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    The Gigolo's Bride (The Necklace Chronicles)
    The Gigolo's Bride (The Necklace Chronicles)
    The Gigolo's Bride (The Necklace Chronicles)
    Ebook132 pages1 hour

    The Gigolo's Bride (The Necklace Chronicles)

    By R.E. Butler

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    About this ebook

    Sold into slavery....

    Only one person can truly set former sex slave Eden Atarn free: his soul mate.

    Taken from her planet....

    When Ashleigh Turner receives a beautiful necklace as a gift from a secret admirer, she has no idea who it came from. When another delivery shows up at her home, instead of finding out who sent her the necklace, she finds herself transported onto an alien spaceship as it speeds her away from earth.

    Will she be what he needs or find herself a slave as well....

    On a planet where forced prostitution is a punishment and young adults are sold by their families for money, Ashleigh must decide if she can be what Eden needs when she comes face to face with what he once was. Will she always want to go home, or will she find that the place she longs to be most is in Eden's arms?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherR.E. Butler
    Release dateSep 15, 2012
    ISBN9781301878413
    The Gigolo's Bride (The Necklace Chronicles)
    Author

    R.E. Butler

    A Midwesterner by birth, R.E. spent much of her childhood rewriting her favorite books to include herself as the main character. Later, she graduated on to writing her own books after "retiring" from her day job as a secretary to become a stay-at-home mom.When not playing with her kids, wrestling her dogs out the door, or cooking dinner for her family, you'll find her typing furiously and growling obscenities to the characters on the screen.Her best-selling series Wiccan-Were-Bear, The Necklace Chronicles, Hyena Heat, Wilde Creek, Were-Zoo, Arctic Shifters, Norlanian Brides, Saber Chronicles, and Ashland Pride are available now.

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      Book preview

      The Gigolo's Bride (The Necklace Chronicles) - R.E. Butler

      The Gigolo’s Bride

      The Necklace Chronicles

      By R.E. Butler

      Copyright 2012 R. E. Butler

      The Gigolo’s Bride (The Necklace Chronicles)

      Copyright 2016 by R.E. Butler

      License Notes

      This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

      **Cover Design: CT Cover Creations**

      This ebook is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locations is coincidental.

      Disclaimer: The material in this book is for mature audiences only and contains graphic sexual content and is intended for those older than the age of 18 only.

      * * *

      Many thanks to Alexis Arendt at Word Vagabond for editing this book. Her guidance and insight were invaluable. Thanks also to CT Cover Creations for the fantastic cover.

      For my father, who spent countless hours watching Star Trek with me so I could develop a love of science fiction, for my Aunt BL, who is always there to offer encouragement, and for my husband...I love you.

      Table of Contents

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      Chapter 6

      Chapter 7

      Chapter 8

      Contact the Author

      Other Works by R.E. Butler

      The Norlanian Brides Series…Coming Soon!

      The Gigolo’s Bride (The Necklace Chronicles)

      By R. E. Butler

      Sold into slavery....

      Only one person can truly set former sex slave Eden Atarn free: his soul mate.

      Taken from her planet....

      When Ashleigh Turner receives a beautiful necklace as a gift from a secret admirer, she has no idea who it came from. When another delivery shows up at her home, instead of finding out who sent her the necklace, she finds herself transported onto an alien spaceship as it speeds her away from earth.

      Will she be what he needs or find herself a slave as well....

      On a planet where forced prostitution is a punishment and young adults are sold by their families for money, Ashleigh must decide if she can be what Eden needs when she comes face to face with what he once was. Will she always want to go home, or will she find that the place she longs to be most is in Eden's arms?

      Chapter 1

      Five Years Earlier

      Norlan Homeworld, Dena System

      Giu Medical Center, Kyvern City

      Eden stared up at the ceiling of the medical center, silently cursing the friend who had saved him. Overdosing on kotik would have been so simple. He’d already started to drift away, free of pain and misery for the first time in ten years. It was bad enough that Paoli had saved his life, but Eden would now have to add the hospital stay to his long list of debts.

      The door to his room opened, and he heard his sister Sloan’s soft gasp of alarm. Of course she had come. She thought he could be saved. But there was no hope for him. He was an empty vessel: his soul long gone, his heart so broken it would never mend.

      I know you’re awake, Eden, Sloan, older by four years, said angrily.

      He turned his head toward her, his unkempt blue hair falling across his eyes. He’d tried to lessen his appeal to potential customers by not grooming himself, but it hadn’t seemed to matter. They wanted him, clean or dirty.

      What do you want, Sloan? His voice was weak, his throat dry. He’d been in the medical center for three dins now, and he knew it wasn’t the first time she’d come.

      Sloan was lovely and kind. A medical officer, she had an affinity for lost and broken souls. Eden’s soul wasn’t broken, it was missing entirely. She tucked a strand of dark brown hair behind her ear.

      I wanted to tell you that I think you’re an asshole and an idiot, and selfish, too. Her mouth curled in a snarl, her brown eyes dark and stormy.

      What? Sloan had never talked to him that way.

      You heard me. How dare you try to take your life! Do you know how important you are to me? You’re my only brother, Eden. I love you. I need you to stick around. She dashed tears angrily from her cheeks.

      His mouth opened in surprise. I...I... he stammered, but he didn’t know what to say.

      She handed him a credit. I paid for you to do the soul-walk, Eden.

      Bile rose in his throat. No woman would want someone like him. Someone used up. He had nothing to offer anyone.

      Sloan sat on the edge of the bed. Her angry snarl softened, and she smiled sadly. Taking his hand in hers, she said, I know you hate yourself. I tried to love you enough for both of us, but that didn’t work. I realize now that you have to love yourself, too. You have to forgive yourself for the life you were forced into and make changes for the better. When you get out of here, do the soul-walk. If you have a bride out there, then killing yourself is selfish and insane. You will leave her for someone else to have.

      I’m not worth having, he said in a voice thick with sudden tears.

      You are, I promise. You’re the kindest, sweetest person I’ve ever known. Any woman in the galaxy would be lucky to have you.

      She leaned over and kissed his forehead. Straightening, she said, I paid for your hospital stay. They’re keeping you here for another two dins, and then you’ll be released to my home for one more din. You can do the soul-walk then. Think hard before you decide to throw that credit in the trash, Eden.

      Ashamed, he nodded at her mutely and watched her leave. Turning the credit in his hand, he wondered if there really was a woman out there in the universe that was waiting for him. There were males that came back from the soul-walk without finding a female, but the majority were linked to a female somewhere.

      Maybe, though, if he did find himself linked to a female, he could get her to love him first before he told her about his long life spent degrading himself for his own people. Maybe if she loved him enough, she could overlook all that he’d done.

      For the first time in years, a glimmer of hope shone inside him. He clutched the credit in his hand and made a vow to the heavens that if he was given a mate, he would do everything in his power to set his life to rights and make her proud of him.

      *Three Days Later*

      Eden Atarn? A young male called out as Eden sat next to Sloan in the soul-walk agency’s main office. He was still feeling a little shaky from the drugs used in the soul-walk, but he was euphoric with the news that he did have a soul mate, somewhere in the universe.

      He waved his hand and the young man came over to him. Your bride is on a planet called Earth. So far, only three other males have females on that planet and the minimum for an extraction trip is twenty-seven.

      He nodded, taking a small memory chip from the young male that contained the images Eden had seen in his mind during his soul-walk. How long?

      The young male shrugged. It could be several lunar-cycles or it could be years. There’s no way to know. Everything you need to know about the abduction trip and costs involved is on the memory chip. When the twenty-seventh bride is located on the planet, a message will be sent to you. Fifty percent of the cost will be due then, the remainder two dins before the trip’s scheduled departure. If you fail to pay the appropriate fees, your bride will not be abducted and you will have to wait for the next trip.

      He nodded, understanding the gravity of the situation. Without knowing for sure how long it might take to get the trip ready, he was going to have to work hard to earn enough money. Not only to set himself free, but also to pay for the trip.

      Eden thanked the young male and turned to Sloan. She stood up and helped him up. They walked out to Sloan’s hover-machen, and she drove him back to the Bordelayz. The hover-machen lingered above the ground as she pulled in front of the building and got out, offering him her arm to help him make the walk back to his room.

      Bile rose in him as he walked through the front door, past the two guards who were always stationed there, and down the long, twisting hallways that led to the small room he shared with Paoli. The scent of disinfectant mingled with sex assaulted his nose, and he had an urge to find a needle of kotik and forget his troubles. Then he remembered the beautiful woman in his soul-walk, and he shook himself out of his destructive desires. She was his, and he needed to snap out of it so he could bring her home. Home to him.

      Paoli rushed to him, hugging him tightly. I missed you, friend, Paoli said, tears shining fresh in his eyes.

      Eden said what he hadn’t said during his time in the medical center, when Paoli had kept vigil at his side. Pressing his forehead to Paoli’s, he said, Thank you, my friend, for saving my life.

      Paoli nodded silently, and Eden turned back to Sloan and hugged her. All their lives, he had envied her. Although he found

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