Fantasy Warrior by Jaylee Davis Read Free Book Online Page A

“Put these back on. The general won’t hesitate to execute you if you arrive at the ship without them.”
    Kord grunted in agreement. He took a couple wary steps toward Thoren, snatched them out of his hand, then backed away. With practiced movements, he strapped a restraint to each of his forearms.
    His new partner was correct. General Jernick would kill him for violating that particular rule. In Tauran society, warriors weren’t allowed to enter public areas without the restraints. On a battlecruiser they had to be worn at all times, under penalty of death. The only exception to the rule was when one used a cleansing unit. It came as no surprise to anyone that the warriors took advantage of their bath time, delaying as long as possible before having to wear the stiff leather bindings.
    “Morshant retrieved your forearm restraints and ordered the soldiers to collect your two kills. They’ll dispose of them.”
    Kord sneered in response. “There is another dead Krell behind this building.”
    “You killed another one?” Morshant cut in. “Gacking warriors! This was strictly a no-kill mission. Krell carcasses aren’t the only bodies the captain is going to jettison into space.”
    “The soldiers can collect another!” Thoren snarled irritably at the other male before he thrust his hand toward Kord again. A small metal disc rested on his palm. “Take this and place it on your chest. Deshak is with Morshant and he wants to run a medical scan to see if the drug is out of your system and to find out how far along you are.”
    Kord stepped to within a few paces of Thoren before he snatched the disc, then went back to the bench. He made sure his female remained sitting on the ground before he examined the small object. One side felt smooth to the touch while the other stuck to his fingers.
    “Don’t be so suspicious. It’s exactly what it looks like—a remote transmitter for medical purposes. It isn’t weaponized.”
    Kord snorted in obvious distrust, but he placed the disc onto the left side of his chest. All the while, he kept a watchful eye on his new partner.
    In times past, when there were not so many of his kind, mated warriors took the unmated ones as partners. They formed a fighting unit, training together to improve their fighting skills while developing their own secret sign language. In an ideal situation, Thoren would’ve been the mated one. Unmated warriors who found their mates needed the clear headed thinking of their partners to protect them during the vulnerable periods of latency and claiming lust.
    Afterward, the two mated warriors were required by clan law to end their partnership. The two would then choose unmated warriors as new partners. The system had worked until the Phase began. The birth rates of warrior-born infants had doubled and then tripled. Tauran male and female births had decreased. Too many warriors and too few females spelled disaster for the empire.
    In response, Tauran scientists had developed a suppressor drug called GenX2. It prevented the warriors from ever claiming a female. It worked as long as the doses were given in monthly intervals. The Tauran females were safe, and Tauran males and their mates went on with their lives. Eventually, the Phase had waned, and birth rates went back to normal. The older, unmated warriors who were all still in their prime were considered expendable and shipped off to the rim worlds along the border to battle the Alliance.
    The war had ended, and too many of Kord’s kind had survived. Extermination had been suggested by a few members of the high council, but the idea was rejected. Thanks to the Phase, a large number of Taurans had relatives who were warrior born. The warrior clan council on the fortress world and their counterparts at the citadel on Pella put forth an alternate solution.
    Many former sex slaves rescued by the empire had been claimed by warriors over the years. The females had all come from a planet located just within the