Warlord Reunited, the fourth standalone story in the Chamele Barbarian Warlords series, is releasing on February 18th.
Last week, I shared the first scene from the first chapter.
You can read that scene here:
http://tasteofcyn.com/?p=7056
This week I’m sharing the third scene of that first chapter.
***
Berke forced himself to concentrate on the upcoming search. “Are we ready for sunrise?” He had relayed his plan to Jochi earlier in the planet rotation.
“Yes, my lord.” The male’s head dipped. “We merely await your order.”
“Good.” Berke expected nothing less than total obedience from his warriors, had a low tolerance for incompetence.
His parents’ deaths had taught him that mistakes killed loved ones. The bloody Succession Wars that followed that tragic event had reinforced that lesson.
“Assign three more warriors to the control chamber.” Finding Tolui wasn’t his only priority. “They are to monitor the border. If any ship approaches Chamele space, I am to be informed. Immediately.”
His brothers had claimed two of Ellie’s bounty hunters as their gerels. He knew his female, knew how her mind worked. She would respond to that.
He had to prepare for her arrival.
“Three more warriors will be assigned to the control chamber, my lord.” Unspoken questions glimmered in his Second’s eyes. The male knew better than to ask them. “You will be notified immediately if a ship approaches our borders.”
“Ensure that happens.” Berke arrived at the exterior doors. Two warriors guarded it. He stopped, waiting for Jochi to leave his side.
The male remained beside him.
“You have a task to complete.” He reminded his Second of his request.
“No task is more important than safeguarding you, my lord.” Jochi could be as stubborn as his Warlord.
His Second’s loyalty was admirable. And the concerns over his safety were warranted. Tolui remained on the loose. The would-be Warlord could target Berke.
But Berke needed to be alone. “I can protect myself.” He’d take that risk.
Jochi’s jaw jutted. The warrior was going to be a pain in the ass about it.
Berke couldn’t berate him for it. If…when his Ellie returned to Chamele 1, he would want his Second to be as protective of her. And she, knowing his defiant gerel, would be as adamant about safeguarding herself.
“If I don’t return in one-tenth of a shift, follow my trail.” He made that concession.
Jochi blew out his breath. His shoulders lowered. “I will do that, my lord.”
The warriors standing in front of the exit moved.
Berke pulled his furs upward, partially covering his face, placed his right palm on that control panel, and pushed through the doors.
Cold blasted him. Snow pellets bombarded his garment, tiny projectiles seeking bare skin. He hunched his shoulders, bowed his head, and trudged through the knee-deep banks of white.
Chamele 1 was permanently covered with ice and snow. Many beings, including his two brothers, questioned why he, as the eldest, would choose that planet to rule.
Destiny had made the decision for him.
Chamele 1 was where he had first met his Ellie. Her single-being ship had crashed near the settlement. He had been defending his right to rule, had been waging war against a cruel and ruthless uncle. There had been a break in fighting. He’d ventured to the crash site to investigate, had smelled the most delectable fragrance on the crisp cool wind, and his fate had been set.
And now it was the closest planet in the sector to his gerel.
Berke trekked up the mountain, moving as quickly as he was able. His muscles strained. Wind whipped his hair. Crystals of ice formed on his eyelashes.
The effort shaved off some of his tension. The air grew thinner. The terrain below him was concealed by the falling snow. The howling of the never-ending storm would mute the loudest of screams.
Berke reached the peak, tilted his head back, and gazed up at the sky. “Ellie, my Ellie.”
It was here that he felt closest to her, here that he spoke to her, not hiding his loneliness, his caring, his need.
The stars above him were covered by thick clouds, yet he was aware they were there, knew exactly where Dorian 2’s distant sun was situated.
He had left his Ellie on that planet. Where she would be safe.
That had been the toughest decision he’d made in a lifespan filled with tough decisions. Walking away from her had almost broken him.
But he had done it…for her, because a universe without his gerel in it wasn’t a place he ever wanted to be. He had to protect her…from his enemies, from his inability to think rationally when he was around her.
Not that she had appreciated that.
Planet rotations after he’d left, she’d left also, breaking her vow to stay on Dorian 2. She had returned to the bounty hunter academy she now led.
That had been devastating, a betrayal of his trust and a blow to his heart. The new planet, her current location, was farther from Chamele 1. It hosted more-violent beings, was the site of more gruesome deaths than the planet he’d chosen.
Berke lifted his right hand, reaching for his gerel, aware she was too far away to grasp yet needing to try…because he needed her. He craved her touch, her voice, her scent.
But he had to keep her safe. When he’d heard of her departure from Dorian 2, his resolve cracked. A wild impulse to pull her back to him, to re-capture her, had seized him.
Only the realization that he might lead his enemies to her had stopped him from chasing after her. Berke dropped his hand. He couldn’t risk his adversaries following him.
And while the academy was situated on a more violent planet, it was surrounded by high walls and hosted skilled bounty hunters. Sources of his stealthily checked on his gerel from time to time, relayed her circumstances to him.
He never revealed to those sources why he was interested in the leader of the bounty hunter academy. The warriors were loyal, obeyed him without asking any questions.
No one residing in the structure was in any danger. His Ellie would never place the girls she trained in peril.
***
Read the next scene (available February 10th) here:
http://tasteofcyn.com/?p=7064
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Warlord Reunited
This barbarian warrior’s cold demeanor hides the warmest of hearts.
* * *
Solar cycles ago, Berke, a savage Chamele Warlord, found his gerel, the one being he is destined to be with for all time…except he couldn’t embrace that fate. He was fighting a series of brutal wars.
To protect his little human female, he conveyed her far from the Chamele sector. He then returned to the endless battles, concealing his pain, his anguish, his need, under a thick layer of ice.
His gerel was safe. That was all that mattered to him.
When Elle was a young bounty hunter, she bonded with an arrogant warrior on a distant planet. She was deliriously happy…for a while. Then he dumped her in a strange settlement far from his home and left, never to return.
Their parting caused her excruciating pain—both physical and emotional. She endured it, earned the esteemed role of head bounty hunter of an academy, salvaged a bit of a life from the disaster her primitive warrior had made of it.
Now, two of her bounty hunters have made the same terrible mistake. Elle is determined to rescue her friends and break their connections with their Chamele Warlords.
While she is in the sector, she plans to kill the warrior she’d once considered hers. Elle is ending her relationship with Berke…permanently.
* * *
Warlord Reunited is based on a much shorter story sharing the same title.
It is a STANDALONE Alien Barbarian SciFi Romance featuring a warrior hero and a take-charge heroine set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
Pre-order Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082RM76RF
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B082RM76RF
Apple/iTunes:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/warlord-reunited/id1491702046
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/warlord-reunited-cynthia-sax/1116110455
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/warlord-reunited-1
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/995680
