Warriors of Tavikh

When space pirates attack the exploratory spaceship I work on and I'm forced to evacuate in an escape pod, I never expected to crash land on an alien planet. I have no idea where any of my fellow crew members are or if they even got away. I'm entirely alone. Or so I think. Instead, I'm rescued from a fierce predator by a towering purple alien with a tail and color-changing tattoos who ignites strange feelings inside me.

Life has sure kicked me in the teeth. After I'm arrested for stealing, I'm given two choices: prison or get shipped to the human settlement on the planet Tavikh. Since orange isn't my color, I guess off-planet it is. Except when our ship lands we're attacked by vicious aliens. Just as I swear I'm about to die, a towering alien with long, flowing golden hair and muscles rippling beneath gorgeous purple skin saves me. When the battle is over and the good guys seem to have won, my savior tells me I'm his fated mate. I hate to break it to him, but I don't believe in fate.

It wasn't easy escaping from the prison I'd been locked in. And an escape plan that includes a one-way ticket to an alien planet might not have been my smartest idea. But coming to Tavikh has been the best thing to ever happen to me. If I don't count the vicious aliens who keep trying to kill me.

With the protection of a brand new identity, I flee Earth on a ship bound for a planet light years away from the death that awaits me if I remain here. Months later, life on Tavikh is good. As long as I avoid the attention of the massive Tavikhi warriors—the alien race native to this planet. Two of my best friends may have found their mates amongst them, but the men—males—terrify me. Especially the largest, grumpiest warrior in the village.

I've built a new life on the planet Tavikh, spending every day seeking penance. And despite witnessing three of my new-found friends find their fated mate, I don't dare hope to find mine. Not when there's a chance someone from Earth will arrive to take me back to face the consequences for what I did. But when a gravely wounded warrior is brought into the healer's tent, a single touch from me triggers his mating marks to appear. Maybe my punishment isn't having to return to my planet, but rather being given a mate only for him to be taken from me.