a land of velvet night first contact (prequel novella)
Tumbling Through Stardust
Ebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BK5D2SVJ
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BKSL7C7X
Previously released in the Claimed Among the Stars charity anthology
Taketa of the Noal lives in a world that is half dream, half nightmare. He no longer knows which parts of him are still man or exactly how much of him has become the machine that traps him. Looking down on his former world from the solitude of his watch station, he guards the planet whose leaders chose to keep him alive long past his time.
When he pries open the rescue pod that holds the human Lily Brevask, he realizes just how badly his makers failed in their task, because when he sees her face with its strange, hairless skin, and he breathes in her maddeningly appealing scent, he knows he is still man enough to hunger. Lily’s arrival on Taketa’s watch station has him questioning everything he once thought was immutable.
Lily embraced the chance to take a trip of a lifetime, but it ends in disaster. Taketa’s is the first voice she hears after she awakens in her life pod, but he is a mystery from the start. He’s a man from an unknown alien race, a planet outside of Galactic Federation space, and although she’s undeniably drawn to him, she’s not sure just how far she can trust him.
Taketa may have rescued her, but she’ll soon wonder whether he can offer her any real salvation. He refuses to contact her people or to take her among his own. Taketa has secrets, and if he doesn’t share them, he and Lily may face far worse than the destruction of a simple cruise ship—it may ignite a war between their worlds.
Book One
Dark Guardian
Ebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJJ4H3PJ
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJH1WB6N
One goal, one galaxy, many peoples—the guiding principle of the Galactic Federation, the motto that has shaped the entirety of Species Integration Specialist Zara Khan’s career.
The Federation doesn’t conquer planets. The Federation doesn’t force their enemies to submit, but when a hostile species from planet G5I2 attacks and destroys a human-run spaceship on its inaugural cruise of an unexplored star system, everything changes.
Zara is sent to facilitate the integration of G5I2’s inhabitants into the Federation, but nothing about her mission proves routine. Zara has on-boarded countless new species through the years, but she’s never encountered a target quite like the Noalta. Half alien prince, half warlord, he sets her nerves on edge from the moment they meet. Zara will have to discover a way to broker peace with a man who has never known it himself, and the challenge will be formidable.
The chosen one of the people, the subject of prophecy since his birth, Jekam is the Noalta. His life has always belonged to the Empire, but now he pledges himself to protect all of Vastaka. His planet is forced to fully capitulate to their off-world invaders or face the threat of annihilation. When the so-called Federation sends their emissary to speak with him, his pelt bristles at the insult. Specialist Khan is weak, unblooded, and frustratingly persistent, but with each new meeting, she surprises him.
Jekam can’t imagine a world with the kind of peace that Zara describes, but he’s willing to do anything for the security of his people. The only problem is that the Federation wants something from them that they’re unable to give, and they won’t take no for an answer. In the end, Zara will have to decide where her true loyalties lie, and whether she’s willing to put everything on the line—including her heart—to uphold the values she’s always lived by.
