The Chosen

By Kaitlyn O'Connor

Kaya grew up without her mother and without any knowledge of the world her people had come from. Kept in poverty and ignorance, no living humans had any notion of what it was the chaki wanted from them. For the chosen never returned to tell any tales.

The shifter, Rahn, who befriended her as a child and mentored her into adulthood, is her protector. Lord Mordan is the half-breed chaki aristocrat who selects her from among the chosen as his consort.

But Kaya is the one true chosen--hand picked by fate to free her people from the chains of the chaki to freedom.

• Language: English
• Publisher: New Concepts Publishing
• Release date: Oct 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005378936

Book preview

The Chosen

BY

KAITLYN O’CONNOR

( c ) copyright by Madris DePasture writing as Kaitlyn O’Connor, 2021

Cover Art by Jenny Dixon, 2021

ISBN 978-1-60394-

Smashwords Edition

New Concepts Publishing

Lake Park, GA 31636

www.newconceptspublishing.com

This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.

Chapter One

Rahn could not actually recall a time when he had not loved Kaya. The desire for her, the yearning to take her as his mate was new, but the love—that went much further back—to a time beyond his memory because each time he retrieved another and played it in his mind, it was always colored by love.

It was not to be, of course.

She was not one of his kind, not one his people—not even of his world.

None of that mattered to him, but it mattered to her. She did not see him as he saw her—a perfect creation. She saw him as a friend, he thought, but more specifically, an alien being. He did not think she had ever seen past that … barrier.

He knew she had not looked upon him with the heart of a lover.

He pushed the thought from his mind, knowing it was his own fault, at least in part—not just because of what he was, but because he had never shown her his other self.

The self that might have been more acceptable to her in the way he wanted.

Because he was reluctant to give up what he had. He was afraid the other self that he hid would not appeal to her and then he would lose what he had—her trust and her affection.

She would not look at him the same if she discovered the secret.

But it was not only his secret. It was his people’s secret and not his to share even if he wanted to.

He shook his thoughts off and tried to focus on his task, but it was a waste of time when his task was one he did only because it needed to be done, not because he relished working the fields.

In any case, it was the time for the choosing and he feared every time that she would be chosen and lost to him forever. He was tense with the waiting and wondering, the frustration of knowing that her fate was not in his hands. He could not save her. He could not change it. No one could but the evil bastards who had conceived the notion of the choosing—the chaki.

Finally, when he had reached the point where he felt like he might explode, he heard her call—and then he did explode.

Rahn! Come! Please hurry! Hurry! They’re coming!

* * * *

Kaya had spent most of her life fearing the contest—the choosing. When she had been too young to be among those chosen, she’d been afraid because the people who were taken never returned and she was afraid that someone dear to her would be taken.

Then they came and took her older sister.

Her last memory was of the chaki leading her sister off to one of the wagons filled already with ‘contestants’ for the gladiator games. She had run after her, clung to her until the chaki guard had knocked her down and kicked her. By the time she managed to recover enough to get up and try to ‘rescue’ her sister again, they had already pulled away. She chased the wagon anyway until she finally collapsed in the dirt and threw up.

She had been nearing the age of selection herself when they took her older brother.

Knowing it was useless, she had tried to stop them anyway.

And the results had been the same.

Next time, she thought, they will come for me and there will be no one to try to save me.

She had fled the settlement then, seeking a quite place to expend her grief, her fear of being alone.

That was when Rahn had found her—completely distracted her from her grief because he had scared her witless.

She had never seen one of the flying beasts of Quilla up close—the dragons of Quilla. They were huge, frightening creatures at a distance.

Up close—far more terrifying and Kaya was petrified—unable to move, hardly daring to breathe.

He had studied her for many long moments while she struggled to keep from passing out. Why cry? he said in a deep, growly voice, the sound so mangled by his vocal chords that it was many moments before she realized they were words, and then what the words were.

Or perhaps it was because she was scared witless?

But the question jolted her out of her shock. She had never had any notion that they could speak—or that they could learn the language of the Ert people. She’d thought they were merely beasts.

She sniffed after a moment, mopped her face with her hand. They took my brother.

He frowned—a truly terrifying sight. What is brother?

She stared at him blankly, trying to figure out how to explain something like that when he didn’t know what it was. We had the same mother.

He seemed to consider that for a time. Took for game?

Kaya thought she would cry again. She nodded mutely.

Want get back, ya?

Hope sprang up within her instantly. Yes, she said a little breathlessly.

He settled on his belly on the ground. I take, he said.

Kaya blinked at him, feeling completely blank, but he’d said he would take her to get her brother. She was sure that was what he had offered.

Should she trust him, though?

She thought she wanted to. Gathering her courage, she moved closer to him, telling herself that he could have eaten her right off. If she’d run, he could have chased her down and caught her easily.

He was offering to help.

She didn’t know why, but no one else had offered.

It took an effort to climb onto his back—partly because she was shaking so much with fear that she was weak with it, but also because he was huge. Once she had found a place between two of the protruding spines along his back, she gripped the one in front of her as tightly as she could to hold on as he stood up.

As soon as he had, he crouched low and then launched himself into the sky.

Kaya’s belly seemed to fall as she rose, and then float upward when he stopped climbing into the sky.

For a time, she could think of nothing but her fear of falling and the dizzying height, but then she spotted the wagon. There! I think that’s it.

Hold tight, the dragon said in his rumbling voice only perhaps a moment before he abruptly dove toward the wagon.

Everyone in the wagon began to scream when they spotted him—even the chaki soldiers that were escorting the wagon. The driver abandoned the wagon immediately, leapt from his seat, slammed into the ground and then bounded up and raced into the woods.

The dragon scattered the soldiers and then chased the wagon down, frightening the beasts pulling it so badly that one simply dropped dead in the traces, dragging the other to a halt and flipping the wagon.

Oh no! Kaya gasped, searching frantically for her brother.

Thankfully, no one seemed badly hurt. They managed to get up.

The dragon circled around. Run! he bellowed.

Dismay filled Kaya when she saw her brother among those running into the woods, but she realized in a few moments that she would not see him again regardless. He was smart. He would know not to return to the settlement where the chaki would only take him up again.

She had some hope, though, that he would escape completely … find safety. I love you, Thomas! Be safe! she called out as loudly as she could as the dragon banked in a hard circle and began to climb away until she could see nothing but dark specks on the ground that looked like microscopic insects.

She was so weak with relief when the dragon finally landed and allowed her to get off his back that she sprawled on the ground. He turned to look at her with that curious frown she had seen before and finally nudged her. Hurt?

She shook her head and then, on impulse, threw herself at his head, hugging him tightly and kissing him over and over. Thank you! Thank you! You wonderful … dragon! You saved him!

For Kaya, he said in his rumbly growl.

She pulled away and stared at him. You know my name?

He studied her, considering how to respond. Knew mother. Remember Kaya baby.

Kaya thought she would burst into tears. She didn’t even remember her mother she’d been gone so long.

Mother help Rahn when was youngling.

Joy filled her that he had known her mother and clearly with fondness. Can you …? Will you tell me the story?

He studied her. When learn mind-speak better.

Kaya found herself smiling at the memory despite the fear that had driven her into the woods in search of Rahn. She hadn’t known what he was talking about then.

Now it was pretty much the only way they spoke to one another—on the rare occasions when she saw him.

She thought she would have been happier if he was her constant companion instead of just an ‘acquaintance’ she ran into occasionally.

But she understood, or at least thought she did.

He wasn’t a beast. He wasn’t even of limited intelligence although she