Page 4 of The Dragon King’s Pet

A man wearing a slim suit and dark glasses spoke into his lapel. He was stationed across the street from Mika’s home, one of many men located up and down the block and further afield as well. If the heiress to the Ferrier fortune noticed the stiff men wearing suits complete with suspect bulges flanking and following her cab, she didn’t show any signs of it. Her cab continued into traffic while she glued herself to her phone, swiping through social media with such intense concentration she could have been followed by a phalanx of tanks and not noticed.

“Roger that,” his handler’s voice came over the piece in his ear. “We’ll pick her up when an opportunity presents itself in Ibiza. Best to do it off US soil. Keep an eye out for the others. We know we’re not the only ones out here. Do this as quietly as possible. Draw no attention. And don’t get impatient. If anyone else makes a move before we do, take them out. This needs to be clean.”

As Mika’s cab swept away from her house, one, two, three other cars carrying personnel from different agencies and different countries followed in her wake. Mika Ferrier was not famous in a classic sense. She had a few thousand followers on social media, more than most of her friends, but not enough to catapult her into the limelight. What she did not know was that she had quite a few followers who weren’t interested in anything so superficial as her latest selfies. Their interest was deeper—much, much deeper. It went all the way to the level of her DNA.

Taking a young woman from her home in the middle of New York was out of the question. Nobody would risk that kind of exposure. The Ferriers were well connected and their home was incredibly secure. However, with her departure for Ibiza, she had become a blithely unaware target for a hundred different people with a hundred unpleasant agendas.

The waters of her world were churning with unseen danger as she chatted with her friends via text, letting them know she was just an hour away from the airport and total freedom.

CHAPTER 4

“I’m so glad you came, Mikkie!” Traci hugged her tight as their plane taxied down the runway. They had first class seats, none of which had been paid for thanks to Traci’s parents’ interest in the airline. Mika and Traci and everyone else they knew had never had to really deal with the concept of working and paying for things. They had a vague idea of it, of course. Mika had even worked in her father’s store over the summers sometimes, but even then it was nothing like the existence that so many people lived. She felt a little guilty about that sometimes, knowing that she didn’t deserve it any more than anyone else. It was her mother’s influence that made her aware of that. Her mother had not grown up rich, and was often indifferent to the kinds of luxuries Mika enjoyed. Her father was likewise disconnected at times, but in different ways. Sometimes Mika almost felt like her parents were from another world completely.

The force of the engines pressed her back into her comfortable seat. There was the moment of lightness as the craft left the ground and her stomach churned with the certainty that what she was doing was not a good idea. It wasn’t the juvenile feeling she’d had in the past, where she knew she was up to something her parents wouldn’t approve of. It was a deeper, more adult anxiety that she really was not used to.

She looked out the window at the receding city, trying to quiet her concerns. She was allowed to travel, she was an adult woman in her own right. Her parents didn’t own her and she could make decisions as she pleased. So why did she feel so bad?

“Mikkie!” Traci yelled in her ear. “Come back, Mikkie. Have a cocktail!”

“They’re letting us drink?” Mika looked around and saw the air hostess handing a cocktail to Mandy, another one of their friends who was nineteen.

“This is a European airline and we’re going to Europe. Cocktail hour is every hour there,” Traci beamed. “The party starts now!”

* * *

Three days later, the party had not stopped starting. The moment the first sips of tequila and vodka had hit Mika’s bloodstream, caution had been thrown to the wind. She and Traci and Kiera and Mandy and Chad and Tom and Brody had taken three suites in one of the best hotels on the island and were making the most of the nightlife.

The others had already hooked up several times, but though Mika had danced with what felt like hundreds of guys, she hadn’t wanted to sleep with any of them. No matter how hot they were, it just didn’t feel right.

Maybe there was something wrong with her. Traci had already slept with one guy, and had another in her sights. Kiera and Chad were together already and Tom and Brody—well, they hung around her a lot, trying to outdo one another. They were both cute guys, but she’d known them her whole life and they were more like brothers to her than potential boyfriends.

She laid back beside the hotel pool, answering a text message from her mother, lying about how good the science tutor was, while Tom and Brody threw themselves into the pool over and over again, getting louder and sillier by the minute in a bid to get her attention.

“Mikkie!” Brody shouted to her. “Tom says he can jump from our room’s balcony into the pool.”

“It’s ten stories up. He’ll kill himself,” Mika sighed. “Why don’t you guys come sunbathe with me.”

Her invitation worked. In less than thirty seconds, two muscled young bodies were laid out on either side of her. She laid back and pulled her shades over her eyes, closing them to the filtered sun as the masculine posturing continued verbally over her.

* * *

“Just pick one of them and get it over with,” Traci advised later on that afternoon. The girls had taken refuge in Traci’s hotel room as they all got ready for the night ahead. “Once you know how good sex feels, you’re going to feel so stupid for having waited this long. You don’t even have to pick one of them. Just choose one to go first, and then have the other.”

“Traci!” Mika shook her head. “Don’t be gross. I don’t want sex just to have sex. I want romance.”

“You want a fairytale,” Traci mocked her gently. “That’s not what life is actually like, Mikkie, and even if it was, it would be boring, and even if it wasn’t boring, you still wouldn’t be interested. You’ve got guys throwing themselves at you and you ignore them. All of them. Even that prince we met in the club. He wanted you!”

“I’m not moving to the Middle East to be a princess,” Mika said with a sigh.

“You don’t have to move to his country! You don’t have to marry him! It’s time you got laid, Mikkie. He’s hot, he’s rich, he wants you.” Traci shrugged with wide eyes. “Your virginity is holding you back. You know he invited us to go to his hotel whenever we want. You should go. Tonight. Just do it.”

The guy was handsome, rich, and yes, literally a prince. Mika was curious as to what sex would be like. Traci was forever going on about it, and had been for years. At eighteen years of age, Mika knew that she was going to have to have sex sooner or later. It may as well be with a prince in Ibiza.

“Okay,” she said. “Okay, I think I will.”

“Oh, Mikkie, finally!” Traci clapped her hands. “I’m going to help you get ready, you’re going to look so good! He won’t be able to stop himself from fucking you!”

Over the next hour or so, Mika gave herself up to Traci’s better judgment and allowed herself to be swept away in a tide of things Traci thought were appealing to the male gaze. When she was done, Mika barely recognized herself.