Taken (Selected Book 2)

by Robin Roseau

  "Oh, hell, I could have told you about that. We're not talking about that."

  "Well, we figured it out. Then we tried you with a male human, and you weren't much better."

  "Yeah thanks for that. We're not talking about it. Moving on."

  "So we did everything all over, but only with females, and we made sure in each test you knew she was female. And you didn't so much as quiver. Not once. With most of them, you were quite welcoming and inquisitive."

  "Fine. Yes?"

  "We did the other critical tests next. You passed, especially empathy."

  "Fine. I passed. Go, me."

  "It took us about three hours to verify you would be selected."

  "I was there for two days, and I'm pretty sure you spent about a day and a half of it testing."

  "We did. The remaining time was determining what you would want."

  "Yes, I'm sure that starts with kidnapping me."

  "Well, no, but you found big gestures important to you, the bigger the better."

  "Are you calling me demanding?"

  "I'm telling you that you wouldn't have been impressed with half measures. You needed her all in."

  "That seems very selfish of me. I'm pretty sure being that selfish should cancel everything else out."

  "We spent some time on that. You've been hurt. You've been led on. You've been betrayed. We don't have details."

  I sighed. "Fine. Let's not talk about that, I guess." I sighed.

  "If she had done it the way you suggested, you would have become friends, but only friends. And as much as we tried, we couldn't find any gentle way to get you to agree. Leaving Earth was a deal breaker. So we ran scenarios where we didn't give you a choice. And those went exceedingly well."

  "You're a manipulative bitch. Oh wait, you already know that."

  "Am I? I tried to find a way to make you happy. I went through a great deal of work to help you be happy. And you were. I'd say I did a damned good job."

  I sighed.

  "You were decidedly adverse to the idea of an adventure, but once plunged into one, you reveled in it. So we gave you adventures, and you ate them up. We ran scenario after scenario. We only get one shot at this, Sapphire. But my failure rate is two percent. You met Geneviève Cousineau. She's one of mine. How did I do for her?"

  I sighed.

  "We left nothing to chance, or almost nothing. One mistake. One."

  I still said nothing.

  "You wanted to be swept away, Sapphire. Not every detail, but you wanted to be swept away. So we swept you away."

  I looked away from her.

  "She's dying."

  "Yes."

  "And you expect me to save her?"

  "I'm begging you to save her, Sapphire."

  "You expect me to go in there and beg to be her mate."

  "I'm begging you to. I don't have any expectations. But I'm begging you. Sapphire, I have very, very few friends. I believe the count is two. Please don't let one of them die."

  I turned back to her. "Do not put this pressure on me."

  "Do you want her to die?"

  "Of course not!"

  "You want to forgive her. Go in and do it and beg her to take you."

  I stood up. "Take me to my sister."

  * * * *

  "So," Liz said. "The tiger is dying."

  "Jasmine told you."

  "Yeah. I've been watching this challenge stuff. I'd forgotten how good a violinist you are. I wish you still played. Damn, sis. She's hot!"

  "Yeah, she is. She looks like shit now though." I collapsed down on the sofa next to her.

  "The tree sap was funny."

  "Yeah, it was."

  "I watched that on loop for a while."

  "Yeah, yeah."

  "Were you scared?"

  "Scared, excited, mad." I sighed. "I've never felt more alive. The last one ended too fast. If I were going to do it again, I'd want one a lot longer."

  Liz smiled. "Seriously. I never would have pegged you for liking adventure."

  "Yeah, Jasmine said something about how I hate the idea of adventures, but I love them once forced into them."

  "Oh, I could see that." She put her arm around me. "So, why are you here? Why aren't you with the hot tiger-babe, getting some hot tiger-babe makeup sex?"

  "You did notice the entire lying to me thing."

  "Bah. People fuck up sometimes. That doesn't stop you from loving them."

  "And you did notice the entire living 10 gazillion miles from home."

  "Yeah, that part's a bitch." But she smiled. "I bet you hate the idea of that, but once you were there, it totally rocked."

  "Shut up."

  "I, on the other hand, love the idea, as long as I get to visit home now and then."

  "Then you go have hot make-up sex with the tiger-babe."

  "Oh no, that one's yours. She had it for you from the moment she saw you. You can see it. She was hungry for you and didn't even glance at anyone else. So, why aren't you in having hot tiger-babe make-up sex?"

  Tears began leaking out of my eyes.

  "Come on, Sis. I want a trip to the space station."

  "Excuse me?"

  "How do I make a phone call with this thing?" she asked, tapping the visor. "We're going to blackmail the Catseye."

  "We are?"

  "Yep. You're going to go in and have hot make-up sex, and then I'm going with you back to the station. Maybe I can find a job there."

  "You're serious."

  "Come on, Sis. You're just dawdling now because you finally have to decide, and once you decide, you can't be mad at them anymore. You're still holding that to your chest, and that's not like you. You never feed your anger. Why start now, when you can have hot tiger babe make-up sex and score me a trip to a space station?"

  "I suppose you want to see Saturn, too."

  "Damned right I do."

  I sighed and rang up Jasmine.

  Healing

  "You look like shit."

  She didn't move.

  I studied her for a moment then moved in front of her, kneeling at her feet and looking up into her dull eyes.

  "I'm not begging until you put some life into those eyes."

  Then I waited.

  She blinked. If they were fake eyes, I wondered why she needed to blink. I'd never asked her.

  Finally I grabbed her feet, tugged them off the bed, and set them on the floor. Then I climbed up until I was straddling her legs. If we weren't such different sizes, I would have been looming over her, but instead, we were seeing eye-to-eye. I pushed her back and leaned against her until our eyes were inches apart.

  "Bronze, this behavior is unacceptable in my mate. If you do not want me to hurt you, you better say something."

  She blinked.

  I caressed her cheek. Then I buried my head into her neck and inhaled. She smelled wrong. I leaned away, sitting on her knees.

  "Wake up," I said. I shook her a little. "Come on, Bronze. I want a rematch, and you'd be easy this way. If I win, you become the Bearer of Children, and I become the Creator of Life. Is that what you want?"

  She shuddered slightly.

  "That's right, babe," I said. "Hot little mating candidate here."

  Slowly her eyes gained focus, and I knew when she was focused on me.

  "There you are," I said. "So, how about it. When's my rematch?"

  "Sapphire?" She said it slowly, like she used to.

  "You can say it better than that," I said. "What's my name?"

  "Sapphire," she said. She licked her lips. "Sapphire Fletcher."

  "That's right. And who am I?"

  "You were my mate."

  "Wrong. I am going to become your mate."

  "You left."

  "Do you know where you are?"

  She looked around. "What am I doing here?"

  "Talk about dramatic gestures, future mate."

  "Future mate?"

  "You smell funny. But I know how to fix that."

 
; "Sapphire?"

  "But I want a rematch. Do you hear me?"

  "Rematch?"

  "That's right. Two more challenges. Then we're going home."

  "Sapphire?"

  "Yes, or no?"

  "I-"

  "Do you want me, Moirai?"

  "I-" She leaned forward, setting her head on my shoulder.

  "Do you?"

  "Yes," she whispered.

  "Any more lies?"

  "No."

  "Good." I issued a command to the visor, and it issued another command, and the capsule Jasmine's doctor had inserted under my skin burst, pushing a mixture I didn't at all understand into my bloodstream. It was a little present from Dr. Fitza, and would bring changes to my body, changes that mimicked a Temier's as she began her transition from female into the bearer of life. Jasmine had explained more, but I'd waved her off and told her to just give it to me.

  It burned, just a little, and I hissed. But then it hit my brain, and I arched my back. "Oh my god!" I screamed.

  "Sapphire!" Bronze screamed. "What's wrong? What's wrong?"

  "Yours yours yours yours yours!" I screamed. "Oh my god, Moirai." I crushed myself to her, panting terribly.

  I felt the alien medicine go to work, spreading through my body, and I continued to moan, "Yours, my mate, yours, yours, yours."

  Bronze was pawing at me, asking what was wrong, in between begging me to forgive her.

  "Smell me," I commanded. "Smell me. Oh god, it feels good."

  She sniffed. She sniffed heavily, and then she lifted her head and began to roar, and roar, and roar, crushing me to her as she did so.

  "Mine!" she said with each roar. "Mine!" she said.

  Afterward

  "How is she doing?" Jasmine asked Moirai.

  "Oh god, she hasn't left me alone. She told me we're having a rematch, but I need my strength back."

  Jasmine laughed. "Good. How's the sex?"

  "Did you just hear me?"

  Jasmine laughed again.

  "And that sister of hers. The two of them are dangerous together."

  "Good. How is Liz?"

  "Sapphire introduced her to the Catseye next door. I haven't seen Liz in three days."

  "Lotus?"

  "Yeah."

  "Good. I was right about them, too."

  "You played a dangerous game. I can't believe I agreed to play it this way."

  "In the end, Sapphire needed her own dramatic gesture. The relationship was too imbalanced otherwise."

  "She would have stayed if you'd let me tell her the truth."

  "She would always wonder if she had made the right decision. She would always wonder what else you were hiding from her. We couldn't allow that. She may have discovered things we're not ready to let her discover. She's the key, after all, but not if she knows she's the key."

  "I know. But you let those two blackmail you."

  "Oh, please, I've been working on the sister for months. I finally was able to place a mate without stealing her from her bed."

  "Not that. If you don't come visit, we're coming to kidnap you. Apparently she gave you the choice of coming willingly or coming the same way she did."

  "Yeah, about that."

  "Oh, no. I'm not telling her you are reneging on that deal."

  "My ship arrives tomorrow, but I think I'm nervous."

  "Good. You should be. She's cooking something up."

  "I look forward to it. It's about time someone else pulled the strings. I'm going to just relax and not fight it."

  "That's what I do. It's easiest that way."

  About the Author

  A writer by avocation, Robin has a renaissance interest in many areas. A bit of a gypsy, Robin has called a few places home and has traveled widely. A love of the outdoors, animals in general and experimenting with world cuisines, Robin and partner share their home with a menagerie of pets and guests, although sometimes it is difficult to discern who is whom.

  Robin can be reached via email as robin.roseau@gmail.com. Robin's web site is http://www.robin-roseau.com.

  Works by Robin Roseau

  The Madison Wolves Series

  Fox Run

  Fox Play

  Fox Mate

  Fox Afield

  Fox Revenge

  Fox Dish

  Fox Lost

  Wolf Watch

  Wolf Ways

  Wolf Women

  Fox Fate

  Fox Short Stories

  Hunting Pups

  Fox in the Water

  Fox Rematch (set after Fox Mate and Fox Afield)

  Fox Opponent

  A Foxy Valentine

  Other Books in the Madison Wolves Universe

  Familiar

  Poor Little Witch Girl

  Seer

  Seer: Thrall

  The Selected Series

  Collected

  Taken (due December 2015)

  Other Novels and Novellas

  Blood Slave

  A Charming Brew

  Emergency Claus

  Fitting In

  Free to Love

  Galatzi Trade

  Galatzi World

  In Custody

  Lost in the Words

  Privateer

  Stark's Dell

  Submission

  Surprise

  The Interrogation

  Tresjolie

  The Ski Bindings Shorts

  Short stories of love and lust amongst the slopes.

  Snow Fox

  Short Stories

  Cooking for Love

  Southern Night

  Captured by the Raptor (writing as Rosetta Robins)

  Fox Mate

  Copyright 2015 by Robin Roseau

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, actual events or locales is purely coincidental.

  * * *

  License Notes

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