Star's Storm: Lords of Kassis Book 2

B
y
S. E. Smith

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my husband Steve for
believing in me and being proud enough of me to give me the courage
to follow my dream. I would also like to give a special thank you
to my sister and best friend Linda who not only encouraged me to
write but who also read the manuscript.

—S. E. Smith

IMPRINT: Erotic Romance

STAR’S STORM: LORDS OF KASSIS BOOK 2

Copyright © 2010 by Susan E. Smith

First E-Book Publication January 2013

Smashwords
Edition

Cover Design by Dara England
/
Melody
Simmons

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book are fictitious or have been used fictitiously and are not to
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Synopsis

Star Strauss has always been a fighter. From
the time she was born prematurely to her life on the road as a
circus performer. She has never let her small stature keep her from
achieving her dreams. She is one of the best aerial performers in
the world. Her love of being up high and flying free has helped her
overcome the challenges she faces when she is on the ground. Only
her circus family, her sister, and her best friend have ever really
understood her need for freedom. Her life changes when she finds
herself on a distant world where every creature seems to tower over
her.

Jazin Ja Kel Coradon is the third son of the
ruling House of Kassis. He is known not only for his skills as a
fierce warrior but for his knowledge of communication, security,
and weapons systems. This knowledge has increased the effectiveness
of the Kassis defenses protecting their world from attack from a
new group of rebels who threaten their very existence. He will
fight until his last breath to protect his people.

His life changes when he meets a tiny
creature who is unlike anything he has ever seen. She is tiny,
delicate, and beautiful. The problem is she is also the strongest,
most stubborn female he has ever met. She refuses to do what he
tells her, she defies him at every turn, and doesn’t seem to
understand that all he wants to do is protect her. If he could just
get her to stay in the nice safe bubble he has created for her, his
life would be so much simpler!

Star had enough of people back home trying
to put her in a glass box, she wasn’t about to let anyone on an
alien world try to put her in one! When the man she loves is
kidnapped, she will do what she does best. She will use her skills
as a performer to rescue him from the men determined to extract the
information they need to bring down the Kassis defense system
before they kill him.

Sometimes being small has its advantages. The
enemy never expects a pint-size female to have the strength of a
warrior and a stubborn warrior is about to find out he has a
partner who can stand tall with him in the face of danger.

Star stared up at the glittering stars as a
sense of peace settled over her. She was surprised. She thought
dying would hurt but she didn’t feel any pain at all anymore. Her
body was no longer trembling from the cold that had engulfed it
only moments earlier. Now, she couldn’t feel the shivers raging
through her tiny body. She could hear her sister’s tearful voice
begging her to hang on. She could hear her best friend and
surrogate sister, River, saying something in the background but
none of it mattered any more. All that mattered was the sense of
peace that was settling over her.

She stared up at the two moons in the dark
sky. She frowned slightly. Why were there two of them? The Earth
only had one moon. Her mind fought sluggishly to remember.

Oh yeah,
Star remembered vaguely.
I’m not on Earth anymore. I’m on Kassis.

The frown cleared only to be replaced with a
feeling of deep sorrow as a name whispered across her mind…
Jazin.
The thought of leaving him caused a sharp pain to
blossom inside her that had nothing to do with the injuries to her
small body. A single tear escaped the corner of her eye and ran
down until it fell into the soft blond hair fanning out around her.
She heard her sister’s anguished cry as darkness descended around
her. Star felt her heart stutter as though it was actually breaking
for the love she was leaving behind. As if from a great distance,
she faintly heard Jo’s cry echo quietly through the night as her
eyes slowly drifted closed.

“No! Damn it, Star!” Jo choked out as she
desperately tried to stem the blood flowing from the wound to her
little sister’s side. “You hang on! You are a fighter! You will not
give in, damn you! You will not leave me here alone!”

“Let me take her.” A hissing voice suddenly
whispered out of the darkness of the night. “She must be taken to
medical immediately.”

Jo turned her head to stare at the huge
creature burying its sharp claws into the stone pillar she and Star
were perched on. Madas Tal Mod was the mate of the Leader of the
Tearnats, a reptilian alien species that had kidnapped her and
Star. Jo gazed at the creature for a moment before she glanced down
at her sister’s pale, peaceful face. She looked back up at Madas
with pleading eyes. Her voice, thick with tears, was barely above a
whisper.

“Please, you have to help her,” Jo begged,
looking into the black eyes of the creature.

“Let me take her. She will survive,” Madas
Tal Mod replied in a soft hissing voice. “It is not time for the
little warrior to leave our world yet.”

Jo watched helplessly as Madas gently picked
up Star’s limp body and cradled it against her tightly. Madas used
her powerful back legs and tail to help grip the pillar as she
climbed back down it. She refused to believe the Gods would call
this little warrior home to their world. There were still too many
dangers that needed to be dealt with and the strength and heart of
this tiny warrior from another world was still needed.

Madas jumped that last few feet to the
ground making sure she cushioned the body held in her arms. She
didn’t wait to see if the other warrior followed. There wasn’t
enough time. Already she could hear the little warrior’s heart
struggle to beat. She moved rapidly through the dark gardens
situated between the four Houses of Kassis. The battle tonight had
taken quite a few lives, both enemy and allied. Madas was
determined that the one in her arms would not be another.

She burst into the South House, hissing out
for directions to medical. She was just about to turn when a savage
roar echoed through the corridor leading from the gardens into the
main hallway. Wild eyes met hers briefly before they dropped to the
precious body in her arms.

“She needs help immediately,” Madas said.
“Lead, I will carry her. It is best not to move her any more than
necessary. I hear her heart struggling.”

Jazin stared grimly at the large Tearnat.
Every fiber in him wanted to rip the tiny body out of her arms and
into his but he knew she was right. Forcing himself to turn away,
he roared for everyone to clear a path and took off at a run for
the medical unit shouting into his link that he needed the healers
to be prepared immediately. He burst through the door just a
millisecond before Madas. He watched as the healers, who had been
waiting, quickly instructed Madas to lower Star’s small figure onto
the regenerative bed before they disappeared through another set of
doors. He moved to follow them. He was stopped by Madas’ large,
claw-shaped hand that was gripping his forearm tightly.

Jazin swung around pulling his laser sword.
“Let them care for her,” the soft voice hissed in compassion. “You
will only be in their way. Give them time to stabilize her before
you go. Give yourself time to calm so you can be strong for her,”
Madas said looking down into Jazin’s eyes.

Jazin swallowed several times trying to get
control of his rage and fear. His eyes shifted to the doors and
back to the huge Tearnat holding him. He knew she was right. He
would not be of use to Star in the condition he was in. He would
only get in the way. But… his eyes went back to the door.

“I cannot lose her,” he said harshly.

“It is not her time yet,” Madas said
confidently. “Your little warrior has much to do still. This is
simply a test by the Gods to see if she has the strength needed to
face the battles still yet to come. She is strong. She will not
fail such a simple challenge. Believe in her strength and you will
find she is truly as much a warrior as you are. She will be a mate
who can stand by your side, not in your shadow,” Madas hissed out
quietly.

Jazin looked at Madas and slowly lowered his
blade. “I can only pray that you are right,” he replied. “But, know
this. If she survives, I will never let her be exposed to danger
again. I will protect her and care for her even if I have to lock
her away to do so. Never again will I let anyone hurt her. On this
I swear,” Jazin declared passionately.

Madas chuckled as she watched the fierce
determination settle onto Jazin Ja Kel Coradon’s face. “Be careful
what you say, Lord Jazin. There are some forces in the universe you
cannot control. And some of them come in very small packages.”

Star relaxed further down under the covers.
She was having the most wonderful dream. She was flying through the
air. Her dad was watching her, coaching her, laughing excitedly as
she caught the bar he had swung out for her to catch. She could
feel his and her mom's arms wrap tightly around her in excitement
when she landed on the platform next to them.

The dream began to change. She wasn't a
little girl any more. Walter, the manager of the circus, was
introducing her, Jo, and River. She could feel the huge horse under
her picking up speed as she entered the center ring. Tonight she
was going to perform a new act. It was one of the most challenging
she had ever done and the first time she was the star of the show.
Jo and River would back her up if she needed it but she was
confident she wouldn't have any problems. It had taken Walter to
finally convince her parents that she could do this. Star was small
for sixteen, barely reaching five feet in her bare feet. Even then,
she towered over Walter's three and a half foot frame. It was
Walter who Star turned to when she became afraid she couldn't do
something. He never gave her any sympathy. He pushed her to believe
in herself and her natural talents. He made her feel as tall as any
of the other performers.

The dream was changing again, pulling her
away from her circus family. Colors swirled around her as if she
was falling through the White Rabbit's hole only to end up in Oz.
Bits and pieces of her life flashing through her mind in a
kaleidoscope of images, sounds, and colors. It made her dizzy as
they flitted through her mind.

Now she was at the condo she and Jo owned in
Orlando. She was mad! She felt the overwhelming anger burning
through her. She had heard a group of other performers, including
the guy she was dating, making fun of her size. He was telling the
others that he was only dating her so he could get close to some of
the contacts she had in the entertainment business. He joked that
being with her was like hanging out with his kid sister. She wasn't
much bigger, either! The others made snide remarks, wanting to know
if he had bedded the 'baby'. He had jokingly told them he tried but
he didn't fit in the crib she slept in. She was about to give him a
piece of her mind again when she was pulled away into the misty
swirling colors again. She spun around floating upward until she
reached another time in her life.

Now, she was at the cabin in the mountains
she had rented for her, Jo, and River. She and Jo were talking
excitedly about what they were going to do once River joined them.
It had been almost a year since they were able to get together with
River Knight, their best friend and adopted sister. The three of
them had grown up together traveling with the circus. They were
inseparable growing up and they missed her so much since they had
stopped traveling. Life on the road had lost some of its glamor for
Jo and Star after their parents retired. They still performed in a
circus doing their death-defying aerial stunts but they did it
without moving around. When their parents retired to Florida, Jo
and Star had stayed with the circus family they had grown up with
for a couple years before joining Circus of the Stars in Orlando,
Florida. Here they expanded their performances to include aerial
stunts mixed with incredible special effects.