Tau Read online

  Copyright © 2019 by Enid Titan

  ISBN: 9781075374647

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover design by Denia Design.

  www.deniadesign.com

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  Created with Vellum

  Tau

  A Sci-Fi Alien Romance Novel

  Enid Titan

  Illustrated by

  Denia Design

  Enid Titan Sci-Fi Romance

  Enid Titan Library

  Virgin Earthling (Short Story)

  Devor (Book I)

  Tau (👈You Are Here)

  Aries (Coming Soon)

  Description

  With scaly green skin, firm ridges, a thick firm tail and a larger than life you-know-what, the trader Damir will have me any way chooses…

  Stolen from my home.

  Trapped in subterranean tunnels…

  Ogled at by giant alien reptiles…

  My only hope at escape is the trader Damir — my buyer.

  I can't let myself fall under the trader’s spell…

  I shouldn’t fantasize about his long black hair and twisted horns.

  His lime-green eyes…

  His forceful lips…

  Or the immense equipment dangling between his legs.

  I have to be sensible — I have to escape.

  Damir won’t let me out of his clutches without a fight.

  And even if I did escape, I'd have no way to get back to Earth.

  Enid Titan's sophomore novel is Book 2 in The Alpha Quadrant Series. This is a NO cliffhanger, guaranteed HEA series of alien science fiction romance standalone novels. At 60,000+ words, this satisfying ultra-steamy read will leave you desperate for more. This full-length sci-fi/fantasy novel will satisfy your deepest, darkest lust. Take a peek inside and see for yourself...

  Contents

  Part I

  1. The Creature

  2. Linguistics Logistics

  3. Encounter

  4. Touched

  5. First Flight

  6. My Son

  7. Baneb’s Ship

  Part II

  8. Corrin & Xantha

  9. Something Blue

  10. Prison

  11. Sekhmet-delta

  12. Rendezvous

  Part III

  13. Xanflorae

  14. Cpt. Damir

  15. Birth

  16. Collision Course

  17. Duchess

  18. Reptile Babies

  19. Finale

  FREE SHORT STORY

  An Invitation

  About the Author

  ENID TITAN MERCH

  Part 1

  1

  The Creature

  DAMIR UL’HAD

  The onyx bowl squirmed with a thousand mealworms that smelled like sand and fear. They were about to die and each one knew it. Their bodies wriggled and writhed together. Uraz stuck the claw on his index finger through the center of one; white flesh spurted from the center of the worm.

  "A big one," I remarked.

  Uraz growled satisfactorily and wrapped his long tongue around the still squirming creature sucking the guts out of the exoskeleton and biting down on what remained with the satisfied crunch.

  “The first bite is the best.”

  Those were the first words he said to me since I arrived, ready to do business. Business, I scoffed quietly to myself as Uraz stuck his hand deep into the onyx bowl, pulling out another squirming handful of mealworms.

  I waited for him to finish before dipping my hand into my own bowl. I could feel the mealworms squirming around my fingers with their delicious scent of fear wafting up to the slits in my nose. Uraz and I ate slowly without much talking, me staggering behind him until that last delicious bite. Once we were finished he let out a long loud belch. I followed suit.

  Uraz growled, “Are you ready to talk business?"

  I had been ready since this senseless postponement which had sated Uraz’s need for power for more than it stated his appetite. To make people wait lent you a certain control over them, control Uraz had over me considering he had something he was sure that I wanted.

  “You don't have to look far to see what I'm offering. It’s right here. Firuza, turn on the lights,” he announced, feeling pleased with himself.

  To our left, the women in Uraz’s household sat on the floor at a low table for women, each one of them veiled in black with only their eyes exposed. Those beautiful eyes characteristic of Taurean women were the only temptations allowed to men outside of their household and family clan. The women all possessed eyes that were a shade of brilliant lime green like their father’s eyes.

  Firuza got up silently, obeying her father’s commands with a lowered gaze. She raised the lighting from a dim red to white light just bright enough not to disrupt our eyes which were unaccustomed to light outside our subterranean dwellings.

  With Firuza’s tiny adjustment, I could see the glass cage Uraz had bragged about for weeks and the tiny creature that crouched in the corner with spiny humanoid arms wrapped around its legs. Its fingernails weren’t like ours, they were short and stubby. And its flesh wasn’t scaled. The creature stank of fear. The new pet that Uraz had on offer didn't budge as I examined it through the glass.

  "Does it move?"

  The creature appeared mammalian, but there was no species quite like it in our star system, or any of the neighboring ones. He must have traveled months to find a creature like this one. So rare. So pink. So different.

  “Mostly during the day,” Uraz explained.

  “How much sleep does it need?"

  "Too much. Eight hours."

  “Hm… And is this one female or male?"

  Uraz tapped on the glass. He raised two fingers and then the creature rose to its feet legs still trembling.

  “Firuza has been helping me to teach it basic commands. Female. Mammalian too.”

  "A mammalian biped. Interesting. And it isn't sentient?"

  Uraz smirked as if it were more logical to blindly trust him than to ask questions.

  “It took me weeks to teach the creature those commands. I don't think sentience is a problem."

  "Father, I —

  Uraz growled, “Quiet, Firuza.”

  The girl’s mother grabbed her arm and ushered her out of the room. Uraz’s first wife had eyes filled with anger. Firuza had defied her father but I didn’t think it so extreme to warrant her mother’s reaction. The girl had just come of age, I’d heard. I raised a brow, but no one took notice.

  "I apologize," Uraz hissed, parting his lips into widest smile.

  I returned his false salesman smile with another one.

  "I'm certainly intrigued. Perhaps we can work out a deal. How much do you want for her?"

  "50,000 credits for her. There is a male as well. I will offer them both for 95,000 credits.”

  Curious. This was the first I was hearing about two exotic creatures. As I suspected, Uraz had something up his sleeve. He presumed I might want to breed them, perhaps. He took far too much pleasure in pulling the wool over my eyes. If I could make it out of this deal without being cheated, it would be a miracle.

  "I'll have to think about it."

  “With a price that high?” Uraz boomed, “I can't blame you. But you are welcome in my home. I will send one of my daughters to you later.”

  "No need," I replied, with regards to the daughters, not caring about whether or not Uraz would take offense.

  "Let my wife show you to your quarters then."

  I didn’t turn Uraz down then to avoid him pestering me over small matters of hospitality. I allowed his wife, the eldest one, to show me down the tunnels two floors and down the hallway. The lights grew dimmer as we passed down a dark hallway and ascended another level beneath their home. The guest quarters were darker the further we sank below ground, taking winding pathways further into the palatial home. Good. I loved the darkness.

  My best guess was that the tunnels in Uraz's estate went seven or eight levels deep. With three wives, each one producing twenty offspring at a time, Senator Uraz must have been a very busy man. And very rich to afford so many wives. As a senator, he’d expanded his fortune. The last time I’d come here, his home spoke to his success but now it dripped in opulence. Black onyx sparkled in the earthen walls and the integrated home computer was state of the art.

  His wife came to an abrupt halt in front of a little arched door. I stared at her veil trying to glimpse the expression in her eyes, the muscles surrounding her cheeks and brows. Would she fear the proximity of another male? It would be perfectly within my rights to steal her, whisk her onto my ship and mate her with an egg brood of my own. If I could win a duel against the Senator’s best man, it would be easy…

  I probably wouldn't make it 10 feet off Uraz's property without getting gunned down by one of his security fleet if I tried such a thing, but the thought of getting one over on him for once spread a twisted smile to my face. Then I smelled it wafting into the slits on my face. Her fear.

  "You have nothing to fear…” I whispered.

  "Umida," she whispered, the scent of her fear intensifying. I took a step closer to her, trapping her body between mine and the door. She reeked. The musk of her terror was… Pleasing. I flicked my tongue out and ra
n my hands over my horns.

  “These are your quarters, sir. I hope they are acceptable. I will send one of my daughters for your pleasure soon."

  She hurriedly sidestepped and disappeared back down the hall, her veil trailing around her before she vanished. Too bad. I would have liked to ask more questions about her husband. What kind of husband was Uraz? Was the senator deceiving me with a deal that appeared at the surface all too promising?

  I pushed the door open and was met with the warm damp scent of petrichor. The humidity rehydrated the drying scales on my back. I eased my shoulders, sloughing off a layer of dead skin and kicking the molted casing into a corner. Finally. Privacy.

  Uraz might've been a miserly bastard when it came to trade but he was a good host. I stripped to nothing and nestled into the cool earth. My blood pressure lowered and my heart rate dropped, my metabolic functions shifting to match the cool earthen mattress.

  The scent of clay had strong herbal notes. Yes. My limbs froze and then my gaze rested on the ceiling. I only needed 20 minutes of rest. Then I could hear footsteps and smell females so I eased out of the earth, lying flat on it and sloughing clay off my skin until my body temperature rose enough to make me normal.

  Firuza's knock came just when I expected it. I could hear her walking down the hall, her tail dragging on the ground. When I approached the door I could smell her better. If my research served me well, she was his eldest. I began to get suspicious of Uraz's motives then.

  Hospitality made sense considering our trade relationship but for Uraz to send his eldest daughter to me felt like an intentional distraction. My relationship with Borxan, the senator of our neighboring twin planet, and an unabashed churl I might add, certainly made me a significant player but I had no more status than Uraz himself. Uraz had more status as a senator than I could hope to achieve without a political post because of his wealth and the size and successes of his brood.

  I opened the door eyeing the veiled woman carefully as she entered. Firuza stood before the frame distinctly lacking the familiar terrified scent that females emitted during a close encounter with a male outside their clan. I had an idea of what could add some much needed fear to her visage.

  “Remove that veil, we are in private," I growled dispensing with the niceties.

  Firuza lifted the front piece and set it on the table. Her black clothes hugged tightly to her skin and covered her arms and legs. Her skirts bound her legs closely together. She didn't look much like her father thank goodness. With her round head, short horns and long black hair exposed, her tresses contrasted with her complexion. Her skin was a translucent green like most Taurean females and was therefore too sensitive to be exposed to the sun especially one like ours that had banished our species beneath the ground from its intensity.

  Her heart had not yet quickened with arousal. Her eyes met mine, a pretty shade of green with flecks of olive. Her black hair now uncovered fell all the way down to the middle of her back. There was no fear, nothing to suggest that she anticipated the purpose for which she was sent. Yet there was nothing naïve about her. My salesman's instincts could read her confidence. She stared at me unflinching in the dark.

  "You have lovely hair,” I whispered, approaching her and running my hands down the silky black tresses.

  The scales on her neck contracted and tightened in revulsion. Still, no fear. I pulled my hand away. Before I could try another tactic, Firuza spoke up. That was unexpected of her.

  "If you're trying to terrify me, it won't work."

  "Who says that's what I'm trying to do?"

  "I know Taurean males."

  She sat on my bed not bothering to replace her veil, her veins pulsing with the same relaxed beat of her hearts visible through the tiny section of exposed translucent skin on her neck. Her lime green eyes glimmered in the darkness which was so familiar to both of us.

  "What did you come here for? You knew what would happen. You are female but you aren't afraid of me. You have the change then, the one that makes you… unattracted. And your father… Why did he send you here? Does he know?”

  "I'm afraid I can only answer one of your questions, Damir."

  The scales on my back tensed as she spoke the name of a non-familial male. This female and her twitching tail tip, rattling against the earth were starting to make me uncomfortable.

  "Do not call me Damir when you have no intention of —

  “Of sleeping with you?” She scoffed.

  With me stunned into silence, Firuza calmly continued.

  "You're the one unwilling to sleep with me. I am well aware of my status and expectations of me on Tau.”

  She smirked. She must have been aware of her difference. The one that caused her not to secrete the hormone that would ignite our attraction.

  "Then tell me why you are here."

  "You and I happen to have a mutual interest."

  "What might that be?"

  "Exposing my father's lies."

  Whatever this woman thought of me, she was sorely mistaken. I was here for profit and profit alone. Whatever Uraz sold me, if it was really as rare as he said, could fetch me a pretty penny, especially if I navigated deeper into the Arietan system or the Denebolan Territories.

  I had no desire to upset Uraz or any part of his business. Petty Taurean politics were not my concern. Only profit. Whatever lies Uraz told and to whom he told them were none of my concern. His daughter had a purpose here, I was sure of it. She sought some kind of betrayal. My my, had Uraz grown paranoid since we last met.

  “Is this some sort of setup?" I uttered in a low, breathy growl, steam emerging from my nostril slits.

  If this was Uraz's idea of getting me to show my hand he was sorely mistaken.

  "Replace that veil," I growled, pacing the room digging into the earth beneath my feet, tail swaying angrily against my will, the rattle at the end vibrating with annoyance. Firuza remained composed, but I could see in her eyes she was grateful that I’d asked her to cover herself. I could have had more. Her father sent her down here for that purpose.

  Like I was a fool.

  "If you claim you want the same things, why would your father send you down here? Uraz is no fool,” I snarled.

  She snapped, “Neither am I. You deal with exotic creatures from around the galaxy, but my father deals with men like you. Desperate men."

  "I'm not here to play games or trade insults."

  "Neither am I, Damir. Like I said. You and I have a mutual interest. And I know something you may want to hear with regards to your merchandise."

  "In exchange for what?"

  "Promise me that when you leave you take me with you."

  "Impossible! You think I can get away with stealing Uraz’s daughter from his own home? And how do you propose surviving above ground? Where would I even take you with a target on my back?"

  Plumes of steam escaped my nostrils. She was having an easier time ruffling my scales than I had ruffling hers.

  “Promise, or you'll end up making a deal that could land you in even worse trouble."

  I was beginning to see why Uraz would want to pawn his insolent daughter off on someone else. But tricking me to mating with her so I’d have the responsibility… I was beginning to question how he saw our friendship. With the veil covering her skin and eyes, I couldn't tell what Firuza was thinking or see the telltale signs of deception that may have been lurking beneath the opaque cloth.

  "What do you plan on telling you father happened here?"

  "I will tell him that you're not searching for a mate, that you are already mated to a new wife but did not wish to offend him."