Author: Meli Raine
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Release Date: October 15, 2019
BLURB
When you’re born without a trace, no one knows you’re a weapon.
I lie for her.
I hunt for her.
I kill for her.
And above all, I betray my mission for her.
She doesn’t know why. She doesn’t care why.
I do.
Treason comes in many forms.
Love is one of them.
Our training taught me to be a sociopath. A machine. A pawn. Nothing more than a tool for a larger goal, without attachments or feelings.
Our teachers forgot one important detail:
Pawns shouldn’t have hearts.
Yet we do.
It turns out our emotions are our greatest weapon.
And I know exactly where mine are aimed.
The Stateless Series also includes:
Traceless (releasing 11.19.19)
Fateless (release date TBA)
PURCHASE LINKS
Also available in audio
EXCERPTS
#1
I do not sleep.
Kina does, though, and that matters more.
Sleep is a luxury when we are in Woods. She knows it. I know I should catch an hour or two, especially with my five-night punishment and determination to go for six, but I can’t.
What did I just say?
What did I just do?
Kina has the dreams. I have the dreams. I’ve never told anyone else anything that wasn’t one hundred percent part of The Mission.
To confess emotion, to confess my own dreams that do not fit The Mission, could be punished by death.
Or worse. What if I really am so weak? Emotion is shameful. It’s disgusting.
We fail every time we feel.
She knows this. I know this.
And yet we both spoke. Shared.
Confided.
Why?
What does this mean?
With her sleeping beside me, I let my mind wander, giving in to the luxury of imagination. For years, the dream has been the same.
A burning wood fire.
A screaming boy.
A woman with long hair being shot.
A man with a shaved head and blue eyes like mine beaten by another man with a log.
And me with my bow and arrow. My hands are tiny, the skin around the knuckles dimpled. I’ve worked with the four-year-olds here at the compound. I know what young hands look like.
Why would I dream like that?
#2
“Thank you,” I choke out.
“For what?” His eyes cut away. The air between us has changed. I can’t explain it. Suddenly, I’m uncomfortable.
And yet I just want to be with him.
“For killing for me.”
As the words come forth from my mouth, I cringe inside. I did not mean to say for me. “For me” implies that he killed the bunny out of some attachment to me.
We are not allowed to have emotions for one another. It puts us at risk.
“I did it for me,” he says, louder than he should need to.
“You did?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To challenge Romeo.”
“Why would you do that?” My voice goes up to a sharp squeak at the end, incredulous.
He laughs. “Because we are taught to destabilize power structures.” He looks around. “What do you think the compound is?”
#3
The word feel is foreign. It’s as if Callum speaks another language. My heart jumps inside the cage of my chest.
“Feel,” I murmur.
Just then, Callum’s hand brushes against mine.
My organs have become trampolines, it seems, because my heart jumps into my throat.
He slides his index finger against mine, the touch no more than an inch of skin.
Revealing a mile of need.
MY REVIEW
Absolutely loved this book, from the first page to the last I could not put it down. It has been a while since I read a book all in one day but this one had me gripped right from the start and kept me engrossed until the end.
Kina and Glen are identical twin sisters. Having been at the compound for as long as they can remember they know no other way of life. Callum, their friend, has been with them since childhood but it is Kina and Callum who have the stronger connection, a connection that cannot be broken, unlike the rules of the compound.
No emotion is the key to being Stateless. Everything they have been taught, all the training they have completed, their lives up to this point have been planned and executed to perfection with one goal in mind…The Mission.
But what if everything you believed in is a lie, those you trusted the most betray you. Your life as you know it is not what you thought. Where do you go? What do you do?
I knew I was going to like Callum as soon as he was introduced in the story. The strength and power behind his character is evident, even in the younger years. His unyielding emotional attachment to Kina is evident in his desire to protect her. Having read the previous series I was aware of the relevance of the mission he has been given.
I’m not yet sure what to make of Kina. After everything she has been through I want to believe she is what she appears to be and that her feelings for Callum are real, I just have a feeling that not all is as it seems. And don’t even get me started on Glen! What a… sister!
This story is told from the views of both Kina and Callum. The majority of the timeline is set nine years ago when the pair where teenagers, in the final year of their training, coming up to the present towards the end.
If you have read the previous series by Meli Raine then some names will be very familiar, such as Romeo who is a prominent figure in this story. This is a stand-alone series, so can be read independently, however I would recommend reading at least the series before but all the series link together.
Suspense, lies, secrets and betrayal. Fighting for their lives and for their love.
COMING SOON
#2 Traceless – Releasing November 19, 2019
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AUTHOR BIO
Meli Raine writes romantic suspense with hot bikers, intense undercover DEA agents, bad boys turned good, and Special Ops heroes — and the women who love them. Meli rode her first motorcycle when she was five years old, but she played in the ocean long before that. She lives in New England with her family.
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