Initiation (Xylon Warriors 1)
Initiation
Book 1 in the Xylon Warriors series.
Warrior Braden Koll is on a mission to retrieve DNA-compatible women for breeding on the planet Xylon. His current assignment is to locate Earth woman Alexa Sandor, found to be a match, and sexually initiate her into The Lair of Xylon. After meeting her, Braden wants Alexa for his own…even though the Warrior Council decreed she must mate with another.
Alexa is experiencing nightmares about a strange planet. Now a man supposedly
from
that planet has come to “initiate” her into his society. The sexual ceremony, he explains, is to prepare her for breeding, so she can help produce children to save Xylon from domination by a half-creature, half-humanoid race of Slave Masters.
Despite her initial disbelief, Alexa loses her heart to Braden’s strength and tenderness. He shows her pleasures she’d never thought possible. Ultimately, she believes his story, wants to help, wants to stay by his side forever. She simply needs to find the strength to leave Earth and travel to an unknown planet. If she can’t, Alexa will have to give up the only man she’s ever loved.
And that decision would have consequences not only for Xylon—but Earth as well.
Ellora’s Cave Publishing
Initiation
ISBN 9781843608165
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Initiation Copyright © 2004 Ruth D. Kerce
Edited by Pamela Campbell
Cover design by Dar Albert
Photos: Angela Harburn & Margarita Borodina @ shutterstock.com
Electronic book publication March 2004 The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, 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. Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. 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. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. 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. The publisher and author(s) acknowledge the trademark status and trademark ownership of all trademarks, service marks and word marks mentioned in this book. |
The publisher does not have any control over, and does not assume any responsibility for, author or third-party websites or their content.
Initiation
Ruth D. Kerce
Prologue
City of Black Marble
Northern California
Heart hammering, pulse pounding, he had to have her. With a low groan, he eased into her from behind. Pure, hot sin.
She made that sexy little sound he loved so much—half moan, half purr. And all his.
His fingers curled around her hips.
He pulled his cock almost completely out of her, then slowly buried himself deep. He clenched his teeth, controlling his body, not wanting the ecstasy to end.
“Faster,” she begged, her plea followed by a small whimper.
The needy sound in her voice made him crazy. He brushed the blonde hair from the back of her neck. So smooth. So beautiful. Soon she’d wear the mark of a mated breeder—his mark. All would know she belonged to him. He leaned over and licked the back of her neck, letting his tongue linger.
She shuddered and pushed against him. “I need…all of you.”
His heart expanded. With this woman, their joining was more than physical. She was his life, his soul. He pushed deep inside her, all the way in.
“Yes. Now. Start thrusting. Hurry.”
His cock throbbed painfully, and he groaned. The time had come. She wanted it, and so did he. The urge to fuck her was so strong that he couldn’t hold back any longer. Nor did he intend to, for she was right. They needed to hurry.
The air beside them shimmered. “Damn,” he muttered. A man in a full facemask materialized, hands on hips, and ready for battle.
“Stop the ceremony.”
She stiffened and tried to pull away to cover herself against the intruder.
He held her tightly around the waist and kept them intimately joined. Nothing was stopping him from making her his.
“I’ve come for the woman.”
Panic hit him, though he had expected this. He pushed her down to her stomach, covering her with his body. Protecting her.
The intruder tugged his pants open. “Pull out of her. I’m going to fix it so the bitch won’t ever be able to breed.”
No way. No one was going to stop him, or take her from him. He held her arms pinned to the mattress, so she couldn’t move, then surged into her, over and over, demonstrating his possession.
“This…woman…belongs…to…me!”
She squirmed beneath him, called out his name.
He ignored her. He had no choice. He had to Brand and Breed her, before it was too late.
“She doesn’t belong to you, Warrior. Not anymore. She is
my
whore now.”
* * * * *
Braden Koll jerked awake. Shit!
The night air wafted over him, gradually cooling his temperature to an almost bearable level. At this time of year, on his home planet of Xylon, the temperatures were much colder. He hadn’t quite adjusted to the change yet. The long coat he wore to conceal his advanced weaponry and instruments only added to the discomfort.
Earth and Xylon could have been sister planets in another age. Xylon, though more technologically developed now, had evolved from a past very much like Earth’s present.
He quickly scanned the deserted surroundings. Light posts. Benches. Trees. A large, center fountain that had shut off hours ago. No danger.
Tonight was not the time to nod off. He’d exhausted himself tracking the woman. Now he was even dreaming about her…and about fucking her.
He shifted uncomfortably on the hard, cold bench. His cock, like the bench, was also hard, but not cold. No man could feel cold after dreaming about that woman. He could still feel her wet pussy wrapped around his stiff shaft, as if the dream were reality. Damn, he needed to come. Bad.
He lifted the locator from his coat pocket and punched it on. She was close. He had to get into position. He’d wanted to stop her from coming tonight but was convinced otherwise.
Let her see the reality of her fate if she refuses to return to Xylon with us
, Laszlo had said. Maybe it would ease the path.
Braden had to convince her to breed. Xylon had so little hope left. Their planet couldn’t survive without her…and other women like her.
Chapter One
Midnight
Black Marble Cemetery
Shrouded in ghostly mist…
Alexa Sandor automatically reached for the camera around her neck, then remembered she had left it locked in the car. Her freelance photography business had not been going well. She could use some unusual settings to spur her clients’ interest.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have time to retrieve the equipment. She had a meeting—one she hoped would finally ease a lifetime of worry and confusion.
Her gaze searched the darkness.
Throughout the graveyard, specter-like mist meandered, obscuring the carved stones, swallowing the names of the dead. A perfect setting for evil creatures to roam free.
The disturbing thought caused warm breath to escape her in a rush, forming a brief ghost-like appearance before dissipating into the night. She shuddered at the sight.
Slowly, she headed toward her target.
Beneath weatherworn boots, the ground squished and oozed as she made her way through the dank and decay-ridden cemetery. Trying to keep warm, she crossed her arms under her breasts and continued toward the path she needed to follow.
Moonlight reflected off the marble tombstones, casting eerie shadows, as she moved deeper into the resting place of the dead. “Definitely not a Sunday stroll in the park, Alexa,” she mumbled to herself.
Obscure images crawled along the pebbled walkway that stretched the length of the graveyard’s ancient-looking crypts. The structures loomed in the night, imposing and moss-covered.
A midnight breeze stirred loose leaves and branches from the sparse foliage that grew around the tombs. The rustling conjured up visions of monsters, dead and undead, shifting between this world and the next.
When she heard a twig snap, she glanced over her shoulder. “This was probably not a good idea,” she murmured, her apprehension growing with each step. Though she didn’t feel she’d had much choice.
Aching cold seeped into her bones and wrapped around her stiff muscles. Alexa rubbed her arms, trying to increase her blood’s circulation. Even long sleeves and a heavy trench coat failed to comfort her. She wasn’t sure if it was the chill of the night or the chill of the location that affected her more.
She breathed in the musty air and looked up at the black clouds that partially concealed the moon. More winter storms were on the way. Not what she wanted. She wanted to get home. To feel safe. Unfortunately, she couldn’t leave. Not until she found what she came for.
The need to recover her mother’s missing journal overruled everything else. If the stranger who’d written her the note now possessed it, as stated, she’d finally have the answers she desperately needed. “Please let it be so.”
When she had arrived at her mother’s house to settle her affairs after a sudden fatal heart attack, she’d found several hidden documents. In one of the documents, her mother had noted that the journal was of utmost importance. It explained everything. The strange otherworldly dreams Alexa had been having since puberty. The compulsion to do as bidden in the nightly visions. The reason she always pushed away men, unsatisfied with every suitor who came along, and the secrets to a future her mother had kept hidden from her all her life. Alexa needed those answers, so she could find peace.
The note she received indicated, from the signature, that the person who had the journal was a woman. A phone call following receipt of the letter, giving her further instructions, confirmed the fact. Alexa would not have considered coming here in the middle of the night otherwise. Probably.
She chewed on her lower lip and glanced over her shoulder. Never in her life had she felt so nervous, so watched. Warily, she noticed shadows form and disappear like evil spirits creeping from grave to grave.
The woman had probably insisted on this location to intimidate her. To put her off balance, so she could get a larger reward for returning the journal. If so, it worked.
Something…
The hair on Alexa’s nape twitched, and her heart slammed against her ribs. She held her breath and stood deathly still.
A whimper. An animal? Certainly not some displaced spook, she hoped with a shiver, then made a strangled chuckle at the absurd thought. She strained to locate the direction the sound had come from.
Stepping off the path, she headed toward one of the crypts. She listened at the opening. No. The sound seemed to be coming from behind the structure. A woman’s whimper. Maybe the woman she was supposed to meet.
She quietly made her way around to the back. Her boots slipped on the dead leaves beneath her feet, and she sucked back the cry that almost leapt from her throat. She reached for the crypt wall and caught herself before pitching headfirst to the ground.
Movement along the rear of the crypt caught her eye, and she paused.
A cloud passed over the moon, then drifted further across the night sky, away from the globe’s light to reveal four figures. Alexa covered her mouth. She stood frozen in place—this time from the sight before her instead of the chill in the air.