Reaching Back

by Dawn Ryder

  An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

  www.ellorascave.com

  Reaching Back

  ISBN # 1-4199-0751-4

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  Reaching Back Copyright© 2006 Dawn Ryder

  Edited by Sue-Ellen Gower.

  Cover design by Syneca. Photography by Darrell King.

  Electronic book Publication: September 2006

  This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

  Content Advisory:

  The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. This story has been rated E–rotic by a minimum of three independent reviewers.

  Ellora’s Cave Publishing offers three levels of Romantica™ reading entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E (E-rotic), and X (X-treme).

  S-ensuous love scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination.

  E-rotic love scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall word count. In addition, some E-rated titles might contain fantasy material that some readers find objectionable, such as bondage, submission, same sex encounters, forced seductions, and so forth. E-rated titles are the most graphic titles we carry; it is common, for instance, for an author to use words such as “fucking”, “cock”, “pussy”, and such within their work of literature.

  X-treme titles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline execution. Unlike E-rated titles, stories designated with the letter X tend to contain controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart.

  Reaching Back

  Dawn Ryder

  Trademarks Acknowledgement

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

  Starbucks: Starbucks U.S. Brands

  Chapter One

  Fourth of July, 2005

  United States of America

  “Noel, stop working! It’s fun time!”

  Oh, it was. Noel looked at her computer and hesitated over punching the shutdown function. No work, no pay was her motto. Just another couple of years and all the extra time was going to pay off—big!

  “It’s starting, Noel, get in here!”

  “All right, I’m coming.” Moving her mouse over its worn pad, Noel shut her computer down for the night. A promise was a promise and even if she wasn’t a woman of her word, Kyla would be happy to drag her into the front room of her town home if she didn’t walk herself there in a very short amount of time. She lived in a tiny, shoebox apartment and the room near the stairs was the only place for company. But it was comfortable, with a sofa and recliner. Kyla was lounging across the sofa as she swirled a drink in one hand. She glared at her through the doorway of her office. Her friend wasn’t above a little brute force when it became necessary. That was part of Kyla’s charm.

  “It sure is about time, girlfriend!” Kyla offered Noel a wine cooler as she walked into the room. The window lit up with a red glow as the first firework of the night exploded in the sky.

  “Right on time.” Kyla frowned at her but they both moved towards the window to view the fireworks. The little town home held a perfect view of the high-school football field. On every other day of the year, overlooking the high-school stadium required large amounts of patience for its immature population and the pranks that went hand in hand with Friday night games.

  But on the Fourth of July, Noel had the best seat in the house for fireworks. The view made up for the loud music and lousy driving she put up with for the rest of the year.

  Well, that and the low rent. Finding a tenant for the tiny, archaic dwelling wasn’t the easiest task. But the little thousand square feet, second-story apartment above a hair salon located in a fifty-year-old building fit in with her plans—work like a dog, and tighten her fist around every last dime.

  So the electricity was substandard and the pipes noisy. No air-conditioning and the stairway narrow. You didn’t dare run more than one major appliance at once or take a shower too soon after doing laundry. Her twenty-gallon water heater would cheerfully dump cold water on her if she made that mistake! But living with the bare necessities was going to pay off because she was downright determined to make it.

  That magical day when her ship sailed in was coming. It was in sight now, all Noel had to do was hang on until she climbed aboard and declared herself independent! Owner of her own company!

  Until then…she was on a budget.

  A loud explosion ripped through the apartment. It was so intense it knocked both women off their feet and away from the window. Noel sucked in a gasp of horror as the window frame ignited in a blue shower of sparks. The colored flames shot into the room, coating the ceiling and carpet. A wave of heat hit her face, making her skin scream. The super-hot air went right into her lungs, burning the life-sustaining tissue and leaving her helpless as the room became a deathtrap inferno.

  * * * * *

  Earth Force Division 876

  Promotion Rotation. Year 2231

  “Step forward for promotion, Thorn 123267.”

  Hard boot heels hit the deck as one warrior responded. The assembled ranks held their tight stance as only their eyes followed their comrade. It was a moment they all shared through their collective longings. Each warrior desired the moment they might distinguish themselves and hear their own number called by a council commander.

  Thorn 123267 cut a salute through the night air before stopping in a rigid pose. A gray-haired council member moved towards the warrior to clasp a two-inch-wide crimson band onto Thorn’s forearm. A click hit the air and the assembled ranks beat their chest armor.

  Thorn 123267 turned to his comrades and held his right arm up. The crimson metal reflected the light as he turned to ensure every last warrior saw it. Pride burned through his brain as he felt the unfamiliar weight of it on his wrist.

  His.

  By right and spilled blood. A position earned through dedication and perseverance. He had gambled with his very life and won the right to lead.

  “Step into the sanctum for selection, Thorn 123267.”

  Thorn turned and looked at the doorway. Inside was the last statuary of humankind. He had never laid eyes on it, only stared at the arched doorway on countless occasions as he trained in the outer field. There was only one way through door and it was now clasped onto his forearm—his reward for years of service in the death fields. A meager eighteen percent of his birth year had survived the last wave of Dekon colonization. For their strength and intelligence, rank and the chance to select a female were theirs. It was the ultimate reward, that golden opportunity to claim one woman who might show him what the word “relationship” meant. It was the thing he and a thousand other men saw when they closed their eyes for rest. A life rich in tender emotions that were mere rumors to them and their harsh life among the ranks of the fighting forces. Thorn felt his pride swell as he had to force his feet to keep the same pace as the man in front of him. Anticipation tried to drive him faster as he indulged his excitement. It all compressed into one glimmering idea.

  His.

  The air smelled sweet. Thorn inhaled its purity as the doors closed behind him. His eyes darted back and forth onto both sides of the path, but his feet never faltered in their steady progress behind the council member.

  The last battle had been long, but appeared to have driven Dekon forces away from their universe.
Thorn and his fellow promotion recipients would be granted the privilege of reproduction along with their command positions.

  It was his by right of defending the human race with his own life. He had proven his superior strength and intellect and earned the right to pass his genes on to the next generation. Only the strongest warriors received the right to reproduce. He turned to face the medical station and moved towards it without hesitation. He had carried a tiny plug in both sides of his scrotal sacs that prevented his sperm from ever reaching outside his own body. Today, that would be removed.

  The procedure wasn’t long. Computer-guided medical tools added speed to the treatment that had Thorn returning in less then a quarter-hour. The sting working its way up from his genitals wasn’t really pain. He couldn’t label the sensation as anything negative because he had spent too many years dreaming about this moment and these steps that lifted him above the lower ranks.

  There remained only one task—the selection of a female. Stepping through another arch, figures began to swirl around his head. The Council had made many decisions to ensure victory over Dekon. Every aspect of human life was managed and controlled to maximize the efficiency of the fighting forces.

  They were bred and reared to make humanity’s last stand against invasion. Females were bred in extremely limited quantities and were expected to serve with as much dedication as the men on the battlefield. Their eggs were harvested each month and allowed to gestate inside synthetic wombs because one baby every year was far too little return for the amount of food an adult female consumed. A synthetic womb only needed the calories the developing embryo consumed and a female could produce mature eggs each month. But that made them more like the Dekonians and less human. It was a necessity that everyone longed to leave behind them as a consequence of wartime.

  Males were needed for the ranks of the fighting forces. So, they were bred in much larger quantities. Strength mattered during a fight for survival. Only the strongest males were allowed to donate DNA for population expansion.

  Today, he had earned the right to be among those men who would be allowed offspring. Thorn watched the faces that time had forgotten. His female would be selected from the pages of history. Dimension bending would allow him to pull her into his own time. But you couldn’t disrupt the current of time. You had to reach in and exchange an equal item for the one that you intended to take back with you. He reached for a body that was lying on a raised table next to him. It was a female who had died recently. Nothing was wasted on Earth, even the dead. There was use for her body. Thorn shouldered the corpse before turning his attention to the images.

  The faces that the planetary mainframe showed him were of unfortunate females who had died in their prime. There couldn’t be even a single witness to the exchange, so these accidents were total disasters that wiped out every living soul. He wouldn’t be making his choice on beauty. The images were ones of horror and pain.

  Thorn reached into the images as one caught his attention. The vision flickered with orange and red, he stared into a fire as one female struggled to pull another away from a blazing inferno. The flames shot over her head but she refused to leave her companion behind.

  That was something Thorn understood. The bond between friends was the only true thing a man bred for fighting ever held. He would rather share death with his comrades than cheat it by leaving even one living man behind.

  He expected the same in return.

  It was the one thing that made him human. The Dekonians would eat their own kind, all that mattered was pushing the collective forward. Thorn watched the female struggle with her burden, as the scene became brighter and the fire more intense. He had mere seconds to choose before the current shifted and she died, just as she had done hundreds of years ago.

  His hand sliced into the current, parting it as Thorn stepped through.

  * * * * *

  “Kyla…get up!” Noel screamed at her friend but only the roar of the flames answered her. Kyla hung from her arms like a broken doll. Noel didn’t know if she was alive or dead but she was not leaving her friend behind.

  Orange flames licked across the walls and over the ceiling. The heat was so thick it began to pull them back towards the blaze as the hungry inferno sucked in huge amounts of oxygen to fuel its rampage. Her feet slipped on the carpet as her clothing began to burn.

  Something parted the wall of flames and stepped forward. Noel stared at the man in wonder as the heat turned her vision into thick waves. A brutal shove sent her away from the fire as he dropped a woman next to Kyla. He knelt on one knee for a moment and reached for her friend.

  For a second, Noel stared at the lifeless eyes of the body he had dropped. It was too much horror to comprehend, and she stared at the nightmare like it was happening to someone else.

  The man pushed to his feet a second later and lunged towards her. His body was pure strength as he tossed her over his shoulder and turned in one smooth motion. Her body jerked as the temperature suddenly changed and the heat vanished. Darkness pressed around her, leaving her blind as her body convulsed with shock. Her lungs screamed for air as flashes of light offered her sight once again.

  Her body felt airborne for a second before she landed lightly on a hard surface. Water soaked every inch of her skin as she choked and tried to breathe. Her lungs were still on fire as she struggled to escape the torment.

  A mask landed over her nose and mouth as her head was secured in a pair of hands. A deep breath and the pain broke into tiny particles that floated away like fireflies. Faces loomed over her as she struggled to breathe. Seconds crawled by like years, as her lungs stopped burning and filled.

  Her body went lax as adrenaline stopped surging through her bloodstream. Her eyes still burned and refused to transmit a clear picture to her brain. Maybe it was her brain that wasn’t working, Noel didn’t know at that point. Her skin was wet and cold now.

  There were hands on her—everywhere. Bits of conversation shot back and forth over her body, but her brain wasn’t sorting the sounds into anything that made sense. It was just a jumble of words. Like someone was flipping through the pages of a dictionary and reading off words at random.

  “Will she survive?”

  Her brain clamped on to that sentence as her eyes moved over to stare at one face. Whoever he was, Noel decided he was by far the most frightening man she had ever seen. His face was harsh, the bones of his cheeks prominently displayed because there wasn’t a morsel of fat on him. He didn’t really have hair, just a tiny amount of fuzz coating his head that looked like five o’clock shadow.

  “Yes.” That word sailed over her body as the man above her watched her eyes. His were dark orbs that didn’t give anything away. His hands were the ones clamped over her forehead and chin. He nodded his head, but stared into her eyes as she focused them on his face. The plastic mask was still pressed tight against her face. Moving her jaw was impossible, but it didn’t really matter. Her body jerked as it cooled down even further and Noel found it a battle to keep her eyes open.

  Through it all he watched her. The dark eyes appeared fascinated with her face. Her clothing was ripped away and her skin hit with more water. She couldn’t decide if she was hot or cold anymore. Her lungs worked and that was enough for her brain. Noel felt darkness slip over her like a thick blanket as those dark eyes watched. She took one more deep breath and savored the cool air in her chest before surrendering to unconsciousness.

  * * * * *

  Her eyelashes made dark marks on her cheeks. Her skin was so pale each tiny hair showed. Thorn lowered his eyes to her chest and watched it inflate, and gave a satisfied grunt as he continued to watch her chest rise and fall. The basic signs of life were there. Her skin was warm under his palms, and he lingered over releasing her now that she no longer fought medical treatment. He stroked a finger over her face and marveled at the smooth texture of her skin.

  She was as soft as a petal. The medical team moved around her unconscious form, forcing
him to move back. The superior medical knowledge of his time would keep her body from retaining any visible marks from her death.

  Near-death.

  Thorn watched her chest rise and fall as her body was treated. There was preventative treatment to be applied to her as well, vaccinations that she needed before being released into the current population and its diseases. Even DNA samples would be extracted and encoded into the planetary mainframe for identification.

  She was not his until the lead medical technician declared her healthy and compatible with his own blood chemistry.

  But it didn’t seem to matter at that moment. Thorn watched her like the last case of rations. He was hungry and determined to carry his prize back to his sleeping quarters. He had plucked her from the throat of that fire, risked his own life to ensure that she would live to see another sunrise.

  She was his.

  Chapter Two

  Noel decided before she even opened her eyes that she had consumed her very last wine cooler.

  Nausea twisted her stomach as a groan rose from her throat. Her eyes flew open as that little sound felt like it was made of razor blades that sliced up the inside her throat. Tears stung her eyes as she tried to swallow and found that just as painful. She looked at the ceiling and frowned.

  A red beam of light cut through the early morning air and right towards her face. A second before it touched her she flung her body over the side of the bed, and shrieked as she discovered that she was not sleeping on her futon.

  Nope! Gravity slammed her down three full feet to a hard floor. She flopped onto the floor with a loud smack, and every inch of her skin smarted as she cussed softly under her breath. Light instantly filled the room as the window shades lowered a third of the way down the large rectangular panes of glass. Noel turned her head to stare at the shades as she pushed her body onto her haunches.