Bride of the Ruthless Alien - Survivor Brides of Tajss #3

About the Book

He guards my body. I guard our future. Neither of us expected desire to become part of the mission.

I’m a teacher, not a soldier.

But when the hybrid children begin sensing something hidden beyond the dunes, I’m the one chosen to lead them into the desert.

Our refugee camp is already close to breaking.

Three races. Four rival factions. Hundreds of survivors driven from the underground tunnels we barely escaped.

We share food, shelter, and the desperate need to stay alive.

Trust is much harder to find.

One accusation, one frightened mistake, or one old hatred could tear our fragile alliance apart.

Then the children begin reacting to something none of the adults can see.

They speak of buried paths and an ancient city somewhere beyond the dunes. A place that may offer the protection our people desperately need.

No one knows where it is.

The children do.

As their teacher, I’m the only person who understands what they’re sensing well enough to guide the expedition. That makes me indispensable.

It also makes me vulnerable.

My assigned protector is an Urr’ki warrior feared for his ruthless efficiency.

He is deadly, controlled, and unforgiving. He treats every stranger as a potential threat and every emotion as a weakness he cannot afford.

Including the ones growing between us.

He believes his duty is to keep me alive.

I believe mine is to protect the two determined children traveling in our care.

Crossing the desert leaves little room for disagreement.

We share shelter, divide the night watches, and depend on one another through every mile of hostile terrain. He protects us from the dangers stalking the dunes.

I help him navigate a world that unsettles him more than he will admit.

Somewhere between exhaustion, duty, and the quiet hours beneath Tajss’s alien stars, fear becomes trust.

Trust becomes desire.

And desire becomes a bond neither of us planned to claim.

But the city we seek is more than an abandoned refuge.

It watches.

It judges.

It chooses.

To enter, our divided people may have to prove they are capable of becoming something more than frightened survivors.

And once the city reveals itself, Tajss will never be hidden again.

Bride of the Ruthless Alien is the third full-length novel in the Survivor Brides of Tajss series. It features a compassionate human teacher, a feared Urr’ki warrior, forced proximity, an assigned protector, two children in their care, shared shelter, dangerous desert travel, found family, slow-building trust, protective devotion, ancient secrets, and a hard-won happily ever after.