Garek returns to his village, Pan Nuk, eager to check in with his mentor and then leave to find excitement and adventure anywhere but the suffocating confines of home. He knows he's one of the strongest guards in West Lathor, and than no one can call the change as well as him, but his mentor has a special job for him, an investigation that piques Garek's interest. What piques Garek's interest even more, though, is his mentor's sister. Taya captivates him, causes him to reconsider whether leaving Pan Nuk really is the best decision for him. As their relationship blossoms, he finds the mystery Kas has given him to solve starts to endanger the woman he is falling in love with, and he will have to open his heart, and use every bit of his awesome strength, to keep her safe. For fans of the Sky Raiders series, this one is for you . . . SKY RAIDERS opens with Garek returning home to Taya, only to find her gone, and the whole village of Pan Nuk deserted. Garek is prepared to do anything to find his intended, and so begins the Sky Raiders trilogy, but how did Garek and Taya firest meet and fall in love? This novella (12,500 words) is for fans of the series, set before the sky raiders arrive and before Garek goes off to Garamundo. For those new to the Sky Raider series, an equally warm welcome—this is the prequel to the series, so you haven’t missed anything :).For fans of the Sky Raiders series, this one is for you . . . Intended is available exclusively to subscribers to Michelle Diener's new release notification newsletter, which can be joined through her website.

When the people of Barit first saw the sky craft, they felt awe. Then awe turned to fear and they found a name for the mysterious newcomers. Sky raiders. Garek's one year of duty as a guard walking the walls of Garamundo was extended to two when the sky raiders appeared. Two long years away from home and his lover, Taya. When he finally returns, the town is empty. While Garek was protecting Garamundo, the sky raiders were taking their victims from his hometown. Taya can't bear looking into the night sky. All she can see is Barit, her home planet. Impossibly, the sky raiders have brought her and their other victims to Shadow, the planet that shadows her own, and looking up makes her aware of everything she's lost. Garek is out there somewhere. She knows he'll look, but he'll never find her. She and the other captives have to find a way to escape. Without the food and clothes the sky raiders bring them from their raids on Barit, they'll starve on the almost barren wastes of Shadow. And when they've given the sky raiders enough of what they want, that's exactly what the sky raiders will leave them to do. She does have an idea of how she can break free—the sky raiders have brought them to Shadow to mine for ore. A very special ore which Taya has worked out is as dangerous to the sky raiders as it is valuable. What she doesn't realize is she'll have some help with her plan. Because Garek isn't giving up. And he's even more resourceful than she could ever have imagined. Nothing is going to keep him from Taya. Not even space itself.

He rescued her despite impossible odds—Garek has rescued Taya and the rest of his village from the sky raiders, but their return home doesn't bring easier times. The sky raiders aren't simply going to go away—they still need the shadow ore they came for, and they want the ships Garek stole from them back. But they aren't the only threat . . . First she was in danger from the aliens who abducted her, now she's in danger from her own people—Taya's been rescued, but she isn't home a week before she's taken again, this time by men who walked the walls with Garek. They've taken her as a consolation prize of sorts, having failed to get hold of Garek himself. They think Taya's value to the people they're working for is her relationship to Garek, but they are wrong . . . Garek and Taya never gave up on each other before, even when the distance between them was impossibly far, and they aren't giving up on each other now. As Garek searches for her, and Taya engineers her escape, they discover the motivations behind the new attacks on them are darker than the endless reaches of space they've just escaped from.

Taya and Garek have survived the worst of what the sky raiders and their own fellow Illians have thrown at them. But now, they’ll have to deal with both their enemies working together. As three of the Illian states close in on what they see as the weakness of West Lathor, Garek and Taya have to shore up their defences, call in favors, and forge friendships with whoever they can to protect their friends and family. When the signs that there is an alliance between an Illian liege and the sky raiders becomes harder to ignore, they have to face the fact that they may be defeated. The arrival of a new group of sky raiders, looking for information and help, opens up a new possibility. Garek sees no choice but to make a deal with the devil, but the gamble is, will the enemy of their enemy help them, or betray them?