Maven Warrior: Dark Warrior Alliance Book 20 Read online

  Maven Warrior

  Dark Warrior Alliance Book 20

  Brenda Trim

  Tami Julka

  Contents

  MAVEN Warrior

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  EXCERPT FROM Book Title here BOOK #21 Sentinel of Khoth

  Authors’ Note

  Other Works By Trim And Julka

  MAVEN Warrior

  Brenda Trim and Tami Julka

  Copyright © September 2019 by Brenda Trim and Tami Julka

  * * *

  Editor: Chris Cain

  Cover Art by Trish Schmidt (Pickyme)

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writers’ imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction of this work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  All rights reserved. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the authors.

  Created with Vellum

  Love is giving someone the power to destroy you, but trusting them not to.

  Chapter One

  “Damn. Look at that eye candy. I want an introduction to that one,” Kari murmured with a purr.

  Teagan couldn’t help but laugh at her friend’s antics. Kari was aggressive and bold with men, and it almost always worked for her. The red-haired bombshell oozed sexiness, and men were hard-pressed to resist her allure.

  “You’re incorrigible, but that’s why I love you,” Teagan said with a chuckle. “And, you’re right about him, even if he is a bit too muscled for my tastes.” Teagan preferred a leaner build over the broad shoulders and arms with muscles as big as her head. It was like hugging the face of a mountain.

  Kari lifted her Mexican Martini and took a sip while devouring the guy as he leaned over to line up his next shot. “It’s a good thing we have such different tastes, or we would’ve had a problem before now.”

  Teagan tapped her finger against the glass of wine and shook her head. “Even if we gravitated toward the same guys, we wouldn’t have a problem. Hos before bros,” she declared and held up her palm.

  Kari slapped her some skin, spouting, “Hells yeah, hos before bros. No guy is coming between us.”

  “True that. So, I heard about a new club we should try out.”

  “I’m game. Tired of the same ole shit, anyway. What’s it called?”

  “Confetti Too,” Teagan replied, and her anxiety rose at just mentioning the name. She couldn’t recall where she’d heard about the place, but she felt an urgent need to go to the bar. It was baffling and a little vexing. “I think someone told me they make the best margaritas in town.”

  Kari pulled her cell phone from her small handbag and typed on the keyboard. “You know I love a good margarita. But, whoever told you about Confetti Too is smoking crack. The place doesn’t exist.”

  Teagan leaned over and looked at the screen on Kari’s smartphone. There were no search results for Confetti Too. “Huh? I swear that’s what it’s called. We have to go there.” The words were laced with the anxiety building once again in Teagan. She was losing her mind.

  Kari glanced at her and lifted one eyebrow. “Well, it could be new. Ask your friend for more information, and we are there.” Kari flipped her red curls over a shoulder and sat up straight.

  “He must be checking you out. You’ve got that look on your face,” Teagan divulged and gave her best imitation of Kari’s come-hither eyes.

  “I do not do that,” Kari blurted as she burst into laughter.

  “Do that thing with your lip gloss. I know what’s coming next,” Teagan teased and pushed out her lips. Good thing her back was to the bar, so Kari’s latest conquest couldn’t see her mockery towards her friend’s art of seduction.

  Kari snickered but grabbed her tube of gloss. “Your duck lips need serious help,” she admitted as she smeared the sparkly substance over her lips. She rubbed them together shamelessly as she stared at the guy. “He’s got a cute friend with him. I think it’s time to end your dry spell. Getting laid will help you relax and enjoy life more.”

  Teagan’s smile faded somewhat with her friend’s comment. She hadn’t dated anyone seriously in years, and she didn’t want to even think about the last time she got laid. She was average at best, and men didn’t typically notice her. She wasn’t overweight, but her hips and chest were on the curvy side. Her long black hair and hazel eyes were her best features, but no matter what products she used, she never achieved the glossy look to her locks that Kari managed with ease.

  She wasn’t confident like Kari and broke out in hives just thinking about approaching the opposite sex. Perhaps she should consider dating women, she thought. Nah, that wasn’t her style, either, and she wasn’t that desperate.

  “I’m looking for Mr. Right,” Teagan said.

  “You should be looking for Mr. Scream-My-Name,” Kari replied as she got to her feet. “Alright. I’m heading over to give Yummyliciousness the pleasure of my company.”

  “Make him work for it. They always stick around longer when you do.”

  “Yeah, but then they turn into stalkers, and I’m looking for a brief fling. This one looks like he could be a class-five clinger.”

  Teagan laughed at her friend’s reference to their grading system. A class-five clinger would propose marriage within the first month and have a hard time letting her go when she moved on. And, Kari moved on regularly. Teagan doubted if her friend would ever settle down. She enjoyed meeting guys and the excitement of being in new relationships but left them as soon as it resembled serious.

  “Then try not to be too charming. They fall easy, as it is.”

  Kari sighed. “Yeah, it’s a tough job,” she joked with a shake of her head. “I’ll give him Amber’s name and number just in case.”

  Teagan chuckled and returned to her drink as Kari headed for a pool table. Her friend carried a burner phone, so she wasn’t giving out her real number. It was too hard to change that frequently. Much easier to get a throw away phone. She also gave a fake name to the guys she didn’t want to become too attached.

  “Your friend is playing with fire with that male,” a woman intruded from the next table.

  Teagan glanced at the stranger. She was a pretty woman with long blonde hair and grey eyes, and she seemed harmless enough, but Teagan found her comment odd. Who called men males? The woman didn’t have an accent, so it wasn’t because she lived in a different country.

  “Kari likes living dangerously,” she replied casually.

  “If she is approaching Kent like that, she must live dangerously. He’s…intense. I’m Mona, by the way,” she introduced and stood up and walked to the ta
ble.

  “I’m Teagan. You a friend of Kent’s?” she asked as she motioned for the woman to have a seat. There was something familiar about the other woman, but Teagan couldn’t put her finger on it quite yet.

  “Kent and I go way back. Our families are allies.”

  Okay, another strange word choice. Teagan didn’t think she’d ever heard the term allies, except when she read it in books.

  “Should I be worried about Kari?”

  “Nah. Kent is a big teddy bear, for the most part. So, I overheard you mention Confetti Too?”

  That perked Teagan’s attention, and her heart raced in her chest, making her dizzy. The bar existed. The hair on her arms stood on end. Her life was about to change, She was helpless to stop the train from barreling full-speed down that track. All she could do was hold on tight and pray she didn’t lose her shit along the way.

  “I need to go to the club,” she replied matter-of-factly.

  Momentarily, Mona’s eyes widened before she schooled her features. “How do you know about the club? It’s an exclusive establishment, and outsiders aren’t welcome.”

  Teagan swallowed hard at that and tried to focus on who told her to go to the bar. Pain spiked through her head, making her wince. When nausea surged from her efforts, she stopped trying so hard and found words tumbling out of her mouth. “I was told it’s the best club in town. Seems like I’m an insider since I know about it and it doesn’t matter if I can’t find the fucking place. Can you take me there?”

  Mona turned back to her drink and sipped the amber liquid. Teagan swore she saw a pointed white tooth before her lips closed around the edge of the glass. It had to be a fang. Inside, Teagan was freaking out. Fangs meant vampires, but that was impossible. What the actual fuck? She wondered where this information was coming from and why she had the irresistible urge to visit Confetti Too.

  Oddly, she wasn’t afraid of Mona. Realization dawned on her. “Oh, you’re a vamp. Am I beneath you or something?”

  “You’re a curiosity. That’s what you are. How is it that you know about Killian’s club, but don’t know where it is? Seems odd to me,” Mona relayed as she pinned Teagan with her gaze.

  Teagan wanted to scream. There was little doubt that she had to be dreaming. Nothing else made any sense. Vampires didn’t exist, and there were no secret clubs. That meant nothing when she saw a hint of fang and knew in her gut Mona was a vamp. God, she’d never had such a vivid dream before. Her imagination was always active, but at the moment, it seemed to be on steroids. It was the only thing that explained the anomalies.

  “I saw a shifter when I was a kid. I was in a park and saw a boy turn into a wolf,” she recited as if on autopilot. The words flew from her mouth, but no images were flowing through her mind as she said them. That had to be because she was dreaming. “He was black and grey and ran off as soon as I called for my mom.”

  Okay, it was official. Teagan was definitely dreaming. She didn’t have a mom. Well, not one that had raised her. Teagan grew up in various foster homes after she was taken from her mother. Her mom’s drug use was one reason she steered clear of the substances. She never wanted to become an addict, like her mother.

  “So, you know Kent is a bear shifter then?” Mona asked.

  “I figured he was something,” Teagan said, hedging her bets. Bear shifter? Somehow that made sense because Kari loved bears.

  “Who the hell are you?”

  “I’m Teagan Lewis. Party planner extraordinaire. PR work is my game. You need a new image then I’m your girl.”

  “That doesn’t explain to me who you are. It’s against realm law to bring humans to a realm owned establishments unless they are connected to one of us. Disobedience is punishable by death.”

  Teagan shook her head and inconspicuously pinched her side to test her dreaming theory. She barely held back the shout of pain it induced. If she wasn’t dreaming, then what the hell was going on? “I’m not out to get you punished, Mona. I want to have a little fun. I’m tired of the one-dimensional men around here,” she confessed as she scanned the bar.

  Mona shook her head. “Unfortunately, every place has its share of boring males, even Confetti Too.”

  “Yeah, but if the guys look anything like Kent, I’ll take my chances.”

  Mona rolled her eyes with a scoff as she glanced around the room. “Males can be arrogant and conceited, no matter the species. It’s one characteristic I loathe. Don’t assume because you’re good looking that I’ll instantly fall on my back and spread my legs. However, I’m still unsure about you. You seem to have all the answers, but I can’t put my finger on what’s bothering me.”

  Teagan wanted to say, you and me both. The answer to Mona’s questions was a vague notion that she knew details about this private club, but Teagan had no idea where her thoughts came from, or why she needed to go to Confetti Too. Her brain threatened to short out about fifteen times during their short conversation.

  Still, information popped into her head and spilled from her mouth like a bottle of tequila tipped on its side. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell the Vampire King if you take me. I’m only looking for a good time.”

  It seemed like she wanted excitement so much that she’d taken to inventing information, and people. Perhaps she was dreaming, and it was merely very vivid. That’s why the pinch hurt so badly.

  Kari’s boisterous laugh echoed, drawing Teagan’s attention. Her heart jumped at the sight of her best friend running her finger down the hard, muscular chest of the man Mona called a bear shifter. Did that mean he turned into an actual bear? The information freaked her out enough that Teagan wanted to save her friend and pull her away from danger.

  Shifting her gaze, she glanced around the bar wondering how many of the individuals were something that went bump in the night. Teagan didn’t think she was ever going to sleep again.

  She wished she could tell Mona how crazy she was and run from the bar screaming, but her ass was glued to the seat, and her lips sealed shut. It was more than disturbing.

  “Oh, you know the king? I guess I misjudged you. When do you want to go to Confetti Too?”

  Teagan didn’t know the king and had no idea why she blurted the statement. But, since it worked, she wasn’t going to question it. “As soon as possible. My life needs an injection of excitement.”

  “Meet me in the parking lot of Lil’ Woody’s tomorrow night at ten p.m. I’ll take you to the club,” Mona instructed as she held Teagan’s gaze.

  Her head spun from the intensity, and she nearly fell from her chair. She quickly placed her hand on the table before she face-planted on the floor. Weirdly, she couldn’t look away from Mona’s intense grey eyes. “You will forget everything I have told you. You do not know about vampires, shifters, or anything supernatural,” Mona iterated then left the table.

  Teagan swallowed back bile and finally closed her eyes and took several calming breaths. She was going to hurl and embarrass herself if she didn’t get control of her reactions. Had she had that much wine? It wasn’t often that she overindulged, but it had been a long day of idiots calling the office.

  “Hey, Chica. Who’s your new friend?” Kari asked as she plopped down in her seat.

  Teagan blinked as her muddled brain cleared, and her nausea subsided. “Did you decide against taking Yummylisciousness for a ride?”

  “Huh?” Kari asked and followed her gaze. “Oh, no. Your friend there asked for a minute with him, so I came to check on you.”

  “What friend? I don’t know anyone at that table.”

  “The blonde. She sat here talking to you for the past thirty minutes. I assumed you knew her,” Kari told her.

  Well, that was odd. Teagan had been losing time lately. She blamed the horrid headaches she’d been getting for the lapses. She recalled her head hurting a bit ago, but she didn’t think it was bad enough for her to check out like that. “I don’t recall talking to her. Guess she was forgettable.”

  Kari’s gaze narrowed as
she stared at Teagan. “Girlfriend, you are working way too hard if you can’t remember a thirty-minute conversation. Have you told Joe to cut you some slack?”

  “No. How do I tell my boss that I can’t handle the workload? He’d fire me. I need this job, Kari. Tacos don’t buy themselves.”

  “I’ll buy you tacos. If you can’t remember your name, what good is this job, Tea? Besides, with your skill and magnetism, you’ll get another one no problem. Anyone would be lucky to have you.”

  It was an ongoing joke between them ever since they met at the foster home. June was a sweet older lady that took them in as rebellious teenagers. She and Kari vowed to have each other’s backs from the day they met, and routinely reminded one another how precious they were. Teagan never forgot how lucky Kari felt to have her in her life and regularly told everyone else, as well.

  “The luckiest,” Teagan agreed. “I need more sleep. Today wasn’t Joe’s fault. Idiots kept calling in, making it a long-ass day.”

  The lie niggled at Teagan. She didn’t know what was going on, but her current state of confusion was beginning to worry her, and she wasn’t entirely certain she could blame it all on her job.

  Chapter Two

  Another fucking meeting, Killian thought as he dragged his exhausted ass into the war room at Zeum. There hadn’t been a day over the past seven-hundred years that he regretted starting the Dark Warrior Alliance with his friends, Zander, Hayden, Nikko, and Evzen, but today was pushing his limits. It was four a.m., and he hadn’t gone to bed yet.