Releasing May 31. Pre-order now: Amazon, Amazon UK, Nook, Apple, Kobo, Smashwords, print
Sletran's encounter with his superior, Group Commander Dramok Erybet
* * *
*
Usually, the moment he stepped across the boundary where his battalion bunked, anything going on personally ceased to exist in Sletran’s mind. Here, he was squad leader, personally in charge of nearly fifty combat troops. He lived and breathed the soldier’s life. He saw the Kalquorian army as his extended clan, regarded it as a lover. He was determined to give it all he was.
He didn’t miss infatuation was turning his head from his adored ground forces. Conyod refused to leave his mind, refused to be respectful to Sletran’s first love by bowing off the stage until he was called on to return. Visions of the muscled physique straining beneath Sletran, of his ass reddening under the Nobek’s strap, of him yielding to his urgent cock…
Damn.
“Squad Leader Sletran!” A young Nobek hurried toward him, stopped a few feet away, and bowed. “Sir!”
Someone had a message for him, and Sletran noted the soldier had been waiting for his return to base. He checked the time. He was reporting fifteen minutes early, so he wasn’t in trouble for being late. However, something important was up if he was being summoned so urgently. It helped to chase the images from the night before off. “Report.”
“Group Commander Erybet needs you to report to his office immediately.”
“Thank you, soldier.” He hurried to his commanding officer.
The aide sitting at the desk outside the group commander’s office waved him in immediately. Sletran hurried to stand in front of Erybet’s desk and bowed.
“Squad leader Sletran reporting, as ordered.”
“At ease, soldier.” The other man’s tone betrayed no sign of stress despite the urgency of the summons.
Sletran stood up straight and met his eyes. He wondered when he’d stop being struck by Erybet’s looks. After more than a year, he should be used to his commanding officer’s appearance.
Erybet was, in a word, beautiful. His black hair flowed photogenically over his shoulders and back. His eyes were hooded, but so slightly he looked sexy rather than sleepy. His nose was straight, his jaw strong, his lips full and sensual. He wasn’t as muscled as Sletran, or even Conyod, but he was strong, and his fighting prowess had been well established. Sletran had never met a more stunning man in person.
The Nobek understood such a lovely face and physique had made it difficult for many to take Erybet seriously as a soldier and commanding officer of his rank. The fact he was a Dramok instead of a member of the warrior breed hadn’t helped matters.
It wasn’t that there weren’t Dramoks in the ground troop ranks. The men who tended naturally to leadership among Kalquor’s males numbered less than an eighth of the fighting population. They rarely remained part of the army past a single enlistment term, however. Nobeks saw the ground troops as their territory, their proving ground. Dramoks were given hell for daring to step on Nobek turf. For Erybet to have stayed and risen to his rank meant he was one hell of a tough customer.
For that reason, Sletran had been among the few to avoid challenging or disrespecting Erybet. It was obvious the Dramok had proven himself. Sletran treated him as he would any Nobek group commander and obeyed his orders without a second thought. He saw Erybet’s rank as no threat or insult to his own strength as a soldier.
“I’m sorry to have called you in as if the empire was falling down, but it may as well be,” Erybet began. “High Commander Zyrf has sprung a surprise challenge on us. We’re to run war games this afternoon.”
Despite the sudden change in the day’s itinerary, Erybet didn’t sound upset in the least. He also offered no comment about Zyrf, though the high commander seemed to think it was his life’s mission to make Erybet’s command challenging. Sletran thought he detected a hint of pleasure in his superior’s voice, the same pleasure singing in his own heart at the news. “Who are we up against, sir?”
“Commander Binmej’s battalion.”
Sletran allowed a grin. “A worthy challenge.”
“Indeed. I expect us to win.”
An interesting side effect about being part of a Dramok’s company was the troops had a tendency to fight harder to prove they weren’t weak due to their commander’s breed. The Nobeks under Erybet’s command had made it a point of pride to kick their competition’s collective ass as often as possible.
“We’ll win, sir.”
“You’re dismissed to ready your squads.”
Sletran bowed and rushed out. A fight against fierce opponents after incredible sex with a gorgeous Imdiko? He couldn’t imagine life getting any better.
* * * *
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
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