Authors: Tracy St. John
Clan and Crown
Clan Beginnings
CLAN AND CROWN
By
Tracy St. John
© copyright August 2015, Tracy St.
John
Cover art by Erin Dameron-Hill, ©
copyright August 2015
This is a work of fiction. All
characters, events, and places are of the author’s
imagination and not to be confused with
fact. Any resemblance to living persons or
events is merely
coincidence.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
This book is the prequel
to
Alien Rule, Clans of Kalquor Book
2
. It takes place about 35 years prior to
the events of that book.
The Kalquorian Empire was and still is
a civilization of great importance to the Galactic Council of
Planets. The fierce but intelligent species has been at the
forefront of technological, medical, and scientific breakthroughs
for millennia. Their military might has never been in question;
even their ancient enemy, the opportunistic race of Tragooms,
hesitates to attack a Kalquorian force half its size.
However, Kalquor’s survival is in
jeopardy. The force that has threatened this mighty race is not one
that wields weaponry. It cannot even be seen with the naked eye. It
is a virus.
Centuries ago, this virus struck the
home world of Kalquor. It wiped out a substantial number of its
people, particularly the females. Symptoms included massive
bleeding of the body’s major organs, along with those of the female
reproductive tract. Damaging the x-chromosome of the Kalquorians,
the virus’ effects went beyond death. The majority of women not
killed outright were rendered infertile. Daughters born to those
who could bear children were not guaranteed the ability to do the
same. The virus altered the very DNA of the entire race.
In an effort to keep their race from
going extinct and prevent fighting amongst the men, family groups
called clans were formed. Each clan was made up of one female known
as the Matara (childbearer) and representatives of each of the
three breeds of male: the Dramok (leader), Imdiko (caregiver), and
Nobek (protector).
A Matara may not join a clan
until the three male members are in place. There is no guarantee a
clan will attract a female since the women are so rare. In their
absence the men forge close, often intimate relationships with each
other. As the Kalquorian Book of Life reminds us,
Even the strongest warrior must find a fortress
for his heart, the walls of which are built from the love of
others.
Book 1: Clajak and Egilka
Imdiko Egilka peered through heavy
drapes that concealed his presence in the brothel’s dimly lit
playroom. He watched as a six-limbed Isetacian female crouched over
the prone body of the Crown Prince of Kalquor.
Egilka had to remind himself about how
pissed off he was with Prince Clajak. It wasn’t easy to stay angry
with that gorgeous, muscled, and naked body lying there. Clajak lay
relaxed and enraptured, helpless under the Isetacian’s hypnotic
song. Looking at him, Egilka experienced his own moment of
helplessness. His whole body seemed to have lost its
strength.
Egilka licked his lips, feeling primal
lust surge in his groin. Even without the royal pedigree, Clajak
would never want for intimate companionship. He was too delicious.
All Kalquorians, including their few women, were genetically
predisposed to muscularity. Clajak had worked on his natural
endowments, making himself a physically stunning specimen. The
Dramok prince’s body couldn’t be more chiseled, everything
proportioned in a gorgeous flow of tendons, sinew, and strength.
Artists might weep over such a model of perfection. Egilka felt an
unwanted longing to go to Clajak and trace every single line that
separated one muscle from another. Preferably with his
tongue.
Damn the man. Of all times for Egilka
to recognize the assets of his Dramok-to-be, this was the worst.
The kid who’d been like a little brother to him all these years had
grown up. When the hell had that happened?
The prince’s long hair spread under his
head, gossamer strands begging to be stroked. It was not the
typical black of the Kalquorian race. Instead, Clajak’s hair
possessed the sheen of tempered steel, as if the strands had been
dipped in metal. It made him exotic, as if he wasn’t already
screwing with Egilka’s head simply by being beautiful to look
at.
The Imdiko wanted to walk over and
stroke that hair. It was the first time he’d wished to do so.
Before it had just been different, a mutation shared by Clajak’s
Nobek father Emperor Yuder. Instead of aging Clajak it underscored
the youthfulness of his handsome, strong-jawed face, a face turned
soft with dreamy pleasure.
The Crown Prince wore a smile for good
reason as he gazed up at his companion. The Isetacian female sang
to him. The tune coming from her toothless mouth was hypnotic to
most within hearing distance. Despite her appearance –gray skin
broken up by the hard ridge of bone down the middle of her back, a
bulbous head circled by two rows of tiny eyes – Clajak’s expression
couldn’t have been more rapturous. He drowned in the sweet trill of
her voice, his senses consumed by her entrancing song. His nervous
system had been snared in the lovely trap of her tune. It was the
way Isetacians caught prey for their meals on their home world,
prey they preferred to swallow alive. Even knowing the deadly
reason for the adaptation didn’t erase the sweetness of the
floating notes, however. In the brothels it made Isetacian
prostitutes all the more popular with clients.
Egilka would have been caught up in it
as well, if not for the plugs in his ears. He wasn’t on Dantovon to
enjoy the hundreds of thousands of prostitutes it boasted. He
wasn’t there for the voyeuristic thrill of watching a man get laid
in a brothel either. He was here to haul Prince Clajak back to
Kalquor, as ordered by the Imperial Clan itself. Once the two men
were home, they were to be clanned ... as they should have been a
week ago.
Egilka and Clajak were not as close as
most Kalquorian men who would become lifelong companions. Their
union had been arranged years before, when Clajak was only ten
years old and Egilka twenty-seven. For a long time, Egilka had felt
more of an older brother to Clajak. As the Imdiko trained for his
eventual role as one of the three emperors of Kalquor, he’d watched
his Dramok-to-be grow into manhood. The feeling of a sibling bond
had remained strong until recently.
These days, their relationship had
turned tumultuous. The closer the time came to be clanned, the more
Clajak avoided Egilka. His behavior, reckless and brash since his
teens, became more irresponsible. Even his parents, the Emperors
and Empress of Kalquor, had lost all patience with their only child
and heir. The young man performed his duties as Crown Prince,
excelled at them even. However, he made it a point to enjoy himself
to distraction with lovers, drinking, and parties. His reputation
throughout the Empire was fodder for gossip and rumor.
Now there was this matter of running
off at the moment Clajak was to offer clanship to Egilka and
fulfill their contract to become lifemates. The unexplained
abandonment stung because Egilka had thought Clajak liked him, at
least as a brotherly friend. Despite their differences in age and
behavior, they had gotten along. Well, except for that one time,
but they’d made up, hadn’t they? Clajak seemed to harbor no ill
will over the altercation that had happened five years
ago.
“He’s afraid of not being able to live
up to his responsibilities. As for your union, it’s just cold feet,
Egilka,” Empress Irdis had told him. “Clajak still looks up to you.
He respects you. You must not take it personally.”
Egilka tried not to. He supposed
someone as young and indulgent as Clajak found him to be stuffy and
boring. Perhaps that assessment was true. The Imdiko was a research
scientist, and he was the first to admit he’d let his passion turn
into something of an obsession. Between training for eventual
rulership and his work on solving the issue of Kalquorian women’s
infertility, he was more business than pleasure ... a stark
contrast to Clajak.
There was nothing to suggest the two
men were each other’s type as far as romance was concerned. Even
upon reaching manhood, Clajak had never shown the first moment’s
interest in inviting Egilka to his bed. That had been something of
a relief to the Imdiko. It was hard to look at the younger man he’d
watch grow up and think of him as a lover, no matter how handsome
he was or how outrageous the tales of his exploits.
Until this moment. Until Egilka had
seen that strong, sturdy body lying there, ready for love. A body
built bigger and more muscular than Egilka’s. A body Egilka could
well imagine touching, kissing, and fucking. All at once he saw
Clajak as a man, not the boy he’d often been babysitter and guide
to.
Egilka swallowed and tried to calm
himself down. His pricks had swollen in response to Clajak’s
gorgeous repose, making his body as eager as the Crown Prince’s.
The Imdiko’s traitorous eyes caressed Clajak’s cocks with a hungry
gaze. The twin tapered staves stood straight up from his reclining
body, wet with natural lubrication. Egilka bit his lip. Clajak
would fill him deliciously with the smaller prick, the perfect size
for rear entry with a woman. The larger cock would take some
serious stretching. The sweet bastard was endowed. It had been a
long time since Egilka had enjoyed a lover, male or female. He’d
been too busy with work and getting ready for the clanning
ceremony.
The clanning ceremony. Egilka shook
himself, dragging his brain back to what his priorities were.
Getting Clajak back to Kalquor so they could hold the ceremony was
what Egilka needed to concentrate on. He was letting himself get
distracted from his main purpose over eye candy. Sumptuous,
brain-numbing eye candy, but unimportant for right now.
Egilka dragged his gaze back to
Clajak’s handsome face. The Dramok was glassy-eyed from the
Isetacian’s song, his mind sunk under her spell. He wouldn’t notice
a herd of Tragooms thundering through the room at this
moment.
Egilka eased out from behind the heavy
velvet draperies and approached the sleeping mat on which Clajak
lay. The Imdiko nodded to the prostitute, and she gave him a
toothless smile as she sang on. He’d paid her handsomely to help
him capture his wayward intended Dramok ... an entire day’s wages
in fact.