Forbidden Fruit Read online

  FORBIDDEN FRUIT

  by

  Melanie Thompson

  TORRID BOOKS

  www.torridbooks.com

  Published by

  TORRID BOOKS

  www.torridbooks.com

  An Imprint of Whiskey Creek Press LLC

  Copyright © 2016 by Melanie Thompson

  Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 (five) years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  ISBN 978-1-68146-486-2

  Credits

  Cover Artist: Kris Norris

  Editor: Fran Mathieson

  Printed in the United States of America

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Other Books

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Other Books by Author Available at Torrid Books:

  www.torridbooks.com

  Torrid Books

  Erotic Flights of Fantasy Books I and II

  Cupcake Boys

  The Cowboys and the Cupcakes

  The Telltale Heart

  Werewolf for Hire Series

  Book I: Pushing Up Daisies

  Book II: The Princess and the Sabra

  Secrets Series

  Book I: The Secret, the Shifter, and the Sex-Slave Shanghai

  Book II: The Secret of the Bloodstones

  Dedication

  To my daughter Melanie Fraser, who has been my cowriter, my friend, and an inspiration.

  Chapter 1

  “Get off your ass, girl.” As Elder Jonas snarled at Tamara, he cracked his bullwhip. Weary, Tamara pushed herself off the rotten log and returned to the line of young women, many from far parts of the galaxy and beyond, who labored to pull vines out of the tall trees. When the vines were cleared, another Ender cut the giant tree down using an old-fashioned, gas powered saw. The women scrambled for safety as the enormous tree crashed to the ground, creating more work for the women.

  “I hate to see the trees fall,” Tamara said to Renate, her partner on the line.

  “As do I, my friend. So majestic, they are and so beautiful. I love the gold and blue foliage.” Renate was a Frangani from the planet Fotallia. Her golden skin glowed in the late afternoon sun.

  The crew of ten women worked and sweated to clear the broken shrubs and branches from under and around the fallen forest giant. A tree covered with dark red fruit lay in their path. Renate pushed Tamara away. “Elder Samuel says the fruit of this tree is deadly, Tamara. Don’t touch it. When you eat it you go insane, and the Elders will have you destroyed.”

  Renate called Elder Jonas over and he had one of the male slaves pull the tree of poisonous fruit off to the side so the women could continue to work. They chopped and hauled branches and debris until dark. Jonas stopped beside them as Tamara stood tall and wiped the sweat from her eyes with the edge of her coarse tunic.

  The huge hairy elder leered down at Tamara. Being shorter than anyone was a new experience for her. She was more than sixteen hands tall. The lecherous smile glowing from inside the man’s thick black beard included Renate. “There will be a Choosing tomorrow.” He reached one calloused hand out to stroke the side of Tamara’s face. “If allowed, I will choose you.”

  Tamara’s heart sank. The touch of this hairy beast of a man would surely drive her as insane as eating the poisoned fruit. And if that wasn’t enough, the life of an Ender woman was harsh and short. They either died in childbirth or worked themselves to death keeping house on this primitive planet.

  Enders had abandoned their old world, believing it too sunk in depravity to survive. They’d bought this world, Planet 4328, in an auction because it was cleared by Space Exploration to be uninhabited by indigenous life forms rating over a one on the intelligence scale and heavily forested. Devoid of minerals of any value, it had also been cheap.

  The Enders formed a society which avoided all human contact save the slave sellers who landed three times a year in Baal-Hazor, the only city. With no entertainment in the city for crew members, the ships stayed only to refuel and load their cargo bays with fragrant cortan wood, the only product the Enders exported.

  Back in the log structure the slaves called home, Tamara cuddled close to Renate. “If Jonas takes me in the Choosing, I shall end my miserable existence.”

  Renate kissed Tamara’s cheek. “No, life is sacred to all; do not make this choice, my cherished friend.”

  Tears leaked out of Tamara’s golden eyes. She was a Zinti. Her skin was light blue, her eyes slanted. Her hair also golden and down to her knees, was braided into a long queue. She was a beautiful exotic creature with a strong desire for the freedom her people loved. She could not bear to live under the strict rules of the Enders for long. Life would have no meaning. When the rest of the women slaves filed out of the cabin for chow, Renate nudged Tamara. “Let us follow them and eat,” she whispered in Tamara’s pointed ear.

  Tamara shook her head. “I am in too much distress. Go without me.”

  Renate smiled. “If you wish to spurn nourishment, let us instead enjoy other pleasures.” Her hand slid under the waistband of Tamara’s coarse, baggy trousers seeking the warmth of her sex.

  It was close to the second of this world’s full moons. Both moons in the sky had a powerful effect on Tamara’s sexual desires. Her race was strongly affected by lunar phases. Tamara obediently opened her legs. The comfort offered by Renate’s advances was alluring. She turned and took the smaller woman in her embrace. Renate’s breasts were small, but the nipples long. She stroked them until Renate’s breath quickened. The golden woman’s fingers invaded Tamara’s tight sex and slid into her coital opening.

  Renate drew Tamara’s face close and they kissed. Renate’s tongue was long and pointed. She sucked and licked Tamara’s face and lips until they were both panting. Tamara pushed Renate back and stripped off her trousers. She’d never seen Renate’s sex organs before. When she spread Renate’s outer folds, a tube-like organ unfolded from the many moist petals hiding inside the pink interior. Renate pushed Tamara’s face toward it. “Suck my yonis,” she moaned.

  Tamara scented Renate’s arousal. The odor tickled her nostrils and fueled her own excitement. She took the yonis in her hand and thrust her tongue into the opening at the end. Renate grabbed a pillow and howled into it as Tamara sucked and licked. When her climatic spasm happened, thick liquid seeped from the opening of Renate’s yonis and Tamara fell back gasping with need. Renate rose and fell on Tamara’s sex. That long pointed tongue invaded all of Tamara’s aching crevasses drawing her deep into one of the strongest spasms Tamara had ever experienced.

  As they pulled their rough clothing on, Tamara smiled. “Thank you for easing my mind for a small time. Your body is delightfully different and your scent intoxicating.”

  Renate pulled her close. “The Frangani are egg layers. The yonis is but a canal for the male to insert pollinating agents into our ovary. It is
very sensitive as you may have noticed.”

  Tamara nodded, her mind returning to the horror of tomorrow’s Choosing. “I can’t stay here, Renate. If I don’t end my life, then I must run away. Tonight, after the lights are turned out and the generators off, I am going to escape. Come with me.”

  “I must not,” Renate whispered. “I fear the forest. My people have always lived in cities, many together. I could not bear being so isolated. I would die.”

  “Then you must stay and I must go,” Tamara said as she sighed. “I would die rather than lie under the rutting body of Elder Jonas.”

  Renate left quickly, running to make the last minutes of meal time. Food was plain but nourishing amongst the Enders, as was everything. Their accommodations were simple and primitive, their clothing designed mostly for modesty and simplicity. Tamara pulled on her trousers, suddenly in a hurry. She’d decided not to wait for Renate to return. She would leave now while the Enders were at prayer or eating and the slave cabin was empty. It would take them a long time to notice her absence if Renate, who shared her bunk, did not report it.

  Once out of the cabin, she had to run across a wide expanse of the compound totally open. The ground beneath her rope sandals had been beaten smooth by the passage of many feet. All of the Enders must be in the dining hall or the church. Enders prayed a lot. Tamara had some experience with religions of all kinds. She’d spent much time in a slave pen on Argon 4. Slaves, terrified for their future, often prayed to whatever deity they worshipped. The Zinti did not worship one god. They worshipped the earth and the sun and growing things. They worshipped the spirit of life inside every living creature.

  Tamara slipped across the open area. Because the Enders were so stingy with energy, there were no outside lights. This world’s sun had set and the two moons had risen. The largest hovered on the horizon barely visible behind the tall trees of the nearby forest. The smaller moon was high in the sky shedding cool blue light across the compound. Tamara had no trouble seeing in the dark. Her eyes picked up the smallest amounts of light. The moonlight might as well have been full day.

  When she reached the compound’s high fence, she slipped toward the gate. The fence was made from logs cut into eight foot lengths placed next to each other. The smell of the conti wood filled her nostrils. When she lifted her head and sniffed, she scented the odor of an Ender. He must be guarding the gate. Enders rarely bathed. They said it was an unnecessary luxury. It made them easy to locate even on the darkest night.

  Tamara grabbed her long braid and held it ready. She crept close to the Ender who was sitting on a stump dozing. The braid made a good choking cord. She wrapped it around the Ender male’s neck and pulled hard. He was young or she wouldn’t have had the power to overcome his thrashing. In seconds, his efforts to loosen her makeshift garrote were over and he lay in her arms unconscious. The desire to kill him rose in her. The Zinti were warlike, but she decided angering the Enders would just make their desire to apprehend her worse. She left him on the ground and slid the gate wide.

  Freedom! Tamara raced into the forest, her heart filled with the blissful joy of escaping the hateful Ender slave pen. The forest was dark; even the light from the moons was hidden behind the crowns of the forest giants. There was no noise, and the quiet in such a place seemed strange and unnatural.

  Woods like this should teem with life and abound with insects and small creatures as well as large predators. Why was there so little life on this planet? It was hospitable with warm temperatures at this latitude and plenty of water. The lack of living creatures was a puzzle. If life once existed, where had it gone? Had they all died?

  After running as fast as she could through the thick underbrush and across the soft mat of decomposing leaves under the tall trees, she felt like she had covered enough ground to rest. She’d reached a small creek, the water rippling over round stones covered with strange green vegetation. The moonlight glinted off small water creatures flitting in and out of the shadows created by the rocks. At least there was aquatic life. She sat on one of the rocks and became aware of a seductive odor coming from the small trees overhanging the water. The smell was fruity and sweet and perfumed like blooming flowers. When she looked closely, she saw they were the fruit trees Renate had warned her about.

  The sound of howling, yipping dogs startled her. They knew she was gone and had set their huge hunting wolves on her trail. The wolves were known to be vicious and dedicated trackers. Stories of them tearing runaway slaves to pieces and devouring them had circulated among the slaves, but Tamara had never seen their pens and didn’t believe they existed. What a terrible mistake.

  She took off into the forest, running for her very life. Thorny brush grabbed at her coarse tunic and tore her skin as she ran headless of direction. Fear of the wolves behind her drove her to run without thinking or using her intelligence. She crossed the stream and hit a small trail through the undergrowth. It looked like a game trail, but there was no game in this forest. What could have made it? She didn’t have time to question how the trail originated; she just ran. When she was suddenly stopped by an enormous log wall, she realized she’d gotten turned around in the forest and returned to the Ender compound. The wolves howled and barked behind her, closing in on her scent.

  Desperate, she ran back into the deep woods, still heading away from the yipping trackers. She found a massive tree and started climbing. Her people often lived in arboreal homes. Tree climbing was learned by the Zinti at an early age. She used her long toes and fingers to grip the rough bark and went straight up without the aid of branches. The trunk of a conti tree was straight until the top where the leafy crown spread a welcoming net. She clambered all the way to the top where she hoped the Enders would not find her.

  Chapter 2

  When Renate got back to her bunk and discovered Tamara gone, she made a terrible mistake. She cried out. One of her neighbors, a Zanusian woman name P’ani, with broad shoulders and long crimson hair, shouted for the guards to come. Everyone knew P’ani desired one of the Ender males, a youth named Gideon. He sometimes snuck into the slave cabin and they bundled under the sheets. Now, she set up a warning howl calling the guard into the cabin. Tamara’s absence was immediately reported and Renate hauled out to face accusations by P’ani that she had aided Tamara and then covered up her escape by remaining silent.

  A huge hairy Ender grabbed Renate’s arm and dragged her into the center of the compound. Elder Jonas stood tall and sneering as she was forced to her knees. “Tear the harlot’s clothing away. She shall be whipped. Twenty lashes for this woman who would betray her saviors.”

  Shaking with terror, Renate bowed her head as rough hands tore away her clothing. She fell when they pushed her toward the whipping post and rolled onto her back. Her legs fell open and her yonis became visible. Sharply drawn breaths told her it had been seen.

  “She is not a woman,” one of the Ender females gasped. “Look ye, she has man parts.”

  Elder Jonas pushed her legs open and bent down to stare. His eyes narrowed as he backed away. “Indeed, this person is an abomination. She seems to be a woman, but inside her womanly parts hides the organ of a man. She must be banished before we become tarnished by her sin. Send her into the woods and set the wolves to track the escaped woman. We need her. We are now one short for the Choosing. Without ten, there can be no Choosing until we can find a suitable woman to fill the numbers.”

  He pointed a long, thick finger at Renate who knelt on the bare ground desperately trying to cover herself with her hands. “You are an abomination in my sight. A succubus, a tempter of men to delight in your perverted charms. God will punish you for trying to pass yourself off as a woman.”

  Two Enders picked her up under her arms and dragged her to the gate. They threw her into the woods where she lay in a stupor of shock while the wolves ran by, noses to the ground as they searched for Tamara’s scent. When they picked it up, they began howling and raced off into the woods followed by three male Enders
carrying blasters. They ignored her as though she were invisible. When they were gone, she slowly rose and began making a wobbly progress into the forest.

  * * * *

  Tamara sat in the tree and watched the gate of the compound. Surely, they would never expect her to double back and hide so close to the place she’d escaped from. The sound of the wolves was far away. Maybe they’d lost her scent when she ran through the creek. Or maybe they were just following her erratic progress through the thick forest. It was so easy to get turned around.

  While she huddled there, she examined the compound now lit by two moons. It was almost like the sun had risen except everything was lit in bright blue. She wondered where Renate was and hoped her friend was safe in her bunk. She saw the whipping post in the center of the open space between the buildings. She spotted the kennels where the wolves were kept and shuddered. A small pile of clothing lay next to the whipping post. That seemed strange. She closed her eyes and dozed as she listened for the wolves. They’d fallen silent. Maybe they’d lost her scent and she was safe.

  Rustling far below her perch in the tree top caught her attention. Whimpering, almost too low to hear rose from a nearby clump of bushes. As she examined it, the branches began waving wildly and Renate stumbled into the small clearing at the base of her tree. She was sobbing and whimpering and completely naked.

  Tamara stood up and scanned what she could see. The wolves were silent. Maybe they were too far away for her to hear. Her heart pounded wildly. She had to rescue Renate. It was a huge risk, climbing out of her tree, but she knew in her heart that Renate was out here naked because of her. She could not abandon her friend.

  Climbing down was just as difficult as climbing up. She carefully descended and slipped into thick brush. Following Renate’s alluring scent, she pushed through the foliage. Renate had fallen to the forest floor in a small clearing. Her golden skin was scratched and bleeding the peculiar brownish blood of her race. “Renate,” Tamara hissed.