Confined Love

Lacey
Thorn

This stand-alone book is loosely tied to
Enforced
Love.

Sophia has worked hard to become an Enforcer but to achieve
that goal she must join an experimental new combat group—a quad unit.  She is
confined on a shuttle, with three male Alpha Enforcers who absolutely define
the word sexy. Three tall, gorgeous men making love to her in every way
imaginable. Together. Sounds more than perfect to her.

The men are right out of her sexual fantasies. Xanthus is
the aggressive, golden-haired leader. Kain is the gentle lover with gleaming
ebony skin. Radek can find anything they need
and
give her everything
she wants. Confinement never looked so good.

Inside Scoop:
This book contains ménage and
interracial sex. We like to diversify like that.

A
Romantica®
sci-fi erotic romance
from Ellora’s Cave

If I didn’t hurry I was going to be late. Without thought I
stepped into my boots sans the hidden height implants and thus stayed my usual
five foot four inches. My mind was engaged with other matters. First and
foremost, if I didn’t get my ass in gear I was going to be tardy to my command
appearance before Lt. Certze. That wasn’t an option.

My name is Sophia Burrelis, Soph for short, and I am one of
many female Jr. Enforcers. In fact the only female I know who is a full-fledged
Enforcer is one of my best friends, Emma Certze, Lt. Certze’s daughter. Emma
had been activated three weeks earlier and sent to the fifth quadrant, a place
both longed for and feared by active Enforcers. It was a hotbed for criminal
activity and many Enforcers never made it back, not even in a body bag.

My dream is to actually get off the desk job and become an
active Enforcer. I’ve trained for years. I can kick ass with the best of them,
but my height, or lack thereof, is frowned on. Remember Emma, my friend and
only female Enforcer? Yeah, well she’s six feet tall in her bare feet. If we
hadn’t been raised pretty much like sisters I’d probably hate her. But the two
of us and our friend Mandy have been together since we were just babies.

We were all born within twenty-four hours of each other.
Mandy is the oldest. Emma is exactly six hours older than me. Yep, I’m the
baby.

“Hurry up,” Mandy urged holding my
quetchin
out to me
as I finished zipping my standard-issue Enforcer black pants into the boots.

With one hand I pulled my long blonde curls up and wound
them around my head before placing the
quetchin
over the looped hair.
After pressing one button I had my wealth of hair secured and was ready to go.

“Good luck!” Mandy gushed, giving me a hug and then a slap
on the butt as I turned to leave our quarters.

Mandy. How do I even begin to tell you about her? Mandy is
the whole package. Unlike me, she’s tall, beautiful, and hands down, the most
intelligent woman I’ve ever met. She is the top code breaker in our region and
highly sought out by other regions. I can’t really tell you exactly what she
does or how she does it—not my cup of tea—but believe me when I say that she is
definitely someone you can trust. Oh, and she’s also the only virgin I still
know. I tease her constantly about this, but honestly, I’m a little in awe of
her.

“Go, go,” Mandy said behind me and I was off like a flash
down the corridor, heading toward my meeting with Lt. Certze.

What was the meeting for? If anything had happened to Emma
it would have been announced to the general population and there would be no
need for a meeting with me. Besides, if it was about Emma then Mandy would be
included in the meeting as well. We were all three raised as sisters, remember?

I stepped into the vestibule outside the lieutenant’s office
and placed my hand on the controller. My identifier came on and I spoke my
phrase to allow for voice recognition as well. In mere seconds I was welcomed
and the door slid open.

“Welcome, Jr. Enforcer Burrelis,” the lieutenant’s secretary
Amanda greeted me. “Lt. Certze is awaiting you.” With that she hit a button and
the doors to his inner sanctum slid open. I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you
that my stomach was in my throat and I was seriously terrified I might vomit.

I stepped through and stopped no closer than two feet from
his desk as protocol dictated. I immediately came to attention and stayed that
way. Was this the opportunity to remove the Jr. from my title? Was this what
I’d been hoping and praying for?
Please don’t let me throw up in front of my
lieutenant.

“At ease, Burrelis,” Lt. Certze said and I immediately
relaxed my stance—feet shoulder width apart, hands clasped behind my back.

He sat at his desk, fingers laced, just looking at me. I
could feel the weight of his silence like the squeezing of a hand around my
heart and lungs. I wasn’t being promoted. I frantically combed my memory for
any infraction that I might have committed in the last seventy hours. I’m sad
to say that a lot of things came to mind. What can I say? I like to have fun
and I make no apologies for it. If free time is really free time, then anything
goes. Right?

I could feel sweat trickling down the small of my back as he
continued to sit there. It took everything I had to remain still and silent.

“Have a seat, Soph,” Lt. Certze said and with his break of
protocol I seriously began to worry.

“Is everything okay with Emma?” I asked, immediately moving
toward his desk and the chair right in front of it. I perched on the edge with
my hands clenched in my lap.

“Emma is good,” he answered with a brief smile. “She’s in
good hands.”

Good hands? What the hell did that mean? Emma worked alone.

“First I must have your word that what is said in this room
stays here,” he continued. “You may not discuss anything with anyone outside.
That includes Mandy,” he said, catching and holding my gaze.

I nodded. “I agree.”

“Emma, along with her two partners, have formed the first
triad Enforcer squad. It’s a new program that the Liege Commander has
implemented. Three people working as a linked unit to combat the criminal
elements. Three sets of eyes, three bodies, three minds working as one to
combat the terrorists that still seek to overthrow, control and kill.” He
opened a folder in front of him. “Her triad is considered an ongoing success
and they’d like to initiate another trial to verify if it is possible again.”

I was confused. Emma was part of a triad unit that worked
together? That so didn’t sound like Emma. She was a rogue, going her own way.
But she’d been gone for three weeks, to the fifth, and was still alive. Unless…

“Is Emma actually in the fifth quadrant?” I asked.

“Yes,” Emma’s father answered.

“Okay, so what exactly does all this have to do with me?” I
queried. I was a desk jockey, after all.

Lt. Certze sighed deeply and his eyes closed briefly. “Emma
gave your name to the Liege Commander as a female candidate for the next
grouping.”

“Emma recommended me?” Of course she would. Emma and I had
fought many times and I’d kicked her ass more than half of them. She always
said I’d make a better Enforcer than just about anyone she knew.

He nodded and went back to the folder in front of him.
“There are several things I need to go over with you prior to you making a
decision.”

“Wait a minute. Will this involve me going to full Enforcer
status? Getting my tiger symbol?” The tiger symbol on the black shirt was what
differentiated the juniors from the full-fledged Enforcers. I wanted that
symbol more than anything else.

“Yes,” he said. “If you accept a place within the test team
you will be promoted to Enforcer but—”

I interrupted. “Hell yes! I’ll take a place in the test
group.”

He shook his head. “There are things you need to know,
Burrelis. There are elements regarding this team that you must be made aware of
before you agree.”

“I can’t think of anything you could say that would change
my mind.”
Hello, lifelong dream here. Give me my tiger and hear me
rooooaaaarrrr!

“Regardless, we will go over them and if at the end you
decide it is what you want, then you will sign and arrangements will be made.”

“Okay.” I sighed. I was so eager I was practically bouncing
in my seat.

“First off, sign the confidentiality agreement.” He slid a
paper across to me. “It is your binding agreement that you will not discuss
anything we speak of with anyone outside this room.”

I took the paper and held my right thumb out to him. I felt
the fiery burn as he ran the laser over it. I immediately touched it to the
appropriate line on the document. My print was left behind along with a number
of skin cells. I wasn’t sure how it all worked but they could use those cells
to prove I had signed the contract and punish me for any violation of its terms.
Some scary crap in my opinion.

He took the signed paper and slid it back into the folder.

“Let me start by sharing some pertinent information about
Emma’s situation.” He took a deep breath and I swear he looked uncomfortable.
“Emma was linked with two other Enforcers from the elite Alpha Enforcer squad.”

His gaze met mine to see if I understood what that meant. I
wasn’t stupid. The Alpha squad consisted entirely of men. Alpha men. I could
feel my pussy contracting at the thought of those Alpha men. I like sex a lot.
And I’m not opposed to multiple partners, if you get my meaning.

“So she is in a triad with two men,” I supplied when he
didn’t say anything.

He nodded and looked back down at the papers in front of
him. “Yes, she is bonded with two Alpha Enforcers.”

“Bonded?” That couldn’t be right. Active-duty Enforcers were
forbidden to bond. They could have sex and even breed but due to the high
mortality rate they were discouraged from bonding. Bonding was for life.

“The powers that be wish to see if, by sending fully bonded
units out, the mortality rate will decrease. We’re losing too many Enforcers
and they’re willing to try any means to combat that.”

“But through bonding?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Unbound men once made great Enforcers due to the fact that
they had nothing to lose, no fear of death. No mate, no child, no conflict. But
that concept doesn’t work anymore. We need Enforcers who will stop and think
before they act. Emma and her triad have managed to capture members of one of
the most wanted terrorist cells in the fifth. The Liege Commander believes it
is because of the bond they have formed. They are smarter because of this. They
are more cautious, more aware. I don’t have all the specifics. Most of the
information is classified.”

Damn. Everything was on a need-to-know basis. So it was a
little disconcerting that my lieutenant wasn’t in the need-to-know loop. “So
what exactly is it that I would be doing?”

“Emma formed the first triad. They would like to progress
forward another level.” He lifted his head and locked gazes with me once more.
“They’d like to see how a quad unit would work.”

Quad unit? As in four people? As in me and three hunky Alpha
guys?

“Okay, wait a minute,” I said. “Am I the only female in this
unit?”

He nodded.

“And will the male Enforcers be members of the Alpha squad?”
I asked.

Once again he nodded.

“Let me get this straight. I am to be the first female in a
bonded quad Enforcer unit with three Alpha agents. I will be promoted to Enforcer
and will see active duty along with the members of my unit.”

Lt. Certze nodded once more.

I wasn’t sure how exactly that would work. How did you bond
with three men? I would be an Enforcer but could I handle three men, Alphas at
that?

“Are they aware of this?” I wanted to get an idea of what
types of attitudes I might be facing.

“They are being briefed just as I am briefing you,” the
lieutenant told me.

“And are you aware of their take on a quad unit?” My
curiosity and uncertainty got the best of me for a moment.

“They are Alpha squad. They will do as bid with no
questions.”

A typical response from my lieutenant. He was all about
command.

Oh, but they might be very resentful of a woman coming into
their little group, especially one who had not yet experienced the demands of
full Enforcer status. My thoughts churned as I worked through one possibility
after another. But bottom line was, what choice did I really have? It had
always been my dream to reach Enforcer status, and not as a desk jockey. Of
course this scenario felt a little too much like sleeping my way to that goal
but I refused to see it that way.

Sex was great and I had never shied away from multiple
partner encounters. So, three men? No big deal for me. I knew I was smart
enough, competent enough to be a full-fledged Enforcer so that didn’t worry me
either. What I didn’t want was to be manipulated and used toward an end I
hadn’t yet figured out. So I would be leery, observant, and as cautious as I
could. I would not let emotions become involved.

“It is an honor to be chosen to pilot such a program,” Lt.
Certze spoke into the silence left by my internal debate.

“Did Emma know that she was being sent into a triad test
program from the beginning?” I couldn’t believe she had. Emma would have shared
that with us, unless she’d had to sign a confidentiality statement. That would
have sealed her lips.

“No, Emma was unaware of that piece of information. It was
considered best to see if the three would form an attraction with no
persuasion.”

“And now? With me?” Good for Emma, but I didn’t want three
men to be commanded to have sex with me. Not unless I was the one doing the
commanding.

“All parties will be aware of the arrangement this time. The
Liege Commander is hoping to get volunteers for this program.”

 “Have you spoken to Emma? Is she happy?” I can’t explain
why this was important to me, it just was. Emma is my sister though no blood
connects us. It mattered to me that she was happy.

“She is.” For the first time Lt. Certze smiled. His whole
face softened and I knew immediately that he was telling the truth.

I took a deep breath and made a choice that would forever
alter my future. “Yes, Sir. I will take part in the formation of the new quad
squad.” I felt the grin tug at my lips as I watched his cheek twitch at my
choice of terms.

“The first formal quad unit,” he informed me and then handed
me a folder with papers in it. I took it but held fast, not allowing myself
even a peek at the information inside until I was alone. “You will report to
the south bay dock in two hours. I encourage you to spend those hours wisely as
it might be some time before you are back.”