Books Tagged With who - occupation - guard

Word Count: Click here to reveal19000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Snow turns to sleet where monsters tread As the resident sorcerers, Toren and his family protect their village from monsters—like the one they trapped in the mountains decades ago. But on the eve of the annual midwinter festival, it’s not a monster but a sudden eruption at the springs that threatens their lives. With rescue spells failing and the danger of a second, more deadly eruption looming, Toren discovers that a monster responsible for his brother’s death holds the key to saving the village. When his family refuses to listen, Toren must make an impossible choice: risk their wrath by seeking the monster’s help, or lose everything his brother died to protect. ___________________________ 100 pages / 19,000 words - Novella Content notes are available in the book's front matter and on the author's website.

Word Count: Click here to reveal15500 (Click here to hide)

Summary: When Dominick has to attend a six-day dragon mating ceremony, he wants to avoid speaking to anyone for fear his severe stutter will send possible suitors running. However, Lysander and Zachary, both from different cultures with a thing for redheads, refuse to let him hide. Worse, they actively pursue him, even after Dominick mucks up their first encounter. Against the backdrop of a ceremony that takes testing endurance, strength, and acoustics to new heights, differences between languages, customs, and expectations create an obstacle course where any misstep could send the men home… alone.

Word Count: Click here to reveal102,400 (Click here to hide)

Summary: The planet Ardulum has died and taken with it every last andal tree, and piece of andal cellulose tech—dissolving the Alpha Plane down to lightspeed travel and archaic communication. Yet Ardulum’s consciousness still lives, unwelcome, inside Atalant’s body. But two consciousnesses cannot share one host—especially not when one is a former planet. Amidst the remains of a shattered galaxy, Guard Four and the Keft scrapper Bell chance a return to the Neek homeworld, where andal is still rumored to grow. A stable forest of andal could power the Cell-Tal technology to save Eld Atalant's life. Instead, Guard Four and Bell find a populace grappling with the aftershocks of Ardulum's death, and find Ardulum’s genetic influence is wider than they thought. What remains of Ardulum demands a new body of its own, and transport to a mysterious world of Thesby, where a stable bridgeway to another dimension is rumored to exist. Emn, desperate to save Atalant, promises to aid Ardulum in return for healing her wife's battered body. If Emn can avoid Chartered Systems assassins long enough to get to Thesby, she stands to not only be reunited with Atalant, but to rid the galaxy of Ardulum, forever. If she fails, the Charted Systems will remain in the dark ages of space travel, and Eld Atalant of Ardulum, and her vision for the Neek people, will die. Read the sixth book in the bestselling Ardulum series, by J.S. Fields!

Word Count: Click here to reveal94,800 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Fifteen years ago, Guard Four stood by and watched her friend, Atalant, be jettisoned into space for questioning their planet's religion. Atalant should have died. Instead, she disappeared. Consumed by guilt, Guard Four trawls space, hopping from spaceport to spaceport, hoping to find and bring Atalant home with exonerating evidence that Ardulum, the traveling planet her people worship, is no mystic deity. At the edges of the known galaxy, Guard Four finds the shattered remains of a murdered world - a world of her genetic cousins who could have provided the evidence she desperately seeks. Ardulum, it seems, is no fairy tale but rather a bogeyman, set on destroying anyone who gets between it and its biological imperative to reproduce. And in its seat of governance rules Atalant - god to a planet she swore did not, could not, exist. Guard Four must unravel Ardulan fact from myth to save her friend and the billions of other beings threatened by the Void - a tear in space created from Ardulum's most recent birthing event. But how does one bring a god of a killer planet home? And how is Guard Four supposed to stop the Void without giving it the only thing it wants - the destruction of Ardulum? If you're looking for adventure and a touch of romance across time and space, filled with diverse alien species, deep emotions, and science fact and fiction, don't miss the next book in J.S. Field's Ardulum Series!

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Summary: Brute leads a lonely life in a world where magic is commonplace. He is seven and a half feet of ugly, and of disreputable descent. No one, including Brute, expects him to be more than a laborer. But heroes come in all shapes and sizes, and when he is maimed while rescuing a prince, Brute’s life changes abruptly. He is summoned to serve at the palace in Tellomer as a guard for a single prisoner. It sounds easy but turns out to be the challenge of his life. Rumors say the prisoner, Gray Leynham, is a witch and a traitor. What is certain is that he has spent years in misery: blind, chained, and rendered nearly mute by an extreme stutter. And he dreams of people’s deaths—dreams that come true. As Brute becomes accustomed to palace life and gets to know Gray, he discovers his own worth, first as a friend and a man and then as a lover. But Brute also learns heroes sometimes face difficult choices and that doing what is right can bring danger of its own.

Word Count: Click here to reveal89,000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: A heart-rending loss… Flora Bock will never forgive the Anferthian invaders for murdering her birth-parents. Growing up with the grandson of her sworn enemies is living a nightmare—until the day she sees him through the eyes of a young woman. But giving her heart to him is the ultimate betrayal of her parents’ memory. A life in peril… There are precious few places in the galaxy where Fander K’nil is safe. One look into Flora’s beautiful, hate-filled eyes is proof enough that Terr is not one of those places. He must keep her at a distance and stay alive long enough to fulfill his destiny. No matter what his heart desires. An empire at stake… Just as Fander and Flora begin to discover the depth of their feelings for each other, they are thrust into a deadly game of politics and assassination with an enemy who stops at nothing to stay in power. With the lives of everyone they love at risk, they must find a way to avert a new invasion before it’s too late—even if it means making the ultimate sacrifice.

Word Count: Click here to reveal130,000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: There are monsters outside the city walls. Harvard is small, anxious, and plagued by a constant tremor, which is not an ideal combination for a desert scavenger. He and his crew are under constant threat of desertwalker attacks, and Harvard is nearly useless against them. When the biggest mistake of Harvard’s life separates him from his crew, he must learn the secrets of the desert beasts in order to survive the dangers of the dusts. Returning to Bastion with a surprising ally, Harvard is forced to choose between saving his crew or allying with the “monsters” who rescued him. Harvard never saw himself as a hero, but when the beasts of the dusts implore him to aid their rescue mission, he holds the lives of crabs and humans alike in his trembling hands. For awesome post-apocalyptic action, where Earth is ruled by gargantuan crab beasts, get your copy of Empress of Dust today!

Word Count: Click here to reveal91000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: The government wants them dead. They want to know why. And if they want answers, the crew will have to pull what may be their most dangerous job yet. Long before signing on with the Ungovernable, back in his university days, ex-convict and one-time-student Lev stumbled onto a secret, a secret that ended in his professor and mentor disappearing, never to be heard from again. Now he and the rest of the crew are going back to university—but this time they’re breaking in, and they’re bent on sabotage. They need to find out what the government thinks they know, and why they’re all supposed to be dead. But the deeper they dig, the darker the secrets they find, and soon they realize that it’s not just them that the government is after. What’s happening in the labs and the storage rooms of the university might just destroy the entire system as they know it. Insider Threat is the fourth book in R.M. Olson’s science fiction space opera series The Ungovernable. With a crazy, close-knit crew, plenty of humour, and loads of action, Firefly meets Ocean’s Eleven in this fast-paced, kick-ass, wickedly fun series.

Word Count: Click here to reveal99000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Look to the skies! Brave adventurers face new relationships and adversity in all sizes, from steampunk dirigibles to harpies, giant bees to garden gnomes, and winged dinosaurs to sky pirates. Isolated mountain peaks, clifftop cities, and battles in the sky abound in this sapphic anthology focused on overcoming challenges awaiting in the clouds. If you like diverse stories with lesbian and sapphic-centric heroines enjoying the thrill of adventure high in the air, buy Lofty Mountains today! With stories by: Seanan McGuire, Rosiee Thor, Rebecca Kim Wells, Maya Gittelman, Carmen Loup, Sara Codair, William C. Tracy, N.L. Bates, L.R. Gould, Robin C.M. Duncan, and J.S. Fields

Word Count: Click here to reveal10360 (Click here to hide)

Summary: While the cell is sparse and cold, at least this one has a bed. The figure resting there is too thin; too still, the prominent bones the result of long starvation, the stillness the product of too much anguish and abuse. He watches, though. An anxious, intelligent mind still occupies this frail and failing body, one that watches and wonders about the new guard occupying his cell each night.

Word Count: Click here to reveal49504 (Click here to hide)

Summary: What if the side quest is really the main quest? Divine, a healer of the Goddess of Souls, has chased the thief who stole her talisman across half of Trelvania. The talisman is the key to accessing her magic well, and without it, she is powerless. While chasing her betrayer, former girlfriend, and servant of the Goddess of Condemnation, Divine meets Saph, a flirty tavern owner with an eyepatch and a proposition. Saph will help Divine locate her talisman if Divine helps her complete a mysterious quest in a chest. Inspired by RPGs and set in scenic autumn, prepare for an adventure with gods and goddesses, deceitful exes, axe throwing, and fantastical creatures. Can Divine learn to trust again and find romance in the middle of finding her magic?

Word Count: Click here to reveal117000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family… Quirk and Moth have avoided killing each other long enough to solve another case. They decide on a local job next, and take up the search for a missing scientist. How could Quirk know this new mystery put them on a headlong collision course with his troubled past, a plethora of personal issues, and a hoard of genetic hybrid creatures with an appetite for anything that moves? When their client dies in mysterious circumstances, law enforcement pursues the dysfunctional duo all the way to a research lab in frozen Yellowknife. Can Quirk and Moth find the scientist before they are banged up for murder, or has she already been eaten? Is it coincidence Quirk’s father-in-law bought the company? Can they expose the shadow from Quirk’s past and clear their names? Quirk and Moth need time, but it’s fast running out, and the bodies are piling up. Find out what happens in The Carborundum Conundrum!

Word Count: Click here to reveal96500 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Aik will never be the same … and neither will his world. War is coming. Aik has become the Progenitor, and the Seed Mother has released him to transform the world for her alien brood. Silya and Raven, Aik's former friends, are the only ones who can save him and the world. But what if the cure is worse than the invasion? As Silya rushes to prepare Gullton for the battle to come, she's determined to save as many people as she can. But new crises emerge that demand her attention. Raven has his own hands full, keeping the dragon-like verent in line, while helping Silya to save the world. But what if the only way to do so is to sacrifice Aik, the man that he loves? It's the end of the world … or could it be the start of something new?

Word Count: Click here to reveal93700 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Raven's a thief who just swallowed a dragon. A small one, sure, but now his arms are growing scales, the local wildlife is acting up, and his snarky AI familiar is no help whatsoever. Raven's best friend Aik is a guardsman carrying a torch for the thief. A pickpocket and a guard? Never going to happen. And Aik’s ex-fiancé Silya, an initiate priestess in a magical crisis, hates Raven with the heat of a thousand suns. This unlikely team must work together to face strange beasts, alien artifacts, and a world-altering threat. If they don’t figure out what to do soon, it might just be the end of everything. Things are about to get messy.

Word Count: Click here to reveal96,000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: A guard and a thief. What could go wrong? Aik has fallen hopelessly in love with his best friend. But Raven's a thief, which makes things … complicated. Oh, and Raven has just been kidnapped by a dragon. Now Aik is off on a quest of his own, to hunt down the foul beast and make them give back his … friend? Lover? Soulmate? The whole not-knowing thing just makes everything harder. Meanwhile, the world of Tharassas is falling apart, besieged by earthquakes, floods, and strange creatures no one has ever seen before. Aik's ex, Silya has gone back to Gullton to try to save her people as the Hencha Queen, and Aik's stuck in a caravan with her mother and a damnable magical gauntlet that won't let him be. He has to find Raven, before it’s too late. Things were messy before … but now they're much, much worse.

Word Count: Click here to reveal100000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: They say, “Never work with androids or children.” Quirk had one job to do, deliver papers to a Milan mafia boss, before leaving Earth for his home in the asteroids. But that was before being tailed, poisoned—oh, yes—and hijacked into raising foulmouthed fourteen-year-old convent girl Angelika Moratti, aka Moth, who'd rather see him asphyxiate in space. Fleeing assassins, Quirk, Moth and her syRen® android S-0778 ride the space elevator to the Moon, where Quirk hires on to hunt an ex-terra-former who somehow used an android to murder his doctor. But which android of the two hundred under Lunaville’s dome? The trail of bodies grows, time is running out; the only way they can save the dome and the two thousand souls beneath it is to solve The Mandroid Murders. Genres: Science Fiction / Thriller / Mystery / Adventure / LGBT and Non Binary Market: Adult

Word Count: Click here to reveal40000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: All hell breaks loose when a jailhouse preacher aims for heavenly escape. Sean Joye is a fae-touched young veteran of 1922’s Irish Civil War. He wants nothing more than to start a clean, new life in America, free of supernatural misadventures and shoot-on-sight orders. He takes what he thinks is an easy job as bodyguard for a St. Louis judge, driving him to Missouri’s infamous state penitentiary to witness an execution. The appointed day is clear and fine. A perfect day for a hanging. Yet as soon as they arrive at the prison, Sean realizes his back is up over something.  Maybe it’s just the summer heat or Sean's memories of his own time as a prisoner of war, but psychic premonitions of trouble are more likely. He soon finds himself a pawn in a jailhouse preacher’s mountain-magic-fueled escape attempt. Sean must rise to the occasion, evading rioting convicts, trigger-happy guards, and a preternatural cyclone to rescue both the judge and an unjustly condemned prisoner from the resurrectionist.

Word Count: Click here to reveal111,309 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Savarin honed his Talent through years of study, and to achieve his goal of becoming the most powerful and accomplished sorcerer in Tournai, he made magic his life. Among the wealthy and noble circles he moves in, no one would suspect the handsome, refined, arrogant sorcerer’s humble beginnings—which is how Savarin prefers it. He wants to be seen only as the man he’s made himself. When Tournai’s princes task Savarin with studying and strengthening the spells that protect the principality from magical attack, he is more than happy to do so. The spells are complex, centuries old, and exactly the type of puzzle Savarin is eager to solve. But to his annoyance, the princes insist Loriot accompany him on his journey. Second son of a minor noble family, Loriot worked his way up the ranks of the royal guard to captain with single-minded determination and takes pride in his service to the crown. He must obey the prince’s orders to protect Savarin, despite believing his skills would be best used elsewhere and his wariness of magic. UnTalented himself, Loriot has learned not only the benefits of magic but also its potential for harm—and how to counter it. He still believes it’s best to avoid most magic entirely, which is difficult when he’s tasked with playing guard to a powerful sorcerer. Loriot and Savarin clash repeatedly during their journey, but the simmering tension between them doesn’t only stem from their work, and passion develops into feelings neither expected. But Savarin must still secure Tournai’s magical barrier, and his only solution will endanger both him and the royal family.

Word Count: Click here to reveal106175 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Once upon a time, before the hunts, dragons were plentiful in the world. Now they exist only in legend…except in the land of Ivria. Felix is a prince, cousin of the current king, ward of the old one. Knowing he would never sit on the throne, he set himself to become something else—the king's best spy. Aside from a trusted few, people know him as a frivolous, flirtatious prince. They don't see the keen mind behind the charming smile or the love of family and quiet behind the silks and jewels. They certainly don't know he is the eyes and ears of the king. Felix still blames himself for not discovering the plot against Ivria and its king at its beginning, and he's determined to find the remaining members of the conspiracy. If the commander of the King's Guard will get out of his way. Alan is commander of the King's Guard, a role he set himself on the path toward when he was very young. He takes his duty seriously, so seriously there is little room for anything else in his life—not the pastimes he used to enjoy or family or even love. Especially now with the heightened danger to the royal family. He crushed his attraction to the beautiful Prince Felix long ago, but when he finds out Felix is more than he appears, Alan immediately becomes suspicious. Is Felix working for the king or against him? Alan won't let himself be fooled by a pretty face that hides so much, no matter how he used to feel. But the real danger is closer than Felix or Alan realizes, and they're going to have to get over their animosity for each other—and deal with the desire that sparks when they do—if they're going to survive it.