Jadrian Read online

  Copyright 2018 by Jean D. Walker

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, places, characters and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Cover Art by Fiona Jayde

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Jadrian

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Author Bio and Links

  Also by Veronica Scott

  DEDICATION

  To my daughters Valerie and Elizabeth, my brother David and my best friend Daniel for all their encouragement and support!

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Julie C and The E-book Formatting Fairies!

  JADRIAN: A Badari Warriors SciFi Romance Novel

  (Sectors New Allies Series Book 3)

  By

  Veronica Scott

  CHAPTER ONE

  Taura crouched in the corner of her small cell, fists clenched, ready to attack the next person who came into her space, be it Khagrish scientist, lab tech or security guard. Today was her breaking point – she felt the emotion viscerally. She couldn’t endure another procedure or test. No more physical or psychological pain at the hands of the uncaring aliens. She glanced at the black bracelet affixed to her wrist and snarled in rage, like the penned animal she’d become under their torture. Maybe this time she could force them to kill her, and her awful existence would finally end.

  Where were her captors? Why wasn’t anyone coming to drag her off to the next horrific ordeal? Now that she was ready to fight them to the death? To relieve her tension and unkink her muscles as she waited, Taura rose and paced the none too generous length of the cell. Movement helped her manage the tension but her mood remained on the knife edge of panic.

  Gradually, she became aware of strange noises outside her cell, loud booms and the sound of pulse rifles firing in staccato bursts. As grey smoke drifted down from the vent above her head, she moved cautiously along the wall to the edge of the force barrier confining her. There was nothing to be seen in the corridor, other than eddies of smoke. An alarm blared but cut off suddenly.

  Was the facility under attack? Had the Sectors finally come to the rescue of their kidnapped citizen? Not likely. Maybe her enemies had their own enemies, though, which might work to her advantage.

  Coughing, she covered her face with her arm and croaked out a plea for help. “Here, I’m here!”

  Death by fire was a terrifying idea. Her heart raced and her breath came in short gasps, as she couldn’t pull enough air into her chest.

  Her head swam from panic and the lack of oxygen. How ironic, to die with help possibly now at hand. My timing always sucked.

  Shapes moved in the corridor, obscured by the smoke which had grown thicker. Her vision swam, blacking in and out.

  Taura found herself face down on the cold cell floor. I must have passed out for a few minutes.

  Rising to her knees shakily, one hand on the wall for support, she opened her mouth to yell at whoever was passing by. Surely even the Khagrish wouldn’t be so cruel as to leave her here, trapped in a burning building?

  “Please,” she said, inaudible even to herself as she collapsed to the floor.

  As a toughened combat veteran, Jadrian of the Badari wasn’t subject to anxiety, but he had to admit moving through a Khagrish lab, and even worse a Khagrish prison block, brought up bad memories. He’d spent time as a younger man undergoing their tortures, kept in isolation from his pack, and the experience had left its scars on him.

  The smoke bothered his eyes and lungs less than it might other beings, but it didn’t make for a pleasant environment. He and his teammates swept hastily through the place. The records indicated no human prisoners were kept here, and the force barrier doors had gone down, so it was a quick step into each cell space, checking the corners for any occupant then moving on. Purely an effort to be thorough.

  Two Khagrish guards charged into the corridor from the far end, and Jadrian and his teammates scattered, taking cover where they could, returning fire. A cut off scream from the direction of the enemy indicated Jadrian or his compatriots had hit their targets. He grinned fiercely. The Khagrish bred the Badari to possess uncannily powerful vision, even in obscured environments, and now the aliens’ cleverness was coming full circle to bite them.

  “Cover me.” Darik, the team leader, sprinted ahead, laying down suppressing fire just in case. “All clear, both dead,” he yelled a moment later. “We’re done here, time to regroup with the others and blow the place.”

  “One more cell to check.” Jadrian turned to the right.

  “Hurry it up, there’s no one here, just as the records indicated.” Darik’s clipped tone indicated his impatience to rejoin the rest of the strike force and complete the assault on the installation.

  I can’t take the chance of leaving anyone behind. Even his leader’s annoyance couldn’t keep Jadrian from making sure there were no prisoners.

  Taura curled into the smallest ball she could make of herself, hands over her ears as the sound of the pulse rifles in the corridor outside whined and reverberated. Suddenly, a man stepped into the cell, emerging from the swirling smoke like a hero in an adventure trideo. “I’m sure I heard something,” he said over his shoulder to companions she couldn’t see.

  Eyes stinging, tears coursing down her cheeks, she reached out, tugging at his pants leg. “Help me, please.”

  Shifting his weapon to leave his hands free, the soldier crouched in front of her. His eyes glowed golden as he said, “We’ll get you out, lady.” He picked her up in a single motion, rising to his full height, and hastened from the cell.

  She clung to him as tightly as she could while he carried her through the smoky corridors and outside into clear air and bright sunshine. Eyes watering, she blinked, not having been outdoors since the day she arrived at this cursed place.

  “Where did you find her?” another soldier asked her rescuer as he continued to move rapidly away from the building. The entire structure was alight and she shivered at the sight. But for her mysterious hero, she’d have been a casualty and no one would ever have known.

  “In the burning cell block, only one there. She’s in pretty bad shape.” His voice was deep, his arms around her comforting.

  She leaned her head against his broad chest, clutching his arm, until a spasm of coughing shook her. “I can’t breathe.” Panic stricken as her vision darkened, and the coughing continued without expanding her lungs, she pushed against him. Truthfully, she didn’t think she could stand but her fight or flight reflexes were overruling her conscious thoughts. Taura didn’t recognize her own voice, pleading with the soldier. “Don’t let me die.”

  “I’ll get you to the medic, hang on. Take small breaths and hold them, in and then out.” He quickened his pace.

  As he ran with her, dodging into cover on occasion as weapons fired, Taura tried not to give into her overwhelming relief at being out of the prison. Too soon to allow the tears of joy to fall. For all she knew, thes
e soldiers could be an even worse group to have fallen in with. The men certainly weren’t human and their motives for rescuing her could be just as bad as the Khagrish intentions had been. She was afraid to trust the hope trying to take root in her mind.

  The man who’d rescued her was easily seven feet tall, amazingly fit and muscular, and almost preternaturally handsome, but definitely not Terran descent human like her. His amber eyes were kind, even when glowing golden, and he seemed concerned with her welfare, as evidenced by their current race to find a medic. A good sign, but she’d learned not to take anything or anyone at face value on this hellhole planet.

  Unable to draw a deep breath despite his encouragement, she drifted in and out of consciousness until she realized she was lying across a row of seats on a flyer, while voices talked above her head. She reached out, wanting to keep her rescuer close. He represented safety, she trusted him as much as she was able to put her faith in anyone other than herself. He’d saved her once and she was going to rely on him to continue to intervene on her behalf.

  Her fingers were engulfed in a huge hand, gently squeezed. Her rescuer leaned close, his voice low pitched. “My friend Timtur’s a medic, he’s going to take care of you now till we get home and you can see the human doc.”

  A human physician? Were these men connected to the Sectors after all? She had so many questions but was too debilitated to ask. Time would tell and she was too weak to take any action until someone tried to place a medical mask over her face. She struggled to sit up, shoving away the mask even after catching a whiff of pure, fresh oxygen. “Don’t leave me—how can I be sure I’m safe if you’re not here to keep watch?”

  The soldier rescuer crouched to be at her eye level. Even in her state of confused panic, she was woman enough to notice yet again how incredibly attractive he was and how hypnotizing his eyes could be. Taura wanted to relax into the golden glow and keep him by her side, but it wasn’t to be.

  “Battle’s not over, I gotta get back.” He smiled. “There might be someone else who needs to be rescued. You want me to check, right?”

  She nodded. “No other humans here, though.” Her voice was a croak. “I was told I was alone over and over. I never saw anyone else in the cells.”

  “Well, we’ll make sure. Now you let our medic help you.” He tried to withdraw his hand and she tightened her grip.

  “I’ll give her something to relax her,” said the other man, who she’d barely glanced at, stepping away from the seats. “Hang on for a minute.”

  Although the mention of sedating drugs made her uneasy, given the Khagrish tendency toward using meds to attempt to break her inner resolve, she couldn’t look away from those fascinating eyes long enough to protest. Maybe all his people had glowing amber eyes but right now he was the special one to her and the only person she cared about making a connection with. “What’s your name?” she whispered despite the soreness in her throat.

  “Jadrian, of the Badari. And you?”

  “I don’t know.” Her name was the one precious thing she did remember about herself, but she hadn’t given it to the Khagrish, and she wasn’t ready to give it to anyone, not even her rescuer. She put her free hand to her forehead and gave him a different truth as a distraction. “They—the Khagrish—did terrible things to me. Everything’s jumbled in my mind.”

  He smoothed her hair away from her face. “They did reprehensible things to a lot of us. It’s okay. I’m sure you’ll remember details soon enough.”

  Taura fought not to recoil from his gentle, well intentioned touch, afraid to irritate the person who’d rescued her. “I didn’t let the scientist in charge win. I couldn’t let him win.” It was suddenly important to her this warrior know she was a fighter too.

  “You survived, that’s proof enough for me how tough you must be.” His voice was an approving caress.

  With great care, he pried her fingers from his as the medic rejoined them. “Wait a minute,” Jadrian said to his comrade. Opening his shirt slightly, he took a leather thong from around his neck and showed Taura the small blue stone pendant, swirls of color suggesting a sleeping cat. “Keep this safe for me. I’ll come reclaim it when I get back to the valley later, all right?”

  “I’m not sure I can be trusted,” she said. What if she lost her grip on the stone while sedated, or during a panic attack? Surely he’d be angry if she misplaced his talisman. Being responsible for anything in her current state was a heavy burden yet she knew he meant well by the gesture. She liked the idea he’d have a reason to come find her later.

  Jadrian folded her trembling fingers over the cool stone. “I trust you—we have more in common than you know. Let this be a promise between us.”

  She cradled the stone and thong in her fist. “A promise.” She barely noticed the sting as the medic gave her an inject. Her grasp of her surroundings became confused again, but she made sure to keep her tight grip on the amulet from Jadrian, holding it to her chest, over her heart as she lost consciousness.

  Gradually, she drifted out of sleep into full wakefulness and realized she lay in a medical bed, covered by a soft white blanket. More experiments? Had all the turmoil with the fire and the giant warrior rescuing her been nothing but a dream? Or a Khagrish illusion, brought on by their insidious medications?

  Panic rising in her chest, constricting her breathing, she realized she still held the stone amulet Jadrian’ d given her. Momentary reassurance, but not enough to let her stem the tide of anxiety sweeping through her body. She was unrestrained—her captors were slipping up, lulled by her broken mental state perhaps. This might be her only chance to escape.

  She slid from the bed, pausing to loop the leather thong over her head and settle the pendant between her breasts. Real or not, the warrior represented hope and strength. If she could get out of the building, perhaps she could hide, lurk unnoticed wherever this place was. Find him, if he actually existed. And if this was just another trick, maybe she could manage to get killed. Taura rubbed her forehead, confused why she couldn’t kill herself. Hadn’t killed herself during the hell of her captivity. Surely there was a way—

  A red-haired human woman stepped through the doorway. “Oh good, you’re awake finally. But you shouldn’t be out of bed so soon—you were seriously dehydrated.”

  As she advanced, Taura retreated, bumping into the bed and sidling sideways, until she found herself in the corner, fingers clenched around a medical instrument she’d no memory of grabbing, but now displayed as a puny weapon. “Keep away from me.” Her voice came out as an ineffectual croak. Wedged in by the walls, she had to struggle against vertigo not to fall. The other human’s face was kindly, her smile looked genuine, but treachery could lurk anywhere.

  The woman held up her hands. “I’m Dr. Garrison and you’re safe now. We’re in the sanctuary valley where the Khagrish can’t get at you. Put down the cutters, and we can talk. No one wants to harm you.”

  Taura bared her teeth at the doctor, afraid to trust, despite her visceral desperation to relax, to be taken care of, and to know she was safe among her own kind. There had been so many mind games forced on her by the Khagrish, some as real seeming as this room and the human doctor appeared to be. Crushing disappointment had come close to breaking her spirits when the alien torturers revealed their presence each time. “Prove I’m safe—let me go. Let me walk out of here right now.”

  “I can’t—you’re disoriented and you don’t know where you are. Probably not even what planet we’re on. I can’t let you be a danger to yourself or anyone else.”

  While she was thinking this over and assessing her chances of making it past the doctor, who didn’t present much of a threat, a man arrived, pausing on the threshold to assess the situation.

  “Dr. Garrison, do you need help?”

  “Our newest guest is a little unsure,” the doctor said, her voice calm.

  “Where’s Jadrian?” Taura asked. The arrival of reinforcements for the doctor heightened her adrenaline levels.
To make a successful break now she’d have to fight off two opponents. Gritting her teeth with anger-fueled determination, she made a demand to test their intentions. “I trust him. Bring him here, if he even exists. Let him tell me I’m safe.”

  The doctor studied her face for a minute before addressing the man without looking at him. “Get Jadrian, would you, Rik? Ask him if he can come over to Medical for a little while.”

  “It’s the middle of the night, Doctor. He and the rest of the pack were out on combat duty all day yesterday. He’s not going to appreciate us waking him—”

  “He’ll come. He found her, is what I was told. He’ll understand her doubts better than most.”

  Taura waited, fighting to hold onto consciousness. Her body felt heavy, sluggish and hard to command, and her head ached, making her dizzy. The doctor waited with her, not talking, but leaning on the wall beside the door, arms crossed. With surprise Taura noticed the woman might be pregnant, resting her arms on a definite bump under the lab coat. Who has a baby on a world like this? Maybe she was in a safe place, if women dared to become mothers.

  Distracted by speculation over the doctor’s condition and her own aching head, Taura wasn’t sure how much time passed while she waited. She bit her lip to stay alert in case anyone was going to spring a trap on her.

  An indeterminate time later, there was a bustle in the hall, and Jadrian came in, followed by the male assistant or whatever he was. The soldier’s handsome face was lined with exhaustion, but his golden eyes were exactly the way she remembered. She dropped the cutters and took a step forward, hand outstretched. “You are real.”