Tiger Read online

  RANGERS OF CORVAN

  TIGER

  by Kate LaMontagne

  Warnings

  Please be advised that this book is intended for adult readers aged eighteen and older due to sexually explicit content, language and violence.

  Trigger warning: Some non-consensual sex, violence, torture.

  This book is a work of fiction and depicts explicit consensual male/male sexual situations. Do not read if you are offended by such content.

  Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved.

  By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Modified cover art provided by CURAphotography via Shutterstock.com.

  Synopsis

  Tiger

  United Corvan Army Ranger Specialist Lieutenant Toro “Tiger” Yamano started out on what was supposed to be a simple mission, to track and terminate a miner mutated by a retro virus into a rabid monster.

  Simple. Right. Until things went FUBAR.

  Now the part Japanese, part Fae, sword-master ranger is racing against time, gang bangers, interfering friends and nearly impossible odds to find a cure for the virus before he becomes a target himself.

  Simple. Right?

  Remi

  United Corvan Air Force Captain Remington Styles fell in love with the gorgeous Tiger at first sight, but he knows all is not what it seems where Tiger is concerned. Now Tiger is on the run and Remi and Tiberius Kirk, Tiger’s squad leader, need to find him before time runs out for Tiger.

  Corvan, a backwater planet with three pink moons, pink ducks and nearly naked pink natives. The big cities are ultra-modern, but the rest of the planet is strictly outback wild and cover your own six. It’s the Rangers’ job to take up the slack.

  Rangers of Corvan: Tiger is a 74,148 word steamy gay sci-fi military romance with a HFN ending.

  Contents

  Title

  Declarations

  Synopsis

  Prologue

  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

  Epilogue

  Prologue

  Tiger squinted, shading his eyes, and scanned the forest floor for signs of the throwback’s tracks. He’d been following the monster for a week and seemed to be getting no closer. He’d lost the trail several times and wasted time picking it up again. The fast pace set by his prey and all the backtracking was wearing him down and his frustration level was at an all-time high.

  He’d thought this piece-of-cake assignment would only take two days out and two days back, yet here he was dirty, sweaty, exhausted and no closer than when he’d started out after this damn beast. How the hell did this fucker manage to cover ground so fast over a week’s run? His stamina was incredible; certainly, better than Tiger’s.

  This was not how he envisioned his career with the government forces of Corvan progressing. He was a lieutenant in the United Corvan Army Rangers for fuck’s sake and should have been working with his team, not tracking strays alone like a goddamned mercenary. That’s what they were for, but soldiers worked a lot cheaper than the mercs.

  He was part of a highly trained elite team of soldiers, and now they weren’t even with him. Another damned solo mission. He loved them all like brothers, albeit annoying brothers, but he seemed to be working on his own more and more these days. He didn’t see his current situation as a long-term goal, and he had to admit that some things in his record probably weren’t working to his advantage.

  As a beautiful, small man with a bad temper he took a lot of crap from other soldiers and got into a lot of fights. With his long hair, other men made crude remarks about him being effeminate, until inevitably he and his teammates kicked the crap out of them. Often.

  The team wasn’t supposed to be split up but chasing a throwback wasn’t worth allocating an entire team to (according to the top brass) so here he was. Unfortunately, his UCAR training made him one of the few men qualified to find and eliminate the new threat to the human population on Corvan, so he’d been dispatched out of Fort Yamano to deal with the asshole. The guy had probably deserved what he got, but now he was a threat to the rest of the population, so he had to be dealt with.

  Corvan, named after Angelo Corvani, who had discovered it entirely by accident, was pretty much a backwater planet, but it was also loaded with a multitude of precious resources. Run originally by the mining conglomerate, resources for protection and law enforcement had been tightly controlled.

  The new governments were trying to improve conditions, but it was slow going, especially after the war. The civilian population relied on the military and a few mercenaries to keep the peace and protect them from any serious threats they couldn’t handle themselves.

  That was fine when the colonies were first established, but as the population grew people were starting to demand better protection. Some zealots were even in favor of wiping out the indigenous population. That had led to a brief war which in turn led to a buildup of military strength and several split-off government groups.

  Now, some cities and towns were even beginning to establish their own law enforcement organizations, but outside of the larger cities recently established on the planet, everyone was armed and took care of their own problems. More serious threats were still handled by the military.

  The throwback he was currently tracking was a miner named Robert Severen. He’d been bitten by a female Corvan native that he’d been drunk enough and stupid enough to go after and her venom had mutated his DNA to create the vicious creature that was now terrorizing the countryside.

  *****

  Scientists had only recently discovered that the mating venom the female natives produced to bond with their male counterparts could either kill humans outright or alter their DNA to turn them into incredibly strong and crazed killers. The increased frequency of exposure was likely a result of population growth among both species.

  It took a while, but if the bite victim survived a period of high fever and painful convulsions, they would eventually mutate into what was termed ‘throwbacks’. Their bite could then pass on the virus to additional victims.

  Even though interaction between native females and humans was minimal, once the virus had been introduced into the human population it was hard to eradicate, similar to the Old Earth disease called rabies.

  No one knew exactly how the bonding venom worked for the natives, just that once bitten by a female the male would only seek out that female for mating and vice versa. Since only the females carried the venom, only the females did the biting.

  Mated pairs were easy to spot, as both mates bore matching tattoos that appeared over their left breasts once mated, each tat
too unique to a pair. Their only clothing was highly ornate loin cloths, so the tattoos were quite visible, although they also wore beautiful jewelry on their bodies and in their long hair. Their cloth and jewelry were in high demand by the humans and provided the natives with a valuable trading commodity.

  For the most part, the natives’ anatomy was humanoid. They were highly intelligent and picked up Old Earth standard English quickly, but mistreatment by some Earthers resulted in most of them becoming suspicious and withdrawn.

  They had bright golden eyes and a slight reddish tint to their skin and hair which prompted some humans to refer to them as ‘pinkies’.

  Their tattoos were always a golden color that glittered like diamonds in the sunlight. The markings were quite diverse and attractive. Some human tattoo artists had begun to incorporate the designs into their own work.

  There were some rare occurrences of albinism in the native population. Scientists speculated that the cause was due to crossbreeding with humans.

  Most of the natives believed in fated mates and mated for life so, if a mate died or a bond was never established, they might seek a new mate from among the human population. Some males never found their fated mate and just settled for anyone who would accept them.

  Obviously only male pinkies were able to pair with the humans, as no human in their right mind would chance being bitten by a female.

  Once the two populations were exposed to one another, some male pinkies discovered they preferred mates from among the human males, although it was somewhat frowned upon by both species. There was no homosexuality between male natives, but some of the males were receptive to advances from the human males, finding the variety of skin, hair and eye color to be quite appealing; the strength and hard muscles of the males far more stimulating than that of the female natives.

  It wasn’t prohibited but was considered ‘distasteful’. Racially mixed couples tended to live away from populated areas as discrimination was common among the humans.

  The natives were mostly neutral on the issue due to the whole fated-mates theory. While they didn’t much like the idea, if a lonely male wanted to seek human companionship, they weren’t going to stop him.

  After all, if there was no mate for a male in the native population, how else was he going to meet his carnal desires? Friends were fine but one had other needs too, and since the end of the war acceptance was slowly growing.

  As to the whole biting issue where humans were involved, the period before bite survivors gradually mutated was typically two to three months and, if the bite had been witnessed, they were closely monitored and tested.

  Only a few had ever survived and remained normal to date, but scientists had yet to figure out what was different about them. At the first signs of mutation, they would be confined, used for lab testing, and they eventually died in captivity, so most victims did their best to hide it. Some even committed suicide.

  So far, no cure had been found and the native population was uncooperative. Most were like ghosts, nomads who inhabited the forests and mountains of the planet and not at all fond of human invaders. Some had established small villages but were wary of humans and avoided interacting with them.

  Short of kidnapping them for experimentation, it was next to impossible to obtain samples of the pure venom and, since attacks were minimal and the races didn’t mix much, it wasn’t considered a hot-button issue… until the next attack occurred of course. ‘Out of sight / out of mind’ was the government’s mindset.

  Chapter 1

  It was like a blast furnace in the valley that Tiger was currently trekking through, the mountains cutting off any hint of a breeze today. His clothes were soaked in sweat. He didn’t dare allow himself to become dehydrated in this heat, but his water was almost gone.

  He shrugged off his backpack and rifle, keeping his katana close at hand. It was a gift from his last sensei and rarely left his side. Forged from the hardest and sharpest metal in the known universe, he could cut through a steel pole in one strike.

  Tiger had trained with the best swordsmen in the assassin guilds from the time he could wield a blade and now few of them could best him. He had more faith in his katana than any other weapon he’d handled. Blades didn’t misfire or run out of ammunition. He was, however, realistic enough to understand that guns had the advantage of range over an in-your-face sword, so he made sure he was an expert with both.

  Didn’t hurt to have backup though when all else failed he’d argue, and his superiors didn’t disagree. They’d seen him compete with other swordsmen. He had another blade that he competed with, however, because the other competitors complained that the metal in Doragonsureiyā gave Tiger an unfair advantage; that and the fact that he kept breaking their best blades.

  His team laughed at him because he had named his blade Doragonsureiyā. Dragon Slayer. “Really? Who names their sword? What, are you five?” they’d tease. It was all in good fun though. He and his small team of specialists were a tightknit group that constantly teased and tormented each other, competing to come up with the best practical jokes.

  His brothers in arms. They were the only family he had now. He really missed them when he had to run these solo missions. These kinds of jobs were really beneath their skill set. They trained to function as a well-oiled team, but the brass said it didn’t take more than one specialist to take out a throwback, so only one man was assigned to those jobs.

  Pulling his canteen from his pack, he plopped down wearily on a downed tree trunk and grimaced as he sipped at the tepid water. There was supposed to be a creek somewhere nearby. At least he would be able to replenish his water supply and grab a cool drink. What he would give for a glass of ice water or a cold beer right now! He sighed miserably.

  He startled when a child’s terrified shriek erupted from further up the trail. What was a kid doing out in the middle of nowhere? Dropping his canteen, he shoved Dragon Slayer under his belt, grabbed his rifle and took off sprinting toward the escalating cries.

  As he broke from the forest into an open glade, he was horrified to see the throwback headed toward a young boy of about seven or eight who’d been filling buckets in the creek. The boy was scrambling away toward the water’s edge as the throwback bore down on him from the other side of the creek.

  Tiger took aim but the beast was too close to the boy for Tiger to risk a shot with them stumbling and splashing around in the creek. He dropped his rifle and pulled the katana from his belt as he closed the distance and launched a flying kick at the creature. The beast stumbled back several feet but didn’t go down. It shook its head, pausing to take in the newcomer’s sudden appearance, seeming confused as to where this new threat had come from.

  “Get out of here kid!” Tiger shouted over his shoulder and popped back up, standing between the beast and the boy. Thumbing the katana loose from the saya, he grasped the hilt and flipped the saya away behind him with a practiced move, keeping eye contact with the throwback as the boy scrambled back to dry land.

  Beast and hunter faced off against each other, lunging and feinting, each trying to find an opening to get a hit in. Just as Tiger saw his chance and made his move, a rock rolled under his foot, throwing him off balance. He was instantly batted away like an insect into the rocky creek bed, his katana flying from his hand, lost somewhere in the churning shallow water.

  Dizzy and seeing spots at the edges of his vision, Tiger scrabbled around in a panic, trying to locate the blade. Suddenly he was ripped from the water by his left arm, dislocating his shoulder. He screamed and shoved the stiffened fingers of his right hand into the beast’s eyes. Enraged and half blind, it slammed Tiger into the ground and attempted to stomp on him, but he rolled out of the way and staggered to his feet.

  Left arm hanging limp at his side, he glanced around and grabbed the biggest rock he could hold in his sword hand, bracing himself as the beast charged again. As he was swept from his feet, Tiger smashed the rock against the side of the creature’s head. His he
art slammed against his ribs when he felt fangs sink into his chest as they both fell in a heap at the water’s edge.

  Kicking violently away from the stunned beast with his booted feet, he stumbled up and away, hunched over and hugging his left arm against his side, finally tucking it into the front of his shirt for support. He kept backing away, looking around desperately for another weapon as the throwback stirred and began to rise. Edging to his right, he thought maybe he could make a break for his rifle, but the beast shifted too.

  Tiger spotted the boy in his peripheral vision and idly wondered why he was still there, but his eyes never left the beast before him. He was a tenacious fighter who would never admit defeat, but he knew he wasn’t going to win in close quarters combat with a rock against a monster.

  Finally, rising to his full height, Tiger faced off with the throwback again, watching, waiting, sucking air into his burning lungs. The fingers of his sword hand twitched briefly at his side, then hung limp, nothing to hold but empty air.

  His brain was on overdrive but came up with nothing except the logical conclusion that, short of a miracle, there was nothing else he could do now but face the end like a man. He simply awaited the inevitable, wishing the stupid kid had listened to him. He would be next.

  “Last chance to run kid” he called out, staring the beast in the eyes. “This isn’t going to end well.”

  Then a prickle of awareness touched the edge of his senses. He detected a presence at his back and felt the hilt of his blade slide gently into the palm of his right hand. As his fingers closed tightly around it, he heard the faint metallic ring of the blade as the presence diminished gradually, pulling the saya with it.

  Blade pointed to the rear, immobile, he calmed his mind, letting his muscle-memory take control of his body. Steeling himself, his breathing and heart rate slowed, waiting for the charge.