On what should have been Verdeen's proudest day, she is blocked from advanced warrior training because no war mare chooses to bond with her. Burning with humiliation, she accepts a lesser assignment to the Isle of Ice, serving as bodyguard to human riever, Daq Aryk.

Verdeen's never paid much attention to men, so focused was she on her training. But she quickly realizes hieing off into a distant wilderness with Aryk is a bad idea. He makes her lose all focus and perspective.

Aryk faces a difficult task: molding six warring clans into a peaceful whole. He's got nothing against women warriors, but Verdeen is young and inexperienced, her beauty a potentially fatal distraction. She's a shield-maiden, not a bedmate. But the way she melts at his every touch erodes all his good intentions...and sense.

One kiss unleashes the kind of feverish desire that should occur only once in a lifetime—with a mate. But as their quest takes ever more dangerous twists and turns, their bond could be the one thing that unites a nation. Or make Aryk's worst nightmare a blood-soaked reality.

Warning:

Contains fire and ice, never-gratuitous sex and violence, sword play and self-play, spying and lying, noble intentions and betrayal. In other words, a rollicking good roll in the proverbial hay.