TIMTUR is book 2.5 in the Badari Warriors award winning series and I was so happy this past week when one reader told me on Facebook this was her favorite. I always feel like Timtur and his mate Lily get overlooked but it’s partly my own fault because I had to backtrack to tell their story.

This is also one of the few books I’ve ever written where I literally reduced myself to tears while writing a scene. (Lily sits with a dying Badari Warrior – not Timtur and not a love interest – through a long night.) The scene pulled deeply on an event in my own past and really hit my emotions.

The excerpt – Lily and Timtur had a picnic planned, out in the woods of Sanctuary Valley:

“Dreaming again?” His voice, deep and full of good humor, came from behind and to the left.

Startled by the intrusion into her thoughts, she flinched involuntarily and turned to watch him walk toward her from the forest path. All the Badari were incredibly handsome men, built on a massive scale by the alien scientists who’d manipulated humanoid and animal DNA to create the race, but Timtur had an eye-catching athletic grace to his every movement, and a kind heart, which made him an effective healer. His rich mane of brown hair and his dark amber eyes that literally glowed when his emotions ran high were also appealing to Lily, of course.

Knowing she was probably blushing, not about to admit she had in fact been day dreaming of him, Lily smiled at Timtur, standing in front of her with a big grin. “I do get lost in thought sometimes.” How often those wistful musings were of him remained her secret.

“I’m sorry to be late.” He sat next to her and gathered her in for a hug and a gentle kiss on the cheek. “We’re working on a special project deep in the forest away from the human dwellings, and it took me longer than I expected to carry out my task today.”

“You’re here now, and the food is still edible, so everything is good. And we have the rest of the afternoon and the evening.” She brought the basket closer to cover her disappointment over the relatively chaste kiss, not at all what she craved from him, and opened the lid. “I hope you’ll like what I selected.”

Carefully, he put his massive hand over hers and pushed the container’s cover closed. “I was hoping we could talk, although the food is welcome. We can enjoy your selections later.”

Rolling her hand under his so she could clasp his fingers, Lily took a deep breath. “I do think it’s time we really talked, about us.” Now or never. Ignoring the butterflies in her stomach, she asked, “Where do you see this going between us? Do we have a chance?”

“I never met anyone like you before,” he said. “You’re special to me—”

“But?” Wary, she tensed as if anticipating disappointment ahead.

“I’m very attracted to you. I can’t deny that. Thoughts of you distract me from my duties all too often, and I count the hours until we can spend time together again.” His brow was furrowed and his mouth turned down.

She nodded to encourage him, although the tension thrumming inside her like a taut wire remained. Timtur wasn’t talking like a man ready to take a relationship to the next level. “You know how much I care about you, so I don’t understand why we can’t be…more than friends.”

He shook his head, his mane of burnished brown hair shifting in the sunlight. Lily had a hard time resisting the urge to run her fingers through the strands and try to pull him close for a kiss. “It’s not simple for me, Lily. I have duties, responsibilities—”

“More than Aydarr?” Her older sister was mated to the pack’s leader, Aydarr. “He seems to juggle the demands on his time with being Jill’s mate perfectly fine.” Giving in to temptation, Lily cupped Timtur’s cheek. He leaned into the caress but when she moved forward a bit as if to kiss him, he straightened and ignored the overture. Biting her lip, she said, “I think the time’s come when we could explore what we do have, what we feel about each other, in more depth.”

“Become physically intimate?”

“Not just that, although I think we’d be good together.” When he didn’t respond, she added, “I—I need more. I need to know this is going somewhere and we have a future of some kind, beyond friendship. Frankly, I have a hard time thinking of you as just a friend, and it hurts to be afraid this is one sided on my part.”

Growing angry at his reticence or self-control or both, embarrassed at having spoken so frankly and revealing her vulnerability to him, she made as if to rise. “Maybe this picnic today wasn’t such a good idea.”

Timtur caught her and pulled her onto his lap. “In all our years of captivity under the Khagrish, we never had the chance to become friends with women, much less to consider relationships,” he said. “Because there were no women. This—you and me—is all new, and I’m trying to walk carefully, not to rush either of us. Not to make a mistake and ruin our friendship.”

Stung, she struggled against his embrace, and immediately he released her. Lily rose. “If you think a more serious understanding between you and me could be a mistake, then I don’t know what I’m even doing here.” She put her hands on her hips and glared at him, anger radiating through her nerves. “I thought I meant more to you.”

VS: And it goes downhill from there…

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TIMTUR: THE TEACHER’S ALIEN HEALER (BADARI WARRIORS): IN THE STARS ROMANCE

NOTE: Would be Book 2.5 if Amazon let me list a book with a decimal number at the time!

Far from her home in the human Sectors after the mass kidnapping, teacher Lily Garrison is making a niche for herself in the valley by running a school for the Badari young. Although she yearns for Timtur, the pack’s healer, another Badari male has his eye on her and won’t take no for an answer.

Timtur feels the weight and responsibility of being the pack’s only healer, constantly on call as the soldiers fight ferocious battles against the alien scientists and their troops. With scarcely a moment to himself, he’s drawn to the gentle Lily but worries he won’t be able to juggle his duties, his loyalty to the pack and a relationship with a human woman.

When Lily’s stalker takes direct action to kidnap her and steal her from the safety of the valley, she’s forced to reach deep inside to find the strength to battle for her life. Timtur realizes too late how foolish he’s been to resist the bond with his fated mate and leads the rescue effort.

Before this situation can be resolved both will have to put their lives on the line and decide what really matters in a dangerous world ruled by the enemy.

Although this is the fifth book released in the Badari Warriors scifi romance series, the story of Timtur and Lily is a standalone and actually comes immediately after book two’s events.

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