Rejected by the Kagethi Lord: Kagethi Warlord Brides, #1

By Ava York

Rejected. Trapped on an alien world. I should hate him.
So why don't I?

Nina

Cinderella, I'm not.
I've been matched to a Kagathi Lord, but he wants nothing to do with me.

Reo is grumpy.
Rude.
Sometimes a downright jerk.

But there are flashes of kindness in his eyes.
And when we touch nothing else matters.

Reo

My mate. My heart.
My blood burns to claim Nina, keep her.

But more than the Suhlik threaten the peace here. If the forces ranged against the peace ever learn how much Nina means to me, she'll be in danger.

And I will do anything, everything, to keep her safe.
Even from myself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Emma Gale
• Release date: May 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223971337

Book preview

Rejected by the Kagethi Lord

REJECTED BY THE KAGETHI LORD

KAGETHI WARLORD BRIDES: BOOK ONE

AVA YORK

STARR HUNTRESS

CONTENTS

Nina

Reo

Nina

Reo

Nina

Reo

Nina

Reo

Nina

Reo

Nina

Reo

Nina

Reo

Nina

Reo

Nina

Reo

Nina

Reo

Nina

Epilogue: Nina

Are you a STARR HUNTRESS?

Opening Move: The Alien Games

Rogue Mate

NINA

Form without substance.

Light without a source.

Me, but not me.

A burst of crackling electricity, like summer lightning.

I staggered forward a few steps, momentum unchecked by the teleportation device. My foot hit something immovable and I sprawled to my knees.

They’d told me not to run. I was a little freaked out at the time, though. Maybe I hadn’t paid attention as much as I should’ve.

Okay. Definitely.

But how could I not be freaked out? Thanks to a treaty with an alien alliance, I’d been selected to get beamed across the galaxy to an alien world.

Random chance or fate had decreed my DNA to be compatible with an alien.

And due to some stupid treaty, I’d been sent here.

I shook my head to clear it, skin tingling as if I just touched a live wire.

The guy at the testing center had told me the law of conservation of matter and energy meant my momentum would transfer to the destination.

But he wasn’t the one who’d be beamed across the universe.

If I’d thought too much about the fact my body would be sheathed in energy and then transmitted millions of light years away, I’d never have gone through with it. Treaty or no treaty.

So instead, I’d decided it’d be easier to run and jump in, like a terrifying leap from the high dive.

That was a mistake.

Slowly, I dragged myself to my feet. I stood on the worn stones of a circular dais, surrounded by a dense jungle.

It sort of looked like the jungles in adventure movies back on Earth.

Except it was completely, totally wrong.

Colors and scents had a strange, odd tinge which made me mistrust my senses.

I spun in a circle, physically and mentally. Coming in alone in the middle of a jungle wasn’t what I’d been told to expect, not at all.

There were supposed to be people there to greet me, right?

Instead, I appeared to be alone on an alien planet.

The sky was the wrong shade of blue.

The air felt different, too.

I felt different. Higher gravity? Lower?

I tried jumping, but honestly everything was just too much to take in to try to figure it out.

Seriously, it wasn’t what I’d planned for this week.

I’d minded my own business, running my dog walking gig in New York City and making enough money to pay rent and eat.

It wasn’t a great life, but it was my own.

Of course, none of it mattered in context of my current predicament. I was alone in an alien jungle. The more I thought about it, the more I realized somebody had made a major mistake.

The only question I had was: how big was the mistake? Had I been sent to a different place on Kagath than I was supposed to arrive at?

Or was I in a totally different alien world?

Why wasn’t anyone here?

A flash of panic seized me, causing my breaths to come in ragged gasps and a sweat broke out on my body.

If I’d been stranded on an alien world, then how would they ever find me?

I checked my communication device, a small rectangle roughly the size of a cell phone, but it’d shorted out or something and the screen stayed dark.

Did it need a charger?

Oh hell.

My bag wasn’t with me either.

I had no equipment, I was all alone, and I had no idea where I was, not even what planet I was on. My luggage probably made it safely. I was the one who’d been lost.

Pull it together, Nina.

Panic wouldn’t do any good.

Should I stay or should I go? Should I remain at the stone dais and hope a rescue was imminent?

Or should I try to find my way out of the jungle to some semblance of civilization?

I studied the dais beneath my feet for clues. Smooth gray stones shot through with specks of lavender, clearly worked by the hands of an intelligent being.

There were people on this planet. Or there had been.

I just needed them to come find me.

Because going out into a jungle alone with no equipment was tantamount to suicide.

I sank down on the gnarled, exposed root of a thick trunked tree. Its bark had lovely purple highlights breaking up the dark brown of its coarse surface.

Somewhere a sound like a bird call, but tinged with exotic strangeness, echoed in the sky. It didn’t sound very big, but I shivered with fright nonetheless.

I miss my dogs.

My voice sounded hollow and tinny to my ears. Maybe a side effect of the teleportation, or perhaps because of the sound absorbing qualities of the stone dais.

Maybe because I was afraid.

Something bounded out of the wood, startling me to my feet. About the size of a rabbit, the creature had a body shaped like a swollen bowling pin with two bent back, thick legs. I saw no sign of any forelimbs.

The creature hopped like a rabbit, coming a bit closer to where I stood.

Its little black eyes glittered in the half light as it turned its head as if puzzled to find me there.

Hey there, little guy, I cooed. Aren’t you adorable? I don’t suppose you have a master you can take me to?

It made a cute little chittering sound and hopped nearer. I squatted down to make myself less threatening, holding my hand out, palm facing up.

The creature hopped a bit closer, slitted nostrils testing the air. It stopped about two feet from my outstretched hand.

I wished I had some treat or something, but then again I’d no idea what that thing ate. Given its size and cute fluffiness, I found it hard to believe it ate meat.

Until its head tilted backward like a Pez dispenser to reveal double rows of sharp teeth. Green saliva trickled out of the stalactite like teeth, perhaps a venom of some sort.

Holy shit!

I leaped back and snatched up a rock off the ground. I flung it at the creature, but it reacted like lightning and my errant missile bounded away into the underbrush. The creature hopped a few feet away, stopping in the knee high grass to peer out at me.

You just stay right over there and we won’t have any problems, you and me. I picked up another rock just in case. You hear me?

Something jumped out of the tree line.

Another of the creatures. They sniffed each other, and then turned their mutual attention to me. They crept out of the tall grass, stalking me like a cat stalking a mouse.

I said get away!

I hurled the stone and they both bounded back, but not as far as the first time. A low growl escaped their throats, so deep and rumbly that I felt it in my stomach.

Another of the creatures joined the first two, this one a bit larger with dull black fur instead of brown. It made a chattering noise and suddenly the tree line was alive with the little monsters.

I spotted a twisted, fallen limb on the ground and snatched it up, wielding the timber like a club. The closest creature received a swat, but it didn’t seem to do much more than push it away a few feet.

Stay the fuck away from me! I mean it! I don’t back down from Dobermans and Rottweilers, and I’m not backing down for you.

The creatures turned and fled, streaming back into the tree line. For a moment, I felt a rare boost of confidence.

Yeah, that’s right. And don’t come back—

A thunderous roar split the air behind me. I spun around, raising my improvised club in the air before me.

A pair of eyes the size of basketballs glared out at me from the foliage and I saw the vague outline of a black furred shape beyond, something that looked similar to an Earth bear but three times the size with long, pointed ears.

Six legs, too, I noted as it trundled into the clearing. Its claws scraped against the stones of the dais, each one as long as my forearm.

It opened its maw and roared, the volume of air in its lungs so great it blew my hair back.

Am I about to die?

Fear paralyzed me, rooting me to the rounded stones of the dais. The monster pushed its way fully into the clearing, moving with liquid grace which belied its bulk.

No time to run now.

I watched, transfixed with horror, as it raised a paw the size of my torso high into the air.

I threw an arm up in reflex, though such a pitiful barrier would do nothing to stop my death.

The monster’s claws descended.

Then a golden humanoid shape blurred into my field of vision, interposing itself between me and the creature.

I tripped and fell hard on my rump. My jaw fell open as I witnessed a fur-covered person built like a pro wrestler blocking the descending paw with a rounded shield.

The monster recoiled, snapping its paw back. Blood spattered onto the stones. I noticed my rescuer wielded a short, curved sword in the other hand, wet with crimson. I hadn’t even seen the attack.

The stranger turned his head toward me, a lustrous mane flowing like water with the motion. I gasped, because his face was a mix of human and feline features.

His nose had the black velvet look of a cat, but his mouth appeared quite like my own, albeit with more pronounced canines. His whiskers twitched as his amber eyes bored into me.

Get back.

He turned toward the monster and bent into a half crouch, a shield held defensively before him. The big monster’s eyes narrowed. It tried to move around him to get to me, but he sidled along to keep himself between me and the beast.

My hero took a half step backward to avoid the monster’s next attack. His foot hit my calf and he stumbled slightly.

I said get back!

He rounded on me, eyes narrowed and burning with irritation.

Grumpy hero.

I scrambled back in a crab walk until I slammed into the rough bark of a tree trunk.

The lion man turned around and roared a challenge at the beast. The huge monster reared up on its thicker hind legs and swatted with the other four paws but my savior leaped over the lowest, twisting his body in the air like an acrobat.

He landed in a crouch and I winced at the sight of blood running down his side. He hadn’t quite avoided all of the creature’s attacks.

The lion man leaped into the air, and I do mean leaped. My jaw fell open in awe as he launched himself a full twenty feet in the air.

His sword darted out at the monster’s face and the answering howl of pain meant his weapon bit deep.

The six-legged beast dropped down to all of its paws and tore away from the clearing, half its face covered in blood. The lion man stood at the ready even as it fled, as if expecting it to come charging back at any moment.

Once the sound of crashing foliage faded into the distance, the lion man relaxed.

He ignored me completely and went to grab a thick leaf wider than my body. I watched as he used the leaf to clean the blood from his blade. His side seemed to have stopped bleeding already.

Neat trick, that. Super fast healing.

Um, hey. Thanks for saving me.

He started and turned his gaze over his broad shoulder. His glare sent a shudder down my spine. I couldn’t make heads nor tails of the inscrutable light in his eyes.

My name is Nina, by the way. I realized I was babbling, but I couldn’t stop. Obviously I’m not from around here. Um, do you know the way out of this jungle, by chance?

He didn’t respond at first. Then he let out a snort