Tell me you wouldn’t leave Earth behind for the promise of a utopian life with an alien mate. I dare you. The Agency plays matchmaker for women willing to travel across two galaxies to a planet in desperate need of them. Too bad I had to sell my soul to get on that ship. When the Sian envoy arrived on Earth willing to trade almost anything for the one thing they need, I knew I wanted an alien of my own, and Richter… he’s perfect. The Agency has requirements I couldn’t meet without help, and the organization that falsified my records wants information in return. Those records might be the reason Richter isn’t the accountant I’d been matched with. If he was, I’d have been able to bore my handler back on Earth until they gave up on me. Instead, he’s a part of the Shadow Zone Brotherhood. The paramilitary group tasked with protecting their world from the monstrous creatures that wiped out the female population three decades ago has plenty of secrets I could send back through the comm channels. And even though he wasn’t supposed to be mine, now that the bond’s in place, no one can take him away from me. The man who should have been my mate is determined to try.

Love isn’t finite. Grief only fades. Danger is inescapable. Is a second chance worth the risk? Dancing is my life. I love it more than anything on this planet. Maybe that’s a lie I tell myself to keep the longing at bay. On Isia, the women who work at Margot’s can do as much or as little as they like with the Sian men who come in to learn how to please their future human mate. I’m the only exception to that rule. The Agency is careful to tiptoe around the risks with traveling to Isia for alien mate. I’ve been here long enough, I thought I knew them all. My first bondmate was murdered—an event I almost didn’t survive. Bonding again… that’s a risk I don’t think I’m willing to take. But I am tempted. D is the only man I’ve let get close enough to touch me since my bondmate died. And I count the days between his visits. He’s the only one who has ever tempted me. The only one who gets my time. And all he wants to do is talk, and sleep. I’ve learned as little as I can about him, because longing is as close as I’ll let myself get to losing him. But keeping myself in the dark, where only he can see me with his strange crystal ball eyes, puts me directly in the path of men who want him dead. They want me to do it, and they know enough of my past to be dangerous.

Falling in love is a variable none of us can control. When Jessica Ardem is offered an impossible to obtain round trip ticket to Isia, she jumps at the chance to finally study some of the planet’s fauna in person. After all, how can a xenobiologist do her job when she’s stuck on Earth? But when she arrives and is delivered to the Sian man studying the deadly creatures that roam the Shadow Zone, all of her priorities shift. Learning about the man she’s getting far too close to could break her heart if she doesn’t want to break the terms of her contract. Trench applied for a bondmate once. It went badly enough he swore he’d never try again. An outpost full of dead things is no place for a human woman. Until the Saints send him one who fits too perfectly. Jessica attacks their problem in ways that fascinate him, but she’s going back to Earth at the end of her three month contract. He can’t keep her, but maybe they can pretend for what little time they have. There’s nothing imaginary about what he feels for her. There’s nothing make-believe about the way she reacts to him. They’re both smart enough to know giving into their desires is guaranteed to end badly, but some needs defy logic.