Warrior's Pain (Cadi Warriors Book 4) Read online

  Warrior’s Pain

  Cadi Warriors 4

  By Stephanie West

  Contents

  Contents

  Preface

  Prologue

  Chapter 1. Captured

  Chapter 2. Welcome to Distraho

  Chapter 3. Striking a Bargain

  Chapter 4. Sacrifice

  Chapter 5. Competition

  Chapter 6. Surrender

  Chapter 7. Master Mine

  Chapter 8. The Morning After

  Chapter 9. Stolen

  Chapter 10. It’s a Date

  Chapter 11. Broken

  Chapter 12. Clandestine Plan

  Chapter 13. Catch Me if You Can

  Chapter 14. Awakening

  Chapter 15. For God and Country

  Chapter 16. An Enemy at Your Table.

  Chapter 17. Over the River and Through the Woods

  Chapter 18. Twice Bitten

  Chapter 19. Unbreakable Bonds

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  Preface

  Riley was sick of constantly getting the short end of the stick. If it wasn’t enough that she’d been sent to prison for her brother’s crimes, then got abducted by aliens; being hauled onto the auction block certainly took the cake.

  “You know what, fine, bring it on!”

  Unwittingly, Riley goaded Fate into throwing everything it could at her, and it did. The sadistic bitch, Destiny, put not only the lives of thousands into her trembling hands, but then it twisted the knife, making Riley fall for a man who was untouchable.

  “Life isn’t fair,” Riley gave a slight bitter laugh, her chin quivering. “It culls the sick and the weak from the herd with cruel efficiency. It doesn’t care if you can’t handle the avalanche that it rains down on you. It doesn’t know the meaning of mercy. It takes and takes, till you have nothing left to give, then casts you aside.”

  But Riley refused to break under the weight of it all. She couldn’t. The human colony, and Earth itself, depended on her. Riley just wished she could trust her instincts about the massive red-skinned alien who showed up at the auction to buy her. Unfortunately, she’d been hurt one too many times to take the risk, and the secrets she kept were more important than the suffering of a lone individual.

  Cyprian turned his back on his family’s less than honorable legacy, choosing instead to dedicate his life to serving the people of Cadi. It was that dogged focus on his duty, that led Cyprian to the off-world auction, playing the part of a traitor. His mission was to find who was behind a series of abductions, and bring everyone safely back home.

  Except rescuing the tattooed, dark haired human didn’t happen the way it should have. With her unbreakable spirit and hot body, Riley stripped Cyprian of the control he fought so hard to maintain. Yet the warrior found he couldn’t live without the pain in the ass.

  “You are mine. I never lied about that,” Cyprian growled at Riley. “You know it’s true. Stop lying to yourself. Don’t force me to tie you up, because you know I will. I may not be able to get you to spill all your secrets, but there’s one thing I’ll force from your lips.” It wasn’t an idle threat. Cyprian would seduce Riley till she admitted he was her male.

  Discover how Riley and Cyprian drive each other mad and fall madly in love, while putting it all on the line to save their people, in Warrior’s Pain.

  Prologue

  Riley

  “You shouldn’t be taking the fall for your idiot brother,” Pépère grumbled, while snuffing out his cigarette in the overflowing ashtray, only to immediately light another.

  Riley stood numb in the middle of her grandfather’s brownstone parlor, as he lectured her for the last time. She fixated on Pépère’s gnarled wrinkled face, his cigarette lighting up with each drag. Her grandfather wasn’t the poster boy for grandparent of the year, but he was good man, even if he was a bit gruff. He’d kept her ass out of juvy during high school, and did the best he could with her brother, Jay.

  “Where is that boy?” Pépère demanded. “The least he could do, is show up on your court day.”

  Chicago, the last Riley had heard. Jay fled Boston, when he learned the people he was mixed up with, weren’t happy their meth was confiscated by the cops.

  “It’s for the best he’s not here,” Riley replied.

  Her junkie brother wouldn’t make a good impression on the judge. Riley didn’t know how great an impression she was going to make herself. She looked down at her outfit and sighed. Her black, sleeveless, A-line dress, and knee-high boots, were better suited for the club than court. At least the suit jacket covered the tattoos on her arms.

  I should’ve dyed my hair back to its natural color. Riley fingered a purple tendril before tucking it in amongst her black locks.

  Riley grabbed a cigarette out of her grandfather’s pack and lit up. It was an awful habit, but at the moment, she didn’t care. Riley closed her eyes as she pulled in a lungful of nicotine.

  “Maybe if you tell the judge what your brother did.”

  “No, Pépère. It doesn’t matter. They found his junk in my car, that makes me responsible. That’s the law.”

  “You are stubborn, and too damn kind for your own good. Jay has a record. They’d easily see they were his drugs.”

  “I have a record too,” Riley retorted.

  “Getting busted with pot when you were sixteen doesn’t count.”

  “It doesn’t matter.” Riley shook her head in frustration.

  This was her first offence as an adult, but the teenage indiscretion, her outward appearance, and being poor as shit, weren’t in her favor. Still she was going to get off better than Jay. This would be his third strike. That meant life in jail.

  Riley hoped, the last time Jay got out of jail, that he’d cleaned up his act. He even acted like he was doing better.

  I should’ve known he wasn’t borrowing my car just to go to interviews and his probation appointments.

  It had been a kick in the gut when she got stopped for speeding, and the cops found the present Jay forgot in her trunk. It didn’t matter it wasn’t hers, it was in her possession. She was fucked either way.

  “We better get going kid.” Pépère got out of his recliner.

  Riley stood in the middle of the courtroom, in shock, as the bailiff cuffed her.

  Five years. Five fucking years, she reeled.

  The officer was kind enough to let her hug her grandfather before he hauled her out. They led her through the maze of bland halls down to a van waiting outside. When the paddy wagon door clattered shut, reality started to set in. Riley knew when she pleaded guilty that she was going to jail, she just never thought it would be for so long.

  No, not jail, prison. You’re officially a felon.

  Riley shivered as she recalled the nightmarish month she already spent behind bars. She refused to call her grandfather for bail when she was arrested. Pépère was on a fixed income. He couldn’t afford to shell out money he’d never get back. But Pépère found out, and sprung her anyway.

  Riley spent her last month of freedom wisely. She watched a million YouTube self-defense videos, so hopefully she didn’t get her ass kicked too bad. She sold a bunch of stuff on Craig’s List, then moved the rest into her grandfather’s cellar. And she ate as many fried clams as she could stomach, since the food behind bars sucked.

  “So, what happens when we get to the jail?” Riley nervously asked the guard driving the van.

  “You’ll swap your clothes and personal effects when you’re processed,” the man replied curtly.

  Thanks for the enlightening orientation. That’s what happened when she was first booked.

 
Riley gripped her necklace. The skull pendant was actually a thumb drive, which contained her whole life. Every photograph she was proud of, was on the little trinket around her neck. It would probably be safer in a little envelope at the prison, than in her Pépère’s musty cellar.

  At least the artworld doesn’t care if I have a record. As if that’s what’s keeping me from my big break, Riley bitched, as she rode in the metal cage. Well, I doubt it will be that hard to get my job back at the novelty shop. Riley shook her head, as she thought about the adult book store where she worked between photo gigs.

  Riley had fought tooth and nail to get her life together. Granted her apartment had been in a shitty neighborhood, but no-one complained about the smell from the chemicals she used to develop her pictures. And her Nikon camera was top-notch, with all the bells and whistles. It had taken her two years of pinching her pennies, eating pb&j and ramen noodles, to acquire that much. Still, she couldn’t seem to catch a break. Her family curse kept dragging her down.

  The story of my fucking life, Riley growled.

  Riley’s alcoholic mother drank herself into oblivion by the time she hit middle school. That left her and Jay with their grandfather. Riley was just beginning to think life wasn’t one long nightmare, only to learn Jay had picked up where their mother left off, and was quickly out pacing her. She recalled more than a few nights, lying in bed, listening to Pépère and Jay fight about her brother’s extracurricular activities. Riley spent high school experimenting with ways to numb herself against the shit-show that was her family. It wasn’t until Riley graduated, by the skin of her teeth, that she started to realize all the booze and weed in the world couldn’t solve her problems. By then Jay had already done his first stint in jail. If she didn’t want to follow in Jay’s footsteps, she had to do better. Riley refused to pay back her grandfather with a slap in the face. She owed it to Pépère, to take care of him, like he had her. Jay certainly wasn’t going to step-up. So, Riley picked up the pieces, and got her act together. Then the other boot dropped.

  You’ll get through this. You have to.

  “What the hell?” the officer declared as he slowed the van.

  Riley looked at the snow-covered park, flanking the Charles River. The wind was whipping up the white drifts, making it look like another blizzard. Riley shielded her eyes from the wicked bright light coming from the river.

  “What moron is boating in this weather?” Riley asked.

  “That’s not a ship beacon. There’s nobody out in this mess,” the guard replied as he glanced at her through the partition.

  Riley wondered why he stopped the van in the middle of the road. She doubted being cuffed to a bench was going to protect her, if someone slid into the bumper. Riley was about to make a comment, when suddenly the bizarre light got brighter, turning the whole landscape into a blinding whiteout.

  “What the hell?” the officer repeated, sounding worried. He grabbed his gun, and turned to Riley. “You duck down. I don’t know what’s going on.”

  Riley’s heart kicked into high gear as she huddled against the metal bench. The bright light pierced the windshield, homing in on the guard. When he slumped in the driver’s seat, she knew they were in trouble. Riley tried to evade the blinding ray, frantically tugging at the handcuff securing her to the bench.

  Sweet mother of Jesus, was her last panicked thought, as tunnel vision overwhelmed her.

  Chapter 1. Captured

  Riley

  Riley hid in the loading bay of the Miran Sona spaceship, reminiscing about the day the gangly, pale aliens changed her life. She had mixed emotions about the event.

  The only certainty in life, is change.

  Waking up at the New Earth colony, with its fresh air and wide-open spaces, was awesome. Riley didn’t have to worry about being some butch chick’s girlfriend, or going to the bathroom with everyone else watching. On the flip side, she was never going home again. And even if she could, she’d now be a fugitive of justice. That by itself was a bitter pill to swallow. What made things worse, was that the M’s expected her to get knocked up, to create the next generation of humans. It was all part of the M’s Brave New World experiment.

  That is so not happening, Riley grimaced.

  If it weren’t for her new friend, June, life in the colony would’ve become dull, fast. On Earth, they would’ve never been friends. June was a sweet, clean-cut, geeky chick, and Riley was a brooding artist, tattooed six ways of Sunday. Besides living a state apart, they moved in entirely different circles. But in the colony, they became fast friends, despite their differences. June had an ornery adventuresome side that called to Riley. And neither of them had the patience to deal with the social cliques that formed on New Earth.

  June was the reason Riley now hid in the glass-domed loading bay of the M’s spaceship.

  Let’s sneak aboard and take a look around. What could be the harm in that? Riley snorted.

  In all fairness, June wasn’t entirely to blame. Riley had also been eager for an adventure. If either of them had known the spaceship was bound for a world populated with blood red demons, they wouldn’t be in their current predicament.

  What do they say about hindsight? Jesus, how the hell do I get myself into these situations?

  Riley peeked out from behind the boxes, then quickly ducked when one of the demons boarded the vessel. She covered her mouth, to keep the giant red behemoth from hearing her.

  Hiding from hell spawn is not my idea of a good time. What the fuck were we thinking? Riley cursed as she covertly watched the red giant approach a pallet of supplies.

  From where Riley hid, she had a good view of Spawn. Her eyes panned from the man’s booted feet up his thick thighs. She lingered for a moment on the distracting tail that snaked out below his kilt, before continuing her trek upward.

  Spawn was ripped, although everything was in proportion, if you considered how damn tall and broad he was. The muscles of his back looked hard as steel. The peaks and ridges flexed with every lithe move Spawn made. The daunting view was partially obscured by a bandolier that crossed from one broad shoulder, over the valley of his spine, then hugged his obliques as it extended around his torso.

  How many freaking knives does the man need? He could probably just tear his opponent to pieces.

  Spawn wasn’t just armed to the teeth. He had more tattoos than a Yakuza crime lord. Despite being freaked out, Riley admired the intricate, swirling, black designs that covered his back, and extended down his corded arms.

  It’s nice ink, she admitted.

  The demonic man’s raven black hair was shaved short on the sides, but unruly up top. Riley doubted a smile ever graced his stern jaw. And if it did, it probably never reached his obsidian eyes. Spawn reminded Riley of Karl Urban in the Chronicles of Riddick, and appeared just as dark and dangerous as the character. He was the kind of figure that would haunt a girl’s dreams, making her question if it was a fantasy or nightmare, till she woke up breathless. Being this close to the predator had Riley’s heart pounding. She thought it was going to burst from her chest at any moment, and betray her location.

  What the hell are Ion and Exo doing here?

  Riley figured the Miran Sona were trading with the demonic people. But she couldn’t understand why they risked dealing with a planet full of warlords.

  Once Spawn left the ship with the pallet, Riley let out the breath she was holding. She attempted to calm her shaking hands, before hesitantly inching out from her hiding spot.

  “June, they’re gone,” she hissed, while keeping a wary eye on the entrance.

  June’s right, the sky is the same shade of violet as my hair. Man, I wish I had my camera.

  This was the third habitable planet she’d witnessed. It was wild to think of all the worlds chocked full of life, when people back home thought they were the only ones.

  Riley crept toward the open door, squatted down and peered out. Ion, Exo and the three demons left the pallet of supplies in a warehouse,
then headed back across the tarmac.

  Riley noticed movement by the pallet in the warehouse. Her mouth dropped open, when June scampered away from the tarped pile of supplies.

  Jesus, Mary and Joseph! June, you are one crazy bitch. You picked the worst possible place to hide. How in the hell are you going to get back on this ship without being seen? I seriously need a cigarette right now.

  Riley was starting to understand why her grandfather chain smoked. It wasn’t healthy, but it was a hell of a lot better than some of her family’s coping mechanisms. Between the war, losing his wife to cancer, and dealing with his family, Pépère had more cause to be an addict, than anyone. Riley felt like she was on a similar fast-track to Crazytown.

  Riley was startled out of her wayward train of thought, and nearly jumped out of her skin, when Exo reentered the loading bay. She hugged the wall, cautiously watching Exo walk by. The fact he missed her skulking in the shadows, was a miracle. But Exo finding her, was the least of Riley’s problems. The large loading bay doors were closing, trapping June on the demon planet.

  Fucking Hell! Shit. Shit. Shit. Wait. Why is Exo alone? Where is Ion? Riley frowned. Ion and June are together. They’ll be fine. Right? The M’s were talking with the barbarians. It appeared civilized, if you overlook the demonic growling. Surely Exo wouldn’t leave Ion behind if it wasn’t safe.

  Riley looked from the closed bay door to where Exo disappeared down the hall. She nibbled her lip while debating the dilemma. As far as she knew, the M’s hadn’t felt the need to punish any of the colonist yet. Riley certainly didn’t want to be the cause of the first jail built at New Earth colony. However, it was time to let Exo know he had a stowaway. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself, if anything happened to June.

  Her mind made up, Riley started toward Exo, when the hull beneath her feet rumbled to life.

  “Fucking hell, we’re taking off.” Riley hunkered down on the floor as the ship shot into the atmosphere. “This is what I get for procrastinating. That shit bites you in the ass every time. Now June’s stuck down there. You better hope she’s safe with Ion,” she berated herself.