His Captive Mate

by Samantha Madisen

  His Captive Mate

  By

  Samantha Madisen

  Copyright © 2016 by Stormy Night Publications and Samantha Madisen

  Copyright © 2016 by Stormy Night Publications and Samantha Madisen

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Published by Stormy Night Publications and Design, LLC.

  www.StormyNightPublications.com

  Madisen, Samantha

  His Captive Mate

  Cover Design by Korey Mae Johnson

  Images by The Killion Group, Bigstock/cobalt88, and Bigstock/crop

  This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults.

  Chapter One

  The sound of engine one sputtering on the port side mixed with the scream of engine two trying to compensate for the loss of thrust. Daz caught Jasmine’s eye. There was fear there. More than she’d ever seen.

  “Don’t worry!” Daz screamed, her voice barely traveling over the wind howling through the open doors of the craft. “It’s gonna be fine! We just have to stick together. You got it?”

  Daz stared at her friend, who seemed to be staring back, but through her rather than at her. Daz gave her a shake as the ship shook beneath their feet. “You got it?!” Daz hollered, hoping to break Jasmine out of her trance.

  The motion of the ship broke Jasmine’s petrified gaze and she swallowed and nodded back at Daz quickly. But as Daz glanced up at the control panel in front of the pilot, things didn’t seem so rosy. The whole thing was lit up in red and yellow lights, enough to look like it was on fire. Some of them were flashing, others just glowed a steady warning that all was not right with the world. Daz gave Jasmine’s shoulder another squeeze and, grabbing onto one of the lines above her, began to make her way to the front of the craft.

  Another jolt shook the ship as its belly touched against the canopy hurtling by below them. Daz saw an explosion on the starboard side, then black smoke started to pour out of engine two. She plopped herself into the copilot’s seat and looked at the pilot.

  Ashea Vyn. Her hourglass figure and pouty lips gave no hint to the fact that she was tough as nails. Ashea turned to look at her friend. The expression on her face sent a chill through Daz. Things were not in good shape.

  “What’s going on?” Daz shouted.

  “Everyone needs to get their crash suits on, now!” Ashea shouted back as the ship jolted again to one side. She punched three buttons on the panel in quick succession, turning them from red to yellow in the process. “We’re going down!”

  “What?” Daz cried, unable to believe what she was hearing. Every single thing they’d learned in preparation for the hunt was that no matter what happened, they were not to touch down. Stabilize the craft. Keep it flying until help arrives. But do not touch down. “Have you called for evac? How did this happen? How did the fire start?”

  “Shut up and let me fly this thing!” Ashea shouted back, gripping the stick in between her legs and pulling it hard to the left to avoid one of the massive trees coming at them. Engine two screamed but cooperated, despite the thick black smoke still pouring from it. Once she’d stabilized the ship and they were flying level over the canopy again, Ashea looked at Daz and yelled, “They shot us, can you believe it?”

  At first Daz thought she must have misheard. Nobody could shoot at them; there was no one down there but men. Men who’d been living in the forests of Sernon for centuries, men who’d regressed to the point of almost being animals. They wore no clothes, they ran from the Tranquility ships that chased them down, and most important, they did not shoot back. The men down there were good for one thing. Seed.

  The motion of the ship as it rocked from side to side terrified her back into reality, and she braced herself against the armrest and the dashboard. A small dot began to blink on the HUD that immediately caught Ashea’s attention. She put an arm across Daz’s chest and shoved her against the seat back, then pointed out the starboard side window.

  “There!” she screamed, trying to keep the ship steady with one hand. Daz’s eyes shot in the direction of Ashea’s finger. The dark greens and blues of another Tranquility filled her with an almost ecstatic sense of relief. She looked back to see the five other women in the cabin clutching at anything that was bolted down, trying to keep from getting sucked out of the craft. Only Jasmine looked remotely relieved at the sight of the other Tranquility. That was a good sign. Maybe the two of them could do this.

  “Okay. I’m going back. How does this work?” Daz screamed at Ashea.

  “Close the doors on one side!” Ashea screamed back, not tearing her eyes from the canopy ahead. “Tear the fabric off of it! There’s a bull’s-eye underneath! Then get the fuck out of the way!” Ashea barked the instructions while struggling to keep the ship righted. Daz didn’t waste any time.

  Grabbing hold of one of the lines overhead, she made her way back, grateful for her sea legs as the ship veered from side to side. Once she was at the door, she realized she would have to use both hands to close it. One to unlatch it, the other to slide it shut. She turned around to see Jasmine staring at her, as though she already knew what she had to do. She grabbed one of the railings overhead and with her other hand, she caught Daz’s harness.

  There was no time to worry about whether Jasmine would let go if the ship bucked again. Grabbing the door by its massive handle, she turned it up, unlocking the mechanism holding it in place, then gave a massive tug. The force of the thing slamming shut shook the ship to one side, but there she was. Still safe inside. Daz began pulling at the fabric covering the inside of the door. It was easy to tear away and sure enough, underneath was a massive red bull’s-eye. As soon as it was exposed, Daz turned around, grabbed Jasmine, and dove to the floor.

  The thunderclap of the massive cannon aboard the other Tranquility reached them a split second before the anchor tore through the bull’s-eye in the door, straight through to the other side of the frame. Daz didn’t wait for further instructions. Though they’d only dealt with this once in training, she’d never been one to think too much. There was no telling how long the ship had left in the air.

  Jumping to her feet, she dragged Jasmine with her and clipped her harness onto the line tied to the anchor that extended through empty space and into the ship at their side.

  “No! Wait! You’re going to need help with the rest! They’re terrified!” Jasmine screamed.

  Daz knew she was right. Looking around at the other girls, she saw that most of them had their eyes squeezed tightly shut and were sobbing, or crying quietly. But there wasn’t time to waste. The ship swayed again and Daz knew what she had to do.

  “I’ll be fine!” she yelled and gave Jasmine a massive push. She allowed herself a few seconds to watch her friend falling through the empty sky, until she was caught safely by the hands of the rescuers waiting on the other Tranquility. Once she knew Jasmine was safe, Daz began to pry open the fingers of the other girls and hook their harnesses to the same line. One by one, they flew over the vast chasm, crashing into the waiting arms of the rescuers aboard the other Tranquility.

  Daz’s heart was pounding from the effort of pushing the women across the line. She looked up the ship to the pilot’s seat to see Ashea straining at the controls. She looked out the door, across the canopy flying by underfoot and toward the women on the other ship, who were desperately waving at her to clip herself to the line and jump across. Daz gritted her teeth and began
to make her way to the cockpit.

  “Come on! We’ve gotta go!” she screamed over the noise of the engine that sounded like it was tearing itself apart. When Ashea looked over at her, the blood drained from Daz’s face.

  “There’s only one of us getting off this ship. It’s sure as hell not going to be me.”

  Daz knew the look Ashea was staring at her with—a look that meant this was an argument she wasn’t winning.

  “I can’t let you do this,” Daz said, a sob swelling in her throat.

  “Put on a crash suit. Clip onto that line. That’s an order.”

  A gust of wind heaved the ship to one side. Daz grabbed at the copilot’s seat to steady herself. Adrenaline shot through her body as she saw the hull of the other Tranquility coming at them through the windshield, but she stifled a scream. The pilot of the other ship saw them just in time and veered hard to starboard to prevent a crash. The engine screamed even louder, tearing at the air as Ashea struggled to right the craft and get it flying level again. “Damn it, Daz! Get out now! I said that’s an order!”

  Daz, still clutching the seat with white knuckles, looked at her friend again. There wasn’t a choice to be made. Either they were both going down with the ship, or she was getting off and Ashea was going down. Fighting the tears welling in her eyes, Daz threw open the small compartment behind the copilot’s chair, ripped the orange cord open, and quickly donned the vest that was there, fastening it tightly around her waist and chest.

  “I’m coming back to get you,” she said to her friend through clenched teeth.

  “Get off! Now!” Ashea screamed back at her, still fighting to keep the ship flying straight. There was no more time. Stumbling toward the cabin, Daz clipped herself onto the line, folded her arms tightly across her chest, and jumped.

  The explosion that tore through the air behind her propelled her forward with so much force that for a split second she thought she was going to slam into the inside wall of the other Tranquility. But just as quickly, the line she was attached to went taut, then began to pull her toward the ground. The faces of the women standing at the hull doors of the ship went white. Daz saw the arm extend and punch the red release button just below the line she was attached to, but she couldn’t believe it at first. Only when she saw the end of the line falling toward her and felt the pull of gravity as she began her descent did her body react.

  Grasping desperately at the front of the vest she’d put on seconds before, Daz located the orange bulb. Just before she hit the branches of the canopy, the crash suit inflated around her, forming a thick protective barrier. The last thing she felt was the thud of hitting the ground. Then everything went black.

  Chapter Two

  The gentle sounds of the forest trickled in through Daz’s slowly returning consciousness. The crash suit had by now deflated and she found herself covered in layers of the soft fabric. When she realized what it was, a bolt of adrenaline shot through her. Her memory began to come back. The crash. The rescue. Ashea. She had to find Ashea.

  Daz began scrambling at the cloak covering her, trying to find the opening. When she finally did, she pulled at it, her body emerging out of the crash suit as if out of a cocoon. She crawled into the soft light of the forest, filtered by the thick canopy above, took her first look around, and almost couldn’t believe what she saw.

  Of course there were simulators back home for this kind of thing and she’d tried plenty of them, but nothing could compare to this. Coming from a city planet, nothing could prepare her for the complete assault on her senses. The smell of the place was probably the most overwhelming. Daz turned her head slowly, taking in her new brown and green surroundings and marveling at the fact that creatures, even if they were men, could live in a place like this.

  She looked around slowly, scanning the calm forest for any sign of the Tranquility. She expected to see a charred hull, fires burning, anything. But there was nothing close to her. She stood up to try to get a better look, but nowhere around were any signs of a ship, destroyed or otherwise. Daz furrowed her brow. It didn’t make any sense. She could have sworn the ship was right behind her as she fell.

  Her confusion was interrupted by a sharp, snapping sound, followed by the kind of rustling that could only be caused by something large and lumbering. Daz jerked her head in the direction the sound had come from to see the shape of a human disappearing behind a bush. Her body ignited with adrenaline for the second time that day. Not even in training had she been able to move as fast as she was doing now.

  Tearing the last of the crash suit from herself, Daz sprang to her feet and took off like a sprinter through the forest. She heard the sound of a deep voice boom through the woods behind her uttering some guttural, indecipherable cry. Her heart pounded in her chest and her legs began to pump even faster. But somehow she couldn’t resist the temptation to look back, to see what was behind her giving chase.

  The sight almost paralyzed her completely. Five giant men, each of them carrying what looked to be weapons of some kind were plowing through the forest. All five were gaining ground with each step. Another flood of fear-fueled adrenaline coursed through her body as she put her head down and began to pump her arms at her sides, desperate to outrun her attackers. As she ran, Daz risked a glance to one side.

  One of the men was running parallel to her, through the forest about twenty feet away. More adrenaline pumped through her. She looked to her other side. Another man, running about twenty feet away. The scariest thing about what she saw was how easy it looked for them. She felt like at any minute her lungs might burn through her chest, or her heart explode from exertion. The men seemed to be going for a leisurely jog.

  Daz’s mind began racing. There had to be something she could do to outrun them, outsmart them. She couldn’t get caught. If she got caught… She pushed the thought aside and tried to think. Then there was a body in front of her. A giant chest, bare and flexed, and arms that were reaching out. Then she felt the heat around her as those same arms wrapped themselves around her torso. Daz screamed.

  As her body was lifted off the ground, she tried to kick but hit only the air, until she felt hands gripping her ankles and winding rope around them. She flailed and tried to fling herself to the ground, but the arms that surrounded her were much too strong.

  Finally, there was darkness as something was placed on her eyes and tied tightly at the back of her head. Realizing that struggling would do nothing now, Daz resigned herself temporarily to her fate and relaxed her body. She felt the grip around her relax too.

  “She done fighting?” a voice came from somewhere in front.

  “For now,” the man holding her answered.

  “Put her down,” yet another, deeper voice came from somewhere out ahead. Daz felt herself being lowered to the ground, then made to kneel, her hands tied behind her back. An odd silence descended on the group, interrupted after a few moments by the sounds of footsteps getting closer.

  “Come on, let’s do it, boys,” the deep voice behind her said urgently.

  “I don’t know,” someone else grumbled up ahead.

  “Man, I haven’t had a fuck in weeks. Come on! We’re not going to get a chance like this again!”

  A fuck in weeks? Daz wondered what the man was talking about. Were they getting ready to kill her? Would this be revenge for the hunt? Daz began to feel her breathing getting panicked and she withdrew inside herself, calling on her training to still her pulse. There was nothing she could do now. She had run as fast as she could. The only thing she could do was handle whatever happened with a dignity and grace that would make her sisters proud.

  “Come on, back off!” the same voice shot through the air, mixed with the sounds of a scuffle.

  “What’s going on here?”

  Another dry silence settled on the group as the deepest voice yet asked the question.

  “Did you hear me, soldier? What the hell is going on here?”

  “Sir, we we
re just discussing how to transport the prisoner back to…”

  “Like hell you were!” the deep voice roared. “I see something like that happen again, you’ll be licking your dinner off the latrine floor for the next month, do you understand me?”

  Daz balked at the overwhelming sense of command the voice had, whoever it was. Footsteps.

  “I said do you understand me, solider?” repeated the same voice. Through clenched teeth.

  “Sir, yes, sir!” a man barked. His voice echoed through the woods. More silence.

  “Get that blindfold off,” commanded the deeper voice, but this time it sounded calmer.

  Daz felt fingers at the back of her head fumbling with the knot there. The pressure around her eyes eased, and she blinked to let the light of day flood in again and looked around. The five men who had been chasing her were standing around her in a close circle. Just behind them was a sixth—probably the one who’d been barking orders. The man in front of him stepped away.

  The strangest feeling she’d ever felt filled Daz at the sight of the man. As a Sister of Tranquility she was kept far away from the men below decks. Though she had known they were there before the hunt, she hadn’t spent a lot of time wondering why, but the sight of this man made her wonder what she’d been missing.

  He was taller than the others, with thick black hair and blue eyes that seemed to burn right through her. His chest looked like it had been cut out of stone, his arms much the same. Daz looked up and down his body, taking in her first sight of a man so close. One not behind a cage. One who could walk right over and touch her if he wanted. Something stirred inside her. She tried to push it away. She needed to stay focused in case she got a chance to escape.

  The man began to move toward her. When he reached the spot where she was on her knees, he crouched down, put a finger under her chin, and made her look into his eyes. Daz felt a shiver run through her at his touch. She wondered if this would make her unclean.