Sister Katherine Release Week: Excerpt 2

Miv shot a glance over to see his clanmate heading towards the exit.  For once Vadef didn’t look insubstantial, not when he compared the man to the tiny women they’d just subdued.

Vadef’s body was toned, possessing muscle despite a series of illnesses in his childhood that had stunted his growth.  He still looked more like a teenage boy rather than a full grown man in his mid-twenties.  Completely cured of the compromised immune system he’d been born with, Miv’s Imdiko would still never attain a large stature.  The young man looked vulnerable among the hulking specimens of their kind, and as ever, Miv felt the almost violent need to keep Vadef safe.

Adding to the Imdiko’s seeming susceptibility was the innocent cast of his lovely face, framed with a soft flow of silky black hair.  With fine-boned, almost delicate features, Vadef moved about his life with a perpetual wide-eyed curiosity that was as endearing as it was worrisome.  He soaked up new experiences like a sponge, and sometimes forgot to be careful in his enthusiasm to learn all he could.  Being confined to bed and often hospitalized as a child had left Miv’s clanmate with a near desperate need to explore and see everything in the known universe.

Vadef passed Miv’s immediate supervisor on his way out of the building.  Weapons Subcommander Osopa was deep in conversation with a couple of other security personnel, and Miv decided getting an assignment was better than standing around and waiting for his orders.

As he went towards his superior, he passed the blonde he and Vadef had just secured.  He couldn’t help but look at the female again as he went.  He’d never seen anyone so beautiful, and he replayed the way she’d felt in his arms when he’d held her.  She’d been so tiny and light, barely even there.  The little Earther was a feather compared to even Vadef.  It had been hard for Miv to set her down on the floor, to remove her from his care.  Somehow her silent tears had affected Miv more deeply than the screams of the other women.  He’d felt a visceral urge to save her, but what had there been to save her from?  Himself?  His crewmates?  

Miv’s gaze ran over the delicate features of her pale face, wondering how old she was.  She looked near his own age but with Earthers, who could tell for sure?  Their life spans were shorter and they aged faster than Kalquorians, though it was believed the superior medical capabilities of the Empire could close the gap eventually.  Earth was overcrowded and polluted, with medical research lagging far behind that of most civilized planets.  

Now available from Amazon, Amazon UK, and Smashwords.  

Special Note to Nook Users:

For some reason Barnes & Noble's platform is not publishing the revised edition of Alien Embrace or Sister Katherine.  I am trying to resolve the issue, but no one is giving me answers on what the problem is.  It could be these books will not appear on B&N unless Smashwords' distribution channel gets them through -- that could take a couple of weeks to happen.  I will continue to work on this, but for now Nook users will either have to wait and hope B&N gets its act together or get your copies of these books directly from Smashwords.  I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.  --Tracy