The finding, p.1
The Finding, page 1
The Finding
The Mendovan Alliance Chronicles Part 1
ANGELICA GRYMM
Copyright © 2023 by Angelica Grymm
Edited by V. Pickering.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
The image Alone in Space © 2015 used with permission from the artist, Yair Morr. Permission granted 3rd August, 2023.
~ For ~
Bec Buchanan
Because you loved it so much.
Contents
A Word on Pronunciation and Meaning
Glossary
Author Note
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
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Afterword
The Returning
Also by ANGELICA GRYMM
Acknowledgments
~ The Finding ~
SOLD FOR PLEASURE
Abducted.
Abused.
Sold.
Reece Halliday will find a way back home, even if it kills her. Abducted from Earth and auctioned off on the other side of the galaxy, a scarred starship XO buys her as a birthday present for his boss–as a pleasure slave.
Ruthless starship officer Calin Aubron will do anything to climb the ranks of the Mendovan Alliance and regain the respect stolen from him. Life has taught him a harsh lesson: there is only duty, position, and honor.
Neither Reece nor Calin expect to find a deep, abiding solace in each other’s company, a solace that leads Calin to dig deeper into Reece’s background and her claims of kidnapping.
But the Rathian slave traders behind the kidnappings refuse to let one small, worthless human derail their lucrative income stream from reaped worlds.
They will kill her first.
A Word on Pronunciation and Meaning
Many of the non-English words in this book are derived from Ancient Sumerian, it being our oldest written language. (If you wish, you should go have a look at some of the online Sumerian dictionaries, they are quite interesting.) This was to tie the concept of Earth to the creation of the races in the Alliance galaxy. Others, like the cussing, are completely made up.
Most you can pronounce as you wish, it’s you reading it, it’s your prerogative 💜. The only names I have a caveat on are Calin, and Marek.
Calin … Kay-len
Marek … Marr-eck
Glossary
SUMERIAN to ENGLISH
Anu:
Heavenly One, King, Ruler of the Annunaki
Batiltu:
Stop
Inanna/Ishtar:
Babylonian goddess of love, beauty, sex, desire, fertility, war, justice, and political power. (Named Inanna in Sumer, translates to Ishtar.)
Lightship(s)
Sentient battleships with a learning AI that became self-aware many millennia ago, made of biometal, a mix of an alien metal and bio-organic neural networks. Created by the Ancients. They choose to serve with the Alliance, having decided collectively that the Alliance is the greater good. The individual ships themselves form close relationships with their commander and crews.
Na:
No/Don’t
Nahu
Calm down
Nisiqtu:
Precious
Sukulutu
Chocolate
Urì:
Blood
Vah’vashta
Interchangeable: Fucking hell(s), holy shit
Young/Youngling
A baby, through to approximately ten years of age.
Youthling
From approximately ten years of age, through to thirty.
Author Note
As the main female character in this book is Australian, when in her point of view some Australian spelling and/or Australian words are used that aren’t used in the MMCs’ POV.
These are not spelling mistakes or mistaken word choice. They are intentional. For EG: Calin says/thinks ‘ass’, and Reece says/thinks ‘arse’ or ‘ass’ interchangeably. Things like that.
Despite significant editing, mistakes still happen. If you find any, please feel free to email me at my website angelicagrymm.com to let me know, rather than posting to Amazon, as doing so can get the book removed.
Thank you and enjoy!
~ Grymm x.
Chapter One
Two Weeks Taken
“Take your clammy hands off me, you slimy little rodent.”
If that gray-skinned bastard touched her one more time, she was going to head-butt the prick.
The tall, painfully thin alien glared at her and made some garbled sound she couldn’t understand. It sounded suspiciously like an insult.
“And the same to your mother, arsehole,” she muttered.
Anger swarmed through Reece’s blood, craving something, someone, to aim it at.
Anger was good.
Anger meant she didn’t think about the mind-numbing fear that lay just beneath the surface, ready to swallow her whole as soon as she let down her guard.
Heart-wrenching sobs from the direction of the dais to her left begged her to look. She didn’t dare. She knew the pretty girl from the USA was a heaving mess of huge breasts, long legs, and thick, long blonde hair all wrapped up in a once-gorgeous lime-green jumpsuit.
The sounds of the auction crescendoed. Bidding came fast from all directions now. Reece couldn’t understand a single word any of them yelled but it was obvious that the humans were being sold.
The blonde would go to a high bidder. She was stunning enough even all puffy from ugly-crying that she’d incited a huge amount of excitement when they’d dragged her on stage.
Reece jumped at the sharp sound of a buzzer. The blonde, she’d never asked her name, cried out as she was dragged off the other side of the dais.
She kept her gaze firmly on the floor in front of her. If she didn’t look up, she didn’t have to face the reality that herself and so many others had been abducted two weeks ago.
She wouldn’t have to see that the faces of those bidding on them weren’t human.
She still couldn’t believe something like this could happen to her. She wasn’t anyone important, just a small-town mechanic from Australia.
Only last year on the day she’d turned thirty-four, she’d opened her own workshop. It had been the biggest highlight of her life. The whole town had thrown her an opening day bash. Things had finally started to go right.
One of the gray bastards poked her in the ribs to get her to move.
She was next.
Fury and despair-tinged hatred swamped her, overriding the fear and deep, gnawing hunger that felt like it had taken up residence in her very bones.
She’d worked so hard for the life she’d built, for the security and predictability she craved. She’d been poked and prodded for nearly two weeks now.
Enough was enough.
She spun and booted the alien in side of the knee.
Her satisfaction at the cracking sound it made before he hit the floor was short-lived. Another alien struck her in the middle of the back, stealing her breath. She fell hard on her knees onto the smooth floor. She looked around to see the muzzle of some type of gun pointed directly into her face.
Oh, shit.
She knew she’d pay for her stunt. It looked like it would be with her life.
Chapter Two
“What was wrong with that one? She looked rather appropriate.”
Calin didn’t move from his position against the rear wall in the crowded auction room. His translator squeaked behind his ear. He shook his head and tapped it. “She wasn’t suitable.”
Marek grunted and moved his toothpick to the other side of his mouth with his tongue. He nodded at Calin's translator. “You’re flashing. Must be another update. Mine’s playing up too. That’s the third
Calin crossed his arms over his chest. While the translators made life so much easier, they could be a pain in the ass when trying to sync with non-government updaters. Differences in tech systems caused all sorts of glitches.
Calamity belonged to the private sector, only allied with the Mendovan Alliance worlds, not owned by them. For them to be receiving an update so far out here on the edge of the Renkaart Quadrant, it had to be a new language.
Calin looked back to the group being sold. The auction was more than half over and he hadn’t bid once.
Humans.
There were at least ten of them being sold today. This was the first time he’d seen one in the flesh. Calin found himself fascinated by all the different colors of their skin.
Unlike Ondarians, their skin colors varied immensely.
Some were dark, others so pale that they looked ethereal. It would be hard to choose.
Marek was right. The human would’ve been perfect for the position she’d been auctioned as—pleasure slave. She was extremely sexy. Unique. Something the Admiral would never have expected, or had ever seen before.
“The Admiral is a particular female. She’d be bored of that one in a week.”
The poor thing had stood there crying the entire time she’d been on the dais.
Perhaps she hadn’t wanted to be sold, or her owner had died?
Calin felt sorry for her, but he couldn’t let that sway his choice. He hated when slaves were sold en masse to auction groups. The sellers had no connection, no care for their charges. Unfortunately, sometimes circumstance necessitated it.
Marek muttered to himself and sighed. Calin glanced at his head mechanic, and friend.
“I need to get the right one. This is her name-day gift, not yours. She’s interested in more than a pretty face and a pair of breasts.”
Marek raised an eyebrow and stared at him. “I'm pretty sure she’d have appreciated both those qualities. You would.”
Calin pretended not to hear him, his attention again taken by the small group of humans left at the rear of the room. The Rathians seemed to be having trouble with one of the females.
He’d noticed her within minutes of entering the room. His gaze kept straying back to her throughout the auction.
She was small. Shorter than her captors, she couldn’t have reached five and a half feet tall. Where the blonde who’d just been sold had been leggy and tall and gorgeous in an alien, obvious sort of way, this one’s appeal was more conservative.
Over-knee boots ended just below the hem of a matched dress and fitted jacket. Expensive looking clothes.
She’d been well looked after, and by the looks, by a wealthy patron.
Her short copper-colored hair hung about her face in a thick shaggy mess, obscuring much of it from this distance, but she seemed quite pleasant from what he’d glimpsed, although far too thin.
He didn’t know why he kept looking back at her. There were others, like the blonde, who were far sexier, but for some reason she piqued his interest. He let himself smile a little.
It could’ve been because she was giving those gray stick insects hell.
Whereas most of the slaves were subdued: fear-stricken, lost looks blanking their faces, with many of the females crying, she stood staring straight ahead, her gaze slightly downcast.
It was the stubborn, take-no-shit look on her face that had caught his attention. Every time she looked at the Rathians, one in particular, fire sparked in her face.
He had no doubt she was scared, but she had spirit.
He could see her lips moving every now and then. The gray guard was getting more annoyed with her with each slave sale. Calin couldn’t hear what she said, she was too far away, but it was clear she was pissing the Rathian off something bad.
He allowed himself a small chuckle when the human snarled something back at the gray. The skinny mongrel was furious. Rathian slave traders had the idea that their charges should be respectful and subservient at the very least—better yet, terrified. Most of them were.
Apparently this one hadn’t got that memo.
The human suddenly turned and kicked the gray. He hit the floor hard, yelping.
Frak. She’d done it now.
“Batiltu!” a deep voice commanded.
Reece couldn’t see who’d spoken from her position on the floor, too many people milled around her and the other humans as they selected someone else to go up on the auction block.
She clasped her hands together to stop the noticeable shake. She refused to let them see her fear.
The alien turned to look behind it and lowered the weapon.
The crowd parted enough for Reece to see two very tall, built males in what looked like combat gear striding toward them. Her breath caught.
Holy crap. Is that a …
Pointed ears swept up, showing from amongst a thick, loosely pulled-back ponytail of fine black braids that fell halfway down his back.
Like a hard-assed elf, or Vulcan, or something. It was like watching a Sci-Fi movie. Their angular features could almost be called beautiful if they hadn’t been so sharp.
The front-most male gestured to her and talked rapidly with the gray. His short-haired companion stared at her, unblinking bronze eyes holding hers. Vertical black pupils narrowed in, shrinking. They unnerved her, screaming alien, loud and clear.
She turned her attention to the gray alien who gestured wildly and pointed at her, disgust evident on its face.
Yeah. Well, I'm not all that fussed on you, either.
She frowned when the tall male dropped a triangular chip into the outstretched hand of the gray. A flat, tablet-like reader was shoved in front of him. He wrote on it with a thin metallic object, pressed his thumb to it, and a smaller rectangular item spat out the bottom. The gray handed it to the male, along with a long slim object, then turned his back on her.
He shoved the palm-sized rectangular item into a pocket on his uniform jacket, turned to her, then held out his hand.
Reece bit her lip, unsure what to do. Had she just been purchased?
The thought sent chills chasing all over her.
The male tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow.
Ok. Impatience seems universal.
She held up her cuffed hands and he effortlessly lifted her to her feet. Short, wicked-looking black claws curved over the tips of his fingers. They’d been trimmed, by the look of things, but still, she didn’t want to see what damage they could do to someone in a fight.
He held out the object the gray had given him. It buzzed when placed over the top of her handcuffs. They fell apart, freeing her wrists. She looked up.
