Tempted by the Kagethi Lord: Kagethi Warlord Brides, #6

By Ava York

Can I win the battle between my instincts and my heart?

My training has served me well. Kept me alive.
Bought my friends time to escape.

I trust no one.
And certainly no man.

Now a Kagethi Warrior has found me, fought at my side.
Declared his desire for me. More than that.

He claims I'm his mate.

I want to believe him.
I want to let myself go, be consumed by his passion.

But no matter how he tempts me, can I believe him?

Tempted by the Kagethi Lord is the conclusion of a new chapter of the Kagethi Warlord Brides. Each book ends with an HEA for our growly lords and their chosen mates, but there is an overarching story that ties these books together!

• Language: English
• Publisher: ClockWalk
• Release date: May 12, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223889960

Book preview

CHARLOTTE

R un!

I shoved Harper on her shoulder blades, sending her to stumble toward the relative safety of the tunnel. Its bare walls lead through the hundred-foot-high sheet of rock looming in our path.

I didn’t wait to see if they listened to me or not. I had no time. Already, my mind slipped back into the System. I went from thought to action with one electric leap. The single synapse theory, they call it.

My arms lifted the guns at varying heights and I pulled the trigger. The pistols were a hybrid human and Mahdfel design manufactured in Detroit. They fired finely honed slivers accelerated to nearly the speed of light by an array of magnets.

No bang bang, pow pow with those beauties. No recoil, either. Just a brief buzzing sound, and you’re ready to fire again.

The first Vune came around the bend and into the clearing just as I knew he would. The sliver took him right between the eyes, and he fell into a heap, his momentum carrying him a couple more feet until he skittered through the smooth, scattered stones.

The second shot took the next Vune in the leg. He hollered and twisted as he fell, as his leg was almost severed in half. His automatic rifle emptied into the chest of the next two Vune into the clearing.

I’m sure you’re wondering what a girl from a small town in Michigan was doing in an alien jungle fighting space orcs with high-tech future guns. Well, believe it or not, my story came about because of a crush on a boy.

I was the youngest of four children, and all my siblings excelled at something. My big sister, Kate, went to a prestigious New York ballet academy, performed worldwide, and married a billionaire. My next oldest sibling, Thomas, got straight As in school and just got his medical license.

My other brother, Michael, was the rebellious artist/musician type. Had his hair dyed different colors and wore a leather jacket, all of that. He wound up getting a job working at a software company recording music for video games.

And as for me, I wasn’t really good at anything. I wasn’t bad at anything; I didn’t stand out in any field.

Maybe that’s why I joined the armed forces. I thought it would be an excellent way to pay for college since, unlike my siblings, I didn’t qualify for academic scholarships.

I was on the last year of my tour with the armed forces and felt like I’d gotten ripped off. No exotic locales for me, only Ft. Hood, Texas, for two and a half years.

Then we heard about the DNA lottery, the Mahdfel treaty, the Suhlik, and all that jazz. Finally, the government couldn’t keep it a secret any longer. Suddenly, women weren’t allowed in active combat roles any longer, in case our DNA matched up to a Vaznik somewhere.

I was a soldier who wasn’t allowed to fight, and I still didn’t have any clue what vocation I would take up when I got out of the Army. So when I heard about the EO Initiative, I signed right up. They were hurting for recruits, so they fudged on my having too many X chromosomes for the program.

I did it all, just to be good at something for a change. No, that’s a lie. I did it because I wanted to be excellent at something. I had no idea what it would do to me.

The EO stood for Extraterrestrial Operations. The idea behind the corps was simple. In a galaxy teeming with aliens bigger, stronger, and tougher than humans, we needed an effective means of fighting back.

The soldiers would have to act and react faster than any humans could naturally achieve on their own. So, the bright boys at the Mahdfel Headquarters, in conjunction with the world governments and hundreds of experts in dozens of fields, came up with the System.

Every firefight has a finite number of scenarios. With a combination of harsh training, hypnosis, and intense meditation, one can internalize all of them. Unfortunately, it’s too much information to comprehend at one time consciously.

So when you fall into the System, you’re not taking the time to think, you just do. It comes with a down side, of course. Doesn’t everything?

One of the things they trained us on while incorporating the System was how to read our opponents. Body language, facial expressions, even changes in hormones detectable only by scent, all of this was drilled into us until we nearly lost our minds.

So once I got out of the service, I could pretty much gauge anyone’s intentions almost immediately. I was shocked to find out how few people actually cared about me in my life. My family did, of course. But many of my so-called friends had never really had my best interests at heart.

And then there was the disaster that was my dating life. The System let me read the intentions of people no matter what they were. If a guy came over and talked to me, he’d usually broadcast everything he was thinking to me without realizing it.

Most men only have one thing on their minds when they come up to talk to you, and it’s not a scintillating conversation. It was hard to get past. When flirting, everyone sort of glosses over their warts and presents the best part of themselves.

So, I found it hard to trust anything men said, even the rare as rare could be decent guys. It made dating awkward, and so I just did it less and less.

I leaped at the chance to sign on as security for the investigation into the ruins of Tankyr Latt. At last, an exotic location, and it would take me far away from Earth. I wouldn’t have to worry about competing with my siblings or disappointing my parents…who I lived with at the time.

I met two gals who were somewhat outcast mavericks and two of the most genuine people I’d ever met. I wound up forming a friendship with them, though to be honest, there was some distance. I always had a hard time relaxing and having fun, even before the System wrought its havoc on my mind

I wasn’t expecting to get shot down by the Vune, crash in the Vastgreen Jungle, or face off against dozens of hostile, heavily armed alien mercenaries. But you know what they say about when life gives you lemons…

A plasma bolt seared through the air not far from my ear. I tilted my head to the side and grimaced, tightening my fingers around the triggers. Then, my mind slammed back to the present, and the System took over.

I had to give ground.

I might not be able to survive this, but I'd sell my life dearly.

Standing out in the open may have been necessary when I was trying to shield the other women from weapons fire. Now that they were safely in the tunnel, I could worry about my own hide.

I spotted a waist high boulder nearby and dove into a somersault. I grunted as the rough terrain tore at my skin, but I made it behind the cover unscathed.

The System told me what the green-skinned, tusked humanoids were going to do next. Two of them fanned out, attempting to get around my cover and flank me.

I aimed both of the pistols out to the sides and fired. Two more Vune fell dead to the ground. 

The others weren't so hasty, instead taking up covered positions of their own, clustering at the tree line where the forest met the cliffside clearing. My pistols were running low on ammunition. I could not keep this up forever.

I didn’t have to, though. I only had to keep it up long enough for the other two to escape.

I backed away from the boulder in a crouch, moving toward the tunnel cut through the rock. Judging from the terrain under my feet, I figured that the whole area was underwater during the rainy season.

No doubt a seasonal creek had carved the hole through the stone. It would give me shelter while I tried to hold off the Vune as long as I could.

Once I got into the deeper shadows of the tunnel, the Vune stopped firing. They could no longer see me from their covered positions by the tree line. If they wanted to get me, they would have to come into the open to do it.

And then I would take them down, one by one, until they managed to get off a lucky shot or I ran out of ammunition.

A girl I went to school with had a cousin who died in some war, and they named a high school gymnasium after him. I wondered if they would name anything after me? I mean, the Suhlik were basically at war with the Earthlings, and the Vune worked for the Suhlik.

The idea of having a gym named after me was so stupid that I laughed a little. I knew that I wouldn’t make it out of there alive. When you face mortality, a lot of things go through your mind.

I wondered if I’d wasted my life. I’d done it, I’d become something exceptional just like my siblings…but at what price? I had very few friends, and no significant other to speak of. Not only did I not have a boyfriend, but I also hadn’t really had any great loves in my entire life.

They say there are no atheists in foxholes. Well, I found myself praying while waiting for the Vune to bum rush me.

Hey up there…I don’t know what god or gods might be listening to me on an alien planet, and I don’t really care. But listen, I have a favor to ask. I’m not going to beg directly for my life, because that’s just…I don’t want to do that.

I swallowed hard as I kept close watch on the tree line, waiting for any sign of movement.

What I will say is this: if I get out of this alive, I swear I will make the most of the life I have left. You understand? And if a good guy happens to come along, and he’s also hotter than fuck and totally without guile, then I’ll just consider that icing on the cake and try not to run the guy off by being….well, by being me.

I felt mighty stupid as my prayer wound down. Jeez, I could have prayed for my family to be safe or something like that. Or for the two women I’d just sacrificed my life for.

The Vune shouted. Even with the translator, they were too far away for me to make out what they said, but they sounded excited.

I figured they were gearing up for their final assault. I gripped my pistols and blew out a deep breath of air.

Well, here goes nothing, I muttered.

I waited for them to appear in my crosshairs. But the System failed me. Instead of doing what I predicted, a dark shape no bigger than an apple sped into the tunnel and smacked hard on the wall.

Instantly, green gas hissed out of the side, quickly billowing into a cloud that overtook me before I had time to do more than blink.

You dirty mother—

My epithet was lost in a fit of coughing. They were smoking me out like a rabbit from its hole. Well, if I was going down, I was going down shooting.

I staggered toward the tunnel exit, completely cut off from the system because the toxin had rendered me nearly