by Vi Voxley
Turning back to the ghost, he saw a rifle in his hands now instead of the sword.
It was pointed right at Kat.
The universe seemed to stop entirely. Nothing else existed but the distance between him and the man he couldn't see, marked by the rifle seemingly hovering in the air. Behind him, Soros could hear Turian's victorious cry as the man proved he was perfectly fine with stabbing someone in the back.
Soros' swords swept through the air. One cut the rifle in half and the other did the same to the ghost. When the man crumpled to the ground, lifeless, his face was revealed. Soros recognized him easily – another talented warrior he had trained, but who, just like Hux, had been used by Turian. The shot never sounded, but he could hear Kat scream nonetheless.
The reason was the swords in his back. The pain was so intense that Soros thought he'd black out, but he fought against it with everything he had.
He turned around, wrenching the blades from Turian's grip. For a moment, he felt as if the blue of his eyes shined inward instead of out, his vision blurring at the edges as his twin hearts pumped furiously to keep him on his feet.
The look on the clan lord's face as Soros approached, his own twin blades in his hands and Turian's still stuck between his armor plates, was priceless.
"You…" Turian whispered. "You should be dead."
Soros dropped his swords, reaching behind him to pull Turian's sword free.
"No," he growled, seeing nothing but the blood on the clan lord's hands. "I am the new lord of your clan."
He cut Turian's scream in half, as well as his lifeline. The headless body dropped before his feet, Turian's treacherous, poisonous tongue silenced at last.
He had done it. Soros had become Nadar's assassin after all, whether he liked it or not.
But he hadn't done it for the chieftain.
Catching Kat in his arms as she ran to him, pressing his face into her golden hair, Soros knew the reason had always and would always be her.
Epilogue
Kat
Kat did not collect the bounty on Soros.
The crew of the Dauntless was very upset about that, but after they met him, they agreed in unison that yeah, mhmh, that was probably better for everyone.
No bounty.
Not too surprisingly, Zoey Swann forgave her too.
They were very anxious to leave the Corgan realm far behind, but Kat convinced them to stay and watch the last act of the unification play out. It went so much better than she'd expected that after several months, she still pinched her arm first thing after waking up just to make sure it was still true.
Alright, second thing. The first was and always would be smiling, seeing Soros already awake and looking at her. The newest clan lord was finding his life to be very much agreeable, although Kat knew he missed Dolon Hall every once in a while.
And ’agreeable‘ wasn't perhaps the right word either. After that dreadful day at Dolon Hall, Soros had taken Kat away from it as soon as he could. He left the cleanup to his students and his new clan, saying it was their new task. Neither objected, accepting the job of putting together what had been destroyed, something that was sacred to all Corgans regardless of which side they fought on earlier.
Kat thought it was a nice symbol for everything that had been going on. As Soros had promised, they spent the first week in a bed, but not in the Hall. They went back to the little town near the ice ocean.
It was funny to Kat how sentimental a person could get over a place when it was no longer threatening their life. Trips to the ice ocean were highlights of her days, though a distant second to being in bed with Soros.
She liked watching the daylight play on the surface of the ice, reflecting its depths.
Bliss would not last too long, however, as soon enough they had to visit the planet Soros now found himself residing over. Ruiam, the homeworld of Soros’ new clan, came with its own unique challenges, but after dealing with Turian, Kat felt like she and Soros could take on anything the universe had to throw at them.
It was safe to say she missed Hetton too, but luckily for her, they didn't have to stay away from it forever. The chieftain dismissively said that a clan lord could have two jobs, no problem. They were the most powerful and most capable people in the Corgan worlds after all. With that, dividing their time between Soros’ new home and Dolon Hall wouldn't be a problem.
And it wasn't, either, to Kat's absolute delight. Soros had taken control of his clan easily enough. She wondered if it had again been his name, always walking in front of him, that made it almost effortless.
Soros agreed with her assessment, to a point, but said that Corgans were done fighting each other. They wanted stronger leadership and were ready to look to the future.
It seemed the chieftain had won.
He appeared to think so too as Soros' first task had been to go and report to him and only then could he go to his new home world. Kat had been searching for a way to ask if it was to become her home too, but for a Corgan, that apparently went without saying.
"You are mine," Soros said when she’d finally brought the topic up. "Now and forever. We will be together and where one of us goes, the other follows. Whether you like it or not, now you must truly become a Corgan, my little one."
When she told Zoey Swann that, the ambassador laughed.
"He means it literally," the other woman warned her. "Corgans are very literal about stuff like that. He isn't going to let you out of his sight, but I suppose that just like me, you'll love it."
After all the suffering, the pain and the cold and the danger, it was so nice to finally relax in Soros' arms and think of days to come. They had fought for each other and deserved to be happy now.
Her only fear had been the chieftain and what he would do with his newest clan lord. Their roles seemed reversed for once, as it was Soros arguing for reason and trust.
"Relax," he had said, running his fingers gently through her hair. "This is over. Nadar will not do anything to damage his precious peace."
After the Corgans she'd seen, Kat wasn't convinced, but the meeting went better than expected. The chieftain's Terran bride Mara had been there as well, a small girl holding her hand. Seeing them together like that made Kat think of whether that was the future that was waiting for her as well.
Peace.
She saw Soros looking at her, smiling and realized they both wanted it. After that moment, even Nadar Brenger didn't seem so scary.
The chieftain was the one who offered Kat the bounty for Soros.
"I wouldn't say she caught me, exactly," Soros objected, amused.
"Her task was to find you," the chieftain said. "And deliver you to me, if possible. She has apparently done that."
"I think we're fine," Kat cut in, smiling to Soros. "We have everything we need."
There was a knowing look in the chieftain's eyes as he nodded, a small smirk on his lips.
"Very well. So, tell me, Soros. Should I fear that you will one day start craving my position?"
Kat's heart dropped, but Mara shook her head, giving her a reassuring smile.
"No," Soros replied, standing by her side. "I didn't even want to be a clan lord. Becoming the chieftain would be unthinkable. I have no interest in ruling."
"Excellent," Nadar Brenger said, the mischievous smirk lighting up his face. "That makes you a perfect clan lord, then. Those who do not seek power are the only ones fit to wield it, after all. Is there anything I can do for you to repay the service you've done to our realm?"
Now Soros looked at her, making Kat feel like she was all he could see.
"As she said," Soros replied, not taking his eyes off her. "We have everything we need."
* * *
Things had only gotten better from thereon. With nothing else to threaten them, Kat and her crew changed professions. Bounty hunting wasn't a big business in the Corgan realm where the clans handled most of their problems on their own. But scouting missions into neighboring regions were very prize
d. The chieftain offered her the job at once, and Kat accepted with glee.
She was very amused at seeing Zoey Swann's warning manifest so utterly when Soros tried to convince her to take an escort of Corgan ships on her every trip.
"I can't do that," she said patiently, loving how much he needed her to be safe. "It's a scouting mission. One ship of dubious origin, that's nothing. A Corgan armada following that little ship is something else."
Soros wrapped his hands around her, a grin telling Kat that he hadn't really expected her to agree.
"I suppose I can't just lock you away," he said.
Kat laughed.
"No," she agreed. "I would just find a way to escape. And besides, it's what you love about me."
"It is," Soros said, pulling her in for a strong, sweet, loving kiss that left her just as breathless as every last one of them had since the very first one. "I love everything about you."
"I love you too," Kat whispered, allowing him to press kisses on her lips, smiling. "Almost everything about you."
Soros pulled back, giving her a glare that wasn't in the least bit serious.
"You think I need improvement?" he asked playfully.
"Not exactly," Kat teased him. "I was just thinking that I would like to see Hetton again, soon. Maybe even stay for a while. Your clan can handle itself without you, but Dolon Hall needs their commander."
"I'm no longer their commander," Soros pointed out.
"Nonsense," Kat argued. "You are. Always. Now, the man I met and fell in love with would tell the chieftain to deal with his own problems for a while and take me to Hetton. I want to see the ice ocean again, and maybe visit our cave. And you can take some of your warriors to Dolon Hall."
The fire in Soros' eyes told her exactly how much he loved that idea. It was how Soros ended up doing it all with Kat by his side whenever she wasn't out on her own missions – splitting their time and their energy as wisely as they could.
They didn't get into too much trouble. The chieftain seemed more amused than mad, but they wouldn't have cared either way. Ruling a clan was something Soros had to do to keep peace and order in the realm.
But his heart – and Kat's too – belonged on Hetton, with Dolon Hall, that they had fought for, and the ice ocean, that had fought them. And the cave that had brought them together.
In there, with only the two of them, wrapped in warm blankets, the world was theirs. Outside, a storm beat against the Grouvelle range, but inside, Kat was thinking that she wouldn't change it for anything. Soros was all she needed. Together, their happiness was complete.
Also by Vi Voxley
Did you miss the first two books in the series? Check them out here:
Nadar: Alien Warlord's Conquest
Daegon: Alien Warlord's Conquest
Want more hot scifi romance? Check out Vi’s Brion Brides series by picking up the first book:
Alien General's Bride
OR the complete series bundle:
Brion Brides: Books 1-5
Can't get enough of dramatic scifi romance? Check out one of Vi's latest novels:
Alien Prince's Bride
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Don’t miss the excerpt of Vi’s next book, Brocke: Alien Warlord’s Conquest, on the next page!
Brocke: Alien Warlord’s Conquest Excerpt
"Hey–" she began, but the words got stuck in her throat.
The man at the door didn't look like someone you pestered with questions. In fact, he very much looked like a guy who asked what he wanted to know and got truthful answers. Preferably deliver with a "sir" at the end.
As he walked in like he owned the room – which was a possibility – Cora found her eyes glued to him.
It was a Corgan warrior, that much was glaringly obvious even to someone whose job it wasn't to know the difference. There were many giveaways. For one, he was so tall he had to slightly bow his head to fit under the frame. His mighty, broad shoulders were so wide that they brushed against the sides. Cora's mind was conjuring up images of the warrior simply knocking the door off the frame if it bothered him, but he didn't seem to have come with violence on his mind.
As hard it might have been to believe, considering his attire. His armor was dark as the night, looking like reinforced leather, even if Cora knew better. The Corgan armors were incredibly light and flexible, even if they looked like scales of an obsidian dragon. On top of that, there were two thin swords sheathed on the warrior's back, the signature weapons of their race.
Yet despite the impressive bulk, the most striking feature of him were the eyes. Impossibly blue, shining like sapphires, staring right into her soul. The warrior's short dark hair were messy, falling over his face, but she could still see the piercing gaze observing her with interest.
All that passed through her mind in a second and bypassed every filter to go straight to her pussy.
The warrior scared her despite the fact she'd done nothing wrong, Cora wasn't going to lie, but he also turned her on and not a little.
She wiggled uncomfortably in her seat, trying to tell her body to behave.
For god's sake, he's not that hot. Okay, he is, but that is not a good enough reason to maintain eye contact for more than a few seconds. Blink, girl. Just blink. He's a very scary man, stop eye-fucking him.
He seemed to be waiting for something. Cora, for her part, was praying to all the gods and spirits on Gaiya – she'd been told there were many – that he didn't guess the effect her had on her.
"You were saying, lieutenant?" the warrior asked, his voice deep and soft like velvet, making Cora bite her tongue not to purr in response. "I feel like I have to warn you, the last person who hey-ed me found I don't respond well to threats."
The situation would have been terrifying if there wasn't a small smirk playing on his lips. Cora glared. If that guy was her interrogator, he would find that people who usually occupied that position didn't respond that well to being intimidated.
"I wasn't going to threaten you," she said, looking right at his shining blue eyes. "I was going to ask you some pretty easy questions. Why am I here? Why are you here? And what gives you the right to keep me wherever the heck this is?"
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About the Author
Vi's a small-town girl with big city dreams. Born and raised in Texas, she's always had her eyes to the stars. Telling stories is her passion and when she can mix a whole lot of steam with equal parts sexy alien hunks, well, things just get that much better, right?
An ardent Rangers fan, she believes all men should come in a yummy beefcake package and that's exactly the kind of heroes she prefers. A curvy woman herself, Vi likes to write heroines as sassy as she is.
She likes indulging in a little wine and a little chocolate, but her first love in life is writing and everything else follows second.
If you have enjoyed her books or have any questions, don't hesitate to contact Vi via e-mail: [email protected]. Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Vi-Voxley
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