Enslaved under alien rule, I've forgotten what kindness feels like-until my choices deliver me to the Zohra. Towering, horned, and unreadable, they are nothing like my past captors. And Karshok... he is nothing like the monsters I've known. He is fierce yet protective, distant yet impossibly gentle with me. I should fear him. I should resist him. But just as I stopped believing in salvation, he appeared-and with him, a warmth I thought I'd lost forever.

My crew and I take the jobs we need to survive in a world overrun by aliens. We fly a stolen ship that once trafficked women-us included. Now, we make our own rules and do whatever it takes to stay free. My latest job? Rehabilitate a Zohra-a towering alien locked away in prison, meant to be tamed into usefulness for his captors. Then I meet him-my job, a mute Zohra. And that's when everything goes sideways. Rescuing him wasn't in the plan, yet now we're on the run, supposedly relying on each other... except I'm the one doing all the work. He's frustrating. Completely useless. A liability, really. And yet, for some ridiculous reason, I just can't leave him behind.

I'm the crew's problem solver-the one they send on the hardest jobs. To them, I'm fearless, strong, unshakable. But the truth? I'm a coward, hiding secrets I pray no one ever uncovers. Everyone knows I'm terrified of the Zohra, the horned aliens that send chills down my spine. Yet, in a reckless moment, I agree to stay with the crew-near them. But my personal fears don't matter when a bigger threat emerges, one that could destroy everything. The mission takes us to my hometown, to a hidden lab filled with memories I swore I'd never face. And worse? I'm stuck infiltrating it with Harwal-a Zohra who reminds me of the monster that's haunted me for years. Surviving the mission is one thing. Surviving him-and the way he makes me feel-is another.