by Renee Field
An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication
www.ellorascave.com
Love Me Wild
ISBN # 9781419910104
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Love Me Wild Copyright© 2007 Renee Field
Edited by Briana St. James.
Photography and cover art by Les Byerley.
Electronic book Publication: March 2007
This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.
Content Advisory:
S – ENSUOUS
E – ROTIC
X – TREME
Ellora’s Cave Publishing offers three levels of Romantica™ reading entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E (E-rotic), and X (X-treme).
The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. This story has been rated E–rotic.
S-ensuous love scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination.
E-rotic love scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall word count. E-rated titles might contain material that some readers find objectionable—in other words, almost anything goes, sexually. E-rated titles are the most graphic titles we carry in terms of both sexual language and descriptiveness in these works of literature.
X-treme titles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline execution. Stories designated with the letter X tend to contain difficult or controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart.
Love Me Wild
Renee Field
Chapter One
Rowena shivered as she placed the test tube into the cycle-tron, hoping the results would be wrong. Deep down, she knew they wouldn’t be. Ten minutes later, the cycle was complete. The tube was bright blue. The results were positive, she had the Maida curse—she was fertile. Rowena cringed, knowing what was to come.
Even though she was Maida’s top biologist, she couldn’t halt years of evolution. For the first time in her life, she wished to be like her sister, Tyrana—sterile. Then my life would be my own. How she envied her sister’s freedom of choice.
A century ago, after the religious wars ceased, it was too late for the Maida people. While radioactive weapons had destroyed only a small number of islands, the effect was all-encompassing. The ions from those weapons had sealed themselves deep within the genetic sequence of their race.
When it became apparent only a handful of women and men were fertile, keeping their race alive became paramount. Maida women able to conceive became cherished. After the last great war, thirteen fertile women formed the Supreme High Fertility Council—to ensure the continuation of their species.
The Maida curse, as it became known by fertile women, was a double-edged sword. Once a woman was able to conceive, her body and mind didn’t matter—all she craved was sex. If she didn’t have sex with a fertile man, she went insane within days.
Talk about harsh reality, thought Rowena. Worse was the keen knowledge that once she had sex, the disease that had been eating away at her brain cells at the molecular level would be passed to the man.
In a fit of rage, Rowena threw the tube across the room. She watched with smug satisfaction as it smashed into a thousand pieces, the blue liquid staining the white marble floor. She was not going to wipe it up. Let it stain. She felt like a chain had been placed around her neck.
“What was that noise?” yelled her mother, rushing into the room with two guards in tow.
Realizing the stupidity of her actions, she fought the urge to yell at her mother—Faydon, Her Majesty, Ruler of the Supreme High Fertility Council. Her mother, like her aunts who sat on the Council, viewed their job as paramount. Rowena thought of them as a nuisance. Now however, she was in for it.
“What were you doing, Rowena?”
Her mother’s eyes took in the smashed test tube and blue liquid with a quick calculated glance. Rowena watched as the liquid tried its best to seep under a storage cabinet. That’s exactly what I’d like to do. Hide. Become invisible. Instead, I’m left to confront the last person I want to be near.
Sighing, she plunked herself down on one of the tall, uncomfortable steel lab stools and replied, “Nothing.”
“Your Majesty,” said Thelma.
Traitor. She watched through narrowed lids as her mother’s most trusted friend and advisor ushered her mother over to examine the floor.
“Is it true, Rowena?”
Hope highlighted her mother’s pale features. Rowena nodded in exasperation. She was too exhausted to formulate a lie or a plan to get her out of the mess she knew she was in.
“Quick, we must call the Council. Oh Rowena, this is too good. Your time has come. We had thought…”
Rowena watched as her mother struggled for the proper words. Not that she had to. She knew what her mother was going to say. She had thought Rowena, at the age of twenty-three Maida cycles, was sterile like her other daughter.
All my prayers to the Mother Saint have been for naught. She didn’t listen to one word I said. I don’t want to be fertile. This is an interruption in my life I most certainly do not need.
Rowena tried hard to compose herself as her mother ushered the guards out of the room to do her bidding. Her nerves were frayed and her emotions were running high. The joys of what elevated hormones will do to you. Too bad they hadn’t come up with a pill to cure that.
“Your aunts will be very excited,” her mother said, moving closer to give her an embrace.
It was an awkward moment for both mother and daughter who were not used to public, or private, displays of affection. Still though, Rowena acknowledged a small part of her was pleased that her mother seemed happy. Just how long will this last?
“How many days?” asked Thelma, flanking her other side.
Rowena’s eyes narrowed, knowing that the happy moment with her mother was about to expire. “Two.”
“What!”
The screech that went through the lab vibrated the crystal beakers.
Here it comes. She gripped the steel edges of the stool tighter. Preparing herself for the worst, she was surprised to hear her mother take a long breath in to compose herself. Maybe she’ll ignore this.
“You will make your choice tonight,” demanded her mother, in the no-nonsense tone of voice Rowena knew from experience couldn’t be deterred.
Rowena watched as her mother huffed, picked up her bright purple robes and marched out of the lab. Then, and only then, did Thelma place a soothing hand on her shoulder.
“Why must you do everything the hard way?”
It wasn’t a question her mother’s advisor expected an answer to. Rowena bowed her head in despair, as Thelma strode after her mother.
This is stupid. I will not choose. I will not. She can’t make me…can she?
Rowena knew the answer already. She had no choice. Her mother would make her choose, because if she didn’t Rowena would go insane within days. The desire, passion, ache…whatever the Supreme High Fertility Council called it, would systematically eat away her mental balance. Why women viewed fertility as a blessing she couldn’t fathom.
That was why she had tried desperately to ignore what was happening to her body. Part of the other reason was work, but that was an excuse. She had sensed the changes taking place, as much as she tried to ignore them.
After all, no woman growing up on the continent called Maida was innocent to their body’s biology. At first though, she h
ad naïvely thought she might be coming down with a bout of the Castima flu, but three days later her symptoms became more acute. First came the cramps in her side, followed by tender breasts. Today her nipples were so sensitive that even wearing the light fire-resistant lab coat caused them to ache with a need that was indescribable.
A slow pulsing throb between her legs made her constantly squirm on the lab stool. She had an overwhelming urge to shamelessly rub her body up and down a hard column to appease the unknown itch burning under her skin.
She was moody and weepy, two emotions she had never experienced before. Even at a young age, she took pride in her calm, rational outlook, often chiding her older sister for her childish and irresponsible behavior. Now these strange emotions left her feeling vulnerable.
If her calculations were correct, she had two days before the disease that was triggered when her body became fertile caused her brain cells to decay. It was a small window of time to adjust to the idea she would be forced to give up her high-profile job and rut with a man she would claim solely for his fertile seed.
It was a cruel twist to the curse that it was a man’s fertile seed that would trigger the chemical response in her body, systematically killing the disease. By rutting with a so-called lucky man, who had the privilege of being selected by her during the Pleasure Seeking selection, the disease was passed to him. Unfortunately for the man, there was no cure and they usually went quickly insane.
Knowing what was to come repulsed her. The entire concept was disgusting. She couldn’t believe her luck.
Tonight her mother would make her choose a bed partner. Of that she was certain. After all, with two daughters, one of whom was sterile, she, Rowena, was the only female to keep their lineage alive. She almost choked on that thought.
Like the other handful of fertile women, she would be paraded through the Council—given a joyous “coming out” ceremony. Later today, she would undergo the dreaded inspection. Nothing would be left untouched.
Her body—a vessel to carry forth the next Maida generation—would no longer be her own. The final coup de grace was the injection. The pheromones would stream into her blood, heightening her already feverishly high levels of estrogen, forcing her to choose a mate. Her scientific mind would no longer function. She would be a slave to lust and the need to mate.
The knowledge she’d have to choose a mate and be forced to rut the whole blasted night away caused her to cringe. She had stupidly assumed she was too old—that had been a kernel of hope. Fertility often came late to Maida women. The only reason she knew her sister, Tyrana, was sterile was because at twenty-eight cycles she had demanded the sterility test so she could have fun with her life.
Something she liked to point out to Rowena countless times in any given day as she tried to get her to join in one of her famously explicit sexual romps. However, until either the curse hit her or she, too, took the sterility test, she had to remain a virgin. It was a hard-and-fast rule the Supreme High Fertility Council imposed on its female protectorates.
Why Tyrana and not me? Rowena fervently wished she could exchange her body with her sister’s.
She groaned loudly, hating that her fertility cycle had caught up with her. After being on her feet for the past twelve hours trying to figure out the latest batch of blood work that had been sent to her from the Fourth Colony, the last thing she wanted was this.
She was at least thankful the blood had been sent to her. The challenge of figuring out why more men from the Fourth Colony were becoming sterile appealed to her. The colony was located at the furthest perimeter of Maida territory bordering the All Saints Lakes. The males there, like Maida men everywhere, either worked in the small specialized labor camps or as domestics inside the business centers operated by women.
Rowena shivered as a new realization hit her. Becoming fertile meant her mother would groom her to take over her seat on the Supreme High Fertility Council which meant living her life as a “proper” Maida mother. Sex for pleasure would be out of the question. Sex for procreation was the cardinal rule once she joined the Council. Each time the Maida curse came upon her, she would be forced to choose a fertile male to ensure future Maida children on the planet Alvaron.
It was at times like this that she hated her male ancestors for what they did to the planet. Legend went that at the end of the last religious war, Maida men were stripped of all their weapons and toys. Defeated in body, spirit and soul, it was the women who stepped forward to ensure the future of their race. Without their courage, Maida civilization would have fallen to either the wilds of the dark woods or the waters that were slowly rising on Alvaron.
Giving up is what cowards do. Rowena came from a long line of courageous women and she would not give up. For the past five years, she had worked day and night in an attempt to find a cure for the dreaded Maida curse.
She grimaced while struggling to ignore the steady pulse that rippled through her core. Her panties felt wet with desire and her nipples had pebbled simply from the feel of her lab coat. She fought to assert calm over her body’s biological demands.
“Rowena, you must come with us,” commanded Thelma, stepping back inside the lab.
She scowled. The lab had always been her sanctuary. Now, however, the blue liquid pooling next to the storage cabinet was a stark reminder, almost a slap in the face, that scientific reasoning had nothing over biology any day.
Plus she was hungry. Her body lately had taken on strange cravings. To think I’m not even pregnant yet and I’m craving food. Thinking of food caused her mouth to salivate as she envisioned eating a noonday feast of salted teasers, the fish harvested in the aquamarine park, and pickled fester fruit which had come into season in the orchard greenhouse. A large rumble by her stomach told her she was famished.
“A meal awaits you, Rowena,” said Thelma, giving her a slight smile. “And after you’ve had your fill, we will begin the preparations for the Pleasure Seeking selection.”
Being reminded of that immediately caused her to lose her appetite. After her noonday feast, Rowena knew her life would never be the same again. She longed to stay within the safe confines of her lab, but that would be impossible.
To further the Maida race, she would be forced by the Council to undergo the Pleasure Seeking selection. Tonight she’d spread her legs so the man she chose could plunge his cock straight into her already wet pussy, all so she could live and conceive a child. That thought brought uncharacteristic tears to fill her eyes. She fought hard to keep them from brimming over.
Work is what I understand and can get my head around. If my sister were here, she’d say that head was something I most certainly am going to give tonight. She cringed, hating the erotic thought that popped into her mind.
Chapter Two
Tulon scowled as another bowl of pickled fester fruit passed his way. He forced the bitter round fruit into his body, already hating that it had come into season. What I wouldn’t give for fresh greens.
“What some more, boy?” the female guard asked as she eyed him up and down like he was dessert.
He said nothing. He knew from past experience that it was better for him when he didn’t speak. His voice aggravated the guards. After two years in the forced labor camp, Tulon had learned his lesson, somewhat. Privately he thought, Bitch!
Women disgusted him. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Mostly it was these women, the ugly she-men who had captured him, who made him want to puke. His mother, sister and clan women he understood. These ones, well, for the past twenty-four months he had thought of them as something else. They certainly looked alien to him and they were more brutish than he could ever have imagined a female capable of being.
Inwardly, he cursed at himself. Stupid! I should have known better. He never should have left the safety of the Dark Forest. Not that he had any choice in the matter. It was either expulsion or death. He had chosen the former. Now he was second-guessing his choice.
It wasn’t as if the hard labor was all
that difficult or physically draining to him. It was the nights. He was sick and tired of having to rut with the guards, acting all the while like he was enjoying it. He didn’t. These women were nothing like the gentle, fun-loving creatures of his kind. They were large, dirt-ugly and stank.
“Are you going to eat that, 7653?” asked the man sitting next to him on the soft, plush cushions.
Having no name rankled Tulon the most. Without it he felt lost, alienated, as if he didn’t matter. Maybe I don’t.
He recalled vividly how the thrush—the transformation into a mature Centaur—had changed him for life. It hadn’t been welcomed by his clan. Hence the banishment. Hence his imprisonment. Well, truthfully, that had been his own stupidity.
He had traveled almost half a moon through the Dark Forest, farther than any of his kind had dared to venture before. Food had grown scarcer with each passing day, but Tulon couldn’t turn back. He didn’t dare. If he did, his younger brother would also be forced from the herd. Tulon knew that meant certain death for his sibling, so under the watchful eye of his mother, he had trotted away.
No, his mother’s mate, Rython, would have enjoyed that too much. His mother, Shylah, had taken Rython as her mate only after Tulon’s father had died. At that time, she had already been expecting, so Rython hadn’t been able to mate with his mother. After the birth of the twins, since all females nurse their young for up to six years, Rython had only grown more cantankerous because his mother hadn’t come into heat or wanted to rut.
At first, Tulon had sympathized with him. However, he came to realize Rython could be cruel as well as vindictive. Rython hated him. The reason was simple.
He, Tulon, looked too much like his mother’s previous mate. He bore the same dark markings, long black mane and coat and he was quick on his feet. So when the thrush had finally come to him and the change had happened, it had been the perfect excuse for Rython to expel him. Change was not something any of his kind liked.