The Scorpion's Mate (Iriduan Test Subjects, #1)

by Susan Trombley

1st person past tense from Claire.

The soft meats mated to make their young, but the hard shells—we needed no mates. We created our young alone, bore them alone, and died by their claws and stingers—alone.

“I’d like

There is a space on this line before the first letter

looked around at the brightly lit cell surrounding me. Oh god!

There is a blank line here that doesn’t look intentional.

In the wake of our hasty exit, I felt, rather than heard, a vibration that was so strong it thrummed inside me. Then a heavy door slid shut behind me and the mech, cutting off my view of the monster on the other side of it. The mech pulled me along in its wake,

Wake is used twice within a few paragraphs

Alien-looking aliens

A fluorescent

There is a space before the first letter of this paragraph

There was another way that I could feed her, producing nutrients within my own body to replenish the ones that she required. I had no problem eating whatever was available, and could translate the extra flesh into nutrition for her. I could then give it to her the same way I would give her my seed. My groin plate pulsed at the idea. Imagining her lips closing around that part of me made me nearly frantic with need.

😂😂 This is hilarious. He can feed her with a blowjob.

Flavor exploded across my tongue, as ripe as the sweetest fruit I’d ever eaten, but having no analogue to anything I could recall ever tasting. It was sweet, slightly tangy, with just a hint of spice—and it was absolutely delicious.

😂

His hands clenched in my tangled hair as I sucked, and a flood of delicious fluid shot into my mouth. It was like the best desert beverage I’d ever tasted—rich, creamy, and sweet, with a slight spicy tang to it. I was torn between wanting to suck him dry and wanting to leap on him and impale myself on his amazing alien phallus.

After all, I enjoying being with you,

... I AM enjoying... Missing am

looping the ends through center until it was secured into a knot.

...through THE center...

and there was no sign of more bodies, thought this area must have housed a large team of workers at one time—large

....bodies, though this... though, not thought OR I thought this...

He was huge, deadly looking in all his natural armor,

...deadly-looking... This should be hyphenated

It certainly wasn’t a lovely river to walk besides, but seeing

beside, no s on it

What had happened to me had been terrible—and remarkable. It had changed my life so drastically that I didn’t think I could ever go back to “normal.” Even my career, my hobbies, and my friends wouldn’t be enough to make me forget that there was an entire galaxy out here filled with crazy aliens, and that one of those aliens had become my lover.

I had no illusions that Thrax would have been able to return with me to Earth, though he would have been a hit at Comicon, and people would have probably assumed his appearance was a phenomenal example of my costume-making talent.

“You… don’t… think this is monstrous,” I asked, struggling to catch my breath.

Since she asked this, the dialogue should end with a ?

I really like that we get a sex scene from Thrax’s POV.

For someone who had nearly had a breakdown not that long ago, she was taking the interest a tentacle monster was showing in her pretty calmly. It was almost as if she returned it. I glanced up at Thrax, understanding Joanie completely. Sometimes, monsters were just more fun.

😂

I ate all the time. I had to, because my mate had a voracious appetite. Sometimes, I couldn’t escape her hungry lips, and if I let her, she would suck me dry, insisting I was like the most delicious frappe she’d ever tasted—whatever that meant.

😂😂😂

Claire.”

5 stars *** A very alien-looking and delightfully unique alien SciFi romance *** This reminded me of Amanda Milo’s ? series. There isn’t as much humor in it but still a good bit. I loved Amanda’s books, and I loved this. ** Claire is abducted from Earth and awakens inside a research facility. When she first sees Thrax, she thinks he is going to kill and possibly eat her. Turns out he only wants to eat her in the good way. ** I loved that Thrax was very alien-looking. It is difficult for us humans to imagine things we haven’t seen before, but Susan Trombley does a very good job of it! As the title and cover art suggest, the closest thing we have to Thrax on Earth is a scorpion. But Thrax is as much different than a scorpion as he is like one. He was genetically changed by their captors to me more like them, more humanoid, more human. He has a human mouth and tongue, and a working man-part, which he wants to use with Claire. ** The most hilarious thing in the book is that Thrax can feed Claire with oral sex. He can consciously change the molecular makeup of what comes out of him. One of the things he can make is a fluid that meets all a human’s nutrition and water needs. It’s not just protein! Yes, you can suck him like a straw and not need any other food or water. The latest in handy-dandy survival tools! There are many other funny moments, but this takes the cake (as it is not needed anymore). ** I also really loved Claire. She was smart, level-headed, not prone to panic or acts of idiocy, and had a great sense of humor. She was not an unrealistic super-character. Her strengths were all mental and emotional. A strong character, but not a fighter. Not kick-ass, until she has Thrax at her side. Claire taught Thrax to truly feel emotion. They make a great and powerful combination. ** Their story is very good, fast-paced with world-building, interactions between the couple, and action scenes. There wasn’t anything I would have cut, nothing that bored me. I particularly enjoyed discovering the world as Claire did. Nothing was front-loaded. There were no data dumps. I read this very quickly and didn’t want to put it down. ** 1st person past tense from Claire and Thrax. ** Contains graphic sex scenes, but only two main long ones, both very hot. There is a lot more story than sex here. ** Occasional foul language. ** It has been very well edited. I found only 9 minor errors.

I hope you enjoyed reading The Scorpion’s Mate as much as I did writing it. I love to challenge expectations, and I absolutely adore heroes who fall outside the “norm” for the romance genre. This series pushes boundaries, and I’m aware it won’t be for everyone. I knew the market would be smaller for alien heroes like mine, but I went ahead and shared these stories anyway, because I wanted everyone who was craving something different and unusual to find what they were looking for. I hope—even though these stories are about the kind of creepy crawlies that haunt some people’s nightmares—you might find something to love in these heroes, just as I have. Because sometimes, monsters really are more fun! ;)

The first five books in the series are now available exclusively on Amazon (links below), with the sixth book coming soon. Very soon! There’s a wider story going on in this series outside of the individual romances, and the sixth book contains a finale that I hope will blow your mind in the best way possible. On the journey to that finale, you’ll discover a new, unique couple with each book in the series and they get their HEA at the end of their book. I

Also, though it’s no longer included with this book as a “bonus” book, I hope you’ll check out Into the Dead Fall. I’ve added additional story that I felt would explain some things that weren’t in the original version that I included with the initial release version of The Scorpion’s Mate. Into the Dead Fall is the start of another alien romance series that features plucky human heroines meeting their mates after being sucked into a dimensional portal and transported to a post-apocalyptic alien world. There are five books

All these sound good.