Hypothesis: Hate. Experiment: Forced proximity. Results: Unexpected.

Brilliant but disgraced biologist Sazahk has one mission: rehabilitate a ruined land for a dangerous new species and win his freedom in the process. The last thing he needs is an overbearing human bodyguard who cant tell a microscope from a telescope.

Enter Kevin Garin, ex-soldier turned reluctant escort, whod rather be anywhere but babysitting a prickly qeshian scientist through the deadly Qeshian Dead Zone.

But between dodging corrosive ponds and ingesting toxic fungi, an unexpected chemistry bubbles between them. Yet in a galaxy teetering on the edge of war, their budding relationship faces graver threats than their own personal demons.

Can a by-the-book bodyguard and a rule-breaking scientist navigate the hazardous terrain of their own hearts? Or will the turbulent politics of warring corporate families and species states tear them apart?