My hot new Scifi Romance novel Hers, United will be published on August 14th, 2022! I’m so excited to share the first chapter with you. As you can guess from the cover, the story features a woman and two men. This time, the men have a steamy relationship with one another as well, so if you love to read MMF-menages, you might want to check this out! 😉
Riley wove her way through the drunken crowd, everyone dressed in their sexiest attire. Her heart leaped at every non-human she spotted.
Oh, how I’d love to be off work!
Envy was eating her alive.
Roughly ten hours ago, a thousand alien ships had arrived in Silenia’s immediate outer space. Their hybrid passengers stated they were there for sex if the conditions pleased them, and Silenians met their arrival with the biggest party the planet had seen in a generation.
Riley had been staring at the news screens in wonder as it dawned on her that she might finally have a chance to meet someone who was not from her homeworld. Hybrids and aliens were a rare sight in her city of Sky Dome 22, and there were too many Silenians competing for their attention. She’d never even spoken with a hybrid, let alone had sex with one.
But now, hordes of hybrids boasting big sexual appetites had arrived from a world called Taraseba. New Elysium, Silenia’s only pet dating agency, was completely overrun, and the Taraseban hybrids had no patience for Silenian bureaucracy. Desperate to keep the new arrivals happy and to prevent the madly eager Silenians from starting a riot, the government decided to relax the rules for a limited time. The hybrids were allowed to land at spaceports all over Silenia, where they got hastily paired with enthusiastic locals.
The city quickly dissolved into one big orgy. Riley had wanted to be the first in line to meet all the new hybrids, but she’d been stuck at work. Now she was on her way to the former pet training center where two male hybrids were being detained for starting a fight in a club. Riley was the only reachable psychologist, so she had no choice but to answer the request.
Someone bumped into her from behind, sending her falling into the arms of a beefy hybrid.
“Well, hello.” He flashed her a dirty grin while steadying her. “Want to party?”
Yes, please! I’d love to, but…
She gave him a regretful smile. “No, sorry. I’m busy.”
He was taken, anyway. A Silenian woman with the looks of a supermodel appeared at his side, staring daggers at Riley. Gritting her teeth, Riley moved on. Luckily, the former training center loomed ahead.
Once Riley entered the lobby and the glass doors closed behind her, the celebratory noise from the street was replaced by the silence and the stagnant air of an abandoned building. All pet training centers had been closed after the revolution, and many had yet to find a new purpose. Riley had never been inside of one before, but she had no time for sightseeing. A member of the city security in a gray uniform lifted his hand in greeting when he spotted her.
“Doctor Griffin?” He handed her a wristband. “They’re all yours.”
Riley accepted it glumly.
All mine? I wish!
“Why are they here?” she asked him, glancing around the gloomy space.
It’s not particularly welcoming to put our guests here, of all places.
“They tried to kill each other,” he replied. “This was the nearest safe place that could hold them.”
Riley fixed her gaze on him, shocked. “What do you mean they tried to kill each other?”
She couldn’t remember when she last heard such a thing.
“We had to use extreme force to pull them apart. One of them is still unconscious.”
“Shouldn’t they be in a hospital?”
“Relax, Doctor. A bot rendered one of them unconscious for his own safety. He’s fine.”
“So, how badly are they hurt?”
“Nothing life-threatening, as far as we could tell, but we haven’t done a full medical. You should check them, if they let you, but be careful. Who knows what they’re thinking? We collared them to make sure they can’t hurt anyone.”
Riley frowned. “You collared them?”
He could only mean pet training collars, but they’d been deemed illegal.
The guard shrugged. “What else could we do? The city’s a madhouse, overrun with hybrids, and half of them don’t even speak any of Silenia’s languages. We’re just trying to make sure everyone is safe. The station facilities are full, and the restrainer bots are busy patrolling, too, so all we could do was collar these guys and put them in here.”
Riley examined the wristband the guard had given her. It did indeed display links to two collars. The device informed her it had absorbed her DNA, making her the only person who could unlock the collars in question.
The guard went on, “Don’t worry, they won’t be hurt by them. They’re in separate cages. But we can’t let them out before they agree not to tear each other apart. You need to find a way to reason with them.”
Under normal circumstances, spending time with two male hybrids would be a dream come true, but doing it for work felt a nightmare. No way could Riley maintain a professional attitude. She’d been single for too many years, and the prospect of meeting exciting strangers had wound her up to an embarrassing degree. She hated to admit it, but the men would be better off with someone else.
She licked her lips and swallowed. “Look, Officer, you should call someone else for this.”
The man shook his head. “You’re the only one available.”
“But I don’t have any experience with aliens.” Thanks to the authorities. The assholes. “Besides, I’m—”
He scoffed. “Good luck finding a psychologist with alien experience in Twenty-two who isn’t working overtime at the rehab center. They’re all busy, trust me. That makes you the most qualified person around. Because we’re certainly not.”
Her cheeks burned as she admitted, “I can’t guarantee I can maintain a professional distance.”
The guard didn’t appear concerned. “Most likely, they’re too pissed off to let you near them, so keeping a distance should be easy.”
“Why did they try to kill each other?”
“Who knows, maybe they set their eye on the same woman?”
Riley’s eyes widened. It was one thing for men to fight over attention from a woman, but to almost kill? She hoped they were just drunk and horny and the woman hadn’t been so outrageously gorgeous that the hybrids wouldn’t find Riley attractive.
She berated herself. This wasn’t about her. The safety of two hybrids who were guests on Silenia was at stake. No matter what kind of dispute they had, injuring one another while on Silenian soil was unacceptable.
She pulled her shoulders back. “What else do I need to know?”
“You’ll find all the information we got on the wristband, which isn’t much. The first subject appears to be a Human-Wolfman hybrid in his mid-thirties, Earth Standard years. The second one has Crasnian and Lurexian blood and he’s younger. Maybe in his mid-twenties.”
With her heart racing, Riley considered what that might mean for her. Wolfmen had superhuman senses, so the one hybrid could probably hear and smell her from a distance. Crasnians resembled humans, only were bigger and stronger, capable of eating almost anything, and could heal from wounds that would kill a Silenian man. Lurexians, on the other hand, were smaller than humans, good-looking, and capable of bioluminescence. So, the second hybrid could be a beast or a beauty.
“Which one did you knock out?” she asked.
“The Crasnian-Lurexian. The other one’s awake.” The guard’s wristband beeped, and after a quick look, he brought it close to his mouth. “On my way.”
Returning his attention to Riley, he said, “You’ll have to excuse me now, Doctor. My partner and I have to continue our patrol.”
“But—”
“All you have to do is take care of the hybrids until they agree not to murder each other. You can release them at your discretion. The wristband gives you full access to this building.” He raised his hand in farewell. “Good night and good luck.”
Riley stared after him until the door closed behind him with an audible click. She was alone in an essentially abandoned building with two imprisoned hybrids. Her pulse was probably above two hundred.
She sighed. Okay, forget about your fantasies and get to work.
She walked down the marble hallway to the former pet display rooms, the silence of the facility pierced by the click of her heels.
Maybe I’ll get lucky, and we’ll reach an agreement quickly.
The Human-Wolfman sat in the first glass cage, staring at the floor. He lifted his head as Riley approached, his dark eyes observing her. Riley’s heart jumped. He was stunning. Not handsome in the same way that Silenian men were, but rough and imposing with a broad jaw and an intense glare. He wore black pants and a matching short-sleeved shirt of alien design that left his muscular arms on display. An alien tattoo decorated his right forearm.
Riley swallowed. Ugh, why does he have to be good-looking?
In addition, he looked strong enough to bend a steel bar into a knot. Although he was seated, she could tell he was tall, and she wished he would stand up so she could determine his height.
Damn it, this isn’t about you.
He had a bleeding cut on his temple, but his stoic expression betrayed no pain. Riley studied him, impressed. She glanced at the neighboring cage and saw the Crasnian-Lurexian sprawled on the floor, unconscious. While also buff, he had a slimmer build than the Wolfman hybrid, tucked into a white tank top and gray cargo pants. He had sandy brown hair and golden skin.
She used her wristband to read the data from the cages to confirm what the security guard had told her: neither hybrid was severely injured. Their vital functions were green, even though the second one was so still she might have mistaken him for dead.
The way the Wolfman hybrid watched her made Riley nervous, but she did her best to hide it and cleared her throat.
“Do you speak English?”
“Yes.”
He had a deep, calm voice. Riley had expected to meet a raging beast, not someone with such a controlled façade. It made her professional instincts ring with alarm. Blind rage would be easier to dispel than a calculating mind. This male was bad news.
She tried to brush the thought aside and went on, “My name is Dr. Griffin, but you can call me Riley. I’m here to look after you until you come to your senses. What’s your name?”
“Talon,” he said. “The one in the next cell is called Dagger. I appreciate your concern, ma’am, but I’m very much in my senses.”
Shit. What exactly do I have here?
She shifted her weight. “Really now? City security said you tried to kill each other.”
“He abandoned his post,” Talon said.
“You mean a post he was supposed to guard?”
“Yes.”
Damn it. They hadn’t been brawling over a woman; they were soldiers, and one of them was a deserter.
“Is the punishment for desertion death?”
“He told me he has no desire to go back, despite the oath he swore, so yes. He abandoned his duties to get drunk and laid on Silenia, and obviously doesn’t care whether he lives or dies.” Anger flashed in Talon’s eyes. “I’m doing him a favor by putting him out of his misery.”
Riley sighed, crossing her arms. “I can’t allow that. You’re not going to kill anyone, Talon.”
“This has nothing to do with you or your people, ma’am,” the hybrid said, his tone respectful but firm. “This is between him and me.”
“If the one you call Dagger wants to stay on Silenia, he’s welcome to do so. We won’t let any harm come to him.”
“It’s none of your business,” he warned.
Riley considered her dilemma. While she had no clue what kind of culture the two hybrids came from, she sensed he was gravely serious about the broken oath. She had hoped to talk some sense into two horny, hotheaded hybrids and be done by midnight.
Instead, she had one guy who allegedly didn’t care whether he lived or died, and the other determined to bury him. There was no way they could be released anytime soon. She could be stuck guarding them for a long time.
Riley looked at the unconscious hybrid in the next cell. Well. If it saves his life, I’ll do what I can for however long it takes.
Hers, United will be available on Amazon, Apple, Google Play, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble. Subscribe to my newsletter and/or follow me on BookBub if you want to be notified on the release! 😀