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SCAR'S CONQUEST
by
ISABELLA JORDAN
Amber Quill Press, LLC
http://www.amberquill.com
http://www.amberheat.com
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Scar's Conquest
An Amber Heat Book
This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author's imagination, or have been used fictitiously.
Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental.
Amber Quill Press, LLC
http://www.amberquill.com
All rights reserved.
No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.
Copyright © 2007 by Isabella Jordan
ISBN 978-1-60272-031-2
Cover Art © 2007 Trace Edward Zaber
Layout and Formatting
Provided by: ElementalAlchemy.com
Published in the United States of America
Also by Isabella Jordan
Accidentally Yours
Electrical Storm
Elegant
Every Breath You Take
Gypsies, Tramps, and Heat
The Legend Of Black Robert Flynne
Midnight, Madness, and Naughty Things
Runaway Train
Sache's Consort
Sister Moon
Stay
Stiff Competition
Waiting For You
Woman In Chains
Dedication
For Jim...
Chapter 1
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Mission from Earth, Shuttle Conquest, 2369
"What's happening? We just lost communications."
Captain Camilla Raines didn't miss the panic in her navigator's voice. Manual steering was going, too. She was losing control of the shuttle and there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it. She struggled fiercely at the throttle, against the force pulling them in a direction instinct told her she didn't want to go. Darkness, eerily devoid of any stars, loomed before them as far as the eye could see.
"What the hell is happening?" Lieutenant Lila Martin, her second in command, sounded worse this time. Out of the corner of her eye she watched the other woman furiously pound on the control board where she stood.
"Try to remain calm," Camilla growled. "How's the backup system coming?"
"It's not!"
Camilla didn't need the entire crew panicking right now. Her own heart was slamming in her chest, and her hands clenched on the control stick as she fought to move the nose of their craft in any direction. No matter what she tried, she couldn't break free of whatever unseen force that had them in its grip.
The worst part was that Camilla had no idea what they were up against. Their sophisticated radar system hadn't picked up a damn thing before they lost power to it. How could that be? It was a brand new shuttle and it had passed every safety test. Yet they were rapidly losing power to the entire craft. Camilla watched the lights on the control panel before her flicker and die at an alarming rate.
Something was out there, that was for damned sure. And whatever it was pulled them toward that empty blackness with ever increasing speed.
"We're losing everything!" Lila shouted.
"Yeah, we're picking up speed, too, and I'm not doing it," Camilla told them. "Everyone, strap yourselves in."
Her arms felt like they were going to come out of their sockets as she tried pulling the column up manually. It had no effect whatsoever, and her heart clenched as she tried to keep her panic at bay.
Frustrated, Camilla released the wheel and wasn't surprised when the shuttle kept right on moving as it had when she was fighting it.
"Fuck!" Camilla smacked the wheel.
"Where are the stars?" Lila asked. "It's dark out there."
"It's a black hole."
Camilla turned at the calm sound of Adrienne Sumner's voice. The scientist they were transporting was strapped in her seat as she'd been commanded to do. Outwardly she appeared to be calm, but Camilla read fear in the scientist's eyes. The woman's hands clutched the arm of her chair, her knuckles white.
"You're sure?" Camilla wanted to know.
The woman's eyes met hers.
"It's the only explanation for the void before us. A black hole is a region of spacetime that nothing can escape from. Not even light."
"I don't see a hole," Lila pointed out.
"The term is deceptive," Adrienne explained. "Since no light can escape from them it would be impossible to see them."
"What happens when we get sucked into it?" Camilla asked. "If light can't escape from it, neither will we."
The scientist's throat worked as she swallowed hard. "No, we won't escape."
"What will happen to us?" Lila's voice dropped.
Camilla eyed her second in command, who perched on the edge of her seat.
"Strap yourself in." Camilla used a sharp tone.
In the next instant the shuttle lurched sharply and then accelerated at a speed Camilla had never experienced before. Her head snapped against the seat, striking it hard, and she was slammed back in her seat with such force she thought her ribs would crack.
Lila screamed as she was hurled to the back of the shuttle as though she weighed nothing at all.
It was terrifying to move at such speed and see nothing pass them by in the front glass, to see nothing but unending blackness. Camilla's heart pounded in a terrible rhythm, wondering what was happening to them and what would happen to them. Camilla wanted to ask the scientist if she knew how big the damned black hole could be, but she couldn't talk. Hell, she couldn't move. She was glued to the chair, the skin over her face taut from the high velocity at which they were moving.
Just as quickly as they had started hurtling through space, the shuttle pitched violently and the darkness gave way to light and a view of a blue and green planet they were headed straight for.
Oh shit! Camilla sprang to life, desperately grabbing the wheel trying to gain control of the shuttle now that she could move again and they'd been freed from whatever the fuck had captured them.
One by one the shuttle's systems were restored as randomly as they'd failed. Camilla frantically worked the controls, working the column as they began to descend. They were still going way too fast. As they pierced the planet's atmosphere, Camilla fought with everything she had to pull them up, reduce their speed, anything.
"We're heating up." One of the techs had moved up into Lila's seat, strapping in hastily.
Sweat popped out on Camilla's brow, from the anxiety more than the heat filling the cabin. She jerked the steering column up and out. Using her entire body, she held it steady to slow them up as the planet's vibrant green surface grew ever closer. Her muscles clenched and tightened, willing the craft to slow as it groaned and howled in protest. Even as she struggled, Camilla feared that at the rate they were going they'd explode on impact.
They were getting ready to find out.
"We're going to hit!" she shouted. "Hang on!"
Foliage struck the front glass crazily as they plummeted toward the planet's surface. Using the adrenaline fear sent surging through her, Camilla yanked viciously on the column, miraculously getting the nose of the shuttle up before they struck.
Now they coasted over the mountainous terrain, but she still had to gain control. Camilla wasn't able to do that before they skidded over a particularly high peak, the belly of the shuttle scraping over the mountain and jarring all its occupants violently until they cleared it. Scre
ams erupted behind her as they dropped, heading for a large body of water.
Camilla threw herself into navigating away from the water, but the craft dipped abruptly and they struck hard. Plumes of water rushed at the front glass as her head struck the control panel before her. The splitting pain at her temple and the cries of her crew were the last things she was aware of before everything around her went black.
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The sounds of screams pulled Camilla out of unconsciousness. Her right eye felt glued shut and her limbs felt heavy. She wasn't lying on the cold hard surface of the cabin floor. The ground beneath her was soft and cool. When she managed to open both of her eyes, she found she was lying in a wooded area, like those within the biospheres back home created to replicate sections of Earth as it had existed a couple hundred years ago. The soil, leaves, and twigs beneath her hand felt so strange.
Yet she didn't have a lot of time to marvel over that. Her head hurt like hell and she didn't know where she was. Those continuing screams sounded too damned familiar. Jerking her head at the sound, and paying for the movement with a knife-like pain in her skull, she looked around for the source.
Now we've been captured. Shit!
There was Adrienne, the scientist, and the two female techs surrounded by a group of creatures that resembled wolves. Wolves! They'd been extinct for a while now on Earth. They were a hell of a lot bigger than the wolves she'd seen images of. These had powerful looking upper bodies and they were standing perfectly upright like men. Their weapons were crude--spears, axes.
That was three of the shuttle's occupants accounted for.
A few feet away from that group, Camilla watched in stunned silence as two other wolf creatures pounded the shit out of their android, the only male occupant of the craft. Whether they destroyed him because he wasn't a true life form or that he was male, well, she didn't know. Losing him was devastating. Without him, she had no idea how they were going to repair the shuttle.
Where the hell is Lila?
"This one is dead."
Camilla slowly turned her head at that deep voice. At least the translator chip implanted behind her ear, standard issue for all in service now, picked up their language. The slight tingling wasn't there as it normally was, but that was probably because of her head injury. She was probably too numb to feel it.
The sight of Lila's limp body being dragged along the ground by the back of her torn, bloody uniform almost proved to be her undoing. Her navigator's sightless eyes stared eerily in her direction when she was dropped to the ground like so much garbage right next to her. She'd told Lila to strap herself in. Lila had been her navigator for the last three years.
Damn.
All of Camilla's strength was gone, and she lowered her head back to the ground. The sharp pain shooting through her skull was incredible, and when a shadow moved over her, she felt cold. Very cold.
"This one is as good as dead." The same creature that had just dumped Lila's body now stood over her. "Let's finish her off, take those three, and return to the village."
The cries and screams of the other three women faded, drowned out by the sound of her own heart pounding. They were going to kill her and she didn't even have the strength to pull herself up from the ground. The pain was too strong, her body trembling from her efforts to land the shuttle and the horrible crash that had resulted when she couldn't.
"No."
Camilla sensed the other male's deep voice stopped the creature who thought she should be "finished off." She waited, every second an eternity, until she saw another creature walk around her, into her line of vision. He crouched at her side, just before Lila's body, and his scent was like nothing she'd ever experienced before. Initially he smelled like the wooded area around them. Beneath that, his own scent was wild and untamed. The fragrance stirred her, ensnaring her senses even though she was injured seriously.
As she watched, the fur on the creature's body began thinning and shortening, the rear limbs he crouched on contorting and changing shape until they resembled human legs and feet. They were shifters! His skin was tanned, his legs heavily muscled.
The pads of his human fingers were rough as they slid gently under her chin, tilting her face up just a little. Out of the corner of her swollen right eye she tried to get a look at him. As a human he was a white guy with dark hair that just touched his shoulders and dark eyes that studied her intently. Unable to maintain the glance for long, she allowed her eyes to slide closed. Damn, her head hurt.
"She comes with us." He released her chin. "If she can be spared, I'll see it done."
"Why? Do you want more problems? We have three healthy females. Let's take them and go."
The guttural growl that erupted from the man above her had her heart slamming in her chest.
"She comes with us," he repeated with menace. "I'll take her."
"You would take her as your mate? Half of her head is smashed in. How's she going to survive?"
Another growl, this one deeper and full of threat.
Just as gently as he'd touched her face, he lifted her arm from the ground. When he bit the fleshy part of her forearm, she cried out in surprise and pain, and her eyes flew open. Why the hell had he done that? The other creature had just pointed out how badly she was hurt.
"I will hear no more about it." Her arm was slowly lowered back to the ground as her biting champion rose to his feet and shifted back into his wolf form. "She comes with us."
There was a pause and it was quiet. Even the other three women who'd survived the crash along with her were quiet now, probably watching the battle of wills going on above her.
One thing was certain. The one who bit her meant to save her. It remained to be seen what happened after that. If she lived, would she be better or worse off? Their use of the word mate had some pretty unmistakable implications.
Strong hands rolled her onto her back and the face of a large black wolf swam in her vision, blurry and fading. The creature pulled her up from the ground and she drifted into uncertain blackness within seconds after that.
Chapter 2
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The sun filtered through a canopy of leaves, warming her face as she awoke. Camilla stared at those leaves for the longest time thinking how odd it was that she was even lying under them. War, disease, and global warming had destroyed the Earth she'd come from where leaves like those had grown centuries ago. The world she knew was all sealed within a climate controlled environment. There were no plants or foliage in their living space. Only a few animals had survived with them and containing them in such a caged glass world had always seemed cruel to her.
Where the hell was she?
Then it all came back to her. The black hole, the crash. The wolf-like creatures who had pulled them from the wreckage. And Lila...
Lila, her friend and navigator, was dead. Camilla's heart tightened as she recalled the last time she'd seen her.
Camilla lifted her hand to her head, expecting to feel the wound that caused her so much pain following the crash. She'd been completely miserable. Hadn't the one creature made reference to the fact that her head was bashed in? Her right eye had nearly been swollen shut.
Yet her vision was perfectly fine now and she felt no pain. The flesh covering her forehead was as smooth as it always was. Both hands searched her scalp frantically, checking her entire head for any telltale scab or ridge in the loose, tangled mess of her hair.
What the fuck? Nothing. There was no sign of an injury. How could that be? As bad as she'd felt when they pulled her out of the shuttle, she realized she should have died in that crash as Lila had. One thing she remembered very clearly was hitting the control panel pretty damned hard.
Well, she couldn't even prove it had happened now. Either a lot of fucking time had passed or she'd died and just didn't know it yet. Those were the only two explanations.
Camilla went to rise from what she thought was a bed of some sort and the movement dumped her on the ground hard. She sat on the
leaf covered ground staring up like an idiot at a simple bit of old fashioned canvas stretched between two tall trees.
Shaking her head, she climbed to her feet and looked around. Her surroundings were beautiful, lush green woods and dark shadows, reminding her of the photographs of the rain forests that had once existed on her home planet. She could buy this being paradise, the afterlife, except for the sultry heat that surrounded her. A cool draft of air drifted by and Camilla savored the way it felt against her skin.
That's when she looked down and noticed her uniform had been cut. Her feet were bare and the frayed edges of her uniform ended just below her ass. Well hell! The sleeves of her uniform had been totally removed, leaving her arms bare. Her midriff was exposed, too. The fabric curled at her waist where it had been sliced, the other half of the garment ending not far below her breasts.
Someone had done this to make her comfortable she realized. To help her tolerate the heat.
So she probably wasn't dead. Especially when she felt as if her bladder would burst and hunger clawed at her stomach like a wild beast. Finding a place to relieve herself was the easy part. It was finding food once that was done that was the problem.
And once she had food, the real work began. She had to find the rest of her crew and come up with a plan to get them all back home.
Using threads she tore from the bottom of her uniform to mark where she'd been, Camilla wandered away from where she'd relieved herself and through the unfamiliar maze of trees and plants searching for anything she could eat. It felt like hours passed while she desperately searched, intense hunger making her sick now.
Glancing up, she saw the tree she now stood beneath was filled with fruit that looked familiar, though she couldn't immediately identify it. Somehow she managed to climb far enough up the tree to pluck three pieces of shiny, dark red produce. With no more decorum than an animal might use, she jumped back down to the ground and bit greedily into one of fruits. Its nectar was sweet and tangy. She ate the rest of that first piece within seconds, even though she knew it wasn't the best idea to eat something when she didn't know what it was exactly. She was that hungry.
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