Trapped with the Kagethi Lord: Kagethi Warlord Brides, #4

By Ava York

My human mate will stay safe. Whether she likes it or not.


I protect what's mine.
This land. My people.
And now her.

The need to guard her from the rampaging Vune burns as brightly as my blood's demand to touch her, to taste her.

But if I keep her away from the mystery of her missing friends, I risk losing her heart forever.

Trapped with the Kagethi Lord starts 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: 9798223136736

Book preview

HARPER

H arper, watch out!

I looked up too late to avoid walking into the metal crate hovering in the air before me. An oof escaped my throat as my stomach collided with the edge. Since the crate was in hover mode, suspended in an anti-graviton sheath, it meant it flew away from me to careen through the camp.

An alien resembling an elephant crossed with a tomato plant cried out as the runaway box nearly struck him…or her. I’m not even sure if that species has a gender. At any rate, my implant translated his speech well enough.

Stupid human!

I didn’t have time to be angry at his racism. I was too busy chasing after the crate as it careened through the camp. Sapient races of all different planets and star systems were all here because of the Torvian Intergalactic University expedition, sponsored by Madhfel HQ.

And every single one either struggled to get out of its way or stopped and stared as it flew past. Not a single one of them attempted to stop it, the bastards.

As I ran after the crate, I was joined by another human woman. Mia’s red mane flashed in the sun as she stretched out her legs to outrun me.

Hurry, before it gets over the river.

The crate zipped right for the edge of the open meadow we’d set up our camp in. I thought for sure we’d lost it for good, but then a golden-haired amazon stepped out into its path and caught it adroitly. She cocked an eyebrow at us as we caught up.

You were staring at your computer pad instead of where you were going again, weren’t you?

I sheepishly shrugged.

Sorry, Charlie. I’m just super excited. The Tankyr Latt temple is located in a section of the jungle untouched by anyone not native to this planet. Can you imagine what kind of discoveries are waiting to be made? This civilization might just predate the Kagethi civilization itself.

Charlie smirked at me.

No, really? You don’t say?

It’s not like she mentions it, ever, said my red haired companion, her green eyes full of mischief.

Come on, guys, I said with a groan. Give me a break, will you? The ruins in this jungle are like heaven to an archaeologist.

Yes, we get that…but you don’t have to go around trying to discover things that the Kagethi already likely know about, Charlie said.

Much less name them after yourself, Mia added cheerfully.

I gave them both a rueful look. Charlie laughed and pushed the hover crate ahead of her.

Is this the last thing that needs to be loaded?

Pretty much, yeah, Mia replied.

Are you sure? Let me see the inventory list. Charlie held her hand out and I placed the computer pad in it. I noticed the calluses on her palms from wielding the twin pistols at her belt. Charlie was a Firearms Kata Specialist, an anti-Suhlik soldier trained on Earth as an answer to a galaxy full of aliens that are almost universally bigger and stronger than humans.

Or, as Mia and I and just about everyone else referred to her, a gun ninja. She hated that more than anything, which may have had something to do with how Mia constantly pushed the nickname.

All right, Charlie said, handing me back the computer pad. She stared up at the red gold of the morning sky. We should get moving. I want to be back to camp before dark.

Why? Mia cocked an eyebrow. Surely the gun ninja isn’t afraid of the dark?

What I am is practical, Mia. Fear is irrelevant.

She always said things like that. There is no quitting on this team, we stay till the job is done, so on and so forth. I could never figure out if she was talking to us…or herself.

I don’t know why you’re so worked up about this, Mia said. It’s going to be boring as hell.

Boring? I gasped. We could be dealing with an unknown alien species who mastered star travel tens of thousands of years before the Madhfel Alliance. Who knows what cultural and scientific contributions they might have made before their disappearance? This is star shaking stuff, and you think it’s boring?

Oh, I’m sure I’ll find plenty to occupy my time, Mia said, patting the silver case at her side. I’m going to collect samples of the local flora. No offworlder has ever been that deep in the Vastgreen Jungle. And who knows? Maybe we’ll run into someone from one of the local tribes.

It was quite unlikely we would see any of the notoriously shy Jungle Kagethi. Which is a shame, because I’d have liked to study them up close. Boy, if I had any idea of just how close I would get…again, I’m getting ahead of the story.

We finished loading up the crate onto our small shuttle. The vessel was about the size of an Earth delivery truck, but shaped like a flattened cigar with wings. Its hull had a dull gray sheen, because the university funding our expedition wasn’t big on frills. We had to struggle to get them to give us a portable restroom facility. No squatting over a log for us, thankfully.

Charlie took the pilot’s chair. I wasn't going to argue. She’d logged a lot more flight time than either of us had.

I sat down and strapped myself in with the crash webbing. Charlie turned on the engines, and the ship started a sonorous hum. She pulled back on a lever and we rose gently into the morning sky.

Please keep your tray tables up and your seat in the full upright position, Mia said.

Charlie gave her a dirty look. I’ve never met anyone so utterly cheerless in my life. I’d started to wonder if she even knew how to smile or laugh. Check that, I’d seen her smile before, but it was rarer than rain in the desert.

Shutting up, Sir, Mia said, offering a mock salute.

Charlie shook her head and returned her eyes to the cockpit glass. Below us, the jungle slipped by like a multicolored tapestry. Jungles on Earth were predominantly green when seen from above, but the foliage came in every shade here. Mostly it was green, red or yellow, but there were purples, whites and even some bright orange trees. On the surface, it was even more colorful. Some of the flora even glowed, though you could only really see it at night or in the densest parts of the canopy.

At sub-light speeds, it would take roughly three and a half hours for us to reach the temple. As I said before, the jungle was simply huge. Our shuttle kicked up a flight of avians, who flapped away into the sky in our wake.

A light on the console flashed, accompanied by a buzzing sound. Charlie didn’t seem too concerned at first. She just flipped a couple of switches.

What’s wrong? I asked. She might not have been worried but I certainly was.

I’m not sure, she replied with a frown. We just lost our communications array.

Lost it? Mia scowled. You mean it fell off?

No, it’s just not working. I’m running a diagnostic right now…huh. There’s nothing wrong with it, according to my diagnostics.

Then why isn’t it working? I asked.

Charlie paled several shades and performed a sensor sweep. The buzzing noise came again.

Our sensors are down, too, Charlie said, and I didn’t like her tone. She sounded worried. If super ninja was worried, I was damn sure worried, too.

Why would that happen? Maybe we should head back to camp?

I gasped and stared at Mia.

But I’ve been waiting a week already to get a crack at Tankyr Latt.

The ruins have been there for a long time, Harper, Charlie said. They’ll wait for you a little bit longer. I’m changing course and returning to—

The ship shook violently, and all of the lights flickered on and off. If not for our crash webbing, we’d have bounced around the cabin like ping pong balls. As it was, the straps dug into my skin, so hard I knew it would leave bruises.

What was that?

We’re taking fire. Charlie’s hands danced over the controls. Taking evasive maneuvers.

Taking fire? Who would—

The shuttle shook violently again, and the hum of the engines ceased being harmonious and became an intermittent coughing.

Our engines are down to less than twenty percent, Charlie said.

Who’s even shooting at us? I thought the Kagethi in the jungle didn’t have ships.

A dark green vessel three times the size of our shuttle flew overhead, darkening us with its shadow. I didn’t recognize the design, but I knew the sight of weapons arrays when I saw them.

Charlie recognized it.

It’s a Vune vessel, she said, her voice edged with panic.

A what?

Vune, kind of like mercenaries employed by the Suhlik. How did they make it past the Mahdfel security net?

I looked out the cockpit and noticed that the trees were getting closer.

Um, how far can we make it on twenty percent engines? I asked, trying not to panic.

All the way to the scene of the crash, Charlie said.

Ha ha, Mia said. How far can we make it really?

I wasn’t joking.

The belly of our hull scraped across a tree limb with a terrible wrenching sound. The shuttle dipped ever lower, and soon the branches grew thicker and more numerous.

Then we were flying under the tree line. I looked up through the cockpit glass just in time to see a branch thicker than my thigh smash right through it. I threw my arms up as crystal shards flew directly at me.

One thought ran through my mind at that moment.

Are we going to die?

HANN

By Mother Moon, I love to run.

I stretched my long legs out, racing through the jungle and its many splendors. I startled a preewee on the branch of a velder tree. The creature shrieked and chittered, disappearing into the foliage. The last sight I had of it was its long curled tail before that vanished, too.

The scent of the dantrig herd grew stronger in my nostrils. I was getting closer to the rear of their herd, now. I slowed my pace a bit so I wouldn’t overrun them. It was all going according to plan.

Off to my left, I saw a spotted figure flash through the jungle. Zey, chief of the southern tribe and a close friend. It had been his idea to hunt the horned dantrig, who ran swifter than the wind…but not swifter than a Kagethi.

I had the idea to drive the herd up against Koller’s Cliff, where they would be forced to bunch up together. Then the three of us could pick out the fattest, juiciest of their number for the slaughter.

It was a race as old as time itself. For time immemorial, my people had hunted the Vastgreen Jungle, learning its ways, understanding its creatures.

If we didn’t hunt them, they would overpopulate and do serious damage to the foliage. There are other predators, but most of them are too slow and clumsy to catch the swift runners.

Besides, racing through the jungle, feeling the blood in my veins, I almost felt like smiling. Almost.

I herded the prey toward the cliff, knowing that my comrades, Zey and Tolmok, would do their parts to gather the dantrig together. I spotted bright sunlight streaming in through the trees ahead. Nearly there.

The prey animals burst through the treeline, their cloven hooves striking on bare rock rather than the softer jungle floor. The sound reminded me of thunder. We exploded like lightning from the jungle, the three of us.

I leaped through the air and slashed at the throat of a dantrig. It fell over, throat torn wide open as it bled out onto the rock. The kill was clean and my prey suffered little before its death.

Zey leaped atop one of the herd, probably the largest of them all, tearing it literally to shreds. It looked like he had given in to his rage again. I wondered if there would be enough of the beast left for him