3 weren’t much different, except for the one laying on the cot with his arm over his eyes as if he were taking a nap. Laser. That one had a major chip on his shoulder. Cameo was leaning with one shoulder resting against the wall, an easy grin on his face.

“Oh, my.”

Trisha’s hiss matched his feelings. For a brief second, Cameo looked an awful lot like him. Disapproval etched into his face when Cameo raised an eyebrow and grinned back at him. His fingers flexed and his dragon released a low, rumbling growl of warning when Cameo’s eyes moved over Trisha with an appreciative expression.

“You’re going to be holding your guts in your hands if you aren’t careful,” Laser dryly commented.

“It might be worth it,” Cameo retorted.

“Stand at attention,” Kelan growled.

The hardness in his tone, combined with the edge of anger from his dragon, melted the blasé attitude of the men. Even Laser responded to the warning in his voice.

Kelan watched as Laser swung his feet over the side of the cot and rose. They stood at attention, not enthusiastically, but they stood. He pursed his lips, observing their growing discomfort at his continued silence. They were wise enough to keep their blank stares fixed over his shoulder, especially Cameo.

He paused in front of the warrior who blanched when Kelan lifted his hand, partially shifted so the claw of his dragon was visible, and pushed it against the soft skin under the warrior’s jaw above his carotid.

“If you ever disrespect my mate again, I won’t be the one that you will have to worry about,” he growled in a voice that, while barely audible, sent a shiver through every man in the cell block.