Dark Warlord

By Cynthia Sax

Battling the Barbarian...

All Chamele Warlords have a destined mate, a gerel they are fated to spend their lifespans with. Batu, being genetically enhanced, believes he’s the sole exception. He devotes himself to battle, is resigned to living a solitary life, dying with swords in both of his hands.

Then he sees her.

Genine is a warrior female intent on protecting her loved ones. To keep them safe, she must face Fighter Batu in the ring. If she loses to the barbarian, she becomes his to do with as he wishes. And he wishes her to submit to his deep voice, rough touch, passionate kisses. If she defeats Batu, she will have to kill the one male she was destined to love.

Dark Warlord was previously released as part of a box set.
It is a short companion story in the Refuge series and is meant to be read after Dark Flight.
It is also a STANDALONE SciFi Romance set in a gritty, dark world.

Dark Warlord is the fifth of six stories in the completed Refuge series.
Book 1: Dark Thoughts
Book 2: Dark Flight
Book 3: Dark Strength
Book 4: Dark Fire
Book 5: Dark Warlord
Book 6: Dark Cure
Dark Arsenal officially resides in the Cyborg Sizzle series but features Vicuska from the Refuge series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cynthia Sax
• Release date: Jul 24, 2018
• ISBN: 9781987971200

Cynthia Sax

Cynthia Sax lives in a world filled with magic and romance. Although her heroes may not always say, “I love you,” they will do anything for the women they adore. They live passionately. They play hard. They love the same women forever. Cynthia has loved the same wonderful man forever. Her supportive hubby offers himself up to the joys and pains of research while they travel the world together, meeting fascinating people and finding inspiration in exotic places such as Istanbul, Bali, and Chicago.

Book preview

Dark Warlord

Cynthia Sax

Battling the Barbarian…

All Chamele Warlords have a destined mate, a gerel they are fated to spend their lifespans with. Batu, being genetically enhanced, believes he’s the sole exception. He devotes himself to battle, is resigned to living a solitary life, dying with swords in both of his hands.

Then he sees her.

Genine is a warrior female intent on protecting her loved ones. To keep them safe, she must face Fighter Batu in the ring. If she loses to the barbarian, she becomes his to do with as he wishes. And he wishes her to submit to his deep voice, rough touch, passionate kisses. If she defeats Batu, she will have to kill the one male she was destined to love.

* * *

Dark Warlord is a STANDALONE SciFi Romance set in a gritty, dark world.

Dark Warlord

Published by Cynthia Sax at Smashwords

Copyright 2018 Cynthia Sax

Ebook design by Mark's Ebook Formatting

Cover Design by Amanda Kelsey at Razzle Dazzle Design

Discover more books by Cynthia Sax at her website

www.CynthiaSax.com

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this story are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

First anthology edition: January 2018

First standalone edition: July 2018

For more information contact Cynthia Sax at

www.CynthiaSax.com

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Epilogue

Afterword

Also by Cynthia Sax

Excerpt - Dark Cure

About The Author

Chapter One

Being the sole defender of a small settlement on a brutally harsh outlaw planet wasn’t an easy task. It required strength, skill… and patience.

Deep in a Carinae E cave, Genine crouched by a pool of water. Strategically placed torches cast a glow over the white rock walls.

The rest of the planet was dry and parched, the forbidding terrain appealing to outcasts and criminals—beings escaping authorities. In the cave, moisture dripped, the sound echoing around her.

Fed by underground streams, the pool was the settlement’s main source of water. The inhabitants sent their youth to the cave to collect the precious liquid.

Twelve planet rotations past, a child hadn’t returned.

The community had grieved. Genine had mourned also. She considered every child in the settlement to be part of her extended family, the only family she still had.

Upon investigating the incident, she’d discovered the cause. A Carinae cave snake had claimed the pool as its hunting ground. Having now developed a taste for humanoid flesh, it would strike again.

She recommended they kill the creature. The peace-loving elders had disagreed. Genine was still regarded as a stranger in the insular all-female settlement. She had only lived there for five solar cycles; was a human, not a humanoid; wasn’t a clone as the rest of them were.

It was her lone voice against many. The residents had sided with the elders. They decided to do nothing, hoping the cave snake would return to wherever it came from. Children were advised to visit the pool in pairs.

Two children hadn’t returned three planet rotations prior. Genine pressed her lips together. Those deaths had hurt her. The settlement’s residents were hers to protect. She was responsible for them and she had failed. Yet again.

She wouldn’t fail them a third time. The elders had given her authorization to kill the cave snake. She would be successful at that task.

Genine tapped her booted feet against the stone floor. The surface of the pool rippled. Glimpsing a hint of the cave snake’s scaled body, she tightened her grip on her daggers.

Attracted by the reverberations, the creature moved closer. If she had a partner, someone equally skilled at the hunt, one being would act as bait and the other would be the hunter.

But she was alone. As she always was. She had to fill both roles.

Genine had chosen her position carefully. The boulders by the pool would prevent the cave snake from wrapping its form around her body and squeezing. All she’d have to do was avoid its paralyzing fangs and sink a dagger into one of its eyeballs and the threat to the settlement would be eliminated.

Genine lowered her body, her muscles flexing, her gaze fixed on the pool of water. The light from the torches gleamed off the cave snake’s black scales. Soon, it would—

Genine! Genine!

Bare feet smacked against stone and Genine smothered