Strange Lake Falls Panther (Strange Lake Falls Series Book 4) (11 page)
Katieran Prime Series
Galactic Cage Fighter Series
Inter-Galactic Bounty Hunters Series
Strange Lake Falls Series
Strange Lake Falls Vampire Mistress
Strange Lake Falls Panther
Earth Evolution Series
RESISTANCE
Earth Evolution Book 2
By
KD Jones
Excerpt
Neither said anything as Kyle wrapped an arm around her shoulders and walked her farther away. “I think there is another bathing area. I will see if I can ask the tribe leader where that is. I will also ask my father if we can bring a few of our engineers down here to build real stalls. I just don’t understand why these people don’t relocate to the domes or to our ships.”
“It’s the only home they’ve known. People will tend to pick what is familiar over what is new and alien to them.”
They stopped and Kyle maneuvered Rachel to where her back was leaning against the wall. He trapped her in his arms and leaned his body close into her. She couldn’t easily escape. He took in her robe and her damp skin. The idea of her being completely naked underneath the flimsy material had him hard and aching.
“You can’t be alone like this. Someone could catch you while you are almost naked and have his way with you.”
“I’m not completely naked. I have a robe on.”
“What’s under the robe? Are you even wearing undergarments?”
She blushed and looked away from him. “I don’t think that’s any of your business.”
“Oh but it is. I’m in charge of security. And what the hell are you wearing on your feet?” He bent down and lifted her left leg to pull off the shoe.
“That’s my flip-flop. Give it back.” She had to reach out to grab hold of him to keep her balance.
“A flop what?” He shook it and frowned when it flipped back and forth.
“My flip-flop. I wear them on my feet for showers so that I don’t walk on the dirty ground. It’s one of the things we brought from the dome to distribute.” She snatched the flip-flop and shoved it back onto her foot. She jerked her leg from his grip a little too fast and lost her hold on him. She started to fall but he caught her and pulled her tight against his chest.
They were both breathing hard and Rachel could feel her nipples harden. “Let me go, Kyle.”
“I can’t.” He leaned down and took her lips gently but firmly.
She shoved him to break their connection but he wouldn’t let her push him away completely. “We shouldn’t do this.”
He moved further against her until he had her pressed tighter against the wall. It was not enough to hurt her but enough to keep her right where he wanted her. “We should, we really should.” He leaned down and kissed her again this time, pressing and teasing until she opened up for him.
“That’s right. Open up for me, baby,” he encouraged her.
Rachel wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself closer to him. He tasted so good, like nothing or no one she had ever encountered. His flavor was sweet and sexy with a spice she couldn’t quite place. It was addicting and she sucked on his tongue to try to get as much of it as she could.
Several guys in the dome had kissed her before. But they were boys compared to Kyle, who was all man. She had never had this reaction to a kiss before, either. He seemed to know exactly what to do. He must have had lots of practice. That thought didn’t sit well with her.
She felt his fingertips touching her bare shoulders and they trailed down her bare shoulder and then down her arms. She moaned when she felt Kyle take one of her naked breasts into his hand.
Naked? How was she naked?
EXCERPT: Katieran Prime
(Warning for mature readers only)
“We have a security breach in the interview room!” The lieutenant sounded out of breath.
“I’m on my way!” He looked at Ren and knew he had heard about the breach. Ren nodded that he was coming too.
The two men turned to run at full speed toward the hotel ballroom that was being used to conduct the interviews. As soon as they burst through the double doors, they both came to a screeching halt. They were unprepared for what met their eyes.
About fifteen Earth females stood cowering against the walls of the interview room. That wasn’t what caught their immediate attention. Near the center of the room were six Earth females standing in a tight circle, with one lone female standing in the center of the protective circle. The female seemed to be swaying slightly.
Katieran warriors surrounded the circle of Earth females, giving commands to the females to calm themselves, to which the Earth females responded by shouting back at the warriors to shove something up. . . Ren wasn’t exactly up on Earth vernacular. One female, with a brunette braid falling midway down her back and dressed in Earth’s warrior attire, seemed more aggressive. As two Katieran warriors advanced towards her, the female warrior took them both down to the floor.
Ren looked at his brother, who seemed just as shocked as he was.
“By the fiery flames of Kitana, what is happening here?” The commander looked at the nearest lieutenant who was sweating fiercely. “Why are the females acting this way?”
The lieutenant looked at both the Prime Leader and the Prime Commander and hated that he was the one having to explain the situation. “Prime Commander, those seven females came in right at the end of the interview session. The medics had been dismissed, so the females were not given the translators. We tried to explain the interviews were over, but they did not understand without the translators.”
The lieutenant continued, “We noticed right away the female in the middle of the circle was breeding and seemed very sick. We tried to get her to come with us to have the medics check her out. She did not understand and feared us. The female warrior took a protective stance and the other five females joined her and formed a protective circle. The female breeding looks to be in very bad shape.”
Ren could barely make out the female in the circle’s center. She was wearing a large jacket and had covered her head with a hood. But he could smell her. She had the extra hormones associated with breeding. She smelled like the sweetest flowers grown in Katiera’s well-groomed gardens. He liked the way she smelled.
“Warriors, report!” Commander KydEL yelled. All the warriors presented themselves before the Prime Commander. Kyd stared into the light brown eyes of the female warrior before he turned his attention to his warriors. He touched the comm link attached to his ear to call the medics back to the interview room immediately with seven translators.
He assigned each warrior the responsibility of carefully subduing a female while the medics administered the translators. Kyd planned to subdue the female warrior himself, since none of his lieutenants wanted the task. Ren would be responsible for reaching the female breeding and ensure her safety.
All Katierans held the health and safety of females and children to be of the highest importance.
As the medics arrived with the translators, each warrior took a spot in front of a female. Kyd stood in front of the female warrior. His six foot eight towered over her five foot five height. He liked that she was much smaller than he was. He gave her an arrogant smile that made her respond by sticking out her tongue at him. His sex instantly hardened.
Damn female
.
Ren stood back behind the warriors but kept himself at a slight angle so he could keep his eyes on the female in the center of the circle. The other females were yelling words that didn’t quite translate to Katieran. Ren wasn’t sure that was a good sign.
The Commander let out a loud shrill whistle, which was the signal for the warriors to move. As one, the warriors surged forward, each one grabbing hold of a female and dragging her away from the circle. The warriors wrapped their arms carefully, but tightly, around each female, holding their arms down by their sides.
Ren held his hands up non-threateningly as he approached the frail female. He could smell her panic. She only stood about five foot three. She shivered and looked very pale. She looked up at him as he neared and turned in an attempt to run, but she lost her footing. She started to fall.
Ren acted quickly as he rushed forward to catch the female in his arms. The hood fell off her head to reveal long, red hair. It was as flaming red as Katiera’s second sun. Beautiful hair. He lifted her easily into his arms and pulled her gently against his chest. She looked into his eyes and his breath caught. She had light green eyes. They were a shade lighter than the Waters of Katiera, and just as beautiful.
The female struggled to get free, which was pointless, he was too strong. It was all too much for the weakened female. She soon fell unconscious in his arms. Worry for the female’s well-being consumed him. He yelled for the medics.
EXCERPT: Rage
The recorded fight they had just watched was one with which Rachel was familiar. She had actually watched the match with her friends and co-workers at the local Galactic Pub. Rage had been her uncle’s favorite.
“I am not sure I understand what the mission is. Did you want me to investigate the fighter?” Rachel asked, not taking her eyes off Rage. Even covered in alien blood, he was hot. He stood over seven feet tall and was reported to weigh two hundred fifty pounds. His body was all muscle.
“We want you to start your investigation with the GCFA circuit. It may lead to individual fighters.” Marks handed Rachel a personal electronic display, a PED, with a beautiful woman’s image on it. She had long, sable brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. She had mixture of a Hispanic descent, and she was human, at least in appearance.
“Her name is Lucinda Stamos. Her uncle is Senator Jon Stamos of the Eastern Quarter of the Omega Region. She went missing a little over two months ago,” Marks informed her.
“What does her disappearance have to do with the GCFA?” Rachel asked as she studied the image of the young woman.
“She was celebrating her college graduation with friends. They went to one of the GCFA matches and according to her friends, she started an affair with one of the fighters. She followed him on their circuit tour, but somewhere along the way, she just disappeared. Her friends and family haven’t heard anything from her and the GCFA released a statement saying she left the spaceport hotel on her own.”
Rachel looked again at the image of Rage. Was he involved somehow? Could he be the boyfriend? A part of her hoped that he wasn’t as she asked the question, “Who was the fighter she was involved with?”
“Talon, according to the friends’ reports, but this is bigger than just her. She’s the eighth human woman to go missing in the last six months. They were women of different ethnicities, from all over the eight regions. The one common thread linking them is that they were all last seen at a GCFA match before they were reported missing. I’ve downloaded a report on each woman for you,” Marks stated.
She quickly scrolled through the summaries of each case. Each woman had last been seen in one of the regions on the GCFA circuit. The circuit covered eight regions—Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Omega, Delta, Kappa, Theta, and Zeta. Each region was also separated in four quarters—Eastern, Western, Northern, and Southern, with each quarter containing a million galaxies. That was a lot of ground to cover, and it was only a small piece of the enormous universe.
The young women had gone missing from almost every region on the GCFA circuit. The first girl, Lauren Crabtree, was reported missing from the Alpha Region. Then two girls, Sandra Tate and Melissa Dearling, went missing from the Delta Region. Barbie Vent went missing from the Beta Region. Two more, Robin Teros and Vanna Jones, were from the Theta Region. Candy Simmons had gone missing from the Gamma Region. The final girl, Lindy Stamos, went missing from the Zeta Region.
As Marks was explaining the disappearances of the other women, Rachel looked at their images on her PED, one right after another. They were all young and beautiful. “Did you question the fighter, Talon?”
“We tried, but the GCFA lawyers have been giving us grief about harassing their fighters. It’s been hard to get answers from him or anyone associated with the GCFA. The statement their publicity team released stated that each of the women in question left of their own accord.”
“So you want me to question them?” asked Rachel as she continued to stare at the girls pictures on the PED.
“Not directly. We want you to go undercover as a new female fighter for the GCFA,” Marks continued to explain. “They’ve been off the circuit for two months. They’re about to re-start their GCFA tour again in about six weeks. We want you to pose as a new fighter and go with them on their circuit to investigate from the inside. We believe they may talk to you as a fellow fighter. I have to warn you―if you accept this assignment, you’ll be going in solo.”
“Okay, I’m in,” she said without hesitation.
“Good. Once your training is complete, we’ll set you up with an identity,” Marks told her.
“Training? I’m already trained to fight in multiple disciplines,” Rachel responded.
The other man in the fancy suit had been silent until now. “Not for this type of fighting.”
“And you are?” Rachel asked as she raised her eyebrow up at him.
“I am called Lesak. I have trained many fighters for the GCFA. I am well known within the fighting circuit. I will be your in, but I must make sure you can fight well enough to be accepted at the tryouts. The fights won’t be fixed. They will be real.”
“I’m one of the best fighters in the agency. The best female fighter for sure,” she said with confidence.
“It won’t be good enough. You are pure human. You have only fought other pure humans. The GCFA fighters are mixed species, halfsies as they are called. They have to be, in order to sometimes fight full-blooded aliens as their opponents. A halfsies alien DNA ensures that they will have superior strength and speed.”
“I think I just got insulted.” Rachel looked ready to knock this guy on his ass.