Now on Sale: Irene

 

Nowhere to run

“We can’t outrun him. Unless…” Rusp’s fingers flew over the controls. “The Moclu System’s ten minutes away, running engines all out. There are comets, asteroids, moons, a couple of planets. We can use any of them we can reach to hide traces of our passage, at least for a little while.”

It was next to nothing, and both men knew it. They were about to get caught, and there wasn’t a damned thing Sherv could do about it.

Jemi’s shout came from the end of the corridor. “The guys are here!”

“Close hatch. We’re going.” Sherv sent the order to the dockmaster to uncouple the ship.

Seconds later, they were winging toward the Moclu System at top speed. Taru, Anez, and Lorj had joined them, as had Jemi, packing the cockpit tight. Sherv watched as the destroyer’s icon changed course. They’d been identified.

“It’s faster than us. We won’t reach Moclu System.” Rusp glanced at Sherv, then the weapons station.

“We can’t fight them. We can’t endanger Irene.”

At the mention of her name, she gripped Sherv’s shoulder. “What’s happening? I’m guessing your fleet is on its way, but catch me up.”

He told her about Ezrob’s warning. He pointed to the red triangle pursuing them. He only kept one detail to himself.

She stared at the symbol denoting the pursuing Nil. “I’ll be forced to clan? I’ll never see my parents again?”

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She searched for freedom and found a Kalquorian clan.

Irene Jonson is a rising star in opera, thanks to Earth forcing her to leave her parents as a teen to join a prestigious opera company. Years later, she loves music, but she wants the freedom to forge her own path as a performer and be reunited with her family.

Sherv, Rusp, and Jemi are a clan and band playing hard, driving music. Success means more than fame and fortune; it would show their disapproving families they’ve chosen the lives they were meant to live. Encountering Irene, creating a new and exciting sound, gives them that opportunity…and a chance at love.

Two worlds on the brink of war threaten everything Irene and Clan Sherv have built and everything they dream of. Two worlds are bent on snatching Irene from the men and music she loves. What chance do four misfit musicians possibly have against Earth and the Kalquorian Empire?

 

Now on Sale: Irene

 

Queen of the stage

Sherv’s head bobbed violently as he made the uferliss wail. The Plasian instrument’s eerie air might have sounded delicate, but it wove over the thunderous boom of percussion and trasbu bass in a brilliant counterpoint. The club was full and rocking hard. The crew had set up a barrier between the audience and the stage, unheard of at lemanthev shows, but necessary to allow Parlek to move from side to side to capture the band on vid as it played.

Their would-be manager was shooting the footage, but he hadn’t stopped gaping since they’d taken the stage, one at a time, adding instruments in staggered syncopation. The men wore black-padded outfits, flex-steel armor exposed in places. Their stage clothing had been cut to display their most impressive attributes in a silent statement of power. Even Jemi looked like pure strength in a body-hugging armored getup.

Their instruments had been painted matte black, adding to the threatening aura they’d decided to emulate. The music wasn’t the wall of howls and brutality of lemanthev, but Sherv thought they looked every bit as impressive. More so, perhaps. The customers had gawped as they took in the trio.

Then Irene had stepped onto the stage, her arms wide, as if to declare “look at me.” As if anyone would be able to tear their eyes off her. Before she sang the first note, the customers had left their tables, drawing as close as Taru, Anez, and Lorj had allowed, their awe apparent.

Irene still sported black hair, darker skin, and purple eyes, though her lenses had been upgraded so she could actually see. But she wore no gown typical of a Kalquorian woman. Her outfit had been pulled together from the same tight material as the men’s, embellishments added to accentuate her already imposing figure and presence.

Black leather straps had been added to the bodice of her top, to give it what she termed a corset-look. She’d also added a tiered skirt, but only at the back. It framed her long, strong legs in their tight pants and knee-high boots, the heels of which made her as tall as Jemi. Metallic chrome studs outlined her breasts and accented the trim of her clothing.

Her waist-length hair framed her shoulders and face. She’d lined her eyes in black and painted her lips to match. She was stunning, cool, and rather intimidating.

She sang, and the crowd lost its collective mind. Even Sherv, who’d rehearsed and heard her for weeks now, was newly astonished. She attained vocal heights that sent chills over his body, then she surpassed herself on the following song. Her glissandos were as smooth as glass, no hitching over any notes. She ranged from a growl in one breath to head voice the next, without seeming effort. When she belted full-throated, she saturated the room.

Whenever Sherv glanced at his clanmates, they were grinning from ear to ear, as he did. They sounded good too, there was no denying it. But Irene as frontwoman owned the stage, and the crowd eagerly obeyed her exhortations to clap or shout along. When she whipped her hair to the beat, those who had hair or manes did too. They hung on every instant, every movement she performed.

Had he been in love with her before? Sherv was utterly lost in her, hanging on to her presence as desperately as their audience. She was everything.

Buy now at Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, Smashwords, and in print.

She searched for freedom and found a Kalquorian clan.

Irene Jonson is a rising star in opera, thanks to Earth forcing her to leave her parents as a teen to join a prestigious opera company. Years later, she loves music, but she wants the freedom to forge her own path as a performer and be reunited with her family.

Sherv, Rusp, and Jemi are a clan and band playing hard, driving music. Success means more than fame and fortune; it would show their disapproving families they’ve chosen the lives they were meant to live. Encountering Irene, creating a new and exciting sound, gives them that opportunity…and a chance at love.

Two worlds on the brink of war threaten everything Irene and Clan Sherv have built and everything they dream of. Two worlds are bent on snatching Irene from the men and music she loves. What chance do four misfit musicians possibly have against Earth and the Kalquorian Empire?

 * * * *

Make sure to check the blog next Wednesday for news. Something new, something exciting, something dark, is coming soon to the Kalquorian universe.

Now On Sale - First Mataras: Irene

 

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Happily never after?

She stepped in. Jemi sat on the edge of the sleeping mat, his shoulders hunched and head hanging. He stared up through the black strands fallen over his face.

“Hey,” Irene said. “Are you okay?”

He shrugged, then shook his hair back. “No.”

“Me either. I’m trying, but it isn’t quite working.” She edged closer.

“I don’t want every time we make love to feel it be the last. It hurts, Irene.” His expression was pure misery despite the obvious swelling of his crotch as he stared at her nudity.

“I don’t either.” She sat next to him but didn’t touch, determined she wouldn’t push him. “But it reminds me of how truly precious what little we have is. I hate it, but I’m grateful as well. I can’t take any of it for granted.”

“Will it be worth it? Later?” His voice was unnaturally thick.

“I don’t know. Maybe at first, it won’t feel like it. We might even wish it hadn’t happened when we’re missing each other the most.” She drew a breath and swiped at the tears escaping. “I think in the end, I’ll be glad to have been with you as much as possible. Eventually, I’ll have more to smile than cry about when I remember this.”

“You think so?”

“That’s how it usually goes when I haven’t visited my parents in a long while. It’s been over a year and a half, if you don’t count vid coms. Trust me, those aren’t the same as being with them in person.”

“We won’t even have that, will we?”

“Not for a while. But Jemi, change is constant. We can’t imagine it happening now, but someday Earth and Kalquor might get along. Nothing’s impossible.”

Buy now at Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, Smashwords, and in print.

 

She searched for freedom and found a Kalquorian clan.

Irene Jonson is a rising star in opera, thanks to Earth forcing her to leave her parents as a teen to join a prestigious opera company. Years later, she loves music, but she wants the freedom to forge her own path as a performer and be reunited with her family.

Sherv, Rusp, and Jemi are a clan and band playing hard, driving music. Success means more than fame and fortune; it would show their disapproving families they’ve chosen the lives they were meant to live. Encountering Irene, creating a new and exciting sound, gives them that opportunity…and a chance at love.

Two worlds on the brink of war threaten everything Irene and Clan Sherv have built and everything they dream of. Two worlds are bent on snatching Irene from the men and music she loves. What chance do four misfit musicians possibly have against Earth and the Kalquorian Empire?