Vel'shar

A'Vanti has survived the worst the universe can throw at her.

Years in an enemy facility stripped her of her fangs, her venom, and nearly her will to live. Rescued four months ago and healing aboard a Cerastean ship orbiting Earth, she's learning to feel again - with the help of therapy, a fierce circle of friends, and a human pilot who waits for her outside every session with a book and a ridiculous smile.

Cody "Goober" Johnson wasn't looking for complications. He was supposed to fly combat missions, defend Earth, and follow orders. He definitely wasn't supposed to fall for a Cerastean female with golden scales, a razor-sharp tongue, and the kind of walls that would take a lifetime to climb.

But Cody has never backed down from a challenge. And A'Vanti has never met anyone who gives without expecting, who looks at her like she's something precious rather than something broken, and whose impossibly blue eyes make her wonder what it might be like to try this human thing called kissing.

When a mission to reclaim the ruins of Ceraste - A'Vanti's devastated homeworld - throws them together on its scorching deserts, the walls between them begin to crumble. But rebuilding a planet is complicated enough without navigating the expectations of a devastated species, the pressure of Cerastean males who see A'Vanti as a duty rather than a person, and a growing bond that defies everything either of them thought possible.

Some things are worth crossing a galaxy for.