Jess:
The story:
Beauty
Mara Duport has always dreamed of home, a place where she belongs. She knows that she has one, but ever since she was a kid, her dad’s been keeping the secret of her origin locked away, refusing to give her any information.
Dad’s been keeping more than one secret. He’s in debt — a lot of debt — and the ruthless pirates he borrowed the money from are coming to collect.
The pirate captain is renowned the galaxy over for his brutishness and cruelty — but when Mara sees his stoic face, her heart races, her mouth goes dry… and she offers herself as payment.
Space Beast
Torak of Basniel has a fierce, uncaring, ruthless reputation to live up to. So when a beautiful, innocent woman offers herself up to him on a platter, Torak doesn’t think twice. What does he care about stealing away this man’s precious daughter?
But Torak gets a more than he’s bargained for. Mara’s more than just innocent — she’s also intelligent, skilled, beautiful — and she can see right through him, past the thorny exterior, down to the heart he thought died long ago.
Being vulnerable was never part of the plan. Love was never part of the plan.
Torak knows he’s an irredeemable monster, but with Mara he feels different. He sees the opportunity to be more than what’s always been expected.
Mara knows that there’s something beautiful and redeemable inside Torak, and she won’t leave him until he finds it.
Not until she can tame the beast.
The Excerpt:
The
massive ship’s shadow grew darker and darker until there was nothing else above
them. A port on the underside opened, practically sucking the pod up with it.
The pod settled and stilled while Mara’s stomach churned with anxiety and her
chest fluttered with a mixture of dread and anticipation. She and her father
stared at the door, neither daring to even breathe.
A
pneumatic hiss released the door and when it opened, they found themselves
surrounded by rough intimidating men, all scowling and brandishing weapons.
“Come,”
the one in the middle said.
The
men surrounded them completely and ushered them forward, through long winding
hallways and up six levels to the flight deck.
Once
there, the armed men filtered out, leaving just Mara, her father, and two alien
men.
One,
standing a little to the back, had skin dark as space itself, with eyes and
swirling tattoos in glimmering silver. Long rope-like hair hung down his spine
and he towered over everyone else in the room by at least half a foot. Though
he was intimidating and made Mara nervous, he was nothing compared to the other
man.
Only
slightly shorter, but with a broad muscular frame that made him look
bigger next to his lithe companion, the other man just oozed authority.
He held himself with confidence that Mara envied. He wore simple clothes of
high-quality materials — clearly a man of means though not boastful, she noted
— and the way his shirt clung to his defined chest made her mouth go dry. With
eyes yellow as sulfur and skin the color of cobalt, he didn’t look like anyone
Mara had ever known.
Sure,
there were millions of species and races throughout the Queen’s Empire, but in
all her studies, Mara hadn’t stumbled across any accounts of someone that
looked quite like him.
It
was something in the way he regarded them both that told Mara he was the man in
charge. The silence dragged on and he seemed to enjoy making them squirm with
uncertainty.
“Are
you prepared to pay your debt?” he finally spoke, his voice guttural and gruff,
each word harsh and clipped in his strange accent. Strange, but striking, she
thought, her stomach doing a somersault. His voice was a pick and Mara the
string; he’d plucked at her and sent vibrations coursing through her in a
wholly unnerving manner.
Dad
shook his head, his shoulders trembling. “I have no means to pay you. Nothing
of value,” he said, biting back another coughing fit, his voice raspy and
strained because of it.
Mara
watched him try to hold in the coughs, his eyes watering again. Guilt tore
through her; her father was panicking and she was admiring the pirate’s
physique. What was wrong with her?
“Then
you’ll pay off your debt in some other way. My crew is always in need of more
laborers.”
Mara
sucked in a sharp breath, her hand going to Dad’s shoulder, gripping tight
enough to hold him in place. “He’s too old! His health isn’t what it once was.
He can’t!”
The
blue man looked at her quizzically, but seemed unmoved by her pleas.
“Please,”
she begged. “There has to be another way we can pay you.” She was grasping at
air now, hoping to come up with something on the fly. If she’d had more time to
think about it, maybe she could have come up with a plan. Why had her father
kept it from her for so long? Why didn’t he think she could handle these
things? It was just like the story of her mother. She was an adult, not
a child. She could handle an uncomfortable truth.
But
no. He wouldn’t ever confide in her and that left them in this awful position.
“What
if I take his place?” she asked in a rush of breath before she could reconsider.
“NO!”
Dad shouted, his outburst surprising them all. “You can’t, Mara. He’s
dangerous, just look at him.”
Mara
didn’t dare tell her father she was looking at him… and admiring
him.
“You
don’t belong out there. You have to stay home where you’re safe!” he continued.
Mara
clenched her teeth, not wanting to get into a heated argument with her father
in front of these strangers.
Instead
of arguing with him, or explaining how she desperately wanted to leave
home and explore the wonders of the galaxy, Mara simply turned back to the
Captain and raised an eyebrow. “Well, do you accept my offer or not?”
Buy Link: Amazon
Author Bio:
J.M. Page writes timeless
fairytales with a sci-fi twist. You can expect sweeping adventures in far-off
galaxies, love in unexpected places, and of course a Happily Ever After every
time!
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