Warlord’s Bounty, the second story in the Chamele Barbarian Warlords series, will be releasing on May 14th.
I thought I’d share the first chapter while we wait.
Today, I’m sharing the first scene.
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Chapter One
Khan, one of three Warlords in the Chamele sector, divided all of the beings within his terrain into two groups—those loyal to him and to his brothers and those he deemed to be his enemies.
Loyal beings were to be protected and cared for. Enemies were to be hunted down and killed…once they were located.
One adversary was proving to be frustratingly elusive.
“Where are you, you slippery Son of a Gechii?” Khan stood in the center of his command chamber, his booted feet braced apart, his hands on his leather-clad hips. He stared up at a flattened view of Chamele 2, the planet he was responsible for ruling.
His warriors worked energetically around him, all of them seeking to find Tolui, the rogue Chamele guilty of abducting females and children from their homes, stealing and downing ships.
“Show the locations of every sighting.” Khan gave that instruction to his Head of Strategy.
“Showing the locations of every sighting, my lord.” The older male tapped on a private viewscreen.
Dots appeared on the map.
There were too many of them. Khan pressed his lips together, wanting to take action now, immediately stop the Warlord wannabe.
He had to find Tolui first. Searching for a pattern in the sightings, he saw none. “Calculate the time required to—”
“My lord.” His Head of Communications interrupted him. “One of our fighters is tracking an unidentified ship.”
That ship must belong to their enemy. Finally, something was happening. Excitement coursed through Khan. “Share the live feed.”
Since the last attack, his Head of Ship and Weapons Design had installed recording devices on all of the ships’ bridges. He could see and hear what the warriors onboard observed.
It was almost like being there. Almost.
Khan preferred to be on the front lines, leading the charge. Ruling a planet was exasperatingly passive, too hands-off for his liking.
An image of a female Chamele warrior dominated the main viewscreen. Two other females sat behind her.
“Don’t let him escape.” Her voice filled the chamber. “Continue hailing him.”
“Hailing him, Captain.” One of the other females confirmed the order.
“Show me what they’re seeing.” Khan wanted to view the enemy, not his three warriors.
The image switched to that of a ship. He immediately recognized the model.
“That’s an AXT594.” One of those ships had recently been stolen from his fleet. “Its top speed is faster than that of the fighter.” It wasn’t as nimble, couldn’t navigate the narrow twists and turns of the ravine as quickly. “Why doesn’t it increase its elevation, escape the confines of the cliffs, fly in a straight line?”
“It might be malfunctioning, my lord.” His Head of Strategy proposed a possibility. “An engine could be damaged.”
“Hmmm…” That could be the reason but Khan’s gut said it wasn’t. “Show me an aerial view of the ravine. Indicate their current location.”
The image shifted. He leaned forward, studying it. The ravine meandered, heading to the northeast.
Its course had been unbroken thus far. There were no alternate routes. But that would soon change. The fighter quickly approached a fork in the ravine.
“Zondoo.” His body stiffened.
A second enemy ship could be waiting on the path not taken. The fighter would be pinned between the two vessels.
“It’s a trap.” Khan yelled that revelation, gripping the edge of the console. “Tell them to abort. Abort.”
His Head of Communications relayed that order.
“We’re gaining on them, sir.” The fighter’s captain must have been high on the chase. Trained warriors didn’t argue with commands. “We can—shit. Where did she come from?”
Metal bent under Khan’s fingers. Judging by the captain’s tone, the fighter had passed the fork and was now wedged between two enemy ships. “Tell her to increase their elevation. Now.”
That might not work but it was their only chance.
“Incoming missiles.” One of the warriors on the fighter made that announcement.
“Shit. Shit. Shit.” Another warrior peppered the transmission with profanities. The image on the fighter’s main viewscreen veered to the right as they desperately tried to avoid impact.
That action was too little, too late. The vessel jerked. Metal screeched.
“We’ve been hit.” The pilot’s voice held the calmness of a being who had seen many battles, who had faced death too many times. The images on the fighter’s main viewscreen spun faster and faster. “We’re going—”
The boom temporarily deafened Khan. The image went black.
Silence filled the chamber. The warriors around him gaped, their primitive countenances turning pale.
“We’ve lost contact with the fighter.” His Head of Communications stated the brutal reality.
The fighter had been downed.
“Shit.” Khan sat with a thump in the chair positioned behind him.
Three warriors, at the minimum, had been on that ship.
He swiped his hands over his face, the burden of that loss, that failure, weighing on his shoulders.
He was their Warlord. It was his duty to protect them.
A message appeared on the private viewscreen placed on the console before him. He gripped the device, opened the communication.
Footage played. Missiles hit a fighter ship, carving away thrusters, panels. The vessel spun closer and closer to a rock facing.
Bile burned the back of his throat. He knew what would soon happen, was as powerless now as he had been then to stop it.
The fighter hit the hard stone and exploded. Plumes of orange-and-red flames engulfed the ship.
No one could have survived that.
Text appeared under the footage. Are you ready to negotiate now?
It wasn’t signed but Khan had no doubt who had sent that message.
Tolui.
The rogue male had targeted the fighter ship, had ended the lifespan of at least three of Khan’s warriors. Rage swept over him, savage and intense.
Unable to contain it, he threw back his head and roared. Emotion poured out of him, an unbreaking stream of torment, of grief, of anger. His body shook with its ferocity.
His warriors gulped air and stared at him, their countenances ashen. He didn’t lose his temper often.
Tolui had pushed his patience.
The male would die. Painfully.
Khan gathered his control. Resolve straightened his spine. He would stop the rebel Chamele’s random strikes…permanently.
Your fight is with me. He jabbed the private viewscreen with his fingers as he sent that message to his enemy. Face me like a warrior. Let’s end this.
He sent it, knowing the male wouldn’t accept that challenge.
Tolui preferred to sneak around, favoring stealth attacks over honorable battles.
Read the next installment (Available April 22nd): http://tasteofcyn.com/?p=6820
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Warlord’s Bounty
Wanted: One Barbarian Warrior.
The bigger the bounty, the more dangerous the target.
Khan, a Chamele Warlord, has a huge bounty on his head. His enemy wants him captured and is offering any being in the universe an outrageous number of credits to accomplish that.
Khan wants to be captured, but only if the being apprehending him is a tiny, brown-eyed female with wickedly sharp daggers and an even sharper tongue. His passion for the feisty human can’t be inhibited by restraints. He’ll allow her to subdue him…in a variety of enticing ways.
When she finally collects her credits, he’ll collect his revenge, killing his enemy and claiming his little bounty hunter forever.
Zeta doesn’t do forever. After a lifespan of chasing dangerous beings across galaxies, apprehending and trading them for credits, she doesn’t get involved emotionally…with anyone.
Khan might be fierce and sexy and the most dominant male she has ever encountered, but the barbarian is also her target, and once she sates herself with his body, she’ll betray him.
That’s her job.
* * *
Warlord’s Bounty is based on a much shorter story sharing the same title.
(If you already have the shorter story, please contact me.)
It is a STANDALONE Alien Barbarian SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes violent universe.
Pre-order Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PN8ZKK1
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07PN8ZKK1
Apple/iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/warlords-bounty/id1456156354
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1113984150
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/warlord-s-bounty-1
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/928431
