Captivated: Return to Earth

by

Ashlynn Monroe

Captivated: Return to Earth

Copyright © 2015, Ashlynn Monroe

ISBN: 9781940744896

Publisher: Beachwalk Press, Inc.

Electronic Publication: August 2015

Editor: Pamela Tyner

Cover: Fantasia Frog Designs

eBooks are not transferable. No part
of this book may be used or reproduced without written permission, except in
the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews.

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 author’s imagination
and used fictitiously.

Saving her men requires Franny to be their salvation.

Francesca Dehart has rescued the three men she loves from a
hellish mining colony on the Earth-like planet Utopia. Cade, her strong leader,
was the first to win her heart. Nebraska burned her with his lust, and Dawson
loved her first and hardest.

Franny’s futuristic world is beyond anything the men expected
after their rough, primitive existence. Chicago is a city of progression, but
old values still make their living arrangements unacceptable to many. With the
media scrutinizing them Franny longs to make the world understand.

Is the love they’ve found worth the battle and struggle to
hold on, or will Franny give up on having her own little piece of utopia?

Content Warning: contains multiple partners, sexual content,
and spanking.

For the dreamers.

Thank you to the staff at Beachwalk Press. I am honored to
call Beachwalk the home of these characters as well as many more.

So many readers reached out to me because they wanted to
know what happened after Franny brought her men to Earth. I felt compelled to
write this story. Thank you for reading my work. I hope you enjoy the sexy
conclusion to Franny’s captivation with her miners.

Cameras flashed and reporters screamed as Francesca Dehart
pushed her way through the crowd at the Virgin Galactic Interplanetary
terminal. The three men she’d rescued from Utopia flanked her. Fear for her men
made every muscle in her body tense. Cade, Nebraska, and Dawson wore strained
looks and they were even paler than usual.

She and her lovers were the last to disembark from the
spacecraft that had just landed in Chicago after collecting them and the other
surviving miners from the defunct mining colony. The survivors were third-generation
colonists from an Earth-like planet called Utopia. She’d dreamed of this
reunion for months, but the media wanted to capture every breath of clean Earth
air her men took. Her vocal cries for their rescue had made them celebrities.

There were more journalist here than there had been people
on Utopia. Her captors turned lovers had fought for survival on an abandoned
mining colony in a world with much harsher winters than Earth. Living there had
made crowds unnerving for her, so she couldn’t imagine what it was like for the
men. She’d brought them to her world to save them, but doubt stole her joy.
This was too much, too fast.

The men looked up at the very high, tinted glass and steel
ceiling. Another shuttle came in for a landing, and the roar outside and shadow
of the great ship’s belly flying overhead was awe inspiring even for someone
who’d seen it before. The dignity in the way her men marveled made her proud.
She would have acted like a total freak, but they took in the new sights and
still remained wild-west tough as hell.

“Did everyone who lives in your town come here to shout at
us?” Nebraska asked as he hurried along next to her. He was a big guy, but kept
looking nervously from side to side as the crowd of news-hungry reporters
pushed in toward them.

“These are just some reporters. It’ll be okay,” she assured
the stressed man. Telling their story to bring public attention to the miner’s
plight had made her three men quasi-celebrities. Franny noticed more than just
local, or even national media. International broadcasting had sent people here
for this unprecedented landing. These men were the first alien-world born
humans on Earth.

“What’s it like being home? Is it true America enslaved the
miners for over a generation?” Hearing the female correspondent’s question made
her flinch, because it was a reminder of what she’d been worried about.

“We ain’t got a home, lady,” Cade replied.

His response squeezed her heart in a vise. Home. This was
her home, but would the men feel comfortable here in Chicago—or Earth for that
matter?

“What will you do now? Do you know where you’ll be staying?”
asked the same reporter.

Franny thought she recognized the woman from a popular
morning TV show, so she opened her mouth to answer, but before she could
respond a male reporter grabbed her sleeve. He yanked Franny—hard. She almost
lost her balance. In panic she lashed out to slap at his hand. He didn’t let go
right away. Then Cade was beside her. His scowl made his displeasure crystal
clear.

“Let her go!” Cade shouted. He stood toe-to-toe with the WGN
anchor.

“Come on, it’s okay,” Franny said, trying to de-escalate her
very territorial male.

Franny felt a hand on her shoulder and she gasped, turning.
Dawson pulled her away from the wall of newshounds and put his arms around her.
An image of what she had to look like next to him flittered across her mind as
the cameras angled toward them. She was wearing a low-cut, shimmering, sleeveless
blouse. The neckline was a thick collar of knit material. Her tight leggings
snapped onto her chunky heel shoes, and her bright auburn hair was twisted in a
very stylish, messy bun. She had dark, thick eyeshadow and bright red lips. Her
face makeup was pale except for the rouged cheeks. Her look couldn’t have been
more 2090’s Chicago hip.

Flashes made it hard to see. The rabble of voices was
disturbing to her. She had no idea how her guys were handling it. When she
tried to get a read on their emotions by looking at their faces Dawson and
Nebraska were too busy gazing all around at the terminal for her to see
anything clearly. Security kept them moving. Cade lagged behind and she
couldn’t see him. She wished she’d prepared the boys better. She wished
she’d
been prepared too. This wasn’t what she’d been promised, but if this was the
cost to have them there she’d pay it.

Dawson wore rugged, dirty flannel and torn denim. He smelled
of hard work and masculinity. The scent brought back a host of memories. Some
were great, but others still haunted her nightmares. His brown hair was long
and tied into a short ponytail at the nape of his neck. He gazed at her with
his dark brown eyes and such intense longing his need stole her breath. She
took his hand, pressing their palms together tight and lacing his fingers with
hers.

“It’ll be okay,” she whispered for Dawson’s ears alone.

Cade and Nebraska were still behind them. She didn’t like
how sick Cade looked. His dark blond hair lacked luster, and his cheeks were
hollower than she remembered. He’d almost died on Utopia. He was so thin her
first sight of him had made her stomach clench. Nebraska was tall with shaggy
black hair, and he was just as beautiful as ever. When he was ready to look for
work she was going to suggest modeling.

The terminal exit loomed from the opposite end of the
gauntlet of media. The big glowing
Welcome to Chicago
sign was lit up.
Lights danced around the doorway cheerily. The sun looked supernaturally bright
after being in the dim building. She made her way in the direction of freedom,
but when terrified screams erupted behind her, she stopped and turned back. The
blinding flashes set the scene of the dim interior as a surreal strobe light.
Bright snaps flickered from every angle.

Cade knocked the grabby-hands journalist out cold. Raising
his chin, he challenged the encroaching crowd to a fight with his rebellious
glare. He was very tall and his muscular frame loomed imposing and dangerous as
he stared down at the crowd. His gray eyes were unblinking steel. Reporters
thrust microphones in his face, screaming questions about Utopia, and fighting
to get as close as possible to the front of the crowd.

“Can Francesca really love all three of you now that your
ordeal is over? Did you plan to save her or use her when you bought her from
the alien?” shouted the male newsperson who’d managed to get his way past the
barricade set up by Virgin Galactic security. The media had filled in the
blanks in her story with embarrassing accuracy.

Her mind played back the moment she knew she was theirs. The
moment she’d let herself honestly belong to them on a day she never imagined
she’d be rescued or able to rescue them.

“What’s the matter, darlin’?” Cade asked with concern.
“There’s nothing to fear.”

That was the problem. She was no longer afraid of
losing herself, because she’d done it already. “I’ve given up. This is what the
rest of my life will be.”

A darkness entered his expression. “It won’t be so
bad,” he replied gruffly. “You make it sound as if we’re hurting you.”

They hadn’t hurt her, but she hadn’t made the choice
to live here. “I just never thought my life would end like this,” she
explained.

“End?” Cade asked angrily. “This isn’t the end of
anything except the dark days. You’re alive. I’m sorry if you can’t go back to
your fancy job and life, but we’ll give you all we have to offer.”

“I’m not asking for anything. I just don’t want to be
forced to suffer on—”

“Suffer? I heard you screaming for Dawson this
morning, darlin’. That didn’t sound much like sufferin’ to me,” Cade
interrupted. She’d never seen him this angry. He was always the levelheaded
one. “You can leave at any time and end your suffering.”

“I don’t want to leave you, but I want to go home.”

“You can’t have it both ways. You have no idea what
real sufferin’ is. Do you think waking up to the sound of you in bed with a man
I consider my brother is nice? Do you have any idea how I feel when you smile
at one of them? You belong to me in a way you don’t to them, and I can’t enjoy
it because I see the way you stop yourself every time you want to touch me
outside of bed. I died a million times, and you never noticed.”

Franny’s stomached clenched, and the quick flutter in
her core sent arrows of desire through her.

“I love you. May God have mercy, but I love you,
woman. You quiet my darkest demons and you awaken ones I’ve never known until I
held you. Damn it, Franny, you’re torturing me.”

She was in his arms. He’d made her wish for things
that could never be. He’d rekindled dreams of romance she thought she’d buried
on Earth. She wanted a husband and children, not an endless orgy.

A real life was out of reach, but now she’d twisted the
three men up in her heart and couldn’t imagine one without the others. There
was no turning her back on any of them. She wanted them all.
Maybe it’s time for a new dream.

Cade was kissing her with a desperation that was
remarkable for its complete lack of his typical restraint. She felt moisture on
his face. Her strong Cade was letting her see how much he hurt.

Franny turned her head to the side so she could draw a
deep breath and speak. He kept kissing her face.

“You’re the strongest man I know. I’m sorry,” she
gasped.

“Don’t ever be sorry for me, woman. Fuck my pain
away,” he whispered in her ear.

Guards surged in and grabbed the desperate newsman to push
him back into the swarm of media as the uniformed workers struggled to hold the
rabid assemblage at bay. Cade scowled into the multitude of cameras as he stood
in defiance of the mob. The way he menaced them with his hard eyes and grim
frown made him appear just as untamed as the public envisioned. He was still
dressed in his rough, dirty clothing and his gaunt-from-illness appearance only
added to the brutality of his image. This was what they wanted and he was
feeding into the mythology of what people thought of the miners from Utopia.

Nebraska rushed back and grabbed Cade’s arm. “It’s not worth
it,” Nebraska shouted over the rabble.

Cade pulled away from the horde and shrugged off Nebraska’s
hold. Franny watched expressions played across Cade’s rugged, handsome face.

Her breath hitched and her heart pounded. Dawson stood
protective and close. He made her feel both adored and exasperated. Her men
might’ve come to civilization, but that didn’t mean they were going to be
civilized. She should have expected this, or prepared them. She hadn’t and
didn’t. Crossing her arms over her chest, she tried to hide the fact her hands
were shaking. This was too much for them after all they’d been through.

The other miners had been hustled away, but it was her men
the media loved, because it was their story—at least a PG version of it—she’d
told to sway the public to want to rescue them.

Dawson pulled her tight against his body, using himself as a
shield of sorts. “Don’t look at them. Keep moving,” he ordered, and she let him
rush her away.

She was separated from her men as more security swooped in
for crowd control. She panicked. The memory of being taken from them was still
raw, even after all the time that had passed.

Franny wept hard, her knees curled up to her chest.
Loss weighed on her heavily.
How could he give
me up like that? He didn’t even try to fight for me. Was he that afraid of the
soldiers? He didn’t even let the others try to keep me. I love him. Damn him.

A female soldier came and knelt down next to her.
“It’ll be okay. They can’t hurt you anymore.”

“That’s just it,” Franny said. “They weren’t hurting
me. I love them.”

The woman looked shocked.

Franny glared in the face of her surprise and
distaste. “I had a man…men that I’m in love with. Please take me back,” Franny
pleaded. She reached out her hand and grabbed the front of the woman’s uniform.
“Please. Oh God, I can’t go back and leave them there to die!”

“No one on Earth will blame you for what happened.
This wasn’t your fault. You’re weak and ill. We’ll take care of you. No one
will hurt you anymore,” said the female military medical officer.

Franny could see from the kind expression on her face
that her intentions were good, but she wouldn’t accept the truth. “They didn’t
hurt me. I swear I want to stay with them. They’re my family.”

“This is so common when a captive is held for a long
period of time. You’re safe. You might think they were good to you, but they
weren’t good men. You were a prisoner.”

“I could have left them at any time. I choose them.”

The woman gave her a sympathetic look. Franny could
tell she’d exhausted the soldier’s patience. She had a med kit she was opening.
Franny flinched when she saw the needle.

“We’ll get you home and someone will talk to you. What
you’re experiencing is common in abductions. You’ll get through these
feelings.”

Franny didn’t resist as the woman began checking her
vital signs. “I’m dead inside, so what does it matter if I have a heartbeat?”
Franny muttered.

There was an opening between the guards and she saw Dawson’s
back. Franny pushed forward and caught up. She grabbed Dawson’s hand and
exhaled as a surge of relief washed over her. Franny giggled with nervous
embarrassment as she let go of him. He gave her a curious look before smiling
down at her. She grinned back. They both looked out at the waiting
transportation.

When they stepped out into the bright sun Dawson took a step
back. The Chicago heat of Indian summer hit them. The late September day
reminded her of July. After being inside with the air conditioning the heavy,
humid weather was a shock to the system. He glanced at her and his brow
furrowed. There was no humidity on Utopia. Franny took his arm. She shielded
her eyes from the sun with her hand to look up at him and noticed his chest
move as he sucked in a deep breath.