Razar (The Mating Games series Book 1)

Razar

The Mating Games Series

Book 1

By Catty Diva

Cover by Jesh Art

Edited by Eagle Editing

2015 Copyright by Catty Diva

All rights reserved. This story is completely the imagination of the author. Any resemblance to person or persons living or deceased are merely a coincidence. Any locations or events are fictitious or used in a fictional manner.

Prologue

It was now the twenty fifth century and Earth had not progressed as expected. Early in the twentieth century people had finally taken a stand on pollution and over population. Laws had been enacted to require strict recycling and furnaces that burned clean were created making energy and controlling pollution. The laws regarding birth control helped reduce the population slightly, but there were still too many people on the planet for it to meet long term needs.

A new form of birth control was created that would help control the population growth. It was a hundred percent effective and could be manipulated once a female decided to have a baby to determine the desired sex or to remove undesirable traits. It was considered a god send until it went into general use and it was discovered that it manipulated female birth at twice the rate of males no matter what the scientists tried. They never found out if the test results were manipulated or if the test group was an anomaly. The only thing that was for sure was the early test results weren’t right.

It was decided soon after that Earth would start two colonies on distant planets. The only women that would be allowed to move to the new colonies were women that had never used the new birth control method. Each colony chose ten thousand people and over time the colonies prospered and trade developed. Old Earth blossomed too as trade spread out all over the universe and old mistakes were rectified. The planet regained a portion of its former glory and the population stabilized at five billion.

This was the world Lista was born into. Life was fabulous for the top ten percent but she was born into the bottom part of humanity and it was even worse being a woman since they outnumbered the men.

Razar’s world was the opposite. It was starting out new with anything possible but they had too many males with nine males to each female. Earth held hope for his people, a chance to have a mate which was what he and his brothers wanted more than anything in life. They had money and everything that they wanted that it could buy, but they had a dark secret and a deep rooted need to mate. Now they had hope that females had been found for them.

Chapter 1

The Hunted

Sweat rolled down her face as she viewed the hostile environment. How had she gotten into the mating game? Oh yeah. Her mother had needed an operation and her younger siblings had needed food. “It’s an easy way to make money, Lista. They won’t pick you anyway, Lista. Don’t you want to help, Lista?” her sister had asked. Her voice echoed in Lista’s head grating on her last nerve.

It was easy for her sister to say. She never helped anyone but herself. Shouts could be heard in the distance and maybe even the sounds of hounds. On the other hand, maybe it was just the overly excited natives restless as the opportunity to catch a bride was waved before them. Why did this always happen to her? Every time she thought her life was on track things blew up in her face.

Lista took off at a sprint over the seemingly endless desert terrain. At least she was dressed properly. They wouldn’t want their future mates to fry in the sun or blister from the heat. She was given a map that showed all the locations where water was available. It also showed her destination but that was three days of hard travel away. She doubted she’d ever make it there because things never seemed to work out for her.

In the mating game, the locals were allowed to hunt in singles, pairs, and an occasional trio of males hunting, quite literally, for a female mate. Meanwhile, she was out, by herself, trying to avoid them. In three days if she evaded them or made it to her destination, she was free and the money that had been paid to her would never have to be paid back. Welcome to the mating games. This particular game consisted of a hunt across the desert. Four times a year the Mazlans would compete for their prize, a mate of their own. This was the first time a general game in the form of a hunt had been initiated.

Nearly two years ago the planet Mazlan was destroyed in a meteor shower and the penal colony for political prisoners on Oison was freed. Ninety percent of the prisoners had been male and originally life had been hard on Oison, the planet they lived on. The discovery of not one, but three valuable exports had turned them from beggars into filthy rich businessmen.

First was the Oison weed. It was discovered when smoked that it gave an amazing high but with regular use it had an anti-aging effect as well. Attempts to grow it off planet were unsuccessful. This led to the second discovery; it seemed the whole planet was inundated with a mineral never heard of before. The anti-aging effect of the Oison weed was the result of the plant being grown in the soil containing this mineral. When the mineral was added to a salve, cream, or bath, it had a miraculous healing effect on most skin irritation and made the skin healthy, soft, giving it an otherworldly glow. Cosmetic companies fought for the rights to buy it.

Already set for life, it seemed almost unfair that fate threw them another bonus. While out exploring some of the males fell into a hole and struck gold, literally. It seemed there were massive deposits of gold in one region. They were easy to get to and cheap to mine. The Mazlans now had everything they needed except compatible females. They were able to find these on Earth and three other planets. One planet, Jarson, refused to allow their females to go. Earth, who had nearly a two to one ratio of female to male was only too happy to allow it but subjected each female to a bride tax.

Century and Washington, two old colonies of Earth from the twenty second century, were still negotiating with the Mazlans. It wasn’t going well because for some reason the Centurions and Washingtons were reluctant and the Mazlans had large numbers of potential brides available from Earth but being cautious they wanted to hedge their bet. It was a smart move especially since Earth’s politicians were not known to be dependable. Rumor had it that it was the old stories about the Mazlans being some kind of shapeshifters or demons that held up the process with the old Earth colonies, that and the fact that they didn’t have the surplus of women Earth had. There was no proof about the rumors, but some people were just superstitious and enjoyed a good story. Mazlans wanted five hundred brides a quarter but only got fifty this time. Earth made ten thousand credits on the bride tax, enough for an average family to buy a house.

Lista didn’t care about the hows or whys, she just wanted to escape. She was already hot and tired, not even four hours into the first day. It wasn’t that Lista was in bad shape, she had been a soldier and had to ask for a discharge to join the bride program. It had been granted immediately because soldiers were easy to get on the overpopulated planet Earth while applicants to the bride program were still hard to find.

A howl rent the air and Lista moved faster. What kind of animals did they have here? She took a drink once she stopped to take a look at the map. At least she was on track to the destination. If she made it to the station to check in before she was captured by her would be mate, she was free to keep the money they had paid her and go home. It wouldn’t be easy, but she would do it because she had to. There was no way she wanted to stay on a planet where men hunted their mates in a desert. Earth was a crazy place to live but it was home. That’s why she was double timing it toward the edge of the mountains.

The mountains might have dangerous animals, that was true, but there was also shelter and places to hide from whoever stalked her. The sounds of a wild animal had grown louder or it might be some kind of beast the locals used to track prey. Right now that’s exactly what she was. There was no way to even know how many hunted her together, planning to share her if she was caught. Lista had a healthy sex drive, sex with a couple guys if they were good at it wouldn’t bother her, but keeping house and raising children for an unknown number of males? Not this girl, that wasn’t happening.

Sweat soaked her lightweight pants and shirt. Thank God for the hat with a round brim that protected her face and the back of her neck. Her army knife had already come in handy when that snake had attacked her not far into her trip. It had been venomous according to what Lista remembered from the short training they had received. As hard as this game was on the potential brides that were unfamiliar with the planet and many who were not in top shape, she wouldn’t be surprised if many didn’t just run straight into the arms of their potential mates. To give them the impression that they even had a chance to escape their fate was a joke.

Lista made it to the foot of the mountain. It surrounded the desert on one side and while the bottom of the mountain wasn’t too hard for a passable climber to attempt with caves to be found there, the higher you climbed the steeper they became. The mountains were topped with a substance that was glasslike and sharp. Looking down at her thin leather gloves she knew they’d be cut to ribbons along with her hands underneath. Her only way to escape was to make it to Haynan the town where the check in station could be found.

She stilled as she heard the sounds of someone talking and she pressed against the mountain trying to become part of it. Lista was in the shadows and the Mazlans had sharp senses but they seemed not to be aware of her. Her implant allowed her to understand them and they were talking about the nonstop sex they would have with their mate once they caught her. She could see them clearly and hear their conversation just as clearly. Pausing for a second, the male in the middle looked right at her. He shook his head as if to clear it and they continued on.

Her breath had frozen in her lungs and her heart had pounded like a drum. Now she was able to breathe again since they were gone. Waiting to let them get ahead of her, she took a breath and tried to remember what the potential brides had been told. That was right, they had told them the bride hunters could only see the one who was their own potential mate as long as they were on the hunt.

The Mazlans believe each male could only play for one fated mate. They went through a cleansing and anointing process before the hunt that would restrict them to the one their goddess wanted them to have. Those three males had looked rough and rowdy. She would thank their goddess for not sending them to her if she ever met the female. Ha ha.

Maybe Lista was blessed and there was no mate in the hunt for her? No that couldn’t be right because they only selected the females their goddess chose through a messenger. Even though the Mazlans were desperate for females, over two hundred had applied and only fifty two were selected. Lista was so lucky, not! That wasn’t true, not really. She might be bitter to be selected as the sacrifice, but she wanted to help her mother and her younger brothers. Her oldest sister Narcissi had told her it was her duty because Narcissi was too pretty to go. The males would try harder to catch her, Lista they might just let go since there was no reason to catch her.

Lista’s mother might have a funny way of picking names but Narcissi’s was dead on. She loved her family dearly, but her oldest sister was a stuck up bitch. It was time to move on so she had a chance of getting away. Thank God she was in top shape and had survival training. This might be different from the deserts of Earth, but there were similarities. By staying in the shade of the mountain until she had no choice but to veer off, she would save herself from sunstroke. It would also help her move faster if she didn’t run into anything predatory.

The sun was close to setting when she had to give up the safety of this mountain ridge but another was several miles north in line with the direction she was headed. At a brisk pace, she should make it in four hours. That was when she’d look for a place to rest. As hot as the day was, the night was just above freezing once the sun went down and the heat of the day was lost.

Lista broke into a lope to make better time. It was easier now that it was chilly instead of hot but the sounds of animals foraging made her nervous. The next ridge was within sight but still a good couple hours away. The land between the mountains was level and that helped her make better time too. She could smell the sweet night flowers coming out and showering the air with their perfume. If she could see better she would be looking at the most vivid colors carpeting the desert floor.

She remembered the video they had been shown and how beautiful the flowers had appeared even though they had estimated 45 or more of the brides would be captured at this point. Among their own kind, the capturing of the brides was just a ceremony acted out before mating. It was left over from more primitive times. To her, it was a lifeline, a way to return to her own world and people.