It’s time to share the gorgeous Fiona Jayde cover with you!
The blurb:
Taura Dancer has been pushed to her limits by alien torturers known as the Khagrish and is ready to die when suddenly the lab where she’s held as a prisoner is taken down by an armed force of soldiers.
The man who rescues her from a burning cell block is Jadrian of the Badari, a genetically engineered alien warrior with as many powerful reasons to hate the Khagrish as Taura has. This set of shared past experiences and the circumstances of her rescue create an unusual bond between them.
Safe in the hidden base where Jadrian and his pack take her, Taura struggles to regain her lost memories and overcome constant flashbacks during which she lashes out at all who come near. Only Jadrian can recall her from the abyss of her visions and hallucinations.
As the war against the Khagrish continues, it becomes increasingly critical to find out who she really is and how she can help in the fight. Until she can control her terrors and trust her own impulses, Taura’s too afraid to pursue the promise of happiness a life with Jadrian as her mate might offer.
When he’s captured by the dreaded enemy, will she step forward to help save him, or will she remain a prisoner of her past?
This is the third book in a new scifi romance series and each novel has a satisfying Happy for Now ending for the hero and heroine, not a cliffhanger. Some overarching issues do remain unresolved in each book since this is an ongoing series but romance always wins the day in my novels!
The excerpt:
Taura crouched in the corner of her small cell, fists clenched, ready to attack the next person who came into her space, be it Khagrish scientist, lab tech or security guard. Today was her breaking point – she felt the emotion viscerally. She couldn’t endure another procedure or test. No more physical or psychological pain at the hands of the uncaring aliens. She glanced at the black bracelet affixed to her wrist and snarled in rage, like the penned animal she’d become under their torture. Maybe this time she could force them to kill her, and her awful existence would finally end.
Where were her captors? Why wasn’t anyone coming to drag her off to the next horrific ordeal? Now that she was ready to fight them to the death? To relieve her tension and unkink her muscles as she waited, Taura rose and paced the none too generous length of the cell. Movement helped her manage the tension but her mood remained on the knife edge of panic.
Gradually, she became aware of strange noises outside her cell, loud booms and the sound of pulse rifles firing in staccato bursts. As grey smoke drifted down from the vent above her head, she moved cautiously along the wall to the edge of the force barrier confining her. There was nothing to be seen in the corridor, other than eddies of smoke. An alarm blared but cut off suddenly.
Was the facility under attack? Had the Sectors finally come to the rescue of their kidnapped citizen? Not likely. Maybe her enemies had their own enemies, though, which might work to her advantage.
Coughing, she covered her face with her arm and croaked out a plea for help. “Here, I’m here!”
Death by fire was a terrifying idea. Her heart raced and her breath came in short gasps, as she couldn’t pull enough air into her chest.
Her head swam from panic and the lack of oxygen. How ironic, to die with help possibly now at hand. My timing always sucked.
Shapes moved in the corridor, obscured by the smoke which had grown thicker. Her vision swam, blacking in and out.
Taura found herself face down on the cold cell floor. I must have passed out for a few minutes.
Rising to her knees shakily, one hand on the wall for support, she opened her mouth to yell at whoever was passing by. Surely even the Khagrish wouldn’t be so cruel as to leave her here, trapped in a burning building?
“Please,” she said, inaudible even to herself as she collapsed to the floor.
*****************
As a toughened combat veteran, Jadrian of the Badari wasn’t subject to anxiety, but he had to admit moving through a Khagrish lab, and even worse a Khagrish prison block, brought up bad memories. He’d spent time as a younger man undergoing their tortures, kept in isolation from his pack, and the experience had left its scars on him.
The smoke bothered his eyes and lungs less than it might other beings, but it didn’t make for a pleasant environment. He and his teammates swept hastily through the place. The records indicated no human prisoners were kept here, and the force barrier doors had gone down, so it was a quick step into each cell space, checking the corners for any occupant then moving on. Purely an effort to be thorough.
Two Khagrish guards charged into the corridor from the far end, and Jadrian and his teammates scattered, taking cover where they could, returning fire. A cut off scream from the direction of the enemy indicated Jadrian or his compatriots had hit their targets. He grinned fiercely. The Khagrish bred the Badari to possess uncannily powerful vision, even in obscured environments, and now the aliens’ cleverness was coming full circle to bite them.
“Cover me.” Darik, the team leader, sprinted ahead, laying down suppressing fire just in case. “All clear, both dead,” he yelled a moment later. “We’re done here, time to regroup with the others and blow the place.”
“One more cell to check.” Jadrian turned to the right.
“Hurry it up, there’s no one here, just as the records indicated.” Darik’s clipped tone indicated his impatience to rejoin the rest of the strike force and complete the assault on the installation.
I can’t take the chance of leaving anyone behind. Even his leader’s annoyance couldn’t keep Jadrian from making sure there were no prisoners.
Amazon Other Buy links TBD coming soon!…
In the meantime, here are the first two books (all are standalone):
He’s a cutie all right!