Stealing Enslak

Niki Nguyen died in Hell's Kitchen after dealers shot her, captivity broke her, and aliens sold her as nothing more than inventory.

The Alliance pulled her back and offered a second chance as the first human operative for Asad Intelligence: infiltrate a criminal planet, recover the tortured son of the Alliance Prime, and bring him home.

Enslak has spent a century as an Ulkommenian prisoner, experimented on until his own family believes he is already gone and prepares the koa ukufa, a mercy death.

When Niki meets his gold-eyed gaze, she sees a man still fighting beneath the trauma, so she steals him instead of letting them end his life.

On a hidden paradise world they start to heal, learning careful touch and stubborn survival, even as the Ulkommenian hunt them and the Alliance refuses to accept what they have become—especially while it still wants Enslak dead.