by Erin Raegan
Home World
Galactic Order Book 2
An Alien War Romance
Erin Raegan
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
All characters, alien or human, events―on planet Earth or otherwise― in this book are a product of the authors imagination and hours of daydreaming. Any resemblance to actual people, or otherworldly beings, living or dead, actual events, are entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 Erin Raegan
Cover Design by Cortney E Designs
No part of this book may be reproduced, or transmitted, or distributed, in any form, by any means, without explicit written permission from the author. With the exception of brief quotations embodied in reviews or articles. This book is licensed for your enjoyment only. Thank you, a thousand times and all the hugs, for purchasing.
Author’s Note
This book is science fiction romance story with explicit language, sexual situations, dark themes, and possible triggers. It is intended for audiences 18 years and older.
If any of that bothers you―beware or turn back.
If not―enjoy and onward to the fun and sexy times!
Thank you, guys, for hanging in there! I know that cliffhanger was hard on a lot of you!
Beware!
This book DOES NOT end in a cliffhanger, however, not all plot points will be tied up!
This is a series, not a trilogy, it will continue on for quite some time. There will be no other cliffhangers in THIS series, each book after this one will feature a different relationship, but will have cameos and pop-ins of other characters.
Enjoy!
Dear Reader
This page is for you.
Thank you for reading.
Books inspire us. They bring us joy and allow us to escape for a little while.
I hope you find that with mine.
Thank you for taking the time out of your lives to read my hard work.
It means the world,
Erin.
To my people. You know who you are.
“I wish only to be your ear when you need to release your fears and doubts.
Your hand when you need strengthening.
Your guard when you cannot hold on your own.
And your heart when you are too far gone to pull yourself free.
I will always be here, lovely. When you feel all is lost and you are alone, I will be right here.”
-Tahk
To my sister: You are awesome. Seriously.
To my husband: None of this would have happened without you. Your sacrifice for our family has allowed me to fulfill a dream I had no idea was possible. Thank you isn’t enough.
To my son: Keep being you, kiddo. I love you oodles of noodles.
Table of Contents
Home World
Prologue
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
Chapter 26
Epilogue
Prologue
Juldoris:
Juldo slave encampment.
The Juldo assassin slunk through the shadowy camp. He did not hide his presence. He made it known he had arrived, and the very air cried out in whistled terror of the Shadow Born.
There was no light there. The Shadow Born Assassin did not mind, the Juldo thrived in the dark. The blue light of nano-fused locks shone against bars of Guhuvin steel cages. Species of all galaxies moaned and begged in pathetic cries for release. Their wish would not be granted. Some would be shipped off by sunrise to other planets and sold at auction, others transported to the Juldo gaming grounds to be initiated into the Battler Games. The Juldo would use the pitiable creatures for sport and to hone their skill. The unlucky would be used in the labs where new tech was tested.
Chyn had been to the labs only once in his ageless life. He did not wish to witness such carnality a second time. It turned the stomachs of the most hardened Juldo war-born, but it irritated the assassin and caused him to feel bone-tired of the long time past. A senseless feeling. There was always endless amounts of time.
A female Boutin reached out a slightly slick tentacle to grasp at Chyn’s steel arm. Her face was torn in anguish. Without water, the Boutin dried out, slowly shriveling. He batted her away and hissed. She shrunk away from him in a cry of terror. He did not feel pity. He felt nothing for the slaves of Juldo. They were necessary. Nothing more than cattle.
He kept to the shadows, skulking his way to the Juldo Master’s tent. The Master was here to meet Chyn, but also to acquire a rare slave. A Human. A rare slave indeed.
None traveled to Earth’s sector. It was too far. Not near worth the risk of the Galactic Order’s interference. But humans were very valuable. To obtain one was easy, for the species was primitive and weak. But if the Order caught word―the humans were not worth the consequences to most slavers. But a few still risked it for the reward of a human sale.
A human slave was whispered in the wealthiest of sectors, coveted. Rare enough that their worth far outmatched any that the Juldo ordinarily acquired. The Master had been searching for a human for some time. To request a meeting here with the assassin? Seems he found one.
Chyn slapped open the tent flaps and stepped inside. Two of the Master’s guards grunted at the sight of him and turned away. They would not interfere with his presence, no matter the slight he committed by entering without approval. They would be dead in clicks.
One entered a back panel and came back out, the Master on his heels. “Shadow born.” The Master waved him back.
Chyn ignored the distrustful glares of the guards and stepped into the Master’s chamber. It was bare, save for a large table and a slave. The human slave. A female. She was strange looking. Pale-skinned, her crown covered in long fur. The color of it would startle any Juldo, but not Chyn. He merely noted its bright flamed color. It glowed in the firelight, like a burning star. So similar to his duller shade of skin. What little of it he had left, so covered was he in nano-mite tech.
The naked female was bruised and bleeding all over. Shivering in the cold of the Juldo planet―Juldoris. Her lifeblood dried and caked on her limbs. Her dull blue eyes, the color of starlight, stayed glued to the dirt floor. The chain around her neck kept her in a hunched kneel. She was damaged, already. Captivity and harsh treatment had broken the creature.
The Master would give the female far more injuries before she perished. He was not known for his gentleness. Quite the opposite. His tastes were depraved.
“Report,” the Master barked, attempting to block his view of the small slave. Chyn regarded the Master’s threatening stance. Foolish, Chyn thought. So foolish to covet such a weak thing.
“It is done,” Chyn said plainly, his scarred throat cracking from the rare use. Its dark resonance startled the female, and she stirred, looking up. Her cloudy eyes catching on the assassins scarred throat. The Master scowled, wincing, and shifted in front of her once more. Chyn chuckled silently.
The Master looked away. “You are sure?”
Chyn flashed fang. “Do not
question me.”
The Master flinched at the sound, then scowled, but did not do so again. He would not. Chyn would have his nano-tech gutted from his body before he could.
“Your payment is with my guard,” the Master began. “How was it done?”
Chyn nearly sighed. The Dahk King was dead, what did it matter? The politics of planet rulers were petty. Always trying to defeat the other, whether by power gain or unseating the other. It was not for Chyn to get involved. But he was the Shadow Born. Assassin. If he was paid, it was no matter to him the reasons the Master wanted the Dahk King dead. Another would rise in his place. The brother no doubt. Or he would be overthrown by another Dahk House. Then the Juldo Master would come calling to him once more, just as he did for the Old Dahk King.
“The King was weak. A simple mark. His guard was unaware of my presence.” Chyn’s voice grew huskier the longer he spoke. The Master braced for every word. He would need another supplement after this meeting. His voice had been unused for too long.
“Yes, but did he beg?” The Master’s eyes gleamed with feral light. The left eye, full of nano-mite tech, whirred wildly in anxiousness. Ah, so it was personal this time around. Again, foolish. The Juldo Master may rule, but he was full of weaknesses. He would not hold his power long. He would be defeated as soon as a worthy opponent coveted the supremacy.
Had Chyn had an eye to rule, he would have taken out the Old Master easily. Far easier than this one had defeated him. There was not one Juldo alive that could defeat the Shadow Born. But he did not. He preferred solitude. He would spend his endless life alone.
A Juldo, but not.
Chyn held no ill will towards the Dahk or their King. He would not dishonor the King’s death by telling of his begging and pleading in his last moments. Chyn glared at the Master until he looked from him once more. Submitting.
So. Weak.
How he came to rule was outlandish. A Master can only be dethroned by a challenge. Chyn knew the Old Master. He was a fierce opponent. He was also wise and fair, often making moves to end the Juldo’s pillaging and slavery. This Juldo standing before Chyn could not have defeated him. There were cowardly schemes afoot.
Chyn ignored this thought, too. It was not his to worry over. He cared little for even his own species. They were savage and brutal. Warring and raiding across the universe. Not that he was any different. He was Shadow Born, raised Juldo. But the Juldo were without honor. Not as they were in ancient times as he remembered. Times when Chyn rose in the armies. Thinking himself privileged to serve the Old Master. Those days were long gone. He did not wish for such simple-minded things now. He was born of shadow and night. And he bowed to no one.
“Very well.” The Master gritted his fangs and backed away. He would not expose his back to Chyn. The first wise action he had witnessed from the Master since he called on him. “The Dahk will retaliate.”
Chyn did not care. They would look for him. But they would not find him. None could.
The Master huffed in frustration. “War is coming. Will you not join your kin in battle?”
Chyn did not dignify the ridiculous request with an answer.
The Dahk would not be taken down so easily. The Juldo would succeed, no doubt. The Dahk were worthy opponents, but they could not hold up against a full-scale Juldo attack. Many would be lost on both sides. The Master’s reasons did not seem sensible. The Dahk were a solid ally. Why invade?
But the Juldo were a warmongering species. Power drove them. And Chyn did not want power. He would not join them.
He turned and marched to the tent flaps.
“Wait.” A small voice whispered in the darkness. Chyn stopped, surprised it was not his translator that allowed him to understand. She spoke Juldo. It was rare and caused him to pause, but he did not turn to the small human. “Help me.”
Her plea was tortured.
And directed at the wrong male.
Chyn left.
Chapter 1
Peyton
My forehead thumped against the cold glass to the rhythm of the ship’s engines. Staring out, stars and clusters of bright lights zoomed by. We had been traveling on Tahk’s battleship going on two weeks now. Not that I could tell time from their strange symbols and the lack of a sun or moon. But Yilt had said it was the fourteenth sunring―days― of travel. We would be on Home World in two more days. It felt much longer than fourteen. Though that could have been because Dahk days were longer than humans, but I thought it was more the monotony of space travel. I had explored the ship from top to bottom. Inside and out. I hung around Vivian when the loneliness got to be too much, and when she was too stressed or sad herself to entertain me, I bugged Colt. The old man had been having a hard time on the ship. Flying wasn’t good for him, he’d said. Plus, he didn’t have his gun club or his gas station. The man was used to being busy. Here, there wasn’t anything for us to do.
It was driving us all insane. Hector and Ford were still unconscious. At this point, Gryo had his eyes on them all the time. Constantly checking his instruments. And he froze them. I shivered. That was a strange thing to witness. Hector had been dying when we left Earth, but during the trip, he actually had died. Gryo managed to bring him back, but he was freezing his and Ford’s injuries to try and keep them alive long enough to get to the healing vats on Home World. Their bodies were covered in little patches of ice. Like popsicles.
Viv was barely hanging on. She was spiraling down into despair. She cried fitfully at night in the bed we shared, only to wake up and hold vigil at Hector’s side until one of us convinced her to sleep again, usually Yilt. I tried to distract her with my own woes, but it was getting harder and harder to pull her from Hector’s side. She was thin to the point of being frail. Her hair limp, and her face drawn in devastation. I could sometimes get her to come with me to annoy Colt, but lately, she was preoccupied with worry when she left him. Even away from Hector, she was still right beside him.
Most of my time was spent with my chickens, Noodle, and Frederick. They were the only pieces of home I had left. My pottery wheel was destroyed in the crash, along with all my clothes and other belongings. I had to wear overly large tunics, and pants rolled up so far it was uncomfortable. Or long gowns of the female Dahk, that were so tight I thought I’d bust open like a can of hammered biscuits if I so much as moved.
Those girls were damn skinny. I wouldn’t have thought so with all their muscles, but my rolls proved me wrong. My stomach pinched in the silver gown I wore now, just the idea of eating anything would rip it. My ass was straining the fabric so much the seams were widening. And don’t even get me started on my boobs. Hoo-boy, those suckers were smashed down.
Not that the Dahk minded. Those guys were a bunch of horny teenagers when they got a look at Viv and me. Whatever reservations they had of our human physical characteristics were long gone after the first few days. With so many females on board, we got tastier and tastier to them. Vagina was vagina after all.
Not that a single one of them would make a move with Commander asshole around. But when he wasn’t looking? There was a ton of eye fucking going on. It made me nervous to go anywhere on my own.
So, I mostly stayed in the hull with my animal friends. Feeding them and talking to them. They were excellent listeners, especially Frederick. Not Noodle, though. He was livid with me. He didn’t have a proper pen for his girls. Jilly was distressed all the time. And the Dahk were going in the pen they fashioned out of old crates all day and night for the eggs. Who knew chicken eggs would be such a huge hit with them? All this combined with the fact that Noodle hadn’t seen the sun for so long―my rooster was murderous at the sight of me. I had pecks all up and down my arms and had to stay well away from Jilly, or I worried he would peck me to death.
I sighed and turned from the window to sit on the edge of the bed. Viv and I shared a room now. It was small and plain. Not a single personal item lying around. It felt cold and sterile. I itched to leave, but Tahk was out and about, preparing
for our arrival. I didn’t want to see him any more than he wanted to see me.
Things were very tense between us. His anger with me nearly rivaled my own. I was so pissed at him. He took me from my home. Not even caring what it would do to me. He just snatched me away, like it was totally normal to kidnap a girl from the only planet she’d ever known. And him, well every time I glared at him, every time I shoved his hands from reaching for me, every time I denied his closeness, his anger grew and grew until he could barely stand the sight of me.
We hadn’t come close to each other in days. When one of us saw the other, we turned and ran the other way. And speaking? I hadn’t spoken a word to him since the day we left. I let my silence speak for itself.
Yilt said Tahk was hurting from being denied, that a mate could feel physical pain from the loss after too long. He talked about consequences and mating rages, and blah blah blah. I usually tuned him out after that.
I wasn’t stupid. I knew a mating rage was no joke. I survived one after all. But, I also knew it wasn’t as bad as the first one for him. More like little tremors compared to a giant quake. Or that’s how I looked at it. I had no real proof he wasn’t going to go all psycho and mount me.
And frankly, I had my damn reasons for screwing him the first time. Those reasons were gone now. He made sure of that. I couldn’t just get over my anger and let him slake his lust. How was that fair? There would be no saving Earth as a reward this time. No going home. All my hopes hung on Fihk now, and he wasn’t here for me to manipulate with my body. Not that I would.
I had loved Tahk. I really had. I couldn’t just turn those feelings off, but he sure did enough damage taking me from earth to have me questioning every single moment of falling for him. But I couldn’t turn to another. Dahk were still aliens to me, but Tahk had been different. He had been mine. No other Dahk would do. I wanted him all those weeks ago, nobody else. I would be a spinster from now on. That sounded much better than dealing with arrogant, know-it-all, you-will-do-as-I-say Commanders. He could take his edicts and shove it.