Salvation, p.1
Salvation, page 1
SALVATION
THE DRAAX SERIES
BOOK SIX
ELIZABETH KELLY
EK PUBLISHING INC.
CONTENTS
Salvation
Character Name Pronunciations
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
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
The Elizabeth Kelly Newsletter
About the Author
Also by Elizabeth Kelly
Copyright © 2024 Elizabeth Kelly
Published by
EK Publishing Inc.
eISBN-13: 978-1-77446-180-8
This book is the copyrighted property of the author and may not be reproduced, scanned or distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. Quotes used in reviews are the exception. No alteration of content is allowed.
Your support and respect for the property of this author are appreciated.
This book is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events, or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously.
Edited by
L. Nunn Editing
Cover art by
The Final Wrap
SALVATION
(Draax Series Book Six)
I had the perfect life. Until heart disease took everything from me – my job, my apartment, my friends.
Now, my only chance of survival is the alien race Draax.
Selling my body every night in exchange for their life-saving gallberry juice isn’t easy. Finding a morally grey Draax is harder than finding fur on a rattlesnake.
The night I stumble onto a dying Draax named Regan, I can’t walk away. I can barely save my own life, and now I’m responsible for saving his.
Only Regan is no ordinary Draax. The head of the guard for a corrupt Draax king, he’s hiding secrets that could change everything for the alien race.
An unexpected rescue leaves Regan and I trapped in a month-long storm at a rival kingdom. As we heal, our attraction turns to love. Regan is handsome and brave and doesn’t care about my past.
But when Regan’s secrets threaten to destroy him, will I be his salvation?
To read more about the Draax series, click HERE.
CHARACTER NAME PRONUNCIATIONS
Dear Reader,
Are you like me and easily distracted by proper name pronunciation when reading? Nothing takes me out of a story faster than constantly wondering if I’m reading a character’s name correctly. To that end, here is a list of a few characters in “Salvation” and the proper pronunciation of their names.
Happy Reading!
Elizabeth
Galan – Gay-len
Sigan – See-gan
Teo – Tay-oh
Melu – May-loo
Jovie – Joe-vee
Thromi – Thra-mi
Ilna – Ill-nah
(Other Alien Races)
Pokarans – poe-care-ens
Korceans – kor-see-ens
Vokine – voe-keen
Ugomians – u-go-me-ans
Scuun – scoon
For a glossary of Draax words, as well as extra tidbits and information about the Draax world, check out my website HERE.
CHAPTER 1
Lomax
I had never seen a drunk Draax before.
And I saw a lot of Draax. A girl didn’t do what I did to get the juice without seeing a lot of Draax up close and personal.
Very close.
I inched a little nearer. I hadn’t expected to see the massive Draax from the night before at the bar again tonight. I definitely hadn’t expected him to be drunk off his piehole and surrounded by three - I squinted - make that four women who were hanging off his bulging biceps and sitting on his tree trunk thighs.
I recognized all of them. We traveled in the same circles, so to speak. Desperate women hitting the bars every night, willing to do or suck anything to get some gallberry juice to save themselves or their loved ones.
“Another of these disgusting drinks, barkeep!” The Draax roared, slamming his beer stein on the table in front of him. The usual emerald colour of his skin was flushed a dark green from the beer, making the thin white scar from below his left eye to just above his lip stand out in stark relief. The women shied away, mistaking his enthusiasm for beer as anger. They didn’t have translators like I did. Most of them had been lowers their entire lives.
The Draax tugged two of the women back into his lap. “Come, little females. I like the feel of your soft asses against my cock.”
I rolled my eyes and slipped into an empty seat at the bar. I scanned the bar. It was full of Draax tonight, and I would have my choice of who to sleep with, assuming they were willing to trade.
The bartender didn’t bother to take my drink order. He knew I wouldn’t have any money, knew I was here for one thing only. I used to be ashamed of that. Now, I was too tired to be ashamed.
I scanned the bar. Not that I thought the Draax from last night would be here again, but maybe I would get lucky. Unfortunately, there was no sign of Sigan, and I swallowed my disappointment. Last night had been an anomaly, a blip in the regularly scheduled programming of my life. Getting gallberry juice without having to fuck for it was a once-in-a-lifetime moment, and that moment for me was last night. The fact that it’d been primo gallberry juice was just the icing on the cake.
This was the best I’d felt in weeks, and while I probably didn’t need to be out tonight, why not take advantage of how good I felt? I could save whatever juice I got tonight for when I was too weak or exhausted to fuck. Which, frankly, was happening more and more often.
The last few times, I’d had to stop halfway through the sex, my heart skipping beats, my chest tight, and too short of breath and dizzy to continue without a break. The Draax so far had been understanding, but what happened the first time I fucked one who wasn’t so patient? I probably wouldn’t be the first woman to die of a heart attack while fucking a Draax, but I didn’t exactly relish the idea.
As if to remind me why I was here and to get on with the fucking program, my heart skipped a couple of beats. I pressed my hand against my chest, feeling my heartbeat in my ears and my chest getting tight.
I took a couple of calming breaths. Not that breathing deep would heal aortic valve disease, but what else could I do? Besides fuck the Draax for juice, that is.
The high-pitched squeals drew my attention back to the drunk Draax. He had his tongue down one of the women’s throats, and her hand was down his pants and jacking him with hard, brisk strokes.
Newbie mistake. You never gave them the good stuff, like handjobs or blowjobs, until they gave you at least a few swallows of juice. She wasn’t new to this, but maybe she was as drunk as the Draax. Usually, the Draax wouldn’t go near us if they even suspected we might be drinking, but it’s not like the drunk Draax was thinking clearly.
I looked away. Even a few feet away, the tent pole the Draax sported in his pants nearly poked my eye out. The women were in for one hell of a ride.
Better them than you.
Wasn’t that the truth. I sometimes struggled to take Draax dick, and more than once, I’d be forced to grit my teeth and insist that no, it was fine, it didn’t hurt at all, keep going, you sexy alien stud.
I took one last look at the drunk Draax before turning away. No amount of juice was worth death by giant Draax dong. I’d rather go out the way God intended me to go… randomly dropping dead of a sudden heart attack.
A Draax sat on the stool beside me. He wore a plain cotton shirt with black pants and, unlike many of the Draax, didn’t carry a sword at his side. He did, however, have the tell-tale bulge of a juice flask in his pocket. He looked me up and down, and I pushed my arms together to give my cleavage a boost and smiled at him.
“Hi. I’m Lomax. What’s your name, handsome?”
Tonight was turning out to be a bust. There wasn’t a single Draax in the bar willing to trade some juice for sex. Scratch that. I couldn’t find one who was interested in trading juice for sex with me. Plenty of the women had found their alien for the night and disappeared to the numerous cheap hotels that littered the area like dead bugs on a windowsill.
I stared at myself in the dirty, spotted bathroom mirror. I had the body type the Draax loved, and while my looks had never stopped traffic or anything, I didn’t usually have trouble finding a Draax. In fact, my translator usually meant I was one of the first of us to snag an alien.
They know you’re sick. They can smell it on you.
I ignored my inner voice. They couldn’t tell just by looking at me, and while the Draax had many skills that humans didn’t, smelling an illness wasn’t one of them. Besides, they didn’t care about that. Half the women banging the Draax for juice were sick and the other half? They had loved ones who were ill or dying.
I pinched my cheeks to bring a little colour to them, adjusted my tits in my tight shirt and took a deep breath. I still had a few hours before the bar closed. I could do this.
I left the bathroom, dismayed to realize there were even fewer Draax now than five minutes ago. Christ, it was getting to be slim pickings and -
“Hey, gorgeous, how the fuck are you tonight?”
I closed my eyes and sighed loudly before turning. “Hello, Mitchell.”
The skinny blond man with thinning hair grinned at me, poking his tongue into the space where his two front teeth should have been. “You look good tonight, sweetheart. How’s the ticker?”
“Fine,” I said shortly. “What do you want?”
Most of the women who fucked the Draax worked freelance like me. But having a translator equaled a better chance of hooking up with a Draax, and some of the more desperate ladies turned to Mitchell. He got them translators, although half of them malfunctioned most of the time, and set up “dates” for the women with the Draax in exchange for a cut of the juice.
In short, he was a goddamn parasite who preyed on women when they were at their most vulnerable.
He sidled up to me, his greasy fingers fingering a lock of my dark hair. “When are you gonna come work for me, Lomax?”
“Why would I do that?” I asked. “I have a translator. I don’t need the black market, barely functioning translators you stick in your girls.”
His fingers touched behind his ear and the base of his throat before he scowled. “My translators work real good.”
“Yours does. But sure as shit, you aren’t putting the good ones in the women. Do you think I didn’t hear about Angie? You stuck that second-rate translator in her brain, and it gave her a stroke. She’s in a fucking coma right now.”
He made a sucking sound with his teeth, his face turning into a scowl. “You’re such an uppity bitch, Lomax. You think a translator is all I got to offer to my girls?”
“Yes,” I said.
“You’re wrong. I hook my girls up with the Draax who got the good juice, baby.”
He moved even closer, and I grimaced when he tapped my chest with his dirty finger. “You’re looking paler and weaker every time you hit up this hellhole bar, sweetheart. You ain’t got much time left, and that watered down juice you fuck the Draax for just ain’t gonna cut it. You and I both know it.”
“Get the fuck away from me.” I pushed him away, my chest tightening at my surge of adrenaline. I tried to breathe slowly and evenly as Mitchell made a kissy face at me before winking.
“You come see me anytime, sweetheart. We’ll talk.”
“Fuck you,” I said.
He swaggered away, and I pressed my hand against my chest. I hated that fucking pimp asshole, but I hated even more that he was right. I was running out of time. But fuck him, I’d rather drop dead than ever do business with a low life asshole like -
My beleaguered heart kicked up a notch when I saw the Draax sitting at the bar. Holy fuck, could I be that lucky? I hurried past the tables and slid onto the stool beside him, breathless and my heart working overtime from just that extra effort.
He glanced at me, and while he didn’t smile, he gave me a silent nod of acknowledgment before staring at the amber liquid in his glass.
“Hi. Sigan, right? We met last night. I’m Lomax.”
“I remember,” he said. “You are one of the little females who trades sex for juice.”
I cleared my throat. “Uh, yes, that’s right.”
“I will not give you juice for sex tonight, just as I refused to last night,” Sigan said. “It is illegal, and if your Earth authorities catch you, you will be punished, little human.”
Disappointment laced my chest, but I gave him a flirtatious smile and leaned forward so my cleavage was on display. “I know. I just find you so handsome that I can’t resist talking with you.”
He gave me a look that made me wilt. “I am aware that I am far inferior in looks compared to most of my kind, human. Please do not infuse smoke in my ass.”
“The phrase is blow smoke up my ass,” I said with a grin. “And I like the way you look.”
While it was true that Sigan might not have been as good looking as many of the Draax were - if you found giant, muscular green aliens with tails good looking and a shockingly large number of us ladies did - I liked the uniqueness of his features.
He just shrugged. “Complimenting me will not get you into my bed. Even if I were a rakart who chose to disobey my king’s command by trading juice for sex, I am not attracted to you.”
“Ouch,” I said.
He looked me up and down, his gaze lingering on my face. “You are not unattractive, but my body does not react to yours.”
“Hey, I don’t make your dick hard, I get it,” I said.
“Yet, you still hope I may change my mind,” Sigan said. “I can see it in your face.”
“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” I said.
He frowned. “The juice I gave you last night did not help?”
“Oh no, it did,” I said. “It was great. I’m pretty sure I’ve never had gallberry juice that hasn’t been watered down. So, thanks.”
“You are welcome,” Sigan said. He was still studying his drink but hadn’t taken a sip.
“You’re not drinking your drink,” I said. Maybe if I got Sigan even a little tipsy like the giant scarred Draax who had quieted but was still sitting in the corner and being fondled aggressively by the four women, I could convince him to give me more juice.
My mouth watered at even the thought of the juice. The constant craving I felt for it was a maddening itch in my brain, almost as horrible as feeling my heart skip beats and my chest go tight. The craving was a side effect of drinking the juice when you were ill. Once you’d tasted it, your body demanded more until it healed.
Unfortunately, I needed a fuck of a lot of juice to heal my heart and the flasks of watered down juice I managed to scrounge up a few times a week would never get the job done. So, I lived in a constant state of longing for the juice.
But what choice did I have? I could crave the juice, or I could die.
“I do not like the taste,” he said.
“If you’re not here to get laid or to drink, why are you here?” I asked.
“I am attending a conference your kind is doing on human healing,” Sigan said.
“But why? Your magic gallberry juice heals everything,” I said.
He shrugged. “I enjoy learning new things, and my king encourages it.”
“What Draax province are you from?” I asked.
“The west one, obviously,” he said with a frown. “We protect the California state. Therefore, the Draax that come here are from the western province. Draax from other provinces are not allowed to visit states that are not under their protection.”
“Buddy, a good three-quarters of the Draax in this bar are from different provinces.”
He gave me a sharp look. “How do you know that?”
