Primal Quest Rebecca Airies.pdf

An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

www.ellorascave.com

Primal Quest

ISBN # 1-4199-0549-X

Edited by Nicholas Conrad

Cover art by Syneca.

Electronic book Publication: March 2006

This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written

permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-

3502.

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 authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

Warning:

The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. This book has been

rated E–rotic by a minimum of three independent reviewers.

Ellora’s Cave Publishing offers three levels of Romantica™ reading entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E (E-

rotic), and X (X-treme).

S- ensuous love scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination.

E- rotic love scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall

word count. In addition, some E-rated titles might contain fantasy material that some readers find

objectionable, such as bondage, submission, same sex encounters, forced seductions, and so forth. E-rated

titles are the most graphic titles we carry; it is common, for instance, for an author to use words such as

“fucking”, “cock”, “pussy”, and such within their work of literature.

X- treme titles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline execution. Unlike E-rated titles,

stories designated with the letter X tend to contain controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart.

P RIMAL Q UEST

Rebecca Airies

Chapter One

Planet Mijohin, 862 Neshan Calendar

The risk is necessary , Caidi Satoan thought as she stared out of the inn’s window

watching the orange sun sink below the horizon. Beyond the squat city dwellings, she

could see the dark green blur of the forest and beyond that the purple shadow of a large

mountain. The trouble with the trade goods is finally settled. It is time to see to the future.

Caidi had always known that finding that one man with whom she could bond for

life was improbable. There were just too many worlds. Most of the populated worlds

were inhabited by humans and those humans far outnumbered shifter populations.

There wasn’t much of a chance that she’d find the one Zarain meant for her.

Her personal precautions also caused some difficulty. She avoided contact with her

own kind and when she did meet them, getting close enough to scent them meant

something had gone wrong. Over the course of her years as Acine, the alpha female of

her pack, she had learned to avoid taking foolish risks. The protection of her pack was

her sacred duty and a constant worry when she had to deal with it on her own.

Success of tonight’s quest was as inevitable as their return home to Carait. The

single difference between this and a normal hunt was the choice of prey. Tonight’s

quarry waited in a tavern, not too far away.

Their target, the males of their own kind—the Zarain—wouldn’t suspect anything.

Caidi had ensured that. She had used the combined resources of her pack and the Feiral

pack which also lived on Carait to make this hunt feasible and safe.

Both entirely female packs would benefit from this hunt. The drive, the pull to

mate, to be impregnated, grew with each passing day, a throbbing need that couldn’t be

ignored. They needed to see to the future, to have children.

Just as in any other hunt, they would use the habits of their prey against them.

Shifter males often had sex with human females, but the hunters knew that they would

have to be cautious. Although she wanted a baby, Caidi didn’t want to lose her

freedom. A male Zarain or Feiral with his senses unsuppressed by a powerful drug

would know at the first whiff of their scent that they weren’t human and were very

fertile. The drugs had been administered to the men to counter that ability. As well, the

shifter men wouldn’t knowingly impregnate a female of their kind who wasn’t their

mate.

Male shifters searched for their mates for most of their lives and they all knew how

hard it was to find that one true mate. They wouldn’t have sex with a female shifter

who wasn’t their mate. Also, shifter males were born with a fierce drive to protect and

defend. That drive only increased when females of any species were involved. Those

Primal Quest

men wouldn’t hesitate to take any female shifter they found captive and would hold her

until that woman’s mate found her.

Their plans had been made ronas , months, ago. Bribes had been paid and

instructions had been given to those who would be able to carry out the details of the

plan. Now, all that remained was the wait before the hunt.

Caidi turned away from the window and began preparing for the hunt. She combed

her golden hair to a glowing shine and allowed it to hang loose, falling to the middle of

her back in soft waves. Her silver eyes danced as a tingle of nervousness coursed

through her. At her neck, her pulse pounded a furious rhythm. She took a deep,

calming breath.

This hunt will be a success. In her mind, she chanted the words.

As they made their way down the street to the weathered, wooden building which

housed Oshiah’s Tavern, Caidi was very nervous. So much of this had been out of her

hands, out of her personal control. Most of the plan tonight had relied on the ability of

others to fulfill their side of the bargain. It made Caidi uneasy to have to rely on others,

non-pack members, for such necessary details, but there hadn’t been any other way to

do this. The Zarain and Feiral women were strangers to this planet and couldn’t stay

here long. Their purpose on Mijohin was simple—find suitable male shifters, have sex

and leave.

This wasn’t like the other times that she had had to hide her identity from a shifter

or group of shifters. This time she would be in bodily contact with the shifter. She

couldn’t rely on her usual means of fooling them. They had used those methods until

they had left the inn, but couldn’t risk using them now. The contact was going to be

much too close tonight.

Caidi received a nod from one of the serving women when she and the other Zarain

females entered the large, open main room of the first-floor tavern. Caidi breathed a

sigh of relief and relaxed. It was safe. The drug had been served to everyone in the

tavern.

Caidi and the seven other members of her pack who accompanied her mingled

among those in Oshiah’s Tavern. It was more of a gentleman’s club than a true tavern,

with rooms upstairs available for the members’ use for a fee. Caidi saw Chey across the

room and nodded at her in response to her smile and the slight lift of Chey’s mug.

Caidi smiled. Chey looked as if she was plotting. The cunning nature of the Feiral

was very much evidenced by that smile. She knew just how cunning Chey could be and

the woman was formidable. Caidi was just glad that they were allies and friends. Both

groups were isolated from their own kind, trying to make the most of what they had

and had found that their differences were insignificant when compared to the reality

they faced.

The Feiral animal form—a narrow sharp-angled face with a long muzzle and

pointed ears, a body built for speed rather than power, sleek furry body and a long

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