Warrior's Mate

Warrior’s Mate

Tehya Titan

Warrior’s
Mate

Army Lieutenant Jordan
Ramsey is having the worst day of her life. Kidnapped, Jordan is taken from
Earth and brought to a new world where she is to become the property of an
alien warrior that is more demon than man. But even though her future is no
longer her own, she won’t go down without a fight…

Kadan Krell is
the King of Vor. As a ruthless warrior, he never thought he would find his
mate, but when he sees the beautiful human named Jordan, he knows she is
destined to be his. Nothing will stop him from claiming what belongs to him,
and showing her exactly what it means to be a warrior’s mate.

WARRIOR’S MATE

Copyright © 2015 by Tehya Titan

First E-book Publication: June 2015

Kindle Edition

ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or
in part, without express written permission.

All characters
and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons
living or dead is strictly coincidental. It is fiction so facts and events may
not be accurate except to the current world the book takes place in.

DEDICATION

To my
good friend, who encouraged me to write this story.

CHAPTER
ONE

“I have a bad
feeling about this.”

Army Lieutenant
Jordan Ramsey glanced over at Private Dobbs, the driver of the Humvee, and had
to stop herself from agreeing with him out loud. They were on a bullshit recon
mission that had no purpose, and they all knew it. But she was rank, and as
such, she shouldn’t bitch to the members of her squad…no matter how much she
wanted to.

The day was hot,
just like every day in the Sandbox was. Iraq was a myriad of desert areas that
was occasionally diversified by various cities of different sizes, but the
American base that Jordan’s unit operated out of was smack-dab in the middle of
nowhere. The light sand color of her camo gear did nothing to help combat the
raging heat inside the Humvee, and the armored tactical vest she wore felt like
it weighed a thousand pounds, making it difficult to breathe.

It was supposed
to be Jordan’s day off, but nothing ever went as planned, especially when their
small base was run by a dick of epic proportions. A few days ago, some of the
guys from Jordan’s unit had played an impromptu game of basketball after their
duties were finished for the day. When Post Commander Major Tim McCall saw that
the guys were drinking numerous water bottles—at least what he considered was
more than their share—he went ballistic.

Jordan had been
incredulous when she’d seen the locks on the coolers holding the water bottles
the next day. Major McCall—or as the soldiers on base called him, “MPA,” which
stood for Major Pain in the Ass—had the only key, and he’d left the base for
the day. What he’d claimed was a lesson to teach the soldiers not to waste
resources was really a colossal error made by a man who sat on his pampered fat
ass, sipping imported coffee his assistant made him most days.

Unwilling to let
the soldiers on base suffer from dehydration just because some asshole wanted
to keep costs on the base down, she’d shot the locks off the coolers. When
Major McCall returned, he’d been furious and had threatened to have Jordan
court-martialed for going against direct orders. Knowing that would be his
reaction, Jordan preempted the Post Commander by contacting Colonel Davis, the
commander at the larger base close to them, reporting the incident and
explaining her actions.

Colonel Davis had
made a special trip out to their base, putting Major McCall on notice that he
wouldn’t tolerate taking necessary resources from the soldiers on the base and
putting them at risk because of stupid decisions. Jordan had known Major McCall
would exact his revenge, and she hadn’t been surprised to find herself
scheduled for patrol missions three days in a row.

Jordan had
expected extra duty, but Major McCall had decided to punish her men along with
her, and that was something that pissed her off more than she could say. Every
time they left the base, they were put at risk. And these extra patrols were
pure bullshit. It sucked, but there was very little she could do.

However, it was
hard taking orders from an asshole, but Jordan was used to doing the hard.

Growing up in a
trailer park with parents that were drunk more often than they were sober,
Jordan had to take care of herself at an early age. When most kids her age had
been playing with dolls and having tea parties, Jordan had to learn how to keep
out of the hands of the monsters that tried to prey on pretty young girls. Born
with skin the color of Irish cream, bright green eyes and fiery red hair that
matched her temper, she had always had her share of male attention, even when
she didn’t want it.

She’d always
been smart and tough, and she’d used those skills to keep herself out of
trouble until she’d been old enough to enlist and get the hell out of her
parents trailer. Once she’d joined the Army, her looks had been a hindrance,
but as she rose in the ranks, her intelligence and natural leadership abilities
gained her the respect of her peers and the soldiers under her command.

The men and
women she served with were her family. She’d kill for them, but more
importantly, she’d die in order to keep them safe.

“Too bad you
didn’t shoot MPA instead of the damn locks on the coolers, Loot,” Sergeant Rick
“Tex” Calhoun said from the backseat of the Humvee.

Jordan turned in
her seat so she could shoot him a look. “If I did that, I wouldn’t be going out
doing recon with you, Tex. I’d be in the brig, waiting to be shipped home where
I’d spend the rest of my life in prison.”

“True. Maybe I
should have shot him,” Private First Class Tyler Morris said from the other
seat in the back. “MPA already hates me, and I was one of the guys playing ball
the other day.”

“He hates all of
us,” Tex argued, his irritation clear despite his slow Texas drawl. “We
shouldn’t be punished for fucking drinking water when it’s hot as Hades
outside.”

“We aren’t being
punished for drinking the water. We’re out on patrol because I disobeyed a
direct order,” Jordan clarified.  

“It was a
bullshit order, Loot,” Dobbs said as he continued to drive down the barren
roadway. He glanced in the rearview mirror and slowed the vehicle. “Jesus,
Accardi is one slow mother fucker. Why the hell is he driving again?”

Jordan glanced
in the side mirror and saw the Humvee behind them had fallen way behind….again.
“He’s telling another damn story,” she muttered as she picked up her radio to
contact the other vehicle.

“New York never
runs out of stories,” Morris said with a chuckle. “I swear, he talks more than
anyone I know.”

“Accardi!”
Jordan shouted in the radio. “Shut your hole and get your ass in gear!” She
watched as the other vehicle swerved slightly, then picked up speed.

“Sorry, Loot.
Ass in gear now,” came the voice from over the radio.

“What the hell
are we supposed to be doing out here anyways?” Morris bitched as he stared out
the window at the desert landscape. “We’ve been driving around looking at
nothing for days now.”

“We went south
yesterday, and west the day before. Since we’re going east today, I’m guessing
we’ll be sent out again tomorrow to complete the hat trick,” Dobbs said dryly.
“We can now confirm that all this desert fucking looks the same.”

“I think you’re
right.” Jordan sighed. “Sorry, guys.”

“Don’t,” Tex
ordered. “Don’t apologize because that dickhead was…well, a dickhead. If you
got punished for what you did, then we don’t mind taking our licks with you, do
we boys?”

“Fuck no. We
stand with you, Loot,” Morris agreed.

That made Jordan
smile. “Look on the bright side, at least we have a cooler filled with water
with us.”

The men in the
vehicle all laughed. Dobbs shot her a smile. “Yeah, Loot. We’re pretty damn
lucky.”

And then the
world exploded.

Jordan was
slapped back in her seat as their Humvee went airborne. The vehicle behind them
had strayed slightly to the right on the road and hit an IED. The force of the
blast sent the first Humvee up in the air, where it seemed to hang suspended
for a moment, before crashing down to the earth again with a jarring impact.

Her eyes
fluttered open and it took a long minute for Jordan to unscramble her brain
enough to realize what had happened. Her vision blurred and her ears rang from
the explosion. She was lying half in, half out of the broken window, held in
place upside down by the seat belt in the overturned vehicle.

Feeling her head
throbbing with pain, she was damn glad she’d been wearing her helmet or that
pain would be a whole lot worse. Knowing she had to get out of there, she
barely held back a scream as she tried to move. Panting, she moved a shaking
hand to her stomach and felt a sharp piece of metal sticking out of her.

Son of a
bitch!

Gut wound…she
would be done for if she didn’t get help soon.

Pain shot
through her as she tried to turn her head to take a look around, but it was
nothing compared to the grief she felt when she saw Dobbs in the driver’s seat,
his eyes wide open and unseeing. Her throat seized up as she tried to speak,
and she coughed a little, sending bolts of agony through her system.

“Tex? Morris?”

She repeated
their names a few more times, hearing the barely veiled panic in her own voice
as she did. It made her want to weep with gratitude when she heard an answering
groan from one of the men in the back. That brief moment of thanks quickly
changed to anguish as she turned her head again and saw the other Humvee had
been blown to pieces, the skeleton of the vehicle a fiery inferno.

Fuck…there had
been four good men in that vehicle, and now they were gone.

The smell of
gasoline had Jordan focusing back on her own situation. There would be time to
grieve for the others later. Her hands fumbled with the seatbelt release, and
she braced herself for the pain to come as she hit the button. She let out a
scream as she fell, the pain so great she felt as if she were going to puke her
guts out.

Blood poured
from her wound since the movement had caused the metal shrapnel to jerk from
her body, and she held a hand over it. Jordan ripped the bandana she always
carried out of her pocket, and pressed it against the wound to staunch the
blood. The temporary fix wouldn’t last long, but it would have to do for now.

“Loot?”

Relief swept
through her at the sound of Calhoun’s voice, even if he did sound slightly out
of it. “Tex! You okay?”

He groaned.
“Shoulder is fucked, my leg is bleeding like a stuck pig, and my head hurts
like a bitch, but overall I’m good.”

“There’s a gas
leak. Get out. Get out now.”

“Copy that.
Morris is unconscious. He’s got a pretty nasty cut on his head. What about Dobbs?”

“He didn’t make
it.”

“Fuck. You all
right, Ramsey?”

“Still
breathing…for now,” she told him. The glass cut into her hands as she crawled
out of the broken window. Once outside the vehicle, she pulled at the backdoor,
but the impact when they’d hit the ground had sealed it shut. “This door won’t
open.”

“I can get him
out on this side,” Tex told her as he used his legs to kick open the door.

Jordan heard Tex
cursing as he pulled Morris’ unconscious body out of the vehicle with him. She
waited until she was sure the two men were clear, then she moved away from the
vehicle on the other side. Unable to stand, she crawled, but she’d only made it
a few feet before her body gave out and she collapsed on the ground.

“Loot? Ramsey? Damn
it, Jordan, answer me!”

Jordan heard
Tex, but she couldn’t make herself answer him. On the other side of the
vehicle, he sounded so far away, too far for him to hear her even if she could
utter a response. She used the last of her energy to flip onto her back, and
squinted up at the bright sun in the clear sky as she felt the life draining
out of her.

This was it.

Closing her
eyes, Jordan allowed herself to give into the lethargy that overwhelmed her.
There would be no way to get help to their location in time for her to survive,
not with the severity of her wounds. They’d lost so many good men, and for
what, damn it? Two of her men would make it back, but she wouldn’t be making it
home. Hell, she didn’t even have a home, not really. There was no one to miss
her, no one to care that she’d died on some barren roadside in the fucking
middle of nowhere.

Wow, now that
was a pretty damn depressing thought.

The bright red
behind her eyelids dimmed slightly as she felt someone standing over her. If it
was an insurgent coming to check to make sure she was dead, he would only have
to wait a few more minutes. When no painful kick or slap landed, she guessed it
was Tex checking on her. She opened her eyes, prepared to say goodbye to her
friend, and blinked up in confusion.

No, the man standing
there wasn’t Tex.

In fact, he
wasn’t even human.

The figure above
her was shaped like a man, but it looked like it was made of water or some
other type of liquid that glimmered and wavered within the confines of its form.
Jordan could still see the sun through the transparent being, but the light was
muted, like she was seeing it from the bottom of a pool.

The being bent
over her, and curiosity warred with her delirium. Jordan somehow managed to
lift her hand and she poked it, surprised to find that it was solid…somewhat.
She saw the form caved in from the pressure as her finger made contact. The
thing rippled like a stone being thrown into a pond. Weird, she thought as her
hand dropped back to the ground.

Jordan heard Tex
yelling something, but she couldn’t understand what he was saying. The sound
caught the thing’s attention, and his head turned. Turning her head, she blinked
as she saw another being walking toward them. While the first creature seemed
to be made of water, this new one took on the shape of fire as it walked
through the inferno that used to be the other Humvee.

Holy fucking
shit!

Hallucinations.
That was all it was.

She was fucking
hallucinating. Giving in, she closed her eyes again and let herself fade away. Apparently,
she wasn’t one of those people that saw their lives flash in front of their
eyes before she died. No, she got a freaky head trip instead.

Fuck it, dying
really did suck.