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    Harness
    Harness
    Harness
    Ebook79 pages1 hour

    Harness

    By Viola Grace

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    About this ebook

    Alfreda has become used to the constant pressure of her harness, keeping her in a basic bipedal form and helping her back into her Terran shape. When she learns that her mixed blood makes the shapeshifter in her far stronger than the human, she has a choice. Should she give in or keep herself human at all costs?

    El-sur works with the Guardian project, finding those of his species and training them to their full potential. Alfreda is stronger than any other shifter he has met, and she is also the only female of his kind he has ever seen. Will biology win over education?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublishereXtasy Books Inc
    Release dateJan 9, 2014
    ISBN9781771117401
    Harness
    Author

    Viola Grace

    Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.

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      Book preview

      Harness - Viola Grace

      Using tech to hold her shape becomes a problem when she meets a man who drives her senses into overdrive and tests her control.

      Alfreda has become used to the constant pressure of her harness, keeping her in a basic bipedal form and helping her back into her Terran shape. When she learns that her mixed blood makes the shapeshifter in her far stronger than the human, she has a choice. Should she give in or keep herself human at all costs?

      El-sur works with the Guardian project, finding those of his species and training them to their full potential. Alfreda is stronger than any other shifter he has met, and she is also the only female of his kind he has ever seen. Will biology win over education?

      The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

      Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

      This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

      Harness

      Copyright © 2013 Viola Grace

      ISBN: 978-1-77111-740-1

      Cover art by Martine Jardin

      All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

      Published by eXtasy Books

      Look for us online at:

      www.extasybooks.com

      Smashwords Edition

      Harness

      A Terran Times Tale

      By

      Viola Grace

      Chapter One

      Alfreda Older shifted and slid through the crowd muttering about the royal family, and she tugged her cloak around her. She kept moving toward the heavily guarded library but paused when one of the guards touched her shoulder.

      What are you doing here this evening, madam?

      Alfreda cocked her head. I am here to see the librarian.

      The guard stood straight and eyed her. What is your purpose?

      She smiled. I am a book binder. There is a restoration project that he wished me to consult on. This was the only time I was available.

      A man in the robes of the master librarian emerged behind the guard. Bookbinder. It is good to see you made it through such a turbulent atmosphere.

      The guard jerked with surprise.

      Alfreda inclined her head as he stepped aside.

      A guard followed her in, and she looked to the librarian. Please, take me to the area set aside for me.

      The librarian looked at her, shrugged and took her down the endless halls of tables, finally escorting her into a room lined with books in various stages of decay. She winced and actually wished that she was there as a restorer. She could do her life’s work in those battered books.

      She flipped her cloak back and pulled out her pack, opening it and setting it on a table. Long needles, coils of thread, sharp scissors and curved knives for working with wood and leather all were set out with precision.

      The guard nodded and left the room.

      Alfreda breathed in and verified the connection with the orbiting warships. She still had the line, so she asked, Are you the one who sent for me?

      He was eyeing her with confusion. I didn’t send for you specifically.

      She grinned; if he wasn’t the one, he was about to get a shock. She grabbed his hand and completed the link. She placed his hand on her arm and went about stripping off a damaged cover, carefully cutting the signatures free of the boards.

      She kept her mind blank and let the conversation flow through her without touching her consciousness. Being a living relay was awkward at the best of times, being one during an uprising made her very popular.

      The conversation went on for an hour, and she moved slowly around the workshop, bringing the librarian with her. He had no trouble catching on to the fact that contact meant communication, and since Alfreda had been sent to help set up an escape for the off-worlders who wanted to leave before the uprising got violent, she could feel his eagerness to continue the chat with the ships above.

      She checked the pages and renewed the signatures, putting the folded pages back into the stack before she sewed them together. She reached into her kit and pulled out her paste, wrapping the new spine with woven fabric for the book.

      The fabrics that the Banua used were similar enough to what she had learned with back on earth, and their techniques were also very familiar.

      The reason for the damage was simple age and a little bit of clumsiness. Someone had dropped the book and the brittle thread had snapped, sending the pages skidding across the floor. It was an easy fix and the perfect excuse to call in a bookbinder.

      You actually know how to fix books?

      Alfreda jumped and looked at the librarian. He was rubbing his hand and the connection through her was completed.

      Of course. It wouldn’t do for me to show up here without knowing what I was doing, now would it? She turned back to her project and touched the paste with a finger. It was still too wet to set back into the cover.

      Are you hungry? There is some dinner prepared for us.

      She chuckled. "No, thank

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