DARIK: A BADARI
WARRIORS SCIFI ROMANCE NOVEL (SECTORS NEW ALLIES SERIES BOOK 4)
by Veronica
Scott
Thanks for having me as your guest!
Always a pleasure to be
on your Multiverses blog.
I’ve been having a lot of fun with this new series of mine,
about the Badari warriors, genetically engineered soldiers in the far future,
and the human women who love them. Fortunately for me and my warriors, the
readers seem to be enjoying the stories as well, so I’m planning to continue
writing them. I have a whole queue of new adventures and new heroes and
heroines in mind.
I did take about a month off from writing this series, to do
my story for the next Pets In Space anthology instead, which comes out October
9th. That story is set back on my Nebula Zephyr interstellar cruise
liner in the Sectors itself (as opposed to the Badari series, which is
connected to the Sectors but occurs outside their borders) and deals with a
mysterious dancer who might be a jewel thief…or a long lost princess. I had so
much fun with it!
We’re in the pre-order phase – here’s the link:
The gorgeous hawt cover is another gem from the talented Fiona Jayde.
But now that I’ve sent the Pets story on to my editor, I’m
hard at work on the next Badari book. For today, however, I’m talking about
DARIK, which I just recently released.
The blurb for DARIK:
Nicolle James is far
from her home in the human Sectors, kidnapped by alien scientists to be the
subject of horrifying experiments. Her
only hope might be a mysterious soldier she’d glimpsed outside the laboratory
fence. She’d managed to sneak a few words of conversation with him when her
captors weren’t watching but now the aliens were taking her inside the lab to
begin the experiments.
Darik, a warrior of the
genetically engineered Badari pack, is on a solo recon mission to check out a
mysterious new lab high in the mountains. His orders are strict – do not
engage. But when he has a chance meeting with the woman who might be his mate,
he vows not to abandon her, orders or no orders.
Can he get inside an
underground lab, find Nicolle and rescue her without getting captured himself?
And when he learns the lab’s deadly secrets, can he get word to his pack about
the new dangers?
Because the ruthless
alien scientist running the experiments wants to get her hands on him too and
will stop at nothing to achieve her goals.
The excerpt:
Nicolle stood with her back to the stream running unimpeded
through the invisible fence, clutching a forked stick she’d grabbed from the
ground as she slipped and scrambled to get away from the beast she was now
facing. Holding the unwieldy branch like a trident, she tried to make herself
appear bigger and more fierce. A human not to be messed with. Her throat ached
from the first few screams of terror, but the sounds only seemed to intrigue
the beast, so she bit her lip until she tasted blood. Not a good idea either, Nicolle. Blood probably entices the creature even more.
On all fours now, the animal studied her, sniffing the air as
its massive head swayed from side to side.
Will anyone come to
help me? But, even
if Greer and the others heard her scream and followed her tracks, what could
unarmed humans do against this terrifying beast? When the creature stood on its
trunk-like hind legs, it was easily 7’ high and the dinner plate sized paws
carried multiple hooked claws. Its coat was an odd mix of white, silver and
gray, in a camouflage-style pattern that made the animal hard to focus on and
the fangs were like daggers. She sidled sideways a foot or so and the creature
tracked her movements, stubby ears flattening on its skull. Nicolle stopped,
searching desperately for a crevice, anything she could use to shelter or hide.
She’d never make it to the sparse tree growth in the direction she’d come
originally. Damn beast can probably climb
better than I can anyway.
Nothing helpful presented itself to her desperate gaze.
The pretty stream flowed through a meadow. The berries had
lured Nicolle here as the Khagrish rations upset her stomach but, apparently,
the wild animal had been breakfasting on the berries as well.
And now it wants me for
a meal too.
Raising its outsized head, the predator sniffed the air and
took a step in her direction. Rising to its hind legs and towering over her,
the animal roared a challenge before dropping to all fours again and coming
toward her, moving faster as it approached.
Frozen, hand clenched on the nearly useless forked stick,
Nicolle had a vague idea of throwing herself into the creek or falling to the
ground and playing dead.
A roar sounded from behind her, across the water, maybe even
from outside the force barrier. Startled, she screamed and slipped on the mossy
rocks, barely keeping her footing. The animal in front of her rose to its full
height again, bellowing and displaying an impressive array of sharp teeth, as
well as yellowed claws on its massive front paws. Nicolle cowered, but the
beast wasn’t paying any attention to her now. All its attention was on whatever
was beyond the stream.
The next roar from behind her was even more impressive. It
sounded almost…human?
Ears flattened, the beast pivoted, dropped to all fours, and
scrambled away from Nicolle as fast as it could go, bushy tail tucked away
between its legs.
Breathing shakily, she steeled herself to turn, hoping this
new threat was outside the force barrier and couldn’t get in.
Having wheeled to face the other direction, at first she
couldn’t believe her eyes. Nothing but one man stood across the force barrier
from her. Granted, he was incredibly tall and well built under his camouflage
uniform, but there was nothing about him to suggest the ability to utterly
terrify a creature like the one recently slavering to eat her. Had the beast
been frightened off by the sight of his lethal pulse rifle? But then who or
what had been roaring?
“Thank you,” she
said, her vocal cords barely working. “Who are you?”
“A friend.”
DARIK Buy Links:
Author Bio and Links:
USA Today Best Selling Author
“SciFi Encounters” columnist for
the USA Today Happy Ever
After blog
Veronica Scott grew up
in a house with a library as its heart. Dad loved science fiction, Mom loved
ancient history and Veronica thought there needed to be more romance in
everything. When she ran out of books to read, she started writing her own
stories.
Seven time winner of the SFR Galaxy Award, as well as a
National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award, Veronica is also the proud
recipient of a NASA Exceptional Service Medal relating to her former day job,
not her romances!
She read the part of
Star Trek Crew Member in the audiobook production of Harlan Ellison’s “The City
On the Edge of Forever.”
Twitter: https://twitter.com/vscotttheauthor
Thanks for having me over to talk about my new series and also about Pets In Space!
ReplyDeleteI love having you over!
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