The third installment of the Collective Series, Warrior’s Promise will be released in July, and given that a new character will be introduced, a character I know will play a big part in coming tales, I thought I would write a short story to introduce Harper-Rose properly. I’ve split the short works into three parts.

Part 3

Joshua 

Warrior to Warrior 

Joshua flew beyond the usual search radius, pushing himself because his every instinct was telling him that if he just tried harder, he would find what he was looking for. The irony was, he had no idea who or what that was. 

“You got anything, Cinders?” Joshua felt a flare of irritation, mainly from the communication device in his ear, but also for the name. “That’s not yours to have, Benji,” he said, thinking of how he loved to hear it on his mate’s lips, even if he pretended otherwise. 

“Benji?” Laughter exploded in his ear. “Where did that come from?” 

Joshua frowned. “I have no idea.” He scanned the street and felt frustration well inside him. “I’ve got nothing, but something is out here, I know it.” 

“Then we keep going, I…wait, I might have something.” 

Joshua did a loop, enjoying the feel of the light breeze as it buffered against his primaries, and headed to Ben’s location. 

When he brought himself to land on the street, Ben was facing off with a scruffy-looking dog that Joshua saw had a human passenger hanging limply to the animal’s back. 

Walking forward, the moment he met the unusual green eyes, the likes of which he’d never seen in dog form, he knew that whatever had been riding him for days had been leading him right here, to them. 

“I feel it, too,” Ben said, voice low. “The eyes are different, but it feels right.” 

Ignoring that, Joshua went to check on the girl and nearly got his hand bitten off. The low growl was clear enough. ‘Touch her and lose a limb.’ 

“Easy, there. I’m just going to check her out.” From what he could see, the dog was carrying a female child, and his senses told him she was in danger; seriously malnourished. 

The next growl wasn’t any friendlier and he got the message. 

“We have ourselves a mighty warrior here,” Ben said, respect in his voice. “Our furry friend doesn’t seem impressed you’re a member of the Battalion.” 

“I could have the girl to Grangefield in seconds,” he protested, not liking being pushed into a corner by a damn animal who didn’t look strong enough to follow through with the threat. 

“Hey, you don’t need to convince us, we know you’ve got skills,” Bree piped up, laughter in her voice. 

Joshua turned to glare at her. When he turned back, Ben was on his knees in front of the injured pair. “We can take you someplace safe,” he said. “You can keep your cargo until you get there and check things out, but we need to help her, and to do that, you need to trust us.” 

The dog seemed to take the elf’s measure for a long time, too long for them all to be out in the open, but eventually, the fierce canine walked around him and started forward. It appeared they had come to an agreement. 

“Let’s go,” Joshua said, rising to hover above them. “I’ve got you covered.” 

When they got back to Grangefield, it took the dog less than two minutes to relinquish the girl to Benjamin’s care. 

As he took her gently into his arms, Joshua saw her eyes blink open, their startling blue depths the exact colour the elf had described. 

She smiled weakly. “Benji,” she said as her eyes drifted closed once more. “I knew you’d find me.” 

Benjamin’s gaze swung to his, a question Joshua couldn’t answer swimming in his eyes.  

If he had to guess, he’d say a Guardian was testing the boundaries of their role in protecting the young human. It wouldn’t be the first time.

_______

I hope you enjoyed the short works, introducing Harper-Rose.

As I said, I created the story in preparation for the release of Warrior’s Promise, but I’m also considering another way to share tales from the Collective series and wanted to get your thoughts.

My daughter actually gave me the idea, because I seem to have raised two girls who don’t read – I’m not sure how that happened. I read to them when they were younger, right up to their preteens and as a bookworm, I struggle to understand why they didn’t get the bug as I did!

So that they can experience the tales I’ve woven, I created an audio file of each chapter and sent that across in the hopes they’d listen if they couldn’t set aside time to actually read.

This got me thinking about the number of people who prefer to listen to audiobooks as they go about their busy lives or people who require different formats in order to access a story.

I had a chat with my eldest and she suggested creating a podcast. There are pros and cons to this because obviously, the best audiobooks utilise a voice actor and although I enjoy reading aloud, it’s hard to differentiate characters without experience.

That said, I’ve already recorded several chapters from the first in the series, Warrior’s Blood, so would appreciate your thoughts on publishing a podcast with weekly installments (a chapter a week).

Thanks for stopping by

Mel