"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...

She may not be my mate, but I will do whatever it takes to stay by her side…ABBYI have a secret.I'm pregnant. With a human baby. And not a much-needed girl the Sea Sand Gahns would welcome.Nope. I'm carrying a 100% human male.So when the kind, quiet Bitter Sea warrior Kohka tells me he's leaving for the Deep Sky settlement, I convince (aka, beg) him to take me along. I just need to get away from here. Once in Deep Sky territory, I can lose Kohka and have my secret baby in a cave somewhere. Alone.It may not be the best plan, but it's the one I've got.The only problem?The longer I'm with Kohka, the less I want to leave him. He's stoic and self-effacing and awkwardly adorable in the sweetest possible way. He makes me feel safe. But if he finds out I'm pregnant, he'll drag me back to the settlement as fast as he can to try to keep me protected, even if it's the last thing my child needs.The safety of my baby boy must come first. I have to figure out my next steps in the Deep Sky territory on my own.Even if those steps lead me away from the one man I suddenly want to run to.KOHKAI once thought nothing was as beautiful as the Bitter Sea. Seeing Abby's face up close for the first time proved that wrong. It's not only her face I like – it's everything. Her kindness, her generosity, her laugh… The way that, when she looks at me, I almost feel special.I was not called by the Kell. She is not my mate…And yet, I want her to be. So when she comes to me for help, asking me to take her into the Deep Sky without telling me why, I cannot refuse her.I know that she is keeping something from me. But I decide I do not care. As long as I get remain by her side a little bit longer.But it doesn't last. Once we enter the Deep Sky, Abby disappears. And everything goes terrifyingly dark.I may never deserve her after losing her like this.But I will tear it all apart – the world, myself – to get her back.

This is book two of the Fated Mates of the Sea Sand Warlords series.

"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.

"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.

The huge alien orc who runs the pub on Elora Station knows what he wants for Christmas: me. MAGGIE Seeing my friend Sophie find happiness on the bustling Elora Station is just the kick in the pants I need to follow my dreams. I'm finally going to open my own bakery. When a coveted rental space opens up on the festive commerce station, I jump at the chance. I have my work cut out for me getting the bakery ready in time for Elora Station's busiest season: Christmas. I don't mind – I'm used to hard work. What I'm not used to? Having a flirtatious, grinning orc all up in my business. Literally. The absurdly-named Archibald runs the pub next to my bakery, and he spends more time in my shop than his own. Sure, he's attractive in a giant, muscly, boisterous sort of way. He's also funny and kind and shockingly generous. But I need to focus. A girl's gotta have priorities. And those priorities...

"I will be her keeper, her guardian, her guide. And I will keep her safe no matter the cost..." VALERIA So 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? GRIM I 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 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. So 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. But they're nothing compared to the monster that comes stalking out of the shadows of the cliffs one night. He has a snout, and claws, and a massive spiked tail. He's more like a crocodile 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 lizard man as I possibly can. But 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. But 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 travelled days upon days to find my soft, strange mate. But 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. But 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.

"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?

"My human prisoner wants freedom. There's only one way she'll get it: marry me."WYLFRAELI've been cursed with a prophecy. I will murder my own fated mate. Though it nearly destroys me, I vow never to find her.What I do find are humans invading my world and stealing from my land. Those I do not kill flee from my rage, leaving behind one terrified yet defiant woman.I take Torrance back to my castle to interrogate her, though I have no time or patience for a prisoner. I should be prioritizing joining the Council of the Gods. But only mated, married gods are granted access.I do not have a bride.But I do have an insolent human woman in my tower. And she's just desperate enough to strike a bargain with me…TORRANCEWylfrael is the most powerful being I've ever encountered. A winged immortal who can kill with a mere wave of his hand. He's arrogant and alien. Demanding and dangerous. Brutal, even beautiful, though I hate him too much to admit it.He hates me, too.But even though my captor despises me, he needs me. He requires a bride for political reasons and he makes me an offer I have no choice but to accept.Marry him, play the part of his happy wife, and he'll give me the one thing I want most:My freedom.But inside our fake marriage, hate turns into something else. Something dark and strange and needy. I don't recognize my treacherous body, and as I slide further into my husband's deadly grasp, I fight him with everything I have.He can have my vow. He can even have my desire.But if I let him get his claws into my heart…He will never let me go.

This is a low-angst scifi alien holiday romance. It is a novella with sweetness and steam!