The Barbarian's Captive
Contents
The Barbarian’s Captive
Maddie Taylor
About This Book
Light years from home, plant biologist Lt. Eva La Croix and her all-female exploration team land on a planet they believe is a perfect substitute for the dying Earth. They are set upon by huge alien hunters and Eva is captured by the barbarian leader. Tossed over his shoulder, she is carried back to camp, tethered to his bed, seduced by his touch, and claimed as his own.
In spite of her fear, she is captivated by the gorgeous, dominant male with his long gleaming black hair, smooth bronze skin, and glimmering golden eyes. Expecting her full compliance, he strips her naked and prepares her for an intimate and very thorough inspection. Horrified, Eva protests, but quickly learns defiance will be met with swift consequences, including a bare bottom spanking until he proves to her who is in command.
Deemed compatible, she and her teammates are whisked away to the barbarians’ world where they are mated to these powerful men. While pampered and protected, the women are expected to submit to their male’s authority and breed their young. Will Eva learn to adapt to their unusual beliefs and old-fashioned ways? Can she sacrifice her independence and surrender to this dynamic, highly sexual alien male who has conquered her body, and perhaps her heart? Or when escape is imminent, will she flee with the others, never to see him again and feel the rampant desire that now surges through her blood for her compelling barbarian mate?
Publisher’s note:
The Barbarian’s Captive is an erotic romance novel containing elements of BDSM, spanking, sexual scenes and those of dubious consent, medical play, and anal play. If this subject matter is offensive, please do not buy this book.
Copyright © 2016 by Maddie Taylor
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and as such, any similarity to existing persons, places or events must be considered purely coincidental.
This book contains content that is not suitable for readers aged 17 and under.
For mature readers only.
Published in the United States of America
First Electronic Edition: May 2016
Also By Maddie Taylor
Published by Blushing Books
The Gift
Surrender My Love
The Juniper Bride
(Also included in the Sons of Johnny Hastings Boxed Set)
Everything Christmas
(Also included in The Naughty List Boxed Set)
The Club Decadence Series:
Faithfully (Prequel)
Captain My Captain
You Said Forever
Little Light of Mine
Unbind My Heart
Second Time Lucky
What About Love
The Decadence LA Series:
Master My Love
The Decadence Night Series:
Hooked
French Kiss
Published By Stormy Night Publications
Gideon’s Redemption
Lanie’s Lessons
Innocence Enslaved
(with Melody Parks)
The Trail Master’s Bride
The Jackson Brothers Series
Marshal’s Law
Jackson’s Justice
Wild Wisteria
The Pleasure Bay Series
Dimitri’s Desire
(with Melody Parks)
Mastering Mariah
(with Morganna Williams)
The Sweet Series
Sweet Salvation
Sweet Surrender
Prologue
L
it up by fiery streaks of red and orange, the sky seemed aflame as, one after another, great fireballs hurtled through the atmosphere at breathtaking speed. As soon as one dipped below the mountains in the distance, many more would take its place high overhead. He couldn’t count their number, the glowing orbs falling too fast. It was the dead of night, yet the sky remained as bright as if it were midday. Never had he seen anything like it, nor had he ever been so afraid.
The floor began to tremble beneath seven-year-old Kerr’s feet. It started out slow, increasing rapidly until the entire house shook fiercely. The shuddering was so great the furniture slid across the floor, pictures falling off the walls. His mother’s heavy marble sculpture began to move perilously close to the edge of the platform where it had sat for as long as he could remember. He watched, frozen in fear, as the stone carving teetered precariously, finally crashing to the floor. The noise freed him from his paralyzed state and he cried out.
“Mama!”
He bolted to the glass doors and threw them wide. Rushing out on the balcony, Kerr climbed the railing where he strained to see through the gap in the mountains, the same path his mother’s caravan had taken earlier that day. She had gone to help the laborers who were suffering in the drought, bringing them much needed food and water. It occupied much of her time — “charitable work” she called it — one of her many duties as first consort to the Maxime Princep of Primaria.
A thunderous roar echoed through the night air as an enormous fireball, far greater in size than any that had come before it, appeared above the city. Larger than the towering mountains themselves, it grew bigger as it hurtled toward the planet below. He watched in alarm, knowing as surely as their most learned scholars that devastation would come in its wake. He followed it with unblinking eyes, his mouth rounding in horror as the fireball took the same path between the mountains that his beloved mama had only hours before.
“No!” he screamed as it disappeared, leaving an eerie glow in its wake. The ground jolted and shifted, throwing him to the floor. An inhuman wail pierced the night. He turned toward it, seeing his father in the doorway behind him staring out at the glowing horizon. His papa’s anguished cries told Kerr what his heart already knew to be true. As the strongest man he had ever known fell to his knees, the young boy crawled to him and climbed into his arms.
Then together, father and son wept for the woman they loved more than life itself.
Chapter 1
Twenty-three years later…
P
ain, searing hot like a fiery poker, stabbed into her side as she ran headlong through the overgrowth of vines and thick brush as quickly as her protesting legs would carry her. Muscles burning and cramping with each step, she struggled to pull air through her constricted throat as she dodged trees left and right, ducking beneath low-hanging branches that appeared out of nowhere in the dim light. Ignoring the sharp twigs that scraped and tore at her skin, she prayed she wouldn’t encounter a snake, or some other vile creature that might slow her down. It was an irrational fear born out of panic, the logical side of science officer Eva La Croix’s brain understanding with a certainty that whatever had been pursuing her so tenaciously for nearly an hour, was likely to be considerably more threatening than mere reptiles. Her mind raced as fast as her heart beat, the pulse in her ears pounding with a near deafening thud as she forced her body to continue despite the burning in her heaving lungs.
Spying a fallen tree up ahead, she dug deep, her legs pumping harder, drawing on her last energy reserves, hurdling over the obstacle in her path. When she landed, her body screamed in agony, but she didn’t dare stop, not if she wanted to live.
It seemed she’d been running for miles when she finally slowed to catch her breath, if only for a moment. She veered off to the right between a break in the trees and pressed her back against the rough bark of a wide trunk. Gasping for air, sweat poured off her body, doing little to cool it in the oppressive jungle heat. Straining, she tried to pick up the sounds of pursuit, but couldn’t hear over her labored breaths.
After the briefest of moments, Eva sucked in as much air as her heaving lungs could hold and forced herself to listen, desperately hoping for silence behind her. There were no more thunderous footsteps, nor the guttural shouts of her pursuers. The sound of snapping twigs and breaking branches had ceased. Perhaps the one that had been hunting her for the last hour had lost her trail.
Blowing out a hitching breath, she focused on quieting her respirations, just in case. Taking only a minute more to recover, she moved on, picking her way through the dense vegetation as quickly and quietly as she could. The thick canopy overhead blocked out most of the light from the twin suns, despite it being late afternoon. As such, she barely missed colliding with a low lying tree branch in the near dark as it appeared in front of her face at the last moment. Eva sidestepped, stumbling suddenly as her foot plunged into a water-filled hole. Grimacing at the slimy substance that sucked at her boot, she pulled it free and kept moving. Not daring to look down as she slipped on something else gooey, she pushed onward out of desperation to reach the shuttle that she hoped lay a short distance ahead.
The direction she moved in was a guess. Unable to see the horizon or the placement of the suns in the sky, she couldn’t tell which way she traveled, though she felt sure sunset drew near. She had to make it before they reestablished communications with the
Odyssey
, or risk being hopelessly marooned on the horrendous planet.
