Gwen has been living a life of duty and responsibility. Her first Alliance assignment was as an Enforcer, her next the polar opposite, Matchmaker. She has fought rabid crowds with ease and control, but facing an endless supply of bridezillas is too much to handle when her old boss comes knocking.

  Etien Mathijen has pulled in every favour he was owed to get his true mate to his planet in a capacity where he can court her. Now he just has to get her cooperation and they will be able to live happily ever after. With her mind on duty and responsibility, can he crack her shell of reserve in time to save her from her own mindless obedience?

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  Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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  Copyright © 2010 Viola Grace ISBN: 978-1-55487-720-1

  Cover art by Martine Jardin All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by eXtasy Books

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  www.eXtasybooks.com

  Enforce

  A Terran Times Novella

  By

  Viola Grace

  Prologue

  wen Steryio took three strides into the riot and Gsent out a bio-pulse. In seconds, only the constabulary who carried the tiny pulse-blockers were standing.

  “Enforcer Steryio, well done.”

  “Thank you, Commander Mathijen. It is a shame that I am being reassigned. The people of this world were very easy to subdue.” She grinned at the multi-shifter and let some of her regret leach into her eyes.

  She had enjoyed her time on the riot patrol. The protestors were fighting against increased trade with the Alliance and most of them didn’t even know what it actually entailed. Fear mongers and the religious right had taken over the media outlets leaving panic in their wake.

  The rioters would be given a complete list of trade items being sent into the Alliance, most of which were considered garbage by the Elek population.

  “They may have been easy for you to subdue, but we will send our thanks to the Citadel once 1

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  again for your particular skill set. Few could knock out two hundred with only minor injuries and no toxins involved.”

  It was nice to be acknowledged, especially by the striking man in front of her. She had harboured a crush on him since the day she had been assigned.

  “Thanks. I have no idea what they are going to shape me into.”

  He chuckled. “I know that feeling.”

  That surprised her. “You were trained at the Citadel?”

  He laughed. “No, but I was given my multi-shifter training. We had a new assignment every day. New shape, new learning curve.”

  She wiped her hands on the trousers of her uniform. “I am glad I had the opportunity to work with you, Commander Mathijen. It was a very interesting experience.”

  She extended her hand in a formal greeting and was shocked to her toes when he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her in for a kiss that heated her blood. His hands pressed her tightly against him from chest to knees.

  He tasted like wild honey and once she got over the shock of his kiss, she returned the embrace with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, until a few snickers caught her ear.

  She pressed her hands against his chest and 2

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  levered back in his embrace. Her lips were damp and swollen, her skin hot and her crotch was wet with her own heat. The slow applause must have reached Commander Mathijen’s ears as well, because he reluctantly let her go.

  Their crew surrounded them and was watching avidly. The grins on the masculine faces made Gwen a little more than slightly uncomfortable.

  She raised a trembling hand and patted her immaculately restrained hair. “Well, yes then. Nice working with you. Bye.”

  She turned and pushed through the crowd as they sighed in disappointment.

  Gwen didn’t look back, afraid that tears would well and spill. That one kiss was going to have to last through months of training and a lifetime of loneliness.

  * * * *

  Commander Etien Mathijen watched his true mate scuttle away in a confused haze of lust and embarrassment. The heat pooling in his groin throbbed insistently, telling him to go after her.

  Mentally, he kicked himself for not filing his request for mating privileges with the little Terran.

  He only hoped that when she finished retraining it would not be too late.

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  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  Five months later

  he couple in front of her were glowing with T happiness. Tomas was just as excited as his fiancée. “Matchmaker Steryio, we are so excited.

  This weekend is our ceremony and we want you to be there.”

  The multi-racial colony world of Raxos was Gwen’s new home and in the last two months, she had matched three couples. An invitation to the wedding was always appreciated.

  “Thank you very much, Tomas and Wellia. I would be delighted to attend.” She shifted in her chair, her new white and blue robes rustling quietly.

  “Excellent. My uncle has finally been released from duty, so it will be a larger than normal family event.” Tomas grinned and lifted his fiancée’s hand to his lips. “We will send a skimmer for you with a driver. The mountain passes are a little 4

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  treacherous and we don’t want you getting lost.”

  Wellia smiled. “After all, you are the reason we found each other. No one else would have thought to combine our races.” Her pale lavender skin was complimentary to his bronze with a hint of grey.

  “That is why Matchmakers like myself are being assigned to the blended colonies. All possibilities have to be considered or someone may miss out on the perfect match just because they are not in the same social circles. Sorry, I already gave you this lecture.” She blushed.

  “It’s fine. We are happy that the Citadel authorized a Matchmaker for this colony. We are more than happy, we are ecstatic, as are our families. I guarantee that after our wedding, you will have a line out of the door for your services.”

  Wellia was smiling as well.

  Gwen sat back and looked at the unlikely couple. Tomas was from an enclave of multi-shifters and Wellia was born of the bio-farmers that were planting new species of grains and experimenting with farm animals here on Raxos. Tomas had come to her at his family’s insistence. He was the firstborn and he had to get married before his younger siblings were able to tie the knot.

  Gwen had run into his sister, Thara, at a local meeting of the ruling bodies. Thara had begged her to take Tomas on as a client and Matchmaker 5

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  Steryio had agreed, provided that he came in to speak to her without being under duress.

  Tomas had called, made an appointment and he had kept it. The moment she met him, she knew that Wellia Dorfirth was his true mate, but she had to go through the motions of a questionnaire and an interview.

  She set up an introduction at her offices, including tea and light snacks. She confirmed the suitability of the match with both sets of parents on three occasions as the courtship spiked. The community watched the whole thing carefully and when the proposal was finally issued, the relief was tremendous.

  “The multi-shifters enjoy sensing their mates at first sight. It was kind of you to accept my intervention, Tomas.”

  “Oh, I knew she was mine when we first met, but I would never have met her if you had not brought us together.”

  Wellia blushed. “The driver will pick you up at five AM for the dawn ceremony. We will make arrangements for you to be driven home after the nuptials as well. Thank you so much.”

  They got up and she gave them each a hug before they left her offices. She had no further appointments that day and the market was in full swing. Time to do some shopping.

  Gwen spoke with the vendors about their 6

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  products at length. The new crops that were constantly being planted all had slightly different properties in the Raxos soil and it was nice to know which would and would not be a problem.

  She selected meat, grabbed a loaf of bread and returned to her home and office to make dinner.

  Cooking for herself was a pleasure. She had missed it when she was on rations with the pacifier crews. With her workday over, she changed into a loose tunic, trousers and slippers.

  She fixed her meal and took it with her into her living room. The entertainment unit had a number of her favourite programs saved and she selected one to enjoy with her meal.

  The ultimate irony for Gwen was that as a Matchmaker, she was more alone than she had ever been while an Enforce r.

  Having the ability to subdue large groups of people had been her previous life, but she had never guessed that the flip side of her talent was the ability to seek out and identify components in a living brain that would be complimentary to another.

  Her three months of training at the Citadel worked over and honed a skill she didn’t know she had. Intensive analysis of her clients created a map in her mind and as soon as she got another client with a matching map, she made her match. She had even matched a few members of the Citadel 7

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  before they stopped her by sending her to Raxos.

  Citadel personnel were not supposed to make matches without authorization.

  She snickered at the memory as she dug into her salad and watched a light romance. Her matches had shocked, but they were one hundred percent accurate. Unfortunately, two of the matched personnel were supposed to live lives of celibacy because amongst their own races they were unmatchable. She had simply given them the information of who their perfect match was and waited to see what would happen.

  Her supervisors had not been pleased and she could not have cared less. They had pulled her away for training from the one man she wanted. It was wrong to make a match with personal irritation as the motivator. Picking on her fellow Citadel trainees was wrong and she didn’t do it again.

  Gwen sighed and extended her feet as she watched the program. Another wedding to attend.

  Her formal robes were getting a lot of action.

  She thought of the wedding day and mentally groaned as she worked out her schedule for preparing for the dawn wedding. She was not a morning person and this constant waking before dawn on weekends was not her favourite part of the job.

  After her show was over, she watched the 8

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  evening news while tidying her kitchen. The Oefric multi-shifters were having a festival, the farmers had a new crop of succulents and the small rash of thefts on the outer edges of the city had been solved. Life in a colony world definitely moved at its own pace.

  Fast or slow, the details were all about survival and that included reproduction. With more colonists arriving on the surface every day, Gwen was about to get a lot busier.

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  Chapter Two

  t took her alarm clock three tries to get her out Iof bed and into the shower. She moved quickly to make up for lost time, scrubbing her teeth with the minty-fruity paste that passed for toothpaste on Raxos.

  Her brown hair fought the brush, but she got it arranged in a formal but relaxed twist. A headpiece that she had gotten from a friend back as an Enforcer kept the fine strands from flying away. Beads and flat panels of shells covered her forehead and kept folks from staring into her eyes, a very handy thing when she tended to start rifling through open minds when they stared at her.

  Her formal gown was next, a simple white dress with a dusty violet tone. She slipped on knee-high boots under the gown and then shrugged on her open outer robes.

  Gwen quickly checked her chronometer. She had five minutes to spare.

  She waited in her kitchen, her small travel bag with long gloves ready while she had a drink of 10

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  water. A light outside her building tipped her off to her ride’s arrival.

  She drew on her gloves against the early morning chill and picked up her bag as she walked to the door. She opened the door and saw the shadowed figure waiting by the skimmer. “Are you my ride?”

  She heard a smile in his voice. “I am here to take you to Tomas’s wedding. Anything after that will depend on how much you drink.”

  She caught the reference and snickered as she let the figure assist her into the skimmer. She was in the back seat and buckled in before he had resumed his seat in the pilot’s area.

  “How soon until we arrive?”

  “You can have a nap, Matchmaker Steryio.” He lifted them smoothly from the open field in the centre of her cul-de-sac. Hers was the only home in the area, so there was no worries about waking the neighbours.

  She settled down in the comfortable seat and dozed off as he flew them around the city and into the mountains.

  “Gwen, time to wake up.”

  She obviously didn’t respond fast enough as he tipped the skimmer from left to right to wake her.

  She yelped and clutched the arms of her chair.

  “What was that for?”

  “Time to wake up, Enforcer. Your public 11

  Viola Grace

  awaits.”

  His voice was familiar. “Do I know you?”

  He didn’t say a word, merely landed the skimmer and opened the pilot’s door. He was gone only a few seconds when the passenger door swung open.

  In the light of pre-dawn, she swallowed heavily as the man in her dreams stood in front of her.

  “Commander Mathijen?”

  “Etien, please. I am retired from active service.”

  He extended his hand and she took it blankly, letting him draw her out of the skimmer.

  Her heart was pounding in a runaway beat. “I was not expecting to see you again.”

  “Well, I was expecting to see you. Please, the ceremony is about to begin.”

  She took his arm and let him lead her through the darkness to the ceremonial grounds. The Oefric liked to start their events before dawn. It indicated life starting in darkness and developing through the day, only to fade in the evening.

  The crowd was silent—meditation was how all were expected to spend their time before the start of the event.

  Etien helped her to a kneeling pad and he knelt next to her. Her robes and gown foamed around her knees and she settled in, her mind whirling.

  He was here. He was next to her and she was bound by the Citadel from pursuing him 12

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  romantically. There was no restraint against him pursuing her, but she didn’t have the nerve to consider that option.

  As light peeked through the mountains, a lone flute wound its song through the air. The groom came from the north, the bride from the south.

  They met in the first light of dawn.

  He was handsome, she was radiantly beautiful.

  They made a striking couple as the official came forward and musicians played wild and sweet music. Tea was served to the couple and then to their friends and family.

  Gwen was shocked to find herself seated with Tomas’s family. Specifically, his mother’s side of the family. She kept her silence and sipped her tea in the five ritual sips, replacing the cup on the tray that was held out for her by an attendant.

  The official proceeded to the speaking portion and gave a long rambling speech about true mates and love beyond time. He continued his speech until the sun was firmly up in the sky, and then stopped to have the young couple exchange vows.

  While they promised to love and cherish each other, Etien reached out to grip her hand and as the young couple followed the official, word after word, she threaded her fingers through his. She mentally cursed the gloves she was wearing, wanting to feel the stroke of his thumb on her palm.

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  Her robes kept her warm in the early morning air, but they rapidly became too warm when the sun approached noon and the third round of tea had been served. Etien pressed his thigh against hers and a whisper rippled through the crowd behind them. She gave him several uncomfortable glances as a variety of family members murmured after they saw their proximity.

  “I now introduce you to Tomas and Wellia Essher. Join us now in celebration of the new life they start today.”

 

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