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  Bound by Fate

  Terra Nova Colony, Book 1

  By Maddie Taylor

  Copyright © 2019 by Maddie Taylor

  All rights are reserved by the author.

  .

  Published in the United States of America

  First Electronic Edition: November 2019

  Cover Art/Design by Fantasia Frog Designs

  Editing by Decadent Publishing

  The characters, incidents and dialogue depicted in this book 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 for adult audiences and is

  not suitable for readers aged 17 and under.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  A preface from the author...

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Epilogue

  Other Titles by Maddie Taylor

  More Titles by Maddie Taylor

  About the Author

  Maddie’s Social Media Links:

  A preface from the author...

  Fans of Primarian Mates will be happy to know this new series begins where the original left off. If you are new to my world, I thought I’d take a few moments to share a brief history. Primaria and Earth are galaxies apart, and not only in distance. The differences between the people seem insurmountable at first, but as we get to know them, the similarities become surprisingly clear. They are both in desperate straits and embark on life-or-death missions to save their people by any means.

  After years of abuse by humankind, the Earth is in trouble and long-standing, dire predictions are coming true. Resources are nearly exhausted, catastrophic natural disasters are a daily event, and once-great cities are now uninhabitable. Soon, it won’t be able to sustain life. The only hope of survival for the human race is to find a new home before it’s too late.

  Ships are dispatched, including the Odyssey with its all-female crew. Light years from home, while a landing party comprised of their best and brightest scientists is exploring an uninhabited planet with great promise, they are set upon by huge human-like aliens and taken captive. They soon learn these barbaric warriors aren’t quite what they seem.

  Over two decades ago, a meteor storm rained down devastation on the people of Primaria. Half the female population was wiped out, many more sickened from the intense radiation, and the few who survived were left sterile. Their scientists worked exhaustively to find a cure, but failed, and the birth rate dwindled to practically nothing. To save their people from extinction, the predominantly male society is left with no other option except to seek out mates from another compatible species. After two decades of fruitless searching, finding the Earth females, who turn out to be remarkably like them, is a gift from their Maker too tempting to ignore.

  Whisked away to a far-off world, the Odyssey’s crew find themselves mated to these powerful men. Expected to comply with the rules of an old-fashioned yet surprisingly advanced society, the women struggle with their new roles by testing limits, denying their fate, and ultimately escaping, but the warriors are persistent and reclaim them.

  Not the barbarians they initially seemed, Max Kerr, the Primarian principal leader, proposes a mutually beneficial solution. His warriors need mates, and the humans need a home. A treaty is negotiated and an integration alliance formed. Eager to leave the volatile conditions for a stable near-perfect world, women sign up en masse to be matched with one of the gorgeous, seven-foot-tall aliens. In return, Primaria offers their nearby hunting planet as a replacement for the dying Earth, and the new colony becomes the humans’ hope for a future.

  Bound by Fate, Terra Nova Colony, Book 1 picks up from here.

  Prologue

  Moving cautiously in the cramped space, Elizabeth kept her flashlight aimed low, hoping to avoid the puddles, loose rocks, and large boulders scattered across the cave floor. One misstep and she’d roll her ankle, or worse. More concerning than a trip hazard, the debris was an indicator of the instability of the mountain above her.

  “That’s all I need,” she muttered. “To get trapped in here during a roof collapse.”

  When her heel caught the uneven edge of a protruding rock, she pitched forward. Her hands came up, and she caught herself at the last second. Though she stopped her headlong momentum, her palms scraped the rough walls, and she ripped several nails. Not only did she drop her light, which landed with a loud clatter, she also cried out in pain. She tried to bite it back, but it was too late, and she had to hope he didn’t hear.

  Once righted, she wiped the slimy residue left on her hands on the seat of her jeans, trying not to think about what it might be. She bent to retrieve her flashlight, which mercifully hadn’t broken or switched off because she wouldn’t have found it in the dark, then kept on walking, scanning the ground ahead, one more disgusting discovery away from losing it and running screaming for the exit.

  With her luck, she’d trip and end up impaled on one of the numerous stalagmites.

  Or was it stalactites?

  A geologist should probably know this.

  Either way, panicking and fleeing rather than doing what she’d come here to do would get her nowhere. But keeping her cool while she crept through the dark, narrow passageway wasn’t easy. Neither was exploring a cave on an alien world all alone.

  It had taken an hour-long pep talk, pacing in front of the mouth of the cave to get up the courage to enter. Since then, her terror had increased exponentially. Beads of water dripped slowly from the low ceiling. When they landed on the stone floor, the resulting plop reverberated through the cavern like a rifle shot, which wasn’t doing a thing for her already frazzled nerves.

  Minutes ago, she’d seen a small shadowy shape scurry across her path. It was most likely a rat or one of a hundred different cave-dwelling creatures.

  A shiver of disgust coursed through her.

  “I despise rats almost as much as snakes, and this godforsaken planet is brimming with both. Not to mention bats.”

  When a droplet landed with a splat on top of her head, and another immediately followed, hitting the exposed skin above her collar and trickling slowly down her back, she somehow contained a scream. Mostly because she didn’t want to announce her presence, if her earlier racket hadn’t done so already. Too bad she didn’t refrain from rearing up and swatting at her neck like she was under attack because, with the height of the cave barely five feet in places, she bashed her head hard.

  Moaning, she covered the sore spot with her hand, stopping only long enough for the bright flashes to clear her vision. Gingerly probing the rapidly swelling lump, she tried to self-sooth, starting a low chant of, “You’re a scientist, for chrissake. Don’t freak out,” as she forced herself to move forward.

  She went on without incident for several minutes, slowing when she saw a glimmer of light up ahead. He wouldn’t appreciate her following him and exposing his hiding place, but she’d done what he’d asked and upheld her end of their bargain. Now, it was his turn to pay up.

  When the passage veered sharply to the right, Elizabeth paused and took a deep breath, trying to dispel her rising panic. Since that was an exercise in futility, she bra
vely—or foolishly—turned the corner.

  Moving from near-total darkness to sudden brightness hurt her eyes. Squinting, she held up her hand, shielding them while they adjusted. Then, her jaw dropped. What she’d thought was a cave all this time turned out to be a tunnel leading to this vast chamber.

  More surprising, instead of being filled with more rocks and stalag-whatevers, it was crowded with so much equipment it resembled a control room. In the middle of it all, a glowing azure ball, the source of the brilliant light, seemed to float atop a pedestal. She gazed at it in wonder until movement off to the right drew her attention.

  Though she’d expected to find him here—she’d deliberately followed him, after all—his presence disturbed her. Advances in extended space flight had allowed the people of Earth to go beyond the reaches of their relatively small solar system. They’d been exploring the Universe and encountering strange beings for nearly a century now. Tentacles, scales, and multiple appendages didn’t surprise her anymore, and she’d gotten used to the Primarians, a species from a planet many galaxies away, who were almost identical to humans. But this creature was unlike anything she’d seen before.

  Granted, her fieldwork focused on rocks, not aliens, and her research sites, until recently, were all on Earth. Still, she networked with the influencers in the scientific community. It helped get her appointed as lead researcher on this mission. Sleeping with the director hadn’t hurt, either, although it was hardly memorable. These geeks were brilliant, Noble Laureates abounded, and a blow job would only get her so far. So, she kept up with trends and discoveries, whether new worlds, stars, or life-forms. But she’d never heard so much as a whisper about this thing.

  He resembled a wax figure before the artist sculpted and painted it into the image it would eventually become. With a head, trunk, and four extremities, he had a humanoid form. Beyond that, there were no distinct features—except one. His eyes. When they met weeks ago, she’d thought they were dark, empty sockets. As soon as he moved closer, she realized they were shiny like glass and black as onyx without a speck of white.

  Their first encounter still chilled her to this day.

  She’d been collecting soil samples north of the mine site. Once finished and ready to return to town, she turned her thoughts to a hot bubble bath and a chilled glass of wine, but fate, as it so often did, seemed to be conspiring against her and her solar-powered hovercar refused to start. She tried to call for help but only got white noise on her communicator. Stranded and beyond irritated, she got out and slammed the door.

  She scowled at the useless vehicle, slapping the roof with her hand for good measure. “It’s fifty miles, goddammit! Now what?”

  After I’ve had my say, I will enable your vehicle and your primitive handheld device.

  Elizabeth thought she was alone in this isolated spot. Instead of being startled by the sudden presence of another, she became enraged and whirled to confront the idiot who’d dared tamper with her car. Except it wasn’t the mine employee she’d expected to see or one of the seven-foot-tall alien warriors who provided security. Before her stood a creature unlike any she’d seen. Stunned, and beyond terrified, she opened her mouth to scream, but, frozen with paralyzing fear, nothing came out.

  Maintain control, human, he ordered. I have a proposition for you.

  Elizabeth gasped and staggered back, coming up against her dead vehicle. The being’s pale, thin lips hadn’t moved, yet she’d distinctly heard his voice.

  I’ve been told you Earth creatures can be difficult, but I’d hoped it was only a rumor.

  Her hands flew up to cover her ears, trying to block out the sound, but he hadn’t spoken aloud; his voice was in her head, as though he’d projected it telepathically.

  “What are you?” she whispered in horror.

  Who or what I am has no relevance to you, other than the extent I require your assistance. You also lack the intelligence to understand, so I’d be wasting my breath.

  Great. Alone, out in the middle of nowhere during a close encounter with an unknown entity, and rather than words of reassurance—either “I mean you no harm” or “I come in peace,” both practically universal during first contact—she got sarcasm and insults.

  With her thumb, she searched for the emergency button on her communicator, praying it still worked even though nothing else seemed to.

  “Why should I help you when you won’t disclose who or what you are, or your purpose for being here?”

  Because if you cooperate, you stand to profit greatly.

  He extended his arm and opened his hand to reveal a small glowing blue sphere hovering above his outstretched palm.

  “What is that?” she asked, as frightened as she was curious.

  A power source infinitely superior to what your Primarian hosts used as a bribe for your species’ compliance. Allow me to demonstrate.

  Without so much as a twitch from him, the orb rose and zipped across the clearing. It centered over the roof of her disabled solar car and flooded it in a beam of blue light. To her amazement, the console lit up and the craft, which she’d left engaged in the start position, came to life with a quiet hum.

  “How did you—”

  Again, irrelevant, and far beyond your minute brain’s capacity to comprehend.

  She stiffened at yet another insult.

  Help me get past security and gain access to the mine, and the blue orb technology will be yours.

  Because she’d learned long ago nothing in life was free or easy, she was immediately suspicious. “Why do you want inside? Surely not for the uladite”—she waved at the glowing ball still floating above her vehicle—”when you have something better?”

  There was a sustained pause before he answered. If he were human, she’d expect to see impatience or frustration on his face, but his bland features—what there were of them—remained unchanged.

  I have my reasons.

  “Why not simply buy it from them? It is their main trade.”

  Them? As in the Primarians? It was my understanding this planet belongs to you humans now, including the new mine.

  She shrugged. “This is true, although we’re barely a colony and dependent upon them until we become self-sufficient.”

  Yet, by joint treaty, it is yours. Therefore, I don’t need their permission—just yours.

  “I’m merely a researcher. Our government and the mining contractor own it. What you are proposing places me at great risk if you get caught. While the offer is tempting, I’d want to study it first.”

  Impossible. You get the orb after I’m done with the mine.

  “And after you run off, leaving me with an alien device I don’t understand and therefore useless to me. Sorry, that hardly seems fair.”

  He held out his hand, and the orb returned. Without its glowing blue presence, her solar car immediately switched off.

  I could contact your government through traditional channels and bypass you entirely. That would require lengthy negotiations. This approach seemed more expedient. If you’re unwilling to assist me, I will find another who is. He turned to go.

  “Wait! I didn’t say no!”

  At her desperate cry, he stopped. Twisting only his pale head her way, he awaited her answer.

  She bit her lip as she calculated the pros and cons.

  Secreting this alien into the mine was highly unethical. If anyone found out, it would cost her job and the research facilities she needed to study the blue orb.

  A resource more potent than uladite and far more advanced than anything on Earth would make her rich beyond her wildest dreams. She wouldn’t have to answer to anyone, especially to a board of know-it-all men who, in the four hundred years since the women’s liberation movement, still looked down their supercilious noses at female scientists. And now that those boards included Primarian males, who thought a woman’s sole purpose in life was sex and breeding, it would only get worse.

  “Fine. I’ll do it and figure the rest out myself.”
/>   Famous last words.

  Two weeks and a mine explosion later, she was still waiting empty-handed. She should have known not to trust him. As smug and condescending as he was, she’d have been better off allying herself with a jackass. But in her business, she’d always put her money on the sure winner no matter how detestable their personality. Waxman couldn’t defeat the smallest Primarian warrior in a fistfight, but in a technology war, he seemed to have an edge.

  He... She almost laughed at the notion. Unclothed, with no discernable external genitalia, or any gender-distinguishing features at all, she couldn’t say for sure what it was, although the arrogance he exuded put her in mind of a man.

  Not that it mattered. She’d negotiate with an amorphous, asexual, giant white crayon any day for the secrets of the blue orbs that seemed to power all of his systems and gadgets. With him busy and her still unnoticed, she took a moment to study the chamber.

  Besides the large sphere in the center, there was one at the base of a lighted console lining one wall. As she quietly observed, she saw the wax-being insert another orb into a machine. He waved his hands over it, and images appeared without screens or monitors—like crystal-clear holographs. These orbs were more powerful than she’d originally thought. She was now convinced he’d used them in the mine to decimate the miles-wide site in minutes, the force so powerful it awakened a dormant underground volcano even the Primarians, who had hunted on the planet for years, hadn’t known existed.

  With all that power in her hands, the possibilities were limitless.

  But she’d been patient long enough. It was past time for him to deliver on his promise, and she couldn’t wait to get out of the damp, dark cave, return to her apartment, sink into a hot, steamy bath, and soak away the creepy feeling he left on her skin whenever they interacted.

  Elizabeth cleared her throat.

  When she got no response and he kept doing whatever he was doing, she moved farther into the chamber and tried again. “A-hem.”

  Still, no response.

  With him either deaf or ignoring her, she called loudly and rather rudely, “Excuse me!”