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    Hard Hearted
    Hard Hearted
    Hard Hearted
    Ebook71 pages1 hour

    Hard Hearted

    By Viola Grace

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    About this ebook

    Saving her fiancé showed Gralial’s people what a freak she was and they punished her accordingly by removing her soul. Left with only intelligence and her talent, Gray must start a new life in the Alliance as the Sector Guardsman Hard Hearted.

    She is assigned to Teklan base as their healer and physician and partnered with a being that she never even heard of.

    As a Nilshan Animorph, Mist has spent his time as an enforcer for the Alliance. When he was offered this position, and Gralial as a partner, he jumped at the chance to protect the woman whose lack of a soul keeps her from caution, fear, or passion.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublishereXtasy Books Inc
    Release dateFeb 7, 2012
    ISBN9781554878215
    Hard Hearted
    Author

    Viola Grace

    Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.

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      Book preview

      Hard Hearted - Viola Grace

      Saving her fiancé showed Gralial’s people what a freak she was and they punished her accordingly by removing her soul. Left with only intelligence and her talent, Gray must start a new life in the Alliance as the Sector Guardsman Hard Hearted.

      She is assigned to Teklan base as their healer and physician and partnered with a being that she never even heard of.

      As a Nilshan Animorph, Mist has spent his time as an enforcer for the Alliance. When he was offered this position, and Gralial as a partner, he jumped at the chance to protect the woman whose lack of a soul keeps her from caution, fear, or passion. 

      The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

      Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

      This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

      Hard Hearted

      Copyright © 2011 Viola Grace

      ISBN: 978-1-55487-821-5

      Cover art by Martine Jardin

      All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

      Published by Devine Destinies

      An imprint of eXtasy Books

      Look for us online at:

      www.devinedestinies.com

      Smashwords Edition

      Hard Hearted

      Sector Guard Book 17

      By

      Viola Grace

      Chapter One

      Gray huddled in the hold of her family’s ship. The enclave was demanding her life and her brother was trying to talk them out of it.

      Talent was fine in men, but in women, it was not seen as a sign of strength but a sign of contamination. She had gone all of the last ten years, since puberty, hiding what she had become.

      Gray should have fought her urge to heal her fiancé. The cord that almost split him in two missed her by inches. She had skidded along the blood-slicked decks and healed Tomo before he had a chance to start screaming.

      Fire blazed along her nerves as she took his pain out of him and sealed his body. She was dazed and exhausted when the elders grabbed her and hauled her away, tossing her into the hold of her parents’ ship and putting her under guard.

      Tomo would live, but he was now missing all the scars he had accumulated with his life in space, it was a shame for any warrior. Let alone a prime of Kozue.

      The Kozue were a battle race who lived their life in the stars and that was the way that they liked it. Talents were aberrations that could barely be tolerated in men and the women could not be allowed to breed a new and tainted generation.

      She didn’t know how many days she had been trapped in the hold with only minimum rations being shoved through the two-inch rise of the door. They didn’t listen to her pleas, merely closed the door and left her while they deliberated.

      Gralial was filthy, half-starved and exhausted when the door opened to frame her brother, Garoz. The enclave has reached a decision. Come with me.

      He supported her down the hall as he had all her life. He was five years her elder and kept her steady as they faced the elders of their enclave.

      Gralial, we have decided that you will not be subject to mandatory sterilization. Instead, the Alliance has offered to take you from us. We have accepted with one stipulation. Her grandfather’s stern tone made her knees weaker than they already were.

      They were allowing her to live. She almost collapsed. What is that stipulation?

      Separation of soul and body. They can have your body and its talent, but your soul belongs to this clan. It will be harvested and kept for future generations as an example of the price of hiding a talent from the clans.

      Take my soul? But I didn’t do anything wrong.

      Tomo came forward and crossed his arms over his chest. You allowed our betrothal without telling me of your unsuitability.

      Clan members came forward and hauled her away. I saved your life, you ungrateful son-of-a-bitch!

      He scowled. I would rather have died than had you bear my children carrying those genes.

      She kicked and fought, but her body was weak from the confinement. They carried her to the shuttle bay where an Alliance craft was waiting. A figure in silver armour waited for her, a minder in the robes of the Citadel at its side.

      Gralial, we have been charged with removing your soul. The figure in the silver armour bowed. "Minder Zargas will be gentle,

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