by Lily Thomas
Books By Lily Thomas
Giant Wars Series
Loving His Fire
Grounded By Love
Melted By Love
Wicked Flames of Desire
Galactic Courtship Series
Xacier’s Prize
Claiming His Champion
Captivating the Doctor
Escaping the Hunt
Abducting the Ambassador
Wicked Prisoner
Seducing the Enemy
Cuff Me Now
Challenging the Arena
Dark Desires in Space
His Fallen Star
Ice Age Alphas
The Sabertooth’s Promise
Dark Desires
in
Space
Lily Thomas
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cover created by SelfPubBookCovers.com/ FrinaArt
Copyright © 2018 by Lily Thomas
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce the book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information email [email protected].
www.lilythomasromance.com
ISBN: 9781983314544
ISBN: (ebook) B07FHXNFGT
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Epilogue
Chapter 1
“I can’t believe you guys convinced me to leave Earth.” Natalie glanced around them as they left the shuttle they’d taken from Earth to Britia, an alien planet.
“Oh, come on!” Avery glanced over at her, her mossy green eyes shining bright with the promise of adventure. “You’ve never been off Earth. This is your chance to spread your wings and see something new.”
“I think my wings like being firmly at my side.” Natalie grumped as she glanced at Avery and Reagan who were having a jolly good time. Then she took a glance over at Bailey who was glaring at the aliens passing them by. At least she wasn’t the only one not having a good time.
“Let’s find our rooms and then hit the bars.” Avery picked up her bag.
“What are you doing?” Reagan criticized.
“Going to find our rooms.”
“Hey, you!” Reagan sidled up to an alien man.
“Reagan, what are you doing?” Natalie felt a blush crawl up her neck.
“How about helping us to our rooms?” When he looked like he was going to refuse, Reagan tossed him her most jaw-dropping smile. “I’m known for being a good tipper.” She winked at him.
The blush on her neck burned hotter as she got Reagan’s meaning. She was offering sex. To an alien. She did her best not to gag, but it was harder than it sounded. “Reagan!” She whispered harshly.
“Yes, Reagan, must you be so vulgar?” Bailey’s eyes skimmed over the alien barely hiding her contempt for him as her lip curled in disgust.
“What? This is a girl’s adventure, and I’m feeling adventurous.” Reagan gazed up at this alien man like she was smitten.
Natalie took another glance at him. Was she missing something about this man that Reagan could see? He was a Daen’su, if she was correct. His silver hair was braided behind his head, and his snowy hair reflected the artificial lights in the corridor, making him look almost magical. He appeared to look like an elf from all those childhood stories she’d been read by her parents.
Her parents who were going to freak when they realized she’d gone traipsing off with her close friends. They would never understand her need to leave the safety of Earth. They’d told her many terrifying stories about aliens while she’d been a child, but her curiosity about the universe around her was driving her forward.
Many humans left Earth, and nothing terrible happened to them. She figured one vacation with three other women would be safe enough.
Bailey leaned over to whisper in her ear. “Please tell me you and I are sharing a room. I don’t think I could bear having her as my roommate. I get the feeling he won’t be the last man she brings back, and I need my beauty sleep.”
“Agreed.” Natalie loved Reagan because she brought them all out of their shells but she didn’t think she could remain sane if she were her roommate.
“Come on you grumpalumpagusses. We need to get to our rooms so we can get out there and have some fun!” Reagan led the way, the Daen’su trailing after her like some love-sick puppy dog.
Natalie looked at herself in the mirror turning in every direction. She was wearing burgundy pants and a short-sleeved shirt. She frowned. She wanted to have fun with the other girls but she didn’t want to dress like them.
She could already imagine what Reagan would be wearing. That woman was so confident, and Natalie would be lying if she said she wasn’t a bit jealous.
“You ready?” Bailey stepped up beside her and examined her own outfit in the full-length mirror. She was also wearing pants and a shirt, except hers, were loose and made out of a material that seemed to swim around her curves to absolute perfection.
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Something wrong?”
“I just feel like my outfit is kind of… bluh.”
Bailey clicked her fingers together. “Let me.” She dashed off back to her room, and then dashed back. “Here.” She held up a tube of lipstick. Then she swiped the red lipstick across Natalie’s lips before she could protest. “There. Much better.”
Natalie glanced over at the mirror and smiled. The take-me-now red lipstick helped to bring her outfit together and made her look a bit more of a relaxed person who was ready for a good time.
“I’m ready.”
“Good. Now let’s get going before Reagan and Avery bust down our cabin door.”
Natalie was in full agreement. Her pulse raced under her skin but she felt her hands get clammy as she thought about getting their night started. She’d been to several bars before, but never to a bar that would be filled to the brim with aliens. It was exciting and scary.
Bailey led the way to their door where they found Avery and Reagan impatiently waiting for them on the other side.
“Ready?” Reagan asked and before anyone could answer she bounced off down the hall clearly excited to get their night going.
“Be prepared to drink a lot of water to keep up with that girl.” Avery laughed as she bounded after Reagan.
Natalie shook her head but already felt herself loosening up a bit. It was time to enjoy her time off of Earth before she got back and her parents scolded her about the dangers of the universe. Maybe if they hadn’t coddled her as a child, she wouldn’t feel the need to go out as an adult.
They strode out onto the street, and all the neon signs blinded her for a second.
“Come on!” Reagan called out as the three other girls began winding their way through the crowds on the street.
Natalie got her feet moving before she lost sight of them. She might want to go on an adventure but she definitely didn’t want to get lost on a street on an alien planet.
Once she got back on Reagan’s trail, she gazed around her with wide eyes. There were so many colors and so many aliens. She did her best not to stare at anyone too much but it was hard when the only people she’d ever met were fellow humans.
“This is the bar I researched!” Reagan announced at the top of her lungs so all the women would hear her over the noise on the walking stree
t.
Shuttles bustled overhead, and Natalie couldn’t wait to get off the street. Her brain was being overloaded by all these new sights and sounds.
Someone stubbled out of the bar and bumped into her.
“Excuse you.” She growled at the man.
“Sorry.” His purple eyes were glazed over by several more drinks than he should have drunk.
“Whatever.” Natalie rolled her eyes and followed the women inside the bar where the music pounded into her bones. So, far, this was not a great start to her night.
To her right people danced wildly on the dancefloor and to her left people were ordering more drinks at the bar.
Reagan ushered them all over to the bar. “Okay! To start off our night right, I think we should all down an Andorra whiskey!” She threw a hand on the bar with a loud slap drawing the bartenders attention.
The bartender strode over, and her four hands landed on the bar, two of her arms came up to lace her fingers together as she leaned her chin on them. Natalie did her best not to stare but she’d never seen someone with four arms, and she wasn’t sure what the woman’s species was.
“Four glasses of Andorra whiskey!” Reagan announced.
“Coming up.” The four-armed woman turned around, poured them four glasses and then slid them over the bar counter to each woman.
Reagan whipped out a card. “I’ll pay for the first round!” She smiled at the women gathered around her. “To our adventure! May we each have a jolly good time!”
Then they all downed their glasses.
Natalie choked as the whiskey burned its way down her throat.
All the women coughed except Reagan who was laughing at them all.
“Damn. What was that?” Natalie choked as she clutched her throat hoping the burn would go away quickly.
“Andorra whiskey. It’s the best way to get this party started!”
Oh dear. Natalie knew she was in for a rough night and now she knew never to accept a drink from Reagan.
Chapter 2
Natalie’s eyes blinked open. Blurry images greeted her foggy brain. A face hovered over her, and her brows drew down in confusion. The face wasn’t one she recognized. A dream. It had to all be a dream after a long night of drinking, that would explain why it was hazy around the edges, and the colors were dull.
“Are you sure about this?” A woman leaned in to examine Natalie’s face. “It seems almost cruel.”
“This will be our chance to study mating rituals and create hybrids and have complete control over them.” Another woman walked into her field of vision.
“I don’t know. It seems wrong.” The first said with uneasiness. Even through the haze of her dream-like state, Natalie could see the woman had glasses and brunette hair that went past her shoulders. “I know I wouldn’t want to be forced into something like this.”
“This is our job.” The second woman snapped, unamused with the other’s whining. “Imagine all the people we might be saving by doing this. This could lead to a new way of healing humans or even fortifying our genes with those of aliens that are stronger than us. We still die from diseases that could be preventable, if only we were stronger.”
She had no idea what the voices were talking about. She tried to move her lips to ask them where she was but couldn’t seem to move anything. It appeared she was paralyzed or just coming to.
“We should put her back in her cell now that we have what we need.”
“Right. I’ll take care of it.” The woman with glasses and brown hair disappeared from her field of vision.
The other woman leaned in, and Natalie could see her plasma blue eyes through the haze in her brain. “Nighty night.”
Something pricked her arm, and then her vision went black.
Natalie let out a groan, as she shifted on her bed. Springs squeaked with the movement. What happened? She felt like her skull might crack with the searing headache pounding inside her head from a night of drinking way too much. Her eyes popped open, and every time she blinked it felt like her eyes were as dry as the Kellian home world.
She willed her eyes to cry, and once she got some moisture back onto them she looked at the unfamiliar sheets she was grasping in her hand. Her sheets were blue with little polka dots, not puke beige.
Her eyes snapped wide, as she let the covers fall from her grasp. Sitting up she took a panicked second to take in her surroundings.
Where the hell was she?
Natalie felt her heart start to beat wildly against her ribcage, but this wasn’t the right moment to panic. She had to keep her wits about her. Maybe she’d met a nice guy last night and went to his place. Right. That wasn’t completely out of the norm for her. She loved bars and loved men even more.
She looked to her right and was greeted by the sight of metal bars going down in a vertical row. “I’m in a cage?” She looked at the three other walls which were just thick sheets of shiny metal.
She flung her legs over the side of the foreign bed and bolted to her feet, finding her clothing still on and undisturbed from the last time she’d been awake. So, if she hadn’t met a nice man last night, what had happened to her?
Natalie wracked her brain trying to remember, but all she could dredge up was drinking with a few friends at an alien bar while vacationing on a girl’s trip. Maybe drinking a little too much. Then her memory blacked out.
That’s what she got for going out drinking with Reagan.
She let out a gasp. “Someone drugged me!” It had to be the answer. One moment she was drinking in a bar and the next she was in a cell. Now she just had to wonder who had slipped her a drug and why none of her friends had done something… unless they’d been taken as well.
It was a small cell, but a nice cell. The room had a bed, bookcase, and a small attached bathroom with a tiny shower, and there was an ornate rug covering the floor. Which meant she wasn’t in jail, because no jail was this nice.
She approached the bars of her cage to peer out. The sight of more cages greeted her. They lined the walls as far as her eyes could see, and so far they all looked occupied. She’d been kidnapped! Dismay overwhelmed her for a brief second before she shoved it down. She would get out of this. She had to believe in herself otherwise everything was definitely done.
“What is going on here?!” Had she been captured by some sort of weirdo with a fetish for collecting women? Because so far, she only saw women in the cages.
“We’ve been taken. Duh. Idiot.” Someone said crossly.
Natalie’s eyes shot up to a cage across the hallway from her. Standing within the cage was another woman with fiery red hair. Her hands were on her hips, and she was currently glaring at Natalie with striking green eyes.
“Who took us?” Natalie pressed her face against the cool bars.
The woman shrugged. “I don’t have too many answers for you, but I can tell you that they are humans who have us.”
“Humans? More than one?”
The woman across the way nodded her head.
“Where is this? Are we still near Britia?”
The woman across the way shrugged her shoulders again. “I have no idea where we are. I’ve never been outside this building since I woke up here. I don’t even think this building has windows.”
“How many of us are there?”
“As far as the eye can see.” The woman motioned to all the other cages lining the hall. “Each one of these is occupied.”
Natalie’s mouth popped open. “All of these cages?”
“Yep.”
“Do you have any idea how long you’ve been here?” Natalie asked. It might give her an idea of how long she could expect to be a prisoner.
The woman gave a delirious giggle. “Yes. About ten months.”
Natalie groaned inwardly. That wasn’t what she wanted to hear. “How do you know that if there aren’t any windows, and from what I can tell no calendars.”
The woman across the way turned to give Natalie a side view of her body. Again
, Natalie’s mouth popped open. The woman’s stomach was rounded.
“You’re pregnant?”
“I am.” The woman gave a nod, as she caressed her belly with a loving touch. “But I didn’t become pregnant until after I came here. By my guess, I was here a month or two before I became pregnant.”
The blood drained from Natalie’s face. “Please tell me you aren’t saying what I think you’re saying…”
“It’s some kind of breeding program.”
“That’s what I feared.” Natalie shook the bars of her cage, testing their strength. “Why would they do a breeding program? Are they trying to find the perfect human genome or something?”
“I doubt it, because this isn’t a human child. It’s part Vrak’rir.”
Natalie paused for a second. She couldn’t possibly have heard this woman correctly. “You mean to say that humans are experimenting with alien-human hybrid children?”
The woman nodded. “I’d say it’s probably a government idea. Maybe they’re trying to make a stronger soldier, by adding in some alien DNA.”
A shiver ran through Natalie’s entire body causing her hair to stand on end. She didn’t enjoy the idea of having an alien child growing inside her. It might be for some people, but Natalie wasn’t one of them. She’d always wanted to meet and marry a human man, not some alien. She had alien friends, sure, but taking one of them to her bed? It seemed a bit daunting to say the least. Some aliens had horns, and she didn’t even want to think about that growing inside her delicate womb.
Heck, she’d only just gathered enough courage to leave Earth, and now she was facing the possibility of being impregnated. It seemed unreal.
“Did they just inject you with alien sperm?” How were they getting their hands on the alien sperm? Sheesh. Maybe they had alien males caged up as well. “Please say yes.” Because she feared what it would mean if the answer was no.
