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Table of Contents
ALIEN TYRANT
PROLOGUE | Buroudei
CHAPTER ONE | Cece
CHAPTER TWO | Cece
CHAPTER THREE | Cece
CHAPTER FOUR | Buroudei
CHAPTER FIVE | Cece
CHAPTER SIX | Buroudei
CHAPTER SEVEN | Cece
CHAPTER EIGHT | Buroudei
CHAPTER NINE | Cece
CHAPTER TEN | Buroudei
CHAPTER ELEVEN | Cece
CHAPTER TWELVE | Buroudei
CHAPTER THIRTEEN | Cece
CHAPTER FOURTEEN | Buroudei
CHAPTER FIFTEEN | Cece
CHAPTER SIXTEEN | Buroudei
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN | Cece
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN | Buroudei
CHAPTER NINETEEN | Cece
CHAPTER TWENTY | Buroudei
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE | Cece
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO | Buroudei
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE | Cece
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR | Buroudei
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE | Cece
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX | Buroudei
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN | Taliok
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT | Buroudei
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE | Chapman
CHAPTER THIRTY | Cece
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ALIEN TYRANT
Fated Mates of the Sea Sand Warlords
Book One
By Ursa Dax
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PROLOGUE Buroudei
It was deep in the night when I heard the sound. Whisper soft and high-pitched, trilling in the darkness. A sound a warrior only hears once in his lifetime. A sound that ca
The Lavrika.
It had finally come.
I rose from my bed of dakrival hides, padding over the sand then lifting the flap of my tent, staring out into the night, over the endless sea of sand. Above me, our many cracked and broken moons glowed in a long line, stretching from horizon to horizon in a shattered band.
The sound trilled again, low, half a whistle, half a warble, and instinctively I crouched, stilling myself, placing my claws to the ground. I let out a long, steadying breath, relaxing, letting my eyes swing back and forth until finally, I saw it. The Lavrika, moving smoothly towards me from a great distance, getting closer every moment.
I had only heard it described before now. Men much luckier than me, lucky to have been called by the Lavrika to learn who fate had chosen as their mates, had told me stories of it. Of its long, starlight body, slipping through the sand like a ghost. And now I was among those lucky ones. One of the warriors the Lavrika had come to.
After all this time.
The descriptions I’d heard fell short. Even now, upon viewing the sacred creature as it reached me, I was hard pressed to find the words to describe it. Its body, long and winding, shimmered, half-here and half-not. I could see the sand, turned deep silvery-black in the moonlit darkness, through its skin. I was one of the tallest of my tribe, and the Lavrika was easily as long as four or five of me laid end to end. It was truly magnificent. My chest clenched at the sight.
It swung its great head, rising from the sand. It had no legs or arms that I could see, but was able to raise its head high off the ground using only the strength of its silvery spine, a structure I saw pulsing beneath its translucent skin. It fixed me with shifting eyes that glowed brighter than any star, and I rose slowly, my tail jerking unintentionally as I did so. I could not help it. My heart was pounding in my chest. I was going to learn of my mate. I was finally going to find out what destiny would make of me. Whom I would bind myself with, always. Whom I would raise cubs with. The future Gahnala of our tribe.
The Lavrika dipped its head, then turned with perfect, curving grace, its long body slithering away from me the way it had come. Quickly, I dressed, putting on my simple hide loincloth, then strapping my ablik knives, long and deadly sharp, to my back. At the last moment, I grabbed my axe, also carved from ablik stone, hefting it in one hand and grasping my spear in the other. I had no need of weapons where the peaceful Lavrika was concerned, gigantic though it was. But there were other creatures out there, in the sand. Ones with far worse tidings for me than the Lavrika.
I stepped out of my tent, letting the flap fall closed. For a brief moment, I wondered if I should wake my right hand man, my closest commander, Galok. But as I watched the Lavrika wind further from me, I decided against it. I would be back by tomorrow. This path was to be walked alone.
And so I left behind the tents of my people and forged forward, every step taking me closer and closer to my future.
I followed the Lavrika for some time. I already knew where it would lead me. Everyone in my tribe, and all the other tribes of the Sea Sands, knew where to find the Lavrika Pools, tucked into the caves of the Cliffs of Uruzai. But it was useless to travel there without an invitation from the Lavrika. Only the Lavrika’s presence meant that you would see your mate in the pools. A thrill flooded through me as I thought about what was coming, my hands tightening on my axe and spear as I followed the Lavrika’s winding tail.
Who will it be? There were not so many women left among us now. Perhaps Zanixia. I had lain with her before. There was much amicable respect between us, though nothing that hinted at a sacred mate bond. Nothing of the all-encompassing, soul-crushing wave of brutal love I’d heard mated men speak of. But the Lavrika Pools could change all that. Warriors saw their fate in those pools, those who were called. And once they saw it, everything changed. I tried to imagine my feelings for Zanixia growing that fiercely, changing so completely. Tried to imagine her not just sharing my bed but ruling the tribe at my side, bearing my children. It was a pleasant enough thought, but it inspired no real fire in my belly. At least, not yet.
I will have to let the Lavrika lead the way. Fantasizing and imagining would do me no good now. I’d already been doing it my entire adult life.
Eventually, a jagged black line became visible on the dark horizon. We were nearing the Cliffs of Uruzai. The Lavrika continued its steady path, and I trod silently behind it, my tail swishing long strokes through the sand. The cliffs grew and grew until finally, after what felt like endless walking, they loomed, huge and imposing, before us. I craned my neck back – it was difficult to see the tops of the cliffs in the darkness. They seemed to jut up and then melt right into the sky.
The Lavrika was slithering along the line of the cliffs, and I hastily followed, suddenly worried that I may lose sight of it now that we were so close. So close to the pools. So close to my fate.
The Lavrika paused, then turned, seeming to disappear into the cliff wall itself. But I knew that it had reached the opening in the stone wall that led to the pools. Hefting my weapons, I jogged after it, coming to a stop at the craggy opening.
A Lavrikala, one of the sacred protectors of the Lavrika and its pools, stood tall, spear in hand. She watched the Lavrika disappear into the cliff, then turned to me, her eyes appraising. I did not recognize her. She was not from my tribe, but was of one of the other Sea Sand clans. She was old, past her mating years, but she stood nearly as tall as me, and gripped her staff with a powerful ease. I raised my tail, winding it around my front and bringing the black tip up to cover my eyes. The gesture was sign of immense respect I gave only to the likes of the Lavrikala now. As a Gahn, a warlord and the leader of my tribe, I had not done such a thing for anyone else since childhood. Usually it was others shielding their eyes from me.