Anthriel Read online

  Anthriel (Kanosian Warriors Book 1)

  by C.R Corbin

  Table of contents

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  More from the Author

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  Introduction

  How long has it been since i’ve been trapped in these treacherous caverns with him? A week? A month? After days of merely seeing glowing crystals and rock i’m beginning to think that I might be losing hope.

  He’s not though, he stares at me with the greatest sense of determination that I have ever seen. He swears that he shall protect me no matter the cost.

  Even now as I lay beneath him, the evidence of our love dripping out amongst the rocks and falling into this strange crystalline pool of water, while I laid there with my curves shining with sweat and my body twitching with the remnants of the pleasure that he had just bestowed upon me. He was so much stronger, so much thicker, so much more ravenous than a human male and I loved him for it.

  I can’t help but admire those muscles as they shine in the dim blue light of the water. I looked into those soft amber orbs and he brushed some hair away from my eyes before he leaned in and kissed me. I shiver slightly under his touch and am taken into his arms, the heat swelled in between my legs and he growls. I hear the monsters snarling in the distance, ready to claim our lives, but he would not allow even the slightest interruption.

  For I was his mate and he would claim me no matter the cost.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Cass

  It was a wonder how they had actually chosen me to be on this mission when I could barely pack everything on time. I overslept and forgot about my pack completely, hence why I was up in the middle of the Themian night placing clothes into my sack. We were headed for Medama, a moon right off of the third planet of this star system. It was a hotbed for research and exploration and the expedition that I was joining was going to be the first of any Kanosian and Human joint expeditions.

  And I have never even met a Kanosian before.

  "I should bring a book maybe....cream? God I don't know." I muttered to myself while piling the rest of my clothes into the bag. Outside my door I could hear one of my roommates bouncing on their heel, twisting and turning.

  "Who's there?" I asked.

  "Me!" a voice that I clearly recognized as Stephanie's, shouted.

  She bounces in and I glance her over before she plops down on the bed, right next to the bag that I was packing. She laid there and folded her hands over her stomach, glancing at me and grinning.

  "What?" I asked.

  "What do you mean what? You're not excited for this? Have you seen Kanosian men? They are to die for!" she declared and I rolled my eyes.

  "We're scientists. We aren't there to be drooling over some meatheads." I muttered before inwardly chiding myself for stereotyping the Kanosians as such.

  They were one of the first races that human had met when we rocketed off into the unknown. A proud warrior race that had a long and violent past as conquerors of a variety of civilizations. Relations were violent at first and then progressively cooled to a rather tense and distant relationship, but eventually there was a massive reform in their society and they became geared towards exploration instead. We almost had a war with them a few times since the first one, wars that I wasn't entirely sure we could have won with the military might of Kanosia.

  Their planet was mostly savannah with some forests. The origins of their species were derived from a similar stock to humans, bipedal hunters. Only in this case the Kanosians were even better. They could run nearly four times as fast, hurl weaponry with incredible accuracy and shatter stones with one swing of their hands. The downside to this was that they weren't as dexterous as humans. They were large, the men usually stood at around 7 feet tall and wielded an assortment of melee weaponry. They didn't really favor long range firearms, they were, for the most part, similar to humanity's idea of barbarians.

  The reforms came swiftly, however, and their entire species was restructured. Instead of constant warfare they began focusing on exploration, using their incredible physicality to study various planets and moons that would have been deemed unsuitable for any other species. Eventually relations grew warm enough to put on joint exercises between nearby human and Kanosian colonies to explore nearby planets or moons.

  And that was exactly the kind of mission that I was preparing for.

  The colony that the humans owned in this solar system was referred to as Themia, the Kanosian colony was the very next planet and was referred to as Groba. Trade and travel was common between our colonies so it wasn't like i've never seen a Kanosian before, at this point most of humanity was already well acquainted with their warrior counterparts and that led to......well over-enthusiastic admiration.

  "Come on you can't tell me you haven't thought about it. These research missions are basically just social get togethers to improve relations between our species, nothing more. So why are you so focused on the actual research? There hasn't been a paper published about that place for months!" she laughed and I shook my head, grabbing a bag of my toiletries and stuffing it in one of the backpack's small pockets.

  "Because we might just find something. Have you even been doing your reading on the place? Do you know about the disappearances that happened?" I asked her and she snorted, rolling her eyes.

  "Those? Really? They were ages ago!" she said to me.

  "Yeah like 20 years. That's nothing! There's something interesting about Medama i'm telling you. Between my research and the Kanosian warriors protecting us we might just find out what happened." I said, she folded her hands behind her head, her long black hair flowed over her arms as she sighed and glanced at me with her blue eyes.

  "Come on Cass, you know that it's just a bunch of urban legends to get kids scared. Enjoy yourself. All you focus on is research when you can do that when you get home. We'll only be there for a week and you could find someone in that time span." she muttered and I shook my head, glancing at her and tying my brown locks of hair back into a ponytail.

  "I think i'll pass." I remarked and turned on my heel, hoisting the bag up and testing its weight before she shoots up and smiles.

  "Well i've been in contact with one of our partners. His name is Koghu. Exotic right? He says that two of his friends are coming along! I call dibs on him but you can get either one of them so which one do you like?" she asked and held two photos out. They were these tall, broad, grey's skinned men with curved horns slipping out of their heads and fangs peeking out of their mouths. I frowned.

  "Not interested." I remarked and she pointed at the photo on the right, rolling her eyes and hollering.

  "Come on. Tell me you don't like this guy. He looks like the type of men you're into." she said and I gazed at the photo, looking at the caption of the phone screen and reading his name.

  Anthriel.

  #

  Anthriel

  "Come on brother, time to go." said Koghu as I nearly rolled off my bedroll. I spring to my feet and stand at attention, the flickering fluorescent lights gleaming against the stone walls. I gazed at him and shook myself awake.

  "I'm up, i'm up....." I muttered and crawled towards my chest, dragging out the bag that I was planning on using, a simple sack that I could sling over my shoulder.

  "
Forget to pack?" he asked me, raising an eyebrow as his golden eyes surveyed the situation. His tan skin gleams softly in the light and his black horns shine as the fluorescent light flickered down onto his face.

  "Get off my back about it. We don't need much you know that." I muttered. He did have a point thought, for a warrior that was getting ready to enter the higher ranks of the military here I was pretty inattentive with how I traveled.

  I dragged my chest out from under my bunk and slip out my clothing. A simple blue tunic and pants would suffice. I place a little disk on my chest and press a button before the shells of blue armor slide over my chest and my back, covering my grey body in a gleaming carapace. And last but not least my weapon, my trusty axe. I dragged the large metal pole out and glanced at the large cylinder on the end of it. I pressed a button on the handle and the cylinder opened up, the blade of my axe popping out from the folded cylinder and forming into that familiar shape that I have used on countless expeditions before to slay marauders and the like.

  "All done?" asked Koghu and I nodded.

  "Practically." I muttered and got to my feet, slinging the pack over my shoulder. I allow the axe to hang from my back from a magnetic grip on my armor.

  "Good. We'll be leaving soon, come to the airfield as soon as you're ready." he stated and stepped away but I glanced after him.

  "So it's three humans right? No one else?" I asked and he nodded

  "That's right, three humans." he responded, he was close to leaving the bunk room, standing in the stone doorway that led out to the hallways of the base. He rests one of his forearms on the stone and turns back to me.

  "And all of them are female?" I asked.

  "Two of them are. One of them is male." he responded before smiling at the realization of what I was suggesting. "You plan on wooing one of them I take it? A grown man and accomplished warrior yet still hasn't found his mate at home, so you look to the humans?" he asked me and my eyes rolled. I bared my teeth and shake my head.

  "I'm just asking, don't get the wrong idea brother." I remarked and he laughed once more.

  "Oh don't worry, i'm not getting any wrong ideas." He said.

  He knew that it was a sore spot for me. There was never once a woman that I thought I would have mated with, not here on Groba at least. A Kanosian was supposed to found his mate once he came of age and usually that meant about 25 Kanosian years which was approximately 30 human earth years yet....it never came. I knew the true nature of these expeditions, how they were just social excursions really. I held out hope that a Kanosian female would be joining us but after that didn't come to fruition....I thought about the humans.

  Was that even possible? God I was desperate sounding wasn't I?

  I grab my pack and sling it over my shoulder, stepping closer and closer to the doorway as I pulled out my communicator and looked over the message board that had been established for our group. Basically only two people really used it, Koghu and a human girl by the name of Stephanie. She wasn't the one I was focused on however, that belonged to the other woman, Cassandra. She had no photo so I constantly wondered as to how she actually looked and held onto some foolish hope that she might be the one....but this was stupid. I was a warrior! Not some variety of flora! I shouldn't be fretting over romance! This was ridiculous! I turn off the communicator and slipped it back into the pockets of my armor before stepping out, gazing at the bright yellow sun that fell upon Groba as the cool breeze swept over my face and I stepped onto the golden grass. Koghu and Losil were standing in the distance waving at me, I approached with a smile and an ounce of excitement lingering in my heart for the journey that was about to come.

  #

  Cass

  I stood outside with her, waiting on the porch of our house for our ride from the other researcher that was going to be coming with us. An older gentleman by the name of Frank. I rest my hands on the smooth wood and gaze out amongst the garden, the grass was shining with morning dew. I swore terraforming was freaky nowadays, they could convert a planet into an Earthlike environment within the span of about a month. We lived in one of the many metropolitan areas here, this one was called Fjora. It was housed in the mountains with ample rainfall and a mild temperature all year round. Heaven in physical form. I was born and raised on another city on the other side of the planet, a seaside town called Quecoza, never really rained as much there as it did here. My folks were from there as well, still lived there in fact.

  "So where are we landing?" Stephanie asked me and I only chuckled. She spent so much time obsessing who we were travelling with that she never gave any thought as to what we were actually going to do.

  We were landing on one of the craggy rock formations on Medama and were going to basically go caving. There were several large openings that were quite moist and so most scientists thought there would be a lush amount of life down there, more than we had already discovered at least. We were going to be sent to scan for any new life forms and take some notes on the geography of Medama but to be honest....Stephanie was kind of right. The more I thought about it the more it actually seemed like a waste of time. When I relayed this conversation to her she suddenly remembered. Thank god she remembered to pack the right gear at least, hiking boots and all.

  "I've been thinking though.....You really have never been with a guy before have you?" she asked me and my eyes widened.

  "What are you talking about?" I asked her and she giggled.

  "You know what I mean. You've never been with a man before." she stated and I raised an eyebrow.

  "And this has to do with the fact that our partners for this trip are Kanosian and male?" I asked her with an exasperated expression.

  "Don't you think you should get out of your shell? You're almost 30 for christ's sake." she said and I shook my head.

  "Haven't thought about it for one second." I said and she smiled.

  "Oh yes, the perennial grad student. What if you end up dying alone? You don't want a family?" she asked.

  "Then why don't you have one?" I asked her with a smile and she immediately blushed before turning away. I raised my chin to bask in the sweet moment of silence that I had been granted before I heard my phone ring. I took out the little microchip and announced "answer" as a hologram of my parents popped up. Stephanie got in the frame of the camera that was filming me and I smiled as my mom and dad slipped into frame.

  "Hey guys!" chirped my mom and I grinned.

  "Hey mom, getting ready to leave soon. How's it going?" I asked.

  "Oh we just wanted to call to see how you were doing, worried for you and all. Your father has been stressing all morning." she explained and I laughed.

  "Don't worry! We're going with some Kanosians!" sung Stephanie before I elbowed her and basically begged her with my eyes not to reveal any more details.

  "Oh is that so?" my mother asked and my father chuckled.

  "Yeah I hear these things are just like play dates. Think one of them might be the one Cass?" my dad asked and I shook my head with an embarrassed smile.

  "Why are you guys so insistent on finding me someone?! Gosh!" I said in exasperation.

  "Just teasing honey. Take some photos alright? Make sure you bring a water baton." my mother said and I nodded as I saw the hovercraft getting closer and closer. I gazed out at the asphalt as a tussle of black and grey hair approached. I sighed and got in the car, waiting for Stephanie and my parents to continue to pester me about my social life.

  #

  Anthriel

  I stand on one of the boulders and look out amongst the rocks of Medama. This planet was so dry, so barren yet directly underneath the crust there was reported to be an abundance of water and possibly life as well. Too bad most people just passed it off as being another cave unworthy of exploration because the only life that was ever found was some common bacteria. Any journey lower than the surface level led to the same, just bacteria and that glowing organism that dwelled on the rocks here, feeding
off the moisture. They glowed a variety of colors but the most common was white, I could already see one of them fluorescing from the cave entrance.

  Now where were the humans?

  Losil and Koghu were already wandering around the caverns, gazing at the interior of the first of many caverns that we would be finding. The craggy rocks stretched on for what seemed like eternity behind us. Luckily we would be able to negotiate our way through most of the desert terrain as most of these crags weren't bunched together, they were separated, split up into a variety of caverns that led to....well no one really knew where they led because no one really cared enough.

  "They're here!" I shouted back as I saw the craft flow through the veil of the blue sky before landing in front of us. I gazed at the three figures that jumped out, two women and one man. I clicked the translator embedded in my ear before stepping forward. They gradually approached and I reached out with my hand to greet each of them, as did my brothers.

  The first one that approached was a girl named Stephanie. She was as every bit as enthusiastic as I would have thought she would have been. She had a certain bounce in her step and seemed to be rather infatuated with Koghu to an extent that I didn't even think he expected.

  The second was an older man named Frank, he seemed to be much more professional than Stephanie and only exchanged a few words with me before departing. I didn't give those two any thought but the third human...

  "Hello, i'm Cassandra." she stated.

  I gazed at her for a while and thanked the gods that this moon had a liveable atmosphere so I could see every inch of her. She was wearing a lab coat and a white gown underneath, I could see the hint of her curves as I gazed at her buttocks and her chest. I stared into those blue eyes, that brown hair flickering over her forehead while her pale skin shone in the sun. I take her hand in mine and run my fingers along her palm, feeling every inch of that warm skin and shivering in her presence. She was so beautiful. I stood about two heads taller than her and yet she could break me down with a glance. I had to have her, I had to-