by Eva Priest
Hunted
The Legion: Savage Lands Sector
Eva Priest
Copyright © 2020 by Eva Priest
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Hunted was previously published in part by Dangerous Words publishing in the Stolen and Seduced collection.
Cover design by Anna Spies of Eerilyfair Design.
Contents
Book Description
Introduction
Author’s Note
1. CADE
2. SOLANA
3. CADE
4. SOLANA
5. CADE
6. CADE
7. SOLANA
8. CADE
9. SOLANA
10. SOLANA
11. SOLANA
12. CADE
13. SOLANA
14. SOLANA
15. CADE
16. SOLANA
17. CADE
18. SOLANA
EPILOGUE
Excerpt: SCORCHED
Free Book
About the Author
Book Description
SOLANA
* * *
Doing the work I love in an exotic jungle locale should have been the highlight of my career. But being the only woman in a good ole boy’s club is more stressful than I anticipated. So, when I dream of the sexiest lover ever, I figure I earned it.
But the morning brings its own set of complications when I discover my team is missing, and I’m being smuggled off-planet.
* * *
CADE
* * *
My latest op from Legion command has me traveling to the ass-end of the galaxy to run down a petty thief. Reaper units usually find the unfindable—no matter who or what we need to look for. On this mission? I end up finding the impossible: my fate-mate. Worse, I find her being stolen by the smuggler I’ve been hunting.
The universe only reveals our fate-mates once in a Rodinian’s lifetime, if that, and I’m not about to let a lowlife smuggler take what’s mine.
* * *
Hunted is a stand-alone sci-fi romance and the first book set in The Legion: Savage Lands Sector universe. This series is full of fated mates, instalove, happily-ever-afters, overprotective males, and the headstrong females that love them.
Introduction
"We are Legion, for we are many."
* * *
The Savage Lands Sector
* * *
The Rodinians have long been assigned to the Legion's Reaper units, patrolling the harshest sectors of the galaxy.
* * *
When we're on the hunt, there is nowhere in the galaxy you can hide from us. Try it. We dare you. You’ll see that we are already in the shadows, waiting for you.
Author’s Note
Dear Reader,
The first part of Hunted was originally featured in the Stolen and Seduced anthology, while the rest of the story was fulfilled via my website.
I have since received my publishing rights for this story, and so here it is now combined into a stand-alone, full-length novel.
For new-to-me readers, I hope you enjoy this first installment of The Legion: Savage Lands Sector.
* * *
much love,
Eva Priest
1 CADE
The jump gate spat out my reaper class prowler somewhere on the dark side of Jupiter. The re-entry was as smooth as could be expected in the Solarian Corridor, meaning not at all. It was rough and ragged, like the rest of this sector.
It earned its nickname: The Savage Lands.
If it were up to me, I'd have called this the graveyard. The bleak stretch of mostly dead planets made my tail twitch. No one liked this run. I wanted to punish our quarry even more for making us travel to the ass end of the galaxy. Time to get our targets and get the fuck out of here.
The rest of my unit leapt out of the jump gate after me. I punched the comms overhead. "Reaper One to reaper squad. Call in."
One by one, the men under my command called out.
"Dorn."
"Talus."
"Lyova."
Talus grumbled over the comm. "I think I lost my stomach at that last jump."
"Be grateful it wasn't your cock," Lyova replied.
Those two liked to swipe at each other as if they were still kits in school. I let them chatter on the comm lines. Dorn, my second, would put a stop to it whenever he'd had enough of it.
It was better to let off steam now rather than in the wild.
"So, where we headed, boss?" Dorn brought the chatter back to business as expected.
"Checking out our options." I scanned the read out and dismissed the first two destinations immediately. The third option was Terra Prime.
Otherwise known as Earth.
Classified as a no-fly zone by the Tuatha centuries ago, the designation stuck even though the galactic powers have shifted countless times since they had last claimed this sector.
Now that the Legion have started to assert its dominance in the galaxy, most of our resources needed to stay in the main spiral where there were a few planet systems, namely the Concord of Sovereign Worlds, who defied our inevitable authority. The Legion warships have cut off all trade along the outer reaches of the galaxy, and the Sovereign Worlds were getting creative with their supply chain.
It hadn't taken long for black market traders to respond and fill in the demand.
This entire sector was bottom priority for the Legion. Earth, the only planet of note, was too primitive to offer any strategic benefits for a brewing war. The optimal place for the dregs of society to traffic and hide.
The Terrans were none the wiser to any of the galactic warfare that had happened around them for eons. Their feeble minds still couldn’t wrap around the idea that there were other life forms outside of their puny little orbit. No surprise that Terrans were very often the bottom of the food chain.
I informed my team. "The prime destination for our poachers would be Earth. I'd bet my tail on it."
"Figures. The one time we're out this far in a long, long time, and we're on assignment."
Tal snarled at Lyova. "You don't have to fuck every female in sight wherever you find yourself, Ly."
"Says you! You must have lost your cock on that jump gate after all, or have you forgotten that human females have the best cu--"
A scree of alarm sounded, cutting the other man off.
"Kill the chatter," I snapped over the comms.
Good timing. It had been too long since I had a female warm my den. I didn’t need Lyova reminding me of what I’d been missing.
Fiddling with the controls, I picked out the high-pitched whine of deep space receivers.
Someone had left beacon relays disguised as debris as a sort of perimeter alarm. Crude, yet effective. They would be enough to give a warning to whoever had set it up that someone was coming their way. But what was even more annoying was the fact that one of the beacons was pinging to a receiver in my shuttle.
The poachers had found the tracker I'd placed in their ship and dropped it on one of the beacons. They weren't as stupid as I thought after all.
I targeted the relays and scrambled the frequencies so that whoever was listening would only hear random space noise. They would know that someone had messed with them, but at least this way they couldn’t pick up our bearings or call signs.
"Dammit, t
hey left a trap. I fixed it so they don't know what we're doing, but they know someone’s out here."
Dorn swore. "That cuts into our timetable."
"We can’t let them leave Earth. Too many possible exit routes, we’d lose them. We need to find them and cut them off on planet.”
"They have a few hours on us. If they know we're out here, they will be able to approximate our arrival and leave before we get there."
"That's assuming we follow in their wake. I have a better idea," I said. "Head toward the red planet called Mars. There's an old outpost there. If I use the gate there, I could probably set foot on Earth sooner than they will.”
“What do you want us to do while you’re trusting an ancient sky portal not to scramble your tail with your cock?”
Good thing they couldn’t see my grin. “Why, you’re going to use the even more ancient Elder Gates to jump to Earth’s moon.”
I cut off comms before they hit me with the worst of their snarls.
The gateway between Mars and Earth functioned, but just barely. Now I knew what reconstituted protein went through when they were being made into our meals-ready-to-eat packs. I tapped into my suit’s biometrics to make sure I hadn’t lost any important organs in the transition. “Suit. Analysis.”
“Vital signs normal. Biometrics within ideal range.”
Environmentals were humid but stable, which was a marked difference from Mars. Hell, who was I kidding? There was more life in the immediate vicinity than there was in an entire planet ship. Perhaps the whole of the Alpha Colony fleet. I didn't remember much my childhood on Rodinia Prime, but I remembered the trees.
I missed those the most.
The forest hummed with the nighttime chorus of various animal species. One of the things that the Sovereign Worlds craved was life. Plants, animals, didn't matter. The more exotic the better.
I'd swiped a file of some of their highly sought out cultivars and brought that information up on my retinal display. It was all gibberish to me, but the computer was able to pinpoint at least three of the species desired were in this section of jungle.
The rest of the squad had other probabilities. I took the area that was the most likely.
If the poachers weren't here, they would be soon.
Tapping my comm, I checked in with my unit.
"Good to know the gate didn't toss your DNA around."
I ignored Tal’s greeting. “Track my coordinates. Any sign of our quarry near here or surrounding area?”
“Nothing on our long-range scanners yet, boss. The jungle you're in is vast. They could be anywhere."
"Yeah, but there are only a few places to dock a cargo ship undetected, even by Earth's paltry defense systems. There's an old landing site not far from here. Showed signs of recent use. Betting that’s the one.” The ancient people who had claimed this land early in Terran history had built a temple atop the spiral mount that acted like a landing platform.
Terrans were a strange lot, deifying anything they couldn’t understand.
"Yeah, and poachers are lazy fucks. They'd use what worked before. We’ll tap you as soon as something blips.”
“It’s nighttime here. Computer says it will be about six to seven solar hours before sunrise. I’ll scout the surrounding area, if I don’t see anything before full dark, I’ll find shelter for the night.”
These poachers wouldn't just stick to a list. They'd grab anything and everything they could find. There were a lot of delicacies reported on Terra that appeal to the decadent tastes of the city planets, and they would pay.
Yet another thing I’d need to report to central command. Damned busywork. Another grievance that I’d add to their list of crimes.
I tapped the settings on my suit so I'd be camouflaged and hidden from all known sensors. The nearest human city of note was hundreds of klicks away, but there were forest dwellers of various species that I'd want to avoid. This was a primitive planet with barely usable indoor plumbing in the most advanced cities. They wouldn't know what to do if they saw a native Rodinian, let alone the Eridani alphas who were easily double the mass of the average human male.
The purr of a big cat stopped me. Looking up, a female jaguar lounged in the crook of a tree staring at me despite my camouflage. I tapped it off so she'd be able to see me as plainly as I saw her.
I didn't know how many humans she had seen in her short life, but I was sure she'd never seen any spotted ones with tufts of fur over pointed ears.
Her gaze was curious nonetheless; tail twitching with interest. There were so few of them, I couldn't help myself. I levered myself up so I could get closer to her.
Jaguars were one of the pets that would rake in a fortune. Most would live pampered lives for a time, but not many would be able to care for them as they needed to be cared for. And a scratching post in a glass and metal home could not replace a vast jungle.
I let her sniff me, and she ducked her head into my open palm. I scratched between her ears, and she dug her claws into the branch, casually tearing off huge chunks of bark.
No, a wild one like her wouldn't do in a cage. "I won't let them take you," I promised her. "Your males would be angry."
Hell, I was angry at the thought. I continued to pet my new friend and speak to her in Rodinian until she tired of my attentions and swiped at me. I chuckled and gave her peace.
Resuming my scout through the jungle, I called up the information on my quarry.
Silar Praxis. Smuggler of black-market goods. Known for getting himself and his crew out of sticky situations, even if it means screwing over his clients.
Loyal to his own people over outsiders. I could respect that.
Wondered what command wanted with him. Lowlife scum smuggling illegal plants and animals didn’t usually rate a face-to-face with the Eridani alphas. They had a stick up their butt with protocol, but there was a simple reason they were elected to lead the collective known as the Legion: they were ruthless killers. They weren't known for their interrogation techniques or diplomacy.
Whatever this Praxis guy knew, it was something that would impact the entire Legion for all this trouble. I intended to be the reaper who delivered him. Not for any recognition or commendation. I'd sooner expect an Eridani to chop off an arm and give it to me than to expect their praise.
No, my curiosity was piqued now, and if there was something brewing that might impact the other reapers in the Savage Lands, I needed to know.
2 SOLANA
I was dreaming.
I knew this was a dream because there was a man sleeping in my cot, and the last I checked, none of the men on this research expedition looked anything like this guy.
The man laid out before me was the most magnificent creature I had ever seen—and I’d seen many beautiful beasts in the wild.
He laid on his stomach, head cradled on his arms, facing away from me. He took up the whole cot, which barely fit my frame, but somehow was able to fit his much larger one. Seriously, he had to be nearly seven feet tall. He should have been way too big for the cot, and yet there was plenty of space for me to snuggle up next to him.
Thank you dream gods for delivering this perfect fantasy. The day's stress and fatigue were absolutely forgiven.
I balanced myself on the edge of the cot, fascinated with the tufts of golden fur along his pointed ears that blended in with the mane of riotous colors—gold, black, brown—atop his head. I had an urge to bury my hands in it just to see if it was as soft as it looked.
Leopard spots graced his body. Instead of looking odd, they looked… right. Everything about him looked right. I had an ample view of broad shoulders, bronzed as if he had been in the sun all day. Except, I knew somehow that his skin was always like that.
He stretched his body with feline grace and rolled onto his side. Even in sleep he looked surreal. The rosette spots on his body trail down the expanse of his torso, down his rippling abdominals, and trailing—
Dear God, the man was naked! Not that I saw any
thing… anything significant. The blanket that draped across his slim hips was so sheer as to be impractical, and I saw enough of the shadowed outline to know that whatever that blanket covered was huge. Not to mention that the impressive tenting that started could have sheltered my whole expedition team.
A low purring rumbled from his chest, vibrating through the cot. My gaze snapped back to his face, and saw he was awake.
A lazy smile warmed his face as he appraised me. “You like what you see, kitten?”
Good God, his eyes were so beautiful. They were an unusual coloring, pale green ringed with a sunny yellow. "I didn't mean to wake you."
"I'm glad you did. It's more fun this way."
What was more fun? The possibilities that raced through my mind sent a shiver down my spine. A garbled sound escaped my throat.
His gaze lingered over my breasts, and my nipples peaked under his attention. His eyes flickered.
I wasn't much to look at under normal circumstances. My plain white tee and bed head probably didn't improve the situation. But the way he looked at me, like he was ready to pounce, made me feel like a goddess.
He sat up. In one smooth motion, he picked me up and settled my legs over either side of his thighs. The blanket wasn't much of a barrier. I could feel every bit of him pressed against me.