Caught by Menace

Caught By Menace

Lolita Lopez

Grabbed, Book Two

Menace’s plan to catch a docile woman is shot to hel

when he’s tackled by a dark-haired beauty who wants to

save her friend from being Grabbed. Refusing to leave

the planet’s surface empty-handed, Menace claims the

spitfire with his colar.

Naya clawed her way off the streets of Connor’s Run

and vowed to never let any man control her. She plans to

make Menace so miserable he’l set her free, but the

ruggedly sexy warrior disarms her with his unexpected

patience and kindness.

Against her better judgment, Naya surrenders to

Menace’s masterful hands and mouth. Submitting to her

new husband brings more pleasure and happiness than

she’d ever imagined possible. For the first time in her life,

she wilingly trusts a man to protect her.

But when past misdeeds catch up with her, Naya puts

the depth and strength of that love to the test.

the depth and strength of that love to the test.

Determined to prove he’s worthy of her trust, Menace

wil stop at nothing to save her.

Inside Scoop:
Our heroine learns to love every

decadent delight the hero offers, including BDSM play

and a sizzling M/F/M ménage.

A Romantica®
sci-fi
erotic romance
from Ellora’s

Cave

CAUGHT BY MENACE

Lolita Lopez

Naya kept to the shadows and moved silently through

the cool night. Not even the inky darkness could slow

her feet. She had traveled this path enough times to

memorize every inch of the back aleys and darkened

streets of Connor’s Run. Like most nights, the town’s

power grid had failed, plunging the place into blackness.

Not wanting to garner attention, she used no flashlight

and relied on the palest slivers of moonlight from the

three moons orbiting Calyx to make her way to the

rendezvous point.

She shook off the cold sensation of uncertainty

slithering along the back of her neck. Once her mind was

made up, she’d never been one to hesitate. Tonight was

no different. As a wide-eyed twelve-year-old terrified by

the talk of the government signing one of the Harcos

bride treaties, she’d sworn a promise to her best friend

Jennie. Eleven years later, Naya refused to break that

promise, even if it meant leaving behind the only life she’d

ever known.

And so she ran. She ran through the back streets of

And so she ran. She ran through the back streets of

Connor’s Run, skirting the squalid tenements and

ignoring the stench of refuse from the poorly maintained

water management systems. She kept close to the

buildings, the brittle bricks and stones scraping against

her thin jacket and leaving chalky marks on the worn,

faded fabric. In a few hours, the lottery results would be

official and it would be too late to save Jennie. She had

to move fast if her plan had any chance of succeeding.

As she neared the meeting point, a ramshackle

warehouse that had been long abandoned and scheduled

for razing, Naya eased up on her pace. Her hand drifted

to the weapon secured at her hip. Her father had always

joked that this gun would be pried from his cold, dead

hands—and she’d done just that. She’d been nine years

old the night she’d inherited her first weapon. Looking

back, it was a sad omen of the dangerous, often violent

life she would be forced to lead, but to keep food in her

bely and a roof over her head, there had been no other

choice.

Creeping through the darkness, Naya listened

carefuly. She held her breath and hugged the nearest

wal. She scanned the warehouse for any signs of life and

spotted just one light. The eerie red glow of a light stick

spotted just one light. The eerie red glow of a light stick

gave the warehouse a sinister appearance.

Recognizing Dankirk’s signal, she pursed her lips and

let loose a high-pitched, warbling whistle. The sound

mimicking a night bird was quickly answered with a

lower-pitched whistle in three short bursts. Assured the

coast was clear, Naya hustled to the dilapidated building

and darted between two busted-out boards. Once inside

the warehouse, she pushed back the hood covering her

face and kept her fingertips hovering just above her

weapon. After being ambushed and betrayed more than

once, she never let her guard down anymore.

“Naya.” Dankirk’s familiar voice cut through the

darkness. “Over here.”

She crossed the brick floor and came face-to-face

with the Red Feather fixer. As a member of the

underground group of political dissidents, Dankirk

handled the logistics and “fixed” al the issues that arose

during their risky missions. Like her, he had some serious

skil in smuggling supplies and technologies that were

forbidden in their society.

“You’re late.” He tucked away the eerie red chem-

light and replaced it with one in bright-yelow that more

light and replaced it with one in bright-yelow that more

clearly iluminated his face.

“The rumors of the Grab have already hit the streets.

People are talking about rioting. I couldn’t take my usual

route.”

Dankirk laughed, the sound so bitter and resigned.

“Yeah, because the food riots in The City last month did

so much good, right? Hel, people always talk about

rioting over the Grabs but they do nothing. They’l serve

up their daughters like lambs to the slaughter rather than

risk the wrath of The City’s secret police or the sky

warriors.”

Humming in agreement, Naya glanced around the

warehouse. “Where’s the alderman?”

“He’s coming. Probably delayed the same way you

were.” Dankirk slipped the glowing stick into the holder

attached to a lanyard dangling from his neck. His

iluminated face showed his disbelief. “Are you sure

about this, Naya?”

“Not realy,” Naya admitted, “but I can’t let those sky

monsters take Jennie.”

He snorted with amusement. “Monsters? Shit, Naya,

look no further than Harper’s Wel if you want to see real

monsters. Naw,” he said, his low, country drawl dragging

monsters. Naw,” he said, his low, country drawl dragging

out the word, “those Harcos men aren’t that bad. They

keep us safe here on Calyx. Besides, they turn a blind

eye to us sneaking folks off this helhole of a planet to the

colonies. They haven’t stopped a single smuggling ship or

medicine or technology shipment from landing here in

over a year. They’re doing a good thing for us.”

She couldn’t argue with him there. The Harcos were

the dominant race in this solar system. Like her Earth

ancestors, the Harcos were human but much larger and

more terrifying. But she’d seen enough of them in the

Free Market section of Connor’s Run to know she

didn’t want one of them catching her in the Grab, the

archaic chase organized every quarter to provide brides

to these sky warriors.

Though they had women of their own on their home

planet of Harcos Prime, they were tens of thousands of

light years away. In exchange for policing the solar

system, the sky warriors took payment in natural

resources like minerals and food—and in women.

Unmarried women aged eighteen to thirty were eligible

for the Grab. The officials from The City, the government

center of Calyx, picked a town or vilage to host the

Grab every quarter and calculated the quota required

based on the number of sky warriors approved for the

list by their superiors. This time it was nineteen young

women who would be caled. The mayor of Connor’s

Run had chosen them by lottery that afternoon. By

sunrise, the list would be posted throughout the town.

But unlike the girls trying desperately to get their

names off the list, Naya was wiling to do everything in

her power to get her name
on
that list.

“You know the odds of you puling off this plan are

like, zero, right?”

Naya glanced at Dankirk. “That’s what we say every

time we smuggle a family off Calyx to Jesco colony or

Safe Harbor, Danny. We stil try.”

He slipped his hand into the front pocket of his jacket

and produced the passports and travel permits she’d

requested. “They’re not as good as the old ones, but the

Artist is long gone.”

Naya tugged his chem-light closer so she could see

better and quickly thumbed through the forged traveling

papers. Here on Calyx everything was low-tech. Al

official correspondence was paper and ink. Only in the

colonies did the Earth descendants embrace superior and

colonies did the Earth descendants embrace superior and

more efficient technologies. When she and Jennie

reached Safe Harbor in a few days, they’d meet with

Dankirk’s contacts and upgrade their papers to the

implanted tags favored there.

“These are good. Good enough to get us through

customs on the colonies,” she added and stuffed them

into the inner pocket of her jacket. “What happened to

the Artist?”

Dankirk pointed up. “They Grabbed her.”

Naya grimaced. “That’s terrible.”

“Not from what I’ve heard,” he replied. “Besides, she

came from Harper’s Wel. I don’t know about you, but

I’d rather take my chances on a sky ship than live in that

backwards swamp. Maybe it’s not so bad up there on

their alien ships.”

“How would you know? There’s a communication

blackout once you’re taken. You never get to see or talk

to your family or friends again.”

“I don’t think that’s true. I’ve heard some girls have

contact with their families. And the Artist has a sister that

does some work for the Red Feather now. She was one

of the last ones we successfuly smuggled out of Harper’s

Wel. I guess she figures she owes us a debt so she helps

Wel. I guess she figures she owes us a debt so she helps

us place single or widowed mothers and their children in

safe houses on Jesco colony and Safe Harbor.”

“She does owe a debt. Every one of us that takes a

favor from the Red Feather owes a favor in return.”

“There you go with your honor code again.” Dankirk

shoved two pieces of chewing gum into his mouth and

winced as he bit down. “Anyway, the sister in the

colonies told me that the Artist is happy with her new

husband on the
Valiant
and living the kind of life we can

only dream about here.”

Naya’s gaze narrowed suspiciously. “Sounds like

some kind of bulshit story to hide what’s realy going on