Disowned (Allegiance, #1)
Can the D that marks her shame also be her key to a new life?Disowned by the only family she's ever known, her humanity stripped from her with a brand that marks her as a commodity to be sold, Celeste is desperate enough to try anything to escape. After a near fatal plunge over a cliff, she washes ashore to find a family willing to nurse her back to health.Celeste recovers, slowly coming to trust the family, and despite his fierce appearance, even the terrifying ex-knight who speaks only with strange hand signs.Her tenuous peace is shattered when the eldest son, a soldier, sworn to return illegal slaves to their owners, arrives injured and furious with his family for harbouring her. Corporal Mick Haynes must choose where his loyalties lie--with the life as a dutiful soldier who always has a plan and plays by the rules, or protecting the girl he never expected to fall for and risk it all?With war on the horizon, and bounty hunters closing in on Celeste's location, time is running out...for them both.