LUCIUS
Spartan Warrior
Lucius is Spartan, a genetically enhanced soldier
created for the sole purpose of fighting. But what is he to do when the war is
over? Exiled with his unit to an island off the Pacific coastline, Lucius is
shocked when he finds more than a deserted island when he meets Ari, a man
determined to live by his own rules even at the cost of his own life.
Ari was just a teenager when he was abandoned by his
family and exiled because he didn’t meet the new moral code. He does what he
needs to do to survive. When he meets Lucius and the other Spartan, he finds
that the fierce warriors need even more help than he does.
Emotions have been drummed out of the Spartans, deemed
useless to men taught nothing but killing. Teaching them to feel just might be
harder than Ari thinks, especially when he needs Lucius to be the killing
machine he was born to be in order to save them all when the enemy attacks. But
the cost might be the man he is falling in love with.
STORY EXCERPT
Ari
tightened his fingers around the knife in his hand to hide the tremble that
flickered through his entire body. The soldier standing before him was the
biggest damn man Ari had ever seen in his life. He stood taller than the wooden
doorframe.
Ari
didn’t move other than to try and draw some much needed air into his lungs. He
wasn’t stupid. He knew he was facing off against a Spartan warrior, one of the
fiercest fighting machines ever created.
The
three black tattooed lines on the side of the man’s face were a dead give-away.
All Spartan had them. Each line was a mark of rank. Ari had no idea what this
man’s rank was but he hoped it was high enough up that he could keep the others
from killing him—assuming he didn’t kill Ari himself, which was a very real
possibility.
Ari had
seen the Spartan warriors in the cities during the war. He had seen them fight
and seen them kill. He knew what they were capable of and he was fully aware of
the fact that he didn’t have chance in hell of beating the one standing in
front of him or the ones standing behind him.
“Who are
you?” the man repeated.
“Ari.” Fuck, man this guy was huge. Ari
swallowed hard, trying to bring some moisture back to his dry throat. “I live
here.”
“No one
is supposed to be on this island.”
Ari
cocked his head to the side, a small frown of confusion working its way across
his forehead. He slowly lowered the knife in his hand but didn’t let go of it.
He would most definitely lose a fight with this soldier, but he’d cause a lot
of damage as he died.
“Who
told you that?”
“My
superiors informed us that this island was uninhabited.”
“They
were wrong.”
Ari
gulped when the man’s lips thinned in obvious anger. He quickly held his hand
up to placate the guy, and hopefully keep his head attached to his shoulders.
“I’m sure they thought the island was uninhabited but it’s not. There are a lot
of us here.”
Ari
groaned when the warrior’s eyes narrowed at him. He knew he talked too much
when he was nervous and a person couldn’t get much more nervous than he was
right now. If he didn’t tuck his lips in he’d start spilling about every damn
thing floating through his head.
“How
many are here?”
Ari
pressed his lips together and shook his head rapidly. He was in enough trouble.
He wasn’t taking anyone else down with him. The next instant, Ari found himself
disarmed and lying down on the floor on his back, his arms pinned down above
his head and the biggest damn warrior in the group sitting on him.
“Speak,”
the man growled, low and menacing.
Ari
swallowed again, just knowing he was enjoying his last few minutes on earth,
and then he shook his head. He might not like everyone that was stranded on the
island, but he refused to divulge their numbers or whereabouts to a bunch of
soldiers.
Nothing
in the world could have prevented the squeak that fell from Ari’s lips when he
felt the very sharp edge of a knife blade press against his throat.
Yep, he
was going to die.
“Speak.”
Shaking
his head was out. He’d just end up cutting his own throat. “No,” Ari said with
as much bravado as he could muster up considering he was so scared he was about
to piss himself.
“Then
you will die.”
Ari
almost rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I kind of figured that.”
“Then
speak.” The Spartan sounded confused; almost as if he couldn’t quite understand
why Ari wouldn’t speak if refusing to do so meant his life would be forfeit.
And maybe he didn’t understand.
From
what Ari had seen during the war, many people would give up their mothers for
the right incentive. Ari’s mother had died during the war. Ari barely
remembered her. But that didn’t mean he didn’t have people in his life that he
cared about.
Ari
refused to give the others up. He might not like some of them, but he had made
friends with a lot of them. Besides, Ari had always known he would die at some
point. It was kind of a fact of life. And he’d rather go out protecting his
friends than from starving to death or getting a cold.
“No.”
“Do you want to die?”
Ari’s
lips twitched. He almost felt like laughing. “Not really.”
“Then
speak,” the man said in a deep voice void of emotion. “Tell me how many others
there are.”
“You
might as well kill me now because I won’t tell you anything.”
“So be
it.”
Ari
braced himself, waiting for the killing blow. But instead of dying, Ari was
yanked to his feet. He found himself spun around then he was picked up and
tossed over the large warriors shoulder. The Spartan started out the door,
pausing on the doorstep to look back at the other warriors.
“Burn
it,” he said before carrying Ari out of the building.
“No!” Ari
screamed as he started to struggle, visualizing all of his hard work going up
in flames. “No, please, don’t—”
“Then
speak,” the Spartan said as he dropped Ari down to his feet.
Tears
blurred Ari’s vision as he glanced at his house. It had taken him nearly two
years to get the place livable, to carefully cultivate his garden and get all
of his food stores canned and in his pantry. He had worked so hard, often from
sun up to sun down. He couldn’t watch it all go up in flames.
“No,”
Ari whispered as his shoulders slumped. Even if it meant his home, he couldn’t
betray his friends. His house could be replaced. His friends couldn’t.
A lone
tear slid down Ari’s pale cheek as he watched the first flicker of flame come
to life on the torch one of the warriors held. He knew once the torch was fully
engulfed with flames, the Spartan would toss it on his house, beginning the
process that would take everything from him.
He’d
seen it before.
Ari
jerked back when the large Spartan with onyx eyes wiped his tear away with a
single finger. “Why do you cry?” the Spartan asked. “This is your decision.
Tell me what I want to know and I will not order the building burned.”
Ari’s
nostrils flared as he inhaled hard. “Fuck you!”
ADULT EXCERPT
Ari yelped when he was suddenly grabbed around the neck and
yanked forward. Hard searching lips pressed against his…and that was it. Ari
waited for something more to happen—movement, the slip of a tongue, anything.
He got nothing.
Lucius was frowning just about as deeply as Ari had ever
seen when the man leaned back. “I am not sure I fully understand why everyone
seems so excited by a kiss, Ari. While I find that my pulse increases and my
penis grows harder, this kissing thing does not seem to be a good enough reason
to be so excited.”
Ari’s jaw dropped. “That wasn’t a kiss, Lucius. That was
just you pressing your lips against mine.”
“A kiss
is the act of pressing one's lips against another person’s, is it not?”
“Yeeaahh,
sorta. There’s a little more involved than that.” Ari chuckled as he pushed the
blankets down and moved to sit on the edge of on the bed. He patted the
mattress in front of him. “Come over here and I’ll show you why everyone raves
about kissing.”
Well, Ari hoped he could show Lucius what was so exciting
about a kiss. He was pretty sure that Lucius was interested in men if he gave
the Spartan a hard on. That did not mean he would like kissing. Not every man
did. Ari, on the other hand, loved kissing. He dreamed of making out with a
lover for hours.
If he had a lover.
Once Lucius had moved into place, Ari when to grab him when
he noticed the flak jacket he was wearing and the gun holstered at his hip.
While the man was prepared to go into battle, this was not a battle.
It was a kiss.
“Can you take off the flak jacket and gun?” Ari gestured to
the nightstand. “You can put them there within easy reach.”
Lucius looked hesitant, his jaw firming as if he was
fighting his instincts, but finally, he unbuckled his gun belt and laid it down
on the nightstand then pulled his flak jacket off, laying over the top of his
gun holster. When he was all done, Lucius settled back down on the bed.
“Now what?”
Ari chuckled just because the situation was so fucking
weird. “Close your eyes.”
“Why?”
“Please?” Ari would never admit to Lucius that he was too
nervous to have the man watching him while they kissed. Lucius’s dark eyes
assessed everything, looking for strengths and weaknesses. For once, he just
needed to feel.
Ari’s stomach fluttered when Lucius’s eyes slowly slid
closed, and that was a telling moment in itself. Ari knew that there had to be
at least some level of trust for the man to close his eyes around him.
Ari held his breath as he cupped Lucius’s chiseled face
between his hands and leaned forward, touching his lips to Lucius’s. His tongue
stroked across Lucius's lips, caressing his mouth more than kissing it.
Groaning, Lucius opened to him, and Ari swept his tongue
inside, exploring, conquering. Tasting the warrior that he had wanted since the
moment he saw the strong man standing before him with a knife in his hand.
Ari started when he was suddenly crushed against Lucius’s
chest, the man’s large hands fisting him his hair. Lucius pressed his mouth to Ari’s,
claiming his mouth with a savage intensity that seared Ari to his toes. Ari
returned Lucius's kiss with reckless abandon, wanting more, wanting Lucius.
Now, this was a kiss.
When the full weight of Lucius’s muscular body pressed into
him, Ari fell back against the pillows. A deep growl rumbled through Lucius’s
chest as he crawled up and settled over the top of Ari, the width of his hips
spreading Ari’s thighs until they almost hurt.
The pain was worth it to feel the monstrosity of a cock
Lucius was sporting press against him. Ari’s breathing sped up as he hitched
his hips and wrapped his legs around Lucius’s waist, bringing their two cocks
together.
Ari bemoaned the fact that fabric separated them when he so
desperately wanted to feel Lucius’s naked cock against his own. He reached
down, wiggling his hand until he could get it between them, searching for the
buttons of Lucius’s pants.
The moan that fell from his lips came partly from the
victory he felt when he found the buttons and got them undone, and partly from
the lips that continued to devour his. Lucius kissed Ari with a hunger that
rivaled his own, threatening to consume them both.
Ari slid his hand inside of Lucius’s pants. The very moment
his hand wrapped around Lucius’s wide girth, the man’s head snapped up,
breaking the kiss. Lucius stared down at Ari for what seemed like a million
years, and then tossed his head back as he roared, bucking wildly as hot cum
filled Ari’s hand.
Ari just laid there, stunned, his own cock throbbing,
aching. After watching Lucius’s display, he was so close to release that a
stiff wind would have sent him over the edge. He just needed a little more, a
little…
Ari cried out, his entire body going ramrod stiff as
Lucius’s lips slammed back down on his, the man capturing his lips in a kiss
that showed who dominated who. Lucius’s hand wrapped around Ari’s throat and
the underside of his jaw, tilting his head back. The other one moved down Ari’s
body, sliding down under him to grab his ass.
He was so damn close.
Ari almost went out of his mind when Lucius’s single hand
covered a fair amount of both ass cheeks. He ripped his lips away from Lucius
and stared up into Lucius’s unfathomable eyes, the intensity of the man’s gaze
making his entire body clench with need. Ari swore he could see flames leaping
to life in Lucius’s dark eyes, an invisible web of attraction building between
them.
“Lucius.”
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