The Barbarian's Captive

by Maddie Taylor

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  About This Book

  Copyright Page

  Also By Maddie Taylor

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Epilogue

  Also By Maddie Taylor

  From The Author

  The Barbarian’s Captive

  Maddie Taylor

  About This Book

  Light years from home, plant biologist Lt. Eva La Croix and her all-female exploration team land on a planet they believe is a perfect substitute for the dying Earth. They are set upon by huge alien hunters and Eva is captured by the barbarian leader. Tossed over his shoulder, she is carried back to camp, tethered to his bed, seduced by his touch, and claimed as his own.

  In spite of her fear, she is captivated by the gorgeous, dominant male with his long gleaming black hair, smooth bronze skin, and glimmering golden eyes. Expecting her full compliance, he strips her naked and prepares her for an intimate and very thorough inspection. Horrified, Eva protests, but quickly learns defiance will be met with swift consequences, including a bare bottom spanking until he proves to her who is in command.

  Deemed compatible, she and her teammates are whisked away to the barbarians’ world where they are mated to these powerful men. While pampered and protected, the women are expected to submit to their male’s authority and breed their young. Will Eva learn to adapt to their unusual beliefs and old-fashioned ways? Can she sacrifice her independence and surrender to this dynamic, highly sexual alien male who has conquered her body, and perhaps her heart? Or when escape is imminent, will she flee with the others, never to see him again and feel the rampant desire that now surges through her blood for her compelling barbarian mate?

  Publisher’s note: The Barbarian’s Captive is an erotic romance novel containing elements of BDSM, spanking, sexual scenes and those of dubious consent, medical play, and anal play. If this subject matter is offensive, please do not buy this book.

  Copyright © 2016 by Maddie Taylor

  All rights reserved.

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and as such, any similarity to existing persons, places or events must be considered purely coincidental.

  This book contains content that is not suitable for readers aged 17 and under.

  For mature readers only.

  Published in the United States of America

  First Electronic Edition: May 2016

  Also By Maddie Taylor

  Published by Blushing Books

  The Gift

  Surrender My Love

  The Juniper Bride

  (Also included in the Sons of Johnny Hastings Boxed Set)

  Everything Christmas

  (Also included in The Naughty List Boxed Set)

  The Club Decadence Series:

  Faithfully (Prequel)

  Captain My Captain

  You Said Forever

  Little Light of Mine

  Unbind My Heart

  Second Time Lucky

  What About Love

  The Decadence LA Series:

  Master My Love

  The Decadence Night Series:

  Hooked

  French Kiss

  Published By Stormy Night Publications

  Gideon’s Redemption

  Lanie’s Lessons

  Innocence Enslaved

  (with Melody Parks)

  The Trail Master’s Bride

  The Jackson Brothers Series

  Marshal’s Law

  Jackson’s Justice

  Wild Wisteria

  The Pleasure Bay Series

  Dimitri’s Desire

  (with Melody Parks)

  Mastering Mariah

  (with Morganna Williams)

  The Sweet Series

  Sweet Salvation

  Sweet Surrender

  Prologue

  Lit up by fiery streaks of red and orange, the sky seemed aflame as, one after another, great fireballs hurtled through the atmosphere at breathtaking speed. As soon as one dipped below the mountains in the distance, many more would take its place high overhead. He couldn’t count their number, the glowing orbs falling too fast. It was the dead of night, yet the sky remained as bright as if it were midday. Never had he seen anything like it, nor had he ever been so afraid.

  The floor began to tremble beneath seven-year-old Kerr’s feet. It started out slow, increasing rapidly until the entire house shook fiercely. The shuddering was so great the furniture slid across the floor, pictures falling off the walls. His mother’s heavy marble sculpture began to move perilously close to the edge of the platform where it had sat for as long as he could remember. He watched, frozen in fear, as the stone carving teetered precariously, finally crashing to the floor. The noise freed him from his paralyzed state and he cried out.

  “Mama!”

  He bolted to the glass doors and threw them wide. Rushing out on the balcony, Kerr climbed the railing where he strained to see through the gap in the mountains, the same path his mother’s caravan had taken earlier that day. She had gone to help the laborers who were suffering in the drought, bringing them much needed food and water. It occupied much of her time — “charitable work” she called it — one of her many duties as first consort to the Maxime Princep of Primaria.

  A thunderous roar echoed through the night air as an enormous fireball, far greater in size than any that had come before it, appeared above the city. Larger than the towering mountains themselves, it grew bigger as it hurtled toward the planet below. He watched in alarm, knowing as surely as their most learned scholars that devastation would come in its wake. He followed it with unblinking eyes, his mouth rounding in horror as the fireball took the same path between the mountains that his beloved mama had only hours before.

  “No!” he screamed as it disappeared, leaving an eerie glow in its wake. The ground jolted and shifted, throwing him to the floor. An inhuman wail pierced the night. He turned toward it, seeing his father in the doorway behind him staring out at the glowing horizon. His papa’s anguished cries told Kerr what his heart already knew to be true. As the strongest man he had ever known fell to his knees, the young boy crawled to him and climbed into his arms.

  Then together, father and son wept for the woman they loved more than life itself.

  Chapter 1

  Twenty-three years later…

  Pain, searing hot like a fiery poker, stabbed into her side as she ran headlong through the overgrowth of vines and thick brush as quickly as her protesting legs would carry her. Muscles burning and cramping with each step, she struggled to pull air through her constricted throat as she dodged trees left and right, ducking beneath low-hanging branches that appeared out of nowhere in the dim light. Ignoring the sharp twigs that scraped and tore at her skin, she prayed she wouldn’t encounter a snake, or some other vile creature that might slow her down. It was an irrational fear born out of panic, the logical side of science officer Eva La Croix’s brain understanding with a certainty that whatever had been pursuing her so tenaciously for nearly an hour, was likely to be considerably more threatening than mere reptiles. Her mind raced as fast as her heart beat, the pulse in her ears pou
nding with a near deafening thud as she forced her body to continue despite the burning in her heaving lungs.

  Spying a fallen tree up ahead, she dug deep, her legs pumping harder, drawing on her last energy reserves, hurdling over the obstacle in her path. When she landed, her body screamed in agony, but she didn’t dare stop, not if she wanted to live.

  It seemed she’d been running for miles when she finally slowed to catch her breath, if only for a moment. She veered off to the right between a break in the trees and pressed her back against the rough bark of a wide trunk. Gasping for air, sweat poured off her body, doing little to cool it in the oppressive jungle heat. Straining, she tried to pick up the sounds of pursuit, but couldn’t hear over her labored breaths.

  After the briefest of moments, Eva sucked in as much air as her heaving lungs could hold and forced herself to listen, desperately hoping for silence behind her. There were no more thunderous footsteps, nor the guttural shouts of her pursuers. The sound of snapping twigs and breaking branches had ceased. Perhaps the one that had been hunting her for the last hour had lost her trail.

  Blowing out a hitching breath, she focused on quieting her respirations, just in case. Taking only a minute more to recover, she moved on, picking her way through the dense vegetation as quickly and quietly as she could. The thick canopy overhead blocked out most of the light from the twin suns, despite it being late afternoon. As such, she barely missed colliding with a low lying tree branch in the near dark as it appeared in front of her face at the last moment. Eva sidestepped, stumbling suddenly as her foot plunged into a water-filled hole. Grimacing at the slimy substance that sucked at her boot, she pulled it free and kept moving. Not daring to look down as she slipped on something else gooey, she pushed onward out of desperation to reach the shuttle that she hoped lay a short distance ahead.

  The direction she moved in was a guess. Unable to see the horizon or the placement of the suns in the sky, she couldn’t tell which way she traveled, though she felt sure sunset drew near. She had to make it before they reestablished communications with the Odyssey, or risk being hopelessly marooned on the horrendous planet.

  It was the risk she’d taken on when signing up for the mission.

  One, no matter who, never outweighs the good of the many.

  It was her captain’s motto, and Eva always snickered when she thought of it; her commanding officer had no clue she sounded like Spock from one of Eva’s favorite ancient space dramas. She had told her once, but Captain Magda Vohlmar, her stick-in-the-mud leader, had only stared back at her, the woman as clueless as she was disinterested.

  She’d never get it — fun and Mr. Spock something entirely beyond the staid officer’s comprehension. Eva doubted the woman would spare two hours away from plotting, planning, and pouring over sky charts to sit in front of a 3-D vid screen, with a huge bowl of buttery popcorn, and watch a centuries-old movie classic. Still, Magda’s message rang clear: they couldn’t sacrifice the lives of everyone on board the Odyssey for a lone straggler — or even a dozen stragglers. The all-female crew, three hundred strong, had to move on, their mission too vital to the survival of the human race to risk exposing themselves to danger.

  After another mile, a cramp in her side stopped her short, the pain doubling her over. Stifling a groan, she held her aching belly and sucked air into her lungs, leaning against a tree for support. Listening for threats, she wiped the stinging sweat from her eyes. As she rested briefly, she wondered what had happened to the rest of the landing party. Had they escaped? Were they even now readying for liftoff?

  One of eight scientists, and four security officers who had come to the surface not three hours earlier, they’d arrived with great hopes for the small planet; their mission, finding a viable new home to replace the dying Earth. Abused selfishly by the human race for centuries, humanity’s home world had finally been done in.

  Overpopulation and misuse of the world’s resources had left them with no other option except to find new sources of energy, food, and water. They needed to find another planet to call home, and quickly.

  Such was the grim proposition faced by the crew of the Odyssey when it had ventured forth three long years ago.

  The advanced countries with space programs had launched deep space exploration expeditions, seven in all, within the past five years. As a geologist, unattached, and with little family to speak of, she had been one of the first to volunteer for one of the science teams. It was what had brought them here, to SperoMP13, the thirteenth minor planet in the binary star Spero planetary system. Preliminary atmospheric readings revealed that the planet could support human life. Surface scans picked up tropical-range temperature readings, dense vegetation, and minimal thermal spikes indicative of life, and potential threats, in the area they had selected for initial exploration. Eventually finding an area that likely consisted of sparsely populated jungle, the Captain deemed the area suitable for further research, sending down the science team.

  Due to unexpectedly heavy vegetation in their landing zone, their shuttle had to set down a few miles away from the small lake which was their designated research site. As a result, it had taken them some time to cut a path to their destination. Upon arrival, the scientists had broken up into four research pairs, while the guards patrolled the perimeter. Eva, along with Lana, one of the geologists, gathered water and soil samples, a variety of plant cuttings, and numerous indigenous rocks for mineral analysis. They hadn’t been at it long, when one of the guards spotted movement in the distant tree line. Two had gone to investigate while the scientists continued their sample gathering.

  She still couldn’t believe how fast things had gone to hell…

  * * *

  Sudden shots from one of their guards’ photon blasters echoed through the clearing, followed by panicked shouts and screams.

  Then it was nothing but eerie silence.

  As the rest of them took cover, Eva heard Rebecca trying to hail the ship.

  “Team leader to Odyssey, come in. We are under attack.”

  The response was garbled and broken, no doubt due to interference from solar flares the Odyssey’s crew had previously observed erupting from the twin stars of the system.

  “Damn,” she cursed, trying on other frequencies. With no luck, she looked up, her concern evident in her grim expression. “Looks like we’re on our own,” Rebecca said, as she scanned the thick brush behind them. “We’ll move back to the shuttle. If we get split up, whoever arrives first needs to activate the distress signal and prepare to transport.”

  Communications likely would be down until after sunset when the interference would subside. Another four hours away. The dismal news didn’t do a thing to calm Eva’s nerves, or inspire confidence in their survival. They were essentially sitting ducks.

  The remaining guards took up defensive positions around them as the team moved out, traveling as quickly and carefully as they could. Although Eva didn’t see them, she sensed they were out there, following their movements, hunting them like prey.

  * * *

  When it happened, the attack was swift and sudden, the beings materializing out of the trees as if from thin air. They were human in appearance except they were huge, taller and broader than most Earth males. She only managed a brief glimpse at them as they took out the security detail with ridiculous ease. Undeniably strong, despite their size, the aliens moved with startling speed.

  “Run!” Lana screamed at her, before spinning and disappearing into the dense jungle. Only slightly slower to respond, Eva was close on her heels, especially when she saw one of the alien males veer suddenly in their direction.

  That had been almost an hour ago. Now, her heaving lungs and cramping calves and thighs rebelled against taking another step. But she knew her very survival depended on staying on the move. Capture was no option.

  As she scanned the forest for signs of her pursuer, she squinted through the darkness, offering up a silent prayer that her body wouldn’t give out. Pushing off
from the tree, she began running again, her pace a bit slower. She had to conserve some energy to make it to her target destination. Almost immediately though, exhaustion threatened again and she could think of nothing but sinking to the ground and resting, if only for a few moments.

  A swath of bright yellow caught her eye in the dimness, and she cut toward it, relieved to see one of the directional markers a team member had tied around a tree hours earlier. At least she was headed in the right direction. The number two printed on the flag told her she was almost there. Eva allowed a glimmer of hope to bubble up inside her, knowing the end was in sight, and she would finally get off the loathsome planet.

  As a shadow crossed over her from above, she looked up, barely able to make out the shape looming on a branch overhead. A shrill cry burst from her lips as she spun around, intent on fleeing in the opposite direction. Then the hulking form dropped with a whoosh and landed softly in front of her. Frozen with fear, she stared up at the huge male towering above her. He reached for her, his huge hands curling around her upper arms. Then her feet left the ground as he draped her over his hard shoulder, the jarring thud making her grunt. Hanging upside down, his steely arm clamping her legs in place, her senses returned as he began to move. Pushing up off his back, she craned her head around, watching in horror as the yellow marker disappeared in the dense foliage, the huge alien carrying her away from the shuttle.

  In a panic, she began struggling. “Let me go!” she shrieked, kicking and fighting against his hold, beating on his back with her fists. All she could think was that if she didn’t move forward, her only chance to go home would be lost.

  A growling voice barked at her, but she ignored it, determined somehow to break free. Frantically, she twisted and clamped down on his side with her teeth.