Noble

An alien genome leads Myra to a world her ancestors called their own and a people who demand that she give them all she has to give.

Humouring her grandparents leads Myra to discovering that a member of her family belonged to an alien race, and that race wants her back now. The people who killed her ancestors demand the last viable member of the Day clan, and she has no idea why.

She finds out that her bloodline is the key to bringing back a portion of the population that have died out. The women. Her alien people survive by abducting their brides from a variety of species, but if she can claim her birthright, she can bring the trigger back and fertility will return.

Arbor-Dren–assassin, warrior and snappy dresser—is the consort that she chooses, and he is more than capable of dealing with her learning curve, and all of her other curves as well.

The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Noble

Copyright © 2015 Viola Grace

ISBN: 978-1-4874-0218-1

Cover art by Carmen Waters

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

Published by eXtasy Books Inc or

Devine Destinies, an imprint of eXtasy Books Inc

Look for us online at:

www.eXtasybooks.com or www.devinedestinies.com

Noble

Terran Times Second Wave

By

Viola Grace

Myra faced her grandparents in their kitchen, the well-worn butcher block warm under her palms. “Can you repeat that?”

Her grandfather smiled brightly. “We want you to apply for the Volunteer Program. We have a suspicion about our family, and we want it confirmed.”

“What do you suspect?”

Her grandmother held her husband’s hand. “We believe that we have an alien in our bloodline.”

Since her grandparents were third cousins, it explained why both of them were keen.

“You have to be kidding.” She rolled her eyes and sipped her hot chocolate with the teeny marshmallows rapidly dissolving as she waited.

“No. Here. This is the family tree, and it goes back five hundred years.”

With reverence, her grandfather opened a book that was surprisingly hollow. A creased and brittle page came out of the box, and he unfolded it with the air of someone holding something sacred.

Myra looked at the unfolding document with curiosity. “What is that?”

Her grandmother smiled. “He told you; it is our family tree.”

She knew she was currently looking at the nuts of that tree, but she examined the page as it unfolded.

The name Elspeth was next to a peculiar icon, and the line joined into a weird nubbly branch that never spread out more than two children of varying sexes until it culminated with her. The oddest part was that the line joined consistently every four generations back into one strand.

“So, we are really inbred.”

Her grandmother sighed. “We are pulled to our own kind. We can’t help it.”

“Our own kind? You are really hopping that we have aliens in our blood.”

Her grandfather pointed to the icon next to Elspeth. “It isn’t any family crest on Earth. That only leaves one option that we can now consider.”

Ah, there it was. Because there were now actual aliens on Earth, they might be able to tell her where her family came from. Myra was betting it was some banal corner of a European country, because what else could it be?

The form was easy enough, but when one of the attendants beckoned her over, she was a little surprised. Myra followed him into a back office where a medical setup was waiting.

“With your permission, miss, I would like to take a DNA sample.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“You have the right to refuse, of course, but our scans indicated that the supposition of off-worlder in your DNA is possible.”

“Why do you need a DNA sample if you have already scanned me?”

“Confirmation. Many races are similar to yours or blended with others. A sample will gain us precise information.”

She nodded. “What do you need as a sample?”

“Blood and saliva as well as a tissue scraping from your wrist.”

She swallowed. “Right. The sooner we start, the sooner this will be over.”

He grinned and pressed a small icon to her wrist before swabbing her cheek. When he finished the cheek swab, he removed the icon and a small triangle of skin had been abraded.

The blood was a finger prick and three bright drops.

“That is it. We will be in touch.”

“So, you will let me know if anything odd pops up?” She bit her lip.

“We will be in touch.” He smiled and inclined his head.

Sighing, she left the medical room and walked back the way she had come. To sooth herself, she put her headphones in while in the hallway, and as the tunes rang in her ears, she calmed.

She breathed more easily, and her muscles relaxed. It was done. She couldn’t say no to her grandparents, so now, her obligation was over.

* * * *

Recruiter Norz looked at the results. “You are certain?”

“Yes, sir. All three samples confirm it. She is a Kameraet, of the Day clan.”

Norz stared at his assistant. “I thought they were all dead.”

“Apparently not, sir. This is a very strong and very pure genetic line, considering what she listed on her form.”

Norz shook his head and ran a hand over his scalp. “I suppose I have to inform them. Damn. I wish it were any other species. Why couldn’t it just have been a stray Dheman or Enjel?”

“Will they insist on landing, do you think?”

“To reclaim the last of
that
line? I think we will be lucky if we can have her launched from the moon base without a warship panicking the populace.”

Norz went to the long-range com while muttering to himself about genetic lotteries and hoping for luck.

His best bet was the Kameraet ambassador in the court of the Imperium, so that is where he placed the call.

Thirty minutes later, the connection was finalised and the Kameraet ambassador was facing Norz in a holographic display.

Norz inclined his head. “Apologies for disturbing you, Ambassador.”

“I am guessing that this will be worth my time, so proceed, Ontex.”

Norz kept his expression blank, as he had been trained to. “I have come across one of your people. Well, the direct descendant of one of your houses.”

The ambassador raised his brows. “Which family?”

“The Day family. She is a direct descendant of the Day clan. There is no doubt.”

The ambassador’s expression was shocked, to say the least. “You do know that this will throw my people into an uproar.”

“I do.”

“Do you have...wait...you said
she?
” His manner shifted from shocked to predatory.

Norz kept his wince to himself. Indeed, this was precisely what he had hoped would not happen.

“Correct. The descendant is a female.”

The ambassador narrowed his eyes. “How old?”

“She is twenty-six.”

The smile was bright. “I will contact Nimrah immediately. They will be in touch with you at this terminal number for the pickup of our new High Lady.”

Norz nodded. “Thank you, Ambassador.”

The man’s features blurred as the call was disconnected.

Norz sighed. The Kameraet had been master traders throughout the Imperium, but now, they were an organised gathering of highly paid assassins and spies that owned four sealed star systems and everything in them. Their obsession with bloodlines bordered on the frightening, and Norz worried for Myra’s safety and sense of freedom. If she was the last of her line, as they suspected, a line of males would be presented to her, and she would have to choose a lord quickly. If she didn’t make the move, they would feel free to coerce her and that would probably not sit well with her Terran sensibilities.

An hour later, the Kameraet had arranged to send a warship to pick up their newly found member. Norz had negotiated frantically to get them to agree to remain beyond the moon with their ship, and finally, the high lord acquiesced.

Norz had to deliver the woman to the moon base in three days’ time. He hoped that it was enough warning for her, but she had entered her DNA into their system and that system was cross-referenced with the Imperium’s scouting department. Once she offered those samples, she was doomed.

* * * *

Myra was sitting and watching a movie with her grandparents when a knock sounded at the door.

Her grandmother was irritated. She had watched the movie a dozen times, but it was nearing her favourite part. “Who the hell is that?”

Myra chuckled and got to her feet, heading for the door. When she opened it, the person standing on the other side was familiar to her by rumour only.

The small, silvery man in the precisely tailored suit smiled at her with shark-like teeth. “Myra Musgrave?”

She nodded. “I am.”

“My name is Recruiter Norz. I have some news for you. May I come in?”

Myra looked past him to the three vehicles in front of the house, all in sombre black, unremarkable in every way except for their quantity. “Please.”

The sitting room of the old Victorian house that her grandparents made their home was cosy and covered with images of family through the ages.

“Please have a seat.”

He nodded and paused. “Would you ask your grandparents to join us? This is information they have been looking for.”

Myra raised her eyebrows and headed to the living room, turning off the television and explaining. “The man from the Volunteer Program is here with news.”

Her grandparents got to their feet and followed her into the sitting room where Recruiter Norz was looking at the family photos.

“Recruiter Norz, this is my grandmother, Abilene Musgrave, and my grandfather, Albert Musgrave.”

Her grandparents extended their hands in turn and smiled hopefully at the alien in their midst. Everyone took a seat, and Recruiter Norz smiled brightly, not showing his teeth this time.

“Well, Myra came into our offices earlier today, and I have the results of the testing.”

To Myra’s surprise, it appeared that he didn’t want to speak but was forcing himself.

“It is my duty to notify you that you do indeed have an off-world species in your bloodline.”

Her grandfather beamed and her grandmother smiled. Myra watched the recruiter and noted something he wasn’t saying.

“They are called the Kameraet, and they are coming to collect Myra.” He blurted it all out in one statement.

Myra blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

Her grandmother scowled. “You can’t take her.”

“I am not taking her. The Kameraet are coming to take her, and if she is not on the lunar base, they will come to the surface and take her. That is not something that we want to happen.”

Myra cocked her head. “I thought we were a protectorate.”

“Terra is. As a descendant of the Day clan, you are not. You are considered a captured member of their society, and they are coming to retrieve you.”

Her grandparents looked at each other. Her grandfather said, “What about us?”

Recruiter Norz smiled slightly. “They are not interested in you. Your contribution to your bloodline is complete.”

Myra was getting a bad feeling about this. “What if I choose not to go?”

Norz sighed. “You do not have a choice. You are the last surviving member of the Day clan, and they will come to get you. They are, in fact, on their way, and it would be better if you were somewhere where they could retrieve you without any issue.”

She swallowed. “What if I don’t volunteer?”

“It is no longer a matter of volunteering. You have enough genetic proof to make you a non-human, and your people are coming to get you. They usually do so with methods that would not be appreciated by your governments, and so, I am asking you to please pack your bags. The laws of the Kameraet and their worlds now govern you. We need to return you to your people.”

Her grandparents were shocked.

Myra nodded and got to her feet. “Right. Fine. I will pack. Grandma, Grandpa, as soon as I know more about our family, I will let you know. Consider this a more expanded genealogical survey.”