Lycan's Surrender

By Jaci Burton

Rendered unconscious in battle, Starr, Queen of Dognelle is captured by Lycan, the King of Raynar. Lycan intends to treat her as he would any other woman in his kingdom. She will be well fed, clothed and treated with respect, but she must give up her freedom. Starr refuses, with every fiber of her being longing for escape. But Lycan's tender kisses and heated caresses make her doubt her resolve.

 

Lycan has plans for the beautiful but stubborn warrior. He sets out to show Starr that life in Raynar can be quite pleasant, and that alpha males have a tender side, too. Starr intends to show him that strong, independent women are a force to be reckoned with. And when he needs her at his darkest hour, she will show him that love and strength go hand in hand.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jaci Burton, Inc
• Release date: May 19, 2004
• ISBN: 9798201860639

Book preview

Other Titles by Jaci Burton

PLAY-BY-PLAY NOVELS

The Perfect Play

Changing the Game

Taking a Shot

Playing to Win

Thrown by a Curve

One Sweet Ride

Melting the Ice

Straddling the Line

Quarterback Draw

All Wound Up

Hot Holiday Nights – A Novella

Holiday Games – A Novella

Holiday on Ice – A Novella

Unexpected Rush

Rules of Contact

The Final Score

HOPE NOVELS

Hope Smolders

Hope Flames

Hope Ignites

Hope Burns

Love After All

Make Me Stay

Don’t Let Go

Love Me Again

WILD RIDER NOVELS

Riding Wild

Riding Temptation

Riding on Instinct

Riding the Night

ANTHOLOGIES

Unlaced

Exclusive

Laced with Desire

Nauti and Wild

Nautier and Wilder

Hot Summer Nights

SPECIALS

The Ties That Bind

No Strings Attached

Wild Nights

Rescue Me

Nothing Personal

Unwrapped

Dare to Love

Unraveled

SINGLE TITLES

Wild, Wicked, & Wanton

Bound, Branded, & Brazen

Animal Instincts

Bite Me

Dolphin’s Playground

Dream On

Garden of Eden

Hands On

Lycan’s Surrender

Magnolia Summer

Midnight Velvet

True Lies

Love Me By Christmas

Lycan’s Surrender

By

Jaci Burton

Lycan’s Surrender

All Rights Reserved ©2004 by Jaci Burton

ISBN: 978-1-946535-27-6

Cover by Designs By Dana

eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Published by Jaci Burton

Praise for Jaci Burton

A STALWART IN THE ROMANCE GENRE.    —USA Today

A wild ride.    —#1 New York Times bestselling author Lora Leigh

Jaci Burton delivers.    —Cherry Adair, New York Times bestselling author

As always, Jaci Burton delivers a hot read.    —Fresh Fiction

Burton is a master at sexual tension!    —RT Book Reviews

One to pick up and savor.    —Publishers Weekly

Contents

Other Titles by Jaci Burton

Copyright

Title Page

Praise for Jaci Burton

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

About Jaci Burton

Chapter One

The Planet Czeralion

Lycan, King of Raynar, stood over the carnage. Bodies littered the arid, desert landscape. The battle had been fierce, moreso because they’d run into two different clans.

Some of those that lay dead on the hard, unforgiving ground were female. That could not be helped.

He whirled at the sound of a moan, realizing a woman at his feet still breathed. He remembered this one. He thought he had killed her, even though he had not sliced through her, merely bashed her helmeted head with his sword

Is she dead?

Lycan shrugged in response to Tor’s question. He knelt and bent over the unconscious woman, placing two fingers on the side of her neck. She has a pulse.

Too bad.

Lycan frowned at his best friend. We’re taking her back with us. Check the others. See if anyone else is alive.

Tor frowned, his expression filled with anger. She tried to kill you. Why don’t you just finish her off?

Why, indeed? If she were any other warrior, she’d already be dead. But women were protected in the kingdom of Raynar. Though she wasn’t of Raynar, she was still female and would not be intentionally harmed.

Besides, it was his blow that sent her to the ground. While perfectly acceptable to defend himself against an attacking female, there was nothing noble about running her through while she lay helpless on the ground. I’m taking her back.

With a sigh of disgust, Tor turned on his heel and mounted his balon, giving orders to the other warriors to search the bodies for signs of life. Tor’s furry beast let out a howling cry, its blue horn pointing toward the sky. Tor pulled on the reins and galloped away, leaving Lycan alone with the woman.

He pulled off her helmet and checked her head for other injuries. She was a mess, her hair tied back in some kind of braid and filthy with the dirt of battle. Her leggings and arm braces were torn and she stunk to high heaven.

With hands more gentle than he should use on an enemy, he lifted her and climbed easily onto his black balon, positioning the female in front of him so he could hold her in place. Her head dropped against his chest and he wound his arms around her. The animal let out the same piercing wail as Tor’s, then took off at a fast run at Lycan’s command.

The ride back to Raynar was long, and yet the woman had not regained consciousness by the time they arrived at the gates. He lifted her off the balon, ordering his aide to dispatch the physician to the chambers next to his bedroom.

The woman was feather light, her slight frame like a child’s. But her body was that of a woman. Her breasts were plump and full, as evidenced by the peek of cleavage displayed through the tattered laces of her thin shirt.

Lycan kicked the door open to his chamber and walked through to the second bedroom. He deposited the woman in the center of the silken coverlet.

Still no response from her. He reached for her throat again and found her pulse still beating steady.

You called for me?

Lycan turned at the question from Dar, the royal physician. Yes. This Dognelle woman has been injured and has not regained consciousness. Look her over. I’ll be back shortly.

Dar nodded and bent over the woman, quickly untying the laces of her shirt. Lycan tilted his head to the side and watched, enjoying the exposure of one side of a creamy breast.

Lingering was unnecessary and yet he couldn’t seem to turn his eyes away from the slow unveiling. Dar would report his findings when he finished examining the woman. Besides, Lycan needed a bath and a change of clothes. Seven days out in the heat and dirt and he probably reeked worse than the woman.

He entered the dark, paneled bath chamber, waving off the concubines who came to greet him. The smell of cedar filled the air, reminding him of swimming in the lakes as a young boy. Stripping off his clothes, he sighed deeply at the welcoming sight of the steaming water. The turquoise pool was large enough to fit a dozen, but right now he was in no mood for female company.

Sliding into the warmth, he laid his head back and studied the skylights, open today to let the warm sun inside.

Tor joined him, cursing his way into the room.

Damn women, Tor muttered, stripping quickly and sliding into the water. You need to have them serviced by the guards or some of the other staff members while we’re gone. I can no more step foot in the palace than ten of them are on me.

Lycan laughed. And you’re complaining? You love them all and you know it.

A half smile curled Tor’s lips. Maybe. Right now I’m just tired. I want to sleep until morning. Alone.

Lycan knew how Tor felt. His muscles were sore from hard riding and equally taxing battles. They had already spent three days fighting warriors from the Centuri Kingdom when they ran into the Dognelle on their way back home.

Dognelle, while female, were well-trained warriors. Killing women went against everything Lycan believed in, yet he had no choice when they’d come upon them. Warring with the Dognelle was no different than with any of the other clans. Raynar was one of the richest kingdoms, sitting on top of prime land that any one of a hundred clans wanted to possess.

The Dognelle had chances to merge with the Raynar kingdom, and had steadfastly refused to join them. Instead, they made war on Raynar just as Centuri did.

Sometimes it seems like we’ve been at war since the day I was born, Lycan murmured, staring into the rippling blue water.

"We have been. Since we were old enough to wield a sword and mount a balon, we’ve been warriors. Before that, we played war, then trained for it. It’s our life, Lycan. We have to defend what’s ours."

Heaviness weighed on Lycan’s soul. I realize that. I just wish we could have peace.

Tor snorted. Peace? With who? The Dognelle? I’d just as soon slice off my own dick than lie down with those heathens.

They’re just women, Lycan muttered.

They’re barbarians. Probably cut our throats, or even worse, while we slept.

And one lay unconscious in the chamber next to his. Maybe he should sleep with his sword tonight.

After he bathed, he dressed in buff leather pants. When he returned to the secondary chamber, Dar had finished his exam.

She has a lump on the head, which is why she is sleeping. I don’t find any of her bones to be broken, or any internal injuries. She’ll most likely wake in the middle of the night. Give her water and nothing more until morning.

Lycan nodded and stared at the woman. She looked so small in the middle of the giant bed. He stepped closer, wrinkling his nose as he drew near.

Damn, woman. You really need a bath, he said, scowling at her as if she could hear him. He turned and stalked away, determined to ignore the presence of the smelly creature in the room He had more pressing details to attend to than watch over someone who should be sleeping with the balons, not in a silken bedchamber.

* * * * *

Starr woke to an unfamiliar sensation beneath her. Soft, sweetly scented silk bunched under her fingers.

Where the hell was she? She bolted to a sitting position, wincing when a sharp pain knifed inside her head. It was pitch black, but no stars overhead. No blistering hot dirt under her body. She was inside, but inside where?

The last thing she remembered was fighting the Raynar, clods of dirt spraying from the hooves of the balons and mixing with the spit of flying steel as sword hit sword. She remembered a dark presence blocking the sun from her eyes. A Raynar warrior had come at her wielding his sword over his head. Then her world went black.

Until now. She shifted to the side, feeling her way to the edge of what she assumed was a bed. She couldn’t be in the Dognelle kingdom as her people didn’t own fabrics like this. Rough, scratchy wools and linens made up their stiff-boarded sleeping beds, not silk as soft as rainwater.

Raynar. She was in the Raynar kingdom, she’d bet her last dracol on it. But how, and more importantly, why? By rights she should be dead now. If she’d been struck by the Raynar warrior, he’d have run her through. She’d seen many of her warriors lying lifeless on the ground, something she’d mourn the rest of her days.

Why could there be no peace? Why should Raynar have everything when her people had nothing? Where was the equality in that?

Because of that monster, Lycan of Raynar, her people were dying. His refusal to share the kingdom’s goods resulted in many of the surrounding clan going to war to eke out what little resources were available on this godforsaken planet. And yet Raynar’s people lived the life of luxury, judging from the soft, silken bed she’d just slipped out of.

Oh, he’d offered to open up the gates of Raynar and take in the Dognelle. But no woman in Raynar was free, and no Dognelle woman would agree to become a slave just to wear fine clothes and have plentiful food. They’d rather starve in the desert than live under any man’s rule.

Her eyes adjusting to the darkness, she could make out faint shapes in the room. Why was she in this room, not even chained, instead of their prison? None of this made sense,

Reviews for Lycan's Surrender

[nevissar · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It was ok. Wish there was an epilogue to show what happed after the law was changed.