QSFer Dan Waters has a new bi-gay-trans ftm sci fi romance out: “In His Service.”
Explore the world of the X-Terra Federation located in a galaxy distant from Earth.
Once a nobleman, Reis Kith has rejected his title in favor of serving his community as an Investigator. After a string of murders where all the victims are slaves, Reis has taken lead on the case. The mysterious murders are putting the people in the Capitol City of Ruish on edge, and the Queen has tasked Reis with the unthinkable: team up with a human thief.
Carter Maldin, a human from an ex-Earth colony named Terra, has been languishing in a permanent house arrest for a year and a half. His crime? He broke into the Royal Palace on Xenias. His skill in technology and his quick wit are unparalleled, which makes him the perfect partner to help solve the crime. He’s offered a complete pardon in exchange for his help, and Carter jumps at the chance for freedom.
The catch? He has to pretend to be a slave.
Can Carter and Reis reconcile their differences and indulge in their mutual attraction all while solving the case? How many more victims will the murderer rack up before they are caught? Find out in In His Service, Book 1 of The Maldin Chronicles.
Warnings: BDSM, s/M, one verbal threat of r*pe (no graphic depictions/actual follow through), coarse language
Get It At Amazon
Excerpt
…wasn’t like he hadn’t tried to escape his homebound prison.
The first four months he constantly tampered with his ankle monitor
that was embedded in his leg. The Xenin tech was a bit more
advanced than the tinkering he did of ancient technology, and the
tried-and-true “smash the shit out of it” technique often failed,
especially since it hurt. A lot. He could only manage to get out for a
second before guards swarmed the building and he was tossed back
into his quarters.
Suddenly, there was a loud bang, clank, and mrowl behind him.
“Gus knock it off!” he hissed at his tiny runt of a cat as it scurried
underneath the bed with the ball. He dropped to his knees to follow,
eager to get the one thing that he planned on using to stave off his
mind-numbing existence for today. When the bell to his door chimed,
it startled him so much that he banged his head on the underside of
his bed. He winced, cursing and scooting out from under the bed
while rubbing the sore spot. Again, the bell chimed, one after the
other. “I’m coming!”
While he was annoyed at the buzzing, he did have a bit of
excitement from the prospect of an unexpected visitor. Did someone
want to visit me? Maybe my friends from Terra are finally here to see
me. He smiled brightly at the thought and pressed a finger to the pad
beside the doors, and the metal parted from the center to reveal…
Him!
“You!”
Filling his doorway with his well over six-foot five-inch frame
was the cop who threw him into this jail in the first place. He was
there for the whole arrest, trial, and sentencing. Now he was back to
haunt him. Xenins, for the most part, looked pretty Human with some
notable differences. This Xenin dude had pale robin’s egg blue skin
with pink in the iris of his eyes that reminded him of Xenias’ sunsets.
His hair was black like all Xenins and was kept in a traditional-ish
fashion that he understood some more modern Xenins adopted. The
hair on the sides of their head were pulled back and braided to meet
behind their head and set in a ponytail with the rest laid flat. It wasn’t
as long as most since the glossy tresses just ended at about his
shoulders. He was slim, but muscular, and damn could he fill out a
unform t-shirt…
Stop it! He clearly was going nuts, if not desperate since he
hadn’t had any friendly or intimate contact with anyone since his
imprisonment. After such a long time in confinement, anyone
probably looked good to him now. He shook his head to clear it and
blinked at the cop, fixing his face into a scowl.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” He didn’t bother hiding the venom in his tone.
The cop started advancing, Carter backed up into his own home while the Xenin spoke his native tongue which comprised of clicks, things that sounded like English consonants, and whistles. Carter snorted smugly, pointing to the small chip in his neck. “I can’t understand a thing you’re saying, asshole. My translator broke, and I can’t seem to go anywhere to fix it.”
The way Mr. Cop’s eyes narrowed spoke volumes, and Carter just kept his chin up while his smirk never faded. Then, quick as a whip, the man stabbed the chip of the translator with a metal piece that Carter knew was a Mekip. He yelped, snatching at the cop’s arm and clawing at it though it did nothing to the man. Warmth flooded his neck that quickly faded as there was an audible click when the cop disengaged the Mekip from the chip. Slowly, the translation trickled into his ears.
“R’Clickth, K’click shhoo—eyou down at the Securities Office, and I am to escort you.”
Carter raised a brow, rubbing his neck lightly, “What did you do to me?”
“You needed an update.” The Cop rolled his fuchsia colored eyes, “It came out quarters ago.”
“Well, gee, asshole, you can get pretty much everything by courier except a fucking update to your tech.” Carter stomped off towards his bed, crouching down to look for his cat, and ultimately, his ball. “Gus, give me the fucking ball.”
“You must have not heard me.” The Cop stepped closer, his thick black boots clanking against the metal floor of Carter’s apartment. The human looked up at the Cop from his position on his knees while they spoke, “You are coming with me to the Securities Office. There are important matters to discuss.”
“What’s to talk about? I haven’t tried to run off in forever. Get the fuck over it.” Carter bent his head down once more and made some kissy noises, “Here, Gus, Gus, Gus. Give Daddy the ball.”
“If I promise you a ball at the Securities Office, will you come?”
Reis brow had no hair, but the muscles clearly arched upward.
Carter shot the cop a glare.
“Do you think I’m a kid? I’m twenty-three, asshole.”
“My name is Reis, not asshole. Are you sure I could not convince you with something else? Your file mentioned something.”
Carter’s ears perked when he heard a crinkle of a wrapper as the guy stuck his hand in one of the many pockets of his pants.
Slowly he revealed the mother-of-all candy bars, a king size Kit Kat.
Carter’s eyes went wide and mouth agape. He bolted up onto his feet and reaching for the treat. He hadn’t had one since he was a kid, and less so growing up on Terra. His hopes were dashed when Reis raised the bar high above Carter’s head, which was easy to do because all Xenins practically stood about six and a half feet tall. He dangled the treat like an asshole would to a dog who wanted a bone.
I’m no dog. Carter glared up at him, refusing to be intimidated.
Author Bio
Dan Waters is a 30-something year old academic born and raised in the New England area. When not being a gay uncle or a writer of the perverse dark arts, he works as a Historian for various organizations and municipalities. History, archaeology, and archiving are his specialties outside of writing about romance.
As an artist his mediums have primarily been film and photography, but he has returned to his true love of writing. In his works expect queerness, mixed characters, tropes, non-English speaking characters, mystery, trans & non-binary people, and about 20% swearing.
Oh, and there will always, always, be a Happily Ever After.
P.S: Always cite your work.
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