A Civilized Mating

A Civilized Mating

Marie Harte

If one barbarian is lethal, two are even more dangerous… in bed

Earther Skye Jones arrives to rescue her friend from a barbarian kidnapping, knowing she’ll be throwing away her chances of a dream job on planet Ussed. But with her skills, she doesn’t anticipate being captured by a group of the sexy warriors. Or that she’ll fall for the sexy squad leader. If that weren’t bad enough, she’s brought back to their encampment, where she meets their clan leader, yet another hulking warrior that sets her blood afire.

When the mating instinct takes over, Skye finds herself with not just one, but
two
bed partners. Her life isn’t meant to be lived among the uncivilized. Or is it? Before she can decide what she wants, the choice is taken out of her hands by an enemy clan. And if she’s not careful, she’ll lose a lot more than a stubborn heart.

eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement of the copyright of this work.

A CIVILISED MATING

Alpha Series

Copyright © 2015 MARIE HARTE

ISBN: 978-1-936387-82-3

All Romance eBooks, LLC Palm Harbor, Florida 34684
www.allromanceebooks.com

This is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or business establishments, events, or locales is coincidental.

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever with out written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First All Romance eBooks publication: February 2015

Hovering over Planet Ussed, 4
th
Quadrant

Earth Year 2437

“Skye, you are
so
screwed. Don’t do this.” Skye Jones bit her lower lip in indecision, her finger poised above the button as she tried to talk herself out of a rash plan. With one push she’d be transported onto the planet she was
so close
to nabbing as her dream assignment.

But if she went in without approval and made the mess she knew she’d have to make to rescue Lisa, she’d ruin two years of kissing ass and taking the worst assignments in the company to prove herself a team player. Could she do it? Abandon her dream job just so her friend wouldn’t be trapped with a brainless barbarian for the rest of her life?

Decisions, decisions.

Hell.

She pushed the button, knowing she couldn’t leave her best friend in the hands of some ginormous native with control issues. As she hurtled through time and space protected by a Tempien shield, she kissed her future at Armlin United goodbye.
Oh,
planet Ussed. We could have been so good together.

With all the training she’d had on western Ussed culture, Skye felt comfortable navigating the planet without a guide. She spoke fifteen of their dialects, thanks to a series of subtrans education packs. Expensive, but worth it, especially now. Along with a backpack of supplies, she wore standard western clothing—linen-like capri pants and matching tank top, cushy sandals—and had the requisite piercings in her ears and brow to pass as a resort attendant. She kept her hair long and free from dye, liking her ash-blond color, which would also help her pass as a native.

What those on Earth would call
alternative
or
punk
in style, the Ussed people had adapted as the norm. But instead of dressing in tons of black and leather, they wore light colors and loose-fitting clothing to combat the heat. Body art was encouraged, self-expression more than a right; it was a way of life.

From everything she’d read about the Welcome Resort—the place that should have been her promotion—beings from all over the four quadrants paid exorbitant fees to stay. At Welcome they could enjoy fine dining, pursue exotic activities, purchase items found from all over the universe, and expect unsolicited pampering. All pluses, no minuses. Well, that’s if one didn’t count on the barbarians to the east making trouble. Five hundred years ago, the West had made a pact with the East. To keep the barbarians from invading, they’d agreed not to encroach on eastern lands…and to allow the barbarians free access to the resort in exchange for their protection.

From the vids Skye had seen, the Westerner’s had come out on top. They had a resort worth every penny spent. A gorgeous view of several interconnecting lakes, domesticated wildlife that added to the striking atmosphere, and a five-star rating. The planet looked much like Earth, but with a vibrancy lacking in her homeworld. And the people… Just, wow.

Vids of the barbarians standing guard showed them to be at least seven feet tall with builds Mr. First Universe would envy. They didn’t use weapons either. Just their bare fists and the extremely effective animal hides that shielded them from all manner of attack.

That’s if a person could look beyond the handsome features of said security to bother. Hell, even Welcome’s security force was beautiful. Beyond odd, yet their system worked.

Or it had, until her unfortunate friend had caught the attention of one of their guards. Now the idiot thought he had a right to own her. At least, that’s how the translation worded it. Lisa had stepped in it big time.

Skye’s journey ended abruptly, and she found herself standing in Welcome’s visitor transport dock. It literally hurt her to see the beauty in the vids hadn’t been exaggerated, because she would never know the joy of living and working in the place. With a sigh, she stepped off the raised pad, hitched her bag higher on her shoulder, and made straight for the administrative building.

And how do I know where to go? Why, I have the whole place memorized because it was supposed to be my
new home
in another month.
One lousy month and it could have all been hers. “Shake it off, Jones. A friend needs your help. Move it,” she told herself. The tough love helped, and she did her best to focus on the here and now, not what could have been.

Most of the patrons—both humanoid and not—arriving at the resort were affluent, famous, and in a few instances, infamous. Merchants, CEOs, alien mafia. It didn’t matter who you were. So long as you had money and left your weapons at the gate, you were welcome in Welcome.

The double
welcome
didn’t entertain her as it once had. Now she could only shake off her missed opportunity to lead to bigger and better things at Armlin, and hope to hell Lisa was still okay.

Skye threaded through several slow moving visitors and dodged waving appendages. A spiked tentacle drew a little too close to her, so she pushed out with a bit of telekinesis, so slight the creature shouldn’t have noticed it.

Like most humans from Earth, she possessed a smattering of psychic skill. Humanity had evolved a century or two ago. Those people with large amounts of psychic ability got the great jobs. Others, like Skye, had to fight their way to the top using know-how and ingenuity.

Though she came from a powerful psychic family, her main talents were useless unless she wanted a career in physical security. Um, no thanks. Security paid diddly, and those in the business normally had no necks, Y chromosomes, and no head for fashion. But to get her dream job—as a fashion buyer for Welcome’s resort—she’d steadily been working her way up the corporate ladder. From low-level gate security to protecting the boss’s daughter. Saving the foolish teenager from a kidnapping had proved fruitful, earning her a chance to take a placement test as a buyer for Welcome.

One which she’d passed with flying, blazing colors. And then…

“Oh my God, Skye. You have to come get me. Maht, that barbarian I was telling you about, somehow thinks he owns me or something. I mean, he’s hot as hell and the sex is phenomenal, but— The point is he won’t let me come back! I’m trapped on Ussed. Hurry before I end up married or pregnant by the big guy. And you have to promise not to tell anyone, or I’m worse than dead. I’m fired. Ask Mandy. She’ll fill you in.

“I’m in some weird colony on the eastern side of the border, on the other side of Lake Fryon. Look for the Cloud Tribe, Vyctore Clan. I—”
It just stopped.

The frantic call had woken Skye out of a sound sleep three nights ago. She’d replayed the audio until she had it memorized. She knew who the Cloud Tribe was. The Ussed barbarians populated most of the planet, with the tribes separated geographically. The Cloud Tribe was fifty thousand strong the last time a census had been taken. But she knew little about the individual clans. Time to find this Mandy and figure out what the hell was going on.

Skye stepped up her pace, not surprised to see so many humans visiting. The resort had been started by humans who’d crossbred with the native population, so the place felt Earth-friendly. The natives looked human enough, save for various shades of skin, eye, and hair color. Even human hair dyes and contacts couldn’t pass for true Ussed vibrancy.

She walked around a neon-green-haired resort attendant, nearing the entrance of the resort’s gates, and saw her first barbarians up close.
Holy hell, they’re
huge. The vids hadn’t done them justice. The two men guarding either side of the large entrance stood a good head and a half taller than Skye’s own five eleven. Muscular legs like tree trunks, broad chests, corded abs, and arms thicker than her thigh made her wonder why anyone would even think about messing with them.

As in the vids she’d seen, they wore little, just a loincloth that reached mid-thigh but bared a bit of flank and probably a great deal of ass. She had to clear her throat to swallow and forced herself not to look and see for herself. The only other clothing
also
not covering much of their bodies was the nut-brown, surprisingly shiny armor at their forearms and over their knee-high boots.

They had sun-kissed skin, what looked like flesh-colored tattoos across their chests and shoulders, and like most Ussed natives, hairless bodies. Then again, with an almost tropical climate, what use had the Ussed people for hair? Both men did, however, have long black manes that easily brushed their chests. A tactical disadvantage, in her opinion.

As if the barbarian closest to her sensed her scrutiny as more than mere curiosity, he met her gaze.

Her heart nearly stopped. The man had golden eyes. Not yellow—
gold
. No discernable pupil or iris that she could tell, just a glowing, gold circle centered in the middle of a white orb. She’d have thought that would make him appear more alien, even off-putting. Instead she wondered what he’d look like in bed, wearing nothing at all.

He grinned, as if sensing her wandering thoughts. Which, according to all her data, he couldn’t. The Ussed weren’t psychic.
Thank God.
But she wondered if they possessed some weird kind of pheromone, because almost all the women, and a few men, looked at them the same way she just had.

She glared at him, ignored the way his grin faded as he narrowed his eyes on her, then flashed him her guest pass and hurried past him and the gate’s weapon sensor. She quickly found the inner courtyard of the resort’s massive welcome center. Several attendants came forward to greet the new arrivals, and she envied their smiles. Considering she’d made a half-assed plan with some impromptu help, she didn’t expect an individual greeting. She received welcomes and sincere smiles all the same.

As she’d thought, the employees at Welcome loved it here.

Friggin’ Lisa.
Skye huffed and continued on her way, and no one stopped her as she entered the administrative building for resort employees only.

When she reached the front desk, she saw Mandy, a fellow Earther. Mandy seemed to be in her mid-twenties, like Skye and Lisa. She was short, built on the curvy side, and like everyone else working at Welcome, beautiful.

The young woman motioned Skye to a side room, then closed the door behind them. “I’m so glad you’re here. I’m Mandy. We spoke a few days ago.” Mandy had long dark hair, doe eyes, and cheekbones Skye would kill for. Another reason to dislike the girl—except she’d come to Lisa’s aid when Lisa needed it.

“I remember the call.” The brief vid conference with Mandy had burned itself into Skye’s brain. She took the girl’s proffered hand. “Glad to meet you. I appreciate you smoothing my way in.”

“The pass won’t last more than two weeks. But it’s enough to get you past security. In case you haven’t noticed, the guards are huge. No one gets by them.”

“Oh, I noticed.” Skye paused. “Are they all like that?’

“Huge, handsome, and hung?”

“Wasn’t sure about the hung part. Thanks for clarifying.”

Mandy grinned, which eased the stress lines at her eyes. “Yeah. We all like the man candy. You probably realized it’s tough to take your eyes away from them.”

“Do they emit a kind of attractant? Have some psychic mojo that wasn’t in my Welcome information packet?” Something to explain why even she’d been affected, when normally Skye could take or leave men, no matter how pretty they were. Her road to professional freedom had been her focus for so long that sex paled by comparison.