Dragon Trap (Coalition Mates #5) by Sarah Marsh (@SM_fiction)

Blurb:

All Marisol Lewis had ever wanted was a family, but her ex-husband back on Earth made sure that would never happen while they were together. Now? After waking up on an alien planet, she has a plan and she’s more determined than ever to see it through on her own.

When the contract comes up that will give her exactly what she’s always dreamed of, she’s eager to sign on the dotted line and begin the journey to her new home planet of Dolovia. But when things go horribly wrong, she ends up surrounded by mad doctors and Frankenstein space pirates.

Luca and Baelion are dragon shifters with a troubled past, shunned by their own people, they now work for the Coalition Council taking rescue jobs that no one else can do. They manage to find Marisol—but their rescue plans take a wrong turn and they all end up stranded on a dangerous quarantined planet.

Mari finds out the hard way that life often gets in the way of best-laid plans…and dragon shifters most definitely do get in the way of hers.

Good thing for her that dragons are naturally quite stubborn once they decide they want something—and they’ve decided she’s theirs.

Buy link: http://www.bookstrand.com/book/dragon-trap

(Coming February to all other retailers)

*****

Excerpt:

Mari stared at the sheer beauty of the male in front of her. His chest was a sculpture of rippling golden muscles. Fine beads of sweat made their way down his toned stomach, drawing her gaze ever lower. She watched as his hips swayed back and forth to the seductive music, his low, loose pants barely clinging to his lean body. She wasn’t sure if she’d even seen a more beautiful man before; it had certainly been long enough since she’d had her hands on any man at all. The sighs of the woman next to her finally broke the trance of his delectable gyrations and allowed her to turn her eyes away. No point in torturing herself any further with things that she couldn’t have.

“God, Mari, how can you even look away from a sight that divine?” Devyn fanned herself with both hands. “I mean, I love Benic like a brother, but when that boy dances, even I can’t keep my thoughts platonic.”

“Well, I’m almost old enough to be his mother, so I shouldn’t be gawking at him at all,” Marisol answered as she stood up from the stone bench where they’d been watching the dance performance. The gardens of the Courtesan Guild building were created for showcasing and practicing all sorts of exotic performance arts, and most of those who attended the classes or worked in the building loved to enjoy the shows.

“You’re leaving right in the middle of his routine?” Devyn asked, looking back at her as if she were crazy.

“I’ve got an appointment with the Guild Matron in twenty minutes. Sally says she’s found the perfect contract for me.”

“Oh,” Devyn answered with a frown. “This soon? I thought it would take longer, that we’d have at least until I’m done with classes before you shipped off to planets unknown.”

Mari reached over and gave her friend a tight hug. For some reason, little Devyn’s perky, outrageous personality had meshed perfectly with her own—surprisingly, since she’d been told on more than one occasion that she was too serious, too much of a control freak. So the tiny tornado of happiness had become her best friend here, and if she was sent off world, she would miss her something fierce.

“Don’t worry, Devyn. It might not even be one that I want,” Mari said with a shrug. “No point in worrying over nothing. I’ll see you after.”

As Marisol walked back through the education center and into the Courtesan admin wing, she had to admire the sensuous beauty of the building. If she had been ten years younger and perhaps a little bit braver, she would have loved to apply to the Courtesan Guild. It sounded so glamorous and fascinating, and Sally certainly couldn’t look any happier than she was in her new role as Guild Matron. Of course, it didn’t hurt that it was a role that just happened to come with a smoking-hot husband, Guild Master Arkenon Quinn. A more devastating alpha male Mari had never met, and she couldn’t help but be a little jealous of her friend.

She walked into Sally’s new office and was not surprised to see the intimidating Kalista Dax standing at the secretary’s desk, going over some paperwork. When the former Tokka assassin turned her unsettling solid blue eyes toward Mari, it was all she could do not to book it back out the damned door. Kali had always been very nice to the rest of the rescued Earthers and actively went out of her way to make friends, but the rumors of the kind of violence she was capable of left Mari just a bit freaked out.

“Hello, Marisol. Are you here for your appointment with the Guild Matron?” Kali asked, an almost smile trying to form on her beautiful, pale white face.

Mari knew that Kali liked to spend so much time with the Earth females because they were so expressive emotionally. She was only half Tokka and had been forced to suppress her physical expressions at an early age. Since Kali had defected from a society where it was unacceptable to show emotions of any kind, she was trying to learn by observing them, and sometimes the results could be…unsettling.

“Yes, Sally said that she may have found a placement for me,” Mari answered, trying to maintain eye contact with the much taller woman.

“Mari, come on in!” Sally bellowed from her desk, which made both Mari and Kali smile at how outrageous their new Guild Matron could be.

Sally was up to her elbows in material swatches when Marisol sat down in front of the large desk. The office was beautiful, with an incredible view of the mountains through the floor-to-ceiling windows on one side. The furniture was all made in a black wood that looked exotic and expensive. But then again, Sally’s new position as Guild Matron was one of the most important on the entire planet of Sirus. It was just strange because Sally really didn’t seem to care about the prestige at all. She had really grown into herself since that day they had all walked out of their rooms for the first time and realized they were now on an alien planet, but she was still just Sally to the rest of her friends.

“Argh, I’m supposed to decide on material for new dresses for the council meetings, and I seriously couldn’t care less. I wonder if I can hire someone to do all of this clothing crap for me?” the Guild Matron said, shoving the material to the other side of the desk with a look of disgust. “So how are you, Mari? How are the classes going?”

“Good, Sal. I’m almost done with the EMT equivalent, so I’m sure that will be handy to have on top of my nursing experience. You said you had a possible match for me for placement?” She squirmed in her chair, trying not to look too excited.

*****

About the author:

Sarah Marsh was born in British Columbia where she still lives, she has only recently began her writing career finding it the perfect outlet for taking the edge off a nine to five office job. She’s been a science fiction and romance junkie for years and when her imagination started to take the characters she’d read about even further in their adventures she decided to try writing something of her own.

Sarah’s also a former pastry chef and spends a lot of time cooking and baking for friends and family as well as painting and knitting. Her biggest weaknesses are animals of any kind…she even loves the ones that wake you up at four in the morning because they can almost see the bottom of their food dish.

When it comes to life in general she’s a big believer that laughter is the best medicine and that there’s no such thing as too much love, which is why she’s such a sucker for a happy ending.

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