The Solum series explained in haiku’s (really bad ones.)
Stolen from home
What happened to her unknown Must Remember (11/15)
New world to explore.
Winter’s passed
A new journey’s begun Can’t Forget (6/16)
War has come.
Battles fought
Friends lost and friends found Distant Memory (1/17)
Something’s coming.
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Can’t Forget
Solum Series
Book Two
Colleen S. Myers
Genre: Science Fiction Romance
Publisher: Champagne Books
Date of Publication: June 6th, 2016
Number of pages: 253
Word Count: 82,000
Cover Artist: Elaine Smith
Book Description:
Is it better to be safe or loved?
Four months have passed since the E’mani destroyed the Earth and scooped up the remains. Elizabeth “Beta” Camden was one of those taken. With the help of their enemies, the Fost, she escapes and confronts her prior captors successfully. Though she knows she should remain vigilant toward the E’mani, she follows her heart instead and falls in love with Marin, the sexy Fost warrior..
She should have trusted her first instinct.
This time the E’mani don’t come in force--they slip in silently. And any hope Beta had of a peaceful life is lost. She leaves in the dead of night to find the E’mani stronghold and end them once and for all. But love is a tricky bitch. It takes a threat to Marin’s safety to make Beta realize, if she can’t forget her past, she won’t have a future.
Chapter
One
The snowball hit
the back of my head dead-on. Bam.
I stumbled
forward from the force of the blow. The flakes created a halo of white powder
around my head in the cool, crisp air then settled all over my face and neck.
What the…oh no
he didn’t. A growl rose in my throat. I turned to confront my foe. I creased my
eyebrows and I glared at him, mean-like.
With a smug
expression on his face, Marin stared back, tossing another snowball between his
hands.
“Elizabeth, you
appeared distracted. I wanted to help.” His voice was smooth, deep like aged
rum, and echoed in the unique way of his people, the Fost, almost like he was
being dubbed. The sound got me every time causing me to shiver, or maybe it was
the snow dripping down my back.
“That was
helping?” My ass.
“Yes, you were
about to walk into a tree,” he said dryly, dropping his ammunition.
I whipped
around. Sure enough, a tree loomed in front of me. Dark-gray bark, feathery
fronds interspersed with lethal spikes, blue moss climbing its trunk. Yep, that
was a tree. Well for here anyway, not like on Earth.
I glanced back
at Marin, who stood so trustingly under the boughs of another nearby tree laden
with snow. A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. See, I could help too. He
looked hot, literally and figuratively.
“Okay, thanks.”
With a thought,
my power twisted deep inside, and I sent out a burst of air through the
branches. They shuddered in response and unloaded their cold, wet contents on
Marin’s head with nary a sound.
The snow dusted
his brows, his cheeks, and obscured the single streak of dark green that
coursed down the left side of his mahogany hair and framed his face. A single
flake melted on his lips.
Our gazes met
and held. His light brown eyes had a slit pupil that dilated then contracted as
he focused on me. I used to find it…disconcerting, but it was just him, along
with his long limbs, sharp features, and elaborate tattoos called jatua. All
small differences but strange enough to have unsettled me in the past. Now it
was so damn unfair how sexy I found him, alien race and all.
Marin raised an
eyebrow and licked at his bottom lip, watching me watch him. My gaze followed
the path of his tongue.
Heat spread
through me as I imagined myself tasting those lips. I tucked a strand of red
hair behind my ear. My breath slipped out in a sigh.
He smiled wide.
“Lands, I love how you look at me.”
“Stop.” I
blushed, twirling back and starting down the path we’d been walking before he
ambushed me.
“How much farther?” I asked when he caught up
and bumped into my side.
“We are close,”
Marin replied. He was so busy shaking
the snow out of his hair, he didn’t see my smile.
“Are we there
yet?”
“No.”
Ha, so literal.
“Are we there yet?”
His hands
stopped and his brow crinkled. He looked so confused I had to laugh. Then I
tripped flat on my face in my clunky snowshoes and it was Marin’s turn to
snicker. He picked me up and settled me against him, my face tucked into his
shoulder.
“You all right
there?” His words whispered past my ear.
“I’m fine.” My
voice came out a lot breathier than I intended. Damn it.
The corner of
his lips curled up. He traced the side of my face. Tingles trailed along my
skin. I put my fingers over his and stood on tiptoe in invitation. Marin
obliged and brushed his mouth along mine. Our lips clung for the briefest of
seconds before he shoved snow down the back of my coat.
I shrieked,
dancing backward. Cold, cold, cold.
Marin bolted
down the path, much more sure in his steps than I.
The jerk. He was
lucky he got out of range, or I would have gotten payback.
I fiddled with
my jacket to get the rest of the snow out, shuddering at the feeling of wet
fabric sticking to my back.
God, I hated
winter. The first snow, I marveled like everyone else. Oh, so pretty. The world
sparkled underneath the coating of white. Then the freeze set in, the biting
wind, the forced isolation. And did I mention the cold? Give me spring or
summer any day.
We were
traveling to the mines outside the city of Groos. The miners had reached a type
of rock they’d never seen before. It was dense and coarse. They couldn’t blast
through it, and their efforts were destabilizing the tunnels. They tried to dig
around it, but so far they’d had no luck. Nobody knew how thick the vein was or
how far it reached. They wanted me to try magical means to remove it. Fat lot
of good that would do.
When I caught up
to Marin, I gave him the evil eye.
Marin grinned.
“What?”
I flipped him
the bird.
He grabbed my
middle finger, “What does that mean? You do it all the time.”
“Nothing.”
His brows
wrinkled again. “Woman.”
“Man. And don’t
talk to me. You put snow down my back.”
Marin laughed.
“Sorry.”
“My ass, you are
not the least bit sorry.”
“Wait, what does
your bottom have to do with this?”
I blinked. Ha, I
forgot sometimes that certain expressions didn’t translate. “Nothing.”
He growled and
kissed my knuckle before dropping my hand. “I hate when you say that.”
“I know, thus,
why I do it.” I grinned and stepped ahead of him with a wiggle in my step.
He swatted me on
the ass as I passed. While I acted angry outside, inside I loved when he
played. He only ever did it when no one could see him. He was Clan Chief after
all, even though he was only five years older than me at twenty-five. The
position left him little time for fun and his own sense of responsibility
precluded it.
A few minutes
later and we reached our destination. A box canyon opened up in front of us,
filled with barren trees and snow. At the far end of the canyon, a cave
entrance loomed, braced by wood. A single railroad track led out of the opening
to the left and a snow-laden press stood to the side, up against the high stone
walls.
Con waited outside the entrance, his red and
green Mohawk vivid against the backdrop of white. His stout form and kind face
emphasized his resemblance to a Santa, A badass one. No fluffy red suit for
him.
Marin inclined
his head, straight to business. “Show us this rock.”
With a flourish, Con gestured ahead, and we
entered the mines with cautious steps. Just past the entrance, the light from
the two suns outside faded and darkness fell. I slowed and Marin’s hand brushed
my lower back.
“Let your eyes
adjust for a moment,” Con muttered from behind us.
As I stood
there, the walls started to glow. Streaks of aqua phosphorescence lit the
pathway ahead.
“What is this?”
I asked in wonder, moving in a circle.
“Theris, a weed.
It grows in the caves. When you break its shell, it glows.” Con held out a
small stick almost like an aloe branch that he snapped before our eyes, and a
thin, clear liquid trickled out. “The glow lasts almost a week. We carry some
on us at all times. Come, follow me.”
Con led the way
down the cramped passageway. Gravel and ice crunched underfoot. The smell of
dust filled the stale air. My breath steamed. Damn it. I shivered and rubbed my
arms through the jacket. Marin ran his hand down my spine.
It took about
five minutes of hiking to reach the antechamber. When we got there, Con stared
at me with a hopeful expression.
“Okay, you want
me to, you know.” I made woo-woo gestures at the wall.
“Yes,” Con
replied.
Four months ago,
I’d escaped from an E’mani spaceship and ended up here on Solum. The Fost,
Marin’s people and the sworn enemies of the E’mani, took me in and hid me from
their foes, but the E’mani didn’t give up easily. In one of their attempts to
draw me out of hiding, they set bombs at these mines. Several people had been
trapped inside. I’d used my magic to move the rock—how I got magic, I still
don’t know—and created a new entrance. Now they wanted me to do it again. No
pressure, right?
I reached out
and touched the wall. The dark surface crumbled under my fingertips. All throughout
the flaky stone, a silver metal streaked. Not dust or ore. This was metal, hard
and thick. No wonder they couldn’t get through it.
With a deep
breath, I closed my eyes. The power sprang eagerly to my summons. Heat spread
outward from my core and my palm tingled where it touched the rock. The chill
from being deep in the cave during winter faded.. A pulse vibrated in the air
around me, pulling me deeper. I concentrated on that sound, letting it center
me. My heartbeat synchronized to the sensation.
One. My skin
grew tight. I let my breath rush out in a slow exhale.
Two. The stone
warmed underneath my fingertips.
Three. The
ground shook in response to the power rushing to my call. I kept my hands
square on the wall.
Four. My hair
stood on end, strength rushing through me, filling me until the force of the
earth beneath my hand made me feel stretched like taffy. My mind screamed from
the pressure and I squeezed my eyes shut. I needed to hold it as long as I
could. My body shuddered until every pore sweat and my body strained from the
contact, pushed to its limits and beyond. And then I shoved all the power out
with my mind into the rock.
Please move.
Please.
A beat.
Nothing
happened.
“Anything, Beta?” Con asked right next to my
ear.
I jumped.
“Nope,” I squeaked
out, trying to bring my pulse under control, oddly empty.
“Keep trying,”
Marin said and touched the rock to my left. Con did the same on my other side.
We all focused this time, but unlike the time we freed the miners, there was no
movement. The metal seemed inert. Its light gray color contrasted starkly with
the dark-brown stone.
My shoulders
slumped. “Nothing. I’m sorry.”
“And this means
we cannot mine the ferok, doesn’t it?” Marin asked, rubbing his forehead.
“Correct, it
covers the veins,” Con said.
My fists
clenched. The Fost had found another metal--ferok. It was pliable and could be
imbued with magic. With it, they could shatter the technological defenses of
the E’mani. That was a good thing, but the metal kept us from it. And we had so
little of the ferok to begin with. This was not happy news.
“Land’s sake,
why can it never be easy?” Marin echoed my thoughts.
Marin slapped
Con on the back. “We will search the library for more information. You continue
to try to mine this rock. See what you can do.”
Con nodded in agreement as Marin gathered me
up and we trudged out of the caves. Silence reigned for the next half hour.
“Stop worrying,”
Marin said.
“I’m not
worrying.”
“I can
practically hear the thoughts racing through your head.”
“I am not worrying.”
I enunciated slowly, my steps deliberate
“Yes, you are.”
“Well, fine, I
can’t help it. I can’t stop thinking about the E’mani. Without the ferok, we
only have our magic and we need more. And there’s this feeling of dread,” I
splayed my hand across my chest, “right here, and it’s getting stronger. The
E’mani are out there. I know it. I’m not sure why they haven’t attacked us yet,
but they will. We need a weapon.”
The E’mani
wouldn’t have forgotten about me or the Fost. I didn’t hold out hope that they’d
forgotten about the men they’d lost in their attempts to recapture me either.
“The land
protects us,” Marin replied.
A snort escaped
me. “Magic vs. machine. That didn’t work out so well for you guys the last
time.”
Marin tossed me
a chiding look. “We survived, did we not? That is what matters. And we have
lived as we are meant.”
God, his words
made my teeth itch. “You can’t think the E’mani aren’t planning retaliation.
They are not a forgiving race.”
I’d know having
been their prisoner and all. And the more I thought about the E’mani, the more
hatred stirred inside me. I loathed those pale freaks. They’d destroyed my
world, in their never-ending quest to “make things better.” Then they brought
me here. I didn’t remember much of my time with them, not yet. But I recalled
enough to despise them. They were not kind masters.
White eyes
stared at me through amber glass, E’mani eyes.
“Hello,
Elizabeth,” Xade crooned. Light flashed off the razor sharp edge of the scalpel
in his hands. “Time for more samples.”
Marin’s words
snapped me out of my memories with a jolt. “We all know the E’mani are coming.
But the winter has been harsh, more so than usual. And before they came after
you, it had been ages since the last time we saw them. They left this world
long ago to recoup their losses after the war. They left even while we were
still fighting and maintain only a small presence out in Industry.”
My jaw set.
“Good. Industry is where I need to go. I need to find one of their labs.”
Marin sighed.
“We have talked about this, Elizabeth. First, you have no idea where to find a
lab. And second, you have no idea what you need to do if you did find it.”
“I remember some
of what they taught me. And being in the labs, where they kept me, will help me
remember even more. I scared them, Marin. Me. When I confronted them—”
“It might not
have been you. It might have been all the lightning you were throwing around,
or the blade Zanth wielded,” he argued.
I grit my teeth
until my jaw hurt. Damn him. Why wasn’t he listening? Tears blurred the path in
front of me.
“It was me; I
could tell. I know something that can hurt them, I can feel it. The E’mani were
frightened enough of me that they came in force to capture or kill me and it
has to do with the labs. I know there is something I’m meant to do, and soon.
If not, something bad is going to happen.” Chills shivered down my spine. I
heard the faint echo of screams—men’s and women’s—from long ago. They had a
plan for us, just like they had for Earth. How could I stop it? “Marin?”
“Yes.”
“If I asked you
to, would you leave with me, today, and travel to Industry?”
Marin blinked.
“Today? No, we need to plan these things, you know that, Elizabeth. To go now
would be stupid.”
I stomped
forward on the trail. “Of course it would be. How silly of me. You’re right.”
“Elizabeth,
please.” Marin caught up and put his arm around my shoulder. “We will go to
Industry soon. I promise.”
“Yeah, yeah, you
keep saying that.” I let my head fall against his shoulder. Arguing with Marin
never seemed to end how I wanted it to. No use being pissy about it now. And he
was right, which was even worse. To go during winter would be foolish, but
still…
A few minutes
passed. The snow crackled beneath our feet. It was cold enough, I’d long since
lost feeling in my toes.
The entrance to
the city of Groos came into view. There was a large chiseled gate built into
the natural arch that fronted the valley. They built the gatehouse into the
valley walls itself and tunneled above the gate, giving the guards a clear
sight line of anyone approaching.
Bas-relief
scenes covered the arch’s surface blending with the rock face. One scene
depicted a Fost couple embracing in a corner their arms wrapped around one
another. In the other corner was a Coreck, a catlike creature that stood on two
legs, with a long tongue. Yet another showed a battle. Men fought with swords
and spaceships flew overhead. The pictures were so vivid, they seemed to flow
across the rock, lifelike and real. My fingers itched to touch the stone. Every
time I saw it, I was struck by how natural it appeared. It fit.
Unlike me.
About the Author:
Colleen Myers was raised in a large family in the outskirts of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where she grew up on Harlequin teen romances and stories from her mother’s work as a paramedic. She was her high school salutatorian and attended Allegheny College on the Presidential Scholarship.
After college, Colleen spent a year in service in the Americorp giving back to the community at a local Pittsburgh Women Infants and Children Clinic (WICC) before attending Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine on a military scholarship.
Upon completing medical school, Colleen attended residency at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland during 9/11. She earned three meritous service awards from the military along with outstanding unit awards. After serving seven yearsof active duty, she promptly landed a position at the VA to provide fellow veterans with optimum medical care. Still an avid fan of romances into adulthood, her love of the genre inspired her to hone her craft as a writer, focusing on contemporary romance and science fiction. Her background in medicine and the military provide an inspiring layer of creative realism to her stories and characters.
Her first book, Must Remember, the first of the Solum series, is being published by Champagne Press. The sequel, Can’t Forget is the recipient of the 2015 RWA New England Readers Award.
Colleen currently resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with her son, and spends her spare time writing novels.
Website http://www.csmyersmusings.com
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