A Winged Embrace by S.J. Sanders

Diamond Shipley is a jewel thief—not a particularly successful one as far as her trade goes, but it pays the bills, or it did until someone betrayed her and her partner and landed her ass in jail after years of evading the law. Looking at years behind bars, she does what any sensible person would do. She agrees to become a bride in the Mate Index. A one-way ticket off Earth and her record expunged, it is the perfect opportunity to ply her skills somewhere fresh. Sure, she would have to get around her new mate while she got together a nice little pile of credits, but how hard can that be?

She does not expect him to be a mountain of muscle and sex appeal—or head of security for that matter. Yet beneath that hard exterior is a gentle male with a heart a gold. Can she keep her eye on the prize or will she let love make a fool of het yet?

Tar-denovak yielded to his mother’s scheming and sent away for a bride from the Mate Index Distribution Program, but he had not expected to be so captivated by his little mate. She is so small and vulnerable that it rouses every protective instinct a male could have toward his mate, even if she has a tendency towards mischief. As head of security, he has many responsibilities, not the least of which was now keeping his mate too busy to get into trouble. As amusing as his female is, it is no laughing matter when a shipment of volatile imperium level qualath stones goes missing. With such a potentially catastrophic power supply stolen, it sends the entire space station into an uproar. Could his little mate be more dangerous than she lets on?

With familial responsibilities hounding him, a small contingent of females from his mother world arriving to prepare for his mating ceremony, and a rival determined to steal all he has, Tar is divided between his responsibilities and finding the love he has always dreamed about. Can he afford to trust the one being who might lead him to ruin?