Is he the man of her dreams? Or her worst nightmare? In the eight years since the first Talessanin embassy ship landed on Earth, Hanna Bradley, like most other humans, has never met one of the reclusive extraterrestrials—and she likes it that way. Hanna’s life is finally going well. She has her friends. She has her art. She has her own cozy home. And it’s been months since the last bout of horrific nightmares left her weeping on the floor of her locked bedroom closet. Then Jon moves in across the street. Jonantathinel of House Kanestelan Ehr has left the intergalactic emperor’s service to settle in a small, quiet town on the empire’s newest planetary protectorate, Earth. But Jon isn’t just any alien ex-soldier. Jon has secrets. When Hanna’s charming, yet intimidating new neighbor tries to spark a romance, the spark reignites the terrors of Hanna’s past, and she struggles to keep her balance as Jon’s ominous secrets whirl around her, and draw her in.

“He had come for her. In the darkness, and pain, and confusion, Jon had come for her, a defiant shadow dancing with death—The Viper in the Night.” Hanna Bradley’s new neighbor turned out to be more than she expected. More than she could have dreamed of. And when her old nightmare came to life, Jon was there to stop it. She knows now that she wants him to be part of her life. But can she learn to be part of his? Jonantathinel of House Kanistelan Ehr, Commander of the Nine Winds, Subduer of Worlds, Legend of the Talessanin People, known across the intergalactic empire as The Viper, thought he could retire. He was wrong. Instead of the quiet descent into domestic obscurity he seeks, Jon finds himself hunted by an old enemy with a grudge, hounded by members of the imperial court wanting input on “the human question,” and haunted by the mistakes of his past. Still, he is determined to break free of political entanglements, defy the disapproval of his family, and above all, to protect the woman he loves. But Dalathek is still out there. And there’s no such thing as safe.