Aeryn Traxx

Dorian is a Warrior Mage, trained since the age of eight to wield a sword or lightening bolt with equal ease. He had everything a man of his station could ask for. That is, until he sent his lover of fifteen years away to pacify his family, leaving him angry and berift.

Hunter, a healer from another world, trained beside Dorian from the time they were both eleven years old. The Warrior Healer and the Warrior Mage were inseparable both on the field and off. For five years Hunter has waited for Dorian to come to his senses and realize they are meant for each other, two halves of one whole.

When Dorian is taken captive by a rival lord and his family refuses to rescue him Hunter is forced to put his broken heart aside and save his former lover. Can Hunter reach Dorian in time? Will his love be strong enough to bring Dorian back from the brink and save the people from the ravages of evil? Follow Dorian and Hunter thru their journey where a happily ever after is not guaranteed.

         "I’m not being rescued by you.” Dorian scowled at his rescuer, falling back against the rough stone wall. 

Hunter raised an eyebrow and answered in an even measured tone as if he were talking to one incapable of understanding his own distress. “Well, I’m not leaving you here in this dungeon. Naked. In chains.”

 With bravado born from the pain of their separation Dorian lashed out at the only man he had ever loved.  “Why not? You threatened several times to put me in chains. Naked.” Dorian’s retort hung heavy between the two men. Hunter, now on the defensive, glared at the wounded and nude man. There was no time to argue. Even an untrained soldier could tell Dorian desperately needed a healer's skills.

“That... was different.” Hunter spoke the words quietly.

Dorian sneered at the handsome man in front of him but there was no mistaking the tilt of Hunter’s head. He knew Dorian inside and out and he had come to do battle if necessary to bring him home. Unfortunately, Hunter was the last person his conscience could see clear to rescue him from such an embarrassing state of affairs.

“Chains are chains.” Dorian espoused defiantly.

Exasperated, Hunter threw his hands in the air and then back down against his thighs. “Chained to a bed and chained to a wall are two completely different things.” Hunter answered incredulously.

Dorian glared once more at Hunter whose expressive green eyes flashed daggers at him.

“Chains …are…chains.” Dorian enunciated every syllable, knowing full well how irritating his accusation would be to the handsome man. There was no reason for him to be challenging Hunter when the man had risked life and limb to save him. Yet here he stood, goading the tall man to the breaking point of his patience.

Hunter eyed his companion angrily and wrestled with his conscience. Looking Dorian over there was no mistaking his condition-the man would be dead in a matter of days if he wasn’t rescued. Then again leaving without his former lover had never been an option, regardless of how irritating Dorian might get. Hunter crossed his arms and shook his head.  

“I’m not going to stand here and argue about this.” Hunter’s words were soft but firm.

“Fine. Just go. I don’t want to be rescued by you anyway.” Dorian looked away from the irate figure before him, an air of indifference about his bruised and battered, but regal frame.

Hunter took a deep breath and counted to ten. Even on his best days Dorian had always required massive amounts of patience. It seemed five years apart hadn’t changed that one bit.

       A woman’s face appeared in the barred window of the cell door. Alysen looked thru the bars at her brother and then back at Hunter.

“Ah… Hunter. We need to get out of here. That guard looks like he might be waking up.” Hunter shook his head again and offered up a silent prayer to whatever gods would listen. This was definitely not going the way he had hoped. Divine intervention was going to be needed if they were all to make it out of this alive. 

“Have Mitre tap him again. I’m having a little problem with our friend here.” A litany of curse words in many different languages assailed the two men in the cell. Dorian’s head snapped up at the voice of his sister. He leveled an incredulous glare at Hunter.

“You brought Alysen with you?! Are you out of your mind?” Hunter pulled the key to the chains from his belt and waved it at Dorian.

“Pigheadedness runs in your family. Now. Am I going to have to knock you out to get you out of here or are you going to……”