Fated Mates of the Sea Sand Wardlords

"If you should flee, no matter where you run, I will always follow."CECEI thought getting a linguistics degree would land me a decent job, not get me shipped off to an alien planet ruled by barbarian warlords with tails. But that's exactly what happens when my own government kidnaps me, along with a bunch of other women, and drops us on a brutal desert planet in the name of research. But the mission goes wrong. Because of course it does. Soon enough I'm separated from the other humans and stuck with a seven-foot-tall alien warlord who will not leave my side. He doesn't speak English, but his dark eyes and massive body speak volumes.I need him to survive and find my friends. But am I willing to give him what he wants when what he wants... is me?BUROUDEIWhen I saw the face of my future fated mate in the sacred Lavrika pools, she was unlike anything I'd ever seen. I thought that fate was wrong, or that maybe I'd gone mad. But then when she falls from the sky, crashing into my desert, my fate becomes my reality. She is small, and pale, and fights me every chance she gets. But everything in me calls to everything in her, and she represents the salvation of my tribe.She is mine. I will destroy anyone who tries to take her from me.But what if the one who tries to take her from me... is her?

"They call me the Mad Gahn. But I never felt truly mad until I saw her face..."CHAPMANSo, our mission on an alien planet fell apart before it even got started. Great. Now I'm the only surviving military crew member, leading a gaggle of civilian women in unfamiliar terrain.But it turns out one soldier isn't enough to protect them from the monsters of this planet. Soon enough we're all scooped up by a bunch of alien barbarian warriors with tails. When I meet their huge, red-eyed leader, he wraps his claws around my throat and looks like he wants to crush me. I can only think of one name for him: The Enemy.He's crazy, moody, and his ego is bigger than his whole planet. Everything about him rubs me the wrong way. My defiance is just as big a thorn in his side, if his glares and snarls are anything to go by.We can't stand each other, but for some reason we keep falling towards each other, over and over again. If I hate him so much, why can't I seem to stay away?And when he claims that I'm his mate, why don't I want to run?FALLOThere are few women of the Sea Sands now, so the unfamiliar females who appear in the desert are a great boon to my tribe. But their leader, the one with the flame-coloured hair, challenges me at every step, her insolence a hot irritation. I do not understand her nonsense words, but I recognize the hateful defiance in her strange, lovely eyes.It makes me want to punish her. It makes me want to make her mine.She is fire in my veins. A thirst I cannot quench. A beautiful torture. Madness. She makes me feel like I am losing control. She makes me question everything, even my own sanity.Will she finally submit, acknowledge me as her mate, and end my suffering? Or will she throw me headfirst into madness?

"I have trained, battled, and fought my whole life. But winning my mate's love is the greatest challenge I have ever faced..." MELANIEAfter getting dumped on an alien planet and left for dead by Earth's leaders, I'm learning to adapt and rebuild my life. It's what I'm good at. Keeping my head down. Surviving.But it turns out it's kind of hard to keep your head down when the brooding, scarred warlord of the new alien tribe follows you with his glinting golden eyes wherever you go.It gets even harder when you find out you're supposed to be his mate.Gahn Taliok makes a lot of promises, and I feel drawn to his hungry eyes and scarred body more than I want to admit. But experience has taught me be wary of things that seem too good to be true. I've been hurt one too many times. I couldn't even trust my own people, my own family, on my home planet.How am I supposed to trust an alien warlord from across the universe with my heart? TALIOKWith so few women in my tribe, I never imagined a life with a mate. But fate, it seems, had other plans for me. The Lavrika has joined me with a strange and wondrous creature called Melanie. After losing my parents so young, the thought of a mate and a family is a sharp joy I never thought I'd feel.But Melanie does not feel the sacred mate bond for me as I do for her. Even more than that, she looks at me with distrust in her lovely dark eyes. She keeps space between us, and this space hurts more than any scar I've ever earned. It is no great matter. I am a diligent and patient Gahn. I will do everything in my power to win her love to me. But as Melanie avoids me at every turn, my doubt begins to grow. This human woman may turn out to be my undoing. I would wait for her forever.But what if no amount of waiting is enough?

"She is a difficult creature, my tiny Kat. But I have never met with a creature I could not tame..."KatI can't believe so many of my human friends have fallen in love with aliens. Sure, the Sea Sand warlords are strong and tall, and some might even say good-looking. I still think it's absolutely nuts to jump into a relationship with one of them. I will be avoiding all of that, thank you very much. That's what I keep trying to tell Galok, the arrogant, grinning warrior who refuses to leave me alone.I can't figure out what his deal is. There are far more willing humans than me in our camp, and we aren't even supposed to be mates in the first place. Yet Galok still tries to woo me in his weird alien way. No matter how hard I push him away, he just comes springing back, his copper eyes glinting.Maybe this guy just likes a challenge. Well, challenge accepted. I will never, ever fall in love with an alien.That's a promise.GalokI do not need the Lavrika to tell me that Kat is meant to be my mate. She is mine, mate bond or not. Her striking blue eyes and angry mouth send fire through my veins. No other woman has captured my attention like her. Yet, that attention seems to bother her. This does not deter me. Every hiss, kick, and furious look she throws in my direction only makes me fall harder, only makes me more confident in my decision to pursue her.She may be stubborn. But so am I. I will win her guarded human heart. No matter how long it takes.That's a promise.

"I know that I may be frightening, my mate. But beneath all that makes me strange to you, my heart recognizes yours..."ZoeyI've spent most of my time on this alien planet alone in the wrecked human ship. Now that I'm living with the other girls and the barbarian warriors at the Cliffs of Uruzai, I'm finding it hard to adjust. These Sea Sand guys are just so... alien.They're nothing compared to the beast that comes stalking out of the shadows of the cliffs one night. He has a snout, claws, and a massive spiked tail. He's more monster than a man, and even worse than that, he claims he has a human mate. When his dark eyes settle on me, I know with a sinking feeling exactly who it is he's been looking for.I want to stay as far away from this nine-foot-tall lizardman as I possibly can. When a mission across the sands throws us together, I find myself spending a lot more time with him than I'd bargained for. And I find myself starting to grow closer to him than I ever would have imagined.As my feelings for him grow, so does my fear. Because this mission we're on? It could be the end of him. The end of both of us before we even begin.KorI have traveled days upon days to find my soft, strange mate. Now that I have found her, she recoils from me. I am the in-between, the exile caught halfway between the sea and the sands, and the only one of my kind. I am aware that I am strange, but I never thought my own beautiful mate would regard me as a monster.The Sea Sand men tell me my mate does not feel the mate bond for me. If I am to have her, I must somehow win her. Before I can figure out how to do that, we are forced into a journey to the Bitter Sea. The Sea Sand tribes need me to find my father's people, a race of beings I have never even seen.Crossing the Bitter Sea is the most dangerous thing I've ever done. But it is in service of my mate so I will do it. And I will not hesitate.I would do anything to keep her safe-even if that means tearing myself from her side forever.

"Now that I have found her, I refuse to lose her..."THERESAOne by one, I've seen my friends fall in love with the alien warriors on this planet. I'm so happy for them, but I can't help but feel jealous. More than any other single girl on this planet, I want what they have – a mate. After a childhood in foster care and an adulthood littered with crappy boyfriends, I just want to find my place. My home. Love. I want it more than anything, and I'm ready for it.What I'm not ready for? An enemy Gahn from beyond the mountains attacking our settlement in the dead of night. And even more than that? This bleeding Gahn with glinting silver eyes and brutal blades claims that I'm his mate.Baldor seeks to claim me. I'd waited for this moment. Craved it. But now that it's here, I'm not so sure I'm ready anymore.Baldor is hardened, fierce, and stubborn. Beneath his tough exterior, a dark pain looms inside him.And even as my feelings for this enemy Gahn grow, I'm not sure that I'm strong enough to let in the light.

"I found her, I saved her, and once I am Gahn, I will claim her. There will be no other tribe left for her but me..."JOCELYNI've identified an herb that acts as birth control for us humans on the alien planet we now call home. The only problem? We're running out. We need more, and apparently the one place you can get plenty of it is one of the most deadly regions on this whole planet – the Death Plains. I slot myself into a group of warriors travelling there to meet the new Gahn.Except everything falls apart as soon as we reach the Death Plains, and I'm separated from the men I came with. My only lifeline out in this hellscape is the arrogant, brooding warrior Razek who saves me from certain death.He claims he will become Gahn. It's all he's ever wanted. Well, all I want is to get out of here and see my friends again, hopefully bringing Razek back at the same time to join our alliance.But the more time I spend isolated with this proud warrior, the more complicated things become. And the more heated tension between us grows, the more it seems like becoming Gahn isn't the only thing he cares about...But he refuses to travel back to the settlement with me, trapping me in the Death Plains.No matter how much my feelings for him grow, I refuse to be his prisoner.I control my own fate. Even if, around Razek, I can't control my heart.RAZEKI have only ever worked to achieve one goal: become the strongest of my tribe and rule as Gahn. I had almost reached this destiny when a strange, loud woman crashes into my life, confounding everything I know. Jozelyn is a spur in my side and a tiny fist around my heart. The Lavrika has not called me, but the longer we are together, the less I can fight my desire for her. Suddenly, becoming Gahn does not seem like my only, or even my most important, destiny.But the stubborn Jozelyn refuses to stay in the Death Plains with my tribe. Infuriatingly, she wishes to return to the arms of my enemies. Even worse than that? She wants me to come with her and submit to their alliance.I would rather die than bow my head to the other Gahns.I need to convince Jozelyn that I am her only fate, her only future. The only one she needs.Even if it pushes her further from me than ever.

"I have always been a patient warrior. But now that I have her in my sights, I cannot wait to claim her..."SERENATo say I've been busy is an understatement. Between trying not to die on this hostile alien world and helping my newly-pregnant friends (I am a biologist, after all) I've had a lot going on. But when I stumble into the alien forge and find the huge, quiet weapons master Xyan there, I have a whole new task at hand. Xyan - the biggest, strongest, most serious alien I've ever met - offers to help me study the Sea Sand biology. I may be busy, but not too busy for that. I mean, who could refuse the opportunity to study the anatomy of a gorgeous alien man up close and personal? But the more time I spend with Xyan, the less academic my interest in him becomes.I'm falling for this stoic alien warrior. But he's totally unreadable, and he hasn't said anything about having a mate.Even so, I can't help but feel there's something between us.Maybe I can still love him even if he isn't meant to be my mate.I just have to figure out how to keep my heart in one piece in the process...XYANEven before the Lavrika came to me to show me my fated mate, I knew Zerena was mine. I've watched her, hungering, from afar for too long. I want to claim her. But at the same time, I do not want her to feel a sense of obligation towards me. The last thing I want is for her to feel pressured by the mate bond. So I try to coax her to me without telling her she is meant to be my mate. I try to win her on my own merit.But this proves more challenging than I'd anticipated, and miscommunication abounds.Perhaps I have gone astray. Perhaps I should simply tell her she is mine...I do not want her to feel trapped.Even though her beauty has already trapped me. Forever...

"I will be her keeper, her guardian, her guide. And I will keep her safe no matter the cost..." VALERIASo it turns out I'm on the bad guys' side. I didn't actually know that until my superior officer started waving his gun around got himself killed on our alien recon mission. My orders are changing by the minute, and I quickly realize I have absolutely no interest in following any of them. But I don't think I can just say "sorry" and convince the women and aliens on this planet of my good intentions.So I run. I hide.But one alien in particular is hell-bent on catching me. He's ten feet of scaly, red, alien muscle, with black claws as long as my fingers and teeth that glint like knives. He terrifies me, and when he finally does catch me, I know that I'm a goner.He's a natural predator and I've become his prey.So how come when he catches me, it seems like he wants to... Protect me?GRIMI saw the vision of my fated mate before I left my homeland of the Bitter Seas. She is one of the mysterious new women who live with the desert men. But when I arrive in the desert with my king and the rest of our army, she is nowhere to be found.Because she is not part of the alliance. And when I finally do find her, I realize why.She is the enemy we have been hunting.My king, the desert men, the new women... Everyone wants her detained and questioned.But they killed the male warrior she came with. And I will not allow her to be harmed.So deep in the night, I take her. I protect her and abandon my own people in the process.But earning her trust proves difficult, especially since we do not speak the same language. As the days together pass, two questions plague me:Why does she not recognize me as her mate?And with every warrior of sea and sand searching for her now, how can I possibly keep her safe?

"I will go wherever you are. Even if I have to follow you forever. Even if I have to hunt you down..."TAYLORAs the resident historian, I've been recording everything that happens on this alien planet. Alliances, battles, and, of course, the whole alien/human mates phenomenon. But soon, there's a new name to add to the list of human lasses with mates: mine. I, Taylor Bruce, apparently have an alien fated mate. And not just any mate – the biggest, strongest monster of the Bitter Sea army wants to claim me. Ten feet tall and covered in golden scales that glint like armour, Tok looks more like something from a nightmare than a dream come true.But when Tok tells me there's an ancient alien records-keeping system back at the Bitter Sea to explore, I put aside my reservations and jump at the chance to travel there.With him. Alone.The more time I spend with this golden behemoth, the more I can't help but imagine his claws on my skin, his fangs at my throat...As I get to know him... It's not that he becomes less monstrous.It just turns out I have a wee bit of a thing for monsters.TOKI will win my mate's love to me. Grim and Kor were able to do the same with their women. I, strongest warrior of the Bitter Sea army and right claw to the king, should have no trouble with such a task.But my beautiful mate is of the strong and stubborn sort. I need to earn her trust, learn her ways, and get her to open up to all I offer her. So I take her on a trip away from the settlement to the Bitter Sea coast. She wants to see the ancient records there, and it gives us time to be alone.The further we get from the settlement, the closer we become.And the more I learn about my lovely little mate. For example, the fact she's scared of me. At first it bothers me, but then I realize it shouldn't. Why?Because she likes it.Taylor likes the frisson of fear I drive under her skin.I will happily play the predator for her.I can be whatever she wants me to be.Her love.Her mate.Her monster.

"I had nothing left to lose. Until her…"CAMILLEI've been assigned to go with the others to track down the life signs we saw on the ship scanners. We think there's another tribe out there. The journey might be dangerous, but I don't care. Frankly, I can't wait. Why?Because I'm certain my mate is out there.I want a mate. Badly. He doesn't seem to be here at the settlement.So he must be out there. In the sixth tribe beyond the Death Plains.Nothing will stop me from finding true love.Not even the grumpy, one-armed bastard Varrow who suddenly decides that I'm the biggest new thorn in his side.Varrow hates the food I make, he growls at me more than he talks, and he WILL NOT stop glaring at me.Worst of all, he's coming on the journey with us.I won't let him get in my way.But the more time we spend together travelling, the more I uncover about this dark and brooding warrior, and he less prickly he becomes. Or rather, I realize his prickliness seems to be protecting something. A soft spot.A secret.Suddenly, all my dreams of true love start to shift.And I no longer know what, or whom, I really want.VARROWIf there's anything life has taught me, it's that that which we love most destroys us most powerfully when it disappears. After losing my brother and my arm in one fell swoop, I've held fast to that lesson. Growing up in the Death Plains with no unmated females proved I'd never have a mate. So it's always been easier not to get attached. To anyone or anything.So why, oh why, can't I stay away from Cam-Eel?She is tiny, and strange, and she ruins the meat with foul concoctions.Whenever I speak to her, it seems to offend her.She smiles at others.But not at me.No matter how much she hates me, when I find out she is journeying beyond the hostile Death Plains, I volunteer to go too. For some reason, I cannot let her leave this place without me.And when the Lavrika calls me the night before we leave, that reason becomes abundantly clear.She is my mate.If only I knew how to tell her that.If only I knew how to deserve her.

"I never wanted a mate. Until this troublesome human showed up and changed everything."PRIYALerokan is a huge pain in my human butt. He's cocky, obnoxious, and refuses to show me his face, hiding it behind a bone mask. He keeps saying he saved me from the battle.But all I see is the man who separated me from my friends.Luckily, he seems to find me just as annoying as I find him, and he agrees to take me back to my friends as soon as it's safe.But then a sudden storm traps us in a deep, dark cave…For days on end…Together.LEROKANI've been exiled from my tribe for sixty-two days, all because I don't want a mate. Well, that's fine. I'll wear the mask of an exile and remain alone out here if it means I don't have to lose myself in the mate bond.Only, I'm suddenly not so alone after I rescue a small boy from a brutal battle.Turns out, it's not a small boy. She's a female.I have now saddled myself with the strangest, mouthiest woman I could possibly imagine.The worst part?The longer we're together, the more I grow to like that mouth. And those eyes. Her laugh. Her frowns…Alas. Lerokan the exile is now Lerokan in love.But despite my obvious charms, all Priya wants is to get back to her friends.And away from me.

"I will make my human mate see that I am strong enough to win her. Even if she makes me feel weak for the first time in my life…"STEPHANIETrue love is a concept I've never trusted. So, this whole alien fated mates thing? It makes no sense. The fact that the Vrika apparently chose the absolute worst partner for me only proves that the fated mate bond is all kinds of messed up.Gahn Errok is the epitome of arrogance. He's brash, ungrateful, offensive, and possibly the most dramatic man I've ever met in my life, human or alien. He swept into our Sea Sand settlement expecting I'd fall at his feet and go back to his mountains as his obedient little wife. Well, I am going to the mountains, but only to help with the human mission there. I am definitely not going because of him. Even if he annoyingly insists that one day I'll love him as much as he loves me.Alright, Gahn Errok. I'll take that bet.Because you are the last male on this planet, no, in this universe, I would ever want to be with.ERROKThere is only one thing that could make my existence even more perfect than it already is: a mate. I've hungered, waited, and yearned for a mate. Finally, it is my time. Finally, I will have the love I've craved.Only I meet my beloved in the dust and the sand and she…Does not seem to want me.Which makes no sense. Any woman would rejoice at the chance to be my mate!But, strangely, Zuh-Tephanie does not rejoice. In fact, she glares at me as if hoping I'll fall off the edge of a cliff.Well, too bad for her that I am too clever to fall off a cliff. I am strong. I am worthy.I will win her.I just…Have to figure out how.

"I don't know how to win Fiona, but I do know how to fight. And I will fight for her with everything I have..."FIONAWhen I spontaneously kiss Dalk at midnight during our Deep Sky New Year's Eve party, I become aware of two things:One: I may have a crush on the grumpiest alien warrior at our settlement.Two: I may also be ever-so-slightly sexually harassing him.He never mentions the kiss afterwards, and neither do I, except to awkwardly apologize and tell him it will never happen again. But that just seems to make grouchy Dalk even, well, grouchier.I can't figure him out, and all his staring and glaring sure doesn't help. I try to put it out of my mind as we all prepare for a vaklok - a traditional Deep Sky tournament meant to showcase the unmated males' strengths and skills.Oxriel and Zoren are competing, too. I tell myself that I'll cheer for everyone equally...Even if Dalk is the only one I watch.