An ancient alien civilization, vastly more advanced than the people of Earth, resorts to kidnapping to save themselves from certain extinction. Lanaq's race has been on an achingly slow road to annihilation. His mission is their last hope for survival. He has followed the Quorum's orders to find the Vashallen of Earth, those women capable of becoming Devetian mates. But has he found his own mate? Is the draw he feels toward Beatrix a precursor to their sharing frisson? Beatrix awakens in a strange hospital to find her cancer-wracked body hale and whole. A look in the mirror shows a face she hasn't seen in a great many years. Revitalized in a way she could never have hoped for, Bea is excited to experience the new life Lanaq offers. She finds herself drawn to the pilot of the alien spaceship, but will he find a place in her heart? Will she have room? Travel with the Vashallen to Devet, home of a matriarchal society where war and crime are merely words in ancient annals. Devet, where nature and humans have reached a balance in which both thrive; where no female child has been born in millenia.