Free Soldier Mine by Amber Kell

capture him and use him against the newly awakened king,” Bleine countered.
    “Anyone who touches him will die by my hand,” Vohne snarled. The idea of someone hurting Kres made him want to turn feral.
    Bleine shook his head. “That still won’t bring him back, and sadly, there are many who will die for their cause. Besides, even if they don’t kill him, they might hold him for ransom or just hold him over your head.”
    Vohne let out a short laugh as he remembered how his mate had handled the last battle. There had been no shortage of people willing to tell Vohne of Kres’ ruthlessness. “Holding my mate will be more trouble than they might expect.”
    Bleine frowned. “In the past, he’s always been a dreamer.”
    “Not his time.” Vohne smiled. “This time he’s a warrior.”
    Bleine’s expression was one of utter horror. “Then the prophecy is true.”
    “What are you talking about?” His brother had always been the bookish one, while Vohne was the fighter.
    “All the time you were gone, I searched the vault for reasons you weren’t brought back. I couldn’t understand why you hadn’t resurfaced yet. One of the oldest manuscripts I could find said that even for the king there is a final reincarnation. It will occur when your people need you the most.”
    “They needed me during The Great Purge,” Vohne growled. “I let them down by not returning. Something must’ve prevented me from coming back.”
    That was the only thing Vohne could think of. An outside force had stopped him from returning and finding his mate in order to prevent the purge.
    Bleine nodded. “Which makes me worry about what’s coming now. It said that in the final reincarnation the king’s mate will be a warrior. I shared this with Jallryne. If she is the deceiver like we believe, she’ll be on the lookout for your mate. If he dies, this time he won’t come back.”
    Fear rushed through Vohne. “We need to make sure that doesn’t happen. Get this ship landed. I have to find my mate!”
    * * * *
    It took several deep breaths and many images about the revenge he was going to take on his mate before Kres pulled it together. Picking himself up off the floor, he assessed the pod. With no idea of what situation he might land in, he popped open the provision chamber and scanned the contents.
    “Great!”
    Finally, something was going his way. The chamber was fully stocked.
    The usual amenities lay inside. Food, jugs of water, snack bars, and tucked in the back, a military style survival dagger. Kres snatched up the dagger, tucked it in his boot, and filled his pockets with bars before cracking open a bottle of water. He needed to stay hydrated in case there wasn’t a lot of water where he landed. Damn, he wished he’d asked Vohne more about his home planet instead of concentrating on getting into his pants.
    He paced the pod, occasionally glancing at the monitor to judge when he would land. If Vohne survived, he would go to the palace. Kres couldn’t even think of the possibility of his lover’s death. If Vohne were dead, he’d know.
    A computerised voice came over the intercom. “Impact in five minutes.”
    Kres sat back down and fastened the seat buckle tight.
    “You’re keeping secrets from me, man-cat,” Kres mused. Thinking over the hints and bits the Thresl had dropped, he worried about what the shifter hadn’t shared.
    “Impact in three minutes.”
    Sighing, Kres leaned his head back and closed his eyes. What the hell had happened to his life? A few days ago, he’d been more than happy to be a common soldier. Now he was a Thresl-mate to a king—a king who may or may not be alive.
    “You have to be alive,” he whispered. Luckily he didn’t get much time to fixate on his lover’s plight—not while hurtling towards a planet in a small capsule.
    “Impact in one minute.”
    The pod slammed into the ground, bounced, and slammed into the ground again before rolling. When the pod finally stopped, Kres’