This is a scene from my story SpyDog in USA TODAY bestselling
anthology, Pets in Space® 4!
Scene Set-Up
Rigel Blackline, a Network agent,
Sona, a legendary warrior-class Rathskian female (and his potential
enemy), and
Captain Garr, the gruff pilot
of their escape transport have a clash of cultures over breakfast.
Rigel’s
SpyDog partner, Maura, also puts in
her two cents.
[Edited slightly for context.]
Excerpt
“Excuse me, Captain. I’ve lost my
appetite.” Sona pushed away from the table and strode away so quickly, Rigel
felt the breeze of her passing.
As well as more than a little
regret.
Maura gave two sharp barks over
her shoulder as she trotted after Sona. “Mean
Rigel.”
Damn.
“Pretty harsh, boy,” Garr
muttered. “I don’t blame her for wanting to be elsewhere. What’s your issue
with her anyway?”
Rigel stared a hole in his
im-eggs. “I don’t have an issue with her.”
“To Hades you don’t,” Garr
jeered. “Planet of origin doesn’t make her an enemy. Or you a friend, for that matter. They have dissenters, same as our
side.”
“I’ll be keeping a close eye on
her, all the same.”
“Yeah.” Garr gave him a crafty
smile. “Kind of hard not to, isn’t it?”
Rigel shifted in his seat and
chugged what was left of his mug of kinna. Was Garr intentionally baiting him?
“One thing’s clear, though,” Garr
continued, adding more hot spice to his im-eggs. “She obviously doesn’t care
much for your company, if she skips a meal just to be away from you.”
Rigel stared at her untouched
plate. That hit home. His patronizing attitude hadn’t been called for and he’d
obviously stepped on her feelings. It wasn’t right that she hadn’t eaten,
especially after getting gigadam little to eat yesterday…and sharing the few
bites of her rations with him.
Okay, he was a complete jerk.
Rigel got up from the table and
took her full plate in hand. “I’ll take it to her.”
“You sure that’s a good idea,
boy?”
“It’s a good idea,” Rigel said
flatly then squared off with Garr. “But just for the record, you calling me ‘boy?’
That isn’t.”
Garr stopped chewing and narrowed
his eyes.
Rigel paused just long enough to
be sure he’d made his point then headed down the corridor to their shared
cabin, Sona’s breakfast in hand.
Just a reminder that Pets in Space® 4 will only be
available for a limited time, and then--*POOF!*--it’s gone forever! This hefty
volume of 13 original sci-fi romance stories will keep you in reading for days or weeks to come, since it’s the size
of FIVE full-length novels, and all for the price of a cup of coffee!
If you haven’t grabbed your copy
yet, you can find links and complete story blurbs here (once on the page, scroll down a bit for the blurbs and story info):
P.S. Already have it? Makes a great gift, too!
Give books for the holidays.
Have a wonderful week!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for chiming in! We love to see your comments. (All comments are moderated so spam can be terminated!)