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  DAMEN

  Dragons of Kratak | Book 2

  Ruth Anne Scott

  Contents

  Damen

  Extras

  Tales from Angondra

  The New Angondra Preview

  Rohn Sample

  Exclusive Book

  Exclusive New Book

  DAMEN

  Chapter 1

  She couldn’t take her eyes off him. Reyna Cooper heard her sister Rose talking to her, but that man consumed all her attention so much that she couldn’t make out the words.

  Four men approached the Allies Team from Harkniss Keep. All four stood taller than the five team members standing in a line across the path, but one man stood a full head taller than the others. At least, he looked much taller to Reyna.

  Rugged mountains framed the men from behind. Black, jagged peaks stuck up into the violet sky with deep, dark forests filling the valleys in between. For thousands of miles in every direction, nothing interrupted that forbidden landscape.

  Harkniss Keep occupied one whole mountain right in front of Reyna. Windows and doors opened out of the mountain itself. Beyond that, it looked exactly like all the other mountains on all sides.

  Like the other three men, the tall one wore a sleeveless shirt that showed off his muscled arms and shimmering iridescent skin. His pants stopped just below the knee, and he wore no shoes. His bare feet gripped the stone path with sure, crisp steps. His long hair brushed his shoulders, and angular bones set off his rough face. Glittering green eyes scanned the surroundings. They measured the newcomers with pinpoint accuracy, but they always came back to Reyna.

  His eyes lingered on her rounded hips and the breasts protruding under her parka. He couldn’t make out her nipples hardened by the bracing wind, but he stared at her chest as if he could see them through her parka.

  So, this was Clan Harkniss. The family would host Reyna and her team for a year while they studied the ways and environment of Planet Kratak. Her sister Rose, the doctor, commanded the team on behalf of the Allies. Moira Flannery acted as the Allies representative, while Whitney Anglesey, the biologist, and Tanner Montserrat, the anthropologist, made up the rest of the team. Rose’s son Ben tagged along at the end of the line.

  As the team’s genealogist, Reyna should have listened more closely when grey-haired Rowan Harkniss, the Clan patriarch, introduced his family. She only heard the names at a distance: his sons, Rohn and Damen, and his son-in-law, Callan Assan. Two women, one much older than the other, hung back in the doorway cutting into the mountain Keep.

  Reyna cast a quick glance at Callan. He came from Clan Assan, where the second Allies team investigated this remote and unknown people in their family Keep hundreds of miles to the south. What was Callan doing here? She didn’t consider that question before her attention snapped back to Damen.

  He stood directly in front of Reyna. Swirling color patterns moving under the surface of his skin swirled across his eyes. They receded and reappeared in complicated organic motifs of plant and animal shapes.

  Rose got into a tangled discussion with Rowan about the Allies’ intentions for the planet. Reyna gave it only half an ear. Damen scanned her with his eyes and she returned his gaze. Like his father and brother, he wore a buckler slung sideways across his chest with a decorated medallion fixed in the center of his chest. A heavy sword hung at his hip, and all four men kept their hands on their swords while Rowan talked to Rose.

  What were they afraid of? The Allies promised the two teams would come without any technology or weapons, and they kept their promise. The Allies didn’t want to corrupt this backward race with their advances any more than the Krataks wanted their way of life disturbed. Neither team carried so much as a pen knife to defend themselves against these savage and warlike men.

  No amount of explaining, especially from a woman like Rose, could get the Krataks to understand the Allies were a peaceful people. They wanted nothing more than to share their prosperity with less fortunate people. The Krataks could only benefit by joining the Allies’ more productive economic unit.

  The teams must bring the Krataks to this understanding, but crucial cultural differences stood in the way. Men dominated the Kratak society, whereas women controlled the Allies command positions. The teams could only record as much about Kratak in the year they remained on the planet and hope their behavior spoke for itself. The sooner Kratak joined the Allies, the better.

  Reyna couldn’t stop staring at Damen. His chiseled shoulders stuck out massive and intimidating from his shirt, and his legs braced stout as tree trunks inside his pants. His hands curled in with strong fingers. She couldn’t think about what he did with those fingers.

  What was he thinking about right now, looking down at her with that scrutinizing gaze? Was he thinking about chopping her head off with his sword? His eyes touched every inch of her body. No man had ever looked at her like that before. Men among the Allies respected women. This man focused primarily on her body.

  His gaze caused a curious reaction in her. She couldn’t deny that. What did he mean by looking at her like that, undressing her with his eyes? He was imagining what she looked like under her clothes, what his strong hands would feel like cupping her curves and exploring her territory. She wanted to explore Kratak and learn everything about it. Why shouldn’t he do the same to her?

  The Krataks led the way up the hill toward the entrance into the Keep. Rose and Rowan talked the whole way. Reyna found herself walking next to Damen. Did he plan it that way? “Are you married, Damen? Do you have children?”

  “I am not married. None of my father’s sons are married.”

  “How did that happen? Haven’t you found anyone who interests you?”

  “We only gather with other Clans once in a while to select mates not related to us. Rohn has come close to marriage a few times, but not me.”

  “I only ask because I’m the team’s genealogist. I’m supposed to record all your relationships with your family and the other clans. I hope my questions don’t offend you.”

  “Your questions do not offend me. We all agreed to answer your questions. Are you married?”

  She smiled in spite of herself. “No, I’m not married.”

  “And why not? Do the men of your world lack appeal?”

  “Not at all.” She cast a glance over her shoulder at Whitney Anglesey. He listened to their conversation with special interest. “I could ask you if the women of your world lack appeal.”

  “No, they don’t. In fact, they have plenty of appeal. That doesn’t encourage a man to marry, though.”

  She faced him. “What does that mean? Can you enjoy a woman without marrying her?”

  “What’s to stop me? That’s what the gatherings are all about, discovering the difference between who you like and who you like enough to marry.”

  Reyna blushed in spite of herself. “I didn’t know that’s what the gatherings were all about.”

  “How could you know? You�
��ve never been to one.”

  “We’ve heard things from your communications with Allies leading up to this mission. We heard about the gatherings. I didn’t realize they were....”

  “What?”

  She floundered for the right words. “I don’t know. I thought they were cultural gatherings, not....”

  He regarded her and waited for her to continue. “They are cultural gatherings.”

  Before Reyna could respond, Rowan and Rose stopped at the Keep entrance. Rowan introduced the women as his wife Fay, matriarch of Clan Harkniss, and his daughter Haya, Callan Assan’s wife.

  Reyna appraised the women. So, these were the women who lived under the heel of men all their lives. They were almost as tall as the men and well made. They wore beautiful clothes of rich colored cloth, and their skin undulated and rippled with the patterns under their skin, just like the men.

  What was Reyna expecting? She didn’t expect them to be different. She couldn’t conceive, though, how any woman could make herself subservient to men. Women did for themselves among the Allies. They approached strangers instead of hanging back. They made the decisions and directed the destiny of millions. Men hung back and let women take the lead. Women ruled their families and guided the lives and destinies of their men.

  Fay and Haya returned her gaze with forthright clarity. They didn’t shrink. Maybe they weren’t as subservient as the Allies believed. Maybe they held a different role.

  The whole party proceeded into the Keep. The doorway opened into a wide stone passage plunging into the mountain’s black heart. The team looked all around them at colorful tapestries on the walls and the intricate architecture, but Reyna thoughts revolved around Damen. He fascinated her, much more than the other men. She had to find some pretext to get closer to him. “Are you close to your relatives in the other Keeps?”

  “I have no relatives in the other Keeps. My whole family lives here. That’s how I come to seek mates from the other Clans. I couldn’t do that if I was related to them.”

  “You’re related to Clan Assan, by marriage, at least.”

  “That doesn’t count. Only blood relation counts.”

  The party entered an enormous hall stretching far out of sight. The ceiling towered over their heads, and heat radiated up from the floor. It gave the place a comforting atmosphere in spite of its forbidding character. Rose and Rowan kept up their conversation. Rowan explained the Clan met in this hall for meals. He suggested the team go to their quarters. Haya would lead the women one way, while Rohn took the men the other way.

  Damen moved closer to Reyna and murmured in her ear. “You should come to a gathering while you’re here. You might find it interesting.”

  She turned around to find him standing closer to her than she considered strictly appropriate. She couldn’t expect a foreigner like him to understand that. “I would love to attend a gathering. Are there any coming up?”

  “Not for a few months. I can see you would fit right in there.”

  Hot blood rushed to her cheeks. Was he saying what she thought he was saying? She was just trying to think of some suitable response when Whitney walked over to them. “You’re Damen, aren’t you?”

  Damen gave him an imperceptible nod.

  “I’m interested in those patterns under your skin. Do you mind if I take a closer look at them? I’ve never seen anything like them.”

  Damen turned his fierce eyes on Whitney. He looked down on Whitney from his great height the way he would look down on an insect crawling around his feet. “You can take a closer look from there. I’m sure you can see very well.”

  Reyna couldn’t watch this exchange. For the first time in her life, she saw Whitney, and Tanner, and every other man from the Allies world through the eyes of the Kratak men. How could the men of Kratak give these subservient men the slightest consideration? What was a subservient man to a dominant woman? He was nothing. In Damen’s eyes, Whitney became nothing. He could never be anything else.

  Whitney shrank from that gaze the way Damen intended him to. “I’m only doing my job.”

  “Do it, then.” Damen turned back to Reyna, and Whitney receded into the background. “Are you confined to the Keep, or are you free to travel?”

  “We’re free to travel if our mission calls for it. If a gathering comes up, I’m sure we’d all like to attend.”

  He dropped his voice to a low rumble. “You might be shocked by what you saw.” The patterns under his skin, which up to now, gave him a slight silvery color, changed to a strong copper hue. His eyes flashed glints of fire.

  “I doubt I would be shocked. I’ve seen a lot of strange things in my time with the research team.”

  “Like what?”

  “We’ve completed these research missions on dozens of planets, each one with its own customs and eccentricities. I’m sure I could handle anything I saw there.”

  “And what if you found yourself swept up in the activities? What if you found yourself a participant instead of an observer.”

  “I don’t see how that would happen.”

  “If you went there with me, it would happen.”

  Her eyes snapped to his face. She couldn’t deny it any longer. He really was suggesting they.... what? That they explore each other in a way that could lead to marriage? Could he really suggest that to a woman he just met?

  Yet here he was, clearly suggesting it—and a lot more, if the expression on his face gave any indication. She started to turn away when he grabbed her by the elbow. “What is your first task in this Keep?”

  Reyna tried to turn away. “It sounds to me like your father wants Haya to show us to our quarters. That looks like my first task in this Keep.”

  He let his hand drop, but his eyes burned into her soul when she moved away from him. Rohn led the men away down a different passage. Reyna looked back, but she didn’t see Whitney turning back at the same moment. He waved to her, but she saw only Damen watching her out of sight.

  Reyna gravitated toward Rose. Rose kept her grounded, but even after Haya led her and Rose and Moira down another long passage into a different part of the Keep, Reyna couldn’t get Damen out of her head.

  She noticed him the moment he and his group appeared at the Keep’s entrance. At six feet tall, Reyna was the tallest member of their team. She stood two inches taller than her sister and several inches taller than Moira and the men. Her height let her carry her curvy hips and full bust with grace and power. Everyone looked up to Reyna—everyone except Damen.

  How had she gone through her whole life without ever feeling the overwhelming attraction of a man larger than herself? He could pick her up and throw her over his shoulder. Her heart fluttered when she thought about him doing it. Of course, he never would, but the very thought that he could if he really wanted to, made her palms sweat.

  Chapter 2

  Haya stopped in the middle of the passage. Reyna drifted in a flurry of daydreams. She didn’t notice the quiet until a shadow crossed the shaft of light pouring down through the ceiling. Reyna snapped out of her reverie to find Haya staring at her.

  Reyna looked around for the first time. “Where are the others?”

  “Your sister and your friend are in their own rooms. This is yours. You didn’t notice when we dropped them off. You didn’t notice when we stopped here. You were absorbed in your own thoughts. You didn't answer when your sister said she would see you later and you would go collect your luggage from outside. Is anything bothering you?”

  Reyna cast a quick look at Haya’s face. This was Damen’s sister. On closer inspection, Reyna could see the resemblance. Haya looked more like Damen than their brother Rohn. She had a copper tinge to her long hair and long, muscular limbs. She had none of Rohn’s blocky bulk or dark brooding features.

  Haya waved toward the room. “Are you going inside?”

  Reyna stuck her head into the room and took a peek at the big bed. Curtains of the same patterned tapestry
that hung in the passages and halls outlined windows overlooking the western valleys. “Thank you. Is that all?”

  “What else do you want?”

  “Your husband is Assan, isn’t he, Haya?”

  “You know he is.”

  “Do you visit his family much?”

  “Only at the gatherings.”

  “Do you still attend the gatherings after you’re married? I thought they were intended for young people to find partners.”

  “Everyone attends the gatherings, from the very youngest to the very oldest. They’re intended for everyone.”

  “What does everyone do at the gatherings? I mean, what do the old and young and the already-attached do while the unattached are trying to pair up?”

  “The young play. The already-attached catch up with their relatives they haven’t seen in years. The old people sit around and talk. They exchange news from all over Kratak, and they make decisions about how the Clans relate to each other. Sometimes they negotiate peace between Clans that have been at war with each other.” A trace of a smile crept over her face. “Isn’t that what people do everywhere?”

  “I guess they do.” Reyna started to soften toward this strange woman.

  Haya held back so much, the tiny cracks she opened up to let out personal information fascinated the genealogist in Reyna. She wanted to find out every detail about the Krataks' life. The person standing in front of her intrigued her sense of mystery and discovery.

  Haya shifted from one foot to the other. “Aren’t you going to go into your room?”

  “Not right now. I’d rather talk to you.”

  “What do you want to talk about? There’s nothing to talk to me about.”

  “Everybody’s got a story to tell.”

  “And it’s your job to tell it. Isn’t that right?”

  “I would do it even if it wasn’t my job. I’ve always been interested in people.”