As the first humans allowed in Suevan space, there’s a lot riding on my all-woman team. Earth desperately needs their tech, and I’m determined to prove we can negotiate the price. Without their planetary defense systems, Earth is a sitting duck, ripe for invasion. Except the Suevan culture is nothing like ours. When I take part in what I think is a welcoming ceremony, I leave with more than I bargained for: a husband. A mate. Apparently, we’re there to marry them as payment—something the top brass on Earth doesn’t bother denying. Fantastic.

A must-listen prequel novella in the Stolen Warriors series from USA Today bestselling author Ella Maven. Contains mature themes.

This cruise is the beginning of something amazing, and nothing is going to stop me from going. But when things go wrong shortly after departure, it’s clear I have made a mistake.

Gemma Hara is drowning under the weight of her father’s debts. Working herself to the bone, she knows that if she doesn’t pay them off in time, the sadistic creditors will take everything: their home, their respected name, and, worst of all, her two beautiful sisters.

As a third daughter on the farming colony of Meterion, Susan’s future prospects aren’t too promising. A pretty face, top-notch skills, and hard work mean nothing if your dowry doesn’t include fertile lands. With her 25th birthday approaching, and no suitors, her only way out is to settle for an arranged marriage through the PMA - the Prime Mating Agency. She just never expected to be paired with a grumpy, massive lizardman, and above all not to grow so fond of his scales and quirky ways.

Desperate to escape the clutches of the alien lizard mafia, I accept a spur-of-the-moment job offer on a distant planet. A monstrous, grumpy alien is building a new home in a distant colony, and he’s looking for an assistant. He needs me to hold his hammer. I get it. It’s a big hammer. He's a lonely barbarian brute with a gruff exterior, but I soon learn that inside, he's hiding a squishy center. When he unexpectedly enters his mating frenzy, there’s no one around to handle the job—except me. He gives me two options: return home or stay and help him with a whole different kind of nailing.

I thought getting a linguistics degree would land me a decent job, not get me shipped off to an alien planet ruled by barbarian warlords with tails. But that’s exactly what happens when my own government kidnaps me, along with a bunch of other women, and drops us on a brutal desert planet in the name of research. But the mission goes wrong. Because of course it does. 

A female spaceship captain? That’s me. I shouldn’t have taken my vessel that route. I’m the captain of my ship. I’m the decision maker. Bad decision. I knew it was bad when the warlord appeared on the comms screen and pretty much said he wanted me to warm his bed. Now I’m avoiding pirates, warlords, and a clan war between alien warlords. Oh, and I’m trying to pay a debt off and save my crew’s life.

An alien warrior has made me an offer I can’t refuse. In exchange, he can do what he wants with me for one week. I want a child, but that’s impossible now that Earth men are sterile. Then, a ping from a distant planet reaches us. Aliens are real, and they’re interested in getting to know Earth women better.

All I've wanted since my abduction from Earth's first long-range space flight is freedom from my alien captors. But when I'm sold off to a Rhonar warrior, I learn I'm not the only one enslaved on this hellish planet, and survival comes at a cost. The commanding alien they call Xelan may be in charge, but his fair dealings—and devilishly sexy charms—give me hope for the future. If I can strike an agreement with the battle-scarred warrior, perhaps together we can change the destiny of those bound in chains. And if I can't—well, I haven't backed down from a fight yet.

Marooned on a sand planet, injured, and separated from her crew, Captain Danica Miller is not having a good day. When she’s rescued from the desert by a huge, gold-skinned alien, she doesn’t know whether to be relieved or to panic. Not only is he clearly a barbarian — a barely-dressed one at that — he seems to be able to read her thoughts. Even worse? She can sense his. And he seems to think she’s his to claim. 

R'jaal has waited many turns of the seasons for his khui to resonate, only to be disappointed time and time again. But when he is taken captive by strange beings hiding in the very tunnels of the fruit caves, he wakes up to find himself in a strange underground cage. Also in the cage? A very pretty unfamiliar human female. She says her name is Rosalind. She makes his khui sing. It's finally his time. There's a big problem, though—Rosalind has no khui of her own. And if she doesn't get one soon, she could die.

Xenoanthropologist Kennedy Black loves exploring new cultures with Space Corps. Everyone in her life has left her, so she happily fills the void with exciting adventures. When she’s assigned to escort the new ambassador to the planet Oron for an opulent ball, she’s thrilled to get an up-close look at the Oronis knights and their culture of honor and duty to their knightqueen. But she never expected her reaction to cool, controlled Knightmaster Ashtin Caydor, head of the Oronis Knightforce.

Stop me if you’ve heard this story before. One minute Alice was camping, trying to connect with nature, then there’s this blinding white light. Gravity must have quit because Alice and her sleeping bag were floating off the ground. Classic alien abduction. She wakes up on an alien planet full of, you know, aliens. Outlaws. Rules are optional and people are property. So not cool. Then there’s a train robbery and she's getting abducted. Again. But this guy? He’s a giant lizard man, just a solid wall of muscle, scales, and bad attitude.

My name is Alice, and I live in the Bugpocalypse. I survived my first post-apocalyptic winter, and spring is here. That’s bad news! With warm weather comes the endless swarms of deadly bugs. I need to forage for food, but there’s just one little problem. Okay, so “little” isn’t the best word to describe the fierce Xarc’n warrior who is obsessed with me. Kaj’k is freakin’ huge! And his sharp claws, pointy fangs, and massive horns are scary. I reject his gift of food and flowers, but my massively muscled alien hunter doesn’t get the hint.