The Virgin Hunt Games, Volume 2

By Mel Teshco

EARTH, YEAR 2328

One innocent virgin. One jaded lothario. One life and death Games, a dazzling fortune to the winner. But first one must survive...

Tamsin Mercedes has led a charmed life. Her loving parents, scientists who research groundbreaking drugs, have given her everything she desires...until evil investors blackmail them to develop new, highly-addictive drugs. Tamsin won’t have it. Sacrificing her innocence as a Hunted in the Virgin Hunt Games is a small price to pay them off. But first she must win...

Sex-trafficked in his youth by his drug-addicted mother, Landry Marx now knows well how to please a woman physically. But he has yet to find a woman he connects with on an emotional level…until he meets his assigned Hunted in the infamous Virgin Hunt Games. Tamsin is incredible, their chemistry explosive, and the more he gets to know her the more his guard comes down.

But what happens when Landry discovers Tamsin's parents made the drug that killed his mother...

Each book in the Virgin Hunt Games series is STANDALONE:
* The Virgin Hunt Games, Volume 1
* The Virgin Hunt Games, Volume 2
* The Virgin Hunt Games, Volume 3
* The Virgin Hunt Games, Volume 4

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Feb 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781949038378

Mel Teshco

Mel Teshco lives in the beautiful country of QLD Australia, where the open spaces of her acreage, fondly called 'the block', gives her room to breathe. When she isn't writing or dreaming of writing, she is often found gazing out the window at the surrounding mountains and thinking how very lucky she is. With one semi-patient husband, three gorgeous girls, two fat horses, one crazy Belgian shepherd and three cats who run the house, writing has (mostly) kept her sane.

Book preview

To my family for their patience while I lost myself in the VHG worlds.

Chapter One

The Towerstone Amphitheater

Earth, year 2328

Day One of the Virgin Hunt Games

The Virgin Hunt Games countdown began, and the crowd’s roar of excitement shook the amphitheater.

Ten! Nine!

Adrenaline flooded through Tamsin Mercedes’ whole body and she fought for breath as her lungs tightened. Oh God. This was it.

Tamsin was standing with the other hunted on one of the twin platforms that cantilevered out from the huge six-story tower where the Games would take place. On the other platform the ten male hunters stood tall and impressive, their muscles straining and arousals bulging as they threw the women lewd glances. Behind them, the tower loomed ominously. Each level inside the tower was fitted out to be a different kind of intricate, spectacular setting, and each was filled with perilous things—both inanimate and alive—deadly hazards that the contestants had to face and defeat—or die trying.

That was in addition to the hunt itself. A hunt in which the warrior males came after the females for one sole purpose—taking their virginity.

The Virgin Hunt Games had been established in the mid-twenty-second century by the UOC—the United Olympic Committee—after the old Olympic Games were terminated for being too boring for the jaded audiences of the day.

The rules of the Games were fairly complex, but basically, each hunter was assigned his hunted through a random drawing. A hunter who fucked his hunted before having sex with any other contestant won massive credits. And if a hunted was able to preserve her virginity she won equally massive credits. But if she lost her virginity, she was able to earn credits by fucking any hunter who hadn’t claimed his drawn hunted. Generous extra credits were given to all contestants for orgasms and kink. The person with the most credits—and who was still alive—won.

The idea was to royally entertain the eager screener audience—billions and billions of beings throughout the universe would be glued to their viewers for the next seven days, watching the participants have sex…or die. Ratings and wagering would be through the roof.

Tamsin swiped a shaky, damp hand down her blue singlet top and dark denim shorts. She figured the betting on her was probably pretty thin, given her low odds of winning. Hell, she couldn’t believe she was actually doing this. She was a twenty-year-old virgin—a human—with nothing more compelling to show for herself than sheer willpower.

Thanks to parents whose legit pharma company had somehow landed them in business with the wrong people. Bad people—shady investors who relied heavily on drug addicts to make huge-ass profits.

Her stomach did a slow roll. She’d do anything to get her family out of the shit, which was why she desperately wanted to win these Games—so she could pay off those damn investors and her mom and dad could work on making drugs that saved people’s lives instead of making them addicts. Killing people had never been her parents’ plan for their newest wonder drug. Her mother and father had both been totally horrified at the side effect, and had done everything they could to get out from under those investors’ yoke and halt distribution. Unfortunately, money was the only thing that spoke to those assholes. And money was the one thing her family didn’t have.

But Tamsin planned to change that. The next seven days would determine her entire future…and that of her parents. She’d do anything to end their guilt and give them back their self-respect, along with regaining control over their own company.

Including sacrificing her sexual innocence.

Eight! Seven!

She blew some loose strands of auburn hair from her eyes. The Games’ hairdresser hadn’t even tried to tame her riot of curls…thank goodness. Her hand fisted as she resisted touching the small packet of drugs that she’d pinned at her nape under her hair. As much as it pained her to resort to underhanded tactics, she’d use her knowledge of drugs if it came down to winning or losing these Games.

With her pathetic human strength and her lack of any special physical or mental attributes, she was left with no choice. Many of the aliens who were her fellow contestants—both hunters and hunted—were warriors gifted with unique powers. Even the winning hunted from the last Games—the first woman ever to win—was a human defective who possessed the amazing gift of invisibility.

Tamsin had nothing.

Six! Five!

Her heart stuttered as she lifted her gaze from the platform where she and the other nine female virgins stood frozen with a heady mixture of fear and anticipation. Her eyes skimmed to the platform on the other side of the tower where the ten male hunters waited impatiently to start the pursuit. Each of them was even hungrier than she to win the Games.

She narrowed her eyes. None more so, apparently, than the beautiful Leshonxa male, Landry Marx, who’d drawn her name as his mate. She’d bet the bastard would do whatever was necessary to take her virginity so he alone would be the victor. She was only glad every hunted had been injected with birth control and every contestant vaccinated against potential diseases. She had nothing to worry about now except the sex itself.

Four! Three!

She crossed her arms and lifted her chin. That Landry was gorgeous irked her to no end. She’d much prefer to be hunted by someone not quite so easy on the eyes, someone who didn’t set off butterflies in her stomach. He was as tall as the other hunters, but not as seriously muscled. He looked whipcord strong, lean, and athletic. And killer handsome.

But if he thought for even one second she’d hand over her innocence to him, he could think again. The longer she kept her hymen intact, the more credits she’d bank, and the easier it’d be to get her parents out of trouble.

But even before the commentators had introduced Landry and announced she was his drawn mate for the duration of the Games, she’d realized he wasn’t some wet-behind-the-ears boy she could wrap around her little finger. He was rumored to be as lethal as he was good-looking, a Greek god whose dark eyes she could have fallen into if they weren’t so damn sharp. The way he watched her, it was as if he could perceive her every thought and discern her every flaw.

She didn’t want that in a hunter or in a man. Once the seven days of the Games were over, she’d be rich and single, counting what was left of her money after paying off her parents’ blackmailers and living a stress-free, easy life.

Two! One!

Landry brushed his big hand over the base of his throat, his dark gray eyes gleaming as he curled his lips into a semblance of a smile. His lithe yet powerful body bunched in readiness, his jeans and black T-shirt somehow highlighting his fierce magnificence. With his shoulder-length dark hair and olive skin, he was nothing short of a panther prepared to hunt…to pounce.

She was definitely glad the hunted would have a ten minute head start. Because she had a feeling she’d need every minute of it to evade him.

"Go!"

An explosion of flame burst into life inside a huge urn on the tower’s roof. Tamsin shot into a sprint and soon left the other women behind. If there was one thing she was good at, it was running.

Her strategy was to get as far from everyone else as possible and make use of the extra time to thoroughly examine her chosen level and work out a plan of evasion.

Up until now she’d been too nervous to follow the mindless repartee of the two legendary commentators, Jackson and Rebecca—the same celebs who’d presented the last four Games. But Tamsin knew she really should start paying attention to what they were saying. Sometimes their banter contained hints and clues for the contestants—both the good kind and the bad. Though mostly it was just annoying chitchat.

I’m so excited about these Games, Jackson, Rebecca said, her voice sounding monotone through the earpiece implanted inside Tamsin’s ear.

All the contestants had a similar device so they could listen to whatever Jackson and Rebecca wanted them to hear. It was all part of the Games’ strategy.

So am I, Rebecca. What I’m most looking forward to is which hunters and hunted will emerge from the group, like wheat separated from the chaff.

Giggle. If there’s one thing these Games do quickly, it’s reveal who is strong and who is weak. The question is, who will rise above them all? I can’t wait to find out!

The voices in her earpiece stopped as Tamsin raced across the first floor. Doors had opened up behind the holding room where she and the other hunted had waited earlier, revealing what appeared to be a classroom. No, lots of classrooms. She raced between desks and plastic chairs, then pushed through partitioned curtains into the next classroom.

The tower’s grime-spotted stone walls were riddled with damp and mildew, and a dull brown carpet covered the concrete floor, smelling musty. At least it muted the clack-clack of her flat-heeled ankle boots as she ran.

Most of the desks were bare, while others overflowed with textbooks, rulers, and notepads. But no pencils or pens.

Huh. How convenient.

In the last Games, one of the hunted, Melody, had stabbed a pencil through a hunter’s hand. There’d clearly be no such weapons for any of the hunted this time around. Too bad.

Bursting through the open doors of the last classroom, she sprinted up a set of stairs that took her to the next floor. Seconds later she burst through an arched doorway that opened onto level two. Her steps faltered, and she came to a standstill while she took stock.

Bloody hell. After the classroom level, this was like being on another world. The floor was covered in woodchips where old fashioned swings, seesaws, slides, and monkey bars were just some of the equipment featured in a playground. There was even a big metal spinning disk with handle-holds.

It might not have looked so eerie if there were actually children making use of the playground and if one of the swings wasn’t creaking back and forth as though someone had just jumped off and left it moving on its own.

Footsteps sounded behind her, and she spun around to see two hunted running through the doorway. Her muscles unlocked and tension eased as the identical alien twins, Hadda and Kary, also stopped to assess the level.

Both the Tenx siblings were wearing identical wide-legged camouflage-brown pants and black short-sleeved tops, and their long, blue-black hair was twisted into hundreds of individual braids. It would have been impossible to tell them apart if not for the different colors of their fingernails. That was how all the hunted could be identified by their hunter mates.

Tamsin glanced down at her own blue fingernails that matched her to Landry. She nodded to the sisters. How lucky for them to have each other’s backs.

Hadda, her yellow fingernails flashing, hissed to Kary, You always get the best of everything. Even your hunter is hot. You can at least let me decide where we’ll hide.

Get zapped! Kary snapped back. It’s not my fault I was matched with Goliath. Just as it’s not my fault I was firstborn. I didn’t ask for it.

Yeah well, you got it, didn’t you, big sister?

Tamsin left the twins to their spat. As an only child, she wasn’t used to sibling rivalry and wasn’t about to make time for it now. She wouldn’t squander even one of her ten minutes’ head start.

She dragged a hand through the springy bounce of her long, unbound hair. She was definitely better off alone. Besides, who’d want Goliath as her mate? The long-haired, bearded male was frigging huge, which was why he’d been nicknamed Goliath. The hunter could probably snap Kary’s neck with one hand. As for his dick, for Kary’s sake, Tamsin only hoped it didn’t match the rest of him.

Breaking into a jog, she continued through the playground, stopping only to push her toe into the woodchip shavings. Was it deep enough to bury beneath and stay concealed? She glanced around. Perhaps she could break a piece of pipe off the playground equipment and use it like a snorkel to breathe through.

She shook her head and broke into a run toward a line of weeping willow trees, where a patch of green lawn made the area look close to idyllic. Yeah, right. Nothing was idyllic in the Virgin Hunt Games. Even the trees would cast eerie shadows at night. Though…without a moon or stars, just how dark would it get inside this tower?

She remembered the last contestants hating the dark. But it was hard to know the true extent of what they faced when watching on a screener, and with the advantage of night vision cameras casting light on their every move.

Shivering with premonition, she turned away and took the stairs to floor three, aware of the twins following her. She halted on the next level, wrinkling her nose as she looked around with narrowed eyes.

Disgusting.

Piles of rubbish covered the floor. Garbage that their ancestors had once negligently cast away, littering Mother Earth as though she was little more than a trash heap. Plastics, bottles, cans, papers, cardboard, and metal bits and pieces lay strewn over one another. But even worse were the rotting meat and food scraps.

The device in her ear activated yet again, and Jackson said, It’s all too apparent one of our hunted is disgusted by what she sees, but this is a stark reminder of the blight to our planet, where our lands and sea are still choked with our forebears’ garbage.

That’s right, Jackson. I guess it’s Mother Nature’s turn now to get her revenge.

Though nothing more was said in her earpiece, Tamsin shivered at the malicious undercurrents. It was amazing how much could be sensed even without the different pitches in voice.

Taking a deep, steadying breath, she crept across the stinking mass of junk, thankful for her flat, thick-soled ankle boots. Then something went pop beneath her boot.

Oh. Shit.

Chapter Two

Kary gasped. Get back!

Hadda slapped her sibling’s shoulder. "Do you want our competition to win?"

But with Tamsin’s every muscle fixed in place and cold fingers of dread slipping down her spine, she’d be victor of nothing and lost to her own fears.

When she finally looked down, her stomach pitched at seeing the now dead wnagla grub that had been chomping its way through the stinking detritus. Most everyone knew about the Malanish native bug. It was a large, highly toxic beetle larva that feasted on anything…living or dead. The grub had no known predators, for good