Tag: Sci-Fi Romance

In this excerpt from For Her Only, Ambassador Mehfawni Ruh has just discovered that her brother, Dallon, has been murdered. She must return to her home planet. But she's also Khyff's only hope of saving his brother.

She was his only hope

The chill in the room had nothing to do with air temperature. Now that Mehfawni knew about her brother's death, the collective gaze of her all-female staff stabbed into Khyff. He didn't need telepathy to read their thoughts. Their body language shouted at him.

Be gone, alien. Get out. You don't belong here.

Fawni's eyes filled with tears as she looked up at him.

Khyff melted. No matter how much the others hated him and wanted him gone, he couldn't leave her alone with this kind of news. What if it had been Senth who'd died? That possibility was all too real.

Khyff wrapped both arms around her and held her tightly against him, his cheek against her hair. "Oh, Fawni, I'm so sorry."

She clutched his leather jacket and clung to him as if all the strength had seeped out of her. He stroked her hair and kissed her brow.

"This can't be true." Her voice was muffled against his jacket. She turned and faced Kata. "There's been a mistake. It has to be wrong."

Kata didn't lift her gaze. "I'm sorry, Eetzesar. The news came directly from Tzesar Ehldani."

Khyff expected Mehfawni to crumble. She shook, but she drew herself up to her full height and took two steps away from him. With one hand on Kata's arm, she looked around the room at her staff. Ten Kin gazed back at her, their expressions full of pride and sorrow.

She cleared her throat. "Thank you. All of you. Kata, when do we return home?"

The young assistant looked up, revealing the tracks of tears on her face. "At dawn, Eetzesar."

He wanted to hold Mehfawni, bring her back into his arms, but she kept her back rigid, her head high.

"Good, Kata. I'll need you to help me with a few things." She told the others, "Get some rest. We'll all need our strength when we get home. Kata, stay, please."

Her staff dispersed quietly, and Mehfawni reached back and held Khyff's hand while she talked softly to Kata in her breathy native language.

What was he going to do now? Images rose in Khyff's mind. Senth swathed in bandages, lying in the hospital. NarrAy trapped in a glass cage. Both depending on him for their freedom. For their lives. And all he could do was stand here and hold Mehfawni's hand while the hope he had for saving them made arrangements to leave.

"Senth Antonello."

Khyff's attention riveted to Mehfawni's words. "What?"

She looked up at him. "You're such a male, Khyffy. Here I am making arrangements for your brother and his fiancée, and you're not even paying attention."

"Arrangements? What kind of arrangements?"

"You didn't hear a word I said, did you?"

"Well, you were speaking Felis, so I couldn't understand you."

"Oh." She touched her chin. "That was rude of me. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. You're upset. It's natural. What arrangements?"

"I can't leave you, Khyffy. I want you to come home with me."

His stomach went all hollow and his head light. His chest ached. He couldn't catch his breath, couldn't speak.

Felidae? Kin. Enemies. And...Mehfawni. He breathed. "I... Mehfawni, my brother... I—"

"Khyff, I know you can't leave when you're worried about your family. I couldn't do that either. So Kata's going to make sure my diplomatic immunity is extended to Senth and his fiancée. NarrAy's a Better, isn't she?"

"Yes, but—"

"Then your brother is addicted to her. He'll need her pheromones if he's going to heal properly. We need to get her out of prison so they can be together."

"Mehfawni, I don't understand." His heart pounded so hard, he was afraid he wouldn't hear her answer. Was this what hope felt like? Was there some way to keep Sen and NarrAy safe and escape the Conqueror's choke hold?

Mehfawni gave him a look that said he should try to pay attention, and then she grasped both his hands. "I read their story in the news, remember? It wasn't fair of the police to imprison her for defending her mate. At the time, I thought there wasn't anything I could do, but now that I know it's your brother, I can do something. If you come home with me as part of my entourage, you'll have diplomatic immunity, which extends to your family as well, if I wish it." She squeezed his hands. "And I do wish it."

Not if Mehfawni found out what he'd been sent to do, she wouldn't.

Khyff floundered, awash in a sea of emotion. His hope dashed on the rocky shore of reality, but he drew her hands to his mouth and kissed the back of each one. Maybe her diplomatic immunity could buy him time to find a permanent solution. Maybe she was still his best hope.

Meet the bad guys from For Her Only. In this scene, Empress Rheyn Destoiya had been planning a pleasant evening but her twin brother, Pietas, instigated a riot among her Praetorian Guard and took her assistant hostage. She disarmed Pietas, sent everyone else away and is now alone with him. The scene takes place in her palace office.

Meet the Bad Guys

"Why the drama, Pietas?"

"Your assistant wouldn't let me see you without an appointment."

"You insufferable..." She palmed the weapon fastened beneath her desk, then withdrew it and aimed at his head.

Pietas laughed, but he raised his hands. "I should've known you'd be armed."

With her other hand, she picked up his weapon and aimed it at him. "Ambidextrous, remember?"

He started to put his hands down and she thumbed his weapon to full. He lifted his hands back up. "Fine, Dessy. But I had to see you, and he wouldn't let me in. You know how I hate waiting."

"For that, you made my favorite your hostage and instigated a riot among my Praetorian?"

He lifted one eyebrow.

She sighed and clicked the safeties into place on both weapons. "What do you want?"

"I haven't seen you in twenty years, and that's all you have to say to me?"

"It's been eleven, and I shouldn't have seen you for at least ten more. And you had no right to interfere with anyone I claim as mine. Don't you ever touch Alitus again. If you do, I'll kill you in every way you hate." She tapped the desk. "And I know them all, my dear brother. Is that clear?"

He twisted his mouth. "Fine. I won't touch your pet."

"Or allow anyone within your control or influence to do so. So help me, Pietas, promise me or I'll—"

"Yes, yes. I promise. Don't be tedious." He dropped his lean frame into a wingback chair. "Besides, you're impossibly nasty when anyone touches your pets."

She scoffed. "Fine. Tell me what you want."