The Akseli, page 1
THE AKSELI
Aldebarian Alliance book 4
by
New York Times
Bestselling Author
DIANNE DUVALL
www.DianneDuvall.com
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THE AKSELI
Copyright © 2022 by Dianne Duvall
Published by Dianne Duvall, 2022
DianneDuvall.com
E-book ISBN: 978-1-957006-00-0
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-957006-01-7
Hardback ISBN: 978-1-957006-07-9
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
No part of this copyrighted work may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Contents
TITLES BY DIANNE DUVALL
THE AKSELI
1. PROLOGUE
2. CHAPTER ONE
3. CHAPTER TWO
4. CHAPTER THREE
5. CHAPTER FOUR
6. CHAPTER FIVE
7. CHAPTER SIX
8. CHAPTER SEVEN
9. CHAPTER EIGHT
10. CHAPER NINE
11. CHAPTER TEN
12. CHAPTER ELEVEN
13. CHAPTER TWELVE
14. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
15. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
16. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
17. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
18. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
19. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
20. EPILOGUE
FROM THE AUTHOR
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TITLES BY DIANNE DUVALL
Aldebarian Alliance
THE LASARAN
“Full of adventure, sizzling passion, romance, and yes kick-ass fighting. This book is simply captivating.”
—Book Dragon
THE SEGONIAN
One of the Best Audiobooks of 2021
AudioFile Earphones Award for Exceptional Audio
—Audiofile Magazine
THE PURVELI
Best Book
“I gasped… I also cried… Later on, I found myself laughing hysterically, snickering, grinning, and cheering.”
—Long and Short Reviews
Immortal Guardians
DARKNESS DAWNS
“A strong start in what looks to be a thrilling and chilling new paranormal series. Fantastic!”
—RT Book Reviews
NIGHT REIGNS
“Crackles with energy, originality, and a memorable take-no-prisoners heroine.”
— Publishers Weekly
PHANTOM SHADOWS
“Done so well that I truly want to live in her world regardless of the threat of vampires!”
— Smexy Books
IN STILL DARKNESS
“Readers will appreciate the rich characterizations and the kick-butt action … as Richart d’Alençon, a 200-year-old Guardian, woos charming Jenna McBride with warmth and passion.”
— Publishers Weekly
DARKNESS RISES
“Featuring a fascinating take on vampires, Darkness Rises is a thrilling, action-packed, suspenseful, funny, steamy paranormal romance readers won’t be able to put down.”
— Affaire de Coeur Magazine
NIGHT UNBOUND
“Hello epic kick-ass forbidden love story! Night Unbound is simply A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!”
— Saints and Sinners Books
PHANTOM EMBRACE
“Duvall’s hauntingly beautiful novella, set in the world of the Immortal Guardians, portrays the deep love between two people who can never touch, with a wonderfully unexpected ending.”
— Publishers Weekly
SHADOWS STRIKE
“Full of awesome characters, snappy dialogue, exciting action, steamy sex, sneaky shudder-worthy villains, and delightful humor.”
—A Voracious Reader
BLADE OF DARKNESS
“Between the banter, the steamy scenes, and all the twists and turns, I was engrossed from start to finish.”
— Little Shop of Readers
AWAKEN THE DARKNESS
“This series is earth-shattering awesome and Dianne has quickly become one of my favorite authors. Each of the stories … has been heart-stopping, intense, humorous, and powerfully romantic.”
—Reading Between the Wines Book Club
DEATH OF DARKNESS
“Teeming with passion, humor, action, and suspense … a perfectly paced paranormal urban fantasy paired with a timeless romance.”
—Reading Between the Wines Book Club
BROKEN DAWN
“I loved the chemistry and banter between these two. I swooned and laughed… I loved it all.”
—Caffeinated Reviewer
CLIFF’S DESCENT
“Sweet, sexy, heartwarming, heartbreaking, and so dang beautiful.”
—Caffeinated Reviewer
AN IMMORTAL GUARDIANS COMPANION
“If you are an Immortal Guardians fan, pick it up as you will smile and enjoy this fun, fast read.”
—Seeing Spots
The Gifted Ones
A SORCERESS OF HIS OWN
“Full of danger, intrigue, and passion… an addicting and exciting new series. I’m hooked!”
— Reading in Pajamas
RENDEZVOUS WITH YESTERDAY
“I loved this book! It had pretty much all of my favorite things—medieval times, a kick-ass heroine, a protective hero, magic, and a dash of mayhem.”
— The Romance Reviews
THE AKSELI
New York Times bestselling author Dianne Duvall brings readers the next stand-alone novel in a thrilling sci-fi romance series full of action, humor, and happily-ever-afters.
Simone has hunted and slain psychotic vampires night after night for hundreds of years and desperately needs a change. When the leader of the Immortal Guardians offers her an opportunity to guard ten mortal women who are venturing to another planet, she dives right in and finds traveling into space and meeting amazing alien races just as exciting as she’d hoped… until an enemy attacks. Simone saves everyone she can before she’s thrust into an escape pod and the ship explodes. Alone, fearing some—if not all—of her friends have been killed, she vows to seek vengeance.
Despite his fierce reputation and propensity for violating the law, Janwar has formed a friendship with strait-laced Prince Taelon of Lasara. When the prince’s ship is destroyed, Janwar joins the massive Aldebarian Alliance-wide search and rescue mission and soon locates the Gathendien ship that launched the attack. An odd thing happens, however, as he and his crew stealthily approach it. The lifeforms inside begin to perish, two or three at a time in quick succession. Much to his surprise, someone else has reached the ship first: one of the very Earth women he hoped to rescue.
Fascinatingly fierce, Simone bands together with Janwar and his crew to search for her missing friends and wreak havoc upon those who wish to harm them. She also widens eyes, drops jaws, and sparks laughter and mischief as she banishes the warriors’ world-weariness and makes each day seem like a new adventure. The friendship that grows between Janwar and Simone swiftly deepens into love. But the enemy warriors they face are tenacious and boast more weapons in their arsenal than the alliance knows. Can Janwar, Simone, and such a small crew vanquish them?
PROLOGUE
Simone swung her treasured katana with smooth precision, cutting down one opponent after another. One imaginary opponent, that was. The small training room she occupied was empty, save for herself. But back on Earth, she’d battled enough psychotic vampires over the centuries—and enough heavily armed mercenaries in recent years—to create some vivid practice scenarios.
She paused.
Back on Earth.
Smiling, she shook her head. Most days, she still found it hard to grasp her new reality. The old adage that life was what happened while you were making other plans had never been more accurate. Not that she’d had much in the way of plans.
Her mortal life had been a harrowing one. Like her father, she had been born in fourteenth-century France with unique gifts she’d hidden so others wouldn’t think them demon issued and try to kill her. She’d then lost her whole family to the Black Death and had been ready to succumb herself when a vampire attacked her and infected her with a virus that had rendered her virtually immortal, bestowing upon her extraordinary speed, strength, and regenerative capabilities coupled with photosensitivity and a frequent need for blood transfusions. A virus that caused progressive brain damage in ordinary humans and swiftly drove them insane.
Fortunately, the advanced DNA that lent her empathic and telepathic abilities also protected her from the progressive brain damage the virus caused in ordinary humans. So she’d spent the next six centuries hunting and slaying psychotic vampires every night with her immortal brethren to protect humanity.
Simone hadn’t learned until recently that aliens called Gathendiens had created the vampiric virus in a lab, then released it on Earth to eradi
She smiled, thinking of Seth. Five months ago, the monotony of doing the same-old-same-old night after night had been weighing heavily on her when Seth had placed Simone in a room with four other Immortal Guardians and ten gifted ones (all female) and stunned the hell out of them by announcing that the petite redhead he loved like a daughter was an extraterrestrial from the planet Lasara. An extra… terrestrial.
Even more astonishing, he had revealed his intention to form an alliance with the more advanced Lasaran people and asked if she and the others would be interested in traveling to Lasara and seeking a new home there as part of a trial.
Um… hell, yes. Simone hadn’t even had to deliberate.
She glanced at the training room around her. Though it loosely resembled those often found in Immortal Guardians’ homes, it couldn’t be more different. This one was aboard an enormous Lasaran warship that currently hurtled through space at mind-blowing speeds, carrying her across the galaxy. A computer panel that doled out refreshments to thirsty warriors in response to verbal commands adorned one wall. And—
The door abruptly slid up.
As Simone glanced toward it, a small silver globe zipped into the room like a floating tennis ball. The door slid down, shutting her inside with it. Her eyes widened.
A Bex-7 stun grenade? “Merde!”
She swung her sword.
Bright white light filled the room, blinding her. Her body froze mid-swing, muscles locking as electricity crackled through her, making her brain feel like it was boiling inside a cauldron.
Pain seared her for several interminable seconds. Then the light dimmed, the energy surging through her ceased, and Simone toppled to the floor like a fallen statue. Her hand clenched convulsively around the katana’s handle.
The door rose, allowing a hulking male to enter. He must have been at least six and a half feet tall to her five feet five and packed a ton of muscle. His skin tone labeled him a Yona warrior. Tan with a hint of gray, it almost looked as if someone had used photo editing software to desaturate his image. Dark brown, formfitting pants and a matching shirt with a leathery texture hugged his big body. A lightweight vest that served as astoundingly efficient body armor protected his chest and back. Multiple weapons—advanced firearms of various sizes and numerous blades—adorned the rest of him.
Gritting her teeth against the pain, Simone stared up at him as he moved to stand over her. He wore his jet-black hair shorn close to his head. The dark pupils and gray irises in his emotionless eyes were larger than a human’s, almost eclipsing all of the white as he studied her.
“M-merde,” she said again.
His face remained an expressionless mask, not that she expected otherwise. Yona warriors were incapable of feeling emotion.
With preternatural speed, she swung a leg and swept his feet out from under him. In the second it took him to hit the floor, she lunged up onto her knees, filched one of his daggers, and drove it down toward his chest, stopping an inch away from making contact.
No fear filled his features. Neither did chagrin or dismay. “The Bex-7s do not affect you,” he said stoically. “Feigning injury was a wise strategy.”
Smiling, Simone backed off a bit and drew his attention to how vigorously the hand holding the dagger shook. “Oh, it affects me.” When she rose stiffly to her feet, she felt every bit her age. “That hurt like a bitch,” she groaned, arching her back. “But now I know I can still function if a Gathendien ever hurls one at me. Thank you, Valok.”
The Yona warrior issued an abrupt nod as he rose. “Your argument for wanting to test one on yourself was a compelling one.” That argument being that a good warrior prepared for any eventuality.
While the Lasarans were a peaceful people with many friends in the Aldebarian Alliance, there were untrustworthy and warlike aliens. Understanding the weapons those unsavory characters might employ made sense. Unfortunately, her many attempts to coax a Lasaran into hitting her with a Bex-7 so she would know whether or not it would incapacitate her the way it would a mortal had met with refusal. All had been too worried they might hurt her.
The Yona, however, didn’t feel emotion. They weren’t plagued by worry and would feel no guilt after the fact. They knew only duty and logic. So when she’d cornered Valok and asked him to hit her with a Bex-7, he had viewed it purely from the standpoint of a warrior determined to win all future battles.
She smiled as her body swiftly shook off the effects of the stun grenade. “You get bonus points for catching me off guard.”
He tilted his head to one side as though trying to discern her meaning. “Bonus points?” The translator chips implanted in Lasaran and Yona brains didn’t always translate Earth slang correctly.
Simone lacked one of the fascinating translator chips. When she had transformed, the vampiric virus had basically destroyed her immune system, then taken its place like a symbiotic organism. And the damn thing had viewed the translator chip the Lasarans tried to implant in her head as shrapnel and pushed it right back out again.
Talk about pain.
As a result, she had to wear a translator that fit in her ear like an earbud instead.
“That just means you did extra well by catching me off guard instead of giving me a warning.”
“Ah.” He motioned to the control panel on the wall. “If you still feel the effects, nutrient water will help.”
“Good to know. Thank you.” She crossed to the panel and pressed a button. “Two nutrient waters, please.”
A hum sounded, then the panel slid aside to reveal two full bottles.
Simone grabbed them both and held one out to Valok. “Join me?”
He took the bottle and held it without drinking while he watched her sit on the bench that lined one wall. “For what purpose?”
She shrugged. “So I can pester you with more questions.”
He sat beside her, his posture rigidly correct.
“I don’t suppose I could talk you into shooting me with a tronium blaster, could I?” She downed several swallows of water.
“Such a wound would draw notice and land me in the brig. I cannot perform my duties adequately while imprisoned.”
And duty was everything to the Yona.
She supposed she could understand that. What else was there when you had neither wants nor desires?
Simone watched him empty his bottle in a few strong swallows. “What’s it like?” she couldn’t resist asking when he finished.
“Getting shot with a blaster?” He set the bottle aside. “It is painful.”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, I guessed that much. I meant, what’s it like not to feel any emotion?” The concept was one she couldn’t grasp. As an empath, she had not only dealt with her feelings all her life. The emotions of others had also bombarded her.
“I have nothing to which I can compare it,” he stated.
When she had first encountered Yona warriors, she had thought them some kind of highly advanced robots. They were that emotionless. “Do you… regret not being able to feel emotion?” she asked softly.
He shook his head. “Regret is an emotion. Emotion is a weakness. Soldiers cannot adequately perform their duties when hampered by weakness.” He said it like a student reciting something a teacher had drilled into him over and over again.
Which had probably been the case.
“You have no curiosity? No desire to know what emotion feels like?”
“Emotion is a—”
“Weakness. Right. But that’s not necessarily true. On Earth, there have been instances in which emotion gave ordinary humans extraordinary strength and enabled them to do things they otherwise would not have been able to… like a father single-handedly lifting a car to free his son who had been hit and was trapped beneath it.” Not that he knew what a car was. “That would be the equivalent of Prince Taelon lifting one of those sleek black fighter craft I saw in the hangers if it had landed on Abby.”
