From E. D.
Love in Danger is fantasy/scifi adventure, a romantic story with sizzling hot love scenes between the heroes Corin and Marcus, but it's also a horror story.
Meet gorgeous Marcus D'Ath who loves Corin JaKobi, his warrior partner, and waits for Corin to tell him that he loves Marcus, too. Of course, Corin does, but he's been burned before and needs to be strong for the job he does, so he keeps his love for Marcus deep in his heart.
The dialogue between the warriors, Marcus, Zeb, who is Corin's ex-lover and a rogue hunter, and Corin is meant to be poignant and fierce at times. They come to realize how their lives have been manipulated and it's hard to take. It makes them question everything.
Get to know courageous, handsome Corin, the older and more experienced warrior of the pair, as he battles his own demons and those he's sent to kill.
The story contains violence, oppression, battle, and hope. I offset the horror elements with the hot love scenes between Corin and Marcus , and their lives together, taking care of each other in tender ordinary ways as well as in dangerous situations.
Here's the blurb:
Centuries
ago, the planet they cherished was conquered, but now three warriors from an
ancient race of gifted beings intend to remedy that.
Lovers,
handsome Corin JaKobi and gorgeous Marcus D’Ath are members of an elite
planetary squad that rid the city sectors of the mysterious and dangerous Fallen.
When
an old friend uncovers the true horrific nature of the elders in the
organization they work for, anger at their duplicity drives Corin, Marcus, and
rogue squadron hunter, Zeb to plan for the ruling group’s demise.
It
won’t be easy, and when Marcus is captured and detained at the elders’
pleasure, Corin’s white-hot fury at the thought of losing the man he loves
knows no bounds.
Will
Corin get to his beloved, Marcus, in time to stop the horror that awaits him?
Can
the warriors free the planet and return it to the lovely place it was before
the aggressors arrived?
Kick back with the first two chapters of Love in Danger
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Love in Danger
by E.D. Parr
Chapter One
Mara
JaKobi’s eyes filled with tears as she watched the last shuttle depart from Elfinndor
for the space dock and the ships her people were relying upon to take them away
from the terror unleashed on the planet by the horrifying invaders. Her
husband, Tor JaKobi, was on the mainland defending the human population. Her
brother Jaf and his husband Benjamin had left that morning to join Tor. Mara
held her baby son close. One of the abbey monks put his arm around her
shoulders.
“Come
now, Mara. We’re taking refuge in the underground city.”
She
went with him. As she walked, she thanked all the gods that the invaders had
somehow missed seeing the space dock. It was in shadow, cast by their closest
moon at that time. The people on the ships might be the only survivors of this
attack. The guiding council had decided to send out these arks of their people
as a precaution. The cruisers would travel to an unoccupied planet, which the
Star Force had discovered some twin-moon cycles ago. Mara had seen pictures of
the place. It looked good—green and blue like Elfinndor did from space. It
wasn’t so far away that the people in the arks didn’t assume they might never
see the Old Island, Elfinndor again.
She
queued silently to descend into the underground city with the three thousand or
so of her people unable to fit in the cruiser class spaceships. Her parents
were on the shuttle. Guy and Jovan, silver-haired, elegant, and still beautiful
were among the last of her people to be born winged. Jaf, too, had that honor. The
two men had adopted her and Jaf. She had never known their birth parents. They
had perished on an ice planet during an exploration visit by Star Force when
Mara and Jaf were only six months old. Jovan had been a commander in the force
for many moons. Now his expertise and knowledge would help guide the ship to a
safe haven beyond the twin-moons that orbited the planet.
A
monk showed Mara to a small room expertly hewn from the granite with diamond
tip tools by the ancients when they’d first arrived on this planet.
Would
they be safe in the underground city? Everyone hoped so. Airshafts hidden from
prying eyes among the apple trees and vines ventilated the city. Food stored in
the cool storerooms couldn’t last more than six months. An underground
freshwater lake shimmered in the light generated by solar panels on the
greenhouse roofs where tomatoes still ripened. No one would suspect the cables,
disguised by vines and trailing flowers, plunged into the underground city. Still,
there was always the chance these invaders could find them if they succeeded in
overwhelming Elfinndor’s warrior force.
Two
monks rolled the circular door closed on the city.
Mara
perched on a wooden seat in her quarters and cradled her son. She ached for
Tor’s comforting presence. She daren’t consider the possibility she might never
see him, or Jaf and Benjamin again. Cold rivers of fear crept over her. Despite
Jovan’s pleading, she’d stayed for Tor JaKobi, her husband, and for her brother
Jaf, for the hope they would prevail against the shocking invasion.
****
On
the mainland, across the aqua sea, Tor JaKobi led an assault on the invaders.
They were difficult to injure or kill in their glittering, protective suits.
He’d found a small group of human men huddled in a storage building and
persuaded them to try and save their home. Now he wished he’d left them cowering
among the barrels and boxes. The invaders were killing his squad and the humans
easily. He gave his first officer a look full of worried exasperation. They had
little armor. They’d lived in peace for centuries. This was an affront to their
entire life philosophy as much as a danger to their lives. Although they’d
trained and maintained a small army of warriors, they’d never been in battle.
His
communicator trilled in his ear. Jaf and Benjamin had reached the shore and
joined another group of fighters ready for combat. Tor sighed. He sent a silent
prayer to the gods to keep the two young men safe. If he didn’t survive, Mara
would need her brother and his husband.
Ten
days later Tor reluctantly accepted defeat. He surrendered when offered a
treaty by the elders, a group of leaders from the invading horde. It was the
only way to save the remaining human population on the mainland from these
invaders whose daytime armor kept them invincible and whose swift and silent nighttime
skirmishes left corpses drained of blood in the streets.
Tor
signed the papers detailing the conditions of occupation. Without their armor,
sitting around a large polished table in one of the rooms of a building they’d
taken over, this group of invaders appeared human. They exuded a strange charm,
but it didn’t fool Tor. They offered refreshments stolen from the humans they’d
killed as if they’d grown the grapes and apricots to make the wine. Tor tried
to keep his disgust and anger under control. He seethed inwardly. He choked
down the protests that rose in his throat as he read the demands from the Zangnuit
elders. He wondered how he could face his people on Elfinndor and tell them
what he’d agreed to.
As
the remaining warriors traveled across the aqua sea, Tor JaKobi stood on the
deck of the ferry alone staring out at the strange, burnt orange light that
descended over the mainland. Jaf and Benjamin ran to him and hugged him close.
The comfort of the two men’s arms around him broke his composure and tears
tracked down his face.
Chapter Two
Centuries
passed with no word from the arks and Elfinndor became a shadow of its former
glory.
Corin
JaKobi watched from a doorway with resignation on his strikingly beautiful face
as the two men fought, the clash of metal ringing in the crisp night air. He’d followed
Zeb Farrell for the last half hour, as the notorious hunter wreaked havoc in
the nightclubs and bars across the Entertainment Sector.
Zeb
tracked a particular quarry of his own, and having found it, launched into a
fierce attack.
This
would be Zeb’s last fight and so Corin let him be as he battled with the being whose
physical strength now matched Zeb’s.
Corin
had seen this Fallen one consume enough blood in the Red Bars along his route
to fill out his original pale, thin form, and now he laughed aloud finding a
voice, taunting the hunter.
“Join
me. Throw down your weapon and accompany me on hours of delight. You have no
idea what you’re missing.”
The
hunter’s grim smile in answer accompanied a harsh, “Not a chance.”
Corin
didn’t doubt Zeb would dispatch the Fallen one, but then he had the miserable task of banishing Zeb.
Once
upon a distant time, he and Zeb were close—lovers, in fact, but that was long
past, and orders were orders even if they were hard to carry out. The order to
transport Zeb off world hadn’t come as a surprise, but Zeb’s period of
indiscriminate killing throughout the seven sectors had.
The
air near Corin stirred and he cast a swift glance at the beautiful man who’d
joined him in a shimmer of movement.
“I
didn’t expect you’d follow me tonight.”
Marcus’s
breath caressed his ear. “Huh, and miss seeing you banish Zeb? Not likely.”
“It’s
not a game. I wish it wasn’t my job this time.” Corin’s voice cracked with
emotion.
“I’m
sorry, my love.” Marcus’s expression held tenderness.
Corin
looked away. His task would be doubly hard with Marcus watching.
A
few steps away, Zeb Farell’s sword flashed in a sudden cross of light from the
twin moons, appearing low on the horizon as banks of clouds scudded away, and
the Fallen fell to his knees as Zeb’s blow cut him deep.
The
Fallen one, vulnerable to death despite his newly muscled form, made no sound,
only the clatter of his weapon on the cobbles as he dropped it.
Zeb
raised a foot and kicked the kneeling being in the chest revealing the extent
of his blow.
Bright
scarlet blood gushed from the body as the shoulders separated from the chest
and toppled onto the street. The rest of the body prostrate on the cobbles, Zeb
bent and closed the open eyes on the Fallen one’s face, the once silver gaze
now a flat gray. Zeb stood and in a sudden movement spun toward Corin.
“I
know you’re there, my lost love, and ready to do the task set you.”
Corin
stepped into the moonlight, his sword raised as he expected a fight from Zeb. His
heart lurched when Zeb gently smiled.
“Corin,
I can’t fight you.” Zeb threw his weapon down.
With
a heavy sigh, Corin sheathed his sword. “By order of the elders, you, Zeb
Farrell, are banished from this planet indefinitely.” He took the portalphone
from his belt and aimed it at Zeb.
“Wait. Kiss me goodbye, please.” Zeb held up one hand, the other
he placed over his heart.
Corin’s
breath caught. “I’m forbidden to.”
His
former lover’s eyes filled with pain. “No one will know.”
“I will … what happened? Why’d you go
rogue? What pushed you to this?” Corin’s own pain echoed in his tone, and he
waved his hands around in confusion.
“I
grew tired of the elders’ rules—no questions, blind obedience. I missed you. I … it doesn’t matter that I leave here.
I think that one day you’ll feel the same. Please
let me feel your lips on mine one last time.”
Corin
took the step and closed the gap between them. He grabbed Zeb around the head
and kissed him. The kiss lasted longer than he intended. Feelings Corin had
pushed to the bottom of his heart rose in a tide of remembrance and flooded his
body with tenderness. Horrified, he pushed Zeb away, aimed, and clicked the
button on the portalphone. Through the aura of white light cast as the portal
took him away, Zeb’s loving smile tore at his heart. Corin closed his eyes, but
he knew he’d see Zeb in his dreams forever as his old lover raised a hand in
farewell.
He
bent his head when scalding tears rushed from his eyes and traced a path down
his cool skin. To hide them, he scooped up Zeb’s sword, before he turned to Marcus
who joined him silently.
Marcus
placed his hand softly on Corin’s arm.
He
knew it was a gesture of support, but all the same, Corin shook it off.
“I
need to report the corpse.” He pressed the communicator lodged in his ear.
“JaKobi. The mission is complete, but there’s a bloody mess in Sector Five.
Send a cleaning unit ASAP. I’ll wait here in case the red stuff attracts
undesirable behavior.”
No
one had ventured into the street where the fight took place. Most inhabitants
knew better than to be around when hunters swooped on their quarry, but if Corin
and Marcus left the scene, anything could happen.
The
tears he’d shed dampened the scarf around his neck and he tugged it away from
his skin not wanting to acknowledge the emotions that had produced them.
Marcus
whispered. “I’m sorry. You still cared for him.”
Corin’s
reply was bitter to his own ears. “Zeb broke my trust and my heart.” He sighed.
“Also, there aren’t many of us, five hunter pairs—maybe a thousand or so of our
people left on Elfinndor, if that. It’s a shame to lose anyone.”
“He’s
turned bad. He hurt you. Try to forget him now.”
Corin
didn’t answer.
The
cleaning unit showed up. Corin nodded a greeting to the team leader then gave Marcus
a look that meant they were leaving. He unleashed his wings and soared into the
bleak sky.
Copyright E. D. Parr, Evernight Publishing, 2021
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