Mastered_A Dark Sci-Fi Reverse Harem Romance Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Epilogue

  Additional Books in the Vakarran Captives Series

  More Stormy Night Books by Sara Fields

  Sara Fields Links

  Mastered

  By

  Sara Fields

  Copyright © 2018 by Stormy Night Publications and Sara Fields

  Copyright © 2018 by Stormy Night Publications and Sara Fields

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Published by Stormy Night Publications and Design, LLC.

  www.StormyNightPublications.com

  Fields, Sara

  Mastered

  Cover Design by Korey Mae Johnson

  Images by Dreamstime/Lebedevromanolegovich, Dreamstime/Wisky, Dreamstime/Petrjoura, Dreamstime/Yekophotostudio, Dreamstime/Kevin Carden

  This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults.

  Chapter One

  Alaina

  This morning, we’d been lucky. A few of us had captured a wandering goat in the woods and then, our group of hunters had pursued and killed a boar. We were going to eat like kings tonight, but it still felt hollow. Even with fresh milk and hearty meat, it wasn’t as it should be. My sister, Kira, wasn’t here. I missed her more than anything.

  It had been more than a week since I last saw Kira. She was our leader, the head of our motley crew of rebel, refugee humans. She’d always been the one I looked to every day since that fateful hour when the aliens had arrived.

  The last time we had talked, she’d thought the Vakarrans were coming toward our camp. She’d gone off to monitor the intruders and now, she hadn’t returned.

  She’d gone off on her own several times, but for some reason, this time was different. It felt unusual.

  With each passing day, I was becoming more and more worried for her. My other sisters, Danika and Kaela, didn’t say anything, but they knew. We all knew. She’d been taken by the Vakarrans. None of us wanted to admit it, but we all were afraid for her.

  The vibe around camp was sad, depressed, unsure. Her capture had rattled every single one of us. She’d been our leader. The one who got us all through the dark times. We all knew it was a terrible blow. If Kira could get captured, anyone could.

  I tried to be strong though. I had to be. Now the responsibility had fallen to me. I had to lead us now. It was all up to me.

  The prospect was daunting. It was so much easier when I had a confidant. I sighed. Fucking aliens. I wish they’d never discovered Earth in the first place, gone somewhere else in space instead.

  Our group of humans was small. It was about fifty people, mostly women, but a few men as well. Since moving into the cave system deep in the forest, we felt safer, more content in our new home, but we were still wary of the aliens and were ever on the defensive just the same.

  The caverns ran deep, snaked beneath the forest for miles. It was dark, but plenty of natural slats and holes in the rock ceiling acted as natural skylights. Most important, they felt safe. I felt safe. I wished Kira would come back, so she could see how we were thriving here. She’d have been proud of us.

  I knew better though. I doubted she was even on Earth anymore, and if she was, she was probably in the female training camps, where they forced women to submit to their Vakarran masters. I shivered at the thought.

  Stupid fucking Vakarrans. Waste of space alien bastards.

  “Alaina, you’re too quiet this afternoon,” Kaela said softly, the look on her face one of concern. She was younger than me, but she always felt like an old soul trapped in a younger body. Extremely perceptive and intelligent, she always tried to make the best of every situation.

  “I know. I’m sorry. I’m just thinking about Kira and wondering if she’s alright. If they’re hurting her,” I whispered, blinking away tears from my eyes. Out of the four of us, Kira and I had been the closest. She trusted me with information that she wouldn’t tell Kaela and Danika. I was her second in command, her confidant.

  And now she was gone.

  I wanted to crumple into a thousand little pieces and cry my heart out, but I pushed those emotions as far away as I could.

  Kaela stared back at me, holding a long narrow branch in her hands. Together, we were building a large outdoor enclosure for the new goat. It was slow, sweaty work, but we’d put together a third of it so far. It was starting to look promising, albeit very primitive. But considering what resources we had, it was very good.

  “She knew the risks, Alaina. We all do. Even just living on our own here, we risk discovery every minute. One day, they might come to take us all,” she whispered.

  “You’re too wise for your years,” I sighed, smiling gently, sniffing away my tears.

  “I hope she’s okay too,” Kaela said. “I hope whoever took her will take care of her, that they don’t hurt her, beat her, or use her like they say the Vakarrans do. I love her, and I hope I get to see her again one day, alive.”

  “I do too,” I said, dropping my head. She sighed heavily, almost like she didn’t want to say the words she needed to say.

  “We have to look forward though, instead of looking to the past. I know that seems harsh, but the world we live in demands this. There’s nothing we can do. We aren’t as strong as the Vakarrans. We have no means to fight back, so we just have to survive,” Kaela said, looking off into the distance. She turned back toward me and a single tear rolled down her cheek before she angrily wiped it away.

  “One day, we’ll be able to fight back,” I muttered gruffly, and she nodded in agreement.

  “We will. We’ll rescue her someday. Kira is strong. She knows how to survive. She’ll be ready when we are. I know it,” Kaela replied.

  I looked away, processing her words.

  For some time, we were quiet, diligently working on the enclosure together. I saw Danika in the entrance of the cave, working toward building a fire, together with Kaze, a man who lived in the camp with us. She smiled crookedly at him and stuck out her tongue. I giggled softly.

  “Kaela,” I whispered. “Look, Danika and Kaze are over there, all alone together…”

  She laughed.

  “Those two lovebirds at it again? I rather think she likes pushing him,” she said.

  I watched Danika goad Kaze. She continued whatever she was saying to him, placing her hands on her hips and cocking her head. His frown deepened, but his eyes sparkled.

  I watched as Kaze cocked his head, scolding her for something, but I couldn’t hear what. She continued to talk at him and he stood up, his tall stature imposing over her shorter frame. She took a step back before he grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward him. She stilled in his arms before he pulled her in for a long, smoldering kiss.

  When he finally pulled away, he landed two hard swats to either side of her ass and smirked as he whispered something in her ear. Her face turned wicked red as she reached back, but she was smiling and giggling with him all the same.

  Kaela laughed softly a
nd turned away, getting back to work, so I followed suit.

  They were meant to be, those two. I grinned and started the process of digging again.

  We worked for a while longer before either of us said anything.

  “I found a book yesterday. A real one,” Kaela interrupted.

  “I thought they stopped making those, like, six hundred years ago,” I said skeptically. I’d hadn’t seen one in a long time, outside of a museum some years ago anyway.

  “I did too. It was weird. We found an old house deep in the woods. It was kind of like a tree fort of some kind, maybe someone who wanted to live off the grid or something way back when. They had some books on a shelf, including some survival ones,” she explained, and I looked up with interest. “One of them was about crops and agriculture. I thought it might be useful to read for my garden. It’s not growing as well as I hoped. I did get one carrot so far though,” she murmured, her pride diminishing by the second. We’d mainly been living off the land all our lives, foraging for natural grown berries and the like, so this new gardening venture was going rather poorly for us so far.

  “I hope it helps,” I replied with a small smile. “A carrot is a nice start, anyway.”

  It was all we could do. Focus on moving on, surviving together and protecting each other from the enemy.

  I stared up into the sky, watching the leaves on the trees sway back and forth in the wind. My sister was out there somewhere, maybe staring up at the same sky, maybe not, but I’d find her one day. I’d be the one to rescue her this time, rather than the other way around. I would bet my life on it.

  Tonight, we were going to feast on boar. Maybe we could make some bacon too. My mouth watered at the prospect.

  Chapter Two

  Alaina

  The next week passed by excruciatingly slowly, and still with not a single sign of Kira. I thought about her fate every waking moment.

  Kaela and I had finished building the goat enclosure and now the goat, aptly named Sweetie after her need to nuzzle everyone who walked by, was happy there. She was surprisingly tame and that made the process of milking her easier because she just let us try anything, as long as someone was scratching her head at the same time.

  Which was good, because it took us an entire week to figure out how the milking process worked.

  The most we had to go on were ancient images, and that was it.

  Kaela was the one who finally figured out how to milk Sweetie. That night, we only had a small cup of milk, but everyone passed it around and took a small sip. It had been freaking delicious, even if it had been warm. I looked forward to the day when we could add a spoonful to a rare cup of coffee in the morning.

  The mood had been light and carefree that day.

  I wasn’t able to focus on the goat and the milk though. It seemed so trivial to me, in that moment. What mattered to me the most was my sister, Kira.

  Kira’s disappearance had been eating me away from the inside. I needed to know what happened to her. She deserved more than becoming a Vakarran breeder. I was afraid for her, furious for her and so incredibly sad. I was becoming more and more angry with each passing day. I hated that the Vakarrans had taken my sister and I wanted to find out what had happened to her. I needed to find her. What if she needed me? What if she was just hurt? Lying in the woods somewhere waiting for me to come save her? I bit my lip and looked out into the forest, beyond our safety net of the branches and leaves and brush.

  Something occurred to me then. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it sooner.

  Kira had safeguards in place out there. She had cameras. One of us needed to check on them. I’d gone with her once, checked into the ancient technology she had stored there. I’d never run them myself, but it couldn’t be that hard, right? I could figure the rest out on my own. I could start there, hack into her camera network to see what happened, if they picked up her capture, to gather clues to where she was now. It could work.

  I ran my hand down my face. Why the fuck hadn’t I thought of that before? Stupid. She deserved more than this. She’d been a force to be reckoned with. In her honor, so would I.

  I decided then. I was going to find out what happened to her.

  I went to find Kaela. I knew she’d be in her garden. I needed to talk this out with her. Now that we had traveled a fair distance to the caves, the journey to one of Kira’s command stations would be much farther away. I’d have to go away for a few days at a time to analyze the footage, to see if there was any data regarding Kira’s whereabouts.

  She’d likely think it was a bad idea, but I felt like I didn’t have any choice. I had to do this, for Kira’s sake. For my own sanity.

  The sun was high overhead, warm and inviting as I walked through the woods toward the plot of land she was working. When I saw her, I stopped, admiring the way the sunlight made her reddish-brown hair shine like strands of fire. I took a deep breath. She’d be okay without me for a few days. I knew it. She was the sort of quiet strength that all of us loved.

  The leaves ruffled overhead, and she looked up, catching sight of me as she did so.

  “Alaina,” she exclaimed, smiling. Her eyes crinkled with joy at seeing me and I couldn’t help but grin in return, her good mood contagious.

  I walked over and sat beside her in the dirt, laughing at seeing some smeared across her nose.

  “You’re filthy,” I said, trying to wipe off the dirt off her face with my thumb, only I just seemed to make it worse. I shook my head, chuckling at her expense.

  “Yeah, I know,” she giggled. “I’ll bathe in the spring water lake later.”

  I knew which one she meant. Deep in the caves, we’d discovered a small pond. A hot spring fed into it, and it felt like a warm bath every time you stepped into it. It was wonderful after a long day of work.

  “You didn’t come to me to discuss bath time though,” she frowned, studying my face. Always the perceptive one, my sister Kaela.

  “No, I didn’t,” I admitted, turning my eyes to the ground.

  “What did you want to talk about then?” she asked cautiously, but she probably already knew what I was going to say. I tensed a little, preparing myself to tell her what I had planned.

  “I need to find out what happened to Kira. I’m going to travel to her last known location and inspect her camera footage and anything relevant to the area. If there is any way I can find out what happened to her and if there is even the slimmest chance I can help rescue her, I have to do it. It keeps me up at night and I can’t stop thinking about it during daylight. I have to know,” I explained in a single breath, nervous as to how she was going to respond.

  She watched me closely, her green eyes sparkling with understanding and acceptance, almost as if she’d known I’d go eventually. She sighed.

  “I knew it was only a matter of time,” she whispered, wiping her hands free of dirt and mud. She sat back on her heels. “You should take someone with you though.”

  “I’ll move faster on my own. I don’t want to put anyone else at risk. It’s too dangerous,” I replied softly.

  “If you mean that, at least let Dr. Lily insert one of the last few GPS trackers we have left,” she suggested.

  Dr. Lily was an older woman in her early fifties who had escaped with her younger daughter, Maddie, who was around my age. She’d been able to steal some medical supplies from a nearby abandoned medical enhancement center periodically over the years, including a set of military grade GPS trackers. All it took was a small insertion cartridge that would implant a tracker the size of a grain of rice under your skin, activating it with a chemical compound. As far as we could tell, the tracker never died and with its corresponding power bank, a small handheld unit, when powered on, would show a hologram image of the area where the tracker was live, including a set of coordinates that would lead us straight to it and whoever it was in.

  If I was going to go in alone, it would be a good idea to get one. We’d never actually used one of them before, so ma
ybe now was a better time than never to test them out.

  “I’ll do that,” I whispered, taking a deep breath.

  “When will you go?”

  “In the morning. At first light,” I answered.

  She looked sad for a moment, and then nodded. I paused and then lifted my chin.

  “Will you take over my duties, be the leader for a little while? Watch over everyone while I’m gone, until I return?” I asked gently. I knew her though. She was already ready for it before I asked.

  “Yes. I expected as much. I’ll ask Kaze to keep a closer eye on Danika. Do your best to find out what you can and then come straight back to us. I’ll keep the hunting and foraging groups on schedule. We should begin preparing for the winter season. The temperature at night drops pretty low in the caves, especially if it rains,” she answered, picking up a seed and placing it in a hole she made in the dirt. I don’t know why I was worried. She’d make a fine leader, at least temporarily. I had every intention of coming back. “When you return, you and I must look over our stocks and see what we need to forage and send out teams to find in the nearby abandoned grocery stores,” she added.

  “Right. We’ll need to harvest some extra furs; that I know already. We could use some extra deer pelts in the caves since it’ll probably be a little colder in there. We got lucky finding that dead bear that one time. Maybe we can increase our range and steal some blankets from some nearby houses or apartments,” I replied.

  “Anyway, don’t worry about me. I’ll take over in your place temporarily, only till you get back. Don’t worry about me,” Kaela reassured me, her expression genuine. She meant every word and I loved her for it.

  I nodded, taking a deep, shaky breath.

  “So, scoot. Go get that tracker.” She smirked, “Else, I’ll send Kaze to smack your ass too.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh as I ran off in search of our resident doctor. I found her deeper in the caves just as I expected, steeping some leaves in a pot of tea. When I explained what I needed, she agreed without hesitation. She understood my need to find my sister and trusted me as a leader. I was thankful for that.