Torq's Acceptance (Chaetdorian Mates Book 2) Read online

  Torq’s

  Forgiveness

  By E.M Reders

  Copyright

  All rights reserved by author

  Copyright©2016 by E.M Reders

  Cover Art by E.M Reders

  Published by E.M. Reders

  This is a work of fiction

  Corr’s Forgiveness is a work of fiction and all characters, events and dialogue found within this story are of the author’s imagination and not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to real persons, living or deceased, is purely coincidental.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Prologue

  Vampires are a myth, right? A story told to scare children - and the occasional adult - at night?

  Well, not exactly.

  Vampires are real, though they are not exactly what you think they are. Do they drink blood? Yes. Are they allergic to sunlight? Yes. Do they live forever? Well, no actually. But they do live for a very long time. But the reasons for these are not because they are the undead. They are, in fact, very much alive. They’re just not from this planet.

  You see many centuries ago, the planet Chaetdor was destroyed and the survivors of that planet set out on a mission to find themselves a new home. Earth was never part of the plan. A primitive world with little technology and a sun that was harmful to the Chaetdorian body. When there was a fault with the ship they had no choice but to land on the foreign planet and hope that they could fix the problem quickly, so they could continue on their journey. That did not happen. The fault was worse than they had first thought and had caused them to crash during landing, seriously damaging their vessel. With the lack of technology on earth at that time, they were stuck. They hid their craft and adapted with their new world in order to survive.

  There were just two problems. One, they were highly sensitive to the earth's sun, meaning that they could only venture out at night. And two, in order to maintain a humanoid appearance they needed to consume human blood. Stories of large, handsome, pale men with fangs soon spread, and the myth of the vampire was born.

  But now, it is time for them to leave…

  Chapter 1

  She'd done it again.

  She'd made him angry.

  Hadn't she learnt her mistake the last time?

  Never use his mug.

  Never give him any other but his mug.

  And finally, the most important rule of all... Never break his mug!

  His fist flying fast towards her, she braced herself for impact. She knew better than to put her hands up to defend herself; that would only lead to another beating.

  Pain exploded through her jaw and she knew it was broken. Then he hit her ribs and she knew they had suffered the same fate. These were all injuries she had sustained at his hand before.

  His fists kept coming, the pain never ending. Why wasn't he stopping? Blood was pouring from her lip, her nose, even her ear.

  This was it. This was the time he would kill her. He would never stop until she took her last breath, maybe not even then.

  Then the pain stopped. The screams of agony no longer needed as pleasure replaced the pain.

  What the Hell?

  Warm lips ran down from her neck, kissing and licking her flesh. Hands caressed her sensitive breasts, teasing her nipples with sharp tweaks and twists. When she felt a warm body settle between her thighs, she pushed up onto her elbows to get a better look at her mysterious lover.

  Eyes like a million supernovas, blazing red tattoos spiralling over his shoulders and down his arms. Who was he?

  "You are mine," the stranger growled, flashing his fangs.

  Alice woke gasping for breath.

  What was that? Did she eat too much cheese the night before? She always dreamed of him, of Frank. The nightmares had been a nightly occurrence since she’d awoken in the hospital after the beating that had almost taken her life. But an inhuman lover with fangs? No, that had never occurred before.

  Sitting up, she looked at the clock beside her bed. 4.30am. Too early to phone her friends. Not that she would tell them about her x-rated dream.

  But what a dream it was. If not for the fact she had sworn off all men for the rest of her life, she would happily dream of him every night. But she had sworn off men, and having dreams about strange, freaky ones - even if they were hot - was not what she needed right now.

  Climbing out of bed, she made her way to the small bathroom across the hall after checking that no one was around. She had been staying in a hostel since Frank's final beating, and while no men were allowed in the building, she was still paranoid when alone, especially at night.

  Jumping into the shower, she did her best to scrub away the memory of both her fear and excitement from the dreams.

  Afterwards, her flesh a little pink from her forceful scrubbing, she made her way back to her room to watch a DVD. Hopefully watching one of her favourite shows would help keep the exhaustion at bay. Well, keep her awake at least, as was always tired lately.

  She was just getting comfy, the Mrs Brown's Boys theme tune singing away when her phone began to ring.

  It was 5am, who would be calling her at this hour?

  One word... Katie.

  Answering the call to one of her best and closest friends, she asked, "What's he done now?" Or should that be whose he done now?

  Katie seemed to have bad luck with men too.

  Actually, all of her friends did. Katie's most recent boyfriend was just like all the rest she had been with. A liar. A bully. Controlling. And, of course, a cheat. He didn't like how close Katie was to her friends and would regularly take her phone away from her to stop them from contacting her. Alice was surprised that Katie was able to do so now.

  "It's over. I'm done with the bastard."

  "Really?" She’d said that before.

  "Oh yes. He's been taking my savings and spending it on some tart he's been knocking off," Katie stormed, "so I threw him out and changed the locks. He's not getting back in here."

  Alice was relieved. She had never liked Paul, none of them had.

  "So, I was thinking..." Never a good thing. "We should all go out and celebrate my newly gained freedom."

  "I'm not sure, Katie. I don't feel..."

  "No. Don't you dare. Every time we plan to get together lately, you back out. You have to move on. You have to re-join the world, Alice. A life hidden away in the shadows is not a life at all."

  But it was safe, free of pain and suffering. Or at least, it was supposed to be, but if anything, she was still in pain, still suffering. And on top of all that, she was lonely.

  "When are you thinking about doing this?" she asked reluctantly.

  "Next Wednesday. It's not a main night so it shouldn't be too busy.”

  At hearing the day she planned, a sudden sense of dread curled in Alice's stomach, though, she didn't know why.

  She had always been like this, had always gotten a sick sense whenever something bad was going to happen. She called it her danger radar. It didn’t tend to work for herself and her love life, but whenever her friends were in danger, she knew about it. Not that any of them listened when she warned them.

  "I'm not sure Wednesday is such a great choice," she said, hoping her friend would heed her warning… but, sadly not.

  "Well that's the night we're doing it, so you better be there. Anyways, got to call the others now. Talk to you later. Bye." The line went dead.

  Sighing hea
vily, Alice tried to relax and watch her program, but the dread in her heart just wouldn't go away. Something bad was going to befall her friends if they went out of that night. She knew it. The question was would she be with them when it did?

  Chapter 2

  It was always the same. Same routine, day in, day out.

  Hand out orders. Do his patrol. Hit the workout room. Meet with Teks. Rest.

  After centuries of it, Torq was bored.

  He was a Chaetdorian and Chaer, the leader of his tribe. His life was meant to be spent protecting his brothers while they searched for their mates. Then, once all were mated and they returned home, fighting in wars to protect their planet from invasions.

  But that wasn't possible now.

  Their planet was gone, destroyed, and they were stuck, stranded upon the Earth, mateless.

  Not that Torq was looking for a mate. He didn't deserve one.

  The Chaetdorian race were all male and made up of three tribes. Warriors, Technos and Slayers. Each tribe could be identified by the tribal markings that covered the top half of their bodies. The Warriors had black. Technos had silver. And Slayers had red. Red like the blood they spilt.

  A killer, that was what being a Slayer meant. Torq was born to kill and he did it easily, with little if no remorse. A male like that did not deserve the precious gift of a mate. At least, that was Torq's opinion.

  After handing over his patrol to one of his tribe, Torq made his way through the tunnels back to the ship. After they had crashed upon the Earth many centuries ago, they’d built this bunker and maze of tunnels to hide in while the Technos did everything they could to repair ship. And it had worked, mostly. A few stray humans had found their way down here a time or two, but they had swiftly been dealt with.

  Torq was used to exiting the tunnels he patrolled to find the Technos working on everything but the ship as humankind was not advanced enough to have the things they needed to repair it, but today was different. There was so much activity that Torq didn't know where to look.

  Both Technos and Warriors were running about... packing?

  No, he would not get his hopes up. But still?

  Racing forward, he decided to skip his daily workout and seek out Teks instantly.

  He found him on the command deck, his eyes glued to the star charts before him as he relayed orders to the males gathered around him.

  "Torq, just in time," his commander and friend said when he noticed his approach.

  "In time for what? What's going on?"

  "We're leaving," a warrior stated, smile wide.

  "For real?" So many times they'd thought they had been close to finishing the ship and leaving this planet, and every time they had been left disappointed.

  "Yes. Hex just called up from the engine deck with the news. The ship is repaired and ready to blast off this planet. Now comes the real work."

  Torq listened closely as Teks explained exactly what his job would be in preparation for their departure, and he wasn't best pleased.

  "So let me this straight," he said once only he and Teks remained. "You want me and my males to go to a civilian location to round up a bunch of humans that will be joining us on our journey, offering their blood for consumption so our males on the surface will not suffer side effects from blood withdrawal?"

  The Chaetdorian race had a built in camouflage system. They could change their appearance to blend in by ingesting the blood of another species. That was how they had stayed hidden so well among the humans for so long. Problem being, it appeared that after centuries of consuming human blood, they found it could not just be given up. The males consuming it now had to be weaned off if they ever wanted to return to their true Chaetdorian form and avoid any painful side effects.

  Luckily for Torq, he wasn't one of them. Protecting the ship all this time meant that he had never once had to ingest human blood.

  "Exactly."

  Fuck! "When's the pickup?"

  "In one earth moon. The location we have selected, while in a civilian area, is well known for its crime, so any individuals you may meet will not be missed."

  Meaning that if anyone other than the humans he was being sent to collect saw him or any of his males it would be a clean kill with no consequences.

  Not that he was particularly bothered. If a mess was made he cleaned it up, period.

  "I want us off planet an earth moon after pickup. No delays. So please, don't fuck this up."

  What was there to fuck up? Get the humans. Come back. Simple.

  Right?

  Chapter 3

  There is nothing more sobering than looking down the street and seeing your friend's violent and controlling ex-boyfriend standing only forty meters away, his face a mask of hate and anger.

  Alice had known going out with the girls had been a bad idea, she'd sensed it. Now something big and potentially dangerous was going to happen. But these were her friends, women that had been by her side through everything, even when they’d had their own problems to deal with.

  Now, looking into the eyes of a madman - or Eric, Nora's obsessed ex as he was more wildly known - Alice momentarily regretted her decision. She should have stayed at home.

  "What do we do?" she cried, dread filling her as Eric took a step towards them.

  "Run!" Nora called out.

  As one they turned and bolted across the road, narrowly avoiding being hit by numerous vehicles. Honks and yells followed them down the street. Alice's legs were burning, tiring. She wasn't as fit as the rest of her friends. She had lost weight over the past few months and barely slept. She knew she should take better care of herself, but... well, it was hard to care when the one you thought loved you said you were nothing, that the world would be a better place without you in it.

  Sensing her struggle, Hannah grabbed a hold of her hand, pulling her along behind her.

  "The police station is just a few blocks away," Hannah gasped. "If we cut through the alley off James Street, we'll get there faster."

  The alley that Hannah was talking about was well known for its drug deals and gang-related fights. That was the last place Alice wanted to go, but with Eric in fast pursuit, it didn't look like they had much of a choice.

  "I think he's gone," Nora gasped breathlessly a minute later, coming to a stop once they had all entered the alley.

  "Why didn't you tell us he was back?" Jessie demanded, leaning against the wall, trying to catch her breath.

  "It was just a few phone calls and text messages."

  "Just? You have a restraining order against him, Nora. He shouldn't even be doing that, never mind chasing us down a fucking street in the middle of the night. Why didn't you call the police?"

  "I did. They didn't seem to care."

  They never did. Alice had learnt long ago that calling the police for help changed nothing, especially when your boyfriend had deep pockets and friends in the force.

  As Nora moved back to the entrance of the alley, a strange sense of danger came over Alice. Something was going to happen, something bad. Life-altering.

  She couldn't move; fear and dread had overtaken her entire body. Nora said something but Alice didn't hear what. All she could hear was the pounding of her heart against her chest.

  No, that wasn't the pounding of her heart... it was the sound of fast approaching, heavy feet.

  A scream forced its way out of her throat as an arm came around her neck and yanked her back, and she caught a flash of metal out of the corner of her eye.

  "Think again," Eric sneered.

  This could not be happening, not again. Was she some sort of beacon for violent men? Eric could have grabbed anyone of them, but he had gone for her.

  Suddenly something large fell out of the sky. Something large, muscled, tattooed, handsome, down right sexy... and familiar.

  It was him. The being from her dreams. The man that wasn't a man.

  Well, not human at least.

  How was that even possible?

  There was on
e thing different about him, though. Where in her dreams his eyes had been full of passion, desire, here they were filled with rage.

  "Let go of her now or I will remove your arm myself," he growled, the deep tone of his voice sending a shiver of need down her spine.

  Her eyes widened in fright at her reaction. What was wrong with her? Men were nothing but trouble, danger. All they ever did was hurt her... or in the case of her last boyfriend, try to kill her.

  "I don't think so, freak!" Eric snapped back, having overcome his shock.

  "So be it."

  Moving faster than humanly possible, the man dived forwards. Alice opened her mouth to scream but there was no need. One second she was pinned tightly to Eric, his arm around her neck, a knife by her side, and the next she was leaning against the wall a few feet away… unharmed.

  Screams of pain rang out through the alley as blood splashed upon the floor, along with what had once been Eric's arm.

  At the sight of blood, of violence, images of the past flashed through her mind. Pain. Blood. Tears. It was a never ending circle that she couldn't escape.

  "I warned you... now you die."

  Taking the bastard by the head, Torq twisted, snapping his neck quickly. He would have loved to see the fucker suffer, but that was not the Slayer way.

  Silence descended over the human females as he gazed upon them. All seemed unharmed, but what about...

  Eyes widening, nostrils flaring, Torq took in the frightened human that had been held captive by the now dead human male. She was huddled on the floor staring at him, face white with fear, tears streaming down her cheeks.

  She was beautiful… and she was his.

  There was no doubt about it in his mind that the human female before him was his mate. A mate which he did not deserve. A killer such as he could never be worthy of such a beautiful, fragile creature. And she was fragile. There was pain in her eyes, in her soul. Someone had hurt his mate deeply, critically. The last thing she needed in her life was him.

  Even with the decision made to walk away and save his mate from himself, he still found himself walking towards her.