Genmate Forsaken: Genmate Dilemma, #2

By Cara Bristol

A prisoner of love?

In Genmate Forsaken the line between love and hatred thins when Mysk discovers his genmate is a Xeno.

 

Series description:

 

A desire for vengeance keeps 'Topian Edwin Mysk from surrendering to the pain of the destruction of his home world and the loss of the genmate he might have had. One day the Xeno Consortium will know his wrath. Until then, he will pursue his self-imposed mission to locate and reunite the massacre survivors.

 

When he lands on Laxiter 4, he finds the 'Topian settlement abandoned, except for a lone woman. Lala. Their immediate, intense bonding proves she's his genmate, the one female his genetics have chosen for him—the one he'd believed lost forever. With Lala at his side, he resumes his search for the others.

 

But Lala is not the 'Topian he thinks she is. She's a shapeshifting Xeno, a disgraced former general in the consortium military wrongly convicted of helping 'Topian insurgents escape annihilation. Edwin Mysk offers her best chance to locate the escapees and receive a stay of execution—as long as he doesn't discover her secret.

 

Will the gulf between hatred and love, despair and desire, prove too wide for them to cross? Is their genmate bond a tragic mistake?

* * *

The Genmate Dilemma series should be read in order: Genmate Mistaken, Genmate Forsaken, Genmate Imperiled.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cara Bristol
• Release date: Feb 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9781947203372

Book preview

Genmate Forsaken (Genmate Dilemma 2)

Copyright © February 2022 by Cara Bristol

All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this e-book ONLY. No part of this e-book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without prior written permission from the author. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

eISBN: 978-1-947203-37-2

––––––––

Editor: Kate Richards

Copy Editor: Nanette Sipe

Cover Artist: Croco Designs

Formatting by Wizards in Publishing

Published in the United States of America

Cara Bristol Website: http://carabristol.com

This e-book is a work of fiction. While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Related Titles by Cara Bristol

About Cara Bristol

Acknowledgements

In Genmate Forsaken (Genmate Dilemma 2) the line between love and hatred thins when Mysk discovers his genmate is a Xeno.

Series description:

Vengeance led him to love. But will it destroy him, too?

A desire for vengeance keeps ’Topian Edwin Mysk from surrendering to the pain of the destruction of his home world and the loss of the genmate he might have had. One day, the Xeno Consortium will know his wrath. Until then, he will pursue his self-imposed mission to locate and reunite the massacre survivors.

When he lands on Laxiter 4, he finds the ’Topian settlement abandoned, except for a lone woman. Lala. Their immediate, intense bonding proves she’s his genmate, the one female his genetics have chosen for him—the one he’d believed lost forever. With Lala at his side, he resumes his search for the others.

But Lala is not the ’Topian he thinks she is. She’s a shapeshifting Xeno, a disgraced former general in the consortium military wrongly convicted of helping ’Topian insurgents escape annihilation. Edwin Mysk offers her best chance to locate the escapees and receive a stay of execution—as long as he doesn’t discover her secret.

Will the gulf between hatred and love, despair and desire, prove too wide for them to cross? Is their genmate bond a tragic mistake?

Genmate Forsaken

By

Cara Bristol

Chapter One

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Mysk aimed his .45 semiautomatic at the Xeno woman’s face. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t blow your fucking head off.

Because we’re genmates. Her voice quavered.

Shut up! No Xeno could be his genmate. As if he’d swallowed broken glass, horror and betrayal cut from the inside out. Last night he’d gone to bed with a Verital woman and awakened in the brutal morning light to discover the enemy sleeping beside him. Don’t you dare say that to me!

Kill her. Kill her now. His finger poised on the trigger. Start talking. How many others are with you?

Just me. I’m alone.

Don’t lie to me! He peered down the weapon’s sight. One bullet. That’s all it would take.

Please...don’t.

How dare she beg for her life after what her people had done? They’d annihilated an entire population, killed his sister, and she had the audacity to beg for her life? She expected mercy? Where was the mercy for the people burned alive when the Xenos ignited the atmosphere on ’Topia?

It’s not what you think, she said.

"It’s exactly what I think." He’d caught himself a Xeno spy. He circled, taking in her scaly blue skin and ridged spine extending into a thick tail. Vertical pupils bifurcated her amber eyes.

How could he have forgotten Xenos were shapeshifters? Jag had tried to warn him, suggesting the lone woman on Laxiter could be a Xeno, but as soon as he’d seen her, his mating glands had swelled. Jag’s warning and Beak’s anomalous sensor results had flown from his head.

She is not my genmate. It didn’t matter what his genetics said. This...this Xeno scum could not be his genmate.

Naked, she stood motionless, except for the trembling. She should be scared. I intended to tell you the truth. Tears continued to leak from her eyes, leaving dark-blue streaks on her cheeks. She even cried blue. Where were the tears for the millions the consortium had murdered?

Before or after we fuc— He couldn’t say the word. Last night he’d believed an impossible dream had come true. He’d anticipated spending a long, happy life with her. And then, in the morning...he’d awakened to a living nightmare. In shock, he hadn’t believed his eyes at first. It couldn’t be true. Couldn’t be. Not only had she fooled him, she’d personified a Verital, a member of his own subspecies. The worst insult to an egregious injury.

No wonder she’d refused to communicate telepathically or use the med scanner.

I feared if you saw me, you’d kill me, she said.

Well, you were right about that. He caressed the trigger. Where are the rest of your kind? he repeated. The consortium would not send a lone female to Laxiter 4.

There are no others.

He stepped forward and pressed the barrel of the gun to her forehead. Don’t. Fucking. Lie. To. Me.

She shook so hard, the barrel stuttered against her skin. I-I-I was sent here to scout. The High Council had suspected that some...some ’Topians survived the bombardment.

Fuck, I knew it. All along, that had been his greatest fear—that the Xeno Consortium would figure out there were survivors and would hunt them down until they eliminated every single one. But getting the confirmation devastated him. While acting as if a grave threat existed, secretly he’d hoped otherwise.

It’s...it’s only me.

Try again. He shoved the barrel harder against her forehead. How many others are on the planet’s surface? How many are on your ship?

She swallowed. If you’re going to kill me when I tell you the truth, then kill me now. Get it over with.

I’m going to kill you because you’re Xeno.

Then do it if you hate me so much.

Nothing would give me greater pleasure, he said.

Her eyes met his with a brazen, accusing glare. I was sent alone to scout. I have a small ship. It’s just me and an AI.

Like picking wheat from chaff, he’d separate the threads of truth from the bullshit later. First, he had to get her to dump it all out. And if you found a colony, then what?

My orders were to report settlements to the High Council—but I’m not going to do that! she cried.

You’re fucking right you’re not going to do that. Kill her. He still had the gun pressed to her head. He caressed the trigger. Not yet.

He’d never deliberately terrorized anyone before, certainly not a female, worse—the female to whom his genetics had bonded him. By some horrible biological fuckery, he shared a mating gene with the enemy. Xenos lied—DNA didn’t. His mating glands had activated, swelled, and throbbed the instant he’d encountered her.

Lala swallowed. Her limbs trembled, pricking his conscience, as if he were the monster.

He stepped back but kept the gun aimed at her face.

Her bare breasts rose and fell with her exhalation of relief.

Oh, don’t be relieved. I’m not done with you yet. Not by a long shot.

Maybe he wouldn’t kill her...maybe he could use her. He raked his gaze over her naked form. A smooth patch, like a necklace of scar tissue, encircled her throat. He’d noticed it when she pretended to be a Verital, but it was more prominent now. He still couldn’t believe he’d had sex with her. His mating glands still ached. Goddamn his genetics. When did you land?

Several hours before you did.

Truth or lie? Truth probably. The Intrepid’s scanners had picked up residue from a Xeno ship. It hadn’t been long gone.

Where’s your ship now? Had she been left behind?

Rayo moved it to the far side of Laxiter to wait out the solar storm.

Fuck. That’s where the Intrepid had gone. Shit. With the solar storm casting out EMPs, all electronics were disabled. He couldn’t warn them. It was too late anyway. They’d probably encountered the Xeno ship by now. Sharp-eyed Beak and a crafty, decisive Jag would figure out what to do. But if something bad happened to them, he wouldn’t rest until he avenged their deaths.

You said you were alone, he accused.

I am alone.

Who’s Rayo?

My AI.

How many ’Topians did you encounter on Laxiter?

"None. I only just got here like you did. I don’t have proof that they are here. My AI scanned the planet, but because of the solar storm and the composition of Laxiter’s crust, he couldn’t get a good read."

"So everything you said about the