Poison Ties
This is a BL novel.
In a desolate future where Earth has been subjugated by the Alki, an advanced species with unimaginable power and cold, unyielding logic, created by Anu, human kind's newest Goddess, society's remnants live as an objectified, broken people. The Alki view humans as inferior beings, fit only to serve their new masters.
Ray Malek, once a simple cook in a small establishment is betrayed by his friends and thrown into Heathens Prison. A place where the only way out is as a slave. Sold to the sadistic Salazar a high-ranking Alki noble known for his detached, almost clinical cruelty Ray must find a way to survive his new reality. Stripped of his freedom, his identity reduced to that of an unwilling sex slave, a prized possession to be paraded as both a trophy and a warning.
Salazar is everything Ray despises: calculating, arrogant, and unshakably confident in the Alki's supremacy. To Salazar, Ray is no more than an amusing plaything—a symbol of humanity's futile defiance. Yet, beneath the carefully curated facade of apathy, Salazar finds himself intrigued by Ray's unyielding spirit and refusal to fully submit. In defiance of all logic, Salazar begins to admire the very qualities he sought to crush.
As weeks turn into months, Ray and Salazar are drawn into an intricate, dangerous dance of wills. Their interactions are fraught with tension, anger, and moments of vulnerability that neither can ignore. Ray, haunted by memories of his lost comrades and his own complicity in this degrading system, finds himself questioning his hatred for Salazar, even as he clings to him for survival. Salazar, in turn, faces an existential crisis, torn between the icy detachment expected of his kind and the inexplicable emotions that Ray stirs within him.
Set against the backdrop of a crumbling Earth, where rebellion smolders beneath the surface and the Alki's rule is not as absolute as it seems, Poison Ties explores themes of power, freedom, and the complex, often painful nature of love. As Ray and Salazar navigate the fragile, shifting balance between their roles as captor and captive, they must confront the oppressive systems that define their world—and decide whether their bond can transcend the tais that bind them both.
But in a world built on domination and control, love may not be enough to bridge the chasm between human and Alki—or to save them from the forces that would see them torn apart.