\This short story is a prequel to Girl Under Glass. It contains no spoilers.\ Accused of adultery and manslaughter, and nine months pregnant, Rachel Pryne faces community judgment and a terrible decision. She can accept the protection of her community's leader—the man who fathered her child by rape—or be expelled into a world devastated by alien conquerors. Rachel must choose death or the devil and find hope somewhere in between. In this short story prequel to the sci-fi/post-apocalyptic novel, Girl Under Glass, readers will meet Rachel Pryne and discover just how determined a mother can be, even when the odds against her are overwhelming.

\\\This is a short story\\\ Sometimes it takes more than strength and training to complete a mission, sometimes it takes heart. For twelve years Ehtishem Mahle has crisscrossed the post-invasion ruins of the Pacific Northwest, searching for Rachel Pryne, the missing, adult daughter of his friends Joe and Ellie. Twelve years spent sleeping on dirt, bathing in frigid rivers, and living off the land. But he’s an Ohnenrai soldier—a walking weapon—and he’s endured far worse on other planets in the name of duty. Yet a chance encounter with a young Terran refuge will have Ehtishem questioning whether or not he can protect a single child, let alone find and safeguard the woman who’s DNA holds the key to saving not only Ehtishem’s people, but every living species on Earth and beyond. The Glass and Iron series contains adult themes, graphic violence, strong language, and sexual content.

What do you do when you’re trapped between death and the devil? To protect her young daughter from a madman and a tyrant, Rachel Pryne must trust an enemy - one of the alien warriors who conquered Earth. It is 2032, the Ohnenrai - Earth’s humanoid alien conquerors - orbit the planet, and Terran reproduction is failing. Rachel Pryne, a trained medic, is struggling to protect her seven-year-old daughter, Pearl, from the sexual predation of their penal colony’s leader. Having fathered the girl by rape, he now intends to take her on her eighth birthday, only six weeks away. Then Rachel finds her unlikely champion - an injured Ohnenrai soldier who appears in her yard one stormy evening. She knows she may be choosing death over the devil in trusting this warrior, but she doesn’t know that her trust, and her DNA, will make her one of the most important and endangered people to ever set foot aboard an Ohnenrai starship. \\\* Equal parts science fiction, suspense, and romance, Girl Under Glass moves from a post-apocalyptic wilderness in the American Pacific Northwest to a high-tech world aboard an alien starship furnished with all the stolen comforts of Earth. Readers meet Rachel Pryne, whose parents' lifelong and life-ending connection to the Ohnenrai has set her upon a path she never wanted to travel. And they're introduced to Ehtishem, an Ohnenrai soldier who exists to save his dying people, but who faces enemies from within and without his own military. The only possible solution to the Ohnenrai’s extinction lies within Rachel, but all she wants to do is protect her daughter and see Earth’s alien conquerors go straight to hell.

He would destroy the universe to keep her safe. She would become death to protect him. Terran medic Rachel Pryne was designed by the Ohnenrai to destroy their pursuing foe before all life in the known galaxy and beyond falls prey to its aggression. Ohnenrai leader Ehtishem Mahle was tasked with deploying Rachel into their deadly enemy’s path. Falling in love with her wasn’t part of the plan, but now he desperately needs a way to wield this weapon without ending her life. The only possible solution to galactic extinction lies with Rachel and Ehtishem, but all they want is to survive and be together. Everyone else can go straight to hell.