Favored by Felix

Shelley
Munro

Middlemarch Capture, Book Two

A new resort specializing in capture
fantasies—the perfect place for Captain Casey Seonaid to blow off steam. To
embrace her feminine side, possibly for the last time. And just as she’d hoped,
it’s not long before she finds herself “kidnapped”. Let the sexual hijinks
begin.

Attractive yet with an air of sadness,
Casey snares Felix Mitchell’s attention at first sight. As feelings deepen, he
comes to realize Casey just may be his perfect mate. But despite their shared
passion, something is amiss with his intriguing lover, something that keeps her
from giving herself fully…something she won’t share.

Unexpected troubles plague the resort,
drawing the couple ever closer. But the biggest danger comes when Casey finally
shares her secret, revealing a familial enemy—and his shocking plans for
Casey’s future.

Inside Scoop:
  Felix may look big and bad, but Casey knows her shifter mate is
just a big pussycat.

A Romantica®
sci-fi erotic romance
from Ellora’s Cave

Acknowledgements

For Hollie. Thanks so much for your
feedback and enthusiastic help. I couldn’t have done this without you.

Pronunciation Guide

Some of the alien characters within these
pages bear Celtic names. Our heroine’s surname is pronounced as follows:

Casey Seonaid: (kay + sea) shone + aid

Casey Seonaid wriggled and attempted to get
comfortable. She flopped onto her side and prayed for the sweet oblivion of
slumber. Seconds later, her body itched to move to a new position.
Scurvy
sky pirates
, her brain buzzed like an angry drill-saw, too busy, too
unsettled, too agitated to attempt sleep.

Finally giving up her valiant battle, she
untwisted her body from the covers and slipped off her sleep-bed. She pulled on
her robe—the garment she’d lovingly designed and made, rather than the complimentary
resort one—and let herself out of the room she shared with her best friend Eva
Henry.

At this time of the morn, the Middlemarch Resort
on the island of Ione, planet Tiraq, was quiet—too silent—and jerked her from
holiday mode into military.

Just what she wanted to avoid.

Sighing, she held her body still while she
went through the checks drummed into her by years of military training.

Look, watch, listen, smell.

Her glance proved she was alone. The long
seconds she stood frozen confirmed nothing suspicious. Hearing check. Smell…

A slow smile curled over her lips. And she
was back. The sweet scent of flowers, the close heat of the tropics, the faint tang
from the waves running onto the shore scrubbed away the horrors of her job.

Automatically, Casey’s feet turned in the
direction of the sea. Bare feet, she realized, when she hit a gravel path. Too
bad. She didn’t intend to go back to their bungalow for something as pragmatic
as footwear.

She limped over the gravel, another sigh
gusting from her when she reached the more forgiving white sand. Her strides
lengthened until she was almost running. As was usual, ever since her last
meeting with General Seonaid.

Her father hadn’t wanted a daughter.

He’d wanted sons.

Three sons.

And he sure as
phrull
didn’t value
her achievements or the way she’d advanced up the military ranks to match the careers
of her two older brothers. No matter what she did, it wasn’t sufficient.

She
wasn’t
good enough for the general.

Casey slowed and padded across the white
sand until she came to the edge of the water. A soft breeze wafted across her
military-short hair and a wave washed over her feet. The water was cooler than
she’d expected and startled a decidedly non-military
eep
from her throat.

“You shouldn’t be out here alone,” a male
voice said.

Casey turned slowly, her leisurely action
belying the way her heart drummed at her breast. Gods, she was more upset than
she’d realized if someone could sneak up on her without raising her well-honed senses.

“Why not?” she asked, and openly studied
the big man who’d emerged from the shadows. “The resort is in a fenced
compound. The place is full of women.” Lousy with them, the general would say.
The thought brought Casey great satisfaction. “What could happen to me here?”

The man walked—no, prowled was a better
description for his gait—closer and came to a halt a few feet from her. He
flashed a grin full of white teeth, and she found herself returning the
expression. A natural smile instead of the conscious ones she forced for her
best friend while she pretended everything in her world was perfect.

“Let me see.” He pretended to ponder while
his gaze slid over her in a way that made her feel like a woman instead of a soldier.
“I’ve heard there is a race of aliens who have a shortage of women. They’re out
to steal themselves mates.”

“I’m all a-shiver,” she said, returning his
gaze of interest.

There was much to be admired. His black
hair hit his shoulders and was three—
phrull
—
four or five
times
longer than her own black locks. Even in the dim light cast by the astral moon
and the resort’s artificial illumination, she could see his gorgeous green
eyes. Just a few shades darker than the color of the jade sea that surrounded
Ione. His broad shoulders were garbed in a loose white shirt, his lower half in
tight black trews and black boots, and he was taller than her six feet by a few
inches.

“And what if I’m one of these alien males?”
His voice held a smoky tone that reminded her of late nights and smooth aged
liquor on ice. He stood close enough now for her to feel the heat coming off
his solid body.

“I should start running?” Gods, was that
flirtation? She’d thought she’d forgotten how, since one didn’t fraternize
romantically with fellow soldiers. She cocked her head a fraction. “Scream for
help?”

“You’re lucky, sweetheart. Tonight, all I’m
after is a kiss.”

And he grasped her shoulders and pulled her
to him, his mouth covering hers in a hungry kiss before she could gasp out a
protest.

Sensations struck her like laser fire. His
hot mouth. His hard body. His expertise. The pleasure of contact ripped away
her lethargy. She gasped, and he took advantage, sliding his tongue into her
mouth and stroking against hers.

So nice. So good. So perfect.

Casey gripped his shoulders and let his
mouth ravage hers, blast her with the sensations she’d craved for long, lonely
months.

Finally he lifted his head, grinned down at
her while his thumb brushed across her tingling lips. “What’s your name,
sweetheart?”

“Casey.”

“Felix,” he said.

Her brows rose. “Not Alien Marauder?”

“Sexy Seducer.”

Her brows inched a hairsbreadth higher, and
she fought the burst of humor currently tickling her tongue for release. “You
think you could seduce me?”

“Breathing elevated. Nipples hard. And if I
was crass enough to check, I’d find you wet, or at least on the way there.”

Common sense told her to knee him in the
balls or punch his nose, but instead amusement came to the fore, keeping the
capable soldier at bay. “Rather sure of yourself, aren’t you?”

“I haven’t had any complaints.” Those green
eyes of his glittered in a silent dare.

“So are you going to capture me, tie me up
and keep me as your slave?” A shiver went through her at the idea of being his prisoner,
and she knew he caught the tell because his grin amped up into a full-on smirk.

Phrull
, she
must be more tired and stressed than she’d thought.

“You like the idea,” he whispered, his
breath warm against her cheek.

“Not really,” she said dismissively, while
her mind screamed
liar
. Capture would solve her problems; put her out of
reach of the general.
For a time.
He’d come for her eventually though, and
toss her right back into reality—and turmoil—until her loyalty was tested to
the limits. Gods!

“Let me kiss you again,” he said.

“You’re asking this time?”

“I figured that way I could progress to
touching your tits, check if they feel as beautiful as they look.”

Casey forced back the hysterical laughter
battling for release. Now wasn’t that a kicker? One of the offending body parts
that made the general hate her was the very part this sexy man wanted to touch.
She shrugged, fought angry tears and won. “Why not?”

Felix took her into his arms, pulled her
tight to his body, and she discovered he wanted her. He liked what he saw.
Heady stuff. She opened her mouth, let him use her as he wished and drifted on
the pleasure of his hands on her body, drifted on the knowledge he wanted her,
just drifted…because it was safer than concentrating on reality.

Or her future.

Felix Mitchell held the quivering woman in
his arms, his curiosity roused. He’d watched her wander along the beach for the
last couple of nights, wondered if she’d arranged to meet with one of the
resort’s male staff. Instead she’d spent hours staring out to sea and looking
so damn unhappy, she’d brought his protectiveness to the surface.

Most of the women who came to the resort
wanted their fantasies brought to life.

Captures. Multiple lovers. Kink.

Whatever they wanted, Middlemarch Resort’s
male employees were happy to oblige, either in the virtual reality rooms or in a
real scenario.

After the first time he’d seen her alone,
Felix had started looking for her during the day. She hung out with another
woman—a petite blonde.

This woman—Casey Seonaid—and her friend Eva
Henry had made the cut. He and his brothers intended to whisk them away from
the resort and hold them captive until the women came around to the idea of
staying. After much deliberation and weighing the pros and cons, he’d picked
the blonde, Eva, as his potential mate.

Right now, he was starting to wonder if he
hadn’t made a mistake.

No matter which he chose, seizing a woman
and running off with her was a hell of a way to find a mate.

Felix wasn’t sure he approved. Hell, he
didn’t sanction kidnapping women and seducing them into marriage. Saber was out
of his mind. Maybe losing his fiancée to the virus had done a number on his big
brother’s clever brain, and he’d lost his grip on reality.

But like his younger siblings—three
brothers and a sister—he’d agreed with Saber and their mother that leaving a
virus-stricken Earth for the unknown space frontier was preferable to dying.
The rest of their evolving plan—the resort, and the captures to replace the
women who had died in triple the numbers of the males—he wasn’t so sure.

Aw, fuck it. He’d talk to Saber, express
his doubts again,
do
something for a change, instead of merely resenting
the way he worked and lived in big brother’s long, tall shadow.

“I thought you intended to kiss me and
touch my breasts.” A faint tremor sped through her lithe body. “All you’re
doing is holding me.”

“You don’t like being held, sweetheart?”

“Doesn’t happen very often.”

Something in her tone had him pulling back
to study her face. “Good or bad?”

“I don’t need to be touched.”

“Everyone needs physical contact.” Felix
pressed her head against his shoulder. For an instant, she held her body tight
then she seemed to sag, her breath expelling in a sign of surrender. “My
people—”

“Your people?”

“My family. We’re very affectionate.
Tactile. We like to touch. I especially like to stroke a beautiful woman.”

“You’re full of dino-crap.”

He laughed at her blunt tone. She didn’t
pull her punches, didn’t act like most of the hedonistic airheads who were
staying at the resort. He and his brothers had chosen well. For a fleeting
moment, he wondered if he should ask Leo to swap so he could capture this woman
instead of the blonde.

No. He’d better leave things as they were.
He’d snatch one last kiss before he left her alone. He lowered his head and
claimed her lips. Started out slow, gentle, and then let the spark between them
grab hold and flare hot and bright. His hand slid beneath the neckline of her
robe to cup a heavy, naked breast.

She started before relaxing again. Her moan
vibrated against his lips and he decided to up the stakes. He tugged her nipple
between finger and thumb, pulled another one of those sexy moans from her. His
cock pressed against his trousers, his balls pulling tight to the point of pain
so quickly, he felt dizzy. Fuck, this woman—she fired something in him.

Unable to resist, he lifted her off her
feet and laid her on the sand, quickly following. He slipped his fingers inside
her robe again, gave her nipple another twist, and she made a tiny mew at the
back of her throat. Sexy. His hand smoothed over her stomach. He pulled at the
silky fabric to bare her luscious body. Big breasts. Lean belly. Muscled frame
with feminine softness, enough to entice any man.

Felix slipped his hand between her legs and
found wet, hot flesh. He nudged her legs apart, half expecting a struggle, but
she let him continue. Scalding honey made her folds slippery as he explored her
flesh. He skimmed her clit and she jolted.

On just the second pass of his finger, she
came with a choked sob, the hard knot of nerves pulsing beneath his fingertip.

Felix smiled, kissed her gently and wished
he had time to fuck her properly. But no, this woman belonged to his younger
brother, even though she didn’t know it yet. He’d already crossed a line when
he kissed her and this finger fucking was doing a number on his guilt tripwire.

“Thank you, sweetheart,” he whispered, and,
unable to resist, kissed her one last time. He thrust his tongue into her mouth
and smooched until he was desperate for a breath and had to lift his head. He
traced her lips with his fingertip. “Maybe you can sleep now.”

“Maybe,” she said when he rolled away and
stood.

She accepted his hand and rose before refastening
the tie on her robe.

Unable to help himself, he brushed his
fingers over her cheek and smiled down into her golden-brown eyes. “See you
later.”

“Bye.”

And with a final wave, Felix walked away,
even though every particle in his body urged him to forget—hell, ignore—Leo’s claim
on this woman and whisk her away to his rooms for a private capture.