Here’s the link to the Weekend Writing Warriors central page, so you can visit all the participants sharing excerpts today…a fun way to sample new books and find new authors! (Also welcome to the Sunday Snippet visitors!)

May be edited a bit from published version.

I’m Taking excerpts from my new release KYDEN: BADARI GLADIATORS SERIES BOOK ONE.

The excerpt, from the beginning of the book, after Kyden went to investigate an outcry in the gladiators’ assembly room and found two women who say their presence is a mistake. He takes the girls to his cell. As the top gladiator in the Five Systems, he has more of a room than most and a private bathroom. Continuing on from last week:

“Stand aside, barbarian,” said the officer in charge. “Or be shot. And if you’ve touched a hair on the heads of the senator’s daughters, you’ll wish you’d never been born.”

I wasn’t born—I was created in a lab. With wry amusement, Kyden raised his hands to show he intended no resistance and allowed the security troops to shove him against the wall and hold him there at gunpoint. He could have killed all of them with ease but he recognized the insignia of the Vasclavian House on the uniforms and Elara wasn’t acting upset.

Although she was reading the officer the riot act for mistreating him.

“This man saved my sister and me from injury tonight,” she said fast and furiously, shaking her finger in the officer’s face so hard he retreated a step. “How dare you allow your guards to rough him up?”

“Lady Elara, doubtless the ruffian had his own unsavory plans for you,” the officer said. “None of these people can be trusted.”

Kyden heard Erment’s voice from the hall. “My Death Dealer is an honorable man. If he came to the aid of the ladies he’s to be commended although I don’t understand why they were here at all tonight. If you wanted a tour of the facility, my lady, it could have been arranged quite easily for a more appropriate time.”

Clever Erment, giving them all an out. Kyden admired his owner’s quick thinking but then Erment was a weasel-like character, quick on his feet.

The security officer was agreeing now, taking the Gladiator Master’s lead. “Yes, a huge misunderstanding. I’m sure the Senator will appreciate your staff having accommodated the unusual request. But of course we won’t speak of it further, will we?”

This last was addressed to Kyden, still being held against the wall with blaster barrels pressed into his back. He chose to remain silent although he wished desperately to turn around and have one more glimpse of Elara as she walked out of his life again, leaving it and him in a shambles.

VS: Next week we’ll jump ahead to the arena…

KYDEN: BADARI GLADIATORS SERIES BOOK ONE by Veronica Scott

Kyden is the top ranked gladiator in the Five Systems but he’s hardly there by choice. Unscrupulous guards faked his death in the lab where he was created and sold him into slavery in the galaxy’s hinterlands. He has no idea where his home is or how many years have passed since he was condemned to a life of endless combat. Kill or be killed is the rule and a Badari never gives up. He’ll fight to stay alive until the Badari goddess sees fit to decree his death.

Elara Vasclavian is the daughter of a senator, as far removed from the life of a gladiator as a noblewoman can be until through the machinations of a political enemy, she ends up in terrible jeopardy. Abducted and given to a group of drunken gladiators for their amusement the night before the games, Elara vows to put up a fight but there’s no real hope of saving herself. Until Kyden steps in, responding to the goddess’s commandment to protect those who are smaller and weaker. And discovers she’s his fated mate.

Rescued, Elara returns to her life of privilege but she can’t forget the man who saved her life. The gulf between their places in the Five Systems is unbridgeable, no matter how much Kyden longs for even a glimpse of her in the arena audience. No matter how much she feels the pull to be by his side. As matters stand, they cannot be together…Or can they?

KYDEN is the first book in a new series, spun off from my ongoing Badari Warriors series. Kyden is a Generation Five Badari whereas the main characters in the long running series are from a later time and are Generation Eight. This new series stands alone and you don’t have to have read any of the other books to enjoy this one. I couldn’t resist the temptation to tell a few other Badari stories, set in the galaxy’s Hinterlands, and who can resist gladiators?

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