Stolen: Brides of the Kindred 25 Read online

  Stolen

  Brides of the Kindred, Book 25

  Evangeline Anderson

  www.evangelineanderson.com

  Stolen, 1st Edition,

  A Brides of the Kindred Novel

  Copyright © 2020 by Evangeline Anderson

  All rights reserved.

  Cover Art Design © 2020 by Reese Dante

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writers’ imagination or have been used factiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  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 person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to a retailer of your choice or evangelineanderson.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

  Cover content is for illustrative purposes only.

  Any person depicted on the cover is a model.

  Contents

  Stolen

  Author’s Note

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 76

  Chapter 77

  Chapter 78

  Chapter 79

  Chapter 80

  Chapter 81

  Chapter 82

  Chapter 83

  Chapter 84

  Chapter 85

  Chapter 86

  Chapter 87

  Chapter 88

  Chapter 89

  Chapter 90

  Chapter 91

  Chapter 92

  Chapter 93

  Chapter 94

  Chapter 95

  Chapter 96

  Chapter 97

  Chapter 98

  Chapter 99

  Chapter 100

  Chapter 101

  Chapter 102

  Chapter 103

  Chapter 104

  Chapter 105

  Chapter 106

  Chapter 107

  Chapter 108

  Chapter 109

  Chapter 110

  Chapter 111

  Chapter 112

  Chapter 113

  Chapter 114

  Chapter 115

  Chapter 116

  Chapter 117

  Chapter 118

  Epilogue

  The End?

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  Also by Evangeline Anderson

  About the Author

  Stolen

  Brides of the Kindred, Book 25

  Penny is an archeologist on the hunt for a dangerous artifact.

  V'rex is the Hybrid space pirate she's been warned about.

  When both of them are kidnapped by a fertility cult

  And forced together as "Forever Mates,"

  Can they find a way to survive and escape?

  You'll have to read Stolen to find out...

  Dr. Penelope Wainright is an archeologist on a serious mission for the Kindred. She must find the Eye of Tengu, an ancient stone artifact, before it awakens and causes horrible death and destruction. But before she goes to the Yown System, where the Eye has been hidden, she is given a warning—stay way from Hell's Gate Spaceport and the notorious pirate, V'rex, who makes it his home base. But through a series of mishaps, where does she end up? On Hell's Gate Station, alone and vulnerable, of course. And you can guess who she runs into...

  V'rex is a Hybrid—half Beast Kindred and Half Kru'ell One. The minute he sees Penny lost and alone, he knows he has to have her. The curvy little female is exactly his type and he's about to go get her...when fate intervenes. After being drugged and kidnapped, he wakes up in the compound of a fertility cult. By chance, Penny has been kidnapped as well, and soon they are forced together as "Forever Mates" by the fanatical cult leader.

  Penny is frightened to death of the huge Hybrid, who is tasked by the cult to impregnate her. V'rex wants the little human, but he doesn't want to hurt her. Now they must work together to escape what seems to be an inescapable situation. But can Penny trust the male she has been warned against? And can V'rex keep her safe from the fanatical cult and their "Glorious Leader?" You'll have to read Stolen to find out...

  Author’s Note

  I have to apologize to my readers for not continuing the story of Commander Naught and the pretty young priestess. I tried for a long time to write their story, but my muse was blocked at every turn. Finally I realized it had been over a year since I wrote a Brides of the Kindred book—I had been writing only Kindred Tales for ages. I finally understood that I would either have to give up writing the original series for good, or write something completely different. Of course, I didn't want to give up on Brides—it's my baby. And then I got a crazy, weird, wonderful idea for a whole different plot line and a new Brides book.

  That is the book you are holding now. In it, we begin a whole different adventure that I hope you'll love reading as much as I enjoyed writing it. I do someday hope to be able to get back to Commander Naught and the priestess, but in the meantime, I hope you can forgive me and enjoy the story of Penny and V'rex and their amazing, crazy, sexy adventures in the Yown System and all the weird situations they get into (and out of) together. And don't worry�
��you'll see your old friends from other books here as well. No Brides book is complete without some help and love from the Mother Ship and the Goddess.

  Hugs and Happy Reading to you all,

  Evangeline, October 2020

  Prologue

  The Cruel Father looked down upon his creation…and was severely displeased.

  His universe had been corrupted. His Kindred, the Kru’ell Ones, had been tainted by love…by compassion…by tenderness and mercy. All those womanly emotions he so despised and had taught his children to despise as well.

  He had created the Kru’ell Ones to rule over females. To take them as concubines to feed their emotional appetites and then discard them, as easily as a man drops a used tissue. But now, what did he see when he looked down upon them?

  “They have taken mates,” he growled to himself, glaring with his all-seeing eye upon the gray-green version of Earth which resided in his universe. The new Overlord, Kane, had taught the other Kru’ell Ones to revere females and treat them with respect. He had purged the hate from their hearts and fostered love instead. He had taught them to take females as mates instead of disposable concubines and to form a permanent bond with them.

  It was unbearable! And the Cruel Father knew exactly who to blame.

  “Mother of All Life,” he growled to himself, thinking of the Goddess who was his counterpart in the parallel universe which ran along side his own. She had done this thing. She had interfered in his territory and had brought her disgusting attributes of love and fidelity, spreading goodness and peace wherever she went like a pestilence.

  The Cruel Father raged to himself. How dare she meddle in the affairs of his ‘verse? How dare she bring her sickening love and kindness into his territory?

  And how could he repay her deed in kind?

  Luckily, the Mother of All Life was not the only one who had a stronghold in the enemy’s territory. Long ago the Cruel Father had waged war across the dimensional divide with the female deity. He had been forced back, but not before he had left a small token—a scion of himself—within her domain.

  Of course, the Goddess had instructed the ancient First Kindred to hide the relic—the Eye of Ten’gu they had called it. And so they had buried it deep, hiding it in the far recesses of their universe on a planet so icy and inhospitable they were certain no one would ever find and awaken it.

  The Cruel Father reached across the divide, using just a tendril of his power— not enough to sound any alarms—and touched the Eye. For millennia it had lain dormant, his scion sleeping in endless, dreamless slumber.

  “Awake,” the Cruel Father called to it. “Awake and claim your birthright. Decimate the Goddess’s ‘verse as she has ruined mine.”

  He felt the Eye tremble…perceived that his scion was rising from the sleep which had claimed him when the First Kindred had buried the relic so long ago.

  It would take some time for his scion to come fully awake—some time before the Eye opened and understood what he must do. But the Cruel Father could wait. After all, was revenge not sweetest when it took some time in coming?

  “You will be sorry, Mother of All Life,” he growled to himself. “I will teach you not to meddle in my domain. You have turned my own Kindred into sniveling female-lovers like your own. We will see how well you like it when your own children are corrupted by my darkness. When the Eye of Ten’gu opens, your ‘verse will know pain and discord as it never has before.”

  This he vowed. And then he sat back to watch as the events he had set in motion began, slowly but inexorably, to unfold…

  Far from the Cruel Father’s universe, on First World, Nadiah woke from the dream with a gasp of fright.

  “The Cruel Father…the Eye…the Eye must not open! It must not open!” she cried.

  “What?” Rast, the Challa of First World, the home planet of the Kindred, sat up in bed beside his mate. In the dim light of their bedchamber, he saw that Nadiah’s blue-green eyes were wide with panic.

  “The Eye…” She was nearly panting with fright. “The Eye is waking but it must not open!”

  Another male might have shaken his mate to bring her out of what appeared to be hysteria but Rast had a better solution than that. He spread his great, feathery wings—the ones that had grown when he had proven that he was truly meant to be the Challa of the Kindred home world—and enfolded his wife in them.

  Nadiah came to him at once and Rast could feel her trembling against his broad chest as he poured healing warmth into her through the enfolding feathers.

  “What is it, sweetheart?” he murmured, stroking her golden hair and holding her close, trying to comfort her. “What’s wrong? You must have had a nightmare.”

  “N-not a n-nightmare.” Nadiah’s teeth were still chattering in fright. Rast held her tighter, disturbed. He had never seen his mate so upset before.

  “If it wasn’t a nightmare then what was it?” he asked gently.

  “A vision.” She sat up and her eyes turned suddenly from blue-green to pure emerald—the color of the Goddess. When she spoke again, her voice was not her own.

  “The Father of Cruelty with reach from Afar

  To the Eye of his scion asleep in the Dark

  Buried so deep ‘neath the mountain Ra’gar

  It must not awake or the future is Stark

  Do not let its lid rise, do not let it awake

  For if it sees daylight, our ‘verse is at Stake!”

  Though he and Nadiah had been joined for years now and had three children together and he knew she was the Mouthpiece of the Goddess, it still unnerved Rast when the Mother of all Life spoke through his wife.

  “Goddess,” he said, addressing the deity who was speaking through Nadiah. “What must we do?”

  “Warn Sylvan of the Mother Ship,” the Goddess said through Nadiah. “The Eye of Ten’gu must be unearthed and destroyed before it awakens.”

  “The Eye of Ten’gu? What’s that? And how can we destroy it?” Rast asked, but the Goddess had gone. Only Nadiah was left, drooping in his arms, completely worn out from acting as a vessel to the Goddess.

  “Oh, Rast,” she whispered, leaning heavily against him. “That was so scary—I don’t know when I’ve been so frightened!”

  “Are you all right now?” Rast looked at her anxiously.

  “Not scared anymore. Just…tired.” She leaned her head against his shoulder. “The Goddess drove out the fear but hosting her is…taxing.”

  “Of course it is, my Lyzel,” Rast murmured, stroking her hair tenderly.

  “What did the Goddess say through me?” Nadiah asked. “What must we do to keep the Cruel Father at bay?”

  “She said we must destroy the Eye of Ten’gu—whatever that is.” Rast frowned.

  “The Eye of Ten’gu?” Nadiah sat up straight. “But that’s been hidden for millennia!”

  “You know about it?” Rast asked in surprise.

  She nodded, her long blonde hair swishing around her slender shoulders.

  “Of course—it’s in some of our earliest scrolls and documents. It’s an ancient artifact, as old as the Kindred race itself.”

  “Well, what does it do?” Rast asked, frowning.

  “I don’t know,” Nadiah admitted. “But I do know that the very first thing the Kindred males who originally left First World did was to get rid of it. They buried it in the side of a mountain on Yown Beta where no one could ever find it.”

  “Well it sounds like someone is on their way to find it now,” Rast said grimly. “The Goddess told me we must warn Sylvan and that someone has to go dig it up and destroy it before…” He hesitated, not wanting to scare his wife again.

  “Before what?” Nadiah demanded. “Come on, Rast, tell me!”

  Rast could see she wasn’t going to let up until he told her.

  “She said the Eye of Ten’gu must be destroyed,” he repeated. “Before it awakens.”

  Nadiah didn’t reply. She just buried her head in Rast’s chest and shivered.
r />   A time of darkness was coming. The question was, would the Kindred be able to stand against it?

  One

  The first thing V’rex noticed about the little female, when she walked into the Hell’s Gate Spaceport Lounge, was her ass.