Table of Contents
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
Epilogue
Author’s Note
About the Author
Sometimes, dreams come true.
After fighting Earth’s government for fifty years, the Coalition has succeeded in its plan of bringing human females into space, and Tina Graham can finally live her dream. Assigned as a medic on Deranti Station, she has everything she has ever wanted until an unknown alien male rips it all away during a raid. With her dream destroyed and her life forever changed by an alien she’s only met once, Tina must fight to keep her dream alive.
Sorvar, Third Prince of Morgath, wants a mate who is different from the submissive females his people usually steal, and Tina’s just the sort of female he’s been looking for. The feisty human sets his blood on fire the minute she opens her mouth, and one bite is all it takes to claim her. But unexpected complications threaten to halt their relationship before it starts, and Tina must slay the demons from her past to have any chance at happiness with the sexy alien.
While Tina and Sorvar learn to manage the surprising results of mixing Human and Morgath genes, alien and human forces are determined to tear them apart, and steal not only their future but the future of the Morgath people.
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Claimed
Copyright © 2016 Lee-Ann Wallace
ISBN: 978-1-4874-0875-6
Cover art by Angela Waters
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
Published by eXtasy Books Inc or
Devine Destinies, an imprint of eXtasy Books Inc
Look for us online at:
www.eXtasybooks.com or www.devinedestinies.com
Claimed
Project Destiny Book One
By
Lee-Ann Wallace
Chapter One
Tina’s heart thundered as screams and smoke filled Deranti Station. The lights flickered as a spasm in her chest sent her into a coughing fit that left her bent over struggling to draw in a breath.
She looked left, then right at the intersection of corridors, before spinning in a circle. Everything looked the same. Which way should she go? Had she come from that corridor or that one?
She’d only been on the station for a week, and she’d only been doing her job for five days, which were five of the best days of her life. All her training, all the waiting to see if the Alliance would accept her, was it all down the drain?
It had been a dream come true when they’d accepted her as one of the first one hundred women allowed into space. She’d dreamed of studying aliens and working in a medical centre in space ever since she was ten years old.
Oh, come on! It was only one floor! Which way did she turn after lunch? Damn it, she should have paid more attention on the station tour the day she arrived.
Tina spun in a circle, again. The emergency stairs are—can’t see!
There wouldn’t be any pods left by the time she found them if she didn’t hurry. Every minute she spent trying to find her way, her heart pounded harder and her breath wheezed out.
Her soft-soled shoes squeaked on the shiny plate floor as she moved closer to the walls. It took until she almost had her nose pressed to the wall before she could make out the writing. Heat bloomed in her cheeks as she checked every wall. She must look so silly standing so close to the walls, but she continued until she found the one that led to the stairs. The small white lights at regular intervals imbedded in the centre of the floor acted as beacons to guide her way until the lights flickered again and went out.
Tina froze in the middle of the corridor. Oh god, no! She bit back a whimper. She hated the dark—it terrified her, ever since she was a kid. Unable to move, fear freezing her to the spot, she felt every breath rasp out of her, each one more painful than the last.
From the cries of the other residents of the station, it was clear nobody knew what was happening or who was attacking. Everyone was rushing for the escape pods, intent on saving themselves.
The emergency lights flicked on, not enough to completely light the corridor, but enough for Tina to see where she was going. All her concentration was focused on following the lights, so by the time she realised something was following her, it was too late to run. The heavy thudding footfalls and sharp click of claws of a much larger creature were right behind her.
Tina rushed forward, but in her haste to get away she tripped on her own feet and started to fall. Something grabbed her upper arms from behind and held her steady, startling a scream from her that echoed down the corridor. A hot humid breath blew across her cheek pulling a gasp from her.
“What are you?” A harsh voice growled in her ear.
“Human,” Tina replied as she tried to control the tremble that had started in her legs.
“From Earth?” The growling voice didn’t wait for her to respond. “You are a very long way from home, little female.”
Something hot and wet slicked up the side of Tina’s neck, leaving a damp trail behind and a shudder rocking her in the alien’s hands, and not the good kind of shudder. Ugh, how disgusting.
“What are you doing?” Tina demanded, but her voice came out sounding weak.
A cruel chuckle blew hot breath against the wet side of her neck. “Tasting you. Checking for compatibility.”
Steel shot down Tina’s back, snapping her spine straight. She’d had a very thorough briefing on compatibility. It was part of the study materials of every human allowed to leave Earth. Along with the briefing on compatibility, the Alliance of Federated Countries—Earth’s ruling body—explained that it frowned on sexual fraternisation with another species. They liked the idea of having a presence in space, and they valued the security of being part of the Coalition, but they didn’t want any little half humans running around the universe. Any child of mixed genetic material would never receive citizenship on Earth.
The human males who had been in space for the last fifty years had mostly avoided fathering half-breeds. One heard a rumour now and then, but there were no substantiated claims.
The men who came to the stars to work and experience something different returned home far better off financially than if they had stayed on Earth. For Tina, it was an opportunity to learn and have the freedom she was never allowed back home.
After years of careful planning, she had no intention of letting some alien ruin her future.
“Like fuck you are,” she said.
“Let me go, asshat. I’m not interested in your compatibility.”
Another deep chuckle blew hot breath on her neck. “But I’m very interested in you, little female. You have a strong spirit, and you taste good.”
Another wet stroke up her neck made Tina shiver again. Not because she found the sensation pleasurable, but because the male left a wet, cold trail behind. Why did he keep doing that? She wasn’t a freaking lollipop.
Nobody had needed to twist Tina’s arm into accepting the hormone blocker offered to the females before leaving Earth. Not having to worry about her cycle while she was in space had sounded fantastic to her and a lot of the other women. She had no interest in getting pregnant or having a relationship with an alien, and the bonus of the blocker was the decrease in sexual need.
She’d left Earth to learn, and relationships other than friendship were not on her agenda. She wasn’t going to be the plaything of something far stronger than her.
Tina wiggled and kicked, twisted and thrashed around trying to get away until she sagged in the alien’s hands, exhausted and still exactly where she’d been before—except now sweat dampened her skin and her lungs burned from the smoke she had inhaled. A violent fit of coughing wracked her body and made her lungs burn.
“A fighter. You are quite the prize human,” her captor growled.
Through the pounding in her ears, she barely heard what the alien said. He’d only just finished speaking when his sharp teeth clamped over her shoulder and upper arm and he bit clean through the fabric of her suit and into her soft flesh.
A scream wrenched from Tina and echoed down the corridor as the alien’s teeth tore into her arm, chest, and shoulder. His venom entered her feeling like acid in her veins. Tina choked on a sob as a burning fire started at the location of the alien’s bite and flared through her. As quickly as he had bitten her, the alien released her.
Gentle hands settled her on the ground, and a hot wet tongue licked the tears from her cheek. “I will see you soon, little human. Wait for me.”
Tina almost missed what the alien said. Fire burned through her body from the site of the bite and radiated out. Her cries of pain echoed down the corridor as she struggled to control the trembling of her body.
How long did she lie in the corridor, her screams echoing up and down? Maybe hours, but it could have been days. All Tina was aware of was the all-consuming pain that burned its way through her body and sent her spiralling down into the black depths of unconsciousness.
* * * *
Sorvar stalked through the station, the taste of his little mate on his tongue. Shock had filled him at the swell of lust that hit him the minute her blood slipped across his tongue. None of the males he’d talked to about mating had described anything like it. The lust and drive to mate, to seal the bond, usually didn’t come until the transformation was complete.
But a burning need beating inside him, getting stronger with every step he took closer to his ship and away from his new mate, almost consumed him. Her blood tasted like the most potent of aphrodisiacs on his tongue, sweet, yet with a metallic tang that wasn’t unpleasant, just an interesting note in the bouquet of her flavour. Her blood contained other, more subtle flavours, feminine and addictive, and one bite would never be enough.
Sorvar forced himself to keep walking and not to return to bite her again and again. There would be time for that after their transformations. He could wait the six months it would take to transform. He couldn’t wait to see how his Morgath genes fused with his mate’s human genes.
Males gathered outside the airlock to his ship, energy stifling the air. The heavy oppressiveness swamped him as he drew closer and told him few, if any of them had found a mate. It wasn’t uncommon for a ship to return with no males finding a mate.
Taking on the species they usually preyed on unawares was almost impossible now. It had helped sway the males’ decision to raid Deranti Station when he suggested it. He’d also argued that if they kept taking mates from the same species, the Coalition would never accept them. The species they currently took to mate had never produced the much-needed females that would gain them admittance into the Coalition. It was time for the Morgath to choose from a wider variety of species in an attempt to breed females.
His father would be furious with his choice of mate, though. Not much information was available on the humans, especially the females. All they knew was humans were a weak species that needed to rely on their weapons for protection. They stood no chance in a one-on-one fight with the majority of species who were members of the Coalition, and those in the Outer Rim as well.
But he didn’t care. The minute he’d caught her scent, he’d tracked her through the station, determined to find the source of the tantalising scent. Something about his little mate fascinated him. She smelled like heat and spice, like the air on Morgath right before a storm, and he couldn’t get enough.
Sorvar walked through the throng of males outside the airlock and into the warmer, moister air of his ship. His claws clicked on the plate flooring as he stalked towards Medical.
Every male knew of the requirement to submit to scans and testing once mated, so the medics could track their transformations. His father had carved the rule in stone, and it was even more important for him to do so. His mating with a human would be the first in Morgath history, and he would set the standard for every other male who chose a human as a mate.
Seklan looked up from the console he stood at when Sorvar walked through the double doors into Medical.
“My Prince, did you have need of me?” Seklan asked.
Of course he did. Why else would he be here? “I’m here for the scans, Seklan. I found a mate on the station, and she’s human. I thought you would want to complete the scans straight away,” Sorvar replied.
Seklan stared back at him, his eyes wide and his wings rustling. Was he nervous or scared? Sorvar tilted his head as he studied the medic.
“Is something wrong?” he asked when Seklan didn’t move.
“N-no, my Prince. It’s just, you are the first male to mate with a human. They are such a frail and inadequate species. Your father—”
Sorvar cut the medic off with the slash of his hand. “I will worry about my father. First, I have to make it through the transition. The differences between our peoples are great.”
Maybe they were too different. He rolled his head and loosened the tight muscles of his neck. The gathering warmth in his gut spread and built. The change couldn’t be starting so soon. Could it?
It took months for the change to complete, and most males didn’t feel anything until at least a week after they claimed their mates.
“Seklan, you should perform the scans and tests now. The change is already starting.” Sorvar walked towards one of the medical tables.
“But, my Prince, that’s impossible! Quickly, then—get up on the table and I will begin the scans. Perhaps you picked up an illness from the human.”
Sorvar clenched his teeth to stop himself from ripping into Seklan. His mate had not given him an illness. He’d talked to enough males to know how the change started.
He stalked the rest of the way to the medical table and settled down on the cold metal surface on his stomach, his wings folded tightly against his back. The air in the Medical bay started to become stifling as his body continued to heat.
The frame for the scanner lowered over him with a low whine, but all of Sorvar’s attention was taken by the rapidly building heat in his gut. No longer a gentle warmth, it had become a burning hot coal in a matter of minutes, and it was spreading through his body like the inexorable encroachment of the tides across the Derlika Flats near his home.
A low noise had come from Seklan before he said, “Prince Sorvar, I don’t understand. You are already entering Stage One transformation.”
He was right. His transformation was starting early, but how? The scanner frame whined again as it rose and Seklan rushed over with a blood extractor in his hand. A small prick be
tween the scales on his neck that Sorvar barely noticed, and the medic had a blood sample.
He pushed himself up to a sitting position on the table, the heat spreading out to the ends of his fingers and toes and even the tips of his wings and tail. A sharp pain twisted his stomach, pulling a sharp gasp from him. Holy Ninvah. That hurt!
“Your transformation is progressing at an accelerated pace, Prince Sorvar. I would recommend we return home as quickly as possible. I do not have the equipment here on the ship to assist you,” Seklan said from the console.
What a marvellous fucking idea! Sorvar clenched his teeth to stop a growl from erupting. He had no problems with going home, and he would prefer to be in Bavric’s capable hands during his transformation than Seklan’s.
The ship’s medic had never hidden the fact that he didn’t agree with the Morgath taking alien mates. Like Sorvar’s father, Seklan believed the aliens tainted the Morgath bloodline. How that was even possible when every child born of a mated union bred true to the Morgath, he’d never quite understood.
He needed to round up the crew and get the ship started for home before he locked himself in his quarters. However, things didn’t work out quite the way Sorvar wanted. Pain ripped through him, making him feel like he’d been torn open, and it was all he could do not to scream as he toppled off the table.
Chapter Two
The pain had dragged Tina into the black depths of unconsciousness, and pain ripped her awake, screaming. Hands pushed against flesh that felt like it was boiling off her bones.
God, every inch of her felt like it was on fire, feeling like it was seared and burned. Tina thrashed against the hands that were trying to hold her down. Her back arched as a wave of excruciating pain washed over her, pulling another scream from her.
A tumble of voices, some deep and some softer, penetrated her pain until another wave sent her spinning into the void.
Claimed (Project Destiny Book 1) Page 1