Seeking absolution for his past in a fiery death, a young space force pilot crashes his ship on a desert planet.
When Ellis Ligoria, King of Xol, witnesses a spaceship hurtling to the planet’s surface, he rushes to the scene of the crash and joins the search party for survivors. As night descends, a strange compulsion leads him to the site of an underground city. Here he rescues a badly injured Jem. During his recovery, it is discovered that Jem is part Xolan. Not only that, but he’s a genetically submissive variation called a Xolani. Ellis has no wish to care for a Xolani but cannot resist his desire for Jem. Taking him under his protection, he brings him home to his family.
Desperately wanting this new life, Jem claims to be a solitary Vagabond, a loner without family or home. A man nobody wants or is looking for. Safe for the first time in his memory, Jem has hopes for a happy future. He is falling in love with Ellis and adores his new family. All he wants is to live a quiet life as Ellis’ consort, but as his secrets sink him deeper and deeper into a prison of lies, he knows that he cannot hide his true identity forever. Marrying Ellis is a dream come true, but he’ll never escape the brutal man he is running from.
Soon called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice, Jem must fight to stop a powerful monster bent on revenge.
Reader Advisory: This book contains references to underage abuse, rape and unwanted anal examination.
General Release Date: 23rd February 2016
Jem sat up in the dark.
Underneath him the Immorata hummed, gliding steadily through space.
He shivered as an arm went around his waist, and his nerves sizzled at the warm weight against him. He almost moaned.
“Ijarah.”
“Lie down, pretty human.”
Ijarah brushed his lips against the skin of his spine and another shiver ran through him.
“I can’t,” he said. “Caden’s waiting.”
Sighing, Ijarah unwound his arm, and Jem got up and dressed in the dark. Soft amber light lit the corridors outside Ijarah’s room. In a tiny kitchen, he made a cup of instant coffee and glanced at the strawberries and champagne on the little table against the wall.
“I’m celebrating,” he’d told Ijarah the previous night.
“Celebrating what, Jem?”
“My birthday,” he’d lied.
“How old are you?”
“Thirty-two.” That was true.
“I didn’t get you a present.”
“You can be my present.”
Ijarah had laughed.
Jem used to daydream of somebody who’d save him. A big man with dark hair who forgave him for all of his lies. At night, though, he never dreamed of anyone.
On his way out of the kitchen, he picked up a strawberry and his stomach rolled. He’d lost twenty pounds, and his muscles were as frayed and ropy as twine. His hair had grown long against his neck. He liked his hair now. It reminded him of his mother’s. He thought of her laugh, of the way she used to chase him in the park.
‘You wicked little brat!’
Carrying his coffee, he proceeded to the control room where Caden slipped out without a word. Sitting down, Jem settled back with his coffee and looked out at the starry dark.
His eyes picked out a green dot in the distance. They would reach it in less than an hour. He watched for a while as the planet grew in size. Wisps of pink and green clouds surrounded it.
Dipping his head, he removed his brown-colored contacts and dropped them on the floor. He didn’t need them anymore.
He finished his coffee and let the last bitter taste of it seep into his memory.
Then he moved his fingers over the instrument panel. A sudden shudder ran through the ship and almost flung him out of his chair. Alarms blared.
Almost instantly, Ijarah’s voice came over the intercom. “Jem. Status.”
His fingers on the instrument panel sent another shock through the hull. It shuddered up through the belly of the ship and rolled out in fading vibrations.
“Jem!”
He tapped a button and a computerized voice filled the corridors.
“Counting at five minutes to destruct.”
“Jem!”
“Four minutes and fifty seconds…”
“Stop this!”
“Four minutes and forty seconds…”
“Jem, whatever it is, you don’t have to do this. I can help you.”
“Four minutes and ten seconds…”
“Jem!”
Sitting up, Jem pushed his fingertips against his temples until sparks flashed in his eyes.
“God damn it, Jem!”
He bellowed suddenly, “Go!”
“Four minutes.”
Ijarah went silent. There was nothing, not even a crackle over the intercom.
“Three minutes and fifty seconds… Three minutes and thirty seconds.”
Then Ijarah’s voice—to Caden, though. “Go. Get us ready.”
Then, “Jem?”
“I’m sorry, Captain.”
“Three minutes and twenty seconds.”
“So am I, Jem. I hope you find happiness.”
“Three minutes and ten seconds…”
“Ijarah…” His voice trailed away, choked out.
“Two minutes and fifty seconds.”
“Goodbye, Jem.”
Then he saw Ijarah’s movement on the instrument panel. He swept a finger and the pod chamber came into view.
“Two minutes and forty seconds.”
He opened a hailing frequency to the planet looming outside the ship. A green glow on the panel told him that the connection had been made, though no one spoke.
“Two minutes and thirty seconds.”
He toned up a distress signal and sent the coordinates for the escape pod. The green glow went yellow.
“Two minutes.”
A voice came from the green planet. “Coordinates received.”
Jem looked back at Ijarah and Caden’s signals. Another alarm bleated. “One minute and fifty seconds.” The space lock on the pod chamber began to open.
A red light on the panel signaled pod activation.
“One minute and forty seconds.”
The view on the control panel zoomed out and gave him a picture of the pod’s trajectory. He followed it until it disappeared into the planet’s atmosphere. Then he shut down the alarms. Door locks released and the air began its quiet churning. He set a course away from the planet and got up with his coffee.
In the kitchen, he ate a strawberry and acid churned in his gut. He gagged and spit pink fluid into the sink.
Odd. Coffee didn’t bother him.
He took another cup back to the control room and drank it slowly, savoring the memory of his first cup with his mother. It had been mostly cream and sugar, but he’d felt very grown up for a ten year old. A man had come to lunch with them. Later they’d eaten ice cream and cotton candy in the park, and the man had let him ride on his shoulders.
He’d been very happy that day.
After setting down his empty cup, Jem fell asleep in his chair until the alarm he’d set went off then he opened his eyes to see a giant planet looming in front of him. Arcs of sizzling blue-white leaped out of its atmosphere. He froze for a moment then shook himself and locked course for it. Lightning slashed like a radiant sword.
The planet grew. All blues and purples and a hint of green. The arcs of lightning shot out. Wicked, slashing angles, snapping at him.
He’d die like a bug in a lamp.
Locking his fingers on the arms of his chair, he pulled in a lungful of air and yelled, “Fuck you, Bell!”
But Bell would never know, because that was Jem’s plan. To disappear. To vanish. A nobody Vagabond.
Ijarah had laughed at that. ‘You’re no Vagabond, pretty human. You’re some lucky man’s possession. Somebody’s gift.’
But he wasn’t, and now he was about to die.
“Fuck you!” He roared it.
Then he saw the hole in the atmosphere. A sky of purple appeared below. A ship from the planet’s surface rocketed out into space through a portal that came out of nowhere and suddenly he was spiraling downward, sucked into a vortex. The Immorata spun. He hit the floor and grabbed at the chair. Alarms wailed.
Fuck.
He was inside the planet’s atmosphere. There was a blur of ground below him. Then instinct took over, and he swept a hand over the instrument panel, bringing all the controls back online.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Please don’t let me hurt anyone.
The planet flew up at him. Sandy brown. A city in the distance. The Immorata shook. Rattling. Whistling. Screaming through the air. A desert of reddish-colored sand spread out underneath him. Undulating waves of it. The planet’s sun glowed red on the horizon. Sorrow stabbed through him. He was scared now.
Below him there was nothing but sand.
Kayleigh Sky is a writer of M/M erotica romance.
Kayleigh’s stories are tales of struggle and pain, loss and despair. Love is won in the battle to rise out of the depths of darkness. Victory is in the sweet bliss of happily ever after.
Once upon a time, Kayleigh hid out in a cold, dark garage reading a book her parents had just told her she wasn’t old enough to read. She was nine. The book? Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin, a story of love between two men—well, actually the story was a little more complicated than that, but hey, she was nine
And then? A light, a passion, a sheer joy for love in all its manifestations awoke.
And love between two men—hot!
Kayleigh’s men are often broken, always brave and always memorable.
You can take a look at Kayleigh's website and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
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