As usual with me there were several things going on which inspired me as I originally had no thought of writing this book. I was supposed to be working on another one actually.

It’s been bothering me for a while that I never did much of anything with Brent, who was a supporting character in book one of the series, AYDARR.  He started out as an equal to Gabe and Flo, his mercenary partners and yet as the series progressed I hardly ever mentioned him. Gabe and Flo each got their own book…so it seemed like it was Brent’s time.

Coincidentally I was rereading GABE to refresh my memory on details about the Badari Daughters, who are the very few female Badari ever to be created and I started thinking about Raeblin, who was a medic. The Muse put the two people together and I immediately knew what the plot would be. I thought it would be interesting to see how the whole fated mate process would look from a Badari female’s perspective. Yes, I did that in GABE to an extent with Keshara, his love interest, but their plot was also all wrapped up with a lot of other elements, such as the secret lab where the Daughters were raised and what the true purpose of the facility was.

I thought for Brent and Raeblin the focus could be more exclusively on them.

I can’t really talk too much about other plot decisions without giving spoilers for BADARI MEDIC. A couple of the other romance tropes in this novella are the one bed forced proximity situation and Brent is definitely a cinnamon roll male main character.

You might see Yonn, the Generation 11 alpha-born, briefly – it’s become a fun challenge to work him into each book at least a tiny bit and have his presence be logical to the plot. When I finally end the Badari Warriors series and start writing occasional Badari Squad and Badari Home novels, he definitely needs his own book as a grown man, don’t you think? (Oh yes, I do plan to write follow-on books – I can’t part from my Badari Warriors or the Badari Gladiators!)

Here’s an excerpt from the story when Brent and Raeblin are on the run after the original mission goes badly:

“Did you want a fire?” she asked, handing him a survival ration and a drink pack.

He stared at her. “Seven hells no. Do you?”

“I’d heard humans like to have one at night to give comfort,” she said, blushing.

Brent laughed with genuine humor and downed his drink in a series of long swallows. “Nice of you to ask but I’m not a sit around the campfire kinda guy.” He patted his pulse rifled. “This is enough moral support for me.”

Raeblin stared at him, taking in his lethal alertness, even after the events of the day and all their hard marching. She had no doubts if the enemy showed up in the next five minutes Brent would defend her and given any chance at all, he’d get her to safety yet again. He might not be a Badari but he was a dangerous, deadly man. She was glad he was at her side—she was so out of her depth and lost in the current situation and it was reassuring to follow his lead. She certainly wasn’t a tip of the spear soldier. The thought reminded her he’d been injured and guilt washed over her. She should have treated him hours ago. “May I please look at your wound now?” She injected determination into voice. This was her domain, her expertise, not his. “You’re not Badari and an infection could be serious if left untreated. The wound could fester.”

He stared at her for a long time but she met his eyes steadily. “This is my job,” she said finally.

“All right but be quick. I’m going to freeze without my shirt.” He stripped off his uniform shirt and his tight fitting black tee shirt with a quick motion and hunched his injured shoulder in her direction.

Fortunately being Badari she had excellent night vision and could examine the wound as well as if it was broad daylight instead of a cold, rainy night. “Not too bad,” she said, opening her kit.

“Told you.” He was as truculent as ever.

“This will take a minute.” Cleansing the wound with a quick pass of the appropriate device, she held him steady with her other hand. Where her fingers grasped his muscular bicep her skin tingled and she had the sudden insane desire to stroke and lick. What the seven hells is wrong with me? Must be in shock from the day’s events. Brent was no Badari but he was taller than she and well built, with a six pack abdomen and muscles which had to be big for a human. Her Badari sense of smell reveled in his scent—masculine, clean, with a hint of musk and an undefinable spice. Her inner beast wanted to roll in the scent and purr. Raeblin couldn’t believe the way she was reacting to him sitting next to her, shirtless. Her predator rarely manifested itself at all and certainly had never exerted itself in this way. Hastily she applied the proper meds and a wound sealer. “Good to go,” she said raising her hands away from him as if she’d been scorched. Taking in a deep breath of the antiseptic to counteract Brent’s scent, she made herself a bit dizzy. “Do you still want adrenaphix? Or a pain killer?”

“Nah.” He craned his head trying to see what she’d done and flexed his arm. “Good as new, thanks. I’ll see how I am in the morning, as far as the stim.”

“All right.” She made a business of repacking her kit. “What do you think happened today?” she asked, seeking to divert her thoughts from the effect Brent was having on her.

With his shirt halfway on, he shrugged., “The Khagrish have been doing enhanced patrols lately. Guess it was our bad luck one was close enough to the facility we hit to come in as reinforcements. Shit hit the fan fast.”

“I didn’t hear anything on the telepathic link,” she said, trying to settle into her small portion of their cramped shelter.

“Nothing on the subaural com either,” he answered, confirming her assumption. “Standard orders are for our guys to bug out immediately.”

“At least we got most of the humans safely away.” Raeblin tried to derive comfort from the thought but she kept seeing the corpses of the unfortunate humans who’d been with them in the lobby.

“There was nothing you could have done for them,” Brent said in a low voice, squeezing her knee. “Don’t beat yourself up about it. Today wasn’t our day to die but their numbers came up. At least they died as free men and women and not under a Khagrish torture device.”

“Cold comfort for them,” she said bitterly, although she appreciated his support.

There was companionable silence for a few minutes. Brent passed her a survival ration and she handed him a drink pack and they ate what was going to pass for dinner. The calories were sufficient but unexciting.

“Did you try calling to the pack?” he asked her.

“I tried, after we were in the forest.” She blushed and was glad he didn’t have her night sight ability. “I know I should have tried sooner but I was distracted—”

“Hey, no, don’t give yourself a hard time. Our first priority was to escape, which we did.”

His words were nice but Raeblin was well aware she’d screwed up. “A more experienced soldier would have contacted Camron or one of the others while escaping.” As long as she was confessing, she figured she might as well get it all out there. “I don’t have the range the Generation 8’s do, you know. I can’t reach very far, certainly not to the valley.”

“Hell even Aydarr himself can’t telepath across the damn planet and he’s the Supreme Alpha.” Brent nudged her with his shoulder. “They’ll know we’re out here through the pack bond and come extract us as soon as the coast is clear.”

BADARI MEDIC: A BADARI WARRIORS SCIFI ROMANCE NOVELLA (SECTORS NEW ALLIES SERIES) by Veronica Scott

Raeblin was one of the very few Badari women ever created by the alien scientists. Trained as a medic, she insisted on taking her turn in combat, fighting the enemy and rescuing human prisoners. Brent is a tough human mercenary, ex-Special Forces, detailed without her knowledge to be a bodyguard for Raeblin on her first deployment. The mission goes wrong and now Raeblin and Brent are on the run across the planet, trying to elude the enemy long enough to be rescued by the Badari Warriors. When Brent is severely injured Raeblin faces tough choices, influenced by the fact her heart has decided Brent is her fated mate. Will the notoriously footloose soldier accept what she does to save his life? Could he ever agree to become a claimed mate and settle down with one woman? Find out in this 36K word Badari novella.

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