Kuldrir, the Cold E-Book

Nova Edwins

• Herausgeber: Black Umbrella Publishing
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: Horgerians
• Sprache: Deutsch

Seitenzahl: 109

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Aliens have abducted me from Earth—I think. Being almost blind, I can only guess who took me and where exactly I am right now. Since humans seem to be mere merchandise to these aliens, they certainly have no use for someone like me, so my best and only plan is to keep my secret for as long as I can. If I pretend that I can see, the aliens hopefully won't leave me behind to fend for myself. Because alone, I'll be completely lost in this unknown and possibly dangerous environment . . . Slightly dark sci-fi romance with a happy ending.

Leseprobe

KULDRIR, THE COLD

HORGERIANS

BOOK 6

NOVA EDWINS

A DARK SCI-FI ROMANCE

CONTENTS

Free Prequel

Kuldrir, the Cold

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

About Nova Edwins

FREE PREQUEL

Planet Earth as I knew it no longer exists, and I have no choice but to leave. However, I have only one chance of starting over: convincing someone with a spaceship that it's worth taking me with them.

When I hear the rumor that a Horgerian man will be leaving for his home planet Horgerion fairly soon, I decide to throw myself at him—shamelessly.

There are a few minor obstacles, though:

I'm not the only woman with this idea.

I know nothing about Horgerians or the planet Horgerion.

And when I find out that Horgerians like to eat human flesh, it's already too late ...

This short story contains a touch of the apocalypse, an unexpected savior, and a desperate heroine who is prepared to do (almost) anything.

click here to download for free

KULDRIR, THE COLD

Aliens have abducted me from Earth—I think. Being almost blind, I can only guess who took me and where exactly I am right now.

Since humans seem to be mere merchandise to these aliens, they certainly have no use for someone like me, so my best and only plan is to keep my secret for as long as I can. If I pretend that I can see, the aliens hopefully won't leave me behind to fend for myself.

Because alone, I'll be completely lost in this unknown and possibly dangerous environment . . .

Slightly dark sci-fi romance with a happy ending.

1

LORY

"Someone's coming," my cellmate hissed next to me, making me nervous immediately.

I turned my head to her and squinted, but I might just as well not have bothered. With my remaining eyesight, all I could make out was that it was bright and that two . . . black blobs were approaching. One of them was much larger and wider than the other, but that was pretty much all I could discern. It had never been particularly amazing to have just five percent eyesight, but right now it seriously sucked.

I slid deeper into the cage until I could feel the cold metal bars at my back and listened as carefully as I could.

My cellmate touched my hand, squeezing it encouragingly—I could feel the rough texture of the scales that seemed to cover all of her body, including her long fingers. She made a soft and placating sound, and I wished I had told her earlier how helpful she had been. Perhaps it was too late now.

I tried my best to keep my breathing shallow and quiet. For one thing, I didn't want to give away how panicked I actually was, and for another, one of the two silhouettes smelled kind of sour.

The smell had been my first clue that I was no longer home. I didn't know exactly what had happened, but I had fallen asleep in my bed, only to wake up in this cold and drafty place.

Scared to death, I had felt for anything until I had touched a scaly leg—the leg of my cellmate, even though we were sitting in a cage rather than a cell. She had understood surprisingly quickly that I couldn't see.

I hadn't believed her in the beginning. She had claimed that she'd been kidnapped on her way home from her job at a factory assembly line. On a planet called Rasoria. For a while, I'd tried to hold on to the thought that all of this was just an elaborate prank on someone with a visual impairment, but eventually, I was no longer able to ignore the other signs anymore. The way it smelled here, the way she talked and felt . . .

At some point I'd ignored all my reservations and simply sniffed her scaly arm, and it neither smelled like make-up, latex, or anything else stuff that could be used to craft costumes. She also spoke with glottal sounds I'd never heard before . . . and then there was this small bump behind me ear that was definitely new.

Perhaps I had been listening to too many science fiction audiobooks, but all this made me pretty sure that I had indeed ended up in outer space.

An extremely frightening thought considering I couldn't see. Finding my way around in unfamiliar surroundings was hard for me, and sometimes it was next to impossible, as much as I hated to admit it to myself. But this wasn't a newly remodeled supermarket at the end of my street. This was a potentially dangerous environment with countless obstacles and countless unknown creatures that were possibly hostile to me.

I swallowed as the heavy footsteps slowly came closer. A few feet took small, quick steps, presumably to keep up with the larger black blur. That was still all I could make out. Black blurs. The larger blur stomped like someone in a bad mood.

"By all heavens," my cellmate whispered beside me, squeezing my hand surprisingly tightly.

She was shaking. I had to fight down tears because I didn't even know why she was so scared, and that just made the whole situation even more terrifying.

She had described our surroundings to me as a huge warehouse with countless cages—cages filled with women of all kinds of species in them, and not a lot of human ones, she had said.

I sincerely doubted that the owners of this place had good intentions.

My cellmate fought down a sob.

"What's wrong?" I asked as quietly as I could. My hearing was reasonably good, but despite me being so reliant on it, hers still seemed to be worlds better.

"A Horgerian," she replied. "It's a Horgerian."

Immediately after she spoke, I heard her teeth clash as she hastily shut her mouth.

I, on the other hand, couldn't do much with the piece of information that "it" was a "Horgerian." Based on her reaction, it could hardly be good. She surely wouldn't tremble with fear for nothing.

"That was not the deal," rumbled a deep voice—clearly male and definitely displeased.

"The prices have gone down." The other man sounded as if he were groveling, but not really sincere either—like a used-car salesman assuring a potential customer that there was nothing wrong with the car, even though he knew there was.

"So?" growled the angry man.

"How about a woman as compensation?" the used-car salesman offered.

The hairs on my arms stood up, and I felt the urgent need to adjust my pajamas that I was still wearing. However, I didn't know whether the two arguing guys might have looked in my direction and misunderstood the movement as some sort of gesture. I certainly didn't want to offer myself. As much as I hated being in a cage, I had no idea how I was going to survive outside of it. At least in here we were given food and water regularly.

"I don't want a woman. I want my credits," the other replied, leaving no doubt that his mood was not improving.

"Unfortunately, I can't offer you more than what I've told you. These are hard times, my friend." The used-car salesman didn't seem all that impressed by the rumbling voice of his negotiating partner, and he clearly was unwilling to concede.

My cellmate almost crushed my hand as her shaking intensified.

"I'm not your friend." The footsteps stomped closer and closer . . . and then past us.

I felt a cold breeze as the big silhouette passed by, but I didn't dare exhale because I didn't know whether we were out of danger yet.

Then the used-car salesman said, "I have a real rarity here—a human woman of the right age. Eminently fertile. Surely a big, strong warrior like you wants offspring? Human women are compatible." He paused. "And extremely expensive. I could easily sell her for sixty to seventy thousand credits."

The big guy stopped, turned around, and came stomping back. "Then why don't you do it and give me the credits you owe me?"

"Because I already have someone interested in the woman, but he won't be back until the next rotation. By then, I can find a new human—which might prove to be difficult, though, if I don't have a head anymore because you've ripped it off." His voice also sounded closer now, like he was . . . coming our way.

Unfortunately, I seemed to be right, because my cellmate started digging her fingernails—which were so sharp that they felt like claws—into my skin.

"Here," he said. "A human female, perfect for breeding purposes. Just take a look."

I didn't like the sound of any of that, or how close the blobs were now. They were surely examining me.

Suddenly, my cellmate let go of my hand and scurried away from me with scraping sounds.

Fear made my stomach clench, and all of a sudden it felt even colder than before.

I couldn't help but to quickly think my options through. The moment I was taken out of this cage, I would no longer be able to hide the fact that I was as good as blind. And then, in this environment, for these kinds of creatures, I would just be a burden. I couldn't work, and I couldn't make a living on my own.

However, and I hated myself for being pragmatic, I knew how sex worked. "Breeding purposes" was a horrible word, but I could definitely lie on my back and spread my legs. I didn't need eyesight for that.

It wasn't a bright idea of a future, but the alternatives were far worse—if there even were any.

Taking a shaky breath, I forced a shy smile onto my lips and pushed my breasts out to be on the safe side. Yet I kept my head down so that I appeared docile and they wouldn't notice that I had no idea where precisely to turn my face.

I heard a metallic clatter, then a squeak, before the used-car salesman asked, "Do you want to touch her?"

2

KULDRIR

I looked at the cage rather reluctantly. I wanted my credits, not a cheap whore. Although she was more of an expensive whore. With a growl, I leaned forward to examine her, even though I had already made my decision. I was only interested in the credits, and somehow I would make it clear to Yidull that he had to pay what he owed me.

The woman was pretty as far as I was concerned, most definitely appealing, with her voluptuous curves, but I didn't need a mate.

For a brief moment, I made the mistake of breathing in too deeply, though. Her scent hit me unexpectedly. The little human smelled . . . tempting. More than just tempting. Almost irresistible. My mouth was literally watering.

With a snort, I straightened up again. Yidull was an ah'tze manipulative asshole and exactly knew the pain points of the people he did business with. My younger brother, Shura, would have immediately turned soft at the prospect of rescuing the poor, poor human woman.

Yidull held out his hand to me—with the few lousy credits on it, barely half of what we had agreed. I knew he was ripping me off. But in the long run, that was his problem, because I wouldn't be supplying him anymore. I wasn't an idiot.

I tried my best to not sigh, because I already suspected what this whole thing would lead to. If I didn't want to make a loss, I would have to take the woman with me and sell her at the first available opportunity. If she was really worth as much as Yidull claimed, maybe I'd even be able to make a little profit.

Taking the meager amount of credits, I growled to let him know how little I liked his tactics.

Yidull tilted his head, leaned forward, and closed his long, bony fingers around the woman's upper arm. She flinched, but she neither protested nor cried. That was good, because I didn't want to have to deal with a sniveling heap of misery on top of everything else. Her humbly lowered gaze led me to believe that she was obedient, and obedient women probably fetched a higher price.

At least that's what I assumed. I didn't normally resell living creatures. That wasn't the kind of trade I preferred.

Yidull pulled the woman toward him so harshly that she barely had time to tuck her head, hitting her forehead on the cage opening, which was low to the ground and rather small.

"Careful," I growled, because I didn't like the way he was handling her. "If you damage her, she loses value."

"Sorry," Yidull said, but as always, I didn't believe a word he uttered.