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  Harvest hunt

  Ashlin has spent her life trying to move beyond her status as a throwback. Unlike all of the population around her, she has to fight for respect on a daily basis. When being Hunt Master is taken from her once again, she resolves to avoid the hunt, but looking into the eyes of the beast to be hunted, she knows she cannot ignore the intelligence in those silver eyes. Leaving her home before dawn, she waits for the beast to catch up to her and manages to help him transform back into Rumble of the Sector Guard. In that moment her fate is sealed and her life in the stars begins.

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  Harvest Hunt

  Copyright © 2011 Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-55487-977-9

  Cover art by Martine Jardin

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Devine Destinies

  An imprint of eXtasy Books

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  www.devinedestinies.com

  Harvest Hunt

  Sector Guard 22

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  Ashlin Offrey wiped the counter of her family shop. The door swung open and a very excited best friend burst into Ashlin's quiet and orderly world. Winda Kekko was a whirlwind of energy and good will, but she was a little much to take.

  "Ashlin, they are going to announce the hunt master today. Are you excited?"

  Winda smiled and Ashlin tried to keep her expression bright. Every five years, a hunt master was selected and since Ashlin was by far the best hunter her town had, most of the women felt that the honour should go to her. This would be the third time since she turned fourteen that she would be turned down for the honour.

  "I am really excited. I can hardly wait for the announcement." Ashlin folded up the rag she had been using and placed it next to the till.

  "Oh, come on. It has to be this year. Everyone knows that you are the best that the planet has to offer."

  She sighed and tried to remain calm. "And everyone knows that being hunt master goes to the best male hunter. No female has ever been the hunt master. Never. Not one in the history of Endin. No female has ever run the harvest hunt."

  "This year it will be different. The council has a special creature and will release it tomorrow at dawn. Everyone is excited."

  "I will be in the hunt, like I am every year and every harvest hunt, but I am not expecting to be acknowledged in any way. The honour will probably go to Bollik. He has kissed enough ass to get him into the spotlight of the council."

  Winda deflated. "Are you sure?"

  "I am positive. My gear is ready, I will join the hunt tomorrow but I know it will be as a standard participant." She drummed her fingers against the counter.

  "How can you be so calm about this? You are the best, fair and square." Winda looked her square in the eye.

  Ashlin sighed and went to put an arm around her friend. "I am also not a full-breed Endin. You know that it makes me a second-class citizen at the best, an alien among them at the worst."

  Winda looked up at her. Ashlin knew what she was seeing, instead of being small, pale and grey with black hair, Ashlin was tall, gold skinned with green eyes and pointed ears coming out of her brown hair. Being a throwback to a Wyoran in her ancestry was peculiar, but the print and the video records were clear. Five generations ago, her ancestor fell in love while travelling the stars. He returned to Endin with the child of his union with a Wyoran woman who had rejected not only his offer of marriage but their daughter.

  The Wyoran genes had gone dormant with a bit of Endin encouragement, but when Ashlin's father met his match, everyone thought that traces of the other race were gone. Yikil's little daughter proved them wrong.

  "Winda, I am very aware of my place in this community. Folks like me, but I am still Yikil and Ahla's freaky daughter. My enhanced senses don't come in handy unless I am hunting someone or something. Then, I am useful. Otherwise, I am simply the clerk at my family's stationary store. Nothing special, nothing amazing. Just someone who looks like an alien working with her family."

  This was not the first, nor the hundredth time, that she had told her best friend the exact same thing, but Winda had an unconquerable optimism that became tiring after a while.

  Her friend looked as if she was going to argue but instead, she asked, "Isn't it time to close up shop and get ready for the council meeting? They already closed down the spaceport. No more aliens in until after the hunt."

  Ashlin sighed and wandered around the shop, locking up. The council meeting would include a potluck, but she wasn't very hungry.

  Her plain clothing was a contrast to the vibrant colours of the women on the street. They may have grey skin, but the colour palette was in wide use on Endin. Ashlin preferred to wear the colours of the forest that surrounded their city.

  No matter how advanced their tech, if the Endin wanted to keep their planet in operation, they had to maintain a heavy forest cover. The heat was pervasive, but it was the heat of living, growing things.

  It was Ashlin's home, no matter what the folk thought of her. Her blood was Endin, though her body was Wyoran, this was the place she knew with every fibre of her being.

  As they passed other citizens on the walk, folk nodded to her and smiled. One or two asked her if she was excited. "The harvest hunt is always an exciting time."

  The answer was vague enough that they were satisfied and everyone continued on into the main meeting hall.

  The scents of dinner were wafting through the air and the folks stirred restlessly, waiting to see what the prey would be for the five-year hunt.

  Smaller hunts were held every year, but every fifth year marked an eclipse year and a heavy migration of animals that otherwise stayed away from the city. The city needed power for the repulsion field and the largest reduction in surrounding forest that was possible. The harvest was needed to keep the citizens fed and healthy while the animals passed in their two-month migration.

  The tension in the air was unmistakable. An exceptional hunt animal had been promised by the council and tonight they would get to see it.

  Getting a dangerous predator from off world was a tradition as well, to show respect for the planet and its natural inhabitants. Only male animals were selected and only one at a time. They were always captured and killed during the hunt. It was an ancient ritual that had its roots in a civilization that had left almost no traces behind.

  Ashlin took a spot near the back of the room, her greater height gave her an advantage in viewing no matter where she stood or sat.

  In under an hour, the room was full of small grey bodies, everyone eager to find out what kind of animal their hunters would chase through the forests the following day.

  The council head stood and raised his hands to get their attention. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered tonight to celebrate the three days before we lock ourselv
es into our city for two months.

  "Our best and brightest hunters have been entered into a lottery to be hunt master and I am proud to announce that the hunt master for this harvest hunt is…"

  Several folk looked to her and smiled, but she was unable to smile in return.

  "Bollik Gessar."

  Several folks boo'd the appointment, but Bollik's family applauded frantically as he took the podium. The councilman looked flustered, but he quickly raised his hand to the display screen.

  "Here is the beast that we will track tomorrow and possibly be tracked by in return. It is such a fantastic event that we found the most dangerous creature that could be sold to us and brought it here for the hunt. If it survives the three days, we may even return it to its home as a gesture of respect."

  The offer to save the animal was always given, but few if any animals had ever escaped the hunt. It was the one time that her people gave way to their baser instincts and let the riot mentality run amok.

  Ashlin looked at the displayed animal, pacing in his pen and roaring his frustration to the walls, displaying long, elegant teeth and a great deal of intelligence in those silvery eyes of his.

  She lifted her wrist unit and copied the feed so she could examine it at home.

  The crowd was gasping and murmuring at the savagery displayed by the beast. Ashlin slipped out of the council hall and down to the holding pen. Something on the display had caught her attention and she had to ratify her guess with what she thought she saw.

  "Tomos, may I see the beast for tomorrow's hunt?"

  The small, elderly man grinned up at her. "I heard about the hunt-master status. You aren't going to do anything to the beast to ruin the hunt are you?"

  She frowned seriously. "You may think little of me, but I would never defy my people and tradition for the price of a stupid beast."

  He flushed a deep grey. "Of course not. This way."

  They walked down the hall and he turned back and asked, "You won't tell anyone I let you see it, will you?"

  "No, and you won't tell anyone I was here?"

  "Done. Your father raised a good girl, even if you are…what you are."

  She patted the old man on the shoulder. "Thank you. It means a lot."

  Inside the holding chamber, she walked to the edge of the animal's cage. She opened her senses, inhaling a musky male scent, the scent of wildness and a metallic tang that should not have been there. There was also the tiniest bit of electrical flavour in the air.

  The animal rushed the cage and roared at her, but she remained in her kneeling position. When it shook its gold and black head, she cocked her head and tasted the electricity once again. Something was not right with this animal and the eyes were beseeching her for help.

  "I will look into this, beast. You are not what you seem to be and I cannot let them kill you. When you are released, run east as fast as you can. I will follow and help in any way that I can." She got to her feet and left the room, her wrist unit full of the scans she had taken.

  "Thank you, Tomos. Mother and Father are expecting you for the feast on the final day of the hunt."

  "Your mother is an excellent cook."

  Ashlin smiled and patted his shoulder again. "Too bad that wasn't hereditary."

  Without a look back, she returned to her home to do research and figure out what the hell the council had bought to try and hunt.

  Chapter Two

  Kalorda was the only thing that she could think of when she looked at that magnificent beast in her recordings. The fur, the fangs and the intelligence in those huge silver eyes.

  If he was a shifter trapped in his feline body, it would explain the tiny electrodes that were visible on her scans. Someone had locked him into his shifted shape and sold him to a certain death on Endin.

  She set her alarm and prepared her hunt garb for the morning. She also packed a med kit and as much higher-tech healing units as she could fit in it. Rations, maps and water locations are all readied and she quickly let herself sleep for a precious two hours.

  She woke easily, years of training in action. She dressed, booted and geared herself up, creeping along the walls and slipping due east.

  Ashlin ran through the woods and let her true nature show. Her nails lengthened to claws, her teeth sharpened, ears grew more pointed and nose grew wider to increase sensitivity. She tore at the back of her trousers to remove the basting stitch her mother put in place every time Ashlin hunted.

  Her tail was long and helped her balance on the long jumps across brooks, her eyes let her see in the dark and the claws braced her on every curve. She twitched her whiskers in anticipation of the incoming male. If the beast was smart, he would follow her.

  A bubbling laugh escaped from behind her teeth as she ripped through the pre-dawn forest. In a sense, the folk of Endin were soon to be hunting her.

  Running full out in the dark was dangerous, but with her senses turned up to the maximum, she was miles away from the city by dawn. She paused in the reddish light to drink her fill at one of the many streams, then settled back against a rock with her senses wide. Every tiny motion in the woods would register in her ears, her whiskers catching every vibration.

  Two hours later, she jolted awake. Something was approaching rapidly and it was moving at a speed far beyond that of an Endin.

  Flat paws were thudding against the loam of the forest floor and she waited quietly, hiding in the shadows until the beast ran past her, stopped and returned to her.

  "Will you accept my help, Kalorda?"

  He nodded violently and let her lead him at a rapid pace to a nearby cave system.

  She led him deep into a cavern, around corners and past all the regular places that an Endin would think to look.

  "We should have four hours before they find us so we will have to be quick." She struck a series of long-burning flares and placed them around the small chamber she had stopped in. It was cool, dry and the light would not be seen by any casual hunters.

  "Lie down here. You have electrodes in your head and I need to pull them." She unfurled the med kit and took a look at her patient. He was still standing up and he was staring at her body.

  "Is my changed appearance a problem? I am a little different from most Endin. I have Wyoran blood way back and it came roaring to the fore with an extra talent or two in me. My name is Ashlin and I will be performing your brain surgery today."

  He snorted and lay down. She brought a light stick to him and nestled it in his mane, spreading the gold with the black tips until she could see his scalp. She worked for hours, slowly sliding the four probes out and healing the breech, one at a time. There was no opportunity to sedate him, so she could only imagine the self-control it took not to bite her.

  When the last one was out and healed, she slumped down on his back in exhaustion, inhaling deeply of the scent on his mane. Realizing that he might not be comfortable, she dismounted from his broad back and settled near him, watching him as he watched her.

  Her tail lashed impatiently and she could have sworn that he smiled. After what seemed to be an eternity, he started to shimmer and with a few false starts, he regained his natural form, complete with a deep gold uniform.

  He gasped and she handed him a canteen. He drank eagerly and then looked at her with those molten silver eyes. "Thank you."

  She nodded and retracted her teeth. "You are welcome. How are you feeling?"

  "A little peculiar. I have never been stuck in my animal form that long." He looked at her plaintively. "I don't suppose you have any food?"

  She smiled. "What kind of host would I be if I did not have food with me? I hope that it matches your needs."

  Ashlin rummaged around in her bag and handed him her dry hunting rations. He devoured them with enough vigour that she had to ask, "How long since you have eaten?"

  "Four days, since I was caught and the electrodes were wired in. How did you know that I wasn't simply a beast?"

  She blushed, "It was a look in your ey
es. I could see pain, but also determination. Those are not qualities that are normally seen in a vicious predator."

  She sat back and tried to estimate the time they had and the next stop for them. "Can you travel?"

  "I can, but I have to ask, you didn't question my uniform when you saw it."

  She chuckled. "I don't see many alien races here. It could be your actual hide for all I know. It is a uniform?"

  "Yes, of the Sector Guard. My call sign is Rumble and I am an agent out of Station 13." He stretched and she had to admit that in either form, he had a muscular grace that took her breath away.

  "Why were you captured?"

  He grinned. "It was quite clever really. I was on the orbital station around Endin, waiting for the moment when I could land on the planet, when I was jumped and the implants forced me into my lion form."

  "Why was it clever?"

  "There is a death sentence on anyone interfering with the Sector Guard. By having the folk of Endin kill me in the hunt, it was the perfect way of disposing of my body."

  She nodded, "Because the Endin would burn your corpse in celebration of the hunt."

  "Exactly."

  "Why were you waiting to come down? This isn't a big stop on anyone's route."

  "I was told to evaluate a candidate for the Sector Guard outpost on Station 13 and here you are. Out of all the population, only you were smart enough to see the man behind the beast. You also match the description for the woman I was to investigate. Well, aside from certain enhancements."

  She sat back in surprise. "Me? I am simply a hunter of Endin."

  "You are a little more than that. Your kin on Wyora has kept an eye on your family and when you were old enough, they applied to have you brought there for psychic training. The application was denied and in the meantime, you were beginning to grow into your talent."

  "I was."

  "So, as you have not married and have no steady romantic attachments, it was decided that now was the time to offer you a chance to roam the stars, hunting with a greater purpose." His words rang in the small cavern and she blinked at the thought process that it started.