Smuggler’s Contubernium (Mea Lupus Series Book 1) Read online

  Smuggler’s Contubernium

  Mea Lupus Series (Book 1)

  By

  Kahaula

  Copyright © 2020 Kahaula

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Cover Art: Manuela Serra of Manuela Serra Book Cover Design

  About the Author:

  Kahaula is the Hawaiian Goddess of sexual dreams. Different people view Her and Her presence in different ways. I chose to use Kahaula as a pen name out of respect, and as a devotional to Her. I hope that my readers may also be inspired by Her.

  I am a Hawaiian woman with a voracious appetite for reading and found it challenging to find stories with which I could connect. Instead of complaining, I opted to start writing my own stories. Most of my stories are romance novels simply because I believe real adult connections should happen organically, just like they do in real life, instead of silly euphemisms or fade to black nonsense. I believe my stories are made better by being honest and open about what my characters want or don’t want. I also firmly believe that story comes first, pun intended. I write in many genres: urban fantasy, paranormal, sci-fi, alt-history, post-Apocalyptic, combinations of those and more. Maybe there will be a book or series that will appeal to you!

  If you enjoy my books, please leave a review! Make sure to always check the Author’s Message section at the end of my books to get the inside scoops on this book, any news, and forthcoming books.

  You can also join my Facebook Group:

  Kahaula Dreams Reader Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/355612275565596/

  Mahalo Nui Loa, aka Acknowledgements:

  Mahalo Na Akua.

  Mahalo to my Ohana who put up with my crazy writing fugues and random calls about synonyms. You da best.

  Mahalo to my Alpha Bitchez! I heart your faces! You can’t get out of reading everything I write now, muahahaha!

  Mahalo to my PA, Annie, you’ve made my life 1000x better and helped me get back to writing.

  Special Thanks:

  This book could not have been possible without the amazing videos done by Kings and Generals, SandRhoman History, Invicta, and Historia Civilis. I hope you’ll have mercy on me since I had to extrapolate my series based on historical and cultural progression over 2000+ years. Go check out their channels and support them!

  May all of you, Mary Beard, and any historian worth their salt not murder me in the face for this alt-Roman History wolf shifter Why Choose series haha.

  Smuggler’s Contubernium

  Mea Lupus Series (Book 1)

  About the Author:

  Mahalo Nui Loa, aka Acknowledgements:

  Special Thanks:

  A Brief History of The Mea Lupus

  Prologue

  Kara

  Gaius

  Quintillus

  Conchobhar

  Quintillus

  Kara

  Aphelele

  Kara

  Kara

  Quintillus

  Kara

  Quintillus

  Kara

  Oli

  Kara

  Aphelele

  Pollux

  Gaius

  Kara

  Conchobhar

  Aphelele

  Adohi

  Quintillus

  Kara

  Oli

  Kara

  Quintillus

  Oli

  Adohi

  Oli

  Kara

  Kastur

  Kara

  Kara

  Gaius

  Gaius

  Epilogue: Gaius

  Epilogue: Kara

  Song List

  Author’s Message

  About the Author:

  Books by Kahaula

  A Brief History of The Mea Lupus

  “Menrva’s love could not save Gaius Julius Caesar from mortal treachery, but in his elevation to godhood, She made him Her Consort and the Mea Lupus their Divine Children...”

  Translated Excerpt from Cicero’s original works, circa 8 MEC

  Many times throughout human history Gods, and other higher beings, have fallen in love with mortals. However, it wasn’t until Menrva met Gaius Julius Caesar that our world was forever changed. No one, except perhaps the Daughters of Menrva, know how the Goddess met and fell in love with Caesar. She could not interfere in his mortal death, but when Rome elevated him to godhood, She placed him at Her side as Her Divine Consort.

  Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, respected grand-nephew and then Emperor Augustus, took his rightful place as leader after Caesar’s murder. The young Emperor Augustus had expertly put down his rivals and began the arduous task of restoring order. In this time of growth and possibility did Menrva and the Divine Consort Caesar make Themselves known.

  Menrva appeared to the Senate and challenged them to say what they would do about the rampant corruption in Rome. The arrogant senators raged at the Goddess or gave Her feeble excuses. It was only Augustus and a few others who humbly asked for Her permission to present their plans to do right by Rome. In a flash of divine light, Caesar appeared and said this humility was why He had chosen Augustus to be His heir.

  Menrva and Caesar slaughtered the senators in punishment for their corruption and arrogance, leaving only Augustus and his loyal senators alive. Menrva and Caesar announced that this would be the beginning of a new era. Augustus and those after him would rule as Emperor over the mortal world under the divine guidance of Menrva and Caesar. Historians mark this as the beginning of the MEC (Menrva et Caesar) Era.

  In celebration of this new era, Menrva and Caesar announced that They would reward the people of Rome and their allies. Caesar’s most loyal Tenth Legion was gifted the ability to shift into wolves. They were the very first Mea Lupus.

  Later, when Augustus reformed Rome into the Imperial Union, Menrva and Caesar gave other prospective tribes and countries a way to prove their worthiness. Those tribes and countries who were worthy would have Chosen among them.

  Chosen are not born Mea Lupus but are given the gift of wolf shifting. Chosen prove their worth by showing the 4 Divine Gifts of Menrva and Caesar: Fidelis, Honoris, Beneficentia, Complexus. All Mea Lupus both born and Chosen must exemplify Loyalty, Honour, Beneficence, and a Compassionate open mindedness or risk the Divine Couple removing their gift.

  Prologue

  Training Planet ML2, Legion V Sector 2486 MEC

  “If that didn’t work then there’s not much more we can do,” the woman’s exhausted comment spurred on my all too familiar rage. How dare this bitch be exhausted, I sneered.

  “She’s our top candidate, this should be working,” snapped another woman. Her irritation was as obvious as her arrogance. I felt a new line of blood draw down my forehead to the tip of my nose. I felt a kick to my ribs and coughed against my will. Bloody spittle flew past my lips and I inhaled sharply through my mouth. My nose was too clogged with blood and broken cartilage to breath through.

  “Then leave the varg bitch for the crows,” the one who kicked me then spat on me to emphasise her point. The first woman gasped.

  “It’s probably for the best,” sighed the arrogant one.

  “Her people won’t take her back; they won’t waste food on a failure,” the kicker laughed darkly. I knew what was coming but didn’t move. Not like I could. I was on my knees, right wh
ere they liked us worthless candidates. My wrists were in thick metal cuffs, arms pulled up and away. They had tied me to two posts. I heard the final kick to my head before I felt it.

  Like an out of body experience I saw my cheek bone crack as my head snapped to the left.

  Then all was black.

  Kara

  Ragnar Station, Orion Sector 2496 MEC

  Ten years later...

  “That’s it,” a small smile touched my lips, “Nice and easy.” It wasn’t easy to do a manual lock on the asteroid’s docking clamps, but I got it done. I sighed as I walked back through the dimly lit halls of my ship. I was one of the few smugglers that had no crew. Anyone else and that would have been a disadvantage but I had made my name on being sneaky.

  I got in where others were too big or had too many hands to make a precision venture worthwhile. Or, at least, that’s how I marketed my services. My ship, the Charopos, was named for the lone ferryman of death. I thought it was a nice fuck you to everyone who tried to kill me. It also served as a reminder to clients that I would send them straight from this life into the next if they betrayed me.

  No one remembered my birth name. I barely gave that name a second thought in the last ten years. I liked my new name. Kara was just close enough to Charon’s own name that people just called me the Ferryman more often than not. The confusion in gender also helped me lay low because just like Charon, everyone expected the Ferryman to be... well, a man. That always made me laugh because I doubt even Charon himself would think his penis was the reason he was able to get souls from one side of the river Styx to the other.

  The airlock lights by my right hand flashed from red to green and I knew it was safe to open up the connecting tunnel. “Don’t worry, I’ll be right back,” I ran my hand over the nearby bulkhead. The Charopos wasn’t sentient, nor did it even have a high end artificial intelligence, but I still showed her love all the same. After all, she was the only thing that stood between me and the gaping maw of the void. I had avoided or circumvented death many times, but no one survived trying to suck vacuum.

  Slapping the airlock open I walked ahead in my EVA suit with my helmet still covering me. I didn’t need another run in with someone trying to dose me with gas and take my ship. The blood had taken me hours to get clean from the paneling.

  People will always disappoint you.

  I checked the sensors on my suit’s gauntlet three more times before I stepped forward into the connecting tube. There was no sign that the station growing like a tumour on the other side of this asteroid, noticed my arrival or docking. The door on the other end of the connecting tube looked beat to shit. I doubted if Ragnar Station even remembered this old cargo hold existed anymore. That was my hope anyway. I grunted reading the runes painted on its paneling. What a throwback. I had no problem hitting Ragnar Station. They were my own people. If anyone deserved to rob them, it was me.

  The Imperial Union had been in space for over 500 years and in political power over our old home planet Terra for the last 2,000. Only 100 years into slow space exploration did humans meet another species. After a rather skilled negotiation, we acquired faster than light blinking technology. In the wilds of space the nation-states under the Imperial Union saw it as their chance to gain stronger footing and maybe even freedom. I snorted at my ancestor’s stupidity and naivety. No one escapes the will of the Imperial Union.

  Pressing the runes in the provided sequence, the door slowly groaned and swung open. I clicked on the light orb and threw it forward into the dark space. The orb floated up as high as it could go and shone brightly over the room. I smiled wolfishly and laughed. Time to give you a new home, my lovelies!

  Stacks and stacks of dust coated containers and cargo boxes lined every wall in the giant space. I quickly clicked on a handful of seeker orbs and threw them in. I checked my gauntlet again to see if there were any alarms in the cargo hold I was in the process of raiding. My information had said there weren’t but with caches like these you never knew if someone had added any modern defence touches.

  I patiently waited for my confirmation. Rushing towards shiny objects of value never get you anything, except shiny sharp objects at your neck. My gauntlet’s screen flicked green and I stepped into the cargo hold. My primary seeker orb had found my client’s target. It unwrapped itself from an orb into a flat shard of metal and slapped down on the container.

  My clients only ever told me the dimensions and weight of what they wanted acquired for them. I only ever asked for any other relevant data and not what the object or objects of their desire were. The only rule, besides ‘I’ll kill you if you betray me’, was nothing alive. This included any kind of biohazard as well. Break these two rules and I would kill you. No excuses. No apologies. No compromises. Just death.

  Tall and thin, the cargo box that my seeker orb had attached to lifted off the ground and floated past me and into the connecting tube. The orbs were my own special invention. Work smarter, not harder. Even if I did have a crew, which I never wanted, it would take too long to move cargo by muscle. It wasn’t like I had a Mea Lupus’s strength or speed.

  My lips turned down. I hated how thoughts of the Mea Lupus could pop into my head at random, especially during what should be a happy moment of thievery. I brushed off the unpleasant thought and looked around. All the other seeker orbs had unfurled and slapped down on other cargo containers. I looked at my gauntlet again and catalogued what they saw in each box.

  I sent two off their containers to find something better and sent the others inside the ship to stow the goods in the many hidden panels throughout the Charopos. The light orb streamed in the slower general scans of the cargo hold, helping to direct the others based on my priority list.

  I tried to keep, whatever I took, a mix of goods. Some that were easy to offload and others that were high end. The easy stuff I could just dump at the markets on Castra 3 Station while I waited for the high end fences to turn over my other goods.

  “You know you’re going to turn Charopos into a piñata.”

  “A what?”

  “A pretty object stuffed with toys and candy that small children beat to death in order to get the goods inside,” explained Ai. I looked over my shoulder and across the connecting tube. Her tits were swinging and hanging out as she leaned her forearms against the airlock’s top frame. She arched her back and tilted her head coyly as her nipples tightened in the cold air. Her tight pants were practically painted on her voluptuous hips.

  “What have I said about going topless?”

  “You like my tits,” Ai pouted and ran her fingers appreciatively over her breasts and thumbed her nipples. My thighs clenched and I licked my lips involuntarily.

  My ship didn’t have an artificial intelligence because the one I had created became sentient and demanded I help her build a body so she could ‘go for a walk’. When she told me her new name would be Ai I had rolled my eyes so hard I had barely avoided her annoyed punch to my lady bits.

  “We made a rule Ai,” I growled. Cargo boxes of all shapes and sizes floated past me as seeker orbs returned for more things to steal.

  “I don’t remember,” Ai bit her lip and one hand trailed slowly down her flat stomach to unbutton her pants. She pushed two long fingers deep inside her and moaned, “And I like when you get all growly.” It had been weeks since I had made port anywhere and trying to maintain my self imposed rule of no fucking had been murder.

  Ai didn’t have to eat, drink, or sleep. The only thing she spent her cut on were upgrades. She would have me help her add new systems and all the best adaptable body parts. She could be a she, he, androgynous, or even a damn beast depending on her mood. It’s what made our partnership so great. She could easily alter her appearance and help me do things that I couldn’t.

  “This cache is at least a century old, Kara,” she said breathily. Her fingers worked her pussy and clit as her other hand tugged harder on her nipples. “My scans show this cargo hold hasn’t been breached in just
as long. No one’s coming... well, not yet anyway,” she winked.

  “Fuck it,” I snarled. I stomped back over to the Charopos and ripped off my helmet, dropping it to the floor. I ripped her hand out of her pussy and plunged my own gloved fingers inside her.

  “Oh, yes, Kara!”

  “This changes nothing, Ai,” I bit down on her nipple to remind her. Her body arched and her fingers wrapped around the braids in my hair.

  She knew I wasn’t going to be in a romantic relationship with her. I had avoided fucking her because I didn’t want her getting any ideas that that had changed. We lived short lives. Smugglers died all the time. If not because our clients betrayed us then because the Mea Lupus would catch up to us eventually.

  “You need this,” she wrapped her hips tightly against my own and ground down on my hand, “And I need this. We can fuck and not be more.” I kissed her hard and ground my palm into her clit.

  “Then come for me and prove it.”

  She rode my hand, her breasts bounced and her hips rolled. On a shout she clamped down my my fingers and I knew she had given me the orgasm I demanded of her. Ai reached forward and touched the fast release tabs on my EVA suit. Letting it drop to the floor I peeled off my inner pants, top, and boots. I looked up and saw Ai was already naked.

  “My turn,” her sultry grin morphed into a smarmy smirk as she changed her lower half to a male’s very erect cock but maintained everything else as female. Using her superior strength she gripped me by my thighs and my back slapped against the bulkhead.

  I barely got the wind back in my lungs before she was pounding into me. My pussy throbbed with how hard and fast she was going. Ai kissed her way across my bouncing breasts and up my neck. “New upgrade?”