Nobek Rusp notices an unusual club patron
Nobek Rusp pounded his drums with his usual frenzy as the band neared the end of their show, hours of practice covering for his divided attention.
He’d initially noticed the Odeergin when it entered the club because the species had a tendency to clear an area. His worry the poisoned-breath alien might cause the evacuation of what had become a very passionate crowd proved unfounded. Probably because most of the customers were Nobeks on leave from a destroyer, which had docked at the station that afternoon. It would be a point of pride for the warrior breed to remain in the vicinity of certain death if the Odeergin was riled. Especially since the venue was crowded, which begged for trouble.
The Odeergin had simply stood still for the most part, slowly advancing a step every few minutes as it watched Rusp’s lemanthev band, Certain Death, perform. Who knew Odeergins had good taste in music? Touring and playing gigs in the wide reaches of the galaxy taught Rusp something new every day.
He’d continued watching the cloaked creature in case someone did offend it and it pulled off the long-snouted mask to enact revenge. In such a situation, he’d grab Sherv and Jemi and rush them from the stage to the back corridor.
That was why he noticed the “Odeergin’s” leg when a Nobek fleet officer brushed against it, shifting the concealing cloak so the limb was exposed. Rusp had been so surprised by that long, smooth, female calf emerging from a scuffed brown boot, he’d almost missed a beat…which he’d taken to boasting hadn’t happened in an entire year.
He recovered, automatic muscle memory saving him, as the figure stared after the officer who’d made glancing contact. Then it began to move toward the stage…or rather, to Jemi’s side of the stage, toward the back corridor.
Rusp barely noticed as the ending crescendo boomed over the crowd yelling the approval he usually lived for. He’d seen pictures of Odeergins. They were scaled, not smooth. Their legs were cylindrical, not curved. The only leg he’d seen that matched the figure slipping past the stage was of the rarest being in the galaxy: a Kalquorian woman.
As the last note died away and Sherv bellowed over the applause, “Thank you! We’ll be playing here for the next two weeks, so be sure to come back!” Rusp rushed to Jemi’s side of the stage rather than acknowledge the crowd.
What was a Kalquorian Matara doing in a club on her own? The Beonid station was one of the safer places Certain Death had played, but there were still the sort of ruffians roaming around who’d stoop to holding a member of Kalquor’s greatest treasure hostage.
Releasing Summer 2023
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His past demons have returned, and only a Kalquorian clan can save him.
Matthew Larsen should be happy.
Reunited with the Nobek he fell in love with years ago, welcomed into a clan
determined to give him a better life, he has everything he never imagined
possible. However, he’s haunted by the hellish past and certainty it will
reclaim him.
Nobek
Kom spent years searching for Matt. Their reunion and his clanmates’ acceptance
of the troubled Earther seemed to be all that stood in the way of the perfect
future. His Earther love isn’t so easily rescued, however. Even a warrior can’t
protect someone against his nightmares.
Dramok Avir and Imdiko Masok are devoted to the beautiful Earther Kom brought home. Loving such a gentle soul isn’t a problem. Saving him from monsters, real and imagined, is another matter when Matt’s worst fears come true and the terrors of the past rise once again to drag him into the abyss.
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