by Mary Auclair
What’s Inside
They simply didn’t have time to play babysitters. They were warriors, protectors. Not entertainers.
“You shouldn’t have come here.” Khal turned away from Hazel. “I’m sending you back as soon as we come across an Eok ship.”
“No! I can’t go back to Aveyn.”
Khal heard her plea, that desperate edge in her soft, feminine voice, but he was already turning from her.
His mind was already sorting through the possible ways of getting rid of her. He couldn’t afford to turn back now, not with the Myrador on a clear course for the Frontier. The secrecy of his mission was of paramount importance.
The mission was all that mattered. Compromising it in order to get rid of some human female in search of an easy thrill was more than just a mere complication. He growled, realizing he couldn’t just offload her onto a passing Eok ship—or any ship, for that matter. Not with the Myrador on an obvious course to the Frontier. It would raise too many questions, questions he could not answer.
The only way to send this female back where she belonged without compromising the mission was to drop her off when the tracker chosen by Prime Councilor Aav met with him.
With a bit of luck, he could get rid of both.
“Wait!” A small hand curved around his bicep, and Khal turned to see Hazel standing right next to him. Her proximity sent a rush of arousal into his bloodstream and he stared at her as she licked her lips in a nervous gesture, the tip of her wet, pink tongue darting between those full, soft lips.
She was too close, her female scent too strong, laced with the pheromones of her fear, mixed into a potent aphrodisiac that shot demands straight down to his seed stem. His member stirred anew and he knew this time, it wouldn’t be so tame as before.
He locked gazes with her, noticing how perfect the curve of her throat was. How generous her breasts seemed, enclosed in the synthetic leather. Lust shot through his veins, into his limbs as he glared at the female.
I haven’t taken care of my needs enough since I came to Aveyn. This is the result.
“I can’t go back to Aveyn.” She repeated her plea, her fingers tightening around his flesh, digging in with an intensity that approached erotic. “I want to get to Earth.” Her voice was thin and her eyes full of gut-wrenching hope. “I need to get to Earth.”
Hope he had to rip to pieces before it could do damage.
“No.”
The simple word had the intended effect. Hazel withdrew her hand and she stepped back. Something dark and feral inside him snarled to life, whispering in the back of his mind that he wanted that hand on his body. That he wanted to put his own hands on her body. Khal shook it off, more resolved than ever to get rid of her before she could do damage to his mission.
Or to him.
Venomous Lust
Eok Warriors Book Four
Mary Auclair
Published by Blushing Books
An Imprint of
ABCD Graphics and Design, Inc.
A Virginia Corporation
977 Seminole Trail #233
Charlottesville, VA 22901
©2019
All rights reserved.
No part of the book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The trademark Blushing Books is pending in the US Patent and Trademark Office.
Mary Auclair
Venomous Lust
EBook ISBN: 978-1-948140-52-2
Print ISBN: 978-1-948140-53-9
v1
Cover Art by ABCD Graphics & Design
This book contains fantasy themes appropriate for mature readers only. Nothing in this book should be interpreted as Blushing Books' or the author's advocating any non-consensual sexual activity.
Contents
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
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Epilogue
Mary Auclair
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Chapter 1
Hazel
Night wrapped its lonely fingers around Hazel’s throat. She tried her best to hide in the deep shadows surrounding the Tower as she scurried along the walls but still felt too exposed for comfort. A fat bush stood in her way as she reached the corner and Hazel had to hunch over, hurrying across a path of harsh silver moonlight to go around it. As she moved in the awkward position, a sharp pain shot through her side and her hand instinctively went to it, but it didn’t help.
Could he have broken my ribs? No, I don’t think so.
Hazel made her way back into the shadows as she turned the corner to the Tower and looked behind her. The beating of her own heart against her battered ribcage hurt, but she barely felt the pain. Fear held her in a vice grip and her entire body shook with heavy shivers as she waited to see if Bobbie had followed her.
Please, let him give up. Let him go back in his rooms and drink himself to sleep.
Dread made her curse under her breath as the shape of a man walking alone, his face twisted with some sick, visceral anger, appeared in the single, illuminated path. The cold rays of the full moon cast a mean light over Bobbie’s crude features, from the square planes of his broad face to the prominent brows that were drawn into a fearsome scowl. As he looked around the vast courtyard, Bobbie’s gaze went directly to the Tower where Hazel was squatting, hidden by the bush.
Shit, I wasn’t fast enough.
She had run as fast as she could, thinking Bobbie would be unconscious long enough for her to escape, but he’d come around faster than she thought. Even from the distance, she could see the misshapen shape of his nose and the lazy dripping of blood from where she had struck him back. She flattened herself against the wall, retreating to the deeper shadows behind the bush, low on the ground. As the lush cover of leaves hid her trembling body, the sound of blood pulsing in her jugular drowned out the chirping of the creatures of the night. Terror invaded her body and mind, the pain rescinded to the back of her consciousness, and all Hazel could do was wait.
She couldn’t let Bobbie find her. He would kill her this time.
The wet sound of footsteps on the grass were approaching and Hazel’s mouth dried up. Panic coursed through her veins and lit up her paralyzed limbs as she prepared to take off. Even injured, she still ran faster than him.
But run where?
“Human,” a voice called, loud and sharp. “Stop walking.”
That voice, it was too deep to be human. Too gravely, too close to an animal’s growl. Too full of itself, and way too unafraid to face someone like Bobbie in the dead of the night in a deserted courtyard. An alien, then. No, not just an alien. An Eok.
“What do you want?” Bobbie’s voice flared, high-pitched and slurred. “I got nothing to say to you, to any of you.”
To Hazel, it was clear Bobbie sounded drunk, but would the Eoks recognize the signs? Drinking alcohol was illegal, like pretty much everything else since the aliens had taken over the planet. She didn’t like the big blue overlords with their
gruff manners and superior attitudes, but right now, she could use their interference. Maybe with a bit of luck, Bobbie could end up getting in trouble.
A black eye or two would only be justice, when it came to Bobbie.
“You are outside your personal residential unit past curfew.” The alien’s voice again, unaffected by Bobbie’s angry slur, confirmed what Hazel had already suspected. They didn’t know Bobbie was drunk. They didn’t know what drunk was.
Those Eoks were as thick as they were strong. Big, blue and scary, they patrolled the planet like it was their own and not the humans’. Like humankind was still imprisoned. And, in many ways, it was still true.
Because if the Eoks were stupid, humankind was stupider—for accepting being ruled by another species, for accepting being led mindlessly, like sheep.
Not everyone, of course. There was Jonah, who was working himself to death for all of them. The medical personnel, and the workers in the fields who provided everyone with fresh food. The teachers working in the single school, educating human kids for the first time since the fall of their species.
Lots of people weren’t stupid, but Bobbie alone was enough to tip the scales all the way to as-stupid-as-stupid-goes in the wide balance of things.
Bobbie came closer, his shadow reaching up like a nightmare on the wet grass, his bulky limbs stretched into long, twig-like imprints in the harsh moonlight. Hazel pressed her back harder against the stone of the Tower, flattening herself into a wishful translucence. Of course she didn’t disappear, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.
The tips of Bobbie’s boots appeared at the corner of the building and Hazel’s breath caught.
“You’re not the boss of me,” Bobbie answered, his voice rising, his words melting into one another to the point of being barely understandable. “I can go wherever I want, whenever I want.”
Hazel’s eyes grew wide and stung as she held them open, not blinking. Bobbie was standing just there, ten feet away from her. Her lungs started to burn and she fought the urge to breathe in, knowing the slightest movement might give her away.
“The curfew applies to everyone. There is no exception.” The Eok answered in a measured voice, but Hazel heard the tension underneath. Or, more likely, the annoyance. “We will escort you back inside.”
“And what if I don’t want to go?” Bobbie’s voice was belligerent and he took a step toward the Eoks.
Away from Hazel.
Tension leeched from her skin and she breathed in slowly, allowing the air into her screaming, burning lungs as silently as possible.
“Then we will have no choice but to take you inside. Perhaps a night in a cell will adjust your attitude.”
The Eok’s voices weren’t so dull anymore. They were brisk and irritated. She understood. A minute with Bobbie was enough to make anyone grind their teeth. And if Bobbie weren’t careful, he wouldn’t have any of those left, because she didn’t need to see them to know the Eoks could break every single one in one blow.
Please do it. Punch him for me and then drag him away.
But the Eoks didn’t punch Bobbie, didn’t drag Bobbie away crying like a little girl. Because Bobbie was a coward who only started a fight when he knew he could win. When he knew he was the one landing the blows and not the one receiving them. As Hazel thought about Bobbie’s fists, the sharp pain in her side came back to life, blooming across her ribcage in a vivid memory of what he had done to her.
“One day, humans won’t listen to your orders anymore.” There was defeat in Bobbie’s voice—defeat and the morose bitterness of one who knew the fight was lost before it had even started. “I don’t even care that that little whore is out there.”
“Is there a human female out here, alone?” The Eok’s voice was full of concern and Hazel cursed internally. Those big blue aliens might be brutes, but they were so protective that they wouldn’t leave if they thought some defenseless female was out and about, all alone.
“She is,” Bobbie spat out. “She’s a sneaky little bitch, that one. You’d better go after her before she gets too far.”
“As soon as we get you back to the Tower, we’ll go looking for her.”
Large bodies moved beyond the bushes; tall and broad. Inhuman. Hazel held her breath as they flanked the much smaller shape of the man and walked away. Then Bobbie and the Eoks were gone. Hazel kept her back pressed against the wall until the sound of footsteps faded to nothing and the only thing she could hear was her own jagged breathing.
Shit. Now what?
She didn’t have much time. They would be back, and there was no question that they would find her. Eoks had an unsettling sense of hearing, could smell her from an ungodly distance, and saw in total darkness as well as in the daylight. Trying to hide from them was like trying to hide from the sun in a prairie, or run from the wind: useless and destined for failure.
Hazel cast a frantic look around, her entire body trembling as she stepped away from the wall.
Where can I go?
Going back to the Tower was out of the question. She was done with Bobbie. Done with his fists and his cock, done with his lies.
Her eyes raked across the flat land around the Tower, her mind in a haze of confusion and panic. Then she spotted Knut’s old mansion, standing like a malevolent giant in the distance. That was where most of the Eoks lived when they stayed on Aveyn. That was where Commander Khal lived, ruling over the humans’ lives with an iron fist.
I can’t go there. They’ll just send me back.
But there was nowhere else to go. The crop fields stretched into the distance and then, Aveyn’s thick, wild forests covered the rest of the land.
I need to get to Earth. I need to get to Sally.
But there was no way. That was when her trouble had all begun, anyway. That was why she had been putting up with Bobbie in the first place—because she had been stupid enough to believe him when he’d said he could put her on a shuttle to Earth.
Voices rang out from somewhere far away. Alien voices, calling out in loud, anxious tones.
Her time was up.
Then Hazel’s gaze landed on the shining surface of the long, sleek spaceship that waited in front of Knut’s old mansion. There was the Myrador, the jewel of Commander Khal’s fleet, a wonder of technology she couldn’t even begin to understand. It stood all alone, without any guards, because there was no need for guards. Not when the only troublemakers around were humans who didn’t respect the curfew. As she stared at the shuttle, Hazel bent over like she had been hit as an idea took root in her head.
It was a stupid, stupider than stupidity itself idea. An idea likely to get her into trouble, but she was already in so deep, it didn’t even matter anymore.
Fear took hold of her limbs and her head felt like it was about to explode, but Hazel crouched low to the ground and half-ran in the awkward position as pain shot through her ribs, flashing white hot and deep with every breath she took, but she didn’t stop. Finally, she was covered by the shadow of the looming shuttle. It was big, sleek and dark. A monster made of metal and alien technology.
She turned, wrapping her body close to the pillars bracing the weight of the Myrador on the ground just as two tall, broad figures emerged from the corner of the Tower. They were more than a hundred yards away, but she knew they could spot her anyway.
“Hazel!”
Shitload. They know my name!
She was out of luck as well as out of time. They wouldn’t stop hunting her until she was safe and sound in her room in the Tower. At the mercy of Bobbie and his friends. Hazel bit her lower lip so hard, the coppery taste of blood spread on her tongue. She had nowhere else to go. No options left.
All that was left was Bobbie and bruises in the dark. As silently as if she were no more than a mouse scurrying along the walls, Hazel backed up between the rows of tall metal containers destined to be loaded onto the Myrador.
Maybe I can hide in there?
But as her eyes went to the underbelly of the
ship, there was no point of entry for her to see. Only gleaming metal, seamless and solid.
I can’t get in.
The Eoks were walking over the open grass now, looking around with their heads held high like dogs sniffing a trail. Panic invaded each of her cells. She had to find somewhere, anywhere to hide.
Then she turned to the containers. They were tall and square, big enough to climb into. She followed blind instinct as she lifted the heavy lid, then explored the contents with her hand. It was almost full, but she had enough space to lie flat on top of whatever dry, grainy cargo was stocked in there. With one last crazed look at the figures of the Eoks out on the grass, Hazel hoisted herself inside the container. Her breath came hard and hot as she concentrated, with a death grip on her fingers to allow it to close without making a sound.
Then she was entombed in darkness.
Time passed and the sounds of heavy boots on wet ground came and went. Muffled words spoken fast reached her ears, but Hazel couldn’t make sense of them. She was safe there, if only for a few moments.
Time passed without leaving any trace. She had no idea how long, only that her head became heavy, her limbs felt like they were filling with sand. As strange as it was, an overwhelming desire to sleep overcame her. It had been years since she had been truly safe, safe from Knut and his greed, safe from the rebels, safe from the Eoks and their rule of steel.
Safe from Bobbie.
Hazel’s eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and soon, she drifted off. Just before she abandoned herself to the darkness, she saw the look on Bobbie’s face just before it had all turned bad. His eyes full of a sick enjoyment as she screamed and cried. His mouth spewing insults as his fists connected with her flesh.
