Blades of Arris: Falkion Audiobook

Narrated by Yasmine Johnson and Evan Parker.

Our relationship is complex.
His ancestors took over my planet.
I’m descended from the few who survived.
Now the worst thing has happened.
I’m panicking and out of time.
My enemy is hunting.
Obsessed with one prey.
Me.
And somehow this might actually be fine...

"Incredible final chapter! I can’t get enough of this series. And I’m sad this is the last book. Loose ends are beautifully wrapped up."  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Reader

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• Spice 4 out of 5

"A must read! It is not typical to have a series where every book is as great as the first. The world building, the characters. I am just so sad this is the end. Please consider more or a spinoff!" ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Reader

Sample from Chapter Five:

~ZEERAH~

Three kortans ago, Falkion was bonded to me against his will with a twisted mating spray.

And he’s finally figured out the way to get to me.

“Zeerah.” He comes to my door and knocks politely. Like he’s a human now, just with gray skin and silver eyes and black spikes on the tips of his ears. “You finished studying for the Needle-class. Do you want to practice flying one?”

My heart squeezes.

No, no.

No.

His drug is wearing off. Getting attached is pointless.

At first, he couldn’t allow me out of arm’s reach. Then, he couldn’t handle me being outside his line of sight. Finally, he couldn’t handle a separation longer than a few clicks.

Now, he can go clegs. Almost a full shift. I just need to stretch us apart a little more, and the bindings will snap. We’ll both be free.

I should definitely not go flying with him.

Not even to become an officially certified pilot of the empire, one of my impossible girlhood dreams.

He looks at me expectantly.

Oh, H. “I’m ready.”

He reaches out a hand. “Let’s go.”

My chest twists.

I do not take his hand. Distance, Zeerah, distance. I stride past him. “I know the way.”

He ambles beside me.

In the past, he’d argue. Insult me. Forcefully close our distance.

That was the drug, though.

He’s always been a relentless man, so I mustn’t react because he’s relentless in pursuing me.

Falkion takes me to engineering. The main engineering bay opens up in front of me. It’s massive, like standing on the street in Cloud City and staring up at the skyscrapers. I’ve never spent much time here. My supply officer gig didn’t require it.

Hundreds of ships dock on the different levels. Far below my entrance, parts of a hull sizzle as the engineers make repairs. This whole area is crawling with busyness and noise.

He signs out the small vessel, and we cross from the main grating to a miniature grav tube. I step into air and shoot up like I’m flying out of a cannon.

Falkion tugs me onto the correct level, about six floors up, and I wobble on the scaffolding. We stride past pristine, gleaming ships that dwarf us until we reach the tiny little two-person Needle-class.

Arrisan ships have teeth.

All the better for biting onto their targets.

Here, the bottom teeth seal to the dock. Only the color difference shows where they connect in a smooth zigzag fit.

I duck beneath the fangs and enter.

This is my first time in a Needle-class. It’s my first time in the captain’s seat since the Eruvisans wrecked my Harvester and my first time ever piloting a new, well-functioning Arrisan ship.

I tug the glass-like wall. It morphs beneath my fingertips, transforming into a console that surrounds and cups me. Controls appear on the armrests and across the panels above and below.

Falkion sits in the other console. I could run over and throw my arms around him and cry with thanks, but I strictly do not. He leans back, rests his ankle on his knee, and crosses his arms. Like me, he wears his hood down, fully protected in case of a sudden depressurization or other catastrophe.

My heart rate quickens.

This is a long way from launching out of a dusty airfield.

I follow the protocols to seal up the ship and undock us, then I wait attentively as an engineer on a small sled tows our ship through the bay, moving us around the hundreds of other ships docked here. She uncouples at the atmosphere veil.

My stomach pitches with excitement.

Here we go.

I ease forward.

We slide through the atmosphere veil.

Cables from the dreadnought’s massive guns and communications arrays dangle around our external passage like vipers. They automatically train on us, evaluate us as a target, and then rotate away.

We clear the obstacles, and space opens up around us.

My fingers dance over the unblemished dash.

The ship moves richly under me, so responsive.

I zoom away from the dreadnought. Away from the support ships, away from the battlefield, away from lessers-who-should-know-their-place and look-she-thinks-she’s-an-ally.

The stars are limitless.

This peace is beautiful.

I could keep going.

Just fly away.

Free.

Falkion makes a guttural noise, clears his throat, and shifts in his seat.

Ah, no. I guess I couldn’t.

Although, in the quiet moments, when the world is so peaceful and I can almost smell his electric male scent, I wonder if being stuck to him for the rest of my life would really be all that bad.

He’s almost human underneath that skinsuit. I’ve seen him nude. I think it would feel—

Ah! What am I thinking?

I check my angles and take evasive action, practicing the quick movements Needle-class ships are designed for, but mostly to evade my own thoughts.

But illicit feelings thrum below my belly…

I veer back toward the dreadnought.

It hangs in space like a massive jellyfish being eaten by a sea urchin.

Support ships, including a Starbreaker-class warship holding thousands, orbit the dreadnought like angry bees.

They’re so small in comparison, it’s crazy.

They’re also mostly here to study the sea urchin ship.

It’s an H-alien ship.

It popped out of the Vanadisan’s secret research base in the middle of their epic final battle, paralyzed and ate the other dreadnought, then came for us.

The Arrisans about had a massive empire-wide coronary.

They thought the H-aliens had come back from a thousand years ago to finish the job.

The Vanadisans actually just found it abandoned and got it working again, somehow. It gave them a massive psychological advantage.

Falkion missed it because he was out of his mind from their drug. We barely managed to deactivate it. It still drifted into our dreadnought.

If his blades can slice through almost any substance in the universe, the H-alien ship can slice through all the rest.

The Arrisans are obsessive about the H-aliens. They have a little indicator light on every ship in their empire, including this one, which will light up as soon as the real H-aliens are spotted.

I coast back into the main bay. An engineer tugs us back to our slip. I complete my docking procedures.

Falkion remains in his seat.

I consider leaning across and stroking his arm. Following the line up to his jaw. Pushing back the hood and looking him in the eyes.

Those pure, relentless silver eyes.

And thanking him so much for letting me pilot a ship again.

He takes a deep breath and leans forward, catches me looking at him.

Heat enfolds me.

Awareness streaks to my center.

I jolt to my feet, retract the control console, and head to the door. “Welp, thanks again. See you later.”

I lift my hand to the door controls.

He darts forward, impossibly fast, and blocks me. “How do you feel about me now?”

The electric scent of him makes my heart tremble.

It’s been over three kortans since he was sprayed.

Since he stuck himself to me.

And I can’t stop noticing the broadness of his inflexible jaw, the fierce sharpness of his cheeks. His silver eyes are so clear. Honest, and forthright like his blades, and very pure.

I want to lick that cheekbone. See how he reacts. Or maybe I just want to nibble on his lips. Same reason. 

The rare women with Arrisan partners seem normal. Happy, even.

So, it’s possible to be happy with an Arrisan for a partner…

Ugh, this is why I have to get out of here.

“The flight is over,” I say, ignoring his question. “Time to go our separate ways.”

“I want to grow your desire for me, Zeerah.”

I swallow hard.

“I can’t take any more showers,” I say, as much for my benefit as for his. “I’ve shaved my head, scrubbed down to raw skin. I’d rip out my fingernails if that would help you.”

He frowns.

“Because this isn’t you. And I’m sorry, Falkion. I don’t know how else to help you.”

“If you desire me like a human…” His silver eyes fix on me, his logic as arrow-straight as his determination. “Then you will remain at my side.”

“But I can’t because you hate me.”

“No.”

“You do hate me.” Again, I remind myself as much as I remind him. “You just don’t remember.”

We’re stuck.

I hit the button to open the door of the small passenger shuttle. Its jagged lower teeth sink into the dock, melting seamlessly.

Falkion, who does not remember that he hates me, still blocks my exit. “Do this again tomorrow?”

Of course we’ll do this again tomorrow. I want to be a pilot more than anything.

If he would only scream at me like before, and growl and threaten to dismember me again, I could keep him at a distance.

“Maybe,” I mutter, avoiding his gaze. Which happens to cause me to glance back at the Needle-class ship’s main control panel.

The H-alien warning light suddenly glows a bright and deadly green...

TRIGGER WARNINGS: 

"Reading the final story in this series is bittersweet. Loved this couple. Loved how the series wrapped up. This was one of my all time favorite series and I’m lost that there won’t be more." ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Reader

This series has been really fantastic, and the last book does not disappoint. The thing I love most about Starla’s stories is that I can always find some part of myself in her female characters. That ability has me invested in the story, escaping reality for a while."  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Reader

Runtime: 9 hr 4 min.