by Zoey Indiana
Vengeance Due
Novella Prequel to The Vengeance Trilogy
Zoey Indiana
Vengeance Due
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Copyright © 2019 By Zoey Indiana
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, please contact Zoey Indiana at [email protected].
Publisher's Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Cover Art: EmCat Designs
Contents
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1. Violet Five: Nova
2. Gu'Kano Resistance Colony: Cay
3. Gu'Kano Resistance Colony: Nova
4. Gu'Kano Resistance Colony: Cay
5. Gu'Kano Resistance Colony: Nova
6. Outside Gu'Kano Resistance Colony: Cay
7. Unknown Location: Nova
8. Residential Pod - Outer City: Cay
9. Residential Pod Outer City: Nova
10. Inner City Perimeter: Cay
11. Violet Six: Nova
12. Violet Six: Cay
13. Gu'Rati Resistance Colony: Nova
14. Gu'Rati Resistance Colony: Cay
15. Gu'Rati Resistance Colony: Nova
16. Gu'Rati Resistance Colony: Cay
17. Resistance Safe House: Nova
18. Resistance Safe House: Cay
19. Resistance Safe House: Nova
20. Gu'Rati Resistance Colony: Cay
21. Violet Five Remains: Nova
22. Gu'Rati Resistance Colony: Cay
23. Violet Five Remains: Nova
24. Resistance Safe House: Cay
25. Violet Five Remains: Nova
26. Resistance Safe House: Cay
27. Violet Five Remains: Nova
28. Resistance Safe House: Cay
29. New Location of Violet Five: Nova
30. New Location of Violet Five: Cay
A Note from the Author
Also by Zoey Indiana
About the Author
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Want more badass women saving the day while finding the love they deserve? I’d love to tell you when the next book is available. Plus I always give my elite readers extra content, giveaways, sneak peeks, and first look at new covers.
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To all the diverse individuals who walk through a less than perfect life and survive hard times, you are worthy. I appreciate all the hard work you’ve accomplished to be here and read my book.
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You are amazing, and don’t let anyone else tell you different.
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To the boyfriend that has learned to cook because I’m writing all night, I knew you could do it! Lol.
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To all the amazing members of Colorado Romance Writers ~ Just remember this story is your fault. I’m looking at you Holly and Aidy =P
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And that critique partner of mine, Dawn’s a bit crazy, but all kinds of amazing.
1 Violet Five: Nova
“Nova, we’re out of supplies again!” Jay’La slammed an empty glass on the counter.
“You know the perimeter is too tight to get a shipment through right now.”
“Yeah, I know, but that doesn’t stop it from annoying me. Two more customers walked out today because we are out of Varium Puffers.” Jay’La leaned against the counter and sank back into herself. “How can we keep this up?”
They weren’t worried about the bar, it was just a front for the Resistance organization determined to end the harsh rule of the Sovereign. If customers didn’t come in for legitimate reasons, then it would be more suspicious when women suspected of being Resistance members came in for secret meetings. The last time it was raided, they’d lost a lot of strength. New rumors appeared daily about the Resistance losing the fight.
“What’s the alternative? Roll over and let ARI kill us all? Because that is what they will do. They will interrogate us all, and if we survive, they will send us for Rectification Treatment.”
Jay’La’s face paled. “Why did you join? I told you my story several times, but I’ve never heard yours.”
“I’ve told you before.” Every time the question came up, Nova gave the least amount of information to satisfy her. “My mother was part of the Resistance. I was born for this life, just like my sister.” She shrugged and avoided the subject of her sister. Those memories were ones that needed to stay in the past. “Same story for almost all of us.”
Jay’La’s eyes narrowed. “One of these days, I’ll get you to tell me more.”
“I’ll make the run myself, it will probably take about two days, maybe three.”
Jay’La grabbed her arm. “You can’t do that! If they catch you— I can’t run Violet Five myself.”
Nova shook her head. “If I’m caught, you’d do just fine without me.” She didn’t know it, but Nova was training her to run her own bar. Just like Nova, Jay’La was born into the Resistance. Their whole existence was to destabilize the corrupt government and correct the injustices it created.
“Please be careful.”
Nova headed into the back and grabbed a survival pack. Then she revealed the hover bike hidden behind a false wall. While all vehicles had hover technology, this particular bike was one of three prototypes equipped with new cloaking capabilities. If ARI raided the bar, she didn’t want them to find the tech because they couldn’t counter what they didn’t know. After kicking it into neutral, she walked it out the back door. Throwing her leg over the side of the hover bike, she flipped the cloaking switch and put it in gear.
Violet Five was only a few meters from the locked down border between the inner and outer-city. The key to passing through the perimeter was to tailgate a transit. They used the same hover technology, but gave off a huge electromagnetic signature that the small hover bike could hide in. It took a few seconds to find a transit that would do the trick and in a few minutes she would be on her way to the underground Resistance colony, Gu’Kano.
Guards stood on either side of the perimeter gate, armed with the latest in blaster technology. It didn’t matter how many times she did this, she still held her breath as she drove forward with the transit, then both stopped at the gate waiting to be inspected. Crushing oppression fell on her as she looked over the triple reinforced trulium gate. It was the strongest metal alloy known to womankind. The hum of the scanners echoed through her body, and a faint red haze appeared in her peripheral vision.
Worried that they were picking up on her, Nova turned her head as slow as possible toward the red haze. A guard frowned and pointed at the display, and another guard came over while gesturing to the first.
Nova’s heart pounded, something was wrong. She could try to run, but it would be close. If she didn’t make it through the gate before it closed, they would catch her. If she was lucky, the gate would crush her instead.
Thump.
It became harder to breathe, and fear pricked across her skin.
A third guard with a thicker haze joined
the discussion. Guard one pointed to a few things on the display, but the words were no match for the screaming in her ears. Death breathed down her neck as she fought her instincts to run.
Thump.
The transit door opened and a woman in red stepped out. All three guards shouted while three shiny Reapers aimed at the woman, and she froze with her hands open wide in front of her. Shouting continued as one guard walked towards the woman in red, placed a hand on the woman’s chest, and shoved her into the transit, then slammed the door closed.
Thump.
The guard wasn’t even a full meter from Nova; a few more steps and they would discover her. Panic threatened to possess her, and air became the rarest commodity.
The guard spun back to the monitor and slammed a fist against it, causing the others to shrink back. With another quick discussion, they waved the transit on. Nova fought the need to laugh maniacally as she shadowed the transit through and the haze of color disappeared.
She held it together until she got parked inside Gu’Kano’s garage. Keeping the cloaking device on, she took a moment to think about how close she’d gotten to giving herself away. Never in her life had she been less than a meter from an ARI soldier, and it would be the last if she could help it.
After a quick session of putting her nerves back together, she uncloaked the hover bike and locked the controls with a retinal scan. She walked through the tunnels until she encountered a main entry port and typed in the code. Her breath caught as it always did when the doors opened.
A long vertical series of elevators and stairs split into thousands of doors. Those doors led to countless places, including private residence quarters for everyone in the colony plus a few hundred more. This colony was one of the central strongholds for the Resistance, where they could manufacture weapons, supplies, and develop research, all without ARI or the Sovereign knowing.
Nova started towards the supply office, she had to meet with An’Da to update the requisition order. There were a few more things the bar needed since the last time she sent in a request—
Pain reverberated through her nose. Nova reached out to the wall to steady herself, but her hand landed on something warm. Startled, she opened her eyes. A muscled chest consumed her gaze, and her fingers trailed over the hard cords of muscle. It looked so different from her own chest, there were nipples, but they were much smaller than her own.
“Hello there, my name is Cay. What’s yours?”
The chest rumbled as the silky deep baritone spoke. She raised her eyes until they stopped on a square jaw covered in short jet-black hair. Letting go of the chest, she ran her fingers through the hair. A man, this must be a real live man! Hundreds of years had gone by with only rumors of men since the virus killed them off. She’d heard there was one here at Gu’Kano Colony, but she’d never expected him to be real, let alone run into him.
“I know you have a name, everyone does.” A large hand covered her own on his chin.
“Nova.” Her voice cracked as she gazed up into his stormy grey eyes.
“Nova.” It rolled off his tongue, causing her to shiver in anticipation. What would it feel like pressed against that hard body?
She shook her head to clear the thoughts out. No way was she going to let this distract her. “Excuse—“ She cleared her throat and tried again. “Excuse me, I didn’t see you there. It was nice to meet you, Cay, but I have somewhere to be.” She hurried away before she lost her resolve.
The supply office, she had to get to the supply office and do something. There was something she needed to do at the supply office.
Footsteps behind her got louder.
She opened her stride to put distance between her and Cay. The requisition form! She had to file a requisition form at the supply office.
Booming steps invaded her ears.
Quick, there was a lift available. If she could get there before him, she could close the doors and keep him out. With a quick inhale, she tightened her muscles and burst into a sprint for the lift door. Her heart leaped when she slid through the doors, and she punched the button continuously in desperation because they had to close before Cay caught up. Nova let out a calming breath as the doors shut.
A hand appeared between the doors and they kicked open. Cay stepped inside and leaned against the wall. She would not look at the rippling of his muscles as he crossed his arms. Why wasn’t he wearing a shirt? He leaned against the wall of the elevator and watched her. After a few seconds, she broke eye contact and stared at the wall just to the right of him. It was ridiculous that she was letting a stranger affect her this way.
But he was a man!
A wave of heat rushed through her at the reminder. He was a man, a real live man. She wondered how he’d come to exist. As far as she knew, they were years from cloning, and even then, the threat of the virus reactivating was enough for them to look for other alternatives for reproduction. The memory of his hard muscle threatened to distract her, heat pooled between her legs. If he was at a colony of this size, his main purpose had to be related to breeding, and that was something she wanted nothing to do with. She needed a distraction; she wouldn’t mess this up just because a piece of forbidden eye candy was watching her every move.
She’d messed up everything her whole life. For once, she wanted to get through this without screwing it up. Desire deformed into frustration. The moment the lift door opened, she would requisition the supply office and leave after they assembled the required items. Then she would get on her hover bike and return to Violet Five.
The lift stopped, and the doors hissed open. When Cay didn’t move, she walked out like she didn’t have a care in the world. Like the hulking, sexy man didn’t make her melt into a puddle of desire.
It was a quick walk to the supply office, and despair sank into her as Cay followed her into the room. In a last attempt to maintain control of herself, Nova ignored the man that once again stood and watched her.
“An’Da, have you received any of the requests I’ve sent?”
A beautiful slender redhead with green eyes looked up from her desk. “Cay…” The way An’Da said it made Nova want to rip every hair out of the gorgeous woman’s head. What in the hell was wrong with her? She’d never felt jealousy like this. “What are doing down here?”
“Just thought I would take a little stroll, you know I gotta stay in shape.”
An’Da let out an annoying little giggle that made Nova want to rub herself all over Cay, marking him as hers. Instead, she cleared her throat. “The requests?”
“Oh, hi Nova, I didn’t notice you.” Nova worried she might sprain a muscle holding back the eye roll.
“The requests?” Nova gnashed her teeth.
“We have received no requests from Violet Five.” She looked over her tab for a few seconds. “Nope, nothing here. You know it would be quicker to submit them electronically instead of coming all the way to Gu’Kano, and safer too.”
There was a low chuckle from behind her that made her body come alive, but Nova didn’t dignify that with a response. “I’d like to put in a request now.”
“Sure,” An’Da handed the tab over. “Just fill this out and a courier can deliver it.”
“That’s okay, I can—“ Nova cut herself off. If she let the courier deliver it, she could spend another day at Gu’Kano. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d taken a day off and the bar would be fine without her for one more day. This was what she was training Jay’La for. Besides, it would give her time to check on current research the colony was working on. She headed to the production quadrant, and a hint of sadness drifted through her when Cay didn’t follow.
2 Gu'Kano Resistance Colony: Cay
Cay sat in his quarters, thinking of Nova. The beautiful stunned look she had when she first gazed up at him, her soft hands on his chest, and the fiery look in her vibrant purple eyes when he got on the lift with her... they were unlike anything he’d ever seen before.
The door chirped, dragging him f
rom his mind. “Come in.”
Kai’La stepped in and his happiness evaporated. Usually he looked forward to seeing Kai’La, but he wanted another woman with him right now, Nova.
“I thought we were meeting in my quarters today?” She sat next to him on the small couch. He looked around the room he’d lived in most of his life. For the first time, he felt out of place. Light grey walls matched the light grey hard floor, his bed sat in the corner with two pillows and a blanket, but they were also grey. The small couch and the reading chair in his room were black. He sighed; his life was just like this room. Grey, neutral, boring.
“I’m sorry, something came up, and I completely forgot.”
“Hmm…” She slid closer to him and wrapped both arms around him. “I have time now.”
His gut twisted. “It’s not working.”
“I could try harder to get you in the mood.” Her hand traveled down his chest towards his groin, but he stopped her.
“Not what I meant.” For four long years, he’d been trying to strengthen the Resistance by doing his part. About 500 years ago, a virus violently swept through humankind and killed all the men on the planet. Women survived and developed a way to make sperm from female genetic material, leaving their society completely dependent on in vitro fertilization.
