Solar Skies - Dawn Montgomery [Dec 14]

[Maria]

Soon to be released - a new Liquid romance book

Solar Skies

by: Dawn Montgomery

ISBN: 978-1-59578-646-3

Stay tuned to this topic for all the latest on this Coming Soon

Blurb:


Sometimes you’ve got to risk it all…

Kayanna Lord will stop at nothing to destroy project Sol before any more die, even if it means forcing a bond on the one man who holds her life in his hands.

Fighting for his life is nothing new to Auron Sterling. He’s on the run from men who would dissect him for his genetic secrets. Trust no one. Until Kayanna.

With the odds stacked against them in a universe opposed to genetic manipulation, only together can they find the strength to destroy the madman bent on creating the ultimate genetic weapon.


Buy it now.

[Maria]

Excerpt:

“State your purpose on this level, doctor.” The dulcet tones of the security shield, designed to keep an individual calm, did no such thing for Auron.

"I have to see to a damaged ship."

“Please be advised, it is suggested that the doctor wait for the boarding guard. This area is under quarantine and without proper attention, you could become contaminated.”

I bet. "Advice noted." He pressed his wrist unit against the scanner. "The bio signs tell me a human is critical and I can't wait. Under medical authority two-zero-niner-five, I open access to this bay for medical treatment." He could feel time running out down to the liner of his ship boots. Humans were already a minority. The doctor in him needed to save a life. Plus he needed that transport.

Sweat formed on his brow and he wiped it away with irritation. Now wasn't the time to panic.

The yellow warning light turned blue and he tapped his fingers against his flight suit. He darted a glance down the hallway, his eyes automatically adjusting scope to two hundred meters. He blinked and his eyes refocused. No one knew yet. For the moment, he was safe. Pressure released around the seal and he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Please enter the quarantine, doctor. Note that you will not be able to leave until quarantine ban is lifted. Have a nice day.”

The door opened and he stepped over the lip, carrying his portable surgical kit tightly under his arm.

“Decontamination is imminent.”

The door shut and the seal compressed. Auron opened his mouth to pop his ears from the sudden pressure. He dropped to one knee and opened the box, taking out the small accelerant spray. Upon close inspection everything in the kit would look legit. With care, he popped open the maintenance panel and sprayed the foul smelling liquid on the interlock circuitry.

Auron's ears popped again and he snapped the kit shut, dropping the accelerant in the panel and launching himself against the far corner. The decon gas dropped and Auron had a moment to curl up in a ball before the flash of fire sealed him on this side of the quarantine.

The burn of adrenaline through his body was welcome. An alarm buzzed and he got to his feet. So far, so good. He shoved against the other door. It stayed fast. "Fuck."

He turned to look through the smoke, eyes adjusting. System security was on their way and from the familiar scars of their leader; he'd earned their Chief Rehabilitationist. A pretty word for a mind butcher. Auron slammed a fist against the door.

The bastard smiled. He knew Auron was trapped. "Be advised, Auron, last descendant of Earth's outer reaches, your genetic profile need not be taken from you while you are alive."

Cold terror knotted in the pit of Auron's gut at the cultured words coming from behind him. Auron glared over his shoulder at the scarred personage now standing across the door.

He held up his hand in the traditional method of introduction. "My name is Na'en."

Auron ran his fingers along the other seal, desperation clawing his heart. If they touched him, found out what he was ... he couldn’t go to the consortium, no matter who had issued the invitation. Dissection awaited him there.

An explosion rocked the door, reverberating through Auron’s arms. Another hit against the door, bending the metal toward him and Auron jerked away. Something was shooting it from the other side. But what?

“Warning, decontamination room breach imminent.”

Another explosion rocked the door and Auron covered his face. The door groaned and fell into the room. Acrid smoke filled his lungs and he covered his mouth through the first wracking coughs.

"Doctor!" Na'en roared against the other door.

Auron dragged his gaze to the formidable armored figure leaning against the now defunct seal, or rather the very large hole of the business end of a T-15. Auron froze. The solar emblem on the suit told him enough. He would have to actually kill to make his way out.

"I assume you don't want to die, Doctor." The muffled voice coming through the helmet was clipped and well cultured. And if he wasn't mistaken, feminine. There was only one critical patient in the bay. Was she it?

"End up like the door, you mean?" He glanced toward the Chief Rehabilitationist and scanned through his options. Did he want to go with them? Be poked and prodded and experimented on for the greater good of humanity? Hell no. He looked back at the newcomer. "Lead the way." He held his surgery kit like a shield.

"After you." She gestured with the barrel of her rifle for him to move.

"Right." He moved his ass, careful to avoid touching the icy tip of the barrel. T-15's were notorious for their sub zero skin burns.

Auron looked at Na'en and grinned. Na’en slammed a fist against the viewing screen.

“I’ll find you doctor.” Na’en seemed the kind of guy that didn’t like to lose.

Well that was too fucking bad. Auron laughed and stepped through the rubble.

The muzzle gestured for him to move forward. "You’re a bit too cocky for a man with a T-15 aimed at his skull. Keep your hands where I can see them."

Auron shrugged a shoulder and raised his arms, walking at a clipped pace down the static path. "Whatever you've got planned you'll have to do before it's too late anyway."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Auron slowed to a stop and turned. The blast shield of her helmet was tinted for spacewalking. "In less than five minutes they're going to be in here and then we'll both be dead." He tilted his head. "How much longer are you going to be conscious? I can't fly a ship."

"Why do you ask?"

"I read the initial reports from your ship. Someone onboard is critical and since there was only one bio-sign on board, I assume that someone to be you."

She shouldered the T-15's strap and let it slide to her back. A touch of her fingers against releases he couldn't see depressurized her suit in a sickly sweet scent of insulation gases. She pulled off her helmet and he realized two things immediately. One, she was gorgeous. Two--and it twisted his gut in an anxiety he didn't want to dwell on--she wasn't going to make it if they didn't get to the medic bay.

He grabbed her arm and pulled her forward, sliding under her arm to help carry her to the ship. In a heartbeat something cold pressed against his jugular. Auron froze and his heart squeezed. Nothing was going right today. Anger and something darker clouded her violet eyes. It was all he could do to keep from jerking away from the blade.

Her gaze searched his face and the pressure eased from his throat.

“I’m not interested in going with the chief back there and you need a hostage with medical experience. I'm going to help you. Can we go now?"

"Hurry."

"Right." He hauled her against him and they raced down the path. Auron started running percentages and statistics in his head. The fighters were likely already scrambling to intercept them.

"Why is there no one else in this bay?" Her voice seemed strained and he wondered fleetingly if she had any internal injuries. His mind turned clinical, automatically categorizing her symptoms. He jerked to a halt at what remained of the shuttle doors. She grunted but from the way her entire body tensed, he doubted it felt good.

"You were quarantined. Your ship should have a crew of at least five personnel, but you alone were alive, if critical. In a station this size, disease is a real concern."

She nodded with a jerk of her head. For a moment her eyes unfocused then snapped back to attention. Was she going into shock?

He moved through the rubble. "You really do like to leave your mark, don't you?"

She chuckled.

"I'm Auron, by the way." Her smile was almost more than a grimace.

Her smile fell. "I didn’t want to know your name."

His retort died before it could leave his throat. Her ship. What the fuck had happened to the hull? The carbon scarring on the side alone meant the thing was probably running on a wing and a prayer, or industrial strength tape. His escape plan was going to hell in a hand basket.

She walked to a recessed panel and unsealed the pad. Her finger pressed into the gel and she tapped a series of numbers into the display.

The door slid open. He glanced back down the corridor. Microscopes and dissections awaited him there. With no little trepidation, he followed her into the maw of the ship.

*

Kayanna cursed under her breath. Pain scorched her nerve-endings and set her teeth on edge until she was ready to scream. Or cry. Doing either one of those might put her in a place she'd never come back from.

She tugged at her armor, letting it stay where it fell. Fire and rage burned in her gut, fueling her determination to get the fuck out of here and back into the fray.

"Why am I here, exactly?"

"I need a doctor." Gods her head hurt.

"Well, you seem to be stripping just fine on your own."

For a moment her lips twitched in an unconscious smile. He was a handsome doctor. If a bit young. She peeled back the thin mesh encasing her ribs and hissed at the reopening of her side wound. Warm fluid trickled down her side. "Solar Skies, come online." She barked the order with irritation.

“What is your need, Captain?”

She shoved forward into the captain's chair and spun around, grabbing the blood stained towel she'd used earlier. Kayanna pressed the cloth against her side. "Get us out of here. Evasive maneuvers." She eyed the doctor, wondering if he really was one. If not, you're fucked, kid. Strong shoulders, wary expression, and far more attractive than she was comfortable with. He leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, the surgical kit at his side and a hard gaze for the bleeding on her side.

“Coordinates?”

"RZ delta nine five."

"Where might that be?" His voice rumbled pleasantly.

His gaze lifted and her breath caught on a sharp pain in her side. "I’m late for a meeting." Her lips lifted in a semblance of a smile. "This isn’t a joyride doctor. I’ll be dropping you off at the rendezvous."

She didn’t need to lose anyone else. Loss and grief crashed against her and eyes burned with unshed tears. Damn, I must be really tired.

“Request noted. Skip in less than five minutes.”

The acceleration forced her against the cushion. The doctor didn't move an inch. She closed her eyes, waiting for the burn of the first skip. It always made her eyes ache to keep them open. The pounding in her head grew worse.

"Let's get a look at your wound." She jerked away from his voice, her blade drawn before she could blink.

The doctor's reflexes were impressive. He moved with incredible speed, narrowly avoiding a slice to the side. She blinked to clear her vision. The doctor eyed her with wary regard. "We've gone through the first skip already and you're not going to make it much longer." He held up a palm scanner. "This tells me you had other plans when you kidnapped me."

Kayanna blinked, the sandpaper dryness of her eyes and throat telling her more than she wanted to know. "You weren't exactly fighting to escape my evil clutches."

"No." He stood there with his hand out. "You have an impressive and well-stocked, medic bay. I haven’t checked the anesthesia, but your previous doc must have known his shit."

Simmering rage slammed into her, causing her heart to slam in a painful rhythm. The span of her vision narrowed; dark spots formed. Old rage settled in her gut, twisting it. She grasped that instead of the worry and fear gnawing through her mind. "It's good to know he did something right."

She ignored his hand and stood. The room spun and she gritted her teeth, gripping the armrest of the chair. She couldn't feel her side anymore. That was probably not a good thing.

It took two tries to slide her blade back into its sheath. She stumbled down out of the chair and shoved through the lethargy dragging at her limbs. The doctor followed behind like a shadow. No sound, no words, just followed. No sense of danger prickled her nerves. And that meant she was farther gone than she'd originally thought.

Eerie light spilled from the medic bay and set Kayanna's teeth on edge. Cold horror and memories, screams, drifted into her mind. You can’t avoid it forever. She breathed slowly to ease the strain pulling on the wound. Pain shot down her side anyway and she fell against the corridor wall. Warm hands pulled her against a hard, lithe body.

"I'll get blood on your clothes, doctor."

He said nothing.

With another stumble she fell against the cabinet Mullen had... Her mind spiraled away from the last time she'd been at that man’s mercy. She eyed the doctor. Did she trust him to cut on her? Perform surgery? Her mind was spinning options faster than she could keep up. There were three auto-injectors. The last three of the batch. In desperation she opened the case and palmed an injector. Another she held ready.

"What is that?"

"A relaxant the previous doctor had on stock." She shot it in her neck.

"Hey!" He jerked the auto-injector out of her hand. The doctor eyed the now bleeding wound and she struck, hitting him with the injector in the back of the neck.

"You'll have to forgive me, but our last doctor had a thing for torture." She didn’t want to think about what she’d done. Just needed to live.

She felt the call of his psyche to hers. Kayanna had watched it before. Cold icy terror locked into the back of her mind. The flashes of her comrades dying needlessly at the psychopath's hands for information none of them had. For a calculating purpose she hadn’t understood.

His anger simmered across her synapses like a wave of fire, jerking her out of memories better left buried. She grasped it and held on.

[Rebecca Royce]

Great title!

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Rebecca Royce

Great title!

Yeah, especially for Dawn.

[Dawn_Montgomery]

Thanks Rebecca!

[Kim Knox]

Woot! It's up already. Congrats, Dawn

[Gem Sivad]

Congratulations Dawn!

[Tina Holland]

Congrats Dawn!

[Dawn_Montgomery]

Thank you! I'm excited to see it up so fast. Woohoo! Must find blurbage and excerpt.

[Maria]

Check the blurbage!

[Ella Drake]

This looks like a great read! Congrats!

[Dawn_Montgomery]

Thank you Ella!

Huge thanks Maria.

[Kim Knox]

Yay, blurbage
And I've been lucky to read this already, hehe

[Tina Holland]

You give good blurbage Dawn...

[Dawn_Montgomery]

LOL Thanks Tina.

LOL Kim.

[Dawn_Montgomery]

I can't wait for you guys to see the cover!!! It's AWESOME! Anne Cain did an amazing job.

[Kim Knox]

oooooo *bounce*

[Mike]

Anne gets the cigar.

[Maria]

Love it love it LOVE IT!!!!!!!

You and Anne work well together, Dawn!

[Dawn_Montgomery]

Thanks, Maria! It was all her, I swear! LOL.

[Dawn_Montgomery]

Woohoo! Final edits are done!

[Jennifer Leeland]

Awesome premise and FANTASTIC cover!!!

[Maria]

Release date: December 14.

[Mima]

daaaaaaaawwwwwwwnnnnnn~
are you READY!!!
wahooooo!

[Dawn_Montgomery]

I CAN'T WAIT!!! I love this story!

[Kim Knox]

*bounce, bounce, bounce*

[Maria]

Buy it now.

[Ella Drake]

Congrats, Dawn! Can't wait to read it!

[Alanna Coca]

Happy Release Day Dawn!

[Stephanie Bennett]

Congrats on the release!