Flames of Arousal PDF
Preview Flames of Arousal
An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication www.ellorascave.com Flames of Arousal ISBN # 1-4199-0742-5 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Flames of Arousal Copyright© 2006 Ruth D. Edited by Pamela Campbell. Cover art by Syneca. Electronic book Publication: October 2006 This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502. This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously. Content Advisory: The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. This story has been rated E–rotic by a minimum of three independent reviewers. Ellora’s Cave Publishing offers three levels of Romantica™reading entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E (Erotic), and X (X-treme). S- ensuous love scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination. Erotic love scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall word count. In addition, some E-rated titles might contain fantasy material that some readers find objectionable, such as bondage, submission, same sex encounters, forced seductions, and so forth. E-rated titles are the most graphic titles we carry; it is common, for instance, for an author to use words such as “fucking”, “cock”, “pussy”, and such within their work of literature. X-treme titles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline execution. Unlike E-rated titles, stories designated with the letter X tend to contain controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart. XYLON WARRIORS: FLAMES OF AROUSAL Ruth D. Prologue Sand Moon A clunking sound echoed inside the ship. Halah Shirota’s gaze flew toward the hatch of her downed and disabled flight vessel. Someone, or something, wanted inside… “Damn it. Not now.” After several months on the Sand Moon, her disruptor no longer worked. The surge-rifle had lost power a week ago, and she’d used up all the energy balls on board. She engaged the ship’s vid-system, scanning the area outside the orbiter. “Where are you?” She didn’t need to question whether the intruder was friend or foe. On the Sand Moon, one of four prison colonies in the system, the concept of “friend” didn’t exist. At least her personal protection system remained intact. Bare hand or foot contact allowed an electrical charge to transfer from her body to another person or object, at her will, rendering whatever she touched useless. She kept the power pack housed safely inside her jacket, which she rarely removed anymore. Even without the jacket on, she always retained a bit of electricity in her body. She just didn’t like getting that close to an enemy to use the power, unless forced into it. If cornered though, she had no qualms about defending herself. Not a novice at hand-to-hand combat and specially trained for electrical transference, she would certainly do whatever necessary to survive. For Josella. These days, only the hope of finding her younger sister, her last remaining family member, kept her going. Nobody stood beside her any longer to help her or to rely on. She fought on her own, for her own interests. The clunking sound continued in a steady rhythm. Whoever was outside had to be purposely evading the range of her monitors. “Wily bastard!” At least she took comfort in knowing the orbiter was well sealed. As long as she didn’t break the hatch connection and the onboard energy pack didn’t fail, she should remain safe inside. She glanced toward the copilot’s empty seat, almost expecting to see Dak there, with his reassuring smile. Dak—a true friend, one of only a few in her life. “I miss you, Dak.” More than she ever believed she would. Pain and loneliness squeezed her heart. An Egesa gang had attacked and killed Dak not long after they crashed on the moon. While searching for ship parts, one of the moon’s violent and numerous storms had trapped the man too close to an Egesa camp. The half humanoid, half lizard-like creatures stole his weapons and tore his body apart. She’d found his remains the next day, while the Egesa gang slept. Untrained for the most part, her friend had probably gone down without much of a fight. He’d only been a WAIT—Warrior in Training—when he’d defected from Xylon. As ranking officer, his safety had been her responsibility. His death…her fault. She’d never forgive herself for allowing him to go off alone to search for replacement parts to repair the ship. “I should have known he’d venture farther than promised.” After they’d attacked, Halah hoped the Egesa hadn’t allowed Dak to linger, lying in pain, feeling cold and alone, before they tore him apart. She shook her head, knowing her thoughts served no purpose. She couldn’t change what had happened. “I can’t keep dwelling on him like this. It’s done.” While in space, they’d barely survived an onboard assassination attempt. A bomb had been placed on their ship by persons unknown. Damn, how she wished she knew who had rigged the device—more than one of her enemies possessed the skill, opportunity and motive. Only her advanced weapons’ training had allowed her to disarm the device in time. Then when they’d thought they were free and clear, the ship had mysteriously run out of fuel, forcing them to crash-land. The Sand Moon had been their planned destination. Josella was here… somewhere. But beyond reaching the location, all their other plans had quickly gone to hell. No legal air-to-space travel existed on the Sand Moon, except for prison vessels dropping off criminals, or the occasional off-moon Medical or Scientific Mission Transport with special security clearance. So locating spare ship parts here had ended up being more difficult than expected. Because her ship wasn’t cleared for landing, she’d had to jam any incoming security probes with her vessel’s remaining power. Although those banished here were given mostly free rein within their assigned zones, if an un-cleared ship got picked up by the moon’s security forces, she’d be arrested, or at least placed aboard a prison transport and forced to leave the surface, whether she’d found her sister or not. So many depressing thoughts. And the longer she remained stuck on the Sand Moon, the more maudlin her thoughts became. She forced back a sniffle. “No.” With renewed conviction, she hardened her heart. “I won’t break down.” Soft feelings made a person weak. Years ago, she’d eliminated soft from her vocabulary and from her mode of living. She wouldn’t revert now. She was a survivor! The hatch whooshed open. She jumped to her feet, her heart thudding painfully against her ribs. How? Nobody should have been able to get that hatch open. Unless… As soon as he stepped inside she recognized him. Tall. Muscular. Blond. Light blue eyes. A Xylon Warrior—one with a special knowledge of operational codes. “You…” Kam Nextor, a trained Class 2 Warrior. As a former Class 1, she possessed greater skills, but even so she knew to engage this man with caution. The intense look in his eyes set her immediately on edge and she took a step backward. He wasn’t here to help her. Not that she wanted or even expected his help. Kam had betrayed her months before, almost gotten her killed, in fact. She’d never trust him again. “Halah,” his voice rumbled. The hatch slid closed behind him, sealing them in. “You survived.” A smile tugged at his lips. When his gaze traveled slowly down her body, she felt her nipples harden and her pussy began to throb. Damn her reaction to his presence. She didn’t care how sexy the man was. “How did you find me?” “I will always find you, Halah. No matter where you go.” A shiver rushed down her spine. Suddenly the ship seemed much too small. He stepped toward her. She refused to retreat further and appear weak or frightened. He stopped, standing close, his six-foot-plus frame looming over her. She noted the respect reflected in his eyes and felt a sense of personal pride at standing her ground. She’d helped Kam and two other Warriors steal highly classified information from Marid, the main moon of Xylon, held and control by Daegal and the Egesa —Xylon’s chief enemies. Along with the information, they’d stolen a sample of Daegal’s sterilization formula for study. Then she’d aided them in escaping the Dome, Daegal’s underground headquarters, in exchange for the exact location of
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