Showing results by author "S.J. Sanders" in All Categories

All Vanessa Williams wanted for the holidays was to escape the demands of her parents’ social schedules and find a comfortable place to work on her book. Having the opportunity to do so while enjoying the comforts of a cabin on an alien world seemed like the perfect way to pass the season. Plans change, however, when her shuttle crashes in the inhospitable mountains and she finds herself waiting out the storm in an alien castle with a male whose burning gold eyes promise forbidden pleasures.

For Lori Straford, born into the lowest caste of citizens—the pleasure arts strata of their society—it is an inescapable fate that she can only hope to better by enlisting as a spa attendant and masseuse on one of the luxury world colonies under the purview of Darvel Exploration Corporation. When she is talked into working on one of their mining planets for a year with the promise of a hefty bonus and to be transferred to her choice planet after more non-gratas can be sent over, it is too good of an opportunity to pass up.

With the expectation of a three-year pregnancy, Terri assumed that she had all the time in the world before she had to face the realities of upcoming motherhood. Time for adventures, travel, and working side by side with her mate. She had been particularly looking forward to the latter now that Veral had relaxed from overbearing to merely aggressively protective - and she could work with that - but when her baby starts to grow abnormally fast, she suddenly faces the grim reality of going to the one place she never wanted to visit: Argurumal.

In the future: A united Earth, to deal with the problem of population control, divides its population into classes of citizen and non-gratis. To be born a non-gratis means a life of little freedoms and the constant possibility of being assigned to work on a colony. Lacking citizenship, every aspect of their life is controlled from where they live down to marriage and childbearing regulations. The only possible escape from life as a non-gratis is to qualify for one of the limited slots available for entrance into the military.

Veral’monushava’skahalur is an oddity among his species, a lone Argurma cyborg divorced from his own kind by choice and to escape termination as a malfunctioning unit. Wandering the fringes of space as a salvager, he comes across a planet beyond the boundaries of the federation, rich in metals remnant of a dead civilization. Or so he thought. Confronted by cannibalistic mutations of the indigenous species, his salvage has suddenly become a lot more complicated. Even more so when he encounters a female surviving on her own....

One small incident and Veral keeps her hidden away in the safety of their ship. For months they have been traveling to their salvage operation; it's been a very long, boring trip. But things get a lot more interesting when they find themselves at the mercy of space pirates who are also in search of the ship. Life is suddenly a lot more adventurous than she expected! Veral doesn't trust any male anywhere near his mate. As a species unheard of in space, she is exotic, which makes her desirable to many males, and he will not take the risk of losing her to anyone.

As a citadel guardswoman, Uma wears the scars of her past—both those born from her duty that she is proud of and those she would rather forget, including the deepest scars of heartache that haunt her. While a broken heart can hide behind the icy reserve of her duty, beneath her scarred face lies a tender heart that somehow a triad of Ragoru has worked their way into. Convicted of a crime they say they didn't intend, Uma suddenly finds herself saddled with the trio pain in the asses.

Civilization is failing in a steady decline. In a last-ditch effort to save themselves, humanity has turned to trying to understand their world even as they seek to protect themselves from the monsters within it. This is how Evelyn Willock found herself stationed in the farthest northern reaches of the habitable zone and answering the call to investigate a strange sighting in the mines much farther to the north where all other human settlements had failed.

Mother's Night had passed unmarked for many years for Betani and her children. After all, there was little to celebrate when living on the streets. This year was different. For the first time, they are going to celebrate Mother's Night and holiday cheer fills their small apartment despite the tight control of the warders who have risen to power in the poor districts. Despite her limited means, when a triad shows up on her doorstep during a snowstorm with their poisoned lead male, she can't turn them out.

Slengral is summoned back to the Aglatha shinara by none other than queen matriarch, Zathexa—who happens to be his mother? With his sister and heir to the shinara dead, Slengrala is commanded to return home not only to fulfill his duty to mate and breed a new queen but to answer to the charges made against him.