"Brothers Grim"
(Book 2)
Braith Shepard survives the fall of the Citadel and her ill-fated victory over the reapers….Five years later she is discovered alive in the isolated town of Cherry Lake, Colorado, alone but for the protection of a drell with an unknown connection to her past that she is not aware of yet, and facing those who have learned of Shepard's existence, returned her to the Alliance on Mars, is the question of how she survived?….With her is Casnar Soterios, a drell who keeps close, inevitably becoming her lover as he dwells in self-imposed exile from a past he has pushed from himself.
[A/N: Headcanon, Non-Canon Drell, Soterios Fandom, "Prelude" Sequel]
All references, names, places draw from "Mass Effect" the trilogy, except where original characters and divergences come to exist—that's the author's fault….and gladly….Artwork is property of the author.
The story rating is M.
Chapter 1
2192, Cherry Lake, Colorado, Earth
The bar was packed. He was at his table.
She came in at seven. Everyone looked with their eyes, a few with their heads as she entered by the old vintage door with its bell and handle….She wore dark jeans, ripped at the ends above the heels of her boots….Tight enough to look nice, but not tight enough to hinder her movement, or when she sat on the stool at the bar to order her usual.
She had a nice way about her that drew one to dark places in his mind, but with a look she could usually deter even the more brash of the blues hanging out there at Verne's….She was real nice to look at….Wasn't fair, what with the story of her resurrection….She had youth that should have told anyone with a brain to stay away, because according to her timeline, she was too old and died one too many times to look as "fresh" as she did.
Everyone she'd walked by on her way from the door to the bar had a smile ready for her as she passed….She gave them all the cold shoulder….Only woman for miles around, she had to forgive them that, even if a few didn't like it, even if a few took it the wrong way—and went the wrong way to get her to notice them.
She had "steel-metal" eyes….Her body looked as though it could give as well as demand what it wanted….She was no "kitten", those who knew her story….and he was the one she looked at that night….He was the one who got her nod.
She was a war hero….He was an exile….She'd been "retired" for some years following her return to Earth….Her name was Braith Shepard, and he was what happened to her after the reaper war.