Bride Games

Ex-soldier Lenora is determined to escape an alien slave colony no matter what the cost. Her disobedience angers her male alien overseers, who are trying to breed humans so they can intermarry with them. Lenora, and willful women like her, are sent to the Bride Games. If they win they will be granted their freedom. If they lose they must accept marriage to an alien nobleman. Alien Viceroy Lysanter wants no part of these hideous games. Their lack of females caused them to wage a brutal war with Earth that ended horribly for both races. He knows the humans despise his kind, and that females are particularly fearful. When the games organizer offers him a slave named Lenora as a bride he’s initially repulsed by the idea. Then he realizes that her military programming has left her with an irrational fear of his kind that causes her to take dangerous risks. Lenora has suffered in her desperation to escape them. Perhaps, if he can convince her to accept him, he can give her a better life?