The Bargain

By Evangeline Anderson

Charlie is just trying to survive. After losing her fortune she flees her home planet and hides from her bloodthirsty creditors on a mining colony so horrible its residents just call it Hole. Lynx is a Xorn, one of a feared race of non-humans known for their savage lusts. From the first instant he sees Charlie, he knows she is the only woman who can satisfy him. Charlie wants nothing to do with the huge, muscular man with golden eyes, but in order to survive on Hole she will have to overcome her fear and make a bargain with the fierce Xorn-a bargain of desire, pleasure and pain that will force her to see herself and Lynx in a whole new light.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Evangeline Anderson
• Release date: Sep 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005336325

Evangeline Anderson

Evangeline Anderson is the USA Today Best Selling Author of the Brides of the Kindred and Born to Darkness series. She is thirty-something and lives in Florida with a husband, a son, and two cats. She had been writing erotic fiction for her own gratification for a number of years before it occurred to her to try and get paid for it. To her delight, she found that it was actually possible to get money for having a dirty mind and she has been writing paranormal and Sci-fi erotica steadily ever since.You can find her online at her website www.evangelineanderson.comCome visit for some free reads. Or, to be the first to find out about new books, join her newsletter.http://evangelineanderson.us9.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=29b467eebf0af968606782cef&id=2df94ec8cdA Note from Evangeline--I have divided my my Kindred Tales series into smaller series based on themes and the type of Kindred the books are about. Have a look at the checklist--you might have missed oneKindred Tales Checklist and Series BlurbsKindred on Their Knees is a series of stand-alone novels set in the Brides of the Kindred universe. It's all about hot Alien Warriors subjugated to the will of their Mistress. Sometimes they turn the tables, but they always honor and protect the women they serve.Many of these stories are set on Yonnie Six--the planet in the Kindred universe where women rule with an iron fist and men are considered to be useful only as servants and playthings. So Female-led relationships and men in collars and chains are the order of the day. If you like that kind of vibe, you should enjoy the novels comprised here.Kindred on Their Knees[ ] 1.Mastering the Mistress[ ] 2.Freeing the Prisoner[ ] 3.Bridging the Distance[ ] 4.Instructing the Novice[ ] 5.Handling the Hybrid[ ] 6.Protecting His Mistress[ ] 7.Unleashed by the Defender[ ] 8.Accidental Acquisition[ ] 9.Bonded by TwoThe Monstrum Kindred seriesMeet the Monstrum Kindred Warriors from a neighboring universe, They look different from the Kindred the Earth has come to know. Some have hooves, some have horns, and all of them have fur below the belt. Yet, though they may look monstrous or animalistic to some, they have the same needs that all Kindred do. They all need Brides, and Earth is filled with unwed women who will soon be Claimed by the Monstrum. These books are for readers who love Monster Romance and Beastly Aliens.The Monstrum Kindred series[ ] 1.Enticed by the Satyr[ ] 2.Loved by the Lion[ ] 3.Taming the Tiger[ ] 4.Dragon in the Dark[ ] 5.Queen of Their Colony[ ] 6.Finding his Goddess[ ] 7.Shared by the MonstrumBeasts of the Kindred seriesThe Beasts of the Kindred series is for readers who love Beast Alien Romance. It includes stand alone novels in the Kindred Universe with Beast Kindred warriors as well as other Kindred who have Beasts inside them like Drake Kindred and Wulven Kindred. If you love a little feral action with your spicy romance, this series is for you.Beasts of the Kindred series (Beast Kindred)[ ] 1.Seeing with the Heart[ ] 2.Finding the Jewel[ ] 3.Pairing with the Protector[ ] 4.Raised to Kill[ ] 5.Saved by the Beast[ ] 6.Releasing the Dragon[ ] 7.Hitting the Target[ ] 8.Tied to the WulvenKindred Duets series (two novellas in one book)Kindred Duet books have two shorter stand alone novellas rather than one long story. If you like variety, this series is for you. Twice the hot Alien Spice and all kinds of themes and tropes including Enemies to Lovers, Daddy Dom, Single Mom, Cinnamon Roll heroes, as well as Morally Gray MMCs. You’ll find all this and more in the Kindred Duet Series. Enjoy!Kindred Duets series[ ] 1.Dark and Light[ ] 2.Wicked and Wild[ ] 3.Dae’mons and DomsKindred Times Two seriesThe Kindred Times Two series contains stand alone novels set in the Kindred Universe about Kindred warriors who must share a mate. If you enjoy lots of spicy MFM scenes, this series is for you.Kindred Times Two (Twin Kindred)[ ] Sharing a Mate[ ] Secret Santa Surprise[ ] Posing for Their PleasureBitten by a Kindred seriesThe Bitten by a Kindred series contains stand alone novels based in the Kindred Universe about Kindred warriors with fangs. There are the Blood Kindred who only bite to inject their essence and give their mates pleasure, but there are also stories of their darker cousins...the Pitch Blood Kindred, who must drink blood to survive. If you love Vampire Romance and spicy stories of sensual biting and piercing, this series is for you.Bitten by a Kindred (Blood Kindred)[ ] 1.Healing the Broken[ ] 2.Falling for Kindred Claus[ ] 3.Guarding the Goddess (included because it comes after Falling for Kindred Clause)[ ] 4.Playing their Parts[ ] 5.Delivered by the DefenderThe Kindred Time Travel Series is about Kindred warriors traveling through time to find the women they want to Claim as BridesTime Travel Kindred Tales[ ] 1.Trapped in Time[ ] 2.Time to HealThe Hybrid Kindred ChroniclesThe Hybrid Kindred Chronicles are stand alone novels set in the Kindred Universe. They tell the stories of Kindred warriors who carry the DNA of two or more branches of the Kindred Family Tree. Often, this makes it difficult for them to Bond with a woman and call a Bride. But when the Goddess intervenes, anything is possible.The Hybrid Kindred Chronicles[ ] 1.Bonded by Accident[ ] 2.The Priestess and the Thief[ ] 3.Healing Her Patient[ ] 4.Hidden Rage[ ] 5.Guarded by the Hybrid[ ] 6.Faking it with the Hybrid[ ] 7.Lost on Oblivion[ ] 8.The Kindred Warrior's Captive BrideThe Giants and Cyborgs Kindred seriesThese are stand alone novels set in the Kindred Universe all about two of the most unique kinds of Kindred warriors. Jor'gen Kindred are nine feet tall and tower over their human mates, yet these gentle giants are sworn to protect the women they love.Dark Kindred are sometimes more machine than man—these cyborg soldiers are grown in the Gestation Tanks of Z4, a planet where emotions are forbidden and punishable by death. Quite often these Kindred warriors are surprised when feelings for a curvy little human creeps into their previously stone-cold hearts.Extreme size Differences and Forbidden Emotions are two of my favorite tropes to write—I hope you enjoy these tales of Giants and CyborgsGiants and Cyborgs series[ ] 1.Taming the Giant[ ] 2.Awakened by the Giant[ ] 3.Bonding with the Beast[ ] 4.Burning for LoveTales of the Switch Kindred seriesTales of the Switch Kindred is a series of stand alone novels set in the Kindred Universe about Kindred warriors who can jump into and occupy the body of another. If you like body-swapping stories and spicy sci-fi action, this is the series for you!Tales of the Switch Kindred[ ] 1.Loving a Stranger[ ] 2.Stealing Her Heart[ ] 3.Taming Two Warriors (included in this series because it is a sequel to Stealing Her Heart)Author’s Note—I hope this explanation of the new series in the Kindred Tales helps. If you would rather read every single Kindred story in order, including the main series, Brides of the Kindred, you can find the Definitive Reading Order list in my Linktree which is always pinned at the top of my Facebook page. And if you’re new to the Kindred Universe and want to start at the very beginning, the first book in my main series, Claimed, is a free download everywhere.Hugs and Happy Reading!Evangeline Anderson

Book preview

PROLOGUE

Lynx watched her walk by, the unconscious sway of her hips making his mouth water. Her subtle fragrance drifted enticingly through the air, coming from the sweet spot between her thighs he longed to taste. Even through the long skirt made of woven synthi-wool, he could still scent her. She dressed different from the other barmaids at the Triple Sickle—dressed to deflect attention rather than attract it. The fact that she didn’t show any cleavage or even a hint of leg probably hurt her tips but Lynx got the sense that she didn’t care. He cared though—she had always been slender but since the last time he’d been in the bar, she was looking painfully thin. It had only been a few days since he’d last seen her and he wondered if she was getting enough to eat. Probably not on the salary she got here.

Catching her eye, he waved her over, pointing at his empty mug. She nodded briefly and threaded her way through the evening crowd of miners, grimy from their day underground in the platinum mines, and the other barmaids, all of whom were dressed in thigh-high skirts and see-through blouses, the better to show off their assets. Lynx knew that some of them worked overtime on their backs after the Triple Sickle closed but she wasn’t one of them. If she was, it would make his life a hell of a lot easier. Then again, if she was easily available to anyone who wanted her, he would probably have had to kill half the damn settlement.

He had already had to make an example of one grabby bastard who couldn’t keep his hands to himself where she was concerned and then there was the matter of the Bent-head who had attacked her… Lynx shook his head. She didn’t know about that and it was better she never found out. He hadn’t meant to kill the man but he couldn’t help himself. Even though Lynx had never even laid a hand on her yet, her scent provoked his protective and possessive instincts so strongly that just seeing another man touch her arm while she refilled his mug made him flinch.

He watched her as she made her way toward him. The clink of thick, copper-bottomed mugs and the low, trollish laughter of the regulars filled the air, along with the yeasty scent of hops the humans used to make their ale. In a tavern like this, a human-owned and -operated one, he wouldn’t have been welcome without his wealth and power. But even Mama Trash, the owner and an acknowledged Xorn-hater, didn’t dare to deny him entrance, though she cut her eyes at him and sneered when he appeared at his usual table every third night. Lynx had a reputation for ruthlessness and even the roughest regulars of the Triple Sickle left him strictly alone.

Lynx never spoke to anyone but her and he never allowed any other barmaid to serve him. He only came every third night because that was as much as he could stand—her scent drove his body into a frenzy of needing and it was all he could do to sit still and watch quietly while she worked.

At last she stood beside him, the thick-bottomed pitcher filled with dark brown ale clutched in one hand. Lynx could see the tendons in her slender wrist stand out with the strain of holding the heavy vessel as she poured, but her hand didn’t tremble. She was strong—she had to be to survive in this kind of environment that was alien to everything she knew, everything she was used to. He knew about her past, the way she’d been born to wealth and brought up in luxury only to lose it all in a cruel twist of fate, but none of that mattered now. What mattered was that she was here beside him, close enough to touch. Close enough to smell.

Lynx couldn’t help himself. Leaning slightly toward her, he inhaled deeply, drawing her into his lungs. The scent of the alcohol filled his senses but it couldn’t drown out her fresh, sweet musk. Goddess above, it made him so thirsty, her female spice. He could drink a thousand pitchers of ale and none of them would slake his parched thirst. He needed different nourishment for that.

That’ll be a credit fifty, she said in a clear, low voice, holding out her hand.

Lynx could have picked her heartbeat from a dozen others across a crowded room but he wanted her closer so he shook his head and frowned to indicate he hadn’t heard.

She bent closer to him, her long reddish-brown curls hanging down her pale throat and repeated the price over the noisy hum of the room. A credit fifty.

Deliberately taking his time, Lynx reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a cred chip. Cupping her soft hand in his, he pressed the hard plastic chip into her palm and closed her fingers around it. At once he felt her reaction. He had brushed her arm or hand once or twice when she poured his ale but he had never touched her so deliberately before, had never prolonged the contact. The skin-to-skin touch sent an explosion of emotion through her body, kindling her nerves like dry branches struck by lightning in an electrical storm. Fear was uppermost in her mind, he could feel it like a fence of jagged thorns keeping him at bay. But under it, so deep she probably didn’t feel it with her conscious mind, was desire. A warm flood of need to match his own, waiting to get out.

Lynx felt his heart thump like a hammer in his chest. His cock was suddenly stiff and aching, pushing hard against the confines of his pants as his body acknowledged what his soul had known all along. She was the one. Her reaction to him proved it beyond a doubt.

Let go of me. She kept her voice low even though she was so nervous he could hear her heart racing over the clink of mugs and the blast of what the humans called music filled the air.

Lynx released her wrist and she stepped back, rubbing it as if he’d hurt her, though his grip had been loose. Her face betrayed no emotion but he could taste her relief like a bitter spice at the back of his throat. Relief that he was no longer touching her? Or relief that the flood of need swelling inside her body had receded when he withdrew his hand? She looked down at the chip.

This is a fifty. I don’t have that much change. She held it out to him with her fingertips, careful to keep at an arm’s length this time.

Don’t want change, Lynx grunted, waving it away. Keep it.

I don’t want your charity. She frowned, an expression that centered in her deep brown eyes.

Who said anything about charity? It’s called a tip. You need it so keep it. Lynx scowled back at her. She paled but held her ground.

What makes you think you know what I need? She held out the chip insistently. Take it back and give me something smaller. Mama Trash will take the price of your ale out of my wages rather than change such a large chip.

Cursing, he took back the fifty and dug out a twenty instead. Slapping it on the sticky tabletop, he stood, towering over her. She flinched and took a step backward at his sudden motion. Xorn were roughly ten times stronger and faster than humans—a trait he tried not to show if he could help it. But her stubborn refusal to take the credit, when he knew she needed it, irritated him into revealing his speed and power.

I know everything about you, he told her. Reaching out, he cupped her pale, too- thin cheek in one large palm, drawing a gasp from her lips. "Especially what you need," he rumbled softly. He dropped his hand before she could jerk away and made his way through the crowd of muttering humans to the exit. Eyes narrowed and mouths snarled at every turn, but even the most hardened miners stepped aside when they saw the slow burn in his slitted amber eyes and felt the menace he sent out in a cold blast before him. It was a cheap trick, projecting his emotions, but Lynx wasn’t in the mood to deal with a fight right now. Especially not with some puny human who wanted to make a point about how superior their species was to a filthy Xorn.

He stopped at the double doors and looked back, catching her gaze with his own and holding it, not letting her look away until he was ready. She trembled where she stood, as though he was touching her, and suddenly he couldn’t help himself. He sent a tendril of lust to lick around her ankles and climb her thighs. Between her legs he could feel her nectar start to flow. She gave a muted gasp and pressed her knees together as though to stop it, but there was no stopping a Xorn when he was in need and Lynx very definitely was. The Thirst was on him so strongly he could barely see.

He concentrated, making her pussy hot and wet, feeling her inner cunt grow swollen and slick with desire, increasing her flow until he knew she felt like a dam had burst between her thighs. Goddess, how he longed to drink from that fount, to bury his face between her slim legs and slake his thirst while she cried and writhed under him, giving herself to him utterly.

At last he released her gaze and watched as she groped for a chair to lean against, her knees trembling slightly under the long skirt. He’d never gone so far before—never made her flow the way he had just now—and the look on her face was unadulterated fear. The thorns around her mind were back, a triple thickness of jagged spikes this time, and Lynx cursed himself for a fool. He’d gone too far and frightened the hell out of her. He wanted to shoulder his way back through the crowd and scoop her up in his arms. Wanted to take her home with him and tend her there. If he could get her alone, away from these crowds of her own kind he knew he could make her need him the way he needed her.

He closed his eyes, briefly imagining it. He would lay her on his sleeping platform and suck her clit into his mouth, lapping at her pussy until she flowed like a river. He would use a spreader to open her cunt lips wide so that he could drink easily, with nothing in the way of her gush of sweet nectar until he was satiated at last. Her emotions would nourish him too, if she could only let the thorns around her heart bloom into petals and open up to him. And in time she would learn the hunger and thirst herself and he would nourish her as well.

The angry murmurs of the miners around him brought him out of his daydream and Lynx sharply suppressed the urge to go back to her. As strong as he was, he couldn’t fight an entire bar full of irate human males and there was no doubt they would riot if they thought he was taking one of their own for his pleasure. Turning from the dim lights and smoky atmosphere of the Triple Sickle, he stepped out into the night, away from her maddening scent.

He’d never expected to find the one he was looking for here on a Goddess-forsaken mining colony at the ass-end of the galaxy. Hell, after what he’d been through in the past, he’d never expected to find the one who was right for him at all, but she was it. Now if only he could find a way to make her his. It was clear she wouldn’t respond to his money or power so there had to be another way.

Lynx clenched his big hands into fists and stared up at the three moons that kept an erratic orbit around the benighted planet he called his home. There had to be a way to bring her to him of her own free will—without just picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder, as tempting as that prospect was. Now that he’d found her, his thirst grew every day. His need for her was grinding, spearing him with a pain so sharp it couldn’t be denied. He had to have her and it had to be soon.

He had to drink his fill.

ONE

W ill, how could you? Charlie Owens, lately known to the high society of the Andromeda system as Charlotte Elizabeth Owens–Stratton, ran a hand through her thick mass of curly reddish-brown hair and glared at her little brother. Back home on Andromeda Prime he had been known as William Bernard Owens–Stratton, IV, but that was before the family fortune had been lost by their uncle in a series of badly calculated investments. Before they had left the upper crust of Andromeda society to keep their debtors from hunting them down and trying to collect by force what they didn’t even have. Before Charlie had traded her designer couture and her comfortable cloud condo on Prime for a barmaid’s apron and a miserable hovel in a mining colony on a fringe world so bleak the inhabitants just called it Hole. Before. And now Will was telling her they were right back where they had started—deep in debt and headed for trouble.

How much did you say you lost? Charlie demanded, crossing her arms over her breasts.

Forty thousand. Will hung his head, his long pale lashes brushing his flushed cheeks.

Forty thousand credits! Charlie paced the length of their tiny living space, an area so cramped it only took her two steps to get across it before she had to turn and go back again. The prefab econo hovel was in the worst part of the city, a slum called Pain Town by the locals, and it was infested with Bent dealers, pimps and the harlot bots they pushed, as well as the desperate and degenerate customers they serviced. It was also crawling with wigglers—tiny black insects that always seemed to come back no matter how thoroughly Charlie cleaned. But up until now, at least it had been affordable. Now they were going to be out on the street if what Will was telling her was true.

Sis, I’m sorry, I just— her brother started but Charlie raised a hand and cut him off.

Will, I only make fifty credits a week working at the Triple Sickle, she said, pushing her hair out of her eyes again. And you only make fifteen as a busboy at Carnivore. That’s barely enough to live and put away five credits a week for a ticket out of here when the heat dies down. Forty thousand might have been pocket change back on Andromeda Prime but it’s way out of our league now. We just don’t have that kind of money.

I know, but that’s why I was playing in the first place—to earn enough credit to get us off this rock. It’s been over a year—plenty of time for the estate to go through bankruptcy and get the creditors off our backs. But we’ll never be able to afford to leave at the rate we’re saving. Will gestured earnestly, his voice breaking on the last word. And the game was going so good too, I was winning every hand. All the other waiters, and even the manager, were saying how lucky I was. He frowned, his blond eyebrows drawing low over his expressive brown eyes, so like Charlie’s own. She was reminded again how very young her little brother still was. He had been barely fourteen when they had to flee from Andromeda and the year of hard living on Hole hadn’t been easy on him.

I know you want to get out of here—I do too, Charlie told him, trying to soften her voice. But you shouldn’t have been playing a game of Luck-is-Blind with your weekly earnings, no matter how lucky you were feeling.

"But I was lucky! her little brother protested, moving into the kitchen nook that was furnished with a postage stamp-sized table and two cheap plasti-wood chairs. That is, I was until he came along, he added darkly. He asked to sit in and pretty soon the stakes got higher and higher. And I thought how much it would buy if I won—forty thousand would be plenty enough to get us back to Prime and get us someplace decent to live. I hadn’t lost a hand all night so when he said double or nothing I—"

"He who? Charlie demanded. If it was one of the waiters he should have known better than to play for such high stakes. And he has to understand that there’s no way you can pay such a huge sum of credit. It’s just ridiculous."

It-it wasn’t a waiter. Will hung his head, unwilling to meet her eyes. It was the owner. And I’m pretty sure he expects me to pay.

The owner? You mean the owner of Carnivore? Charlie felt her heart drop like a stone. Will, please tell me you’re joking, she whispered. "Please." The owner of Carnivore, as well as the local platinum mine and most of the other businesses in town, went by the name of Lynx. He was a regular at the Triple Sickle and Charlie knew him well—much better than she wanted to, in fact. He was six foot eight with shoulders so broad he had to turn sideways to fit through a door and a disposition frightening enough to match his outward appearance. But the worst thing about Lynx was the way he made her feel when he touched her.

Charlie closed her eyes briefly, remembering the horribly embarrassing sensations between her legs the last evening he’d visited the bar. The way he’d touched her, looked at her… She’d run to the bathroom as soon as he left, unable to help herself, needing a release so badly she’d almost screamed when she’d locked herself in a stall, pulled up her skirt and parted the wet lips of her pussy with two fingers. Her orgasm had come so fast and hard it left her panting for breath, feeling like she’d run for miles, and all the time she’d been seeing those strange amber eyes with the vertical pupils watching her as she touched herself, as she made herself come… But no, she pushed the humiliating thought firmly away and corrected herself. The worst thing about Lynx was that he wasn’t even human—he was Xorn.

One of the reasons Charlie had hidden them on Hole in the first place was that the mining colony wasn’t at all picky about immigration. Anyone was welcome from the wealthiest citizen of the inner worlds to the lowliest beggar from the fringe colonies. But they also welcomed non-humans, no matter how dangerous or unpredictable the species. And no other non-humans had a reputation as frightening as that of the Xorn. Their savagery was the stuff of legends and as for their mating rituals…well, those weren’t even spoken of in polite society, though they were darkly hinted at. But there were worse rumors than the ones that had to do with their fucking and fighting.

Vampires, Charlie thought, her mouth going suddenly dry. Emotional vampires, feeding

Reviews for The Bargain

[K J2 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Main character was annoying and acted like this was the worst thing that could ever happen to her when she witnessed much worse on several occasions. Couldn’t making it through the rest of the book, imagine getting offered essentially 80,000 dollars just to get eaten out every couple of days and complaining.