She needed money. They needed her body.

Marie Clark is drowning in debt with no way out. When she sees an ad for an off-world medical study paying $50,000 for six months, she doesn't ask enough questions. She just signs.

Big mistake.

Research Station Epsilon isn't running medical tests. It's running a breeding program. Human women, pumped full of hormones to lactate. Milked daily like livestock. Bred repeatedly by Erythan males desperate to save their dying species.

Marie's handler is Zar'eth—seven feet of silver-blue alien perfection, clinically detached, utterly professional. He'll induce her lactation. Milk her twice a day. And when her heat cycle hits, he'll breed her. It's just biology. Just science. Nothing personal.

Except Zar'eth's biology has other plans.

The moment he breeds her, something shifts. His body recognizes her as his mate—pair-bonding, the Erythans call it. Irreversible. Permanent. He's hers and she's his, whether the program allows it or not.

Now Marie's pregnant with his child, falling for an alien who wasn't supposed to feel anything, and the program wants to take their baby the moment it's born.

But Marie didn't survive this long by giving up without a fight.

She'll challenge the system. Demand her rights. Fight for her family.

Because some things are worth more than money.