Icehome

A lush, tropical island on an icy planet makes no sense. Then again, not much makes sense anymore after waking up and finding myself not in bed but on a strange world populated by aliens. Since that moment, I've learned that nothing is normal anymore and I've got to roll with the punches. I can handle this, though. I'm strong and capable. So...washed up on a tropical island? Got it handled. Stranded alone with a brutal but delicious alien man that can't speak English but has great...ahem...body language? Yup, handled.

Resonance. It's a given on the ice planet, forced upon you by the parasitic symbiont called the "khui". With resonance, a guy and a girl are paired up because they'll make great babies. It's a survival mechanism necessary for this sparsely populated world we're stranded on. Everyone expects resonance to happen when 20 newcomers are dropped onto the frosty world. I doubt anyone expects the gorgeous golden god named Ashtar to resonate to someone like me, though. But resonance seems to think we'd be great together. And Ashtar does, too.

Beast. Creature. Monster. Dangerous. All of these things have been said about Gren. Willa doesn't believe it, though. She knows that monsters can sometimes come in appealing packages. She knows that for all of his snarls and fearsome appearance, he'd never hurt her. And she knows she has to get Gren away from the Icehome camp, because no one will ever see him as a person, not when he attacks all who come close. Not when he's tied and treated like an animal.

I've had a full life: wife, mom, divorcee . . . and then alien property. All of that's changing now that I'm on the ice planet. Here, I'm free again, and I've found love once more. Vaza's older and a widower, but he knows how to make a woman smile both in the furs and out of them. Everyone around me has a baby in their arms or in their belly, though, and it's hard to be the only one without. I love nothing more than being a mama . . . and when I hear there's an orphan at the Icehome camp, I want to adopt him. Vaza and I have so much love to give, but will an alien baby love us back?

As an a'ani warrior, my life matters little. Cloned from the same matter as thousands of others, I am but one of many. Here on the ice planet, though, I can start over. I can become my own person, have my own needs, my own wants. I know what I want. I have known since the moment I arrived. Her name is Angie. She is human, with sad, lonely eyes, and a very pregnant belly. To her, I am not just another clone. I am Vordis, the one who laughs at her jokes, tends to her needs, and makes her smile. But my brother and fellow clone Thrand thinks the same way....

All I want is Hannah. We've resonated, but she avoids me. She has made it very clear that she wants no mate, whether he has two arms or four. But when others leave the Icehome beach camp for a getaway to a fruit-filled cave, Hannah wants to go, and she needs a companion.

It's hard to make friends with the other women at the Icehome camp when you'd rather be dissecting the local fauna. Which is why I'm surprised when one of the big, brawny islanders asks me to help him make a prosthetic leg. I don't know N'dek, but since I'm a scientist, he wants my help. And while I'm more into dinosaurs than anatomy, I love a challenge. As we work together, I come to see that N'dek's not just clever and determined, he's also protective and sweet. And he kisses like a fiend.

Of all the men on the Icehome beach, Thrand's the most competitive and most aggravating. He's cocky. Arrogant. Turns everything into a rivalry. He's a pain in the you know what. He also keeps insisting that I kiss him. After all, I'm the one that told him a kiss didn't mean anything. It shouldn't. A kiss is just a kiss as far as humans are concerned. But Thrand's a clone, a race of people called a'ani, and he's been brought up to play hard and to win. And he wants to win me. But does Thrand want me for the right reasons? Or am I just another conquest?

What's a bigger disaster than being stranded on an ice planet with a bunch of aliens, never to return home? Resonating to the biggest jerk of all those aliens, of course. I hate M'tok, and it seems to be mutual. He thinks I'm ugly and unpleasant, and doesn't understand why I don't just fling myself at him. In his eyes, resonance has decided, and that's that. Problem is, resonance keeps pushing us together. And when that doesn't make me jump into his furs...he steals me away from the camp. I can't avoid him if there's nowhere to go.

S'bren doesn't realize what a mess he's stepping in when he steals me away. He just wants to resonate. Sweet, right? But his methods are all wrong and resonance doesn't look as if it's happening anytime soon for either of us. So I'm going to use this time away from the camp as an opportunity. We're going to go exploring and not return to the beach camp until I'm good and ready. It's one part punishment for him - being my guide - and one part adventure for me. We'll have fun, swing from some vines in the fruit cave, and then return to Icehome when we're good and ready.

I've ruined everything. I had a mate. Resonance. Happiness. But then T'chai's attacked by ravenous sky-claw and almost killed. To help him recover, I tell the healer to turn off our unfulfilled resonance. It's temporary...or so I think. Big mistake. Because now my khui acts like it's dead and it hates T'chai. But I still love him. How do we move forward when I can't bear his touch? Is there a way to get back our happiness together, or is it time to give up on what we once had? T'chai has other plans, though.

No one ever comes back for me. I've always been on my own, and why should it be any different on an ice planet? So when I'm kidnapped by a feral outcast, I suspect I'd better learn to love raw fish and rough living. Then...U'dron comes to my rescue. He's always understood me more than anyone else. He's been my friend and my confidante. We've made music together. And now that he's my hero? The crush I've had on him is turning into something more, something deeper. He won't want me when he hears my terrible secrets, though. But it turns out that U'dron has a secret of his own....

A'tam is the worst. Sure, he's the prettiest man on the beach, but he's a terrible listener. I've told him a dozen times that we're not compatible - in so many ways - and he refuses to take no for an answer. He had his chance with me, and he blew it. But A'tam thinks we should be mates. He thinks he can just woo me enough to change my mind.

Ever since we found the two Outcasts, it's been my goal to get them to join our beach tribe. Handsome, impossible Juth has resisted all my efforts to recruit him and his small son. He's made it very clear that he doesn't belong with us. But when I'm trapped at Juth's side as the beach is invaded by monsters, everything changes. He talks to me instead of pointedly ignoring me. We become friends. Heck, we even share a few stolen kisses. And when the rescue party arrives, he announces to everyone that I'm his mate and he's joining the tribe.

Life has taught me that I can't trust anyone. Not friends, not family. In the worst, darkest moments, no one can be counted on to have your back. Even a billion miles away from Earth, on a remote icy planet, I still feel alone. The only consolation? I haven't resonated. It's not that I don't want love or children. I just can't trust anyone, even myself.

I left a pampered life and a loveless relationship to live on an icy primeval world, all for the promise of a soulmate and children. But three years have passed, and my hopes and dreams have become dashed. I haven't resonated. Without resonance, there will be no children for me, and no loving mate. So I keep waiting, and waiting . . . But then I come up with a brilliant plan to get me everything I want. And my plan needs a volunteer, one that would be happy to be my mate in all ways. Luckily, I know just who to approach.

It's been a few years since I've landed here on Icehome Beach, and as resonance after resonance dwindled the list of bachelors, I knew who I'd end up with. As soon as we got past our differences, I'd end up as R'jaal's mate. On an everyday excursion, however, my khui decides otherwise. It sings all right...but not to R'jaal. Instead, I resonate to I'rec—the forceful, brash, overly-alpha leader of Shadow Cat. Did I mention he's got a long-distance girlfriend already?