by Brenda Trim
Sentinel of Khoth
Dark Warrior Alliance Book 21
Brenda Trim
Tami Julka
Contents
Sentinel of Khoth
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Authors’ Note
Other Works By Trim And Julka
Sentinel of Khoth
Brenda Trim and Tami Julka
Copyright © December 2019 by Brenda Trim and Tami Julka
Editor: Chris Cain
Cover Art by Fiona Jayde
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writers’ 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.
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction of this work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
All rights reserved. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the authors.
Created with Vellum
Love isn’t just something you feel. It’s something you do.
* * *
Chapter 1
Tilting her head, Talysia enjoyed the warm breeze across her face. She recently moved to the dragon realm, Khoth, and it was vastly different than the Tehrex Realm. Not only were supernaturals a known entity, there was also none of the harsh chemical odor constantly found on Earth. When she lived on the human planet, she had to keep her ‘otherness’ secret from the inferior beings while living with the fact that every breath she took burned her sensitive nose, leaving it stuffy and sore all the time.
The purple night sky and clean air was an easy adjustment to make since relocating. It was the people she was still nervous around. While leaps and bounds better than those on her home planet, Calypso, the Cuelebre dragons were massive when they shifted which made her think of being squished under one of their feet.
Shaking her head at her wayward thoughts, she could hear her sister, Tia’s recriminations about not trusting anyone. A loud screech had her jumping while her turquoise eyes scanned the beach, and her mouth tilted up in a smile to match the nearby laughter.
Being surrounded by friends and families having fun at the beach lifted her spirits and made an eight-hour workday pass quickly. Working at Medure Eats was by far her favorite job to date, despite the fact, she was still learning the unique food items indigenous to the planet. Luckily, their menu was simple with most of their popular items being more of a snack that was easy for her to prepare and serve.
In her eighty-nine years, Talysia worked in various capacities from waiting tables, cleaning bathrooms, and disinfecting medical wings on her home planet. She had to say that she hated cleaning the various bodily fluids the most out of all of her previous jobs.
A group of kids raced by the open window of the Medure Eats shack. Leaning her elbows on the glossy rock bar where she served food to the customers, Talysia chuckled as a young female with long, curly black hair and Sapphire-blue eyes punched a male in the shoulder. The young male had green hair that reminded her of the mermaids back home.
It made her think of her brief friendship with Chantrelle, who’s hair was the same color, but her eyes were grey. She was a mermaid and befriended Talysia when she was searching for shells to decorate her room.
As Talysia turned around to get a drink a loud boom echoed behind her a split second before she soared through the air. As her feet left the ground, she reacted on instinct by throwing her arms over the back of her head while she curled into a ball. Heat surrounded her as the sound of something impacting the ground echoed around her.
Pain detonated along her side a second later when her body slammed into the side of the tiny hut. Screams filled her ears as soon as they stopped ringing. People were outside, and badly injured. She had no idea exactly what happened, but she knew they were in danger.
Heart hammering in her chest, she crawled to the door. She considered looking through the opening but remained low in case they were under attack. A hard pattering hit the roof, making her think of gunfire and hurrying her movements. “Shit,” she cried out as her leg protested the movement.
Coughing, she realized the small building was filling with smoke and the smell of wood burning at the same time water splashed in the open window. Relief at the sound of water hitting the roof was short lived when she realized, with a heart-stopping jolt that a bomb must have gone off outside. Thankfully, there was little to no harsh unnatural smell accompanying it, so she hoped it wasn’t as major as the sounds made it seem.
‘Not that you would know what a bomb smelled like.’ the voice in her head screamed with a panicked edge that matched her racing heart.
When she reached the door, she realized her arm was cut and bleeding as she tried to twist the knob. It took her a couple times to get the door open when her slick, sweaty hand slipped. The cross breeze immediately pushed smoke from the room. On her knees, Talysia squinted and tried to catch her breath.
“Holy shit,” she muttered when she spotted the group of kids lying a few feet away. Bile rose in her throat and she wanted to slam the door and curl up out of sight. The brief sight of several beach-goers lying there bloody and broken terrified her. The bomb was way worse than it sounded.
Suddenly a young male ran toward the kids from the intact tree line to the left. Without allowing herself to think too much, she waved her hands and called out as quietly as possible, “Watch out. Hurry up and get in here.”
The female with the deep blue eyes turned her way and blinked several times while Talysia kept motioning them to hurry toward the shack. “Stay down, Troy,” the male with green hair told his friends. “C’mon you guys.”
Troy stopped and nodded in response then turned and headed toward her while the green-haired one grabbed one of the female’s arms at the same time a brown-haired, blue eyed male grabbed her other side. Talysia acknowledged the male with blue eyes must truly care about the female as he was bleeding and limping along next to the other two. The gash in his side was enough to turn her stomach.
She saw the female wince and had no doubt that she was injured in the blast, too. Together they helped the female to her feet then scrambled to the door. Talysia moved aside and slammed the door as soon as they were inside. The group collapsed to their knees, panting. Water dripped from the ends of their hair, pattering softly on the floor.
“What just happened?” she asked them.
The green-haired male seemed to be the leader of their group, and wrapped his arm around the female and held her close. The obviously stunned female ran her hand over her face, smearing the soot from the smoke across her heart-shaped face.
“A bomb exploded on the beach. I have no idea who set it off, but the Maahes will be here soon. We just have to wait for them,” the green-haired male told her.
“Are we safe in here?” the auburn-haired male asked at the same time the other one said, “Shouldn’t we go out there and help?”
The female was shaking her head as her eyes remained fixed on the opening above the bar. “It’s not safe for us outside. Our parents will be pissed if we go out there without more protection. For all we know there is an entire army outside waiting for us.”
“Why would they be waiting for you? You’re just kids.” Kids were not likely to be the focus of an attack like this. There was something Talysia was missing. These were no ordinary kids. They all had an alertness about them that she couldn’t imagine children their age possessing. And, then there was the way they crouched, ready to spring into action.
“I’m Izzy, by the way. And this is Blaze, Donovan and Troy. Anyway, let’s just say that I’ve been hunted my entire life,” Izzy explained to her as she pointed to each of the males in turn.
Talysia had no words. How was a child hunted her entire life? It made no sense. And, how were these kids not freaking out? She was on the verge of tears and hysteria. This was unreal. Crap like this didn’t happen. At least not around her.
“Why would anyone want to harm you?” Talysia asked to keep from having a meltdown.
“You don’t know the explosion was meant for you,” Blaze told Izzy.
“You’re right. You might be the target. So far demons can’t access this realm, so it makes more sense that you are the one they were after,” Izzy replied to Blaze before turning to Talysia. “He’s the son of King Angus. And, I’m the daughter of the Vampire King of the Tehrex Realm. Being royal isn’t all belles and ball gowns.”
“Unless it’s a Kevlar gown,” Talysia joked as she pondered what the hell was going on. At least two of the kids hiding with her were royalty. As in their freaking parents were queens and kings. It boggled her mind and challenged every assumption she had about the reality of a princess’s life.
On Calypso, the royal family of the Mermaids and Sirens lived in safety and comfort. Their lives were filled with fancy dresses, dinners and dancing. Sure, everywhere she lived, including her home planet, there had been fighting and wars, but it was so far removed from her daily life that she had no idea what to do next.
For the moment, Talysia decided she would focus on keeping them safe. The pain in her entire body made her grunt as she crawled over and reached for the biggest knife in the small kitchen. Clutching it close, she doubted she’d ever breathe easy again. Shouting and commotion startled a yelp from Talysia. Her hands flew to cover her mouth, hoping she didn’t give their hiding spot away.
“Is that the knights?” Donovan asked as they all focused on the open window.
Blaze got to his feet and was nodding as soon as his head cleared the counter. Talysia’s chest tightened and the urge to pull him back down nearly overwhelmed her. These kids were probably better able to protect her than she was them, but that didn’t mean shit to her instincts. “Lorne, Finn and Blaine are here,” Blaze informed them.
They all climbed to their feet and headed out of the door. The kids rushed up to one of the males roaming the area and assisting the injured. The male had short black hair, and was tall and robust, like most of the males on the planet. The mere sight of him made her heart race for another reason. He had on leather pants, along with, a strap across his torso and nothing else. His sculpted chest made her mouth water with the desire to kiss his flesh and find out what made him moan.
Glancing away before she embarrassed herself, she felt the blood drain from her face at the sight of a severed arm in the sand not far away. All thoughts of the sexy male fled her mind as she mourned the lost lives around her. It was nearly impossible to look away from the inert bodies. She’d never seen anything so grotesque in all her life.
The day started with such promise. The sun was shining, the weather was perfect, and laughter filled the air only minutes ago. Now, the sun was blocked by smoke, and cries replaced the joy. The beach was nearly destroyed. A massive hole in the sand close to the water along with broken trees, destroyed shrubs and body parts strewn across the rest of the area. Work would never be the same after this, she thought.
Something sparkled in the late afternoon sunshine, blinding her for a moment. Lifting her hand, Talysia squinted and saw a piece of metal sticking from the soft sand. Her stomach was a churning mess as she walked over and picked it up from the ground. The odd metal was out of place.
It had jagged, scarred edges, telling her it was involved in a fire. If she had to guess, she’d say it was close to or part of the bomb that went off. Pristine, gleaming metal was revealed as she rubbed part of the grime away.
“What did you find there?” Finn asked the curvy beauty.
The female yelped, threw her hands up in the air and the metal object she was holding flew from her hands. Finn reached up and snatched it before it fell to the ground.
The female gazed at him with wide eyes. Her pale skin and rapid breathing told him the stress of the events had affected her as much as the others at the scene. The grime on her cheek and the racing of her heart told him she was not drawn to the beach by the explosion like several others. That meant she was one of the lucky ones that survived the disaster.
For a split second, he wondered if she was involved with the attack but dismissed it as he realized she was wearing a t-shirt for Medure Eats. And, she smelled like an ice-cold ocean. Looking her over, Finn was certain the female worked for the establishment and not involved.
“Gods. You scared me.” She wrapped her arms around her middle, but Finn was too busy enjoying the musical tone of her words. Talysia’s voice calmed yet excited him in a way no voice, song… or anything ever had before. He could listen to it all day.
Finn smiled at the sexy female. “Sorry. You’re safe now. Maahes have surrounded the beach, nothing will get through that wall of dragons,” he assured her, pointing to the fleet of dragons surrounding the area. Her shoulders dropped and shook slightly. He imagined she was having a pretty fucking bad day. “I’m Finn, by the way. I see that you found some evidence.”
She followed his hand as he waved the piece of shrapnel in front of his face. “I’m Talysia, and I assumed you were the good guys when Blaze and his friends rushed out to greet you. What can I do to help?” Again, her voice. It made him want to pull her into his arms and kiss her senseless. Or, perhaps it was her beauty he was drawn to.
Finn wanted to take her away from the gruesome scene as her eyes traveled to a dismembered arm nearby. “You work at Medure, right?” He asked hoping to gain her attention.
Glancing his way, she shook her head and swallowed visibly. “Yeah. I started a few weeks ago.”
“Did you happen to see anything, Talysia?”
Shaking her head, she hunched her shoulders. Even drawn in on herself her curves were sexy. He always liked a female with a little meat on her bones. “The last thing I saw was Izzy punching Blaze on the arm playfully. When I turned around to get a drink, the beach exploded behind me.”
“Were Donovan and Troy with them?”
“I saw Donovan, but not Troy. Other than them, I didn’t really pay attention to th
e families behind them playing in the waves and on the sand.”
“Why don’t you go back into the shack and close it down for the day? Then, go home. And,” he continued when she opened her mouth to respond “I will make sure the owner knows why the place closed early. Don’t worry. He’ll pay you for a full day.” Why the hell had he said that last part? He could ensure she kept her job, but he couldn’t force the owner to pay her wages.
“Okay. Thank you,” she mumbled and turned to go back to the small establishment.
“Wait,” he called out, making her pause and turn back to him. She had stunning turquoise eyes and full, tempting lips. “If you think of anything else, please let me know.”
“Where would I find you if I do?”
Smiling wide, he fought the urge to give her his home address. Her voice was still as musical, but he was no longer fighting to hold himself back from her side. He’d bet the voice of a siren affected other beings in some way. “At Tatenen. If I’m not there, you can speak to any Maahes on duty.”
“Okay, thank you.” she replied and hurried to Medure and started closing down.
Finn turned back to the beach and continued gathering evidence for the investigation. As he reached into a pocket for a bag to drop the shrapnel into, he inspected the object more closely.
The technology on Khoth rivaled that of what he’d seen on Earth, but there were some things they had on Earth but not Khoth. Guns and bombs were some of those items they didn’t have in his realm.