Sleeping Beauty (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)
Page 1
Sleeping Beauty
Ronan Hark and Noah Kabot are deep space salvagers, partners in business as well as in life. While investigating an old ship they discover a cryo chamber holding the frozen body of a beautiful woman who’s been asleep for thirty-one years. Against Ronan’s better judgment, they take the chamber and wake her up.
Alivia Carian has spent her life living as a sheltered yet unloved princess, until the day she is forced into cryostasis. It was only supposed to be for a short time, but somehow her ship crashed and she became nothing more than a memory.
But now everything has changed. A hunter is after her and killing anyone who knows she’s alive. As they race across the expanse of space, can Ronan and Noah keep her safe? And what happens when she finally returns home to confront a life that forgot about her?
Genre: Futuristic, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Science Fiction
Length: 47,745 words
SLEEPING BEAUTY
Beth D. Carter
MENAGE AMOUR
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Amour
SLEEPING BEAUTY
First E-book Publication: September 2013
Cover design by Harris Channing
All cover art and logo copyright © 2013 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
Dear Readers,
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DEDICATION
For Brian, who told me to write a fairy tale.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
About the Author
SLEEPING BEAUTY
BETH D. CARTER
Copyright © 2013
Chapter One
“I found that faint energy signature,” Noah murmured as he searched through the data streaming into his console. “It’s coming from that moon.”
Ronan squinted as he assessed the small moon through the view window. They’d been following the elusive energy fluctuation for several days, ever since Noah’s bionic ears heard the faint whispers taunting them deeper into the Cold Lands. The forbidden territory filled him with foreboding. It was a section of space devoted to outlaws, murders, and pirates, and it was the last place he wanted to be.
“I don’t like it,” he muttered.
“Let’s take a quick look,” Noah urged. “We’ve traveled this far. Might as well find out if we can salvage anything.”
Ronan sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Then let’s land on that damn moon and find out what’s gotten your panties in a twist,” he all but growled at Noah.
Noah smiled at him and for a moment Ronan lost his breath. He loved it each time the younger man looked at him like that, with blue eyes crinkling at the corners as his delectable mouth curled upward, showing a little teeth. He flushed hot all over as he briefly imagined what those lips could be doing on him.
“Damn it,” Ronan grumbled. “Let’s explore that ship, so we can get the hell out of here so I can do delicious things to your body.”
Noah winked at him. “There’s a small patch of smooth terrain just a click away from the energy readings.”
He had found Noah five years ago, half-dead on the planet Isaren, an industrial planet, manufacturing everything from spaceships to hovercrafts and the toxic waste was deadly to humans. Masks were required for breathing and unfortunately, only the wealthy could afford proper masks. Everyone else had to make do, which meant most masks didn’t work at a hundred percent.
He’d found Noah by accident, passed out in an alley one night as he prowled through Isaren’s streets trying to salvage any of the industrial rubbish cast off from the plants. As soon as he’d laid eyes on the man’s golden curls Ronan had felt his heart stutter. He’d immediately abandoned his searching and had taken Noah back to his ship where the medical interface had stabilized him enough for Ronan to get him professional help.
It had been Noah who had suggested ship salvaging and, tired of shuffling through industrial waste, Ronan had agreed. Though the transition had been rocky, eventually they became successful enough to amass a small fortune by returning lost cargo and personal possessions, as well as scrapping the burned out hulls of lost ships. Ronan found the work satisfying and for the most part he would call himself happy. He loved Noah, loved the life they had built together. But lately he’d had this nagging feeling that something was missing, and damned if he knew what it was.
Of course, he hadn’t told Noah because the last thing he wanted to do was upset him. No lo
ver wanted to hear that his partner was feeling slightly empty. That only screamed trouble in paradise.
Ronan smoothly landed the ship on the surface of the small moon before powering it down. He glanced over and caught Noah looking at him. Immediately, Noah smiled and pushed away from his console, standing and stretching his lithe body. Ronan’s gaze traced the toned muscles straining under Noah’s clothing, his mouth watering.
“Stop that,” Ronan admonished.
“Stop what?”
Noah batted his baby blues innocently. Ronan felt his body tighten and in a flash he was leaning over the smaller man, cupping his face as their lips met. Tongues met in a heated duel, twining and dancing, making his blood boil. His cock swelled in his pants and all he wanted to do was strip Noah naked and take the younger man over and over, until both collapsed in satisfaction.
But that fantasy would have to wait.
With a groan of frustration, Ronan ended the kiss and pulled back. Noah looked delightfully flushed, his pale skin rosy with rising desire.
Wearing space-walk outfits, they shuffled their way over to the large ship half-buried in the moon dirt. From what Ronan could tell, it was an Aphelion class ship, whose belly was round and tail end ballooned out for the engines. They hadn’t been built in about thirty years, when the sleeker and narrower ships had come into favor. And seeing the decay gave him an idea of how long the broken ship before him had been lost.
“This ship is dead,” Noah stated. “Nothing should have been sending out a power signature.”
Noah was right. They were in bad territory with a once-expensive ship that, for all intents and purposes, would never have been found. If Noah’s extrasensitive ears hadn’t picked up the faint beacon, this ship would have remained buried forever. That didn’t sit well with Ronan.
“I don’t like this,” Ronan replied. “Let’s get out of here.”
But Noah shook his head. “I’m too curious now.”
Noah placed a small digital scanner over the access code pad on the door, typed in a few commands, then stepped back as the door suddenly slid apart. Dirt and debris rained down from the open pathway for a second and Noah waited until everything had settled before he gave the thumbs-up sign and hopped inside.
“I’ll download the motherboard if I can,” Ronan said, following him in. “You go check out what goodies this ship still holds. But hurry. I want to get the hell out of here.”
Noah saluted and disappeared.
Ronan moved cautiously through the ship. The thick view windows had cracked upon impact, allowing dirt and rocks to tumble inside. Everything was washed out, colorless. Lifeless. He made his way through the broken, silent ship, dreading to see the cockpit and the remains of the captain. But much to his surprise, the control room stood empty.
He moved to the engine console and wiped off the inches-thick dirt, baring the powerless control panels. He set his scanner on it and activated it. Seconds later the cockpit came to life as the wireless remote downloaded all the information available. It didn’t last long and as soon as all the data was collected he disconnected the console, shutting down the power surge. The small area fell silent and lifeless once again.
He activated the neural com link with Noah. “Where are you?”
“I’m next to a large clump of twisted metal.”
Ronan rolled his eyes. “Well, that narrows it down.”
“Wait,” Noah’s distracted voice told him. “I think I found what was causing the power signature.”
Ronan hesitated, but when Noah didn’t contact him after a minute, he went after him, making his way carefully through the rubble into the back of the ship.
“Noah?”
“Ronan, you won’t believe this.”
“Believe what?”
He pushed into the back of the ship, which was actually in much better shape than the front, and saw him standing next to a large steel box. Through his visor Ronan could see the surprise covering the younger man’s face.
“What is it?”
Noah shook his head. “It’s a cryo chamber. And it’s occupied.”
“What?”
Ronan hurried over. The metal box, also known as a cold coffin, held a sleeping woman inside. He couldn’t see much of her because of all the tubes obscuring much of her face, but he could tell she was young, her flaming-red hair a glaring contrast to the paleness of her features. On her mouth was the life box which provided the bio-nano respiratory functions that kept her alive. Small tubes came out of her belly button and nose, tubes that flushed the freezing fluid through her blood and organs, putting them in suspended animation without the negative side effects. Without the fluids, every cell in her body would break down from dehydration and oxidation. It was a catch twenty-two to freeze someone. On one hand oxygen was needed for their systems to stay alive but on the other hand air would give her freezer burn. Ronan would be the first to admit he didn’t know exactly how the freezing process worked, but he did know that it cost a helluva lot of money.
“Whoever she is, she’s someone important,” he muttered.
“So important that she was forgotten in the Cold Lands?”
“It’s possible she was presumed dead, destroyed when this ship went off the grid,” Ronan stated and then frowned. “Wait.”
“What?”
“There’s no one else on this ship.” He looked at his computer pad. “And all lifepods are still intact.” He looked at Noah, whose eyes were wide. “Maybe she wasn’t meant to be found.”
“Then why keep her alive?”
Ronan shook his head, clearly perplexed. His mind raced with possibilities, all of which he didn’t like. “Let’s go. I don’t like this.”
“Ronan, we can’t leave her like this. One day the power on this coffin will fail and she’ll die.”
“She’s trouble, Noah.”
Noah narrowed his eyes. “She’s alive, Ronan.”
Ronan ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “All right. So how do we wake her up?”
“I haven’t a clue. We need to take her to Valin. There’s too much medically that I don’t know anything about.”
Ronan looked from him to the coffin and then back again, one eyebrow raised questioningly. “You’re suggesting we take the coffin with us? And how do you propose to get it out of this ship and onto ours?”
“It had to get in here, right? Bring up the schematics on this ship to see how the cargo bay is modeled.”
Ronan’s mouth flattened as he did what Noah asked, not liking Noah’s interest in this girl at all. He got a bad vibe off her, off the circumstances surrounding why she was frozen and forgotten, and usually he ran from those vibes. It was what kept him alive.
“Right over there are the cargo bay doors,” Noah said as he pointed to a large area strewn with debris. “We need to clear it.”
Of course we do. Ronan frowned as he surveyed the area. Damn it. They weren’t getting out of there any time soon.
“No, it’ll take forever,” he said.
“But—”
Ronan held up a hand. “Let’s just cut a hole here, on this wall. It’ll save us hours and sore backs.”
Noah thought for a moment and then nodded. “I’ll move our ship into position.”
As he made his way out, Ronan went back to looking at the woman. He wished he could see her properly. He had this sneaking suspicion that she was going to be a lot of trouble.
As he waited for Noah to contact him through the link, he brought up his console and researched the ship’s identification code. Couldn’t be too many Aphelion Class starships this far out. But other than the basic specs about the craft, he didn’t find out who the ship belonged to. And that could only mean one thing. Whoever had owned this ship didn’t want it to be traced back to anyone. Again, unease erupted in his belly.
“Okay, I’m here,” Noah chimed at him over the intercom system. “Stand back.”
Ronan moved as far from the door as he could. A second later he s
aw the metal melting as his ship’s laser pulse cut out a large rectangle. He’d spent a lot of money on the damn tool so he was glad to see it working. Once the metal door had been cut, he pushed on it and the heavy metal fell heavily onto the moon’s surface.
Surprisingly, it didn’t take too long to move the sleeping girl’s coffin from one ship to another. They plugged her into a backup generator, just in case, then used an antigravity lift to maneuver the large chamber. They had to move things around in their own ship to make room for her, but she settled in without too much fuss and muss.
“She’s beautiful,” Noah murmured.
Ronan shot him a surprised look. Noah was staring at the sleeping girl with something akin to fascination, and his stomach clenched tightly.
“You can’t even see her properly,” he muttered.
“I don’t have to,” Noah replied. “I just know she’s beautiful.”
“Don’t get too attached to her.”
“Of course not,” Noah replied, looking at him with surprise.
Ronan nodded. “I’m going to check on sensors.”
He was conscious of Noah watching him as he walked away, but he didn’t turn around. His ship was small, sleek, like a bullet. They had plenty of cargo space for small items but relied on a tractor beam when they hauled in abandoned ships. He was proud of his ship, proud that he owned it. Growing up like he did, chances of him succeeding at something in life had been small, so his ship was a symbol of him rising above the life he’d been born into. As he slid into the pilot’s seat, he flipped on the long-range sensors.
“Shit,” he whispered. He hit open communications. “Get up here, Noah, we got company coming.”