For the King Read online

  For the King

  Life as a nomad was hard, but it was all Nora had ever known. Things didn’t get easier when the CORANOS Galactic Alliance came to Earth. Her parents died and she was separated from her friends, but she was making a life in the hell hole of a work camp.

  Until late one night when Jorkan stole her away with plans of turning her into his personal toy. Predictably, she resisted. He made the mistake of beating her senseless and leaving her unattended. She wrecked the space docks and hauled ass out of there with his nifty ship.

  It felt good to best the arrogant Doranos, but it was a hollow victory. She could fly the ship – but just barely. Navigation was beyond her and there was no more food.

  A desperate hunt through the miniscule shuttle revealed a hidden regeneration bed. Short on options, Nora sealed herself inside.

  It probably would have been better to starve to death in the void of space than to wake up to find herself a slave to the horrifying priests of Ashwamei.

  Then, a new set of aliens boards the ship, and they set her free. Just because they don’t look like demons from hell doesn’t mean she can trust them.

  The Xanite priests of Ashwamei double-crossed Lyon and Zocan to ambush Bram and Lacey. With the help of their Lyaran brethren, Z’cari and Natar, they were able to get Ssszit, Bram and Lacey into an escape shuttle.

  With no other options, they’d hijacked the priest’s own ship. Not long after they escaped Xani in their stolen ship, they made a horrific discovery. The cannibal priests had a female Earther as a slave.

  Infighting and cross purposes lead the Lyarans through a dance of intrigue and anguish as they try to protect Nora without compromising the fledgling colony they are duty-bound to nurture.

  Though minds are breaking and relationships shattering, Lyon and Zocan begin to suspect that Nora with her loving heart and sweet soul belongs right there, with them. Forever.

  If they can keep themselves alive long enough to convince her she belongs in their trinepact, they can do anything. Including take on the CORANOS Galactic Alliance’s top assassin.

  For the King

  Earth Neverafter Book 7

  Reagan Woods

  Edited by

  Borden Fleetwood

  For the King Copyright © 2019 by Reagan Woods. All Rights Reserved.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  Cover designed by Reagan Woods

  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 persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Reagan Woods

  Visit my website at www.ReaganWoods.com

  Contents

  For the King

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Epilogue

  From Reagan

  Author’s Foreword

  Earth Neverafter Book 7: For The King follows the two Lyaran mated pairs of Lyon and Zocan and Natar and Z’cari, after they fight off the Priests of Ashwamei with Ssszit, Lacy & Bram in Book 4: Found. Nora, the heroine, made a brief but pivotal appearance in Book 1: Arianna’s Alien. She also appeared briefly in Book 2: Willa’s Way. Enjoy!

  Chapter One

  Heavy shackles rubbed against the throbbing, weeping skin of Nora’s ankles. She carefully poured tepid water from her drinking bowl between the heavy iron-like substance and her swollen, infected skin.

  The light in the room flickered an eerie red and she had no idea if it was day or night beyond the tiny little cell. Her memories were hazy, but she was relatively certain she was on a ship of some sort. She’d put herself into stasis in the regen bed of the shuttle she’d stolen from Jorkan when she realized she was out of fuel and supplies. It had been the only way she could save herself from certain death.

  Three beeps sounded. Nora braced for the cell door to open. The cuffs began to hum and slammed down hard, locking her to the metal floor.

  Lucky for her, she was already sitting this time. Her poor hips and knees had been wrenched so many times by this mechanism that she probably wouldn’t ever walk without a limp again.

  That was the least of her concerns right now. A guard wearing a ridiculous loincloth and knee-high boots sauntered into the cell. In his hand, he held a small box that functioned like a taser. Nora had reason to know that one bolt from that thing would send her body into a rigid, seizing fit.

  Light from sconces shaped like naked skulls and mounted high on the walls flickered an eerie red no matter the time of day or night. She had no idea how much time had passed since they’d last fed her, but it felt too early for another delivery.

  Something unusual was going on. This guard was new to the rotation. She’d never seen him before, and he didn’t carry a tray of slop or the water pitcher the guards usually brought.

  His bald head gleamed white, and his face was tattooed in the rough outline of a grinning skull. The eye sockets – even the lids and eyeballs - were an unrelieved black. She shuddered at his nightmarish appearance as he walked closer.

  The door slid noiselessly shut behind him and he sauntered up to stand a few feet away. His free hand went to the front of his loincloth and he began to massage himself suggestively.

  Nora froze, the light-weight bowl sliding bonelessly from her fingers to clatter on the floor. He grinned grotesquely at her panic, the expression revealing shiny onyx teeth honed to fine points. He inhaled deeply as though smelling her fear, his grin widening and his self-ministrations increasing vigorously.

  “Yuck,” Nora muttered, hunching her shoulders protectively.

  She wanted to roll into a little ball and disappear, but she was too scared to take her eyes off him. Like the other guards she’d encountered, this one’s oiled, muscular body was covered in scenes of graphic death. Across his chest, he sported a disturbingly realistic series of images depicting ritual sacrifice and cannibalism.

  Nora shud
dered involuntarily when he dropped to his knees before her. She was completely naked. Her formerly voluptuous frame, all five-foot-ten-inches of it, had withered to frail bones hung with dry skin.

  That didn’t stop him from grabbing a handful of her knotted hair and pressing his stunner to her neck just beneath her ear. He growled out a command she couldn’t understand as he bore her to her back on the cold, hard floor.

  Her heartbeat kicked into over-drive, her eyes wheeled about the room as she sought a weapon, some form of defense. She shrieked, the sound shrill and weak, as her flailing hand closed over the bowl she’d dropped.

  She felt more than saw him push the thin loincloth aside and the press of pointed metal studs caught against the tender skin of her thighs. Oh God. He was going to tear her apart. Terror clawed up her throat and out as jagged screams – which he clearly enjoyed. He readjusted and began to thrust against her vulnerable body.

  Mind blank, she reacted instinctively, smashing the bowl into her attacker’s face in one fierce punch. The sound of bone and cartilage colliding made a sickening crunch. For a wild moment, she was elated.

  Then, warm, red blood splashed across her face and chest. Shit. What had she done? He was going to hurt her before. Now, he would be brutal. She cringed, squeezing her teary eyes shut as she waited for retaliation.

  The big male collapsed atop her with a gurgling groan. She couldn’t scrabble out from beneath his dead weight. Blood continued to ooze and drip. It pooled in the dents above her collar bones and ran to the floor to puddle coldly beneath her. The feeling made her gag.

  Nora couldn’t bring herself to look at what she’d done.

  Sobbing, she shoved with all her might, but her legs, her most powerful weapon, remained locked to the floor.

  Whenever he woke, he’d kill her. She choked on a keening wail as she finally managed to move him away from her chest so she could breathe. The air that poured into her abused lungs was thick with the copper tang of blood.

  If only she’d let herself starve to death on the shuttle. Dead and gone seemed a far better option than the beating she knew she’d soon suffer.

  Her eyes landed on the fiend. His nose with its black tattoos seemed to have retreated into his skull. His black eyes stared vacantly. Her lucky strike had killed him.

  “Get off! Get off! Get off!” Thoughts of being trapped beneath the disgusting pile of dead meat forever raced through her mind. Her head swam and her chest felt tight.

  Clack. Clack. Clack, clack, clack. She looked to the left and the right, struggling jerkily to find the source of the sound.

  It took several long moments to realize that annoying noise was the sound of her own teeth chattering. His clotting blood sloshed and splashed from her body to the floor with every uncoordinated move she made.

  Gross. Blood was everywhere. She felt it soaking into her matted hair and shuddered, her face going hot as she fought the rising tide of shock-y nausea.

  The door opened again, and the cuffs demagnetized with a soft click.

  Nora went on the offensive, sitting up to fling the bowl still clutched in her hand at the surprised face of the golden-haired intruder. He dodged easily to the side, his hand slapping at the closing mechanism on the wall and locking her away with the dead guard once more.

  Slowly, she struggled to her feet, kicking the body of her attacker aside. Now what?

  Her eyes landed on the little stunner and she grabbed it up before thinking twice.

  “It’s a good day for a last stand,” she decided grimly.

  Chapter Two

  Nora shivered uncontrollably as she waited for the big white-haired alien in his weird silver suit to return with the guards. There was no way she would live through whatever happened next and she knew it. Her breath came in short gasps and hot tears trickled from the corners of her eyes. This sucked worse than anything she’d been through yet – and that was saying something.

  She knew what she had to do.

  This was so not how she’d seen her life going. She should have realized getting taken into CORANOS Galactic Alliance custody back on Earth really was going to be the end of the world – at least, the end of her world. However, even when she had put herself into the regen bed on Jorkan’s shuttle, she’d been convinced things would work out for the best.

  Since she’d awoken, groggy and woozy, from the stasis sleep, her life had taken a decided turn for the worse. On Earth, things hadn’t been easy, but she’d been raised to fight for freedom. That had been all her parents ever wanted for her; the right to choose her own path. So, today, she would honor them by choosing death at her own hand rather than beating and torture.

  Hey, it was the best she was going to get.

  Those nasty cannibals would probably eat her when they found her body. The idea brought her up short. A shudder of disgust worked over her already shaking frame, and her teeth resumed the frantic clacking as she fought the reaction.

  Anything was better than being raped and tortured. There wasn’t a choice. She needed to be strong, to block all thoughts of what came next for this shell in which she lived from her consciousness. Now was not the time to wuss out.

  Deliberately, Nora raised the black box toward her carotid artery. She blew out a cleansing breath – okay, it was more of a sob…and the door slid open. Two big males stood in the open portal wearing identical expressions of disbelief.

  “Not today, culos.” She squeezed the box hard, feeling for some sort of triggering mechanism with her fingers.

  The blonde giants began speaking to one another in a sibilant, lyrical language.

  Nora grasped the box tighter and shoved it hard against her neck.

  Nothing happened.

  She pulled back to look at the small black box with its two silver spikes and jammed it under her ear once more. “Ow!”

  Nothing.

  The newcomers began to edge cautiously into the room, arms out and at the ready as they split up to approach her from either side. One – the short-haired male who’d initially opened the door – stooped to check the status of the downed guard. Finding him dead, he stood with lithe grace and continued to move slowly toward her, palms out placatingly, with a calculating look in his light-yellow eyes.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she groused, squeezing the small, hard box frantically. The two aliens were within arm’s reach when she realized she’d have to abandon her plan.

  “Mierda,” she cursed, throwing the box at the quiet, long-haired alien who approached on her right. When he ducked away, she was already sprinting for the still-open door.

  Unfortunately for her, the short-haired alien was preternaturally fast. He seized her around the waist to lift her off her feet before she’d made it more than a few steps.

  “Pendejo!” She screamed, clawing into the stretchy fabric covering his thick arms.

  He wrestled her around to face him and she did what came naturally for a woman raised to protect herself – she kneed him in the junk. In that stretchy silver suit, he practically painted a bull’s eye over that vulnerable area. He groaned and hinged forward, but he didn’t let her go. She pulled her leg up to do it again and his companion intervened, lacing his arms around her elbows and locking his hands behind her neck.

  “Déjame ir,” she panted angrily, driving her long legs out and slamming her feet into the hombre estupido she’d already nailed. He toppled to the ground with a groan and the male behind her staggered as he fought to keep her head down so he could control her.

  The burst of adrenaline that had fueled her rage dried up as quickly as it had come on, and Nora slumped uncomfortably, her knees going weak. She stuck her arms straight up in the air and let her body weight hang. Rather than landing on the ground as she expected, the alien easily adjusted his hold and swung her high up into his arms.

  She wanted to fight, she really did, but she was exhausted. Her parents would be so disappointed in her. They’d taught her never to give up and never to give in – and to
always take the battle to someone else’s field. Stirring for one last effort, she caught the quelling look her captor aimed at her. Of course, she reasoned, they’d also taught her to live to fight another day.

  The short-haired alien had climbed back to his feet while she struggled with his companion. Wide-eyed with fear, Nora stared warily as he approached. She shrank back when he extended a big hand toward her face. He narrowed his yellow eyes warningly, but his callused fingers were gentle as they gripped her chin to force her head back.

  Nora squeezed her eyes shut, breath coming in short puffs as she steeled herself for retribution. Instead of pain, she felt the soft slide of his fingers as they feathered gently over her bloody, filthy and bruised neck.

  Nothing happened for several moments. She opened her eyes. Neither alien was even looking at her. They were intent on one another. The alien holding her said something softly to the other. Both shifted their gazes to her, and they studied her long enough to make her squirm.

  Finally, the long-haired alien passed her to the other. The alien she’d kicked in the balls tightened his grip before pinning her with a censoring look.

  “Well, this is just great,” she muttered as they carried her out of her cage and into the nightmarish ship. “Where are you taking me?” She demanded.

  The big alien might have answered her question in his hissy, sing-song way, but she’d never know. She didn’t understand him any better than she had the tattooed freaks. “Fabulous.”

  Chapter Three

  Zocan had declared himself captain of the gaudy ship mere moments ago. Cleaning out the minor priests who crewed the ship had been time-consuming but necessary. Apparently, they’d missed one and he’d used the opportunity to attack a captive female. It was deplorable but hardly surprising. The priests were a disgusting bunch.

  Zocan led his mate Lyon to an auxiliary medical area located a few doors down from the cell where they’d found the female and the dead priest of Ashwamei. Their compatriot Natar had taken his own mate, Z’cari, to the main med bay. Z’cari had been grievously injured in the fight to flee Xani and was even now occupying the best healing lamps on the antiquated ship.