In a world where too few women exist, men will do anything to claim them… and their favor.
Every Good Boy Deserves Favor: Jewel. Ara. Maryam. In a world where too few women exist and too many men want them, three women are about to receive the surprise of their lives because… every good boy deserves favor.
King of the Castle: Jewel thinks it’s one last chance for adventure. Maryam and Ara think it’s their only chance to escape a terrifying future. But when the women leave Castle Bloomingdell, they are captured by alien renegades with nefarious plans.
It’s a battle of the sexes, and one heck of a sexy battle. But who will end up King of the Castle?
“The men will be at the gate, waiting for the champion to enter the keep.” KarLa drummed her fingers against the computer. “If we want to get anyone out, that would be the time.”
“Very well.” Jewel swallowed the nervous excitement rising in her throat and tried to sound matter-of-fact. “That’s as good a time as any.”
“None of us have been outside Castle M’Cee for a generation, at least. We can’t tell you what to expect. I’m only doing this because Bloomingdell has such an emergency. It’s a terrible pity their only healer died.” KarLa frowned. “Their Eldress is a good woman but — ah well, she does her best. It’s our duty to help.”
“Of course.” Sisterhood was one of the only defenses against the rest of the world. Jewel had had that drummed into her since childhood. When there were but a handful of women in the world you had to help your fellow females.
“You may pass for a boy with your looks, but we can’t count on that. Put a dagger in each boot. Don’t forget to use them if you have to.” The Eldress gripped Jewel’s hands. “Be alert. Be careful.”
“Eldress.”
“Yes?” KarLa asked.
“You’re telling me very old news. Don’t worry. I’ll get to the Castle Bloomingdell. I don’t know yet why their women haven’t been able to get pregnant, but I’ve been trained to diagnose and heal such disorders. I’ll e you from there in no time at all.”
“See that you do, Jewel.”
* * *
“Mama Zee?” Jewel looked into the tiny library.
“What is it, child?” Zee looked up from her book. “I was right in the middle of my studies. In fact, I was just reading the most fascinating — well, never mind that. Why aren’t you at tea?”
Jewel bit her lip. Zee was a wonderful healer but her “studies” tended to include far more of the ancient romance novels than medical books. It didn’t matter. No one in the keep dared point such a thing out to the woman who had ushered almost all of them into the world.
Why did Mama Zee bother, anyhow? That old romance world, one where men and women chose a mate for themselves, without needing to worry about pregnancy or kidnapping, was long past. Romance had blown up, along with history, generations back. It might as well be a fairy tale for all the good such stories did now.
Jewel sighed. She didn’t have the luxury of pausing to wonder why Mama Zee did such things.
“I haven’t much time.” Jewel put her hands on the small woman’s shoulders. “I have to fix an emergency. I can’t explain much, but I thought if anyone could give me some advice, it would be you.”
“I love to give advice.” Zee smiled at her and put down her book. “What do you need to know?”
“Causes of female infertility.”
Zee snorted. “That is something I never had to worry about. Eeee. I have eight boys and two girls and you ask me about infertility? If not for my medical work, I’d probably have had ten more, Goddess pity me.”
“Zee, seriously. I need to know.”
“Well, I’m not a writer, but I do have a little list of instructions on the subject. That was from back when darling P’Trice was having her troubles… or was that Karenna? Ay, there are so many of you girls I sometimes can’t remember who had what ailment.” Zee began to fumble through the books scattered on the shelves. “Hmmm. Here. It’s also on the puters, of course. You don’t need my old-fashioned lists.”
“I may not have access to a puter where I’m going.” Jewel snatched the tiny book from Zee’s hands. She knew Zee had done a fine job with her list. Otherwise, the Eldress would never have allowed her to use any of their precious paper.
“Darling! Where are you going if there is no –”
“I can’t explain now. When I get back!” Jewel blew her a kiss and hoped Mama Zee was as clever about infertility as she was about midwifery. Clutching her book, she began to make her way down to the kitchens and from there to the outside world. Was she truly prepared?
It didn’t matter. She was as prepared as she could be, given that she had but a few more minutes to safely leave while the men were distracted.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Treva Harte has always been an overachiever. She also collects things. First it was degrees. First a B.A. in English, then she decided to go back for a Master’s degree. Not content with that, she added a J.D. Since then she’s added a husband, also an attorney, and two children to her collection. She’s continuing her ways as an overachiever, writing her wonderfully offbeat tales of passion and possibilities — in her spare time.
King in Check: On the run, Rey is forced to depend on Mosquito, the mysterious young boss of his old home. When they search for help, they have to discover who who they can trust, or they’ll end up dead.
King’s Gambit: When Mosca chose Calle to be his personal guard Calle should have suspected something was off. But this time is different. Very different. Living one step away from betrayal and falling in love with the man he’s charged to protect changes both of their lives. For good.
“Need anything? I’m going to town.” I looked up at the big man on the kitchen porch, trying not to show how urgently I wanted to leave. It would have been even more obvious if I’d left without asking, since trips to town were rare.
I kept myself from shifting my weight from one foot to the other. I was trying to stay casual, trying to avoid the inevitable.
“What for?” Calle asked the question anyhow.
“To pick someone up.” I made it sound routine, but of course a trip to Medianoche never was. If you weren’t caught by the Feds or robbed, and if you got what you were willing to barter for — hell, that made it an extraordinary trip. And if we returned, we never took new people past the portal.
“Rey?” Calle’s face lit up. “Is it today?”
Calle was a big man who didn’t talk much and never smiled. None of the men ever complained about his cooking, and it wasn’t just because they wanted to be fed regularly. Despite his injury, his muscles were impressive, and his arms could reach wide enough to grab and knock someone against the wall before the other person could move. He’d proved that more than once… and all without changing his dour expression.
But now Calle was beaming like I’d told him I’d found a miracle cure for his crushed leg. Damn it. Where was the stolid cook I’d come to know when I wanted him?
“If he shows.”
“If he said today, he’ll show.” Calle’s smile left. He seemed to be thinking deeply. Then that smile came back full force, unable to be restrained. “Yeah. I need something. Bring sugar. We’ll do something special for the meal tonight.”
Shit. The man was going to bake a cake or something. The cook who always cooked chili on Monday, eggs on Tuesday, and so on through the week, following his routine without fail.
I already hated Rey. I’d spent three months busting my ass to manage the compound, and all I got was “Rey wouldn’t do things that way.” I was the freakin’ boss’s kid, but it didn’t matter. No one took orders from me unless I got in their face and proved I could enforce or buy what I demanded. Otherwise, the men just did what Rey had told them to do back when he was still around to give orders. After all, in their minds, he was still the foreman.
He’d been gone for years. While he’d been gone, the compound had withered. The campesino women and children had left first. Then the strongest and boldest of their men had vanished. I’d been sent to save the compound before the hands deserted us and everything fell apart. I’d arrived before the last of the campesinos left. I’d promised the hands double pay if they kept the remaining sharecroppers on our land without killing them. I didn’t ask how they managed it, but the campesinos stayed. Just that was almost enough to make the compound sustainable if we ever needed to close the portal against the Federistas.
“Maybe Dog should go instead.” Calle frowned. “He’s strong.”
“I’m touched that you worry so about my safety,” I said. “But I’ll do it.”
I knew damn well what Calle was worried about, and it wasn’t me. His concern was that I was too short, too weak, too city to pull off bringing Rey home.
I’d managed a miracle to get the compound back to life so quickly. I’d not just ridden but walked the entire compound to work it with the men. I’d done more than my share and never whined. But all I got as a reward was the short end of the Rey stick.
Those hands who stayed made it clear they did because Rey would be back someday. The campesinos didn’t look at me or speak when I gave them orders. But they would sing at night about El Rey — and they didn’t mean their primitive god. Unless, of course, they thought the man was their god. I wouldn’t be surprised.
“But, Boss, if you let someone else go –”
“Don’t argue with me.” I stalked out.
* * *
My mood hadn’t improved after waiting almost two hours at the station. No one from outside Medianoche stayed in one place that long once they reached town. And waiting at the station, a place officially sanctioned, was even more dangerous when you weren’t sanctioned yourself.
The fans that provided some relief from the heat moved sluggishly, raising my temperature and temper by the minute. When was the coach going to arrive?
I wiped my face. Sweat had already stained my shirt through. Maybe I should leave. Probably he wasn’t going to show. There were all kinds of dangers traveling by coach — from retired-soldiers-turned-thugs to interfering officials, all of whom required either a bribe or a beating before you were sent on your way.
I wasn’t sure the new Rey would be able to manage either feat if he were stopped. From what I could gather in the brief message sent to me before the reception was jammed, Rey was returning because he was of no more use to our side. I didn’t know what that meant exactly, but no one gave us back healthy, whole men once they became part of the endless fighting in the cities.
That thought sent a sudden chill through me. Maybe he’d been sent back to die. God, how would I manage the hands if that happened? Especially if it happened when he was my charge.
And then I heard the noise in the distance. No one else around me looked up, but I fumbled with my locator and caught the faintest blip of something foreign on the screen.
The coach.
I stood up and pushed my hands into my pockets to keep them from shaking.
The same dilapidated coach that had spit me out here into my new world three months ago stopped again. The horses slumped under the shade, and the driver leaped down, more concerned about them than any of the passengers. The coach door opened, and I braced myself.
One passenger leaped down, apparently healthy, his face hidden under a wide-brimmed hat. Then he looked up.
Jesus God.
Blue eyes in a tanned face. Blue eyes that looked right into you and almost made you miss that the rest of the man was equally beautiful. Almost. Perfection like that was hard to miss for long.
And hard was the word for that body.
I’d had no one since I arrived at the compound. But that wasn’t why my body was leaning toward him.
It was him. He did it with one look at me.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Treva Harte has always been an overachiever. She also collects things. First it was degrees. First a B.A. in English, then she decided to go back for a Master’s degree. Not content with that, she added a J.D. Since then she’s added a husband, also an attorney, and two children to her collection. She’s continuing her ways as an overachiever, writing her wonderfully offbeat tales of passion and possibilities — in her spare time.
Earth 2069. War, disease, and global warming have caused a significant decline of the Human race. The Human world has become a Shadow Zone where people mysteriously disappear and infertility among those of age to have children has grown at an alarming rate.
The vampire race monitors the Human world, whose decline is forcing them to find other ways to obtain the blood they need. They also watch the werewolves who consider the vampires a threat.
Taking Julia (The Shadow Zone 1): The werewolves have sent Julia, a scout, out into the Shadow Zone in search of the key to immortality which both sides believe the humans have unearthed. No female has been able to challenge or seduce Rick in ages. Yet Julia is one luscious little werewolf who definitely makes him feel alive and more than anything, he wants to make her his. No matter how he does it…
Winning Madeline (The Shadow Zone 2): While tailing a Lycan soldier through the Shadow Zone, Maddox finds himself falling for the frail, beautiful prostitute his subject visits. Maddox can deal with cold-blooded killers and the deep and seedy underworld of the Shadow Zone. But he has no clue how to win Madeline’s heart.
It was bad enough that Julia Lennox had been captured and almost killed on this miserable fucking mission. She was tired and her body ached with each step as she made her way through the ruins on foot. Running into a vampire now when she was just about to make it home had the potential to really piss her off.
And he wasn’t just any vampire. Oh, no. What fun would that be? It was the vampire known as Rick, rumored to be one of the oldest of his kind, who stood leaning against the ruined metal stalk that had once been a street light. Her pack’s leader had pointed him out to her once when they were on a stake out. The legends about him were enough to curl the fur on any werewolf. Julia had heard he’d been a Spanish soldier hundreds of years ago during the time of King Philip II. For such an old guy, she had to admit he was one of the most captivating creatures she’d ever seen.
Still, she’d have to be pretty fucking careful with this one. With the dying rays of the evening sun gleaming off the brown silk of his hair and reflecting in his sinfully dark eyes, it would be so easy to forget the danger he posed. His mouth was sexy beyond words, his skin preternaturally fair. His long, hard body was encased in black leather and the pose he struck gave him the appearance of someone relaxed and enjoying the sunset.
That he could tolerate any level of sunlight spoke volumes about how indestructible he really was.
Did he think to put her at ease with his body language? Just act casual? Right.
Fatigue dropped from her like a heavy coat. Her situation had gone from tired and grumpy to holy shit in about sixty seconds. Rick posed a greater threat than any she’d faced so far in her life and she knew it.
He stood watching her with an unnatural stillness, his stare unblinking and intense. Facing this particular vampire was like nothing Julia had ever experienced before. On one hand, she felt like a small animal immobilized by its fear of a terrifying predator. On the other hand, she stood staring at him like a drooling idiot, mesmerized by the sheer beauty of him.
Fear had its uses and Rick was definitely someone to be afraid of. For all she knew he could read her thoughts. Many of his kind could read minds.
Julia had to get a grip, control her thoughts and her feelings.
Folding her arms across her chest, she decided to go for bored and impatient instead of get me the hell out of here which was how she really felt.
“How are you tonight? Julia, isn’t it?” The way he said her name with his Spanish accent brushed her with unexpected warmth. The fact that he even knew her name took her off guard. From his point of view, she was pretty new to the game. She’d been a shadow chaser for three years now, but to someone like him that probably seemed like a matter of minutes.
“I’m trying to get home. Rick, isn’t it?”
Grinning at her, he nodded. Damn, he had a nice smile.
Perfect teeth. How did they keep their choppers in such good shape for thousands of years?
“Home from where?” Pulling away from what was left of the metal post, he gracefully moved over the jagged pieces of asphalt like he was weightless. He came to a stop in front of her, so tall she was forced to look up to meet his gaze. “What have you been up to, Julia?”
Arrogant asshole. Vampires were so self-important. Just because they were immortal they thought they knew more than anyone else. Well, living hundreds of years didn’t mean you knew fucking everything. They also thought they had license to get into everyone else’s business.
They were sorely mistaken if they thought they could push the werewolves, her kind, around. Very soon the vampires would find out they weren’t alone in their immortality and Julia couldn’t wait for that day. That dream was the reason she put her life on the line with each mission that sent her into the Shadow Zone where a mysterious group of humans had unearthed a dark pathway to unending life. The werewolves would obtain that secret one way or another. Then they’d be on even footing with the vampires and be able to truly defend themselves. It was only a matter of time.
“Don’t worry about what I’ve been up to,” she told him, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice. “Don’t you have bigger things to be concerned about? Like what you guys are going to do for blood when the humans are done destroying themselves?”
“I’m very interested in what you’ve been up to.” His fingers brushed her chin, but she yanked her head away from his touch. His gaze moved over her face.
What was up with this? Rick stood there gazing down at her like an attentive lover. Yet beneath that handsome façade, Julia could sense his determination. To do what, she had no idea. It couldn’t be good.
“You have too much free time on your hands, don’t you?” Julia marched around him, and he let her. She felt his gaze on her the entire time but she didn’t look back. Maybe he’d just let her go.
“Take it easy,” she threw back at him and kept on walking. Damn it all anyway that her motorcycle had been destroyed. If she hadn’t been on foot, maybe she wouldn’t have run into the bloodsucker in the first place.
“Julia.”
Shit. She should have known he wouldn’t make it easy for her.
She came to a startled stop when she spotted him now sitting on the twisted, blackened metal of what had once been a car several feet ahead of her. Only a damned vampire could vanish and materialize like that. His elbows rested on his knees and he sat there watching her with all the ease of someone innocently waiting on his girlfriend.
Yet there was nothing harmless about him. His underlying power was unmistakable.
Julia came from a strong bloodline among her kind and she was a well-trained killer. She wasn’t, however, stupid enough to think she could take this guy in hand-to-hand combat. Most vampires, yes. Not this one. Rick was too strong. If all the stories she’d heard about him were true, he could probably rip her to shreds with his mental powers and not even lay a hand on her.
If she was going to get out of this alive, she had to use her wits. “My business is not your business. I’m asking that you let me go about it.”
“Your business is my business. I know what you’re looking for out there.”
The direct approach. She liked that. Only she wasn’t naïve enough to play little vampire mind games. Try to keep your mind clear. Some of her kind were trained specifically to deal with vampires and could recognize their individual powers easily.
Her area of expertise, however, was humans. She knew only the basics with vampires.
“If you know what I’m doing, then we have nothing else to talk about, right?”
“We have much to talk about, Julia.” Rick laced the fingers of his hands before him. “I want to know if you’ve found what you’re looking for.”
“What’s it to you?”
“I just need to know. It’s very important to both of us, isn’t it?”
Well, yeah. The vampires had to know that a large number of humans had achieved immortality somehow. Weren’t they supposed to know everything? Yet in their superiority, they probably just figured out that her kind knew about the human discovery too. They had to realize that the next step for the werewolves was discovering how to achieve immortality themselves.
With the human population diminishing at an alarming rate, the vampires would have to feed on something to sustain their kind. Werewolf blood was living blood and apparently many vampires already considered them a viable substitute. Werewolf, the other red cell. Random murders among her kind increased every day. All of the victims were suspiciously drained of their blood. Just like predators in the wild, vampires preyed on the most vulnerable — the elderly, women. It had everyone in her pack on red alert. The only chance the werewolves had to survive now was to become immortal as the vampires were. Their current numbers were nowhere near what the human population had been twenty years ago. The vampires could deplete the werewolves in a single decade unless they took action and stopped them. Besides, the humans had discovered a better way to live forever than vampirism and the whole dead deal. A way that simply stopped one from getting ill or growing older. A living solution.
“What do you want?” Julia was blunt. “You want me for a snack? You want me to tell you what I know? Either way I’m fucked, huh?”
The amusement faded from his expression as he sat watching her. “You’re not fucked, Julia. You’d never believe me if I told you that I just wanted to help you, now would you?” “Fuck no.” Was he kidding? Help her to what? Find her jugular vein?
“I do want to help you.” He was so slick in keeping his voice low and calm. “All I’m asking you to do is tell me if you found what you were looking for.”
“And why would I do that?” He’d just have to kill her. She wouldn’t betray her mission by telling him anything. Crap, this could be bad.
“So I can help you.”
Oh, no. He couldn’t just toss that casual smile at her and expect her to bend to his will. No way. Amazing the effect that smile had on her though… “If you know my name, you know what I am.”
Rick nodded.
“And if you know what I am, you know there’s no way in hell I can tell you what I’m up to. So do what you’ve got to do.” She couldn’t stop him after all.
Like a vision from a nightmare, only the guy was hot, he rose from the car and approached slowly, determinedly. Yes, she could have run but she wouldn’t have escaped. Better to show a little courage and face her fate. Werewolves were made of tougher stuff than the vampires gave them credit for.
“I was afraid you wouldn’t cooperate.”
Sucking in her breath at the calm way he said that, Julia steeled herself for whatever was coming.
Rick waved his hand directly in front of her eyes once he reached her and Julia’s world went black.
About the Author:
Isabella Jordan is the alter ego of an otherwise stressed out web designer, programmer, and internet junkie. When she’s not trying to perfect her own personal caffeine IV drip, she enjoys spending time with her family, doing volunteer work, and writing. She loves creating new stories of all kinds and chatting with readers and friends.
When famed negotiator Mikhail Dreslin and his crew head to ‘Port Adana for a little R & R, the last thing he expects is to have an exotic runaway drop into his arms.
Joiandra is neither as harmless nor as innocent as she appears, though she plays the role well. Who and what she is is a mystery Mikhail will have to solve if he wants to keep her, and the longer he holds her the less he wants to ever let her go, but who’s playing whom in this dangerous game?
Looking for the perfect vacation paradise?
Be sure to visit Xanadu,
Trilion’s premier Pleasure Dome,
Where your every fantasy comes true.
Xanadu.
Everything you’ve ever wanted… and more.
Beyond the sheltering glass of the Haze’s port windows, the nebula glowed with an eerie quality that made a frisson of fear flutter down Joiandra’s spine. There was something out there… something evil. The constant, quiet din of the everyday workings of the space station did nothing to soothe her frazzled nerves. She couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was hunting her.
Someone. Or something. In fact, she felt a bit like dinner. She should have expected this. No one left Xanadu. No one. Ever. At least, not if you were born into the life. Others would kill to get what she was running from.
Turning back to the bar, Joiandra ordered a Red Rooibos, an old Earth drink. Exotic, but non-alcoholic. She needed to keep her wits. She didn’t want to run. Not again. She’d built something here. Something that was her own. But run she would before she’d go back.
Most people who knew the place wouldn’t have described the Haze as safe, but tonight it was her best refuge. Plenty of witnesses about, in case this was more than just paranoia. Plenty of men. Big, strong men. One of them would surely be willing to defend a helpless woman.
She didn’t like the role, but it was one she knew how to play.
Waiting wasn’t one of her strong suits, but then again, neither was hunting. If push came to shove, she could defend herself, but she’d much rather ply her other trades than kill. The end result was much more pleasant. And profitable. Men with money would pay well for the company of a Trilion pleasure slave. Ironically, now that she’d run she was forced to resort to the very line of work she’d tried so hard to escape.
Joiandra really wanted to believe the small voice telling her to run was overreacting. She was used to men watching her, after all. But the feathers on the back of her neck stood up in a flutter like they’d been hit by a warning breeze.
She scanned the Haze anxiously, trying to be discreet, but needing to identify the source of the threat.
“Can I buy you a drink?” Something with a little more kick than that, his gruff, husky voice implied.
Joiandra turned and looked up — and up. She wasn’t exactly tiny, but this man towered over her. Tall, dark, and handsome was such a cliché. Except when it came bundled in black body armor, with a laser rifle and a belt full of shock grenades. What the fuck was he? Obviously military, but she didn’t see any insignia. Not AP Security, then. Merc, maybe? Everything about him screamed dangerous motherfucker. He could probably break her in half with his bare hands.
That really shouldn’t have turned her on. But at the moment, dangerous might be just what she needed. Because he wasn’t the warning bell she’d been receiving. Which really worried her. If there was something else out there more dangerous than this man, she really didn’t want to meet him. It. At least not tonight. Tonight, she wanted safe, and tall, dark, and dangerous might be exactly what she needed.
She started to ask his name, then thought better of it. She didn’t want to know. She wasn’t looking for commitments. Just a night she could call her own. “I hear the Haze offers real Jamaican Rum if you know who to ask.”
His handsome face split into a slow grin, and her pussy clenched a little. The man really was handsome. If you overlooked all that deadly weaponry.
“I think I can manage that.” He nodded at the bartender, who set down the glass he was polishing and went beneath the bar for her request.
“Just leave the bottle.”
Small talk wasn’t necessary. Not when rum was involved. Her merc seemed to convey everything he wanted with the smoldering look in his eyes. Sex. And plenty of it.
“Make it to go,” she told the bartender, her gaze never leaving Mr. Dangerous. “Do you have a room?”
About Marteeka Karland
Erotic romance author by night, emergency room tech/clerk by day, Marteeka Karland works really hard to drive everyone in her life completely and totally nuts. She has been creating stories from her warped imagination since she was in the third grade. Her love of writing blossomed throughout her teenage years until it developed into the totally unorthodox and irreverent style her English teachers tried so hard to rid her of.
Shelby Morgen loves writing offbeat tales that defy as many rules as possible.
She likes chocolate with her peanut butter, suspense with her romance, and kink with her sex, and she’s always had a hard time keeping science fiction, fantasy and paranormal from mixing with her kink.
Shelby shares her belief in electronic publishing with her longtime friend and partner, Bill, her husband of nearly four decades.
When Dr. Ruth Balise ran out of funding for her research, she had no idea the twisted path her work would take. Her psychiatric profile adjustment was supposed to be more humane — a way to render violent sociopaths and the criminally insane harmless to themselves and others.
But in a black-market society where medical miracles are for sale to the highest bidder, a death sentence is far too wasteful. Why settle for just one replacement body part, when you can own the whole thing? Prisoners are maintained in semi-stasis, their memories wiped, the cost of their physical care sponsored by aging aristocrats, hosts for future replacement organs.
After all, they’re just bodies — empty shells. Pod fuck-bunnies, their monitors call them, living in an endless loop of sex, drugged with their own endorphins into a constant state of euphoria, their bodies maintained in prime health. They’re not supposed to wake up — ever — and they’re certainly not supposed to escape.
Now Ruth is one of them, and only Panama Red, the space pirate turned bodyguard who’s out to rescue Ruth, can save her. But will he still be willing to trust her with his heart, once he knows she engineered this hell?
I’m coming! I wanted to scream. Those were the right words, that much I was sure of, but I knew better. No one screamed here. I held it all inside. Even as the orgasm ripped through me I wondered — somewhat cynically, I’ll admit — was it possible to get bored with sex?
I’d never had thoughts like these. Not until… hell, I realized I’d had no concept of time. That is, I did now, but before…
Something was happening to me. Something was changing.
No, not something. Me. I was changing. My mind was… waking up. The faceless body before me writhed, screaming soundlessly, and the final release tore through me, bathing me in the flood of pleasure that had always before brought these churning thoughts to a tumultuous end.
Release. Blissful sleep. The fulfillment of a promise…
Ha. Make that hard work. Hot, sweaty sex. A partner well pleasured. Then sleep. Then on to the next rotation.
The harder, heavier body of the other… whatever it was… groaned, wrapping itself around me, almost smothering with its weight and heat. I’d never minded before. That was the reward for a job well done. Release. Euphoria. Malaised contentment.
So why was I awake? Why was I fighting the urge to push the other off me?
I opened my… my eyes, yes. I opened my eyes and fought to focus, rapidly learning how to adjust for the closeness of the body before me. Saw the mouth. The mouth I had kissed. The lips I had bitten, now bruised and swollen from our passion. The contented smile. The…
Blankness.
Revulsion swept through me, stronger than any orgasm. The thing might as well have been an inflatable doll. No sign of intelligence. No sign of anything at all. It was — he was — just a mouth. And a cock.
Or maybe I’d had it right the first time. It.
And what made me any different? Other than my lack of a cock? Until two rotations ago, I’d been little more. A mouth and a cunt.
Cunt. Somehow I knew the word was coarse, crude. Beneath me. And I liked the sound of it. Forbidden fruit. I smiled, placed my hands on the cock’s shoulders, and pushed. Hard.
Arms tightened around me, clamping down like steel bands. “You’re awake!”
“Let go of me.”
“Keep your voice down. Don’t move. Shut your eyes. And smile!”
All right. He. A lunatic, but gods, he had gorgeous eyes. The color of precious minerals, deep cobalt, flecked with gold. Still. “Get the blyat off me.”
“Hush! You just had the best sex of your life. Smile!”
“Arrogant prick!”
“Do you want to get us killed? We’re not supposed to be awake, damn it.” He smothered my reply with his mouth, giving my rapidly emerging vocabulary time to catch up.
Killed. Past tense of kill.
Death.
Dead.
I understood the concept well enough to quit fighting. I tore his words apart like my guide to the mystery they were. We’re not supposed… Soooo. Wherever we were, whoever we were — both concepts seemed new, yet familiar — there were rules. We’d — I’d — been asleep, at least on some level. Now I was awake.
Shelby Morgen loves writing offbeat tales that defy as many rules as possible.
She likes chocolate with her peanut butter, suspense with her romance, and kink with her sex, and she’s always had a hard time keeping science fiction, fantasy and paranormal from mixing with her kink.
Shelby shares her belief in electronic publishing with her longtime friend and partner, Bill, her husband of nearly four decades.
The last thing Dryson expects when he takes his latest shipment of smuggled goods to Spaceport Adana is to end up with a Rajian sex slave, Sasha. Sure, he planned a little R & R, but the impulsive buy is proving to be more than he bargained for. Sasha is a force to be reckoned with, and her bite is definitely worse than her bark.
Something else Dryson doesn’t expect is to find himself face to face with an assassin sent to kill him. Belin, the large and very experienced killer, has other plans. Instead of killing Dryson, Belin wants to recruit him to smuggle much-needed goods to his home planet. Unfortunately, the Interplanetary Alliance Council has strong objections to letting Dryson live.
When Dryson is taken hostage, Belin and Sasha must keep their cool and use all their cunning if they’re going to rescue him. Keeping a level head is not something a Rajian is capable of when her mate is in danger.
“Spaceport: Bite was a deliciously wicked tale… Great characters, action packed sequences and hot romances made the story a very quick read. I love Ms. Karland and cannot wait for her next creation.”
4 1/2 Stars!– Suni Farrar, JERR
“Spaceport: Bite is a wonderful story. The characters are realistic, the sex is phenomenal and the action is riveting. The humor shared amongst the three lovers made me laugh out loud a time or two.”
Erotic romance author by night, emergency room tech/clerk by day, Marteeka Karland works really hard to drive everyone in her life completely and totally nuts. She has been creating stories from her warped imagination since she was in the third grade. Her love of writing blossomed throughout her teenage years until it developed into the totally unorthodox and irreverent style her English teachers tried so hard to rid her of.
Published by Changeling Press
Cover Artist: Renee George
…Dread raked its way through her chest…
“The wreckage was fused solid. There was no hope.”
“Felis, what are you saying?”
“He’s dead, Holly. Maxim’s gone!”
Maxim Dollavera dead?
Spaceport Adana goes into mourning for their fallen hero, but Holly Barberossa refuses to believe he’s gone. She wears a Forget-Me-Not pheromone pendant to constantly remind her of the love of her life. She keeps herself busy by reporting on the stalled trial of the traitor, Riz Gitto, who she and Maxim had been instrumental in bringing to justice.
The judge, Kasamee Kee, enlists Silas Archimedes, a private eye, to protect Holly without her knowledge while she uses her as bait to flush out the conspirators, chief among them the glamorous socialite and suspected pirate Mischa and her new slave, the very sexy Murukan.
Can Holly solve the mystery of Maxim’s disappearance? Despite her undying love for Maxim, will Holly succumb to the charms of Silas or the mysterious Murukan, who strangely reminds her of her lost lover?
Holly swept into the office and threw herself into the visitor’s chair. “Hey there, boss!”
Vinnie gazed morosely at her from beneath hooded brows. “Any word from Maxim?”
She sighed forlornly. “Not for a few days.” Maxim’s sudden silence bothered her. A dim disquiet had been growing in her gut when last night’s call didn’t eventuate. She’d sent her own sub-space dispatch but there had as yet been no reply. She didn’t like it. Maxim was a consummate pilot but still she worried about him. The black, the spacer term for the deep dark between the stars, held many dangers that have no respect for human skill or ingenuity.
“When is he due back?” Vinnie asked, drawing her out of her thoughts.
“Not for another month,” Holly said and sighed again. She noticed she had been doing that a lot lately, sighing loud enough for others to hear. She’d never been so lonely before in her life and the feeling was quite disturbing. “He said in his last transmission that he and Felis had found an asteroid with a duridium deposit, whatever that is.”
“Money,” Vinnie said gruffly, but seemed to relax at the news. “He may be longer if that’s the case. Duridium is in demand all across the galaxy. It’s likely you’ll both be very rich, Holly.”
“Don’t worry, boss. I won’t leave you even if I am dripping in gemstones.”
He grunted and she guessed what he thought of the probability of that happening, though Holly suspected there had been something else on his mind. He seemed more preoccupied than usual.
She didn’t like the sound of this duridium stuff. If Maxim and Felis had made a big find they might be away longer than they had planned. She didn’t know how she’d survive.
“I’m glad he’s safe,” Vinnie continued. “I’ve just heard there was a passenger ship disaster just outside the Carnassian Void.”
Holly felt that buzz of excitement whenever there was the merest scent of a story but before she could process that bit of information there came a commotion from outside the office door. Roberta cried out and then the door was flung open. Holly stood up and gazed at the intruder. It was, unaccountably, Felis, who should be out there, beyond Adana’s walls, in the black with Maxim. She automatically glanced over his shoulder expecting to see her love, but Felis was alone.
There was something very wrong with his appearance. The usually immaculate leonine was disheveled and grimy. His golden fur had not been cleaned for days and the fur around his big eyes was matted as if… as if…
Roberta tried to embrace him but the big leonine didn’t seem to see her. His big oval eyes, glistening in the harsh light of the overheads, were fixed solely on Holly. He grabbed hold of her, drawing her into his broad chest. Holly couldn’t breathe he squeezed her so tight. After a moment she pushed him away. “You big cat,” she chided. “What’s the matter? You look terrible.”
She gazed into his agonized expression. She’d been right. He had been crying. The fur beneath his eyes was wet. “Sit down,” she said and guided him to a chair. He took a deep shuddering breath and fell into it as if the strings holding up his powerful body had been cut and he was now exposed as a mere puppet.
“I’m so sorry,” he sobbed.
“Don’t be silly. Spit it out!”
“We were staking out our asteroid, putting down beacons, when we heard a distress call.” He took another sobbing breath. “It was a passenger liner, the Euripides. They were being attacked by pirates.”
“And?” she prompted, kneeling in front of him.
“Euripides was holed and disabled,” he cried. “The passengers and crew taken. The captain got off a sub-space SOS before the bridge was blown apart. By the time we got there, the pirates were mopping up, stealing cargo and luggage.”
An empty void was forming in the pit of her stomach. “Go on.”
“We popped out of sub-space in the middle of their fleet. There were six of them.” Felis’s voice broke again. “There was nothing we could do. They opened up on us with quantum torpedoes as soon as we entered normal space. We had no chance.”
That black pit inside her chest coalesced into an iceberg. “Felis,” she said, her voice edged with fear. “Where’s Maxim? Still chasing them, I bet.”
His downcast eyes told her otherwise. “I was clobbered the instant I hit normal space. I peeled away and chased the one that shot at me into sub-space. He was too fast, a fighter, he just winked out. When I got back to the Euripides there was nothing I could do.”
Dread raked its way through Holly’s chest. Blood pounded in her ears so loudly she barely heard his words.
“The wreckage was fused solid. There was no hope.”
Aussie Mikala Ash lives a hectic double life, mild-mannered training & development consultant by day… wild sci-fi and paranormal adventure writer by night. “For me, burning the candle at both ends is not such a terrible problem; I’m having too much fun!”
Published by Changeling Press
Cover Artist: Bryan Keller
Plan: Seduce the Cyborg, kidnap him and force him to help her escape. What could possibly go wrong?
Life in the breeders enclave on Terras Five was comfortable. Safe. Boring! Abigail wanted more. She wanted to explore the galaxy, have a career, enjoy all the freedoms that a human female took for granted. In order to do that she needed to get off-planet, and in order to accomplish that, she needed help. Male help.
She had a plan.
Jackson was flattered that the young female chose him to sire her offspring, and he was more than willing to play his part and make sure she enjoyed the experience as much as he did. What he wasn’t prepared for was being kidnapped at weapons point and forced to help the young breeder escape. Of course, he could have disarmed her and foiled her plan, but where’s the fun in that?
Abigail stretched languidly on the circular sleeping platform, making sure the male Cyborg got a generous eyeful of her luscious curves. She hadn’t counted on this, counted on it being him, the incredibly sexy male she’d met so long ago. Then again this wasn’t really a bad thing. The attraction she felt for him would make it easier to go through with her plan.
His name was Jackson. Jackson Firestorm. She’d almost snorted her drink out through her nose when she read that on the choices sheet. In a way, the absurdity of his family name was the reason she’d chosen him from the six breeding options presented for her approval.
Of course, she hadn’t realized she’d already met Jackson Firestorm. Or that she’d had a crush on him since she’d been a child. She only knew him as the Cyborg who’d appeared out of nowhere to save her and her friends.
Would he remember the wide-eyed girl child he’d plucked from the wreckage of the crashed spaceship? To him, she would have been just one more orphan who needed help, but to her he’d been a hero, larger than life. He’d saved her life and that of her crèche mates. She’d developed an immediate crush. As a youngling, she’d spent many hours daydreaming about the deliciously sexy Cyborg.
Jackson slid the entrance to the cubicle closed with a soft click, his eyes darkening as they swept over her lounging figure.
She curved her lips up in a smile, trying to look more confident than she felt. She’d never done this before, never joined with a male. Until this very moment, she hadn’t considered what effect that would have on her plan.
Last moon cycle, she’d hacked into the breeder database and altered her records to show that she’d already had several lovers. If the powers that be had known this was her first coupling, they would have insisted on sending her an older male, one with enough experience to ease her into the breeder lifestyle, make it a glowing experience.
That didn’t fit her needs at all. She needed a male she could dupe into lowering his guard. A younger male, one who would let lust overrule his Cyborg training and naturally cautious nature. At least, that was the plan.
Anne Kane lives in the beautiful Okanagan Valley with a bouncy little rescue dog whose breed defies description, a cantankerous Himalayan cat, and too many fish to count. She spent many years trying to fit in and act normal, but finally gave up the effort. She started writing romance in 2008, and her fate was sealed when she won a publishing contract with Red Sage Publishing and just a month later Changeling Press accepted her first submission. Since then she has published more than thirty stories in a variety of sub-genres, all with a happily ever after.
She has two handsome sons and six adorable grandchildren and enjoys spending time with them whenever she can. Her hobbies, when she’s not playing with the characters in her head, include kayaking, hiking, swimming, playing guitar, singing and of course, reading.
Diana Aventina is a ranking senator serving the Terran Republic. Her lineage is one of power and influence. She’s courted by powerful men for a bloodline match, but hasn’t found anyone suitable. Power means sacrificing everything for a higher cause, even love.
Brennus is a legendary commander picked to lead all the armed forces. On the mysterious wintry world of Sobek he’s discovered a weapon that may change the future of the Terran Republic. His star is on the rise, and he wants a powerful woman like Diana by his side.
But the weapon might not be all it seems. And a new line of Terran soldiers threaten the stability of the Republic. Brennus and Diana can’t fight their desire for each other, but they may lose the Republic in the process.
“How long has it been?” Diana Aventina looked up from her desk toward a young Terran legion soldier. He was a tall, strong young man with a crew cut and two short horns, like all Terran-bred soldiers. A star shaped cybernetic implant was buried deep in his neck.
“Forty minutes, Senator,” the soldier answered.
“We’ll keep waiting,” Diana replied, turning her attentions back to her work. She wasn’t going to show her annoyance. Not yet.
She was here with Governor Kent and his handpicked Red Star fighting unit on the icy cold world of Sobek. The command center was barely more than a converted supply depot. The heating system was rudimentary. Too hot in the living quarters; too cold everywhere else.
The howling winds beat against the outside doors. Her seat was furthest from the door, but still the cold crept in somehow. She shifted in her seat and clasped her hands to warm them. Even with gloves, her fingers still felt the cold.
In front of her, Governor Kent paced back and forth, hands behind his back, his nose reddened by the cold. He sniffled. He stomped his feet as if to get circulation going. Kent mumbled something Diana couldn’t hear, but she had a fair idea that it wasn’t complimentary.
“Commander Brennus better have an excuse for being late,” Governor Kent said.
“Praetor Ambiorix Brennus,” Diana reminded him. “Soon to be Terran Republic Legate.”
Kent lowered his voice. “If he takes the job.”
“He’ll be the official leader of the entire Terran Republic military. I suggest you get on his good side.”
No one expected Sobek to have long-term value. The first mission here a decade ago had ended in disaster. The native Efret wavered between indifference to outsiders to bursts of open hostility. Sobek wasn’t a top priority for anyone at Terran Republic Headquarters. But Ambiorix Brennus was a legend. He had an outstanding war record. He had exclusive access to alien weaponry. Senator Diana Aventina wanted to see him for herself.
Kent stopped his pacing. He leaned down toward her so close she could smell his cologne. She gave Kent a once over. He came from a strong bloodline. He had blue eyes, blonde hair, and good bone structure. The same floor-model attractiveness shared by thousands of others who had the breeding and connections for top quality bodywork. Nothing special really.
He glanced at the young soldier next to them. “This is the future. Hedron. One of my best Red Star soldiers.”
Hedron replied with a blank stare.
“We’ll see about that,” Diana said. She wasn’t as impressed with these Red Stars as Kent was. They just needed to do their jobs.
A loud thudding noise startled everyone into attention. The doors began to creak open, tiny icicles dropping to the floor. The Red Star soldiers assumed formation, sensing the approach of danger.
Two of the soldiers, muscular young males, approached and pulled the doors open. They stood aside and waited.
Nothing.
“What’s going on?” Kent asked, vocalizing what they all thought.
“Quiet,” said Hedron. “Can you hear it?”
Diana listened. There was faint sound of footsteps. She glanced around. She saw something. A sliver. Like one of the silverfish images your eyes make when you grow tired. She blinked. “There’s someone here,” Diana said.
“Impossible,” Kent replied.
As if on cue, a male soldier stepped forward and pulled out his fighting lance. A ghostly image flickered into view. It wrestled away the lance, and threw the young soldier across the room in seconds.
“Full alert,” Kent shouted, backing away. The other soldiers stepped forward with techno lances at the energy. The whir of energy pulsing through the weapons echoed in the room.
Then, she felt it. Body heat. Next to her. The sound of breathing. She felt a firm hand was on her back. She smiled. It was true. They had discovered invisibility cloaks.
The invisible warrior materialized in an instant. First a shimmer, then the fullness of a thick cloak came into view and dropped to the ground. Ambiorix Brennus.
There was a moment of stillness in the room as if the others didn’t know how to speak. As if they were all unable to take him in. He was a legend, even among Legion Commanders.
Brennus was almost seven feet tall with wide shoulders and a powerful stance. His traditional legion armor was enhanced with thick fur pelts. He carried his fighting lance in his right hand and wore his Terran Republic shield bracelet on his left. His hair was long, a rusty red brown with a thick, full beard. It wasn’t standard military cut, but then Sobek was a wintry world. And Ambiorix Brennus set his own standards.
Diana was transfixed by his horns. Strong, thick bull horns, shined to a polish, decorated with carved runes. Whether or not anyone would call Brennus handsome was a matter of taste, but there was no doubt he was magnificent.
“I apologize for my delay,” Brennus said in a deep, rich voice.
Echo Ishii loves to write stories of the fantastic — from high fantasy to high tech and everything in between. She is a long time science fiction fan, as well as a fan of all things fantasy and paranormal — classic sci fi movies, shows, and even radio dramas.
Special Agent Liam Allen cherishes the peace on his farm between assignments hunting aliens for the military. But when a terrible storm brings destruction, Liam finds the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen at the end of the rainbow.
Eshe speaks a language he’s never heard and hates wearing clothes. Their passion burns hot, but she’s an explorer from another world, and he’s supposed to kill her.
Will she kill him first, or will fated love save them both?
Liam’s peace used to live at the bottom of a vodka bottle. Now, he found that calm during the long days tending his farm. True, he started work before dawn and ended after sunset, but he loved the quiet and working for himself. His hands got dirty and his clothes were always drenched in sweat, but everything he did was something he wanted to do. His drunken stepfather wasn’t around to beat him into anything anymore.
Before his enlistment, he’d wanted nothing to do with the farm, but his experiences in the Army had changed all that. Liam would never be able to un-see the horrific things he’d witnessed when his squad had stumbled upon the unimaginable.
They were no longer fighting other countries. Other humans.
Now tending his farm had become an escape from the relentless stress and danger of his job. If it weren’t for the horrific flashbacks of his baby sister and his mother burning to death in the fire, his existence here would be perfect.
Sighing deeply, Liam walked out on to his porch. The mysterious storm had hit with no warning at all. He’d barely had time to secure his dog, Domino, before all hell broke loose.
The tornado had lasted seconds, but it had left chaos in its wake that had taken hours to clean up. His barn had suffered the brunt of the destruction, but at least the horses, cattle, and pigs were safe. Now the storm had passed.
With a tired sigh, Liam dropped onto the farmhouse porch swing, cold beer in hand, and looked around with a certain weary satisfaction. He’d rebuilt the two-story farmhouse following the tragic fire that had killed his mother and sister. He’d tried to recreate the charm of the family’s old home: white siding, navy blue shutters, the large wraparound porch with a wooden swing to the left of the front door. He’d added floor-to-ceiling windows that gave the home the open feel he craved.
Liam took three large gulps of his beer and tossed the bottle in the trash, and then got another out of his cooler on the side of the swing. He loved the crisp evening air.
A startling flash of light made him look up just as a rainbow shimmered into being against the black backdrop of the sky.
Weird. Since when did rainbows appear at night?
The colors came in softly at first, pale pink, blue, lavender. Then, as if hit by lightning, the rainbow exploded.
Excruciating pain stabbed through Liam’s body as the multicolored light blinded him. He toppled off the swing, hitting the porch floor hard. After several long agonizing moments, the crippling pain subsided. He took a few deep breaths and lifted his spinning head.
What he saw wasn’t possible. It was… something from a fairytale.
The rainbow now lay over the ground in a path stretching from Liam’s front steps to the woods that bordered his property. He’d never seen anything like it. The colors shone vividly against the dark landscape.
Something tugged at him, drawing him away into the dark.
He staggered to his feet and took a hesitant step off his porch toward the luminescent path. The smell of damp dirt hung in the air along with rain-soaked livestock, but there was another scent, one that was not familiar. It reminded Liam of copper or metal, with a hint of fresh laundry.
Something about it made his instincts howl. That wasn’t a feeling Liam could ignore. Training had sharpened his senses to a hyper-alert edge, a vigilance that had saved his squad many times over.
So he allowed the delicate odor to lead him down the glowing path.
The rainbow hovered just above the ground like a luminescent mist that swirled around his feet with every step. He looked back to see the colors disappearing behind him, even as they stretched out ahead.
What the hell?
Once under the cover of the trees, the light from the path allowed Liam to see. The shadows that lurked just off the trail moved and distorted into the shapes of animals or humans. Everything about this felt ominous.
All Liam could hear was the cracking of vegetation under his feet. It worried him. Animals only grew this quiet when a predator was near.
The path finally ended just ahead, revealing something dark lying in the leaves. There really is something at the end of the rainbow, he thought. With my luck, it’ll have fangs and claws.
Edging forward, he heard a moan. It sounded… human. Like a woman. Forgetting caution, he began to run.
The woman lay where the rainbow ended — a slender, beautiful figure sprawled on the ground. She had dark, flawless skin the color of mahogany, long midnight black hair, feathery lashes that fringed her closed eyelids, and full, tempting lips. She was also naked save for the tiny gold jewelry affixed to the area just below both eyes. He’d never seen piercings so small.
When Liam turned the woman over to check her pulse, he saw more jewels affixed to her sternum between her breasts.
Liam shrugged off his own shirt and covered her, draping it over her petite frame. He put two fingers to her throat to find her pulse strong, steady.
He pulled out his cell phone, only to realize he had no bars. Then again, even if he could call an ambulance, the closest hospital was fifty miles away. He’d do better to assess her himself and determine if she could be moved. His military training had included first aid treatment of the most common combat injuries. That made him her best hope.
Liam gently used his fingertips to probe her neck, sides, and head for injuries. Nothing seemed broken, but he wouldn’t know for sure until she could talk to him. She could have been drugged. “Miss, can you hear me?” He wanted to at least give the police a name when he could finally call 911. “Miss, are you all right?”
No answer.
Deciding it was safe to move her, Liam picked her up in his arms, then headed back to the farm. On the way, he tried talking to her.
With her eyes closed, she said something in a language Liam didn’t recognize…
Earth 2069. War, disease, and global warming have caused a significant decline of the Human race. The Human world has become a Shadow Zone where people mysteriously disappear and infertility among those of age to have children has grown at an alarming rate.
