Read Men of Anderas II: Dak the Protector for Free Online

driving the crystal witch. Something that was forcing
her to act totally out of character.
    You never laid eyes on her until
yesterday. How do you know what her true character is like ?
    Dak trusted his instincts when it came to
people and whenever he met someone who didn't fit with what his gut
told him, he hammered away at them until he discovered why. With
Kierin, there were too many pieces that didn't fit. Like that dream
she planted in his head. She was too refined, too gentle for the
coarse rutting scene. He pictured her wearing something light and
delicate. Lying on midnight blue sheets. Surrounded by the
fragrance of crushed flowers. Bathed in the soft glow of candles.
That glorious mane of white hair spread across the bed, waiting for
him. Oh, yes. He could definitely come up with a better scenario
than hers.
    Tired of circling around and around the why of Kierin’s actions, he focused his attention on the how . If he could figure that out, he might find a way to
stop her or at least change the odds in his favor.
    The smallest detail always gave away the
flaw. He surprised the hell out of her when he woke up so suddenly.
That much was obvious. She dropped that stone ….
    She dropped the stone and the images
disappeared. The stone? Is her crystal the source of her powers? Or
merely an amplifier ?
    Every instinct he possessed screamed that
the stone was the key. He had to figure out how the crystal worked.
His agile mind and a fascination for plotting strategy made him
invaluable as a leader, first to King Zeth, and now JarDan. All he
needed was a little time and he’d turn this situation to his
advantage.
    How much time do I have before all trace
of my men disappears ?
    Before his worries could depress him, Kierin
returned to her seat--still blushing but with her chin thrust out
in a militant I-dare-you-to-say-anything angle. Dak
grinned.
    “Quit smirking.”
    His grin faded at her command. Blast and
damn this piece of rock around my neck. Every order she gives, I
follow. Power comes with a high price, little witch. Have you
thought about what all of this will cost you in the end? Will the
results be worth it ?
    Kierin watched Dak’s lopsided grin disappear
as anger replaced the teasing glint in his eyes. A curious sense of
loss tugged at her chest. A feeling she wasn’t prepared to examine
too closely. Hiding in the lounge didn’t do a thing for her massive
case of embarrassment. So far, the only one of her plans that
worked out the way she expected was finding Dak, alive and
reasonably well, at Safe Haven. Everything else seemed to unravel
around the edges. Obviously, she couldn’t continue with the image
enhancements. He would know she was behind them when he woke up.
The simplest solution would be to just tell him what she needed
from him. The truth. Plain. Simple. Direct.
    Impossible. She couldn’t just look him in
the eye and say it. It was too cold--too stark--too impersonal.
    “Are you hungry? Thirsty?” She asked her
traveling companion, more to break the uneasy silence than any
actual need to eat.
    “No.”
    Only a supreme effort of will kept her from
wincing at his answer. How could one softly spoken word feel like a
physical blow? She couldn't even ignore him by staring out of the
window. The cost of the upper deck transport seating was beyond her
budget and the lower decks were nothing more than dull, grey, metal
walls. She missed the comfortable silences of earlier more than she
cared to admit and had no idea how to restore his sense of
humor.
    The soft whoosh of the cabin door
opening put an instant end to her useless regrets. Everything about
the man standing just inside the cabin was dark and cold. There
wasn’t an ounce of excess weight on his tall, lean body but his
attitude, more than anything physical, set him apart. Muscles
worked in the square jaw while his nostrils flared repeatedly. He
reminded her of the large black cats that lived high in the
mountains near her home. Once he