Book
Description:
Ron Vid is a Celian soldier with some personal demons.
Hoping for respite, he deserts his squad and leaves his
planet. Working as a mercenary on Asai, planet of sand and wind, he has a
reprieve, until the Haffa named Zaoh joins the mercenaries. Celians and Haffas
have a history of strife, but when Ron and Zaoh are paired on a mission, their
chemistry crackles.
After they fight together for survival, it’s clear Zaoh wants
Ron. Zaoh can be a fierce and dominant lover, but Ron’s secrets, and his fear
that the Haffa might uncover them, could keep Zaoh from getting his man.
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Excerpt from Chapter 1:
I got up,
happy to finally have a reason to stop pretending to eat. Zaoh shot to his feet
to block my way. My lungs squeezed tight as soon as I was face to face with the
purple hell of his eyes.
“You
weren’t dismissed, Vid. Sit back down.”
I gritted
my teeth and turned in Ami’s direction. “We done here? I’ve got to pack my shit
if I’m going out.”
“Go
ahead, gorgeous. I’ll wait for you in the hangar.”
Stomping
to my room, I tried to shake off the memory of those purple black holes. It was
a bad thing to think about. Getting away from Asai would be pointless if I
carried the mess with me out to space.
A second
set of steps thudded behind. Decisive but not rushed, they sounded closer and
closer, so I stopped. For some reason I couldn’t turn around.
“Commander
Void.”
Blood
rushed away from my extremities and into my head all at once. How did he know
about that nickname? No way he’d just used it by chance. A cold sheen of sweat
covered my palms. “I’m no commander anymore,” I gritted out through clenched
teeth.
“Should I
call you Deserter Vid, then? More fitting?”
Zaoh’s
gravelly voice sounded vaguely amused, almost playful. Maybe Ami had told him.
If I knew about him becoming a traitor to the Haffas, maybe he’d found out
about me too. Only I had a reason to know about him. A personal reason. Perhaps
he had one as well. Perhaps he knew it had been me commanding the troops that
caught him and his sister…. My mind said to calm down, to rein in my pulse.
I turned
around halfway, still not facing him. “So you’re Traitor Dem, then?”
Tense
silence fell between us. It was a cheap shot. He wasn’t really a traitor while
I was a deserter. It would have been better to turn around and leave. My feet
refused to respond, though. They were glued to the floor. His simple presence
messed with my wiring. I gravitated toward him so strongly it was a constant
conscious effort to pull away. To what end, I didn’t have the vaguest—about
both impulses.
“At least
I didn’t leave my troops by choice,” he finally said.
No, he
hadn’t. His sister had been killed in interrogation. After that, against all
odds and beyond any possible logic, Zaoh Dem had escaped Celian incarceration.
The reasonable conclusion was he’d sided with us. So Haffas declared him
traitor and condemned him to death as soon as he returned to his base. Of
course, the man escaped their captivity as well, maybe helped like he’d been to
escape ours. He was resourceful like that. No way to get him under control
unless he felt like playing nice. Ami was delighted to tell me and his other
mercs that particular personality trait the evening he brought Zaoh in. A whole
fucking universe at his disposal, and the bastard had to end up where I was.
What were the odds?
I cleared
my throat and stuffed my hands into the pockets of my khaki overalls. “Had
something to say to me, other than that?” His heavy boots had a considerable
distance between them. I imagined him standing there, tall and strong, sort of
majestic. I didn’t dare to look at him as I waited for an answer.
He seemed
to ponder on it, tapped the tip of his boot a few times. “Despise Haffas so
much you won’t even look at me?”
I smiled
tightly. “You’ve read me wrong. Buried my war with Haffas a long time ago.”
“Just
despise me, then?”
“Not at
all.”
He took
one step closer, small but significant to my pulse—it skyrocketed. “Then look
at me.”
I had to
use all my willpower to find his eyes with mine. The brutal force of his gaze
struck me worse than I’d expected, but I held strong. “Well? What is it? Wanted
to get chummy?”
He
snorted. “Don’t overestimate yourself. Just letting you know we’re on this
mission together.”
No. That
little azure bastard wouldn’t dare.
Thanks so much for stopping by. So, why don’t you tell us a
little about yourself?
I’m Liv Olteano, writer, reader, lover of coffee, geek by
excellence :D
How did you get started writing?
I simply got the guts to try it out, and it seems to have
worked. I’ve always wanted to do it, but never got the guts to for a really
long while. You know how it is, self-doubt and all.
What was the inspiration for your book?
My inspiration are always my characters. They whisper their
stories into my ear and I just write them down.
What’s the one genre you haven’t written in yet that you’d like
to?
Probably Western stuff. I can’t for the life of me write it, it
just feels all wrong when I try it out. But I love it :D
Are there any genres you won’t read or write in? Why?
I won’t write or much read epic fantasy, it simply never
appealed to me as a genre. I don’t think I could write it since I haven’t had
enough experience with it.
So, what are you working on right now? Got any releases planned,
or still writing?
Right now I’m working on a fun Paranormal Romantic Suspense
called Tooth For A Fang that’s supposed to come out August/September.
Alright, now for some totally random, fun questions. Favorite
color?
Tie between brown, blue and purple. And a little black… lol!
Favorite movie?
A tie between The Hours and A Single Man.
Absolutely genius movies.
Book that inspired you to become an author?
Every one I ever read and loved.
Alright, you have one superpower. What is it?
Neverending life :D Imagine how much I could read!!
You can have dinner with any 3 people, dead, alive, fictitious,
etc. Who are they?
Edgar Allan Poe, Leonardo Da Vinci and my grandmother, I miss
her so. :(
Last question: Which of your characters are you most like and
how/why?
Can’t say I feel I’m very much like any of them, but if we’d
pick them apart there might be similarities there. Maybe… maybe not, I’m not
sure.
June 2 - Wicked Wolves & Dreaming Dragons
June 12 - Share My Destiny
June 16 - Author Karen Swart
June 19 - Butterfly-o-Meter Books
June 20 - Mythical Books
June 24 - Pembroke Sinclair.
June 30 - Roxanne’s Realm
July 2 - Booklover Sue
July 4 - D'eBook Sharing Book Reviews
July 7 - Kay Dee's place
July 9 - CBY Book Club
July 11 - Paranormal Romance and Authors That Rock
July 14 - Fang-tastic
Books
July 17 - Eclipse Reviews
July 23 - Zipper Rippers
July 30 - Darkest Cravings
July 31 - Sharing
Links and Wisdom
About the
Author:
Liv Olteano is a voracious reader, music lover, and coffee
addict extraordinaire. And occasional geek. Okay, more than occasional.
She believes stories are the best kind of magic there is. And
life would be horrible without magic. Her hobbies include losing herself in the
minds and souls of characters, giving up countless nights of sleep to get to
know said characters, and trying to introduce them to the world. Sometimes they
appreciate her efforts. The process would probably go quicker if they’d bring
her a cup of coffee now and then when stopping by. Characters—what can you do,
right?
Liv has a penchant for quirky stories and is a reverent lover
of diversity. She can be found loitering around the Internet at odd hours and
being generally awkward and goofy at all times.
