Elanie & the Empath

Half-human. Half-machine. Totally unprepared for love.

I wasn't built for emotions. I was built for efficiency. As a bionic, part organic and part AI, I've spent my life working aboard my interstellar pleasure cruise in rational, dispassionate contentment. But when I finally install my long-overdue hormone upgrade, everything changes. Fast. Suddenly, I'm distressed, overwhelmed, and alarmed daily by my changing body. I need help. And even though Dr. Semson, the ship's empathic physician, is handsome, I suppose, with his blue skin and smooth voice and swoopy silver hair, he's the last person I want to see about my puberty issues. Since empaths can't read bionic emotions, we scare them, and they tend to avoid us.

But he's all I've got.

Sem is kinder than I thought he'd be. And I know it's inappropriate, maybe even wrong, the way every brush of his hands during my medical exams sets my skin on fire. But when he tries to explain the changes I'm going through, using calmly stated words like aroused and sensation, even when he draws me diagrams, I only find myself more...confused. While my feelings spiral out of control, something sinister creeps through the Known Universe. Bionics are disappearing. Leaving their posts in the dead of night. No warning. No trace. And when I hear a voice, deep and coaxing and calling me to join him, I have no choice but to steal an escape pod and run. And for some bewildering reason, Sem follows.

We crash together on a frozen, uncharted planet, with only one cave to protect us. The bitter cold bites, but the heat between us builds. Every night by the fire, every accidental touch, pulls us closer to something we've both been denying. But the voice is waiting for me, and when it returns, it leads us to a seductive hidden community that seems like paradise. But this place and its leader aren't what they seem. And soon we're fighting for our lives again. For our future.

Because this fire between us? It's more than desire. It's more than lust. It's the one thing that might save us both.

From the author of Come As You Are comes a scorching sci-fi romance adventure for fans of The Murderbot Diaries and forbidden, slow burn, high stakes love stories.

Content notes: This story contains descriptions and discussions of medical situations, doctor/patient entanglements (the romance develops only after this relationship is resolved), teacher/student dynamics, a secret hedonistic community, use of mind-altering substances, explicit and graphic sexual content, difficult family dynamics, and people repeatedly risking life and limb for each other while insisting that they are not in love.