I've been working edits and I'm in between writing the second and third novels in the Blown Away series.
So far for the Blown Away series I've got these titles:
Detonate
Happy Trails
Bomb Voyage
The Infamous Ava Frost
The first two will be out in print in November.
The first four stories are two novellas to a book that are linked in world, events and characters. It's my hopes that one story will flow into the other and create a larger picture for the reader. Each of the finished novels comes in at around 90k words or roughly 350-375 words pages (depending on formatting). So, even though they are considered novellas, the book is large as a whole.
The next I'd like to add to this series is a full novel I'm working on re-wrtiting:
Legionarii
This is a novel I started three years ago and one of my personal favorites. In this novel I stretch my world-building to the extremes and it's my hopes it will be a favorite of yours too.
Okay, let's get on with the story.
Enjoy.
All rights are the intellectual property of the author. No part may be copied or reproduced without the permission of the author.
***Warning. The following story contains erotic elements, explicit language and violence. Read at your own risk.***
“Get up.”
Something sharp pressed against his neck. Ursus cracked an eye and stared at a mob. The tip of the spear retreated, allowing him to move. Slowly he untangled himself from Tesza’s Arms and rose to his feet.
He swept the room, looking for his weapon and found it in the hands of a man leaning against the wall, pointing it at him. “Get dressed.”
Ursus glanced down at Tesza, where the blanket had slipped free, exposing her breasts. The man’s eyes travelled down and he smiled.
“My wife’s beautiful, isn’t she?”
Ursus’s gaze snapped from her and he glared at the man with the lazr’. “She’s not your wife.” He reached down and pulled the cover over her, hiding her body from the man’s eyes.
“She’s been my wife since the day she was born.”
“You cast her out.”
“I knew she would follow through. Tesza’s not a coward. It only took a bit of prodding to get her to act.”
“You call carving up her face, prodding?”
“Shhh. You’ll wake her. I want her to think you left on your own.”
Ursus growled. The cave felt small, packed with Kalos warriors. Each man was dressed in a Kori uniform, altered to add his own primitive touch. Dyed, painted, embroidered, cut, torn, anything to make the garments look like it was something other than what they were. Each mutilated uniform represented a dead soldier under Ursus’s command. How could he not despise them?
“Who are you?”
“I know who you are, Captain Ursus Devot. The Butcher of Kalos.” The tall blond man raised a brow and kept the weapon pointed at him. “I have to say it’s not very flattering that you don’t recognize me.”
Ursus studied the face. The man had the dark violet eyes of a Kalos nobleman. An aquiline nose and hard mouth. He kept his long, ice-blond hair tied back out of his face, exposing the facial tattoo on his forehead that came down the bridge of his nose and spiraled around in a specific design that matched on each cheek. Beast-like, dragon-like. What were they?
Not just an honor mark, a family crest. One Ursus thought he’d seen before, but couldn’t place.
The man was on the lean side, probably from years of running and starvation. But it didn’t make him look weak. No, he carried a strength—emanated it. A quality seen in great leaders. What was it about him?
“My grandfather bound my people to this planet.” The corner of the man’s mouth lifted in an arrogant smile that wasn’t remotely friendly.
Crap. The Kalos king, Jarod. Ursus blinked and glanced over at Tesza. Tesza was a queen?
Shit.
“Outside.” Ursus bent to get his pack and the man shook his head, powering up the lazr’. A high pitched whine emitted a warning that could blast him to dust in a moment.
Ursus ducked out of the cave onto the ledge. A break in the rain gave way to the day star shining through the clouds, steaming the saturated jungle. Even the air felt as though water could be squeezed from it.
“You’re free to go.” Jarod tossed his pack at his feet.
“Like that?”
“Yes.”
Ursus glanced over Jarod’s shoulder, into the cave.
“I said you were free to go. My wife stays.”
“You’re mistaken. She’s not your wife, she’s mine.”
The man tipped his head back and laughed. “Do you really think Tesza loves you? She’s been trained from childhood to do what she did. Pity. You’re a bigger fool than I thought. She infected you.”
The heat of anger stained Ursus’s face. He balled his fists to his side and resisted the urge to pounce. They wanted him to take the disease back to his people, infect them. That he couldn’t do, and wouldn’t with the cure she’d given him. But he wasn’t about to leave Tesza at the mercy of these men.
“I see you’re going to be stubborn.” Jarod adjusted the weapon. “How do you set this to stun?” Without waiting for an answer, he pointed and fired. The bolt hit Ursus like a charging draco. He froze where he stood, trying to draw a breath. His body refused to obey.
Jarod smiled. “Never mind.”
The world around Ursus disappeared. He hit the floor of the ledge face first. Pain radiated from his nose across his face, blood gushed from his nostrils, a warm, metallic smell, then blackness closed in.
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