Firebird with Totally Bound is both reworked and re-edited from its first time release. However, the characters remain the same. Let me introduce you to the heroes and villains of the book.
Cassian is a scribe at the palace of a despotic ruler. Intelligent and reserved, he simply wants to get through his tenure with a little notice, and as little molested, as possible. The story tells of his personal growth. From shy and retiring to a man who emerges from his own shadow to be a hero. He sees past Arturri’s appearance to the beautiful, loving soul beneath an alien exterior. His love for Arturri drives him to rescue both the man he loves and the other prisoners that Maurus has hidden.
The Firebird of the title isn’t the dangerous predator that legend claims prowls the uppermost peaks of the kingdom’s mountain range. Arturri is a castaway, an intelligent being whose craft crashed on Cassian’s world many years before. All he knows of the people of the planet is that they are cruel and dangerous, and to be avoided at all costs. He’s lost and alone in a backward, hostile environment. When he meets Cassian, part of his soul rejoices in recognition of finding his mate and another mourns that they can never be together. He cannot return with Cassian, and Cassian can’t remain on the mountain. When Arturri is captured, protecting Cassian, both men face tests to their love and their courage.
The monarch of Cassian’s country is the epitome of a despotic ruler who keeps his people in subjugation with an iron fist. The country is surrounded by sea and mountain, making it almost an island on its own. With the state controlling its people so harshly, they don’t know of life beyond their own borders — with the exception of a few people who are trying to break the chokehold on their country by Maurus and his line. Maurus’s cruelty and greed are only matched by that of his head of security Phrixus.
Phrixus is the head of the country’s security, Maurus’s right hand man and as evil as Maurus himself. Cruel, calculating, and selfish, Phrixus uses his position to advance himself, and take whatever, and whoever, he wants. His twisted desire for Cassian contrasts with the love Cassian knows in Arturri’s arms.
As a little teaser, at the end of the story I introduce two characters that I hope to include in a future story along with the rest of their friends. Xavier and Theophilus are characters I first wrote about in my teens. They along with four others, another one of whom, Sholto, is briefly mentioned in Firebird, are a team of interplanetary Rangers.
Excerpt From Firebird:
A stone shifted beneath him and his ankle twisted violently. A scream tore from his throat. He tumbled sideways, hitting the unforgiving ground hard. He closed his eyes, expecting to be torn apart by the mato’s teeth. Instead, he heard an eerie, angry screech, a sound he’d never heard before, then someone, or something, grasped him under his arms and lifted him into the air.
The sight of the ground beneath him passing rapidly and at a dizzying angle made him feel sick. He closed his eyes and only opened them again when it suddenly went cold. Now Cassian could see nothing and guessed that he’d been taken into a cave.
Cassian felt himself lowered, then his feet touched the ground and his arms were released. He couldn’t stop the soft cry of pain. The moment he tried to stand on his damaged ankle, it gave way and he collapsed. He whimpered as bright light suddenly illuminated the darkness. Cassian curled into a ball, his eyes watering uncontrollably, and slowly he became aware that someone stood over him.
Angling his head to be able to peer through slitted lids, he stared, his eyes widening despite the brightness.
It was a man.
At least it looked like a man apart from the orange and gold down that covered his skull and two large wings with iridescent red, orange and gold feathers. He stood taller and a little broader than Cassian, the muscles of his arms and lower legs toned and solid, the rest of his body hidden by a jumpsuit in black material Cassian didn’t recognize. The stranger cocked his head and stared back.
To Cassian’s surprise, he couldn’t help but think how beautiful the being looked.
“My name is Arturri. What is yours?”
The sensual, baritone voice caressed Cassian’s ears like a lover’s kiss and he couldn’t stop the shudder that the sound evoked.
“Firebird.”
Cassian whispered the word before his world went black.
Blurb for Firebird:
Cassian is the bait when his Monarch wants to trap a Firebird. Are Firebirds beasts, or will Cassian discover that real monsters exist closer to home?
Palace scribe Cassian is stunned when he’s called before his ruler, Great Monarch Maurus, to be the bait for trapping a Firebird—a dangerous predator and a beast of legend that lives high in the mountains of his country’s border.
As he climbs a mountain, Cassian is injured, but a Firebird rescues him. Cassian discovers that Firebirds are not animals. Instead, he uncovers Arturri, an intelligent being from another world, living as a castaway. But Cassian is helpless to prevent Arturri’s capture by Maurus’ dangerous and evil head of security, Phrixus.
When the secret beneath the palace is revealed, Maurus is more monstrous than even Cassian ever imagined. Who can Cassian trust? Can he save not only Arturri, but also the other prisoners of Maurus?
Reader Advisory: This book contains a scene of attempted rape and sexual abuse.
Publisher’s Note: This book was previously published elsewhere. It has been revised and re-edited for release with Totally Bound.
Like the sound of Firebird? Buy it here.
About Pelaam:
Living in clean, green New Zealand, Pelaam is a multi-published author of gay romance and erotica.
When not working at writing, Pelaam likes to indulge in her other passions of cookery and wine appreciation.
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