WIP Wednesday - Clan Beginnings: Clan and Commit

The cute bartender has a big, nasty problem...

Vax finished waiting on the other patron and checking on others. He strolled back to Bacoj. “Finish the food, or I’ll think you were lying about how good it is.”

In an instant, the worst of the darkness lifted again. Bacoj chuckled and had another bite. Whomever Vax was promised to, the food alone would make him a lucky bastard.

He said as much. Vax leaned toward him, settling his elbow on the bar. “Thanks. To be honest, I don’t—”

He froze. Vax straightened, his attention riveted on the bar’s entrance. Bacoj glanced over his shoulder to see what had chased the Imdiko’s cheerful mood away.

A man who unmistakably belonged to the warrior Nobek breed glared at Vax from the door. His demeanor was as fierce as any of his kind, but Bacoj immediately discerned there were a few unusual details about him.

He was as muscled as most Kalquorians, maybe even a touch more. Perhaps twenty years older than Bacoj, he was still a young man. Yet there was something debilitated about the Nobek. His face was gaunt, with deep shadows under his eyes. His hair, black as most of their kind, was thin and lusterless. There was a sense of great desperation that clung to him. The sort of desperation that had turned to a nasty disposition.

At that moment, that ugly nature was focused on Vax. Bacoj bristled at the unspoken threat.

“Who’s the asshole who wants a punch?” he asked.

Releasing Summer 2020.

WIP Wednesday: Clan and Commmit

The first meeting of Bacoj and Vax

               Dramok Bacoj sat at the bar. He stared into his drink, unmindful of what was going on around him. Not that much happened at a place like Solet Tavern. It was a lowkey neighborhood spot where the locals came in after their shifts to either unwind or get quietly drunk. Bacoj fit neither description, but since he wasn’t in the mood for a rowdy club, Solet fit his needs perfectly.

               He contemplated his glass of amber kloq, vaguely aware of the background clink of glasses, hum of conversation, and low occasional laughter. The bar itself was an old wooden slab, showing the scars of glass rings from decades—maybe centuries—of service.

               His com sat next to his sweating glass, probably too close, despite its moisture-protective casing. No one was on the line. The holographic vid screen was off, and it would remain so as long as he could stand it. He’d made the dumb move of switching the com off with the text message program enabled. The instant he turned it on again, he’d see the two messages queued up, the messages that had come in within minutes of each other. He’d read the first over and over, memorizing it. Though he’d not done the same with the second, it was burned in his mind as well.

               My life is shit.

               His pity party was abruptly interrupted by a tray of small finger foods, carefully shoved between his com and glass. Startled, Bacoj jerked his head up. His eyes met those of a young man with a gentle smile.

               “You’ve been here long enough to have missed your evening meal. Put something besides kloq in your stomach,” the bartender said.

“I haven’t drunk that much.” Bacoj sized him up. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, close to Bacoj’s age. That soft, compassionate expression could only belong to a member of the nurturing Imdiko breed. Ancestors, what a sweet face. Handsome too.

“I noticed you’ve been nursing that glass for the last hour. Impressive since your expression tells me you’d love to drink yourself into oblivion.”

“The trouble with kloq-induced oblivion is that you have to return from it at some point.” Despite his depression, Bacoj couldn’t help but smile at the other man. Definitely a face to turn heads. Maybe his jaw was a tad too chiseled and his lips too thin to claim perfection, but he’d missed it by just an inch. Were his waves of black hair as soft as they appeared? The urge to find out was close to irresistible.

“Are things really that bad?” Cutie Imdiko tilted his head, regarding Bacoj as if no one else in the world mattered.

"Bad enough."

Releasing this summer.

WIP Wednesday: Clan and Commit Cover Reveal

Preparing for war. Fending off a vengeful stalker. It’s the perfect time for romance on Kalquor.

 

In one day, Dramok Bacoj realizes his most cherished dream, only to have it snatched away. Then he meets the perfect man, Imdiko Vax. Unfortunately, Vax is a firm believer in career before love, so he’s unavailable for courtship. Or is he? Fending off a vengeful stalker, he turns to Bacoj for help and discovers a romance he can’t easily set aside.

Nobek Japohn is all the protector a clan could hope for. However, the young warrior’s personality isn’t geared toward working well with others. Yet when he sees the handsome pair of Bacoj and Vax in the sort of trouble only he can save them from, long-shattered hopes rise anew. Maybe he can be part of a clan, if they’ll only give him a chance…

…and if a lunatic bent on murder doesn’t kill them first.

Releasing Summer 2020