Fated Mates of the Sea Sand Warlords

"If you should flee, no matter where you run, I will always follow." CECE I 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? BUROUDEI When 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..." CHAPMAN So, 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? FALLO There 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..." MELANIE After 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 alien warlord of the new 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? TALIOK With 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..." Kat I 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. Galok I 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..." Zoey I'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. Kor I 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..." Theresa One 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 piercing silver eyes and brutal blades claims that I'm his mate. Baldor seeks to claim me. I've 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. Even as my feelings for this enemy Gahn grow, I'm not sure that I'm strong enough to let in the light. Baldor I never thought I'd be granted a second mate after losing my first. I do not even know if I deserve another chance at happiness. Deserving or not, I will find her. I will fight for her. And I will claim her. My attack against the other tribes to claim my mate does not go as planned. The other Gahns have new allies and are stronger than ever before. Having my blades forced down is bad enough. What's even worse is the fact that my mate, the lovely, sun-haired Theresa, does not seem to want me. She is the light in a world gone dark. A future I'd never hoped to earn. I will not lose her. To win her love, I will have to go further than I've ever gone before. And I'll have to sacrifice more than I'd ever thought possible.