Showing posts with label kick back Saturday post. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kick back Saturday post. Show all posts

Friday, April 9, 2021

Kick back Saturday with chapters to read from #gay #scifi #adventure Love in Danger #MMromance #horror Enter the #giveaway to win a copy

 


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

Then enter the rafflecopter to win one of three kindle or ebook copies


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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