"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.