I’ve decided to change up these weekly snippets and go through my backlist, sharing the first meeting between the two main characters in each book. It’s always fun for me to revisit the books and I hope it will be for you too! Or if you’ve never happened to read a certain book, maybe I can entice you into giving it a try.
VS: I had a really great review for TALINN, the third book in my Badari Gladiators series, last week from the Books of My Heart blog. Sophia Rose said: “Sci fi romance lovers who want alien steaminess and exciting fight scenes should definitely give Talinn and the rest of the trilogy a try.” The reviewer also added that she was “more excited” to return to the original Badari Warriors series and continue reading them. At 4.5 stars it was a wonderful review IMHO – she really gets what I try to do.
The excerpt: So here’s the first meeting between Tailinn and Bailey, his human fated mate, when he’s trying to save her life in an alien arena:
Mouth open in astonishment and terror, Bailey watched in disbelief as her would-be rescuer stepped closer to her and slashed right through the sturdy leather bonds with the same talons he’d used to such good effect on his last opponent.
“You’ll be all right, I give you my word in the name of the goddess,” he said to her in crisp Basic, taking her in his arms.
Unable to stop trembling as he lifted her into the air, away from the pole, Bailey looped one arm around his neck. “I don’t—I can’t—please—”
“Ssh,” he said in a strangely sympathetic tone. “I have to acknowledge my gratitude to the kalishka for his gift—that would be you—and then I’ll get you out of this arena and tend to your needs. You’ve been amazingly brave. Can you try to hang on a few minutes longer?”
Afraid to even attempt speech, she blinked and dipped her head like a bird. Words were beyond her in her current state.
With her in his arms, the fighter leapt from the dais without a sign of impairment from either the wounds he bore or the ordeal he’d gone through to reach her. He strode easily to a position in front of the dignitaries’ box and bowed low to the most elaborately dressed Ganamilian, speaking in rapid syllables that made no sense to Bailey. She assumed it was the local language. She put on her entertainer’s ‘mask’, leaning her head on his shoulder and smiling as if her life depended on it. For all she knew, it might. She saw the male who’d spoken to her in the dungeon the night before smiling and clapping and if he was pleased then she could reasonably infer she’d satisfied whatever completely unknown requirements there’d been for her. Hopefully this was a good sign.
Then the fighter strutted across the arena to an open gate, nodding occasionally to acknowledge the cheers of the crowd. She guessed he was easily seven feet tall and well over three hundred pounds of pure, hard muscle. Being in his arms felt safe to Bailey. “Thank you,” she said as he crossed the threshold and left the arena. “Whatever comes next, I’m grateful to you for rescuing me from the others.”
He made no answer but paused briefly to grab a water flask from a nearby table and hand it to her, although he made no move to set her on her own feet. “You must be parched.”
“They wouldn’t feed me or give me water,” she said, fumbling with the cap. “I was told I had to fast to be ready for today.” She took a deep breath, forced herself to concentrate and stop trembling and managed to unscrew the top. The warm water inside was like nectar on her cracked, sore lips and dry mouth.
Her rescuer uttered a stern warning. “Drink slowly, tiny sips.”
Obeying him was next to impossible, given her raging thirst, but she took another big swallow and paused to ask, “Where are we going?”
“I’m taking you to my tent, in the camp of Duban, my owner. We’ll figure out next steps from there.”
TALINN (BADARI GLADIATORS BOOK THREE) by Veronica Scott
Talinn was a genetically engineered senior soldier in his Badari Warrior pack until unscrupulous laboratory guards faked his death and sold him into slavery in the galaxy’s hinterlands. Purchased by a nomadic warlord and forced to fight in games for the amusement of the crowds, Talinn has endured through sheer strength of will. He sees no possibility of escape but a Badari never gives up until the goddess calls him to the afterlife.
Bailey Kingsmere was a talented and ambitious entertainer on an interstellar cruise liner when her ship was destroyed in an accident. She escaped in a defective cryonic lifepod, which eventually drifted out of the Sectors entirely and crashed on a primitive planet. Superstitious locals decide to place her in the arena as a prize for a lucky gladiator.
Talinn needs only one look to know Bailey is his fated mate. He’ll do whatever it takes to rescue her from the other fighters and claim her as his prize but how can he ensure her safety thereafter? Since he’s not human and has alien reptilian predator DNA which gives him extra capabilities, will Bailey accept him as a mate? And can they ever escape their desperate situation and find a way to freedom? TALINN is the third book in the Badari Gladiators Series and can be read as a standalone. A steamy romance with fated mates this story was initially published in the Claimed Among the Stars Anthology (no longer available), but has been expanded here with an additional 15,000 words.
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VS: There’s also a box set available with all three titles in one! Available wide.