She was an unmatched candidate. He was the one who never stopped watching.

Taken from Mars Colony Seven along with four other women to save a dying alien species, Claire has watched every one of her friends fall for their Ardorian warriors — the commander, the engineer, the pilot. Even Melissa, who fights everything, is circling the medic with an inevitability that makes Claire's chest ache. But Claire? Claire is the unclaimed candidate. The scientist without a match. The one nobody's tattoos light up for.

Or so she thinks.

When a trafficking threat puts all five women at risk, Commander Ariss assigns his tactical officer as Claire's personal escort. Torel is seven feet of silent, lethal, infuriating composure — a warrior who communicates in monosyllables, stands in her greenhouse doorway for six hours without complaint, and smells like winter in a way that is becoming a serious problem.

What Claire doesn't know is that Torel has been suppressing his bond tattoos since the day she arrived — holding back the light in his skin through sheer will, because she was taken from her world without consent, and he refuses to let his biology make a claim she hasn't chosen.

A standalone novella set in the world of A Bride for the Alien. Can be read before or after the series.

Tessa Monroe has perfected the art of staying in one place. As the owner of her family's struggling diner and caretaker for her ailing mother, her dreams of culinary school melted away years ago—right alongside her heart when hockey prodigy Noah Walker left town for NHL stardom.
Ten years later, Noah Walker is at the top of his game—until a devastating knee injury has him retreating to his hometown to lick his wounds away from the spotlight. The last thing he expects is to crash his luxury car right in front of his high school sweetheart's diner, or to find himself working there to pay off the damage.