Blog Tour, Excerpt & Giveaway:
The Alien Infiltrator
By Eryn Ivers
Interspecies Alliances, Book 3
“He gets under my skin like a splinter. Like shrapnel.”
Leon Hess has just started a war. As the Resistance’s new leader, the only thing that matters to him is driving out the Klah’Eel forces that have occupied his home for decades. He will do whatever it takes, pay whatever cost, deploy whatever tool he must.
But his best tool, the one that makes everything possible, is also the man he can’t bear to look in the eye.
Sebastian is a torvar—a parasitic worm physically capable of body-hopping at will and morally capable of body-stealing with impunity. As the most hated and feared of all races, instead of living a quiet life hiding his nature, Sebastian chose to out himself and use his considerable skills to fight for the land he loves.
But no matter how hard he works himself or how often he risks his life for his country, for the Resistance, for Leon Hess, the man won’t even acknowledge him!
As the war rages around them, Leon and Sebastian will be forced to settle their differences, to form an unstoppable team, and to sacrifice more than they ever imagined.
The Alien Infiltrator is Book 3 in the Interspecies Alliances series and features pining, power dynamics, and plot. It takes place right after—like, right after—The Alien Bodyguard and contains cameos and spoilers for the Bodyguard’s couple (and its big plot twist).
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Excerpt:
“THE SMOKE-SMELL IS NEVER GOING to come out of this room.”
Leon Hess rolled out his map of Southern Tava onto the huge, sturdy table in the center of the room. “Open a window, then.”
“Yeah, obviously, but that’s not going to be enough.” Joan picked her way through busted furniture and chunks of plaster and threw open all the windows she could reach—even the broken ones.
Leon ignored her and grabbed a few things to weigh down the curling edges of his map: half a chair leg, a couple hunks of rock, the used canister of a smoke grenade. Once the map was spread out beneath him, he surveyed it with his hands braced on the table. He pulled a red pencil from his pocket and tapped it a few times on the wooden surface. He took a deep breath, swallowed, stood up straight, pulled his shoulders back, and then tapped it a few more times on his palm.
“Did you cross it off yet?” Garrett strode into the room, and his exuberant voice with his still-there rural accent bounced off the bullet-pock-marked walls. He had a cut over his forehead that had been bandaged but needed to be redressed.
Leon shook his head. “Not yet. I was just about to.”
“It’s just a mark on a paper, Garrett.” Joan tsked but still came to watch as Leon again leaned over the old map—marked up with various colors of lines, Xs, circles, and words—and poised his pencil over the dot labeled Ralscoln.
Then Leon slowly and deliberately circled the city and wrote: Retaken.
Garrett let out a whoop, and even Leon allowed himself a small, tense smile. He stared at the words for a second, letting them sink in.
Joan put her hand on his shoulder. “We did it.”
Leon showed her a slightly less tense smile and nodded. “For now.”
Garrett clapped his hand down on Leon’s other shoulder and stared at the map with a grin. “Finally! Well, this was fun. I gotta go see about the barricade.”
“Garrett,” Leon called to him before he left. “See who of the soldiers are ready to move to the front. We can only give them another day of rest. This is just getting started.”
That sobered even Garrett. The younger man nodded crisply and disappeared out the ruined doorway.
Joan sighed and moved around to the other side of the table. They both trailed their eyes up to the northern edge of the map, and eventually, Leon pointed to the numerous small circles in green ink dotted throughout the continent.
“What’s the status of all the orbital and atmospheric guns?”
“We managed to take maybe eighty percent of them?” Joan pulled a pen from her pocket and started making small marks next to some of the circles. “So we don’t exactly have air superiority, but we can definitely blast any Klah’Eel ships out of the sky that get within Southern Tava air or orbit space.”
Leon raised his brows and nodded. “That’s better than I expected.”
“Yeah, I was pretty proud of us, actually.”
“And what about all the other cities?”
“No surprises there.” Joan pulled out another color and started marking the continent’s scattered small cities and towns. They were numerous but minor—Ralscoln far outstripped them all in size. “The Klah’Eel in each one with a Resistance cell will be too busy fighting our people to help out the main force. And any of the cities without a Resistance cell never had enough Klah’Eel to be a problem anyway.”
Leon watched her mark which cities had the most fighting and which were already primarily held by them or the Klah’Eel. The people in the cities outside of the main thrust of the war would simply have to hang on and hope for the end of it. But Leon knew from experience that hanging on was never simple.
Leon turned his attention to the line of cities along Southern Tava’s northern border. “Tell me about the cities at the front.”
Joan tapped her finger over Yol, Kaston, and Loral.
“Yol doesn’t have enough food stockpiled to defend against a siege—some of it got ruined when a ship’s water tank leaked,” she said. “And Loral doesn’t have enough ships to support an evacuation if we lose it.”
Leon nodded and knocked a knuckle against the table’s wood as he leaned over his map. He glanced up at Joan when she didn’t continue. “And what about Kaston?”
Joan made a face. “There’s just…some interesting intel coming out of Kaston.”
Leon straightened. “What sort of interesting intel, Joan?”
“Some of the inventory numbers don’t line up.” She crossed her arms and pursed her lips. “Some of the operations have been randomly foiled by a stray patrol. Things like that.”
Leon’s jaw clenched. “Traitor.”
“No evidence.”
“But you have a bad feeling.”
Joan nodded. “I do. I want to send Sebastian.”
Leon’s heart jumped, and a sensation skittered over his skin as though his entire body had been jolted by electricity just by the sound of that name. He shoved the excitement out of the way and internally scowled at his reaction. “Alright. When he gets back. What else do you have for me?”
“That’s it for now. I need to go see how my agents are settling in. We found the security room, so we’ll set up base there.”
“Good. I’ll be in the barracks.”
Joan left, and Leon took another few moments to stare down at the map and the red mark he had just made over Ralscoln. He shouldn’t have been the one to make that mark or to order their black flag hoisted over this building. He shouldn’t have been the one to claim the capital of Southern Tava for the Resistance.
It should have been the former owner of this map. It should have been Farlon.
And it should be Farlon that would stand on that balcony two doors down that looked out over the courtyard and announce their victory over the invaders…once it finally came.
Leon swallowed around the lump in his throat. But it hadn’t been, and it wouldn’t be, and it all fell on Leon now. And he was doing it.
He pulled his shoulders back and strode out of their new war room and into the grand hallway. The capitol building of Ralscoln, and indeed the entire city, was grand for what had once been a largely forgotten frontier city of the Human species state. It spoke to the pride of its inhabitants. Their pride in their sovereignty, and their ability, and their independence.
It had survived the Klah’Eel invasion and occupation, largely intact, and remained a symbol of the people who had been here before and were still here.
And it would survive the Resistance taking it back.
Leon surveyed it as he walked to the office wing they had converted into a barracks. The damage was cosmetic, not structural. As soon as they repelled the Klah’Eel’s attempts to retake the continent and established their independence on the intergalactic stage, Leon would make sure they poured resources into reestablishing this symbol.
Leon was ruminating on that day and what it would take to get there as he crossed the courtyard of the U-shaped building when he caught sight of a figure by the barricade entrance. He stopped short, as though a string attached to his chest had pulled taut at the sight of that figure and prevented him from going anywhere but toward it.
The physical body didn’t draw him in—Leon found the sight of the klah’eel former governor of Southern Tava repellent—but the way it moved. Leon would recognize that grace, that cocked hip, those rapidly moving hands, and that toss of the chin anywhere. They dragged him in like a moth to a flame.
Check out Books 1 & 2 in the Interspecies Alliances Series
Book 1: The Alien Emissary
The metal tentacles tightened around Bryant’s wrists and for the first time in years he finally felt...safe.
When Bryant Harrison breaks into the ship of a powerful Qeshian emissary, he knows he might get caught. But he needs the money to save his daughter, and for her anything is worth the risk.
What Bryant doesn’t know is that Emissary Serihk can see everything that happens on his ship, and he’s got enough flex metal tentacles packed into its every nook and cranny to do something about it.
But when Serihk has Bryant bound and kneeling on the floor, the feelings the human brings out in him are far from vengeful...
The Alien Emissary is the prologue novella that kicks off Interspecies Alliances! Every book in the series features its own couple with a galaxy-spanning plot arc linking them altogether. Best read in order!
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Book 2: The Alien Bodyguard
Scarred lips resting on polished tusks...horned eyebrows over electric orange eyes… He was breathtaking.
Oliver Turner has been given one last chance to regain his rightful position by his father’s side running the family corporation, but he can’t keep his eyes off his klah’eel bodyguard. Oliver wants the man with an intensity that both scares and shocks him, and he’s terrified of letting the desire pass him by after being so afraid for so long that he’d never desire a man again. But Oliver has spent his whole life chasing the love and approval of his father, and he can’t let that slip through his fingers when he’s so close.
Captain Mal’ik can’t believe that the yearning, longing scent pouring from the beautiful human man he’s been assigned to protect is for him. Mal’ik has been a soldier for decades and bears the proof of it in his mangled face and metal arm, surely the prissy, brilliant young man can’t want him of all people. And yet, the way Oliver Turner looks at Mal’ik makes him feel like he could be so much more than just the scarred tool of an empire.
As Oliver and Mal’ik wrestle with their surprising and unfamiliar feelings, the tense political situation surrounding them explodes into chaos. They will both be forced to make choices they never thought they’d make. Is it even possible for them to choose each other?
The Alien Bodyguard is a steamy M/M romance with an HEA, set directly after the events of The Alien Emissary. Reading Emissary isn’t required but it is highly encouraged, as Bodyguard does contain spoilers for Emissary, and includes all of Emissary’s main characters.
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Enter the Giveaway:
To celebrate the release of The Alien Infiltrator, Eryn is giving away an e-set of Interspecies Alliances Series so far (3 eBooks)!
Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for your chance to win!
Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/cc0f2a57612/?
About the Author
Eryn Ivers writes sci-fi and fantasy erotic romances about flawed men who have hot sex, feel too many things, and eventually live happily ever after.
She lives on the coast of California with her ridiculously lawful-good husband and chaotic-neutral cat.
Connect with Eryn:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erynivers_author/
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Website: erynivers.com
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