He came over and sat next to me, “We could, but don’t you want to wait until we can honeymoon away from here? We can’t leave until all of the Insectoids are dead.”
“I know, but we could have our ceremony now, couldn’t we? You could take a day off and we could stay here in our room together? With no one to disturb us? There is an able bodied Captain who I am sure wouldn’t mind staying leader of this crew for one more day.” I looked up at him with a coy smile and wrapped my arms around his neck, then I bit my lip while considering what to do next.
He took that as an opportunity to kiss me. As he leaned down, he took my lower lip between his and sucked on it just enough to get my teeth to release it to him. I kissed him harder and leaned against his chest and heard a moan coming from his throat. “Yes, I think we could manage that. How about tomorrow if nothing else gets in the way?” Before I could answer he kissed me again and again.
It seemed like forever until he let me up for air. “Yes, tomorrow would be perfect.” I stood up and went to the kitchen to see what I could make us for a late dinner. The entire time I was in there I couldn’t shake the smile from my face.
Epilogue
Our mating ceremony was very similar to a marriage ceremony on Earth, but without all of the pomp and circumstance. And no formal attire. Venay assured me this was very normal since so many humans mated with the V’Zenian warriors on the way back home, to their home that is.
We spent the night all alone with no disruptions. It was perfect. We stayed in bed the next day too. But the day after that he had to go and attend to his duties. I was sad to see him go, and I think he was as well.
“Paris, as soon as we are certain the insectoids are all taken care of we will go away for a week, just the two of us.”
“Perfect! I can’t wait. Go and kill ‘em all, my love!”
Does a mostly clean Sci-Fi romance entertain you? If so, keep reading because an Author friend of mine has given me a sneak peek of her book, Slave Planet! I have read this book and love it!!! I hope you enjoy it as well.
Author’s Notes
I hope you enjoyed my PG-13 version of a sci-fi alien abduction romance. The adventure parts of these books have always been my favorite, so I thought why not make a mostly clean version for everyone to read.
The story will continue and we will see them all on this planet at the beginning of the next book. Another couple will become the center of the story, but we haven’t seen the last of Paris and Venay. Look for Worlds Collide to come out mid to late October, 2016.
If you want to read more of the worlds I have created, or see my #FreebieFriday on #Instafreebie blog, check out these other places:
Blog/website: http://jlhendricksauthor.com/blog/ here is where I will do new cover releases and even share snippets of my upcoming books! So be sure to subscribe. And as a special treat every Friday is a blog full of FREE books! You won’t want to miss out on those!
Amazon Authors page where you can see the entirety of my collection: J.L. Hendricks on Amazon
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TinkFan25
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JLHendricksAuthor/
Keep an eye out on my blog or social media accounts for news about other books I have coming! And if you like a good Christmas book, then you will want to look for my new Christmas Series, coming in mid-November, 2016!
Acknowledgements
I say this every time, but it really does take a lot of people to put a book together! For the first time I used a developmental editor. Nikki Rose did a great job helping me to edit the book and develop the story in such a way as to make things clear and interesting! Thank you Nikki!
Beta readers are also very important! I only had two this time, Leo Roars, and Dawnya Goode, but they picked out some things that needed tweaking as well as some of the spelling errors I missed, thank you both so much!!! If you want to become a beta reader sign up here: https://app.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/l2u3a2 and I will get you into my beta readers group for the next book!
If you want to join my ARC readers group and get a copy of the next book in exchange for an honest review, please sign up here: https://app.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/l2u3a2
Book covers are the most important aspect of creating a book that readers will pick up. I found a pre-made cover by Ravenborn on SelfPubBookCovers that was just awesome! They don’t do fancy typography so I reached out to Victoria Cooper who did the covers for books 2 and 3 in this series and she made this cover really pop with great typography! Thank you Victoria!!!
My reading group, 20BooksTo50K are the best group of authors anyone could want! They are always so supportive and engaging! Thank you guys from the bottom of my heart!!! In fact, Rebecca Riddell from my group helped me immensely with further character development and my issue with commas! LOL I am going to buy Grammerly now just to help with that one issue of mine.
The Slave Planet
On a planet where women are born to rule, Empress Nadira's secret affair with her slave threatens to rip her family apart. When she joins the highest council in the land, her secret is revealed. Will Nadira go against everything she believes in to protect her family, or will she choose her heart and doom everyone she loves to death?
Want to read more? Download the full book: (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DWC4HZ6)
Chapter 1
Outer Ring, Habitat Alpha
Planet Venus
7009
On unsteady feet, sixteen-year-old Nadira Marie gripped the side of the iced over, metal vat. She raised a clear bottle to her lips and took a deep drink of blue wine.
Above, the orange and black Venian atmosphere swirled and coiled, clearly visible through the transparent dome. The clear, metal walls of the Habitat were hundreds of feet thick, built to withstand the pressure, heat and general fury of the planet’s atmosphere.
Around her was the Reservoir. The vats agitated and churned as they pumped water through underground tunnels and into the homes of the women and men in Habitat Alpha. Ahead, firelight bounced off the vat’s scrubbed surface.
Nadira took another swig of wine, the liquid sloshing in the bottle as she stumbled forward. “May our mother’s be well, and may we never become them!”
Kiln, her Prime Servant, laced an arm around her waist, his massive biceps squeezing her close to him.
“Steady Naddie.” With gentle hands, he plucked the bottle from her fingers, ensured that she was steady on her feet, and freed her from his grip. Six and a half foot tall, and blonde, he held the bottle out of her reach.
“I think you’ve had enough,” he said, his nineteen year old voice deep and clear.
“Do you?” She reached up on tiptoe, clutched the back of his neck, and drew him to her awaiting mouth, covering his lips in a brief, drunken, wet kiss.
One side of his mouth broke into a lopsided grin, and he set to kissing her back, dropping his arms to wrap them around her. Seizing the moment, she snatched the bottle from his distracted hand, and held it over her head in triumph.
“You are too easy,” she slurred, taking another sip before falling on her backside.
Kiln let out a frustrated breath, reached down, and set her back on her feet, “Naddie, I think we should go home.”
“No. I want to see my friends.”
“Alright, but just for a few minutes. After that I’m taking you home and straight to bed.”
“So you’re my master now?” Nadira teased.
“No, but if an Enforcer finds us out here, it’ll be our third infraction, and I’ve made it a point not to die this week.”
Two hovercrafts turned their noses to the walls of the dome. In unison, they shot forward. Their reflections grew as they got closer to the wall. Then, at the last possible second, they pulled up, followed the wall upwards, touched the ceiling, and looped back around to do it again.
Ahead, three girls and a dark haired boy sat around a crackling fire. Their voices echoed through the reservoir.
“… and then she said, Kiera, if you can’t respect my home, I’ll have no choice but to send you to Habitat Omega.” Kiera, a dirty blond, shrieked to be heard over the sounds of the crackling fire and the gurgling vats. “Let’s see how disrespectful you are when they’re shaving your head and making you an Enforcer.”
Kiln guided Nadira to the colorful blankets that were strewn on the dusty ground around the fire. Once she was settled, he planted himself next to her.
Shar-jon’s her blonde hair was almost white against the flames. “Do you think she was serious?”
“She made the comm,” Kiera said. “I’m leaving the day after tomorrow.”
Shar-jon wrapped her arms around Kiera’s shoulders and sniffled.
“You can’t go,” she said, her voice heavy with threatening tears. “You’re not cut out to be a baldy.”
“Tell that to my mother,” Kiera said. “But don’t worry. I have a plan.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Tomorrow, after nightfall, when everyone’s asleep, I’m running to Mahala. Me and Satch will be free.” She took the hand of a raven haired, freckled, blue-eyed boy who sat next to her.
“Mahala?” Bragnia, a soft-spoken redhead, gasped. The daughter of a retired High Priestess of the Temple of Venus, Bragnia was new to the Outer Ring. “The free slave place? Kiera you can’t. What if the Enforcers find you?”
“Then we’ll die together. Either way, I’ll never be an Enforcer and my mother won’t control me anymore.”
“Do you remember Empress Star’s daughter?” Shar-jon asked. “They say she ran away to Mahala too.”
“That’s not what I heard.” Kiera put a hand on Shar-jon’s knee. “I heard that she refused to apply to Beta Council and her mother went nuts and killed her.”
Shar-jon wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “That’s crazy. Mother’s from Beta aren’t like that.”
“All mothers are the same,” Kiera said. “But, on the off chance that I’m wrong and Star did run away, I’ll say hello when I see her in Mahala.”
“No one is going to Mahala,” Nadira slurred. “You don’t even know where it is.”
“Satch does,” Kiera said. “He’s been there before.”
The group took in a collective gasp, and Kiera's Prime Servant’s pale skin gained color as all eyes turned to him.
“You’ve been to Mahala?” Kiln asked.
Satch cleared his throat. “Well not there, but close. Kiera’s mother sent me to work in Habitat Beta for a few months to pay off a debt. In the forest, near the wall of the Habitat, we would sometimes hear singing, and smell smoke. None of us were brave enough to sneak out and investigate, but we knew that something was out there.”
“This is insane!” Bragnia threw up her hands. “You can’t turn Rogue and run away to Mahala.”
“Better than being an Enforcer,” Kiera replied.
“You're throwing your life away.”
“What life? The life that my mother wants me to have? No, I won’t be her puppet.” She drank from a brown bottle and leaned against Satch’s shoulder. “Think about it. We’ll be free. Free from their stupid slave laws, free from the petty rules of High Council, free from my dumb mother.”
“And free from their ancient ideas,” Nadira said. “Don’t feed on the lies your mother tells you. Life isn’t just about who’s getting the High Council seat this year or who has the most control over their minions. How we’re living, what we’re doing, it’s a prison.”
“Don’t you think you’re being a little dramatic?” Bragnia asked. “We’re women. It’s not in our nature to be brutal.”
“How else would you describe a society that buys and sells men from all over the universe, takes them away from their families, wipes their memories, presses them into slavery, beats them, and, when they’re done with them, kills them?”
“I’d call it progressive. After all, men were doing it to women long before we did it to them. Look at Mars. They keep women locked up in camps and impregnate them in public. It’s disgusting. We are only passing along the practice to those that invented the concept.”
“You don’t really believe that, do you?” Nadira asked.
“Everyone believes that,” Bragnia answered.
Shar-jon threw a bottle, missing Bragnia’s foot by a few inches. “I thought I was inviting you here, not your mother.”
“May our mothers be well!” Kiera called.
“And may we never become them!” Nadira answered, completing the group’s mantra.
“I’m not my mother!” Bragnia pulled her knees into her chest. “I’m just level headed.”
“More like brain washed,” Satch spat.
Bragnia ignored him. “Kiera, please don’t run away. There has to be something you can do.” She snapped her fingers. “Maybe my mother can talk to your mother, you know, get her to change her mind? My mother used to be a High Priestess in the Temple. She can be very persuasive.”
“Yes, that’s an excellent idea,” Kiera mocked. “Please tell your mother about our little talk and perhaps, if the Mother Goddess wills it, instead of turning me into an Enforcer, they can execute me instead.”
“I was just trying to help.”
“Yeah, you were trying to help me. Help me right into the grave.”
“Whoa, everyone calm down!” Nadira raised her hands, tried to stand, swayed, and fell down again.
Shar-jon’s twin slaves rejoined the group. They were indistinguishable from each other, both possessing barrel chest, and powerful builds. They would have looked like any other man, if not for their green skin, long canines, and amber colored eyes. They sat, on either side of Shar-jon, the one on the left passing a bottle to the one on the right. The left one waited until his brother drank his fill, then reached his hand out for the bottle and took a long drink.
Nadira watched them, an idea slipping into her consciousness. “We will settle this with a hovercraft race.”
“A hovercraft race?” Bragnia asked. “That’s ridiculous and unsafe. You know, I would have expected more from an ambassador’s daughter.”
“I’d expect a mother to say that.” Kiera rolled her eyes. “It sounds about right coming from you.”
“Empresses please! If Bragnia beats Kiera to vat twelve, then Kiera stays, and calls Bragnia’s mother for help.”
“And if I win?” Kiera asked.
“Then Kiera does what she wants, and Bragnia has to bring her Prime Servant with her the next time we meet.”
“Why would I bring him?” Bragnia asked.
“For the same reason anyone brings their slaves here,” Nadira turned to Kiln, kissed him slowly to the oohs and aahs of her audience.
“That’s disgusting.”
“Have you tried it?” Nadira asked. “Come on Bragnia. What’s Kiera’s future worth to you? One little race? One little kiss?”
“Don’t bother,” Kiera flicked her wrist. “She’s afraid, and her slave is disgusting. I wouldn’t want to kiss him either.”
“Nadira, is this about the junior High Council seat?” Bragnia whispered. “It’s down to just me and you isn’t it? Are you trying to sabotage me so that you can take the seat for yourself?”
“You can have the junior High Council seat. I never wanted it in the first place, my mother did.”
“I’m sure,” Bragnia sounded incredulous.
“First off,” Kiera said. “Nadira will never serve on High Council because she has a brain and can think for herself.”
“Yes!” Nadira cried.
“And second,” Kiera continued. “Don’t change the subject. I’ll take you up on that race. I’ll have you know that I am unbeaten in a hovercraft.”
“You’ve never raced in a hovercraft,” Satch said.
“Not now Satch,” Kiera retorted. “So, Bragnia. What do you say? Race for my life?”
Bragnia squeezed her lips together, her already red face turning crimson.
“Fine. I’ll play your
stupid game.”
Kiera smirked, and stood as the crowd’s whooping and hollering floated over the bubbling reservoir.
Two hovercrafts sat close to vat number eleven. Each of their bodies were constructed of a single, circular frame that housed the seating area, and a long, straight tale making the ships appear like strange, white dragonflies.
Kiera climbed into one while Bragnia climbed into the other.
Kiln followed Bragnia in.
“Do you know how to fly one of these?” he asked.
“I’m not an idiot, Kiln. I’ve been flying hovercrafts since I was twelve.”
Kiln held up his hands. “Fair enough. Just go once around vat twelve and back.”
She smoothed her red hair back into a ponytail, her eyes focused on the vat. “I’ll be fine. I don’t need help from a slave.”
Kiln frowned. “Fair enough.” He climbed down from the hovercraft, and took his place next to Nadira.
“What did she say?” Nadira asked.
“She said that she doesn’t need help,” Kiln replied.
“Foolish.”
“I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Don’t be such a worrier.” Nadira hit him playfully on his bicep. She admired his strong profile, his well-muscled build. “Would you go with me?” she asked.
“Where?”
“To Mahala?”
Kiln paused, turned to her. “Is that the alcohol talking?”
“Maybe. But if it wasn’t, what would you say?”
“I would say that we don’t have to make that decision yet.”
Worlds Away: Sci-fi Alien Romance (Alpha Alien Abduction Tale Book 1) Page 15
