Narian Summer Read online

  Narian Summer

  By

  Tianna Xander & Bonnie Rose Leigh

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Narian Summer

  Copyright© 2006 Tianna Xander & Bonnie Rose Leigh

  ISBN: 978-1-60088-126-8

  Cover Artist: Sable Grey

  Editor: Brandi Loyd

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  Cobblestone Press, LLC

  www.cobblestone-press.com

  Dedication

  To our mates for understanding our need to IM each other all hours of the day and night and their willingness to allow us the use of their bodies for research purposes.

  Prologue

  “The summer heat is going to get worse, Rod.”

  Herodes Kreios closed his eyes and nodded, his face turned up toward their dying twin suns. He could feel the scorching heat against his cheeks, and his heart went out to those who would not survive the coming years. “I know, Nico. All of Naria will suffer greatly if the Council of Elders does not approve Domanus Carrain’s plan.”

  “If the council doesn’t approve the high chancellor’s plan, I fear we will do more than suffer. We’ll perish.”

  Rod looked away from the source of their troubles and faced Nicolaos Konstantinos, his triad mate and closest friend. He felt Nico’s tremendous sadness through their bond. Standing silent for a moment, he listened to the ever-strengthening waves of the Limni Krysstallos, otherwise known as the Great Crystal Lake, dancing upon the shore. The once delicate aroma of the no longer soothing waters assaulted his nostrils, and he grimaced. How he hated the thought of leaving this place, his home, even though the ecosystem on his world had grown stagnant and was slowly dying. He sighed. “You’re right. However, I fear the elders will not believe the evidence our planet’s best scientists have gathered. They will insist that our gods will not allow our demise.”

  “As high chancellor, it is Carrain’s job to convince them of the wisdom of his plan,” Nico said with a grin as he looked out over the churning, brackish waters.

  He snorted. “That’s not asking much of him now, is it?” His own gaze roamed over the foaming surface of the turbulent waves. “He just needs to convince the most stubborn and unbending of our people to give up their cushy life here and set out in search of an unknown world—a new home—somewhere in the cold blackness of space. Sure, that’s no problem at all.”

  Nico grabbed his arm as he turned to walk away. “Rod, I have faith in him. By the gods, we all have faith in him. Perhaps, it’s time you have more faith in your high chancellor, too.”

  “The one thing I have faith in is the belief that our gods will do nothing to save us. For thousands of years we have lived isolated. Our culture has spiraled into a sharp decline while our world’s scientists and citizens grew fat and lazy. And now we will pay for that idleness with the loss of not only our lives but our planet.”

  He looked over the murky waters of the lake. Every year the once blue waters grew darker, less transparent. Every year more creatures became extinct and made the ever-lengthening list he kept hidden in his office. Soon there would be no more aquatic life. After that, it would just be a matter of time before all life on this world died. The thick rainforests were almost gone. The unrelenting heat of the suns had already reduced all but the largest to wilted tinder waiting to be touched by the slightest flame to create disaster. They must do something.

  “Have faith, Rod. If we don’t believe and support the high chancellor, how can we expect the elders to support him?”

  How indeed? Rod ran his fingers through his windblown hair and swallowed, his throat tight. “What would I do without you, my friend?”

  “You’ll never have to know,” Nico said, wrapping his arm around him. “One day we will find a new home, a better one, and the gods willing, the time will be right for us to claim our mate to share.”

  “That couldn’t come soon enough for me.”

  “Once the high chancellor convinces the council that any life away from Naria is better than no life at all...when a future together with our mate is possible, then the time will be right to take her as our own. Until then, we stick together, as it has been since we were but children.”

  Rod straightened his spine, forcing his fears away. He glanced over at Nico and slapped his back in camaraderie. “Well, then. Let us hope the high chancellor succeeds soon.”

  Chapter One

  Lania, having just finished her repairs on the communications array, felt a chill skitter down her spine. The hair on her nape stood on end, and goose bumps pebbled down her bare arms. She lifted her head, scenting for danger. Nothing there. But the sensation of being watched—hunted—remained.

  Taking a mal driver and an earpiece from her case, she stood and strode toward the console to test the long-range radio. Still the strange sensation made her wary. When she’d begun to think her imagination was getting the better of her, two gorgeous men stepped onto the bridge.

  She had to keep her mind off of them before she made a stupid mistake. In an attempt to ignore their presence, after testing the radio, she crawled beneath the console to make one last check before she left. But she couldn’t concentrate on her work. Her mind kept wandering back to the pair. One blonde, the other dark, they looked like complete opposites from each other. The jumpsuits they both wore identified them as high-ranking council officials.

  Even though they were both tall, the brunette still seemed to tower over his companion. His black gaze bored into her from a distance. Avoiding direct eye contact, she rushed to pack up her tools, casting furtive glances their way the whole time, suspicious for a reason she couldn’t define. Once everything was returned to their proper place, she headed for the door. Unfortunately, she saw the nao wrench on the floor a bit too late.

  She fell flat on her face, her bag split open, and her gear scattered over the hard metal deck. One wrench landed with a thump against the booted foot of the taller of the two men, while another slid beneath the piece of equipment she’d just crawled out from under. She wanted to hang her head in utter humiliation and wished the deck would open up and swallow her.

  They hurried to her side, both helping to retrieve her tools as they took turns sniffing the air around her. She tried to ignore them. Some men were naught more than horny beasts with little more on their minds than their pleasure. Besides, it was their fault she’d tripped. If they hadn’t walked onto the bridge looking so damned good, causing her internal alarm to ring, perhaps she would have watched where she was going.

  The blonde picked up her tool bag, and they both held out their hands to help her up. Like all Narians, she knew the bonding laws. They had been ingrained in her since birth. Even before perhaps. But she also knew that it would be rude to accept one hand over the other. Sandwiched between them the way she was, she had no choice but to accept their help. Besides, she had no worries. The two men certainly weren’t seeking to bond with a woman they didn’t know.

  Reaching up, she accepted both their hands and was hit with a sudden jolt of fear.

  You have just accepted us as mates. You know the laws concerning triad bonding, the taller man said, staring down at her. His badge bore the name Konstantinos, which she recognized as belonging to the co-commander of the ship. She swallowed thickly and pulled from their grasp. Fear and anger warred within her. She glared at
them. Unwilling to cause a scene, she answered back through their mind link. You tricked me. You knew I would never have believed you would want to mate with a stranger, or I would never have accepted your hands. I don’t wish to mate. I don’t even know you.

  The two men looked at each other and grinned, then turned to her. Their fangs were visible—no longer hidden as they should be. Why did they show her their teeth in such a way? The males should not display their fangs in that manner until they were ready to complete the physical act of mating.

  She shivered in apprehension. She'd heard about the ritual taking of blood during sex. She just wasn't sure she believed it.

  Only a true triad mate can communicate telepathically. You know this, they both responded in unison.

  Lania swallowed again. Her stomach flip-flopped. Damn! Why hadn’t she just ignored them, pretended she hadn’t heard their telepathic comment? If she had, she would still be free. But, she couldn’t and wouldn’t break the laws of her people. She was well and truly caught.

  * * * * *

  Warm brown waters crashed onto the littered beach. The waves grew larger each day. Everyday the waters drew closer and closer to her home. The melting ice at the planet’s apex caused the turbulent waves and the rising tides. Soon the murky water would overtake the coastal cities, and the people would be forced to flee inland.

  Lania did not look forward to such an event. When the time came, she might just decide to greet the suns rather than leave her little house on the beach. She looked out over the dingy water. Not too long ago, it had been as clear as the Krysstallos pendant that hung from the chain around her neck. Now it was murky and dark, the scent no longer pleasing, but pungent with death.

  She looked down at the rotting carcasses of sea life and wilted kelp along the shore. The once golden sand was stained brown by the polluted water. There was a time not long ago that she would have removed the evidence of their dying world. But not now. There was too much death here for one person to gather. Besides, she knew now it was a lost cause.

  The high chancellor had managed to convince the council to leave Naria and start a new life on a distant, undiscovered world. He had overseen the construction of three vessels in the last three years, and her new mates were to be the commanders of one of them.

  She glanced back toward her home, wondering what it would be like to be mated. They would expect to mount her this night, she knew. Though they had just met, the ritual courtship must be disregarded, the old traditions overlooked, as orders to leave the planet by summer’s end had been issued by the council. All bound triads would be the first to board the ships, to ensure the survival of their race. She had never dreamed that she would be counted among them.

  Lania sighed and pushed her fingers through her unruly hair. Red-gold strands blew out of place, as the warm winds blew in off the water. It was nearing midday, time she went in out of the unrelenting sunlight. Time she began to prepare for her mating.

  She was tempted to stay in the sunlight and sacrifice herself to the gods in an attempt to get them to save their world. Frightened though she might be, she was not a coward. She thinned her lips. She would attend the bonding ritual tonight and tomorrow, gods willing, she would awaken as a mated and claimed woman.

  She didn’t mind that most bloodlines were male and the women of their society were expected to take two mates. Some women even took three, if they could find three men who were comfortable enough with each other. What upset Lania was the fact that tonight, she would be expected to accept and mate with two virtual strangers. That was a lot for a virgin to bear.

  Would they be gentle with her? Would they understand that she had never lain with anyone? Most females went to their mates trained in the art of giving pleasure. Lania had never taken the time. She’d assumed she would have the time to retreat to a pleasure palace before her bonding. She should have gone to one many summers ago where she would have learned the art of pleasing her mates from the cybernetic attendants.

  She entered the house just as the second sun reached its zenith. The barren ground hissed as the moisture evaporated. The heat of the twin suns dried up what little water remained in the soil from last night’s rain.

  Waving her hand in front of the glowing solat panel, she waited as the protective heat shields surrounded her home. The invention of the shield bought precious time for her people. Without it, their homes would have succumbed to the twin sun’s heated rays long ago. Without it, they would never have survived long enough to finish building the fleet of ships that would carry them from their world.

  Her clothes were soaked with perspiration. Grimacing, she pulled them from her body as she walked to the bathing chamber. The tangy smell of sweat and the sour odor of the dying Limni Krysstallos clung to the soaked fabric. She dropped it in the recycler and stepped into the shower.

  The cool spray felt wonderful on her heated skin, yet she washed as fast as she could, ever mindful of the short supply of fresh water. After she washed the dirt from her body, she stood for a silent moment, visualizing her fears and other negative emotions falling from her body and sliding down the drain with the cool, purified water.

  After her ritual cleansing, she turned off the water and stepped from the shower onto the thick rug. Her ritual robe hung on the door, and she donned it, feeling quite naked, yet knowing they would expect her to wear nothing beneath the robe for the bonding ritual. She brushed her hair, braided it in the common fashion of their people, and then lay on the bed to await the moment she must leave to meet her fate.

  * * * * *

  “Do you think she will ever forgive us, Herodes?” Nicolaos asked his triad mate. “We did, in essence, force her into the triad.”

  “Would you have our potential mate left behind when we leave? Female or not, she is non-essential personnel. I did not want to be forced to leave her here in the case of an excess of other mated triads. Did you?”

  Nico shook his head then pushed back the dark lock of hair that fell in his face. “You know I would not. Still, it seems...wrong somehow to take the choice from her.”

  “We did not take the choice from her. She accepted us according to the ritual binding laws.”

  “We tricked her, and you know it.” Nico paced to the edge of the ritual circle, where they awaited the arrival of their bond mate. “Do you think she will show, or do you think she has already cast herself into the suns’ rays?”

  “She will come. She will not shame her house,” Herodes replied, his tone confident. “We may find her a bit disobedient, but she is no coward. I could tell that much through our mind link.”

  They looked around the room filled with people. Several circles were scattered about the chamber, and each had its own sound deadener. Distant whispers came to them from the many witnesses, sitting just out of sight. The bright lights of the ritual room lit only the circles, not the spectators. Still, they knew there were many people surrounding them. It was an old tradition of Narians to perform their mating rituals in front of many witnesses. There could be as many as one thousand people sitting around the large arena.

  Herodes closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “The females are here. I can smell her.”

  Nico strode around their circle, searching the shadows for the woman they had waited years to bond with. “I don’t see her.”

  “She is here. I can feel her. She thinks to lurk behind the others when they enter, delaying the moment of destiny.”

  Nico watched as the women filed through the doorway and walked to their triad mates.

  In the back, far from the others, their reluctant mate shuffled toward them, dragging her feet as if she could avoid her fate, just by being slow.

  He inhaled, taking the perfumed air deep into his lungs, at last scenting her. He was unable to understand why he hadn’t detected her wonderful, sensuous aroma before. Fear and adrenaline mixed with her faint arousal. He wondered if she even recognized it as such. Psychic energy rolled off her in waves. Her fear was heady, mak
ing him light-headed. He looked to Herodes and found that he, too, was affected.

  Energy seeped through Nico’s pores, filling him with power and heat. Gods, he couldn’t wait until the start of the ceremony. Years, he and Herodes had waited for her. Years of hopes and dreams left to waste away as their planet slowly died. At last, their wait was over. How many times had they sat and wondered where they would find her? How many years had they searched Naria, only to find her quite by accident as she repaired the very vessel destined to carry them away from her?

  She approached them, her gait slow, her wariness obvious. Stopping just outside the circle, she stared at them with wide eyes. Why did she oppose this union to such an extent? What made her so afraid of them? Surely, she had gone to one of the pleasure palaces and been initiated into the pleasures of the flesh?

  Why are you so frightened, my mate? Nico asked, careful not to voice his question aloud so others could overhear.

  She stiffened and started to shake her head.

  Do not deny it. I feel your fear. Did you have a bad experience at one of the pleasure palaces?

  Herodes stepped forward to stand next to him. He reached out, his voice calm, soothing. “We will not hurt you, little one. We are your mates.”

  Nico watched as she worried her lower lip. The action drew his attention to her lush mouth. He wanted nothing more than to kiss her then, to sink his fingers into her fragrant golden hair and pull her mouth to his. She licked her lips, her anxiety obvious.

  Herodes sucked in a sharp breath, fisted his hands at his sides, and spoke to Nico telepathically. I want nothing more than to sink my cock into the depths of that luscious mouth. I want to watch you do the same. I don’t know if I will be able to control myself, waiting for the ritual consent. He looked down at the floor. I crave her, Nico, just as I know you crave her.