Claiming Her Freedom

After being abducted from Earth and sold to an imperious yellow elf to be his "cuddle buddy", Elle is pretty displeased with her situation. Borial makes her wear a collar and drags her around on a leash, treating her like an annoying inconvenience - when he's not out of his mind with need for her. He doesn't want a relationship with her, he's made that perfectly clear. The problem is, Elle doesn't know what he wants.

She knows what she wants though. She wants her freedom.

Elle hates Borial, so when the cruiser they're on has an emergency evacuation and they find themselves stranded in an unknown jungle, she takes the opportunity to stop playing his pet. That is, until they're joined by a female of Borial's species, and frosty, arrogant Borial is forced to pretend to be more to Elle than he is, or risk being taken back to his planet to be "reassigned".

Now holding all the leverage, Elle negotiates for her freedom, but that's only the beginning. As she learns more about Borial's culture, and starts to see their relationship from his point of view, she's forced to choose between the devil she knows, and her independence.

She hates Borial. He deserves everything he gets.

Right?

So why does she risk everything to protect him?

This story was previously published as a novella in the Claimed Among The Stars anthology. This version has been expanded, with a new ending and added scenes that amount to about 20,000 words extra.