by Juno Wells
CONTENTS
Title Page
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Epilogue
Sign Up Here!
by Juno Wells
© 2015 Juno Wells
All Rights Reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental. The characters are all productions of the author’s imagination.
Please note that this work is intended only for adults over the age of 18 and all characters represented as 18 or over.
Kindle Edition
Editorial Reviews From the Author
JOIN JUNO WELLS' NEW RELEASE LIST!
Click on this link (or copy and paste it into your browser): http://eepurl.com/bnMJL5
Never miss a new release or cover reveal. Click here to ‘like’ Juno Wells on Facebook.
A Sexy Sneak Peek:
“Don’t you want me, Kester?” She touched his arm and leaned toward him. Before, she had been able to read some of his thoughts when she touched his alien skin. But now he was blank, closed off.
“I wanted to possess you since the moment I first held you, from the moment I took you into my ship. But are you sure... is this what you really want, Nadia? Once we do this... We’ll be bonded for life. And I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to always protect you. Not like I did during the attack.” She took his face in her hands. His beard had filled in on the journey from Earth to Gemna. Even though he had slept much of the way there, lines of worry were etched on his face. As she touched him, she knew it was worry that had been focused on her... from the very beginning. She closed her eyes, this time tapping into his thoughts. He opened them to her, showing her a future where the two of them were together, fully mated, traveling together among the star systems of Astria. He communicated that there might be danger, for them and for their children. But that there would always be love. It’s what he had to offer.
“Then take me. This is what I want.” Kester paused for one moment, pushing a lock of Nadia’s hair to the side.
“There’s no going back after this,” he said. She nodded, fully understanding. Kester took Nadia into his arms, gentle with her petite frame. He drew her to standing and pressed her body into his, cupping her small, firm breasts. He pulled her thin white shirt off over her head, letting her breasts fall free. She gasped as the cool air hit her flesh, her nipples standing firm. A jolt like lightning shot through her body and she groaned, pressing into Kester. She breathed deeply and took in his scent, relishing in the intoxicating notes of his musk. He tossed her top to the floor and pulled her into an embrace, crushing his lips to hers. That kiss was more than just a kiss... it was a communication of comfort, of safety, of protection that spanned galaxies. It was a promise of adventure and beauty. And more than that, it was Kester’s final step in becoming a true prince. Nadia could see that as she closed her eyes. The gentle telepathic waves from Kester’s mind showed her that she was the one who would complete him... she was his resting place, his home.
He cupped her breasts roughly and pushed them together, lowering his mouth to her nipples, kissing one and then the other. Kester moved his tongue over Nadia like a man starved, sending an electric shock through her as he nipped at her sensitive flesh. Nadia grew wet at his touch, her sex growing slick at the thought of the huge alien man entering her and making her his mate. As she breathed in his mating musk, her entire body seemed to pulse, growing more open, more flexible... ready to be entered and fully taken. His touch slowed, and his body read hers, each movement of his fingertips prepping her more fully. Nadia watched as he extended the tip of his tongue to her nipple, his leonine eyes looking up to hers. He circled one nipple with his tongue, rolling the other in his fingers. Nadia threw her head back, letting the waves of sensation take her body over. Here, she would give herself to this prince. Here, her life would begin.
PROLOGUE
War been brewing for over 1000 years, but never had it been so close…
If humans knew the danger lurking in the shadows of Outer Space above them not one would be able to sleep at night. Fortunately for them the guardians of the ancient peace—The Lords of Astria— protected their planetary home.
A new threat, the Dark Nebula, threatened the little spiral galaxy that had been neutral space since the Treaty of Elyria had ended the Great War.
Word had reached the High Council of atrocities being committed at the border of the Milky Way - the neutral territory between Astria and the Dark Nebula.
Just when things seemed at an impasse, a clever solution was proposed: to invoke the ancient rights which stated that once two peoples were united by blood and marriage, they became, in effect, one people— and any treaties which bound one people, bound all of them.
A member of the ruling house of each planet would take an earthling as a spouse, and so bring Earth under the protection - all with the utmost secrecy. If the Dark Nebula made further moves to encroach upon the Milky Way, the High Council would be able to protect its territory with lethal force.
A leader of each planet would have to wed and procreate with an Earthling in order to assure the continued survival and safety of the United Federation of Astria.
And so, while these cosmic decision played out in the heavens above them, the ignorant Earthlings slept blissfully, never knowing that the swiftly titling planet they called home held the fate of the universe within its little solar system… unless they were called up to be the mother to an alien child, a wife to an alien lover...
These are their stories.
CHAPTER ONE
Kester
Prince Kester of Delma and the Lanids remained unmated. And no one regretted that fact more than he. For now he had been ordered to fly to the planet known as Terra, a distant blue rock with weak males and weaker females. They called it Earth.
“Father, you know that I can have any female of Astria.” Kester paced before the throne, a scowl on his face. “You know I can’t take a Terran woman. They don’t even know we exist. Wouldn’t it be best to mate with a Gemnian woman? Or at least a female of the Astrian galaxy?” Kester closed his eyes, thinking of the many women he had bedded during his travels through the galaxy. It was repugnant to him that he might be forced to take a weakling woman — one who wouldn’t even know of his proud history or the riches his family had to offer. And the Terran women certainly wouldn’t know about Kester’s legendary sexual prowess. He sighed and shook his head.
“Son, you know that the Dark Nebula is vying for Terra. It’s one of the only planets in the Milky Way with compatible women.” Kester growled, his face growing dark. Terran women were barely women at all. Their bones were weak, and their minds were weaker. They didn’t even possess the ability for telepathy common to many Astrians. How would he even communicate with such a simple creature? The king sighed too, echoing Kester’s frustration.
“Kester, you know that taking your mother wasn’t my first choice. I even thought it wasn’t right to take a woman who hadn’t grown up among the Lanids. She was weak, and at first, I felt she was very... simple.”
“Father, don’t speak of mother that way.” Kester’s voice grew dark. The Duchess of the Lanids may not have grown up among the harsh mining colonies, but she was a strong ruler next to
Kester’s father. And the greatest female the colonies had ever seen.
“Son, you didn’t let me finish. Your mother was very different. She wasn’t even conceived on Gemna. She knew nothing of this culture, and her body wasn’t adapted to the lighter gravity or the single sun of this system. She too was from a distant land, and a culture far behind our own. After her overwhelm, she grew to love it here, and understand it better than I even could. And she was the best mate I ever had.” The old man chuckled, looking wistfully to the empty throne beside him.
“And don’t speak of her that way either.”
“Son, you’re much too sensitive. Women are made to be enjoyed. And if we let them, they will make us into better rulers, better leaders. I’ve heard the Terran women are quite fertile. You need an heir. And you know it. I won’t be here for another thousand years.”
“Good Gods, father.” Kester stood before his father, gripping the arm of his mother’s throne. At only one hundred and eighty years of age, Kester was not ready to take a mate or produce an heir. He had never expected to face such pressure. After all, he wasn’t born to be king. If his psychotic brother hadn’t left Delma to join the forces of the Dark Nebula, Kester would be free to roam the galaxy, seeking as many mates as he wished, spreading his seed far and wide. This was what Kester was meant to do. Not travel for days on a rickety ship to take some weakling Terran woman against her will. “I wasn’t meant for this.”
“Sometimes our destinies change. And though I’m a permissive father, on this subject I will not bend. You’re to find a fertile Terran woman and take her as a mate. That is final.” The King of Delma and the Lanids closed his mouth in a steely line, taking the opportunity to send an image into Kester’s brain. Kester immediately crumpled to the floor, clutching at his temples. Images of destruction at the hands of the tribes of the Dark Nebula filled his head. Kester saw citizens of Astria, stricken down, one after the other, unable to defend themselves. Sky cattle farmers, industrious miners, peaceful tribes and young families... all at the mercy of the dark warriors. Another image filled his unwilling mine... one of families built with Terran women, an alliance formed with the largest and most powerful civilization in the Neutral Zone. Terran would be unable to fight, but they would add new blood to Astria. If the Lords of Astria could take these women as wives, there might be enough of a claim on Terra to prevent the occupation of the Neutral Zone. It was a slim hope... but it was the only hope they had. The colors and sounds filled Kester’s head, the images coming faster now.
“Father, enough! I’ll ready the ship and leave this night if it means no more nagging from you.” The images snapped back to blankness, and Kester’s body settled. He stood again. He knew that there would be no fated mate on Terra for him, but he would bed a Terran woman and impregnate her if he must. He couldn’t promise much on the marriage front, but he could perhaps get past that part of the deal and continue traveling from world to world and sampling each one of their women. If the Terran woman could give him an heir, he could return her home and have nothing more to do with her weak, medieval race. Kester turned and stormed from the great hall, turning towards the dock where his father stored the old hyperdrive ships. He would go alone and return soon. After all, he had to get back to his damned life.
Nadia
“Ready the airlock. Something’s wrong with the damn thing.” Nadia raked her fingers through her wavy blond hair and pulled it back into a ponytail. She hadn’t tended to her usual beauty routine on the space station because... well it was the space station. Her skin had been sallow since she arrived at the ISS, and her hair lacked the luster that it had back on Earth. It was worth it for the view though. She floated over to the window, looking out over the broad horizon. It was easy to feel small when you were far enough to see four continents, and the atmosphere casually swirling away, unaware of the humans below. As long as Commander Nadia Rainer had been on the ISS -- going on two months now -- her breath hitched in her throat each time she looked out of the window and saw Earth. It was something like the feeling she got when she looked out at the sea as a child, but on a far greater scale. Vast, expansive, utterly sublime. And sometimes lonely too. Dmitri was the person she’d worked with most since she’d arrived, but he was sullen and preferred not to speak English when he didn’t have to.
“Spacewalk, Commander?” he asked. There was something in his tone to suggest that he thought she might be going on a casual jaunt. Nadia’s heart beat fast at the idea. Spacewalking wasn’t usually on her to-do list for the day. She was more about monitoring the crew, keeping track of vital signs, studying the effects of zero gravity on the body. She managed a Twitter feed that was relatively popular, but she didn’t seem to have the renegade personality of Chris Hadfield, the space celebrity. She was all about the science. And it seemed people didn’t take kindly to girl nerds who monitored the health of the crew members -- and even more boring, the health of the space station itself. She sighed. Each time she returned to Earth, she missed the freedom of space. And each time she returned to the ISS or went on another mission, she missed the land beneath her feet. Sometimes, she didn’t think there was anywhere she belonged. Not really.
“No, Dmitri. You know I don’t like to go out that much, not here.”
“I don’t know, Commander.” Like always, Dmitri looked a little bit bored. He was right. He didn’t know. He didn’t particularly care what she was up to. It seemed he was just there to do a job. Nothing like the camaraderie she’d heard of when Hadfield was here. And hell, she’d never even met a bored astronaut before. That was just her damn luck to be paired with the least interesting Russian in space. Dmitri fiddled with the controls, and Nadia stepped aside to suit up, pulling the familiar astronaut’s gear over her petite body. Even for an astronaut, she was tiny, and she’d had to have a suit specially made for her five-foot frame. All of the folks at the Academy -- the men especially -- had thought she’d never pass her physical requirements. But she fooled them all.
“Well, I need to check that it’s working correctly. Parsons had issues with it closing correctly yesterday, and we can’t have that. I’ll go check it and see what I need. You’ll be here if I need you?” Dmitri nodded and started working the controls that led out to the lock. Nadia pulled on her helmet, shutting herself off from the world around her. Even though she hadn’t fallen in love with spacewalks at the ISS, she did love gently floating around her temporary home, learning its ins and outs... all at a safe distance from the ship. She nodded to Dmitri, and he opened the airlock. It closed behind her with a reassuring thunk. That beautiful sound that told her she’d be okay, that things were working properly. She checked her suit again, giving the signal for the lock to open to the outside. The shadow of Dmitri moved behind her, and the lock opened to space, sucking her out gently into that blank, dark beyond. She gulped and held on to the ladder-like handles that adorned the ISS, moving her way to the outside surely and deftly.
“Keep the lock open for right now, Dmitri,” she said into her microphone, the voice sounding muffled and strange in the tiny, manufactured atmosphere of her helmet. She climbed around the airlock, wondering why it had stuck for Parsons the day before. Could it have been some sort of electromagnetic interference? A solar flare? No, that couldn’t quite be it. She felt around the opening, closing her eyes and envisioning the sensitive ball bearings and mechanical structures. Everything needed to be in perfect working order at all times. On Earth, you could fudge a repair job on a car or a microwave and expect everything to be okay for a little while at least. In space, every change... every repair was essential to the safety of the crew. And to the safety of all of those who would come here after her time had finished. Every moment mattered. Every thing she touched mattered. She kept her eyes closed and pushed around the opening of the lock, feeling for any imperfections. It was strange through the thick material of her gloved hands, but she’d gotten used to it over time.
Suddenly, there was a great shaking, a rumbling the
likes of which she’d never felt before. She gripped one of the rungs, opening her eyes and looking over her shoulder. A shadow seemed to pass, but it wasn’t one of the shadows she was used to seeing in the strange blankness of space. Normally, her eyes were turned toward Earth, examining the snowy white clouds and bright city lights. Those things were comforting to see -- evidence of humanity, evidence of home. This was something entirely different. It was a shape that wasn’t entirely a shape, something that her eyes couldn’t quite place. Something her brain couldn’t quite comprehend.
The space station shook again, rocking Nadia’s body and thrusting it against the clean white wall of the airlock. Her body smashed against her arm, and she heard a sickening crack, reverberating in the cave of her spacesuit. Nadia’s fingers let go of the rung that held her to life, to the comfort of the station that she’d called home for the past eight weeks. The place she was supposed to be for a year. The oxygen hose that was her tether to the ship grew taut and snapped. It all happened at lightning speed -- the snapping, the ripping away -- but Nadia saw it all in slow motion. The job she had loved, she’d planned for, she’d studied and trained for, the pinnacle of her career... she gripped haplessly, her hand opening and closing against the smooth surface of the space station. She passed it by, shot back by velocity, her remaining seconds of oxygen depleting. She closed her eyes and screamed, her body smashing against one of the solar arrays before the oxygen left her suit and the chilling darkness began to take her over.
