Stained
by Saloni Quinby
Format(s): Ebook
Heat Level: Erotic
Pairing(s): M/M
Genre/Themes: Science Fiction Romance
Length: Novella
Cover Art: Renee’ George
Purchase Links: Changeling Press
When Max, an Interplanetary Private Investigator, rescues Lord Don’s daughter from kidnappers, the Bled nobleman expresses his gratitude by offering a Lust Steed from his vast stable.
The prospect of owning a slave disgusts Max — until an exquisitely beautiful young man catches his eye. Naked and chained, his smooth flesh marred by his trainer’s flogger, Ashton refuses to submit to the rules of Bledu.
Max’s only choice is to accept Lord Don’s gift, and claim Ash as his own. But under Bled law, Max must break, tame and ride Ashton before he can free Ash from his cruel servitude. Will their shared past and long-hidden love enable them to survive the brutality of Lord Don’s stable?
Excerpt:
Ashton knew all too well the circumstances that could drive people to sell themselves, steal or worse. As a boy he’d seen and done almost everything, until a planetary private investigator had questioned him about the death of a local girl. She’d overdosed, plain and simple. After the interrogation, Ashton hadn’t expected to see the investigator again, but to his surprise the man had offered to help Ashton get off the streets.
Ashton had been eighteen at the time, still picking pockets to survive in an Earth ghetto, like he had since age thirteen when his mother had died. Ashton had never known his father and his mother hadn’t spoken about him. That’s why it had come as a terrible shock when Bled soldiers doing a routine check on Asteroid Thirty-Six had scanned him and discovered he was a hybrid classified as a Lust Steed. They’d taken him with no more explanation than that and a short time after his arrest, he’d been shipped to Lord Don’s stable. For the past month he’d been bound, flogged, and tormented in countless ways. He’d spend days locked in a tiny, dark cell. Often he’d be tied spread eagle to a leather table and teased almost to the point of orgasm. The trainers knew how to keep him in a state of sexual torment for hours on end.
The flogger cut particularly hard into his flesh and Ashton gasped, arching his back as far as the chains allowed.
“Cease!” called a screechy voice Ashton recognized as Lord Don’s. Fresh hatred washed over him and a shiver ran down his spine. The bastard continued, “He’s still in chains, Bryce?”
“Yes, my lord,” replied Ashton’s trainer. “He’s stubborn.”
“Too stubborn. I want him ridden today. If he bucks, that’s all well and good. A spirited steed might be an interesting addition to our stable.”
“What’s going on?” asked a deep, almost raspy voice that sent another shiver down Ashton’s spine — this time one of pure excitement. His heart skipped a beat. It couldn’t be, could it?
Straining against the bonds, he glanced over his shoulder and drew a sharp breath. It was! If he lived to be a hundred years old, Ashton would never forget the man who had saved his life in so many ways — the handsome, powerful PI named Max.
But what was he doing here?
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