Releasing May 31. Pre-order now: Amazon, Amazon UK, Nook, Apple, Kobo, Smashwords, print
Sletran is certain he's screwed up. He has agreed to meet up with a certain Imdiko he once rejected, a young man he has no interest in. Conyod might have a big surprise for him...he isn't the kid Sletran remembers.
* * * *
Nobek Sletran sat in a bar in Kalquor’s capital city, convinced he’d made a mistake. It wouldn’t be the first time, but since this potential error involved a sensitive Imdiko, he winced in anticipation of committing it.
Not just any Imdiko. A psychologically damaged Imdiko with a rocky history. It was dumb to have agreed to meet him, Sletran. Dumb.
He sipped his bohut and watched for the scrawny runaway kid he’d rescued from a group of bullies nine years earlier. Sletran could handle his liquor, but he wished he’d started by drinking kloq instead. The last thing he needed was to get tipsy when dealing with a hero-worshipping boy.
He’s an adult now. You heard his voice, how deep it’s become. Conyod was what, twenty-four? Twenty-five? Still a kid, really. Sletran thought of the lost, hurt teen who’d made no secret of his crush on the Nobek for the past decade. They’d kept in touch because Conyod had desperately needed a friend, though Sletran had maintained their communications text-only during the past few years. The baritone that had spoken to him on the com three days prior had been a shock. Sletran had barely been able to credit his ears when the caller identified himself as Conyod.
“I’m working in the capital. Since you’re stationed nearby, I thought we could meet for a few drinks and catch up.”
Sletran had been so caught off guard by the mature voice, he’d agreed. Afterward, he’d regretted it. Conyod was a great kid…young man, he amended…but it was time he stopped seeing Sletran as a bigger deal than the Nobek was. He was merely a soldier who’d given a skinny, defenseless runaway Imdiko a little help and encouragement. Nothing special.
It was embarrassing to be worshipped like a hero.
His dour ruminations were interrupted by a few whistles. Heads turned, and Sletran glanced to see what the fuss was about.
A gorgeous young man had stepped in the bar. It shouldn’t have been a big deal, but his gentle expression shouted Imdiko. The caregiver breed was the rarest of the males. A single Imdiko walking in without clanmates was rarer still. The Nobeks and Dramoks in the room, many unattached, were taking notice.
For good reason, beyond the handsome fellow’s designation. Sletran, who’d made the decision years before to commit to the empire’s military ground forces rather than to any long-term relationships, couldn’t help but admire the new arrival too.
The focus of almost every man’s attention was around the Kalquorian male’s average height of six-foot-five. Wavy black hair spilled to the middle of his back. It framed beefy shoulders and a devastatingly handsome face.
The Imdiko grinned at his admirers. He kept them from converging on him by shaking his head, pointedly searching for someone in the crowded bar.
He looks vaguely familiar. It suddenly hit Sletran, and he nearly dropped his glass of bohut.
He had to be wrong. There was no way the stunner with the knockout body was Conyod.
The young man caught sight of him, and his smile stretched wider. “Sletran!”
Fighting to keep from gaping in astonishment, the Nobek stood. He managed a clumsy bow, which Conyod laughingly copied.
“Conyod. You, uh, you grew up.” And wider. The Imdiko he’d avoided seeing for years wasn’t as tall and brawny as Sletran, but he wasn’t a lightweight by any means. He filled his white shirt impressively, its fabric stretching across a chiseled chest. His thighs did the same for his trousers.
“I still wouldn’t arm wrestle you for drinks.” Conyod looked him over, his grin brighter by the second. “When were we last face to face? Six years ago? You haven’t changed a bit. Yeah, a glass of bohut, thanks,” he told the Dramok waiter who’d arrived and openly ogled Conyod.
The Imdiko ignored the lustful gaze from the server and dropped to the seat across from Sletran’s. Sletran drifted to his floor cushion, his gaze locked on his companion.
Mother of All, this was no kid. Conyod was a man. A lot of gorgeous man.
* * * *
He
needed a hero and found two. Can love rescue him again?
Nobek
Sletran never took Imdiko Conyod’s infatuation seriously when he rescued him
years before. When Conyod shows up in his life again as a strong and successful
man instead of a traumatized victim, Sletran has to reconsider the one he once
rejected and now can’t imagine life without.
Conyod has
never given up on the man he considers his hero. Sletran is all he’s ever
wanted for a clanmate, and he’s determined to win him at last. But the past refuses
to be laid to rest. When Conyod convinces Sletran to see him for who he’s
become, will who he was resurface and destroy the love they’re building?
Sletran’s
commanding officer Dramok Erybet is instantly fascinated by Conyod when the
soldier brings his love on base for a visit. However, Sletran isn’t the Nobek
Erybet feels is right for him. When he rejects the Nobek, he risks losing
Conyod too.
Against the backdrop of heartbreaking childhood tragedy, a ghost who haunts Conyod and his grief-stricken family, and military brass determined to oust Erybet from the rank he’s worked so hard to reach, three men must come to terms with who they are. When tragedy strikes, the nightmares of the past must be faced and buried once and for all. Conyod, Sletran, and Erybet must dare everything to find redemption and hold on to each other.
Releasing May 31. Pre-order now: Amazon, Amazon UK, Nook, Apple, Kobo, Smashwords, print
