Commander Zara Chen thought salvaging a derelict Drakari warship would be easy money. She never expected to find the ship's only survivor—a fierce alien warrior who claims she's his destined mate. But Kael Vorthak is no ordinary Drakari. He's a prince in exile, hunted by assassins, and apparently cursed to bring death to anyone who gets too close. When a bio-weapon attack targets her ship, Zara discovers her salvage job was a setup. Someone wants both her and Kael dead, and they're using the galaxy's deadliest plague to do it. Now she's racing across hostile space with an alien who makes her heart race and her common sense flee—all while dodging mercenaries, plague ships, and the growing certainty that her mysterious passenger is hiding secrets that could destroy them both. In a quadrant where trust is a luxury and love is a liability, can two damaged souls find salvation in each other? Or will the darkness hunting them consume everything they've begun to build?