NOTE: Portions of this post first appeared in the Roswell Daily Record.

The past few years have seen a fun trend in scifi and paranormal romance – the holiday themed story. I had quite a number of new books to choose from for this column, if you want to mix your holiday with romance and aliens or shifters. (Full blurbs for all books are on the ebook sellers’ pages.)

The results are always terrific when a group of the top SFR authors comes together around a theme and the “Holidate with an Alien” collection sure supplies the seasonal and the romantic thrills. In Tinzel by Ella Maven a human and an alien on a prison planet make an alliance during a snowstorm to escape and find a Happy Ever After (HEA). In Ozias by Alana Khan a human woman is asked to be a matchmaker for an alien demon but the minute they reach his home planet, he decides he only wants her. (What romance reader didn’t see that coming?) It’s a classic friends to lovers tale to read by the cozy fire on any planet. Skruj by Honey Phillips artfully takes the old Charles Dickens tale and updates it, with the human woman working for a pinchpenny alien boss to support herself and her fragile little brother. The boss needs a companion for three events and the only person willing to go with him is his employee. Rixen by Ella Blake revolves around the preparations for a big holiday festival on an alien planet and the complications between a human woman who is only visiting the world and an alien who wants permanency in his HEA. Tana Stone takes the fake relationship trope to the stars in Yool with a human female fighter pilot who gets a smuggler to act as her date for a big event and then of course complications ensue. Sleye by Ava Ross revolves around a very forbidden relationship but the human woman knows what she wants and her hunky alien crush is happy to go along. Readers love the cover of Khane by Rena Marks because of the red stripes and the plot inside is red hot as well. The socially awkward daughter of the creator of a dating app of the future needs help from her royal alien neighbor when Daddy gives her a deadline to find a boyfriend. She needs someone by the time the big holiday party her father is throwing to celebrate the launch of the new version of the app and her neighbor is only too happy to help. And to keep all other suitable males away.

AmazonKU Series Page

Author Julie K. Cohen put a new twist on holiday SFR romance that I personally had never seen before – the Hannukah themed SFR story. Whisked away By the Alien features an alien hero who has been sent to New York to learn about humans as a cultural exchange and he’s arrived in the Birnbaum kitchen in time to observe Hannukah. When the daughter of the family arrives, she notices he doesn’t believe in clothing (but will wear an apron) and doesn’t know how to cook. The miscommunication trope gets a lot of play here but overall readers seemed to enjoy the growing feelings between the couple and the satisfactory HEA ending.   AmazonKU

Cyborgs get in on the holiday action as well, with Cyborgs Save Christmas: A Gay Holiday Romance by Toshi Drake, wherein a stranded alien needs the help of a kindly human to resolve his problem. There’s found family and miscommunications and of course a lot of holiday involved.   AmazonKU

In Vinder’s Christmas (A Cyborg for Christmas Book Three) by Christine Myers and Clarissa Lake, the authors mix vibes of the Old West with scifi romance, a cyborg hero, the local girl who needs help as the female main character and of course the holidays.   AmazonKU

Nine authors came together to write the Mated at the North Pole series of M/M paranormal romances, featuring nine men who shift into reindeer to pull Santa’s sleigh. The team has been informed they need to take a mandatory vacation in order to get ready for the big night ahead and each shifter finds his own holiday adventure among the humans. As the blurb for Cupid by Aria Grace says in part: “Cupid features an alpha reindeer with a knack for matchmaking, a human omega who has no idea shifters exist, a beachfront cottage, Christmas magic, and the best kind of present ever—true love, fated mates, an adorable baby, and a guaranteed happily ever after.”  The other eight, including Rudolph will have similar romantic encounters in these LGBTQ holiday tales.

AmazonKU Series Page

Dragon Shifter Christmas by Zoe Chant offers three holiday romances. In the first story the Female Main Character hates Christmas and the dragon shifter is on a tight deadline to change her mind or he loses his inner dragon forever. No pressure at the holidays! The second tale uses the enemies to lovers trope to good effect, as does the third entry in the book, although in the latter the idea of a dragon shifter and a cat shifter trying to find their HEA is especially appealing.     AmazonKU

If time travel plus Christmas sounds good to you, there’s Christmas Village: Julia by Frankie Robinson which features a woman renovating a 200 year old Scottish mansion who encounters the ghost dwelling there. She gets drawn into his time, where the village is going all out preparing for the holidays and of course romance blossoms.     AmazonKU

Or you can visit The Enchanted Highlands book three, A Kilt for Christmas by Tricia O’Malley in which, to quote the blurb: “… a handsome American takes on a lonely Scotswoman in this stand-alone, small-town, Scottish romance. Wicked banter, a highland ghost coo (cow), and dogs dressed in kilts make this magical Christmas story the perfect happily-ever-after.”     AmazonKU

VS: I only have so much space in my columns for the RDR and quite a few more holiday books have been released since I wrote the original post for them, so let me add:

An Alien for Christmas by Margo Bond Collins –  a human journalist ends up running the Alien Bride Lottery over the holidays and hopes to find her own mate…

The three book An Otherworldly Christmas Series – How My Krynch Saved Christmas by Sandra R Neeley: mixes a throughly disillusioned human woman who doesn’t enjoy the season at all, a grouchy cat and a big green alien bounty hunter. How My Jingleballs Saved Christmas by Rena Marks:  an alien puppy who really isn’t a dog at all and the human woman who receives him as a gift. How My Alien Saved Christmas by Liz Paffel: a hot holiday party crasher is really an alien and “just might make all her holiday wishes come true”.     AmazonKU Series Page

A Tygerian Christmas (Mate of the Tyger Prince) by Shannon West: the human mate of alien royalty attempts to recreate the holidays for his family but things don’t go well. Then he’s allowed to see what his life would have been like if he hadn’t gone to this alien world.     Amazon

Horned Holidays: The First Collection by Honey Phillips: Three determined heroines, three unexpected heroes, and three sweet and steamy stories with all the warmth of the holiday season! ”     AmazonKU

Eat Your Heart Out Holiday Edition by Various: “Get comfortable by the fire and get your favourite seasonal snacks at the ready for this fun-filled selection of spicy food-themed romances from bestselling romance authors.”    Amazon      Apple Books     Kobo

All I Want for Christmas is Tentacles by Chloe Archer: An alien who’s watched a lot of human romcom flicks escapes his arranged marriage and goes to Earth where he finds just the right human guy to make his holiday dreams come true.     AmazonKU

Midlife Christmas Magic (Bearmates over Forty Book 8) by Aline Ash: a grouchy bear shifter and his son’s tutor make holiday magic.     AmazonKU

Wolf’s Christmas (Brides for Beasts:Wolves Book Five) by Kym Dillon and Candace Ayers: Those Christmas toys have to be delivered and a wolf shifter gets talked into flying the snowbound charity worker and her toys to LA. Many complications ensue!   AmazonKU

Tinsel and Tusks (Love at First Orc Book Three) by Ava Ross: another case of being snowed in with romance brewing along with the hot cocoa, this time with an orc businessman.     AmazonKU

Bah Humbug Mate (Mystic River Shifters Book Seven) by Delta James: “A new twist on a holiday story you think you know. Will a sham marriage lead to a real love story? Dash Samuels, a grumpy reindeer-shifter, is faced with an ultimatum: marry by Christmas Eve or lose his family inheritance. The holidays are his least favorite time of the year and now he needs to find a mate?”     AmazonKU

Dragons Don’t Do Happy Holidays: Christmas at the Lonely Tavern Book One by Harmony Raines: “Brooding dragon shifter Flint wants a new start. So, when he arrives in Wishing Moon Bay the plan is simple. Get in. Get out. And avoid the merriness as much as possible. However, with a dark past, and nothing to his name, getting any supplies for his journey is all but impossible-so much for the season of giving. But, as they say, when one door closes, another opens.” And just the right witch for him walks in.     AmazonKU

Kidnapped by the Krampis by Emily Shore: inbtrepid reporter determined to find out the secret of the reclusive CEO of Krampus World gets a little more than she counbter on for her holidays.     AmazonKU

Of course there are many other SFR/PNR holiday romances available, with more being released weekly but hopefully this sampling will start your season in a holy, jolly way! Happy reading!

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I’ve decided to change up these weekly snippets and go through my backlist, sharing the first meeting between the two main characters in each book. I’m going roughly in the order of first publication. It’s always fun for me to revisit the books and I hope it will be for you too! Or if you’ve never happened to read a certain book, maybe I can entice you into giving it a try.

I did a lot of rezearch for this book, which was written pre-COVID, and the outbreak is based on several issues from norovirus, which plagues cruise ships of today, to Legionnaire’s disease and a few other things thrown in besides. I also did research on PTSD since both the main characters are war veterans. I love medical romance and it was a fun challenge to write one of my own. I’ve written several doctors as female main characters since. And of course the Nebula Zephyr cruise ship ‘stars’ in a number of my books!

The excerpt:

“There’s been a mistake,” she said, not waiting for the door to swing all the way open. “My father—” She tripped on the edge of the fringed, locally woven carpet and lost her balance.

The visitor caught her, his arms corded with impressively developed muscles, and set Emily on her feet, although he didn’t release her for a moment, looking her over. “The entire crew of the Nebula Zephyr is in your debt, Dr. Shane.” Now he let go of her arm and stepped away.

Her cheeks warm, knowing she was red with embarrassment, Emily smoothed her hair off her face and stood straighter, trying not to stare at the man sent to fetch her. Taller than she was by at least a foot, the stranger had close-cropped black hair that probably curled a little if left to its own devices and deeply blue eyes set in a tanned face. He was dressed in a pair of black jeans and a formfitting black T-shirt outlining broad, muscular shoulders. The edge of an intriguing tattoo showed below the left sleeve’s hem.

Realizing she was staring, she took the hand he was offering. His grip was firm, her own tightening in reflex. She felt the stirrings of interest along her nerves but took a deep breath to shake off the sensation. Good to know she could still be affected by an attractive man with a deep voice and a strong handshake, but now wasn’t the time or place to pursue the unexpected sensation.

“Jake Dilon, ship’s chief security officer, at your service, Dr. Shane. May I say it’s an honor to meet you, ma’am?”

He hesitated as if he wanted to say more. With a self-deprecating laugh, she said, “Don’t make too much of the experience, you might be disappointed.” She’d had a lot of experience blocking comments about her past since returning home to Harilon. It was almost second nature by now. Running on instinct, she retreated to the small office at the right of the corridor, the man following her. He moved silently. As she glanced over her shoulder, she felt compelled to warn him this berth on his ship wasn’t a done deal. “I haven’t agreed to ship out with you yet, by the way. My father had no right to speak for me and I’m still undecided.” As she sank into her father’s cushioned desk chair, she asked, “Why is this so urgent?”

He focused on her face with an unnerving intensity. Blue eyes narrowed, he paused for a moment, rocking onto his heels. “Captain Fleming was told you’d said yes.”

Surprised by his obvious dismay, she unbent a bit. “What happened to your ship’s doctor anyway?”

“You would ask the question we can’t answer.” Jake’s grin seemed genuinely rueful. “He took shore leave when we arrived at Harilon ten days ago and failed to report back. Your planetary police can’t seem to locate him, and we can’t wait any longer. Even cruise ships have deadlines to meet, and we’re carrying a lot of cargo, which means penalties if we don’t deliver on time.” He spun the old-fashioned globe on the edge of the desk. Head tilted, studying her while she was contemplating him, he said, “I’m no doctor, but I think it’s pretty light duty, ma’am. I don’t recall Dr. Meers ever complaining about being overworked.”

“I’m not afraid of hard work.” She drew in a deep breath, trying to block a flashback of stretchers full of injured soldiers. Her responsibilities in the past had been staggering and fraught with consequences. “Quite the opposite. I like to stay busy.”

“I see I’ve offended you, which wasn’t my intention.” Standing in a loose parade rest, he spoke softly.

Emily made a vague hand gesture. “It’s just—I’m not used to dealing with pampered civilians. To be honest, I’m not sure I can ingratiate myself with the paying customers.”

He laughed. “Do you think I do?’

Well, the women anyway. No effort required. Emily wanted to admire the tight T-shirt, but that would be unprofessional and inappropriate. Or so she told herself.

STAR CRUISE OUTBREAK

She saved countless soldiers in the wars … but does she have the weapons to fight an outbreak?

Dr. Emily Shane, veteran of the Sector Wars, is known as “The Angel of Fantalar” for her bravery under fire as a medic. However, the doctor has her own war wounds–severe PTSD and guilt over those she failed to save.

Persuaded to fill a seemingly frivolous berth as ship’s doctor on the huge and luxurious interstellar cruise liner Nebula Zephyr, she finds the job brings unexpected perks–a luxe beach deck with water imported from Tahumaroa II, and Security Officer Jake Dilon, a fellow veteran who heats her up like a tropical sun.

However, Emily soon learns she and Jake didn’t leave all peril behind in the war. A mysterious ailment aboard the Zephyr begins to claim victim after victim … and they must race against time and space to find the cause and a cure! Trapped on a ship no spaceport will allow to dock, their efforts are complicated by a temperamental princess and a terrorist–one who won’t hesitate to take down any being in the way of his target.  If anyone’s left when the disease is through with them…

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I’ve decided to change up these weekly snippets and go through my backlist, sharing the first meeting between the two main characters in each book. I’m going roughly in the order of first publication. It’s always fun for me to revisit the books and I hope it will be for you too! Or if you’ve never happened to read a certain book, maybe I can entice you into giving it a try.

TWO AGAINST THE STARS is the third in my alien empath series and I tried to really change things up from the earlier stories.  (All the books can be read as standalones.) Carialle manages to escape her interstellar mob ‘handler’ and hides in the slums of an alien planet. But then she’s presented with a hard choice about whether to use her empathic powers to help a Special Forces soldier in big trouble…

The excerpt: Carialle is a janitor in a shady medical clinic when a new patient is brought in, heavily sedated and restrained…she uses her powers to see if he’s truly in a persistent vegetative state as she’s been told, or if the medications are keeping him under.

Time to clean and get out. Carialle stepped away from the bed to get her supplies, and rubbed her aching lower back, trying to work out the kinks. It had been a long time since she first labored as a maid at the temple, and she wasn’t getting any younger. Smiling to herself, because she was far from being an old woman, she turned, tools in hand, and froze.

Marcus Valerian was awake and staring at her. His eyes were blue, the same blue as the flames burning inside his soul. He licked his chapped lips and strained one wrist against the padded restraints, as if reaching for her. “Where?” he whispered. “What…planet?”

“Felicia Seven.”

“Home.” He let his head fall onto the skinny pillow and closed his eyes again.

Nerves making her dizzy, she gave the room a cursory cleaning and escaped. She debated mentioning to Matikian how the soldier had awakened for a brief moment but held her tongue. Reluctance to betray the fact made silence the wiser course to follow, especially as no one ever seemed to care about the details of the patients’ health on this wing. No one expected her to report on a  patient’s physical condition.

VS: And a little more, from the first time they actually converse. This is a few nights later and she’s used her powers to awaken him briefly from the drug-induced coma:

She held a finger to her lips and scurried to check the door. Satisfied the orderly in charge was ignoring the world around him as usual, she hurried to the bedside and slid her fingers over Marcus’s hand. Leaning close, she whispered, “I’m going to help you but we have to be careful, understand?”

His pupils were huge, dilated from the drugs.  He tried to speak but no sound came out. Hastily she laid her hand across his chapped lips. “I’ll ensure you get less of the medicine but you have to convince them you’re still sedated. Can you put on an act?”

Marcus studied her face for a moment. “Yes.” Getting the single syllable out seemed to require almost more energy than he possessed.

“Good. And then we’ll see what we can do about getting you out of here.”

“Today,” he whispered against her hand. “Now.”

“Not yet—you aren’t ready. There’s time. Trust me.”

She removed her fingers and he spoke so faintly she had to shake her head and lean closer. His breath puffed against her ear as he repeated himself. “Angel.”

Laughing, she shook her head. “Far from it, but I can’t stand aside and let them do this to you. I’m going to send you under again but you’ll remember our agreement.” She released her hold on his consciousness and his eyelids drifted downward, despite his obvious struggle to stay awake.

To her astonishment, he shook his head, squared his shoulders and reopened his eyes. “Name?”

“Carialle.”

Although he clearly was desperate to say more, his head lolled to the side and he snored as the drug took him.

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Two Against the Stars

Empathic priestess Carialle has escaped the evil Amarotu Combine, but she’s hardly out of danger. Not when she risks everything to rescue a drugged man from a crooked veterans’ clinic. By lulling the clinic staff to sleep, she reveals her powers. And once again, criminals are after her and her rescuer.

Marcus Valerian, a wounded Special Forces veteran, never expected to have his life threatened by the clinic that’s supposed to help ex-soldiers like him. But when he wakes from a drugged state to find a lovely woman urging him to run–he does. In his family’s remote fishing cabin, he suffers the agony of withdrawal, soothed only by her powers.

In their idyllic hideaway, the two also discover a nova-hot attraction flaring. But can they stay alive long enough for it to become more? Not if the Combine has anything to say–they are not giving up until Marcus is dead and Carialle is their weapon

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Actually the story of why I wrote FAINE begins with the previous book, NARIO. Ever since introducing both Badari Warriors in the book about their Alpha, Jamokan, I’d known I wanted to write a book for Nario and as I began working on that one, my Muse felt very strongly Faine would go on the trip to the Khagrish homeworld as well, and choose to be stranded there. So in a way I wrote NARIOFAINE as one long book, to tell the entire adventure, and broke it into two at the logical point where Faine decides to remain on the planet to attempt to rescue his hoped-for fated mate, while Nario takes the rest of the group home. I always say I’d never write a cliffhanger but I guess never say never, because Faine’s part of the story is unresolved at the end of NARIO! Of course Nario and his mate receive their HEA, however.

Faine’s not an enforcer although he is a senior soldier, so he sometimes makes unwise decisions but on the whole his adventures on the Khagrish planet show him another side to the enemy besides the cruel scientists and the sadistic guards and techs he knows from the labs and he does have to re-evaluate a few things he’s always held to be true. I strive to tell a different story in each book so Faine’s journey to rescuing Farah couldn’t be in any way like what he’d gone through when he was still with Nario and the others. I had fun imagining him navigating his way through the varying urban landscapes of a major metropolis (drawing upon various parts of the greater Los Angeles area, I freely admit) and encountering a variety of Khagrish citizens along the way.

I was recently in the local area I modeled the dining and shopping zone after and it was an odd feeling to stand there and ponder what if a Badari Warrior was hiding somewhere in the vicinity. Reality and scifi romance overlapped a bit there! (A vivid imagination is required to write the books I write.)

There were some loose ends from Nario’s book to tie up – no spoilers!

One aspect I shed more light on in this book goes all the way back to IVOKK and an incident readers had a lot of questions about at the time, so I made sure to work some answers into the story now.

When I start writing a book I typically know the beginning and the ending (always an HEA), the two main characters and probably a major scene or two. Then the rest of the story unfolds for me as I write. A few of the twists in Faine’s book surprised me but I think they make sense, given his journey and the circumstances.

In closing I’ll share with you that there’s a family joke how much I loathe Shakespeare and in this book I managed to work in a quasi-Shakespearean Khagrish reference or two, which was fun to do. Faine kind of expresses my opinion at one point…he and I would be in agreement!

Depositphotos

Here’s an excerpt from near the beginning of FAINE:

This was all much harder than he’d ever feared. Badari were pack members, with their brothers always ready to watch their backs, the mental bonds tight and reassuring. He’d never had the desire to be a ‘lone wolf’ as the humans termed it, going off on solo missions. He knew a few men who had done the duty, like Darik, and been fine, but even then the pack bond had held firm for him.

Faine rubbed his chest and swayed ever so slightly before pushing himself further back against the crumbling wall of his shelter. There was no danger lurking nearby. Slowly he allowed himself to slide to a seated position in the deep shadows where he’d hidden, away from even the light of the moons. He had no need of a light, much less a fire, thanks to the extraordinary night sight his kind had been given by their Khagrish creators. No one was going to sneak up on him.

His inner beast was restless, uneasy, prowling and trying to make sense of their current situation.

Fair enough. He wasn’t too sure of his condition either.

From the moment Farah had surrendered herself to the Khagrish noble to spare Faine from torture, he’d had known he wasn’t going to leave the planet without her. His heart was breaking in two as she walked away to save him and the others. Faine’s beast had nearly seized control, rousing him to a blood mad fury, desperate to escape the cage and rush after her. Only Nario’s intervention and dominance had allowed the man to regain control of the beast and return to his senses.

He completed the mission to help Nario and the others escape, as any honorable soldier would do, but then he regarded himself as free to find and rescue the woman who’d come to mean so much to him in such a brief time. How could he leave his potential fated mate in danger here on the Khagrish home world, in the hands of an untrustworthy noble with lascivious eyes?

He could not. The goddess wouldn’t expect him to, although briefly he had a few resentful thoughts about why she’d chosen to gift him a mate under these circumstances and then snatched her away again. Farah had been incredibly brave to leave the cage where they’d been held and go off with the noble. He had to answer her courage with his own.

I’ll find her and I’ll free her and we’ll get home somehow, he said in his mind to the faraway goddess. If you can and will help us, I’ll be forever grateful but I’ll do it on my own if there’s no other way.

Not surprisingly the goddess didn’t answer his defiant prayer.

Rubbing his chest again where the pack bond had always rested, from the moment he first came to consciousness in the cursed lab so many years ago, Faine closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall. The emptiness was wrong. A Badari was never without the pack bond and the reassurance it carried. The Alpha was there as well, if not in person, an integral part of the mental link. He hadn’t realized how much Nario, who was an enforcer, had been anchoring him in the absence of the pack bond until his friend was shooting into the Khagrish sky on his way home in a hijacked cargo hauler. And the remnants of the bond dissipated. Maybe his violent mood swings were due in part to the lack of the anchoring influence. Another factor to be watchful of as he went about this mission.

Thinking about Nario reminded him of the enforcer’s last gift before leaving. Going deep into his mind, Faine approached the glowing packet of power his friend had sent through the diminished pack bond. It was a warm glow, pulsing slightly, waiting to be tapped into when the right need arose. Faine was grateful for the gift but hoped Nario hadn’t made himself dangerously weak. His friend had the six week cruise home to Ushandirr to recuperate and of course once he got home their Alpha would provide power, as would the Supreme Alpha, to assist Nario in recharging his own.

Faine closed the mental search with a regretful thought. If he had to use Nario’s energy, the situation would be dire indeed.

With a rueful chuckle, he dug a snack pack out of his pocket and munched. Not much sustenance for a Badari Warrior but his people had been engineered to function for a long time on little water and scant rations.

Vowing to do better for himself tomorrow, Faine sniffed the air and was relieved not to scent smoke. After leaving the spaceport he’d gone deeper into the slum area, avoiding the still burning complex from which they’d escaped. There were active patrols in the vicinity, mopping up after the government attack and he was sure the authorities were keeping an eye out for the Badari, in case they might have survived the assault. No one appeared to be fighting the fire, allowing it to burn itself out, although there were efforts to prevent the blaze from spreading to neighboring structures. The entire area was ostensibly deserted ruins anyway but even the uncaring Khagrish authorities had no desire to allow a big portion of the city to burn to the ground all at once.

Snack finished, he drank one of the remaining nutrition rations and then pulled Prue’s gift from his other pocket. She’d left him with the Khagrish handheld she’d been hacking and promised he didn’t need more than basic proficiency to access the files she’d marked for him, to help him in his quest to find Farah. While he was no IT whiz, he had a firm grasp of the principles involved and of course was fluent in Khagrish. Shielding the screen to prevent any stray light from escaping his hidey hole, he scanned the research she’d done for him. There was a long file about the Khagrish ruling family, including Shymzynnar, the man who’d taken Farah. Faine decided to read it later, although he studied the portion about the noble’s various homes with interest. The one Prue indicated was most likely to be Farah’s destination lay several hundred miles outside the city.

Examining the maps on the screen, Faine agreed with Prue’s choice of primary target. He didn’t need any external guide to pinpoint Farah’s location. Deep in his heart a tiny, thin golden thread flickered —the nascent mate bond between the human woman and him. The link, tenuous as it was, pulled at him and he knew he could start walking now with his eyes closed and end up standing in front of her.

Unless of course he fell off a cliff, got hit by a groundcar or shot by a Khagrish.

FAINE: A BADARI WARRIORS SCIFI ROMANCE (SECTORS NEW ALLIES BOOK 17) by Veronica Scott

Left stranded on an enemy planet, can Faine find and rescue the woman he believes to be his fated mate? 

Choosing to remain behind when the others in his party escape the Khagrish homeworld, Faine is determined to locate and rescue Farah, the human woman he loves. Somehow he’ll get the two of them off the planet and safely home to the Badari Warriors’world far away. Alone, feared and hated by the aliens on this alien world, cut off from his pack, Faine must traverse a city and countryside full of danger on his quest to locate Farah.

Farah Saunders was a teacher in the Sectors until she was kidnapped by pirates and sold to become a subject of lab experiments. Taken to the Khagrish home world with a small group of humans and two Badari prisoners, she was selected by a Khagrish noble to become his personal special project. Her situation is hopeless yet she can’t stop thinking of the one man who might be able to save her – Faine. She barely knew him but feels an uncanny connection to the fearless, genetically engineered soldier. What is this link tying them together?

Reunited, the two of them go on the run, hunted ruthlessly by the Khagrish authorities and the infuriated noble. Can Faine accomplish the miracle he’s hoping for and find a way for them to escape? Will Farah ever agree to become his claimed mate?

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