Torn between duty and desire, and on the brink of civil war, Zak only has one shot to get it right for all of Ishtaan and the woman who stole his heart. Callie dreamed of being whisked away from her rat-infested apartment and the mountain of debt due to failed fertility treatments her ex left her with, but waking up on an alien spaceship a million miles from Earth was not the improvement she was hoping for. Discovering that she was one of six other female captives taken to repopulate a dying alien civilization did not make it better. But finding out she was expected to mate with the towering, silver-hued alien was the final straw. First Prince Zakaarir was out of choices. His sire's greedy ambitions brought their world to the brink of starvation and started an interplanetary war that nearly destroyed their people. Their females were dying of a genetic disease, and bringing in replacements from another world was a last desperate attempt to save all Ishtaans from extinction. All he needed was to make one his Queen so he could claim his title and save his people from another war. Beautiful, smart, and far too independent for her own good, Callie was the last thing he expected, and the worst thing that could happen as Callie couldn't give him the young he so desperately needed. In a last desperate race against time when the unthinkable happened and his sire committed the ultimate betrayal putting Callie's life in danger, Zak knew he would be forced to choose between the woman he was coming to love... And the people he was sworn to protect.