Surrender, p.1
Surrender, page 1
SURRENDER
DRAAX SERIES BOOK FOUR
ELIZABETH KELLY
EK PUBLISHING INC.
CONTENTS
Surrender
Character Name Pronunciations
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Survive Excerpt
The Elizabeth Kelly Newsletter
About the Author
Also by Elizabeth Kelly
Copyright © 2022 Elizabeth Kelly
Published by
EK Publishing Inc.
eISBN-13: 978-1-77446-136-5
This book is the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, scanned or distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. Quotes used in reviews are the exception. No alteration of content is allowed.
Your support and respect for the property of this author are appreciated.
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 author’s imagination and are used fictitiously.
Edited by
L. Nunn Editing
Cover art by
The Final Wrap
SURRENDER
Finding out you have only two months to live really puts a damper on a girl’s plans.
But thanks to the Draax healing juice, I’ve got my life back…
And all I have to do is work on their planet for a year.
One and done. My sister needs to return to Earth, and I need to go with her because nothing matters more than her.
Until a quiet, slightly grumpy, and sexy as hell Draax makes me reconsider.
Melu might be one of the few Draax not interested in a relationship, but it doesn’t stop our mutual fascination with each other. The chance for a little sexy fun is impossible to resist.
He’s not looking for a mate and I can’t stay, so a friends-with-benefits agreement is perfect.
Our story can’t end with happily ever after.
So, why does being with Melu make me ache to stay by his side? Why do his possessiveness and surprisingly sweet nature have me dreaming of a new future?
To read more about the Draax series, click HERE.
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CHARACTER NAME PRONUNCIATIONS
Dear Reader,
Are you like me and easily distracted by proper name pronunciation when you’re reading? Nothing takes me out of a story faster than constantly wondering if I’m reading a character’s name correctly. To that end, here is a list of a few of the characters in “Surrender” and the proper pronunciation of their names.
Happy Reading!
Elizabeth
Galan – Gay-len
Sigan – See-gan
Teo – Tay-oh
Melu – May-loo
Jovie – Joe-vee
Neloi – Nee-loi
Naru – Na-roo
Pakna – Pack-nah
(Other Alien Races)
Pokarans – poe-care-ens
Korceans – kor-see-ens
Vokine – voe-keen
For a glossary of Draax words, as well as extra tidbits and information about the Draax world, check out my website HERE.
CHAPTER 1
Inara
“Inara, wait up!”
Even though every part of me wanted to run, I slowed down and smiled at the pretty blonde woman when she caught up to me. “Hey, Jane.”
“Hey. Where are you going in such a hurry?” Jane still wore her t-shirt and yoga pants combo that most of us wore for work, and she had dust smeared across her forehead.
“I’m headed to the docking bay. Wendy’s ship should be here any minute.” I could hear the excitement in my voice.
Jane grinned at me. “That’s right. I forgot your sister finally arrives today. You must be ready to pee your pants with happiness.”
I laughed. “I can’t wait to see her and hold her again. I’ve missed her so much.”
“I know you have, and I’m excited to meet her,” Jane said.
We hit a T-intersection, and Jane veered off to the right. “I’m headed back to my room. Will you bring Wendy to the common room tonight?”
“We’ll see,” I said. “She might be too tired.”
Jane waved, and I continued straight. The vast castle we worked and lived in had hundreds of rooms. Not that surprising, considering the alien race who lived in the palace were giant sized. I’d been living on the Draax planet for six months, and I don’t think I’d met a single Draax male who wasn’t over six feet tall. Most of them were closer to seven feet, at least the ones who lived in the castle.
Which, when you thought about it, made sense. Many of the Draax who called the castle home were part of the King’s Guard, a branch of the Draax military who protected King Quillan, his queen, and their two children. Quill ruled the western province of the Odias continent and according to Google, had the strongest and fiercest military in all of Draax.
I turned left and headed past the dining hall and kitchen, smiling at the two Draax walking out of the dining hall. They gave me matching grins, their teeth exceptionally white against their dark green skin and their long tails waving in the air behind them. In unison, their gazes dipped first to my breasts, then my hips, and finally my legs. I wore a knee-length dress, but my bare legs still felt slightly exposed after months of wearing pants.
The Draax’s tails made the little twitching motions that signaled their excitement, but neither tried to stop me to chat. I walked past them, confident they were now staring at my ass and not minding all that much. The Draax were always respectful, and, honestly, as a plus-sized girl who’d only caught the occasional Earth guy’s interest, the Draax’s blatant interest was a huge ego boost.
As I turned down the final hallway that led to the docking bay, I smoothed my hands over my hair and straightened my dress. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d put more makeup on beyond a bit of foundation and some mascara. But I wanted to look my best for Wendy, and it’d been kind of fun dressing up for a change.
Look your best for Wendy or for someone else?
My cheeks heated immediately. Leave it to me to have a crush on possibly the only Draax at the castle who wasn’t interested in me. Like always, when I thought of Melu, the lead engineer for the King’s fleet of ships, my primary emotion was shame, followed closely by disappointment.
Don’t worry about it. It’s doubtful you’ll even see him. The docking bay is enormous, and he’ll find a way to avoid you just like he has the last two months.
I knew I’d upset Melu with my request, but I hadn’t expected him to avoid me entirely afterward. Sure, the castle was large, but I went to the docking bay nearly every day to meet Ellis for lunch and had never even caught a glimpse of Melu. I needed to apologize to him, but that was impossible when he avoided me like a ninja.
I opened the heavy door that led into the docking bay, and the smell of engine grease and lusta fluid immediately assaulted my nose. The bay was always busy with at least a dozen Draax working on ships in various stages of repair, and today was no exception.
Despite my excitement about seeing my sister, my gaze swept across the docking bay, searching the big green bodies for the one I wanted to see most. I swallowed my disappointment when I didn’t see Melu. It was dumb to have even the slightest hope he might be in the bay working on a ship. The guy had a psychic ability to predict when I might show up at the docking bay.
Smoothing my dress, I crossed the bay toward the far end, where hangar doors opened to a massive circular landing pad. Ellis, a human and my best friend here on Draax, worked as a mechanic in the bay, but I didn’t see her as I carefully made my way past the ships being repaired.
The Draax working on the ships smiled and nodded as I passed, and by the time I’d made it to the hangar doors, their appreciative stares made me feel like a damn rock star. It made me shallow as hell, but I’d definitely miss feeling like one of the hot girls when I returned to Earth. But could you blame me? It wasn’t often that someone who looked like me got ogled like she was a supermodel.
I stopped in the doorway of the bay, looking up at the sky. Excitement immediately washed over me when I saw the silver ship in the distance growing steadily closer. I smiled at the Draax who stopped beside me. He held a tablet in one hand, and I could see a tiny black receiver in one ear. He pressed on it and listened intently before nodding. “Yes, you are clear. Try not to miss the landing pad this time, please.”
He pushed a few buttons on the tablet before looking down at me. “Your sister arrives today, does she not, Inara?”
“She does,” I said. “I’m sorry, have we met before?”
He grinned and held out his hand, shaking mine a bit awkwardly. “I am Egren. We have not met, but everyone in the docking
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“Because Melu is -” Egren stopped abruptly, his face flushing a dark green. “Because of your red hair, little human. It is considered rare on Earth, is it not?”
“Yes,” I said, “but what were you saying about Melu?”
“I do not believe I said anything about Melu,” Egren said before clearing his throat.
“You did,” I said. “You said Melu is -”
The roar of the Draax ship cut me off as it slowly descended to the landing pad. Thanks to Ellis, I knew the ship was called a vroha and that in times of war, it was used as a battleship. Unlike the smaller, faster havoc cruisers that had replaced airplanes on Earth, the vroha could travel through hyperspace.
Excitement brewing in my stomach, I squinted my eyes against the gust of wind and the spray of dust as the ship landed in the middle of the circular pad with a heavy thud that made the ground shake.
Before the ship doors opened, Egren said, “Little human, this is not the ship that carries your sister.”
Disappointment made me sag against the doorway. Egren reached to pat my shoulder before hesitating and staring off to the left. Without touching me, he withdrew his hand and said, “This ship carries more human females for the work program. But your sister’s ship is next on the landing schedule.”
“Okay, thank you,” I said.
A large door opened on the ship’s side, and a metal ramp descended with a mechanical whirring. Once it was fully extended, two Draax walked out of the ship. A group of seven women followed them. Six looked in their twenties, but the seventh couldn’t have been older than thirteen. She held the hand of a pretty Black woman, her face a little anxious looking.
As the women huddled in a group on the landing pad, Egren glanced at me. “Perhaps you would like to help me welcome the new females. It would help them feel more comfortable to see another human female.”
“Sure,” I said. I followed Egren out to the landing pad, the bright light from their star keo beating down on me. It was hard to believe that it wouldn’t be very long before the cold season started, and we’d all be trapped in the castle by ferocious storms.
Another Draax joined us. Like Egren, he had dark hair and silver eyes, and his tail waved happily in the air as he studied the women. “They are all so beautiful, are they not, Egren?”
“They are, Neloi,” Egren said. “They will make fine mates.” He glanced at me. “If they choose to mate with us.”
I grinned but didn’t say anything. The work program I’d joined was the first of its kind and had only happened because of Quill’s queen, a human named Sabrina. Before she started the program, the only programs were the breeding and nanny programs. But thanks to Sabrina, we now had the option of working in the castle for a year and making a good wage. It was still in the testing phase, and not many Draax outside of the castle even knew about it, but it’d been a godsend for Earth lowers like me who didn’t have two pennies to rub together or a pot to piss in, as my grandfather used to say.
We joined the group of women, and Egren smiled at them. “Welcome! My name is Egren, and this is Neloi.” Neloi grinned, his tail waving excitedly in the air behind him, as Egren turned to me. “This is Inara. She is in the work program, like you.”
“Hi,” I said. “Welcome to Draax.”
“Are any of you suffering from space sickness?” Egren asked.
One of the Draax who’d been on the ship nodded and pointed to an Indian woman who looked like she was about to throw up at any minute. “The little one there. She will need to see Sigan for more juice.”
The woman in question wasn’t exactly petite, none of us were with our height and curvy bodies, but compared to the Draax, I suppose we were on the small side.
“All right,” Egren said. He waved another Draax over, who hovered at the edge of the landing pad. “Kaynu, please take her directly to the infirmary.”
Kaynu walked over to the woman and smiled at her. “Come, little human, I will take you to our kadana.”
The woman swallowed hard with her hand on her stomach. Even from a few feet away, I could see how wobbly she was when she took a couple of tentative steps. I hid my grin when Kaynu immediately scooped her up and cradled her against his chest. “It is too far for you to walk in your condition, little human. Let me carry you.”
“I think I might be too heavy for you to carry,” the woman said.
Kaynu shook his head. “You are as light as a maluken.”
He walked away, carrying her like she really did weigh nothing, as the rest of the women watched with mixed expressions of surprise and bemusement.
Egren turned his attention back to the women. “Neloi will show you to your apartments. Your belongings will be brought to you shortly. You will have the rest of the day to relax and recover from your journey, and you will meet with Queen Sabrina in the morning.”
He studied the tablet in his hand for a few seconds, frowning slightly. “Please, give me one moment.”
As he scrolled through the tablet, I approached the young girl, smiling at the woman who held her hand in a tight grip. “Hi, I’m Inara.”
“Hello. I’m Molly, and this is my daughter, Paisley.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” I shook Molly’s hand and then Paisley’s before crouching in front of her. “How old are you, Paisley?”
“Eleven, but I’ll be twelve soon,” she said. Unlike her mother, whose hair was cut short in a cute pixie style, Paisley had box braids that hung halfway down her back.
“I have a sister named Wendy, who’s twelve,” I said. “She’ll be arriving today. Maybe you two can hang out some time.”
Paisley glanced at her mother before turning her dark brown eyes back to mine. “Sure, that’d be cool, I guess. Does she like playing Lunar World?”
“It’s one of her favourite video games.” I straightened and smiled at Molly. “It’s nice to meet you both.”
“You as well,” Molly said.
“Please follow Neloi to your rooms,” Egren called. “He will answer any questions you may have.”
I stepped back, smiling and nodding to the women as they walked past me. I’d been in their shoes six months ago and could still remember how nervous and disoriented I’d felt stepping off the ship and onto the Draax planet.
As the women followed Neloi into the docking bay, I turned to Egren. “Egren, do you know when my sister’s ship will be here?”
“Give me one moment, Inari,” Egren said. I watched as he pressed the receiver in his ear and a hologram of a Draax with dark brown eyes and short curly hair appeared in front of him. My heart stuttered for a couple of beats. I recognized the Draax and had even spoken to him a few times over hologram. His name was Neani, and he was one of the Draax my sister stayed with on Earth while we waited for the Emiran and Cillade war that blocked the jumpgate to Earth to end. Neani spoke rapidly but because of the receiver in Egren’s ear, I couldn’t hear any of it.
Egren frowned as he listened to the Draax. “Can you repair it?”
Neani spoke again, and Egren nodded. “I will let Melu know. Be safe, Neani.”
He ended the call, and Neani disappeared. My stomach churning, I said, “What’s wrong?”
“The ship carrying Neani, Venta, and your sister is having mechanical issues,” Egren said.
