The Breeding Lands (An Epic Erotic Fantasy Novel) (6 page)

Usually, the scouts regarded the women in an almost business-like manner, but this appraisal felt sexual to Leila. Not that she had much, or any, experience in that department. Unsure of how to proceed, Leila slipped her books back in her bag.

“Thank you,” she said slowly, and before she could turn to go back to class, the scout spoke.

“Wait.” He slipped his hand in the pouch around his neck, and Leila felt a thrill of excitement unlike anything she had ever known. The man pulled his hand out and a dazzling blue bracelet sat in his palm.

Leila’s heart leapt with joy, and the scout motioned for her to put her hand out. Shaking, she extended her arm, and felt the blue bracelet glide over her skin. A small electric current passed, and she knew that was the magic taking effect. The bracelet would be impossible to remove now, and Leila was now marked as a selected female. The bracelet would stay securely around her wrist until it melted back into the blue sands from which it came.

Her head dizzy with excitement and glee, she thanked the scout and danced off to class. A million thoughts raced through her mind. She had been given a new life. In four weeks’ time, she would find herself on the blue sands of the Breeding Lands, where she would meet her future mate. She wondered if more than one shifter would want her? Would there be a battle for her? Her mind raced to Elisa and Katherine. Would she find them again? Would she get to live in the abundant sunshine of the Southern Lowlands with the Sabre Pride?

People nearby congratulated her as she took her seat, and she smiled in response, too caught up in her own happy thoughts to pay much attention. The day flew by, and it wasn’t until the end of the school day, when the sun was just starting to set, that she remembered Gemma. Leila wondered if Gemma had been selected, and for Gemma’s own sake, she hoped that she hadn’t. Gemma’s pregnancy would surely be discovered if she showed up to the Breeding Lands with a round belly.

A loud scream shattered Leila’s thoughts. Her heart began to pound and she pushed through the throngs of people, afraid of what she would find.

“No! Please!” someone sobbed, and Leila recognized the voice instantly.

“Gemma!” she screamed, fighting through the crowd that was now gathering by the doors.

She burst through the people, and saw Gemma just outside the school building, kneeling in the dirty street with the three visiting scouts surrounding her. Gemma was sobbing, and when Leila looked more closely, she noticed that Gemma’s baggy shirt had been ripped above her waist, clearly showing her swelling stomach.

“No!” Leila screamed, and she tried to run forward, but two classmates caught her.

“You can’t,” the one whispered, and Leila looked over to see Adam, a boy that she had grown up with. Leila fought against Adam and the other boy, but they held her tightly. The students were now murmuring among themselves, some panicked and others in complete shock of Gemma’s pregnancy.

“The law states that no human female is to engage in sexual relations until they are of nineteen years of age and have been passed by the Mating Ritual scouts!” one of the scouts boomed.

Leila buried her face in Adam’s shoulder, afraid to watch. Gemma cried quietly in the street, holding her hands protectively over her belly.

“This female has scorned our laws! Clearly, her own desires are more important than the law that protects you humans from our lustful men! Would you rather our tribes run free among you, taking whatever women they wish?” The crowd was silent now, and people on the street had stopped to watch. The scout continued. “Would you want our men raping your women? It would be chaos! Children and wives bearing our shifter offspring because you had no protection from us?”

Some of the girls shrank back in fear at the proposed idea of what would happen, and Gemma cried louder still.

“Let us remind you of our laws! Take this foolish human as a reminder of the protection we give you! We do not ask for all of your women! Only a select few each year! And yet, some of you are greedy!” There was a loud smack, and Leila looked up to see Gemma cradling her face. “Some of you think you are above the law!” Leila watched in horror as the scout in charge kicked Gemma.

Leila cried out, burying her head in Adam’s chest. Clearly, the one scout was running the show, and the other two scouts, including the one who had selected Leila, were merely standing in as back up. Neither looked entirely pleased with the situation, but their faces remained focused and blank. Gemma was on her hands and knees, her eyes boring into Leila.

“I’m sorry,” Gemma mouthed, and Leila’s eyes spilled with hot tears.

“I love you,” Leila mouthed back.

“Don’t look,” Adam instructed, and Leila did as she was told, not wanting to have her last memories of Gemma destroyed any more than they already were.

With her face pressed into Adam’s chest, Leila heard Gemma last shriek, followed by a sickening thud. People gasped and cried out, and Leila knew that Gemma’s was gone. Her knees buckled, and Adam caught her, pulling her into him.

“Gemma, Gemma, Gemma,” she sobbed softly, and Adam rubbed her back to console her. She heard the students around her crying softly as the crowd began to break up.

“You can look now,” Adam said quietly, “she’s gone.”

Leila sniffed, and pulled back to look at the street. It was deserted now. The scouts and Gemma’s body were gone. The only thing of Gemma that remained was a bright red circle of blood on the pavement. Feeling as if she were one hundred years old, Leila walked down the steps and began to make her way home.

All of the excitement and happiness she had felt earlier had left her, leaving her shredded and broken. She wanted out of North Point more than ever. She wanted to put this awful life behind her. She steeled herself for the final four weeks of her miserable existence in North Point as she fingered the shiny blue bracelet around her wrist—her ticket to a new life.

* * * * *

CHAPTER FIVE

Violet

* * * * *

“My turn now!” Violet sang, swooping in and scooping her new nephew up out of her mother’s arms. Cooing softly, she brought Anthony close to her chest, rocking him gently. The child stared up at her face, his eyes focusing on her features, his squishy face twisting into a grin.

“He crosses his eyes a lot,” her sister-in-law Blythe stated, shaking her head in amusement.

“So did Violet and Marcus,” Violet’s mother said, lovingly watching her new grandson.

Anthony screwed up his face and let out a long, angry cry.

“Shhhh. Don’t cry,” Violet murmured, “I just picked you up.”

Anthony continued to cry and Blythe gave her an apologetic look. “Lunch time.”

Violet sighed good-naturedly and handed Anthony over to Blythe, who disappeared from the room. Sabrina was sitting on the floor, quietly drawing a picture. Violet’s brother Marcus went over and ruffled her hair.

“Do you like your new baby brother?” Marcus teased.

“Yes, Daddy!” Sabrina chirped, flashing him a big smile.

Violet curled up on the couch and pulled her legs underneath her. She watched Marcus and three-year old Sabrina talk about Anthony and dreamed of when she would finally have babies of her own. Sensing Violet’s thoughts, her mother sat down next to her and patted her leg.

“It will be your turn soon,” she said softly.

“I know. I just don’t want to wait any longer,” Violet pouted.

Her mother nodded. “I remember that feeling. But soon all the women will be selected, and then you will be free to find a husband and start your family.”

Violet knew her mother was right, but she was impatient. Ever since she was a little girl, Violet had wanted to be a mother. She wasn’t interested in scouts, careers or adventurous lives with tribes. She only wanted to have a family.

Unlike other parts of the Eastern Highlands where large numbers of women were selected for the Mating Ritual, scouts rarely visited Violet’s province. In fact, the scouts hadn’t visited Violet’s home in five years. The only person Violet knew who had been selected for the Mating Ritual had been one of the daughters of a faraway neighbor, and even that had been years ago.

Violet and her family lived on a secluded moor, and their closest neighbors were a few miles away. It was quiet and peaceful, with lush green hills for as far as the eye could see. Far down the steep sloping hills sat the community store that people visited from miles around. Violet couldn’t imagine what it would be like to live in a town or, stranger yet, a city. She was used to keeping company with her family, and seeing their limited neighbors every few weeks or so. In fact, that very afternoon she and her father were traveling to one of the neighbor’s houses to trade eggs and dairy for meat.

The neighbors had a son who was Violet’s age, and Violet found him very handsome. Violet knew that her parents were hoping to pair her up with the son once she turned nineteen the following year. That was part of the reason her father was bringing her along for the trade. He wanted to feel out the family and see if the son was keen for Violet too.

Violet’s brother Marcus and his wife Blythe had been married in much the same way. Blythe’s family lived by the community store, and Marcus would see her every time the family traveled there. Marcus and Blythe spent time together, and once Blythe turned nineteen, they were married. Four years later, they had two beautiful children and lived in a house nearby.

Realizing that she would need to get ready for the trip to the neighbors’, Violet went upstairs to her room and changed into something more appropriate for traveling. Her father was attaching the carriage to the horse, and she wanted to help. She slipped into a pair of tan pants and boots, and picked out one of her nicer tops, a lavender blouse with embroidered flowers along the collar. She pulled her long dark hair into a ponytail and took a quick glimpse in the mirror.

Violet supposed she was pretty, but she didn’t have anyone to compare herself to. There was no school anywhere near Violet, so she was schooled at home. Everyone Violet knew was a brunette like herself. Violet’s hair was a deep, dark hazelnut shade that hung in waves down to the middle of her back. Violet’s most striking feature, however, were her eyes. They were a stunning shade of violet, which is where her name had come from.

“Violet!” her father called from downstairs, and Violet bounded down the steps. Her father was dressed for travel also, and Violet went to hug her brother and kiss Sabrina.

“Bye-bye Aunt Violet!” Sabrina sang, hugging her tightly.

“Tell Blythe I said good bye and kiss Anthony for me,” Violet directed Marcus, kissing him on the cheek.

“Of course Sis,” he said, hugging Violet. “We’ll be back for dinner in a few days, and I need to help Father with the animals.”

Violet waved goodbye to her mother and climbed into the carriage with her father. She was surprised to see that the carriage was already filled with the goods they were taking. “You packed everything quickly,” she commented.

Her father laughed, “Well, we are going to see your potential husband, right?” he teased. Violet laughed nervously. While she and the neighbor, Bryan, were friendly, it was still awkward between them.

“You do like him, yes?” her father asked.

“Yes,” Violet squeaked, embarrassed as she recalled Bryan’s dark hair and dark eyes that always seemed to be twinkling with a secret.

The trip to the neighbors’ house took roughly an hour, and Violet enjoyed the beautiful landscape that she never tired of. She wondered what it would be like to live in other parts of Nihilo Terra. She knew that there was so much of the Eastern Highlands that she had never seen, and she couldn’t even begin to imagine the regions of the tribes.

Her mother and father had told her the story of the tribes, how they had lived on Lacertine long before the humans had arrived. And before the tribes, there was another species called the Dragon Lords who, legend claimed, lived on another continent after being banished by the tribes.

Violet had seen pictures during her schooling of the other regions. Dark, moonlit forests that never saw the light of day, perpetually shrouded in night. Beautiful, colorful mountains with multicolored trees and rivers. Hot, dry, grassy lowlands baking under a constant sun. Violet’s small corner of the world was virtually untouched by the tribes. Long before Violet was born, the tribes had stopped sending scouts to the area because it had been a waste of resources. Every few years or so, a scout would pass through, though rarely selecting a girl of eligible age.