The countdown to the release day for Provoking Odium continues!
I’m sharing the third scene from the first chapter this week.
You can read the first scene here:
***
The humanoid floated away. Her tread was soundless. Her gait was level.
“If she could truly hover above the ground, she would’ve gotten her tiny ass out of here.” Briella muttered that reminder under her breath. The female’s beauty unsettled her. “She needs you. She isn’t going to reject you.”
An unnatural rumbling rolled through the warm air.
Trepidation filled her. The Humanoid Alliance troops weren’t waiting for them to starve to death. They were mounting an attack.
“Decide quickly.” Briella yelled that advice at the female’s back.
The Praecipuans looked at her. One male, as tall and slender as the first female, grimaced. A female visibly paled.
Briella touched her goggles. They were in place.
All they’d seen were the scars on her cheeks, her forehead, and her chin. And those had horrified them. She pressed her lips together. Her eyes would cause them to flee.
“What is your name?” The first female stood in the middle of the group. She must be their leader.
Briella hesitated. If she relayed her name, they wouldn’t believe it. It was too beautiful for someone who looked like her. “Folks call me Beast.”
The female blinked once, twice. “I’m Mohini.” She smiled and turned her attention back to the others. Her hands skimmed through the air as she chattered. Her words were too softly spoken for the newcomer to hear.
Briella surveyed the group of beings. They all seemed capable of moving unassisted. Their wounds appeared minor.
Her ship was in rougher shape than they were. She clomped around the vessel, inspecting it.
New scrapes decorated the wings. There was a burn mark on the undercarriage. That was minor damage.
The freighter should hold together on the ascent.
She hoped it would. If—
“We’re going with you.” The female—Mohini—ushered her kind toward the ramp.
“Great.” She would try not to kill them all. “Turn left after you enter. You can use any of the chambers in the back. The bridge, to the right, is off-limits.” That was her space. “Strap yourselves in. This will be a rough trip.”
Mohini translated her words to the others. “We understand.”
Some of the Praecipuans didn’t look at her as they passed. A couple braver souls peered down at her, trying to gaze past her goggles. They wouldn’t see enough to scare them.
Briella waited, quashing the urge to tell them to hurry. They didn’t have all fuckin’ planet rotation.
Once the beings were finally loaded, she retracted the ramp, closed the doors, and returned to the bridge. She plunked her generous ass into the captain’s chair and took off her goggles.
Their escape would require the usage of both her eyes.
She placed her hands on the control panel. The engines continued to hum.
“We’re ready to go.” Briella guided the freighter upward, then circled the funnel, accelerating faster and faster.
The opening at the top was too narrow for a horizontal takeoff, and the speed would be needed. The rock walls were high. The freighter would require all the power it could get to climb it.
“A little faster. A little faster.” She forced herself to be patient. It wasn’t a trait she was known for. She preferred to rush into dangerous situations.
Because if she waited, if she thought about it, her survival instincts would kick in, and she would leave beings to die. That couldn’t happen.
And it wouldn’t happen now. Finally, she reached the desired speed.
She swooped the freighter downward, grazed the sand, and shot her ship straight upward. The force of the ascent pushed her form back into her chair. Screams originated from the rear of the vessel.
They should be scared. Briella was an experienced pilot, and she had fuckin’ concerns.
The opening at the top of the funnel was tiny. She focused on it, used her mechanical eye to center the ship.
“I can’t fail them, can’t fail another being.” Her knuckles whitened against the control panel. Her muscles cramped. The pain ripped at her.
She held firm because she had to do that. The only other choice was failure, death.
***
Read the next scene (available June 13th) here:
***
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Provoking Odium
A Beautiful Cyborg
While accompanying his leader on a mission, Odium, an E Model cyborg, hears a distress call over the communication lines. The voice on that message makes his circuits surge with energy and all his systems light up. He has to respond to the mysterious female, would risk his lifespan and the lifespans of everyone on board their ship to protect her.
A Human Female Others Call Beast
Briella gained her nickname due to her flying abilities, her fearlessness, and her scarred countenance. Her verbal-only relationship with the sexy cyborg who answers her distress call is a steamy yet short-lived fantasy. His kind is physically perfect, and she is…not. He will uncover that truth when…if they survive the attack upon her freighter.
Provoking Odium is a STANDALONE Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features a human female intent on remaining mysterious, a cyborg warrior determined to uncover her identity, and an enemy seeking to destroy them both before they have the opportunity to meet.
Pre-order Today:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/provoking-odium/id1605490349
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/provoking-odium-cynthia-sax/1140894003
