Dragon's Breath and Starlight. The Waking Worlds Saga, #1

A newly discovered planet. A prince marked for death. An ancient hunger stirring beneath the mountains. Prince Alexander Strong is a paleobiologist, not a warrior. Sent by his father, the king of Triton III, to lead an expedition to Xylos, Alexander expects to catalog a lush, habitable world untouched by civilization. Its forests teem with game but strangely, there are no large predators. Anna Wilde is the battle-hardened mercenary assigned to keep Alexander alive.
Protecting a stubborn prince who runs toward every scientific mystery is dangerous enough. But Anna carries secret orders, and someone within the expedition is sabotaging their defenses. Then a scientist disappears. Military tracking beacons appear beyond the perimeter. A coded message warns that the prince must never return. And deep inside the mountains, creatures that have slept for a century begin to wake.
Hungry dragons soon turn Xylos into a hunting ground. Trapped far from their shuttle, Alexander and Anna must unravel a deadly conspiracy, lead the survivors across a hostile alien wilderness, and decide whether the growing bond between them is worth betraying every command that brought them there. Dragon's Breath and Starlight is a fast-paced sci-fi romantasy blending slow-burn attraction, royal intrigue, alien-world survival, and terrifying dragon action.