posts with insights about characters
In this scene from At the Mercy of Her Pleasure, rebel captain NarrAy Jorlan takes a second look at the young, half-human thief she's hiring.
NarrAy met Senth's penetrating gaze. How had she ever seen him as a boy?
He had a man's hands, well-groomed nails and sinewy forearms that revealed power and strength. His biceps bulged. Angular jaw, a firm mouth with lips made for kissing. A hot flutter rose within her and she tamped it down at once, refusing to let her pheromones get the upper hand.
Senth was watching her, gaze narrowed, head tilted. He gave a sniff and then eased into a smile. His proximity heightened her desire. He smelled clean, fresh and ruggedly male. A tingle signaled the imminent letdown of her pheromones and she fought to calm the spike of lust flickering through her like a torch about to combust.
Senth's faint smile revealed nothing, but he lifted his head, sniffing the air. Kin could smell emotion and desire. Could a half-breed? Might be time to find out...
Sweet Science Fiction Romance with a Kick.
A fast-paced sci fi romance with an adorable, fun-loving hero who's half-human and half-cat and a by-the-book army captain heroine. Hired to steal back a prototype taken by the imperial armada, Senth retrieves it, but his brother is kidnapped to force Senth to surrender the device. Now he has to rescue his brother, outsmart the armada, and keep the item out of imperial hands. All doable, except for one small problem. He must do it in the company of NarrAy, a genetically altered woman whose pheromones could enhance the mission or crumble it into dust with a single siren kiss.
At the Mercy of Her Pleasure by Kayelle Allen
https://amzn.to/1f7FQ2h
JOIN US FOR BOOKHOOKS
Book Hooks is a weekly meme hosted by Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog. It's a chance each week for you the reader to discover current works in progress or previously published books by possibly new-to-you authors. Thank you for stopping by. Please say hello or leave a note in the comments.
At the Mercy of Her Pleasure...
The title of this book, At the Mercy of Her Pleasure, makes it sound super sexy. I mean, look at this guy, right? The name comes from his heroine, NarrAy, an enhanced human whose pheromones allow her to control others. Can he resist her? Does he even want to? Sadly, he must or he will not be able to free his brother, who’s in the worst possible situation…
If you love a great romance with unforseeable twists, but don’t really care for explicit content, this book is for you. It’s adult in nature, but is rated PG13.
In this scene, Senth must meet someone at a hotel above a nightclub, and when you look as young as he does, getting in isn't that easy...
---
As Senth approached The Ghost, the club's beefy Kin bouncer put out a hand. "Hold up, kid. You--" She motioned toward Khyff -- "Wait over there. You..." She motioned Senth aside. "You got ID?"
Senth opened his cloak, revealing the lining with its unmistakable Thieves' Guild insignia, a skeleton key inside a slashed circle. He gave his Sen'dai's hand sign.
"Ffffftt!" The bouncer made an apologetic shrug. "Sorry. Why didn't you say you were the Man's right up front?"
"His shouldn't have to." Senth brushed a hand down the front of the cloak. "And I'm no kid."
"Sorry, sir." She opened the door for both of them and bowed.
Once inside, Khyff held out one palm, and Senth slid his down it, hooked his fingers as Khyff did, and with hands clasped, gave one downward shake.
"C'mon, Bro." Khyff led the way past the darkened foyer.
Inside, music pulsed like a living entity. Throbbing bass tickled Senth's chest, and he coughed. Drums pounded. Colored lights swept the cavernous room. Strobes flashed across the congested dance floor, highlighting bobbing heads and upflung arms. Light glinted off human bodies slick with sweat, while bared and damp Kin furskin stuck out in points, laden with glitter.
"Stay close," Khyff shouted over the pulsating music, standing next to Senth. He headed for the rear and left no chance to argue. They skirted around the crammed dance area. Senth liberated a few loose credit stubs clipped to belts and stuffed them into the pockets of his cloak.
He tried not to stare at the slakes along the wall, but their clothing and attitude declared their availability. A pair of male and female slakes bent over a low railing, their pants around their ankles. Androgs handled their bodies like merchandise.
Khyff nudged him. "Comparison shoppers."
"Not funny."
"Try being the one hanging over the railing." Khyff jerked his head. "Come on."
Females ruled on the Kin planet Felidae, and the majority who visited The Ghost had more than one male in their company. A single Kin female at the bar turned and looked Senth over from head to foot. Tall and slender, she wore brown leather the same color as her hair. She slid her tongue across her upper teeth, back and forth between her fangs, and wiggled her cute feline nose. Then she twitched her pointed ears toward Senth. A tap on his arm drew Senth's attention.
"Stay away from her, Sen." Khyff glared at the Kin. "She'll take you to bed and then eat you for breakfast. That's not a figure of speech. HalfKin who leave with her aren't seen again. She's working this floor for someone. Watch this." Khyff slid a hand down his body, giving the Kin a slow smile.
The female crooked a finger at Khyff and smiled back.
When Khyff rubbed his fingers and thumb together in a sign for money, she turned away. "Yeah, I thought so."
"You wanted her?"
His brother snorted. "You couldn't pay me enough to screw a Kin."
Sweet Science Fiction Romance with a Kick.
A fast-paced sci fi romance with an adorable, fun-loving hero who's half-human and half-cat and a by-the-book army captain heroine. Hired to steal back a prototype taken by the imperial armada, Senth retrieves it, but his brother is kidnapped to force Senth to surrender the device. Now he has to rescue his brother, outsmart the armada, and keep the item out of imperial hands. All doable, except for one small problem. He must do it in the company of NarrAy, a genetically altered woman whose pheromones could enhance the mission or crumble it into dust with a single siren kiss.
At the Mercy of Her Pleasure by Kayelle Allen
https://amzn.to/1f7FQ2h
Click covers for the buy link. Click text for the website page and excerpts.
Series page https://kayelleallen.com/antonello-brothers
#SciFi #Romance
Download a printable book list or a list of trigger warnings for all books. Claim your immortality by signing up for my newsletter
Immortal Reviews Rock & Rule - Join the Review Team
~ Copyright ©2025 Kayelle Allen. All rights reserved ~ Kayelle Allen participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates program, an affiliate advertising program which provides the means for sites to earn fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com. If you purchase an item listed on the site from Amazon.com, Kayelle will earn a small commission. Other sites might be affiliate links as well. These will not result in higher prices for you. Thank you for your support!
My characters may be found in multiple books in my story universe. Pietas images Nik Nitsvetov as Pietas cosplay.
In this scene from Bringer of Chaos: the Origin of Pietas, the immortal Pietas argues with his father, who contends the war has cost billions of human lives, while as immortals, none of the Ultras has suffered a perma-death.
"As usual, you discount my deaths."
"Yours don't count. You come back."
"I see." Had anything Pietas had ever done counted? Not to the man before him. "Tell me, Father." He picked up a silver circlet and toyed with it. "Would it be better if some of us had been terminated by fire, or one of the other ways to end us permanently? How many perma-deaths would suffice? Are two sufficient? A hundred? Or would mine be enough?"
"Why must you twist my words? Of course Ultras have died, but we revive in peak condition. Humans stay dead. All I'm saying is the loss is heavy on one side."
"Every war has losses. Yet you don't celebrate the victory. You count the enemy's defeat as your own."
"This is why you are unfit to lead the council. You--"
"Ah, there it is." Pietas twirled the diadem around one finger. "The real reason you're here. To whine about losing your place of power."
"That's petty and you know it. Too many mortals have died!"
"Mortals! How I tire of that word. I believe I'll start calling them Mundanes."
"Why not? It smacks of your usual disrespect and bigotry."
Pietas sputtered a laugh. "I find it incredulous that the indignant and righteous Mahikos who led our people in rebellion against humanity has fallen so far from his ideals. What happened to the motto 'Freedom, Fairness, Fortune' that rallied our people? I was four years old. We were still hidden then. No one knew Dessy and I existed except you and Mother. But you hoisted us both onto your shoulders and we stayed behind darkened glass and watched as thousands of our people cheered in the streets. You'd won them freedom, and they shouted your name. Oh, in that moment, Father, I wanted to be just like you. No, I wanted to be you. Now?" He ignored the angry twitch tugging at one eyelid. "You want us to treat humans as equals. They never treated us as such. Even now, we're hated and reviled. Putting them on the council will make them haughtier. I want nothing to do with humans."
"Then you want nothing to do with me, Son. Humans are all I care about."
And wasn't that the naked truth of his father's betrayal? He had turned his back on their people. He had turned his back on his son.
A captive of the people he loathes, the immortal Pietas is left for dead on the planet Sempervia. Six, a human soldier who is abandoned with him, offers food and water. A human, offering friendship? Surely, this is another trap, but to survive, Pietas must do that which he most detests.
Trust a human...
Bringer of Chaos series by Kayelle Allen
Amazon and Kindle Unlimited https://books2read.com/u/4DovO7
JOIN US FOR BOOKHOOKS
Book Hooks is a weekly meme hosted by Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog. It's a chance each week for you the reader to discover current works in progress or previously published books by possibly new-to-you authors. Thank you for stopping by. Please say hello or leave a note in the comments.
Last time a cop was at Dara's door it was Christmas Eve, and he delivered news that her husband had been killed.
Now one's out there again...
Dara was gaining strength daily, and would finish therapy the first week of January and return to work. Disability paid for the basics - lights, phone, water, trash collection, and she'd never bought anything on credit, refusing to dig herself into a hole she'd never escape once it got started.
She went to the closet and pulled down a box with a ball, crayons, paper, and three books. A friend had brought over a few things as well. This wasn't the grand Christmas she had wanted for her daughter, but all the other valuables had been sold. There was nothing left but her wedding ring.
She didn't wear it. Removing it had been part of saying good-bye to Jack.
They said it would help, and it had. Sort of. But not much.
Dara sank into one of the kitchen chairs and put her face in her hands.
Sometime later, when the doorbell rang, she grabbed a paper towel and dried her eyes. The clock over the stove said nine o'clock. Who would be calling at this hour on Christmas Eve? She stuffed the wet towel in her robe pocket on the way to the door.
A sweet feel-good holiday romance that reaffirms all you love about Christmas. It's the end of a year in which everything Dara loves was lost. Everything but her little girl and a fierce determination to survive. When a cop comes to her door on Christmas Eve, he brings a gift she never expected to get.
Universal book link https://books2read.com/u/31MNPw
JOIN US FOR BOOKHOOKS
Book Hooks is a weekly meme hosted by Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog. It's a chance each week for you the reader to discover current works in progress or previously published books by possibly new-to-you authors. Thank you for stopping by. Please say hello or leave a note in the comments.
In this scene from Bringer of Chaos: the Origin of Pietas, the immortal Pietas, grievously ill and unable to fend for himself, has asked the human, Six, to go find the other immortals. How dare this lowly human refuse him? Pietas is about to get a lesson in humility...
"How can you not do this, Six? What if my family and the council members are in the same shape I was in? Trapped, helpless, and injured?"
"No, no, and no." Six sat cross-legged by the fire, filet knife in hand, scraping scales off a fish. The fire sparked as the scales hit. "I'm not looking for your people. Look," he gestured at him with the knife, "you promised not to kill me. Not them. And to clarify, when it comes down to who ain't killing who, I promised not to kill you. Them? They're another story."
A hint of heat tingled against Pietas's face, and then a deeper warmth. Were his empathic senses returning, or was that the fire? "You are afraid." It sounded more accusatory than he'd intended.
Six glared at him. "Of course I am! You think I'm an idiot? I'm the only human on Sempervia. You know what a bunch of Ultras are gonna do if a human walks into camp? Nope." He spread his hands, the dead fish flopping as he did. "Not going. You get better, and I'll go with you, but I ain't going alone."
"I can't believe you."
"Sorry to disappoint." In one slice, he split the fish and then gutted it. He tossed the guts into the flames.
"You evince no sorrow whatsoever."
Six speared him with a dark look. "Evince? That some Naro swear word?"
"It's standard Etymis everyone speaks, ghost. It means to express. Empaths read the emotions that others evince."
"Fine. I don't evince any sorrow. Not one bit sorry about not taking on such a harebrained mission. Look what happened to the last one I accepted." He threaded the fish onto a long stick and set it over the coals' heat. "I might be dead, but I'm an animated dead, thank you. I intend to stay that way."
Pietas shut his eyes, jaws clenched. If he could heal faster by focusing anger, he'd have shot straight to good-as-new.
While Six worked on a second fish, Pietas considered what other tacks to try. The ghost was all about duty. "I'm accustomed to obedience from my men."
Six's mouth twisted into a wry grin. "Two things I'm starting to regret right now." He did not continue.
Pietas prompted him. "Such as?"
"One, that I didn't go AWOL when I heard about the mission to capture you."
Curiosity won over, and he broke the silence. "And the second?"
"That you got your voice back."
A captive of the people he loathes, the immortal Pietas is left for dead on the planet Sempervia. Six, a human soldier who is abandoned with him, offers food and water. A human, offering friendship? This must be another trap,
Pietas must do the one thing he detests. Trust a human...
Bringer of Chaos series by Kayelle Allen
Amazon and Kindle Unlimited https://books2read.com/u/4DovO7
JOIN US FOR BOOKHOOKS
Book Hooks is a weekly meme hosted by Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog. It's a chance each week for you the reader to discover current works in progress or previously published books by possibly new-to-you authors. Thank you for stopping by. Please say hello or leave a note in the comments.
On the planet Kaffir, they had a name for loyal warrior: Tiklaus.
In this scene we see the first time the immortal panther, Tiklaus, saves the life of Pietas and the panther tribe welcomes him.
Pietas had taken two steps when multiple voices cried out a warning: "Behind you!"
His father came at him with another knife. Pietas threw up an arm to defend himself.
A black tornado swept between them.
Pietas stood stock still, unable to process what he was seeing.
The panther had leaped into the fray, fangs bared. Mahikos fell beneath the bloodthirsty onslaught of snarling animal fury.
Six pulled Pietas away. "He was going to stab you in the back! That cat came out of nowhere!"
Hardly nowhere. The cat had tracked him since day one.
Watch. Scout. Guard. Keep. Care. Safe. Duty.
Pietas understood now.
Growling, the panther gripped his father's throat in its powerful jaws, but didn't complete the bite. Waiting. Listening.
Through their connection, Pietas understood. It awaited the kill command.
Pietas opened his mouth to give the order.
"No!" Helia screamed. "Stop!"
He hesitated.
The Council had gathered. No one moved. No one interfered.
The panther yelped, twitched, and then went limp.
His father pushed the animal off him, revealing a knife protruding from the cat's chest. He stood, staggering. The cat's dark blood drenched the front of his once-white uniform. Mahikos covered the puncture wounds on his neck.
Armand and Philippe closed in on him and gripped his arms.
The panther's green eyes closed as Pietas knelt beside the animal. He stroked the sleek black fur of its chest, its jaw, traced one finger around the rounded ears. The cat's lifeblood oozed from its wound. Forgive me! I should have let you eat him.
Battle wounds in Ultras, Pietas understood. He'd never treated an animal. If he removed the knife, the bleeding might worsen. Hasten death. One did not mercy kill a fellow Ultra. They healed.
Ultras took no prisoners. He'd dispatched suffering humans. Why torture an enemy close to death? After what traitors done to him, however, he'd rethink that in the future.
Pietas could not bring himself to kill someone so loyal. He rested his hand on its chest, felt breath leave the body. This beautiful animal had died for no reason other than to save him.
A rumbling growl surrounded him. From the dark, eyes flashed green and gold.
"Pi!" Six called to him. "Leave the cat. I think they want you to back away."
Unmoving, he opened himself the way he had earlier. He'd felt the presence of the other panthers but had not recognized then who and what they were. An impression thrummed between him and the cats, teasing his senses. Unspoken, as present as the background hum of a powerful ship. A shared energy.
Pietas gave himself over to them and they drew him in, welcoming his presence, accepting his nature, claiming his ferocity.
More than brotherhood. More than soldiers. More than family.
Tribe.
When Pietas is marooned on a barren world with no food and few survival tools, he knows it could be worse. He could be alone. But that's the problem. He's not.
Half a million of his people sleep in cryostasis, trapped inside their pods and it's up to Pietas to free them. He can't release one at a time. It's all or nothing. Over five hundred thousand hungry, thirsty, homeless immortals will call on him for rescue and he has no way to answer.
Universal book link http://books2read.com/u/3R1kev
JOIN US FOR BOOKHOOKS
Book Hooks is a weekly meme hosted by Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog. It's a chance each week for you the reader to discover current works in progress or previously published books by possibly new-to-you authors. Thank you for stopping by. Please say hello or leave a note in the comments.
In Lights Out, a story in the Expanding Universe (Vol 4), you're asked to believe in ghosts of a different kind. These ghosts are special ops soldiers resurrected to fight an enemy that is immortal.
Twenty-four hours later, healed and at attention, Tornahdo endured a tongue-lashing by no less than the Ghost Corps Colonial Armada Commandant General. What a mouthful for such a tiny person. He wouldn't have thought he'd rated an officer of her rank.
If a general had thousands to command, why was she slapping around a master sergeant? In the regular army, they'd berated him at the lowest level of incompetence. And what was his sin? Getting killed in battle. If you came back to life, why was that wrong?
Plus, if a soldier sacrificed himself saving a platoon, you didn't write him up. You bestowed a medal.
Treat the regular army like this and that whole death-and-rebirth thing was never going to catch on.
While the general droned on about the expense of rebirths and the protocol for ghosts, he counted bullet holes in the fence outside the window. Sixty plus on one panel. Over forty on another. Wasted firepower. Probably a human.
Ultras tended not to miss.
"Are you listening to me, Master Sergeant?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Repeat what I said."
Tornahdo spat it back.
Clasping hands behind her, the general paced. "You were inducted into the corps and promoted because you had the highest rating from a commanding officer I'd ever seen in the regular army. Now that I've reviewed your record, I'm wondering if he inflated your value to get you out of his unit."
He'd wondered the same thing.
"You've been written up for insubordination three times. What is your problem with authority?"
"Ma'am, I have no problem with authority." Imbeciles, yes, but that was another story.
"The death and rebirth of a ghost means the salvation of mankind. Isn't that why you enlisted?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"The purloined blood of an Ultra runs in your veins. Do not take it for granted. It costs the corps a fortune. Do not forget."
Not likely. The corps reminded him daily.
The word purloined hadn't been used in his hearing before. Now that he thought about it, how did they get the Ultra blood infusing his body? Were captives volunteering?
Surely not. Their hatred of mankind was legendary.
What did it matter? Ultras were the enemy. They deserved no mercy.
Part of the anthology The Expanding Universe 4: Space Adventure, Alien Contact and Military Science Fiction, edited by Craig Martelle
He can save mankind. After he does one important thing. Die.
Join the Ghost Corps, they said. You'll live forever, they said. You'll save mankind, they said. They didn't say that to do it, first he had to die.
When Tornahdo signs on the dotted line, he puts his life into the steady hands of the mighty Ghost Corps. Three grisly deaths and three agonizing resurrections later, he's assigned duty on the space station Enderium Six.
He's facing his most dangerous mission yet, the very reason the corps exists.
Do they expect him to win? Fat chance. Tornahdo and his team are already dead and this mission is codenamed "Lights Out." No, there's more to this than he can see.
To discover the truth, he must face an unbeatable, unkillable enemy, and this time--somehow--find a way to keep himself alive...
JOIN US FOR BOOKHOOKS
Book Hooks is a weekly meme hosted by Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog. It's a chance each week for you the reader to discover current works in progress or previously published books by possibly new-to-you authors. Thank you for stopping by. Please say hello or leave a note in the comments.
In this scene from Bringer of Chaos: the Origin of Pietas, the hero is trapped in darkness within a lifepod without one spark of light. Rather than being put into stasis, his captors have left him to rot. But there's one small problem: Pietas is immortal.
Facing Blinding Flash of Light
The infernal, cheerful whistling began again. Pietas tried in vain to escape the sound. Shackled at the ankles, hands bound behind him, he remained flat on his back. There were no comfort choices inside his pod.
No. Not his pod. He would never claim such a place.
The prison pod. The nightmare pod. A casket for the living.
Would that whistling never end?
Whoever guarded him whistled, night and day. He must have lips made of steel. How a human kept that up day after day was beyond him. Or perhaps... Did an Ultra guard him? Had one of his people come to free him?
Pietas opened his mouth to call out, and clamped it shut.
If it were one of his people, he needed to wait for them to act. They would do so when the time was right. For now, he suffered bouts of agony as feeling returned to his hands and then left in repeating cycles. His metabolism healed him, but brought pain. He focused on that, accepted the pain, welcomed it, and examined every step of its journey through his body. What one understood, one could bear.
An Ultra does not seek to escape pain. If one inflicts pain, one must bear it. Pain must be borne. Pain is a warrior's ally.
He hovered in a nightmare-filled, windowless, endless monotony of thirst and hunger.
Punctuated with unending lilts of bouncy, alert, happy, chipper whistling.
At first, he'd welcomed the sound. The rising and falling notes broke the tedium of everlasting darkness. It stopped for brief periods, but began again soon after.
He'd considered calling out and asking them to stop. He had gone so far as to open his mouth. But asking implied weakness. He acknowledged no tool of torture.
Beg mercy from humans? Never.
This was not stasis. Stasis meant cessation of thought. Of emotion. A dreamless kind of sleep. The end of awareness. A not-time.
They'd frozen his people in these pods, but they'd imprisoned him.
Or perhaps his blood ran so hot, no human force could freeze him.
The tune changed.
For the love of all that's holy, will you shut up!
Blessed silence fell. But then a blinding flash of light blared in his face like a blast of horns.
What fresh perdition was this? They'd tortured him with darkness. Now they'd torture him with light?
Pietas tried to force his eyes open, to face the torture, but after so long in darkness, the light stabbed his eyes. He twisted his head to avoid it.
"You-- you're awake?" The startled voice hovered close, muffled by the pod. "Security! Security! Prisoner Six-Six-Six is out of stasis! I say again, Prisoner Six-Six-Six is out of stasis!"
The alarm in the male voice gave Pietas a measure of pride. Even imprisoned, he engendered fear. They had taken away his name, and given him a number that among humans meant a demonic beast.
Let the legend of Pietas--by name or by number--bring fear straight into the heart of man. No... let it bring terror.
His eyes adjusted to the light, and he focused on the face hovering over the small window above him.
Was that...Ghost Six?
When the immortal Pietas is marooned on a barren world with no food and few survival tools, he knows it could be worse. He could be alone. But that's the problem. He's not.
Half a million of his people sleep in cryostasis, trapped inside their pods and it's up to Pietas to free them. He can't release one at a time. It's all or nothing. Over five hundred thousand hungry, thirsty, homeless immortals will call on him for rescue and he has no way to answer.
Universal book link http://books2read.com/u/3R1kev
His people are winning, yet they insist on peace talks. The Ultra people want to grant humans a seat on the Council. Humans! No, what's best for humans is oppression, control, and if necessary, elimination. Pietas seethes with rage at the idea of human equality. They might have created Ultras, but the creation has far surpassed the creator.
Humans die.
Ultras are reborn, no matter how grievous the injury. Therefore, Ultras have no equals.
His people permit him no choice. He must attend insipid peace talks on Enderium Six and what's worse, be polite. To humans.
In this scene, Pietas has been betrayed and trapped, and now they're coercing him to enter a lifepod.
The leaders of his people gathered in sleep around Pietas, sealed inside their curved, steel stasis tubes.
He folded his arms. "Feast your eyes, vultures." He lifted his chin. "You think to imprison me? You think to bring me down like a hunted animal?" He indicated the other life-pods. "I will not cower before you. I will not bow. I will not kneel. I will not serve. I will never submit. Humans were made to be ruled, not by my people, but by me."
The silhouettes above him contrasted with the bright light behind them. One by one, they slipped away, until one remained.
"Fighting us accomplishes nothing." The disembodied voice echoed in the chamber. "Enter the pod, Pietas, or we'll siphon the air. You'll die."
"I'll revive. I've died countless times. I do not fear death. Death fears me."
"So be it. Since you're so set on dying, have it your way. I told you if you didn't cooperate, I would detonate the bombs within the hostages you took aboard your ship. See for yourself."
On the opposite wall, an image of his ship sparkled into life, and a bloom of light filled the screen. A mass of debris shot in all directions.
"Your crew has ceased to exist."
"That image is a farce. You would not dare to destroy the council's flagship, and you will not destroy the council. You are cowards. You lock us away in a barren room and threaten our people. This is why humans do not deserve freedom. You are worthless, miserable liars."
"Believe me, your crew is quite dead. The universe is a safer place for it."
"Untrue. It will never be safe for humans. Especially for you."
A captive of the people he loathes, the immortal Pietas is left for dead on the planet Sempervia. Six, a human soldier who is abandoned with him, offers food and water. Is this man worthy of friendship? Or is this another trap?
Either way, Pietas must do the one thing he detests. Trust a human...
Universal book link https://books2read.com/u/4DovO7
JOIN US FOR BOOKHOOKS
Book Hooks is a weekly meme hosted by Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog. It's a chance each week for you the reader to discover current works in progress or previously published books by possibly new-to-you authors. Thank you for stopping by. Please say hello or leave a note in the comments.
When the immortal Pietas is marooned on a barren world with no food and few survival tools, he knows it could be worse. He could be alone.
But that's the problem. He's not.
Half a million of his people sleep in cryostasis, trapped in their pods and it's up to Pietas to rescue them. Before he can save his people, he must take back command from a ruthless enemy he's fought for centuries.
His brutal, merciless father.
Immortals may heal, but a wound of the heart lasts forever...
In this scene from Bringer of Chaos: Forged in Fire, the not-quite-human Six offers water to the immortal king.
Six slid their canteen off over his head and held it out to Pietas.
Accepting anything from a human, an altered one at that, had violated every instinct at first. To take from an enemy, yes. Always. Let one give you something as if you needed it? Admit a weakness before an enemy?
Never.
But this was Six.
Pietas took it.
Ultras could go days without water, but they consumed it when they had it. He wiped one dusty hand across his mouth. The satisfaction of assuaged thirst never failed to please. What simple things in life brought pleasure! In captivity, he'd dreamed of even a drop to cool his tongue. He'd sworn he'd never take water for granted again.
Six had offered it to their companions during the climb, but the entire lot refused anything a mortal's lips had touched. Yes, Six was a quasi-immortal, but to the others, that gave him even less status.
Pietas wavered on few things, but on this? Should he call the man human, mortal, quasi-immortal, or ghost? He'd elected to choose as the mood struck. But one in particular annoyed Six.
"Thanks, ghost." He thrust the canteen against Six's chest.
JOIN US FOR BOOKHOOKS
Book Hooks is a weekly meme hosted by Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog. It's a chance each week for you the reader to discover current works in progress or previously published books by possibly new-to-you authors. Thank you for stopping by. Please say hello or leave a note in the comments.
