Smuggler’s Contubernium (Mea Lupus Series Book 1)
Page 23
“We don’t know,” I replied calmly.
“You lost your Divine Mate?” Her nose wrinkled in disdain like she smelled bullshit coming out of my mouth.
“She ran,” I ground out. I had to keep my cool, Primus Pilus were always dangerous enemies. Revna barked out a harsh laugh.
“Yeah, she’s fucking good at that,” Revna’s smile was vicious.
“You know her?” Asked Quintillus. It was the first time he had spoken since his breakdown.
“Your report says that she used the phrase ‘painted by her wolves’,” Revna ignored Quintillus’s question.
“Yes, Primus Pilus,” I confirmed.
“Just fucking say Revna, we don’t have time for long winded ass kissing niceties,” she snapped. “Did you use any protection when you fucked?”
“What? No,” I became more confused by the random question, “Why would we—“
“And are you sure that she replied to you telepathically,” Revna leaned forward.
“Yes,” I replied.
“As of this moment you have no other duties except to find and retrieve Lagertha as quickly as possible,” she commanded.
“Who is Lagertha?” I bristled at her command, “Also, with all due respect Revna, we’re not part of your fleet and we take orders from the Mea Lupus Assembly.”
“Lagertha Maecia is a ward of the Daughters of Menrva and the highest performer of anyone who’s ever gone through the Gauntlet Program,” Revna marched on giving me details for a mission she didn’t have the authority to send me on. “She’s extremely dangerous and was believed dead. Until now.” Revna paused to let that soak in, “Considering she’s your Divine Mate, yes, from this moment on you do answer to me.”
Revna continued on listing further details about Kara, or in fact Lagertha, that we struggled to comprehend. She was trained in a multitude of martial arts, espionage, infiltration and acquisition, multi-environmental survival, tech creation, and more.
We sat in stunned silence. We hadn’t known her at all.
“Why did you want to know what she had said during our...,” Pollux trailed off uncomfortably.
“Your heightened state of group mating,” Revna’s eyes sparkled with sharp amusement. She leaned back in her chair and all amusement faded. “What they teach in school about the first pack in historical record is the short version.”
“What do you mean?” Asked Adohi.
“About 1200 years ago the first approved pack was comprised of all born Mea Lupus,” explained Revna, “the female and her pack were interviewed by the religious wing of the Daughters of Menrva because their pack was ordained a Divine Gift—a union blessed by Menrva. It’s the reason packs are now socially acceptable, if not the norm.”
“That’s all common knowledge,” agreed Aphelele.
“Yes,” Revna scowled at the interruption. “What’s not commonly known are the intimate details. The pack described going into a heightened state of group mating and that their female demanded that she be ‘painted by her men, inside and out’.”
“That choice of phrasing could be pure coincidence,” I didn’t disagree but I needed to say it out loud.
“Stop fucking interrupting,” growled Revna. “What wasn’t made public was that after a gruelling pregnancy she gave birth to 3 children conceived from that heightened mating. They were all born at the same time. One from each father.”
“Divine Couple! You don’t mean...,” Kastur began to breath faster. Panicking, he looked up in terror at his brother Pollux, who was as ashen as the rest of us.
“The point I’m making is that Lagertha was already a prime candidate as a possible Chosen. Now, she’s somehow your Divine Mate,” Revna looked down at her desk. She was scrolling through a copy of our report, “Gaius if she really did reply to you telepathically, then it’s further confirmation that she’s started her transition from Mortal to Mea Lupus.”
“But she smelt Mortal when we were with her,” insisted Bhar.
“The DNA you submitted already shows transitional markers of someone straddling that fine line,” Revna tapped something on her end and we received a deluge of information. “This is what I can give you for now.”
“Wait, go back,” Pollux who usually hoarded data, ignored the information packet Revna had just sent, “We are a contubernium. Are you saying there’s a chance Kara may be becoming a Mea Lupus and pregnant?”
“She may be unknowingly pregnant with 8 pups, maybe more considering you and your brother are twins,” Revna’s face was pulled tight in a grim mask and her words held a dire quality, “I don’t need to tell you that some who are Chosen, and we don’t know if she is Chosen, don’t survive the stress of the change. If she’s changing by herself and heavily pregnant then the likelihood of her survival is almost zero.”
A cold numbness seeped into my soul. My pack mates barely breathed. I felt scraped raw and bloody. Everything we had ever prayed and hoped for was being given to us. A Divine Mate. Children. I thought we had felt devastation before. I was wrong.
Knowing that Kara was out there somewhere was a small comfort. She proved we had a Divine Mate, even if she was a manipulative lying murderer. The fantasy that maybe one day we could find her and mend what she had broken? That was the slim hope I think we all held on to. But to hear Revna say Kara may die along with our children? Even as a hypothetical it made me want to scream and weep at the injustice of our pack’s twisted fate.
“This isn’t just about your contubernium,” Revna chastised us as if she read my thoughts. More likely it was the hopelessness we all had on our faces, “There are fewer and fewer Mea Lupus in each generation. Not even the descendants of that first pack carried the ability to have children as they did. And the pack themselves were killed in battle soon after,” Revna grimaced. “We need to study Lagertha first to see if she is a Divine Gift. And if she is pregnant like that first pack’s female? We have to see if that can be replicated with other packs.” Revna’s harsh exterior seemed to crack a bit as she looked at us all, “She could be the key to our survival. If she survives.”
Epilogue: Kara
Nothing but the blessed void outside the Charopos‘s bridge window. I was cold earlier. I wasn’t cold anymore. How long have I been sitting in my command chair? I was exhausted and sore. I looked down. Ai had put a blanket on my shoulders after we had blinked away from Castra 3. Not sure if that was hours ago or days.
I had accomplished what I set out to do.
I had won.
I had lost.
Song List
Framganga by Danheim (Prologue)
Do You Love Me (From Baaghi 3) by Nikhita Gandhi, Rene Bendali & Tanishk Bahchi (Ai’s performance at Cassandra’s Menagerie)
Bad Man (feat. Austin Jenckes) by Esterley (Fillion’s Murder)
In The Shadows by Amy Stroup (Adohi and Oli share Kara in the dark passageway)
Nothing Is As It Seems (feat. Ruelle) by Hidden Citizens (Kara is painted by her men)
The End by Klergy (The Contubernium realises what Kara’s done + the Epilogues)
Author’s Message
Hang in there everyone.
First and foremost, mahalo for reading! If you can, please write me a review. Amazon is mighty fickle so reviews and spreading the word are key to helping me and all your favourite authors.
This series will go from different female lead to female lead. However the first 3 books are all Kara’s because she’s the catalyst for this huge change. Writing this was tough. Everyone wants a big group/harem but no one remembers that that means a whooooole bunch of attached characters.
All I can say is thank the Gods for murder boards and my wonderful PA Annie who puts them together. I lava you, lady.
This is my second Sci-Fi Why Choose/RH series and it won’t be the last. I’m mostly trying to pace myself so just keep that in mind. By the time this book is out I will have 2 paranormal and 1 other sci-fi why choose/RH series out as well. I am hoping to also get out a contempora
ry RH this summer.
*crosses fingers, toes, and eyes... and brain* lol
I’m going to give it my best effort!
For more insider info, join my Facebook Group:
Kahaula Dreams Reader Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/355612275565596/
About the Author:
Kahaula is the Hawaiian Goddess of sexual dreams. Different people view Her and Her presence in different ways. I chose to use Kahaula as a pen name out of respect, and as a devotional to Her. I hope that my readers may also be inspired by Her.
I am a Hawaiian woman with a voracious appetite for reading and found it challenging to find stories with which I could connect. Instead of complaining, I opted to start writing my own stories. Most of my stories are romance novels simply because I believe real adult connections should happen organically, just like they do in real life, instead of silly euphemisms or fade to black nonsense. I believe my stories are made better by being honest and open about what my characters want or don’t want. I also firmly believe that story comes first, pun intended. I write in many genres: urban fantasy, paranormal, sci-fi, alt-history, post-Apocalyptic, combinations of those and more. Maybe there will be a book or series that will appeal to you!
If you enjoy my books, please leave a review! Make sure to always check the Author’s Message section at the end of my books to get the inside scoops on this book, any news, and forthcoming books.
You can also join my Facebook Group:
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Books by Kahaula
Return Services Case Files
(Hawaiian Paranormal, Shifter, Alt-History, Romance)
Green Eyed Wolf (Book 1)
Blood Ties (Book 2) Available May 2021
Lust Feud (Book 3) Available October 2021
Mad Annie Series
(Hawaiian Paranormal, Alt-History, Romance, Spinoff in the world of Return Services Case Files)
Drenched in Darkness (Book 1)
Soaked in Night (Book 2) Available Spring 2022
Red Ruler Series
(Multiple Female Leads, Sci-Fi, Aliens, Romance)
Battle Queen (Book 1)
Blue Dream Lover (Book 2) Available July 2021
Mea Lupus Series
(Multiple Female Leads, Sci-Fi, Shifter, Romance)
Smuggler’s Contubernium (Book 1)
Smuggler’s Run (Book 2) Available October 2021