Blades of Arris: Atana Audiobook

Narrated by Thomas Locklear, Ri Page, and Robert Hatchet.

Yes, I’m all that stands between Earth and these brutal aliens.
But the night sky isn’t the only place that’s filled with darkness.
And I might be fragile as glass, but this glass holds oceans. Planets. Stars. 
Their obsessive leader, with his beautiful fractured eyes, will never make me break...

"My favorite so far. Fast paced and steamy. Love Atana and Lia's story. Love the crazy that are the engineers!" ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Reader

Read if you love:

• Primal Mating Mark/Bite💜
  
• Obsessive Hero⚔️
• Diverse Heroine🦋
• Spice 4 out of 5

"This is the fourth book in the Blades of Arris series. It's a fast-paced and standalone book that will keep you engaged from start to finish. There's action, adventure, drama, danger, suspense..." ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Reader

"This book was simply AMAZING!! I think one of the very best things about this addictive series is that each book and every new couple brings a breath of freshness with it and that helps keep you deeply invested, highly entertained and anxiously wanting more." ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Reader

Sample from Chapter 3:

(He's just saved her by taking a shot to the chest - I edited this a little but THIS SAMPLE IS STILL A BIT NSFW!!!)

~LIA~

Atana enters a smaller, very cluttered room, shoves aside a stack of crates with his shoulder, and sets me down on the edge of a crowded platform. The door closes like a portal of knives that stab into the center and melt into a textureless wall.

He sets a medical kit next to me, hooks a finger in his collar, and pulls down. The gray leatherlike fabric separates and falls off him, coiling at his feet, and revealing a nude male body.

Instantly, the ivy takes hold.

My arms itch.

He has gray skin, a medium build, and short black hair like all the others. Four small spikes form just past the top curve of his ears. Black lines are on his nail beds.

His [body part] looks small in comparison to his muscular thighs. I could hold it in one hand if I had a death wish. And thanks to the ivy, I do.

Black chevrons on his wrists mark the edges of his skin sheaths. They look smooth, ordinary forearm tattoos, until he peels one open, revealing the silver tip of his embedded weapon.

Dread squeezes my belly.

He’s a conqueror.

Musk hits my nose.

Male.

Physical pain unfurls within me [hunger] harsher than anything I’ve ever felt, and it winds tight, giving me pins and needles in my tender areas.

Oh, no.

I’ve never really tried to resist my urges. I’ve only delayed them slightly while searching for a compromise, and my body has been good about enduring the ivy’s pain until I can slot a man into my schedule.

But it’s been a long voyage on the all-female cruiser, and then in the escape pod. So long since that kidnapping, that distant law office. I must be a billion light-years from Humana now. What’s that in Arrisan standard units? Millions upon millions of actungs?

Atana rests his palm on the medical scanner. It chimes and displays a message in easy-to-read Arrisan Standard. Mild irradium burn. Neutralize with cream. He opens the medical kit and picks through the supplies.

A low rumble growls outside our small room. The ground trembles.

“Move faster, men,” Atana murmurs as he uncaps a tube.

I lean my thigh against the platform. “Is the ship going to blow up?”

His silver irises play across his injury, then the medical screen again. He’s not going to answer me. I’m only a lesser to him, a servant world resident. Nothing and nobody.

But then he murmurs, “Not if they get it contained in the next ten clicks.”

Ten clicks until the end of the world.

Atana doesn’t seem worried. Is irradium really that dangerous? What did Sewar mean that my blood was diseased? Do they know what this sickness is? Where’s everyone else? Did they survive?

The ivy twists and pulls.

Ten clicks. So much time. It’ll be easy. I’ll be quick.

“And ten clicks is not much time,” he continues, again, mostly to himself, as he applies a thick layer of cream on the inner edge of his sheath. “Not much time for clearing a hazard area. Not much time for repairing the containment field.”

I lean forward and cup [him]. “Plenty of time for [this].”

He pauses.

Another long rumble shakes the room. I feel it all the way under my tongue.

Nine clicks until the end of the world.

He flicks his silver gaze at me. “I could cut off your hand before you could blink. I could carve you into small pieces and make a mosaic out of your decaying body. I could peel off your face and wear it for a mask and give Sewar new nightmares.”

“You don’t have time for that.” I hold [him] more firmly. “But you do have time for [this].”

His eyes narrow. “Why haven’t you learned fear?”

“You said you weren’t going to kill me.”

“I never said that.”

“You haven’t yet.” I squeeze.

He caps the cream, tosses it in the medical kit, then picks me up at the waist and sets me on the edge of the platform. The movement causes my hand to drop from his body. He rests his palms on either side of me and looms over me, his silver eyes circled with a thin black line.

“You’re infected with our lusteal. But so long as I have this,” he thumps his clear face mask, “I don’t sense it. There’s no way for your sickness to enter my blood. And I don’t need it. I’m sick enough already. Be a good lesser and sit tight. Someone will rescue you shortly.” He returns to the medical kit and dabs ointment on the black bruises crossing his chest where he shielded me from the laser. His voice lowers to mutter, “A real hero.”

“What’s lusteal?”

“The metal required for us ‘celibate’ Arrisans to breed.”

I scoot closer. “You could breed with me.”

“This isn’t the arena.”

“It could be.” Seven clicks until the end of the world. “How is it at the arena?”

“I wouldn’t know. Engineers don’t go. We’re not worthy.”

“Then this is your chance.”

“Forbidden knowledge is the only knowledge worth having. But I don’t care for this. The cost is too high.” But his eyes drift, almost unwillingly, to my lower regions.

“I could teach you.” I pull off my pants and underwear. They pool at the floor next to his suit. Then I lick my fingers. “Did you want to know?”

“What are you doing?”

“I’ll show you.” I wet my palm and spread the saliva between my fingertips. “Humans do [this] every day. I know all about it. And after I teach you, then you too—”

He moves lightning fast.

His hand closes around my jaw, his mouth separated from mine by the thinnest sheet of formfitting clear plastic. His eyes flash, and his lips curl back to reveal even, white teeth. “Arrisans eat planets like yours. We enslave your people. We suck the very marrow out of your bones, and here you are, offering your body as if I can’t just take it and destroy it if I want to. The other humans infected with our lusteal knew their place. They feared me. Where is your fear?”

Fear is an instinct of self-preservation.

And although he’s gripping my jaw, it’s not hard enough to bruise. He’s not strangling my neck.

He said I have a sickness.

But I knew that already.

A healthy person would feel fear.

I curl my wet fingers around his [body part].

He gives me a little shake. “I don’t sense your lusteal, lesser. Touching me does nothing…”

[It] hardens in my hand.

He stares at a spot over my shoulder, and his jaw moves side to side as if he’s mulling over a surprising turn of events.

He focuses on me again. “How did you do that?”

“You forgot something.” I hook my leg around his thigh. “Another way chemicals can enter your body.”

“Which is?”

“Through your largest organ.” I put my presumably infected saliva on [him]. “Your skin.”

TRIGGER WARNINGS: 

"Love the madness that is Atana. The Engineer's are live by their own set of rules. The are the backbone of the Empire. My favorite so far. Fast paced and steamy. Love Atana and Lia's story. Love the crazy that are the engineers!"  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Reader

"The main character is such an unexpected I guess he's more of an anti-hero in this situation. And I love anti-heroes. And I honestly didn't expect him and Lia to make a good connection. But The best way I can describe this book is bruh. I don't even want to describe what makes this book good. I love this series. It's so unexpected that it's great. So do me a favor, just read the book and decide to eat breakfast before you read..."  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Reader

"Hard to follow at certain points but another good one. Good couple. Psycho guy is always my favorite. Very cathartic read if you’ve ever felt chronically unwanted." ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Reader

"I absolutely adore Atana’s character. Out of all the Arris males so far in the series he is my absolute favorite (of course I do tend to think that after each book, so that tells you a lot about the characters right there)!" ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Reader

Runtime: 10 hr 16 min.