Nico Stamford is a member of the Geisha class. Though he has been trained for marriage all his life, becoming a healer and a priest in the process, all he wants is to cook and open a restaurant. Instead he becomes a candidate for the ritual. He hopes the Goddess will look kindly on him and eliminate him before the final choices are made. Alex DeVrie is a member of the Warrior class who has recently returned triumphant from a clash with an alien enemy. Made a duke of the Sixth Land as a reward, all Alex needs now is a husband. As soon as Alex sets eyes on Nico, he refuses to settle for anyone else.Tradition says they can part ways after a year and a day. But love begins to grow as they unravel the mystery behind tragic events in the Sixth Land, and they uncover a conspiracy that could change their society.

    With so many fences between them and happily ever after, two men wonder if it’s worth opening the gate. Ten years ago, Eddie Crane, an actor on the rise, loved his costar and dreamed of the day they could be together. But his love, with his submissive nature, couldn’t handle fame, and before Eddie could help him, he died in a car accident—with Eddie at the wheel. Now, scarred and guilt-ridden, Eddie buries himself in bad decisions and prays that a stunt—on or off camera—will go wrong. Teenaged fantasies about the actor on his wall distracted Arthur Pike from real life—his dead father, runaway mother, gruff grandparents, and his unrequited love for his cousin’s straight husband. Now grown and off the farm, Pike is a horse stuntman hired to teach a reluctant Eddie to ride. Pike is drawn to Eddie’s dominant nature despite the sadness clinging to the actor. Eddie let one lover down, but in Pike’s submissiveness, he sees the possibility for redemption.

    He no longer has the energy to deal with mean classmates, inner doubt, and fear of familial rejection, so he takes a razor to his wrist. When he wakes up in the hospital, Shiloh meets Travis Kahn, the EMT who saved him and didn’t leave his side.Travis is handsome, smart, and funny—the type of guy Shiloh would never be brave enough to approach. But his near-death experience has an unusual side effect: the life that flashed before his eyes wasn’t the one he had already lived, but rather the one he could live. With visions of a future by Travis’s side, Shiloh will find the strength to confront his fears and build a life worth fighting for.Word Count: 18,388Edition: 2ndA story from the Dreamspinner Press 2013 Advent Calendar collection Heartwarming.

    As the two males run for their lives, they find that not only are they having to battle their enemy, but they are also fighting a growing attraction to each other.Jacyn had always considered himself a pretty normal guy. Little did he know that he couldn't be more wrong. Attacked by a group of gunmen, he suddenly finds himself shot at, kidnapped and chained to a wall. Not exactly the kind of day a normal guy has. All he knows is that all of it is somehow connected to his birth family. Rescued by a tall dangerous looking stranger who claims to have been sent by his long-lost family, Jacyn doesn't know whether to run with him or away from him. Especially when the stranger claims to be able to shift into a jaguar.The last thing Logan wants is to be rounding up some stray jaguar shifter, but he has never refused an order. Even as he tells himself the mission will be a snap, he finds himself having to launch a one-cat rescue party when Jacyn gets himself captured by their enemy.As the two males run for their lives, they find that not only are they having to battle their enemy, but they are also fighting a growing attraction to each other. Passion is the last thing they should be thinking about, however. Because if they don't keep their attention focused on the enemy, they could very well pay the ultimate price.

    That's how he meets Dr. Aleksei Tennant-who he sees suspiciously jumping from a window of a woman's apartment. Tennant introduces Gabriel to the hidden worlds, magical worlds connected to this one by portals. Gabriel is eager to learn the runes for opening them, Tennant is eager to teach, and a fragile friendship develops amidst a series of murders. These aren't just any murders. The killer has a grudge against the mixture of other races: he doesn't kill humans, only those of the hidden worlds who are producing children of tainted blood. When the killer attacks them directly, Gabriel and Tennant have to team up to find the murderer, even though they're putting themselves, their love, and any chance at a future together, in danger.

    Stevie Sanger is fighting a past that won't leave him alone. They want each other from the moment they meet, and that attraction quickly blossoms into something deeper, something that could become permanent. But first, they need to overcome all the obstacles in their way. Dan's fear of his own nature, Stevie's belief that he's not good enough for Dan. The unresolved pieces of Stevie's past. Building the relationship they both want may be a challenge too big for either of them. But nothing worth having is ever easy.

    His only chance at holding onto his inheritance is to get his cattle to market before his brother-in-law. That means braving Mason Canyon, which on top of being snake-infested and easily flooded, is also shifter territory. Most clans would just as soon shoot humans as look at them.His only hope of making it is to trust the shifter who's agreed to help him, and pray that Rani won’t double-cross him. If Carter doesn't go he loses everything, and if he doesn't make it there his family is as good as dead.

    Alpha werewolf Eli Hammond returns from a fishing trip to discover a nasty surprise—five members of his pack murdered and the rest missing. He needs help locating and rescuing his pack mates, but the supernatural council in Asheville, North Carolina, turns him away. Except for one man. As they work together, Eli is stunned—and not especially thrilled—to discover half-elf Arden Gilmarin is his destined mate. But as Arden and his friends struggle to help Eli in his quest, Eli surrenders to the demands of his body—and his heart. They’ll need to bond together, because the forces opposing them are stronger and more sinister than anyone predicted. The evil has its sights set on Arden, and if Eli wants to save his mate and the people he is entrusted with protecting, he’s in for the fight of his life.

    So when he goes to confront a trespasser on his land, he's surprised to discover an Omega wolf covered in Wiccan symbols and barely clinging to life. He's even more shocked when he realizes this pitiful creature is his mate. Fionn, rejected by his first mate for failing to conceive a child, is barely tolerated by his family. After a local Coven curses him, he escapes death at the hands of his Pack and flees across the river. He wakes in the company of a gruff bear shifter who declares Fionn to be his mate despite the curse that's slowly killing him. As Thane cares for him, Fionn gradually begins to trust his intentions. When Thane comes up with a plan to save Fionn, with the help of another Coven, it leads them on a path neither had expected but that they seem fated to follow. But both Fionn and Thane are hiding secrets from one another, secrets that threaten the fragile relationship they've begun to build. Alpha Bound is 43,000-word paranormal romance with a happy ending and no major cliffhangers. It contains some language and scenes not suitable for readers under the age of eighteen. It contains mpreg.

     And warriors like Indigo Black, a Palet, a man cursed with the ability to kill and see the Demonic, have been forbidden from seeking out the evil walking among men and destroying it. The one time Indigo dare challenge the Covenant to save an a human life, the Church punished him by breaking the wings of his Guardian Angel and lover, Ariel, and cast him out of heaven. Living with the burden of his guilt has cost Indigo everything. Then the death of a mentor begins to unravel a deadly secret. The Demonic have some how created a Nephilim who has a human soul and is capable of being possessed by the most powerful members of the Demonic Parliament. A vessel who would allow the Demonic to walk the mortal plain. With the Covenant broken, Indigo must win the battle go protect an innocent who holds the fate of mankind, and win an all out war to save his heart.

    Yet at forty-two, he’s stopped going into heat, which means he’s expired goods—no longer a fertile, young omega that alpha wolves drool over. So Lee uses Wet Heat, a synthetic pheromone, to reel in the alpha hookups.After losing his job at the bank, Lee can’t afford to keep up his Wet Heat habit. His solution: scam free samples by pretending to be a happily mated test subject at Wet Heat headquarters. There, Lee spends two years being interviewed by the reserved alpha scientist, Cain, who at thirty-two is unmated and—up until this point—content with that.Cain never really felt his alpha instincts, nor took part in the usual alpha/beta/omega social dynamics. But after discovering that Lee has been lying about his unmated status for two years, Cain finally admits that for the first time, he wants to court an omega. Unfortunately, he’s picked the one omega who doesn’t want to be courted.

    Can Erik make peace with his past and the boy he left behind, or will he fold under the pressure? The best college hockey player in the nation is hanging up his skates because he's tired of living a lie. Five years ago, Erik Fox was forced by his father to change schools in the middle of the night when his father found out about his indiscretion. Erik had a boyfriend and hockey players do not date boys.With his college career over, Erik is determined to change his life. Can Erik make peace with the boy he left behind and find the life he wants to live, or is he going to fold under the pressure from his father and everyone else who thinks he is defined by the game of hockey.

     Anger clouds their partnership, and it doesn’t help they are investigating murders that look suspiciously like dog attacks, but Logan knows they’re not. Finding a killer is tricky enough, but now it will almost be impossible with their “personal issues” clouding the investigation. And if Dylan does turn into a four-legged freak at the next full moon…the fur will fly. CONTENT WARNING: mpreg themes, shifter knotting and two hot Alpha police detectives who seal their fate with an accidental mating bond.

    Submit to any dominant who wants a piece of you. At the junior doms regular poker night, anything can, and frequently does, happen. Add in crackers that contain dares instead of jokes and two men s lives might never be the same again.When Carl applied to join the best leather club in the city, he had no doubt about his preference for dominance. It was only when he set eyes on Sloan that he began to wonder if submission might be far more fun than he originally thought.With no time for club politics and little interest in rising through the ranks, ever since experienced dom Sloan moved to the city and joined the club, he s been quite content to bide his time among the junior dominants and keep a brotherly eye on a young man who is obviously out of his depth amongst his more sadistic contemporaries.One man has to do the dare. The only question now, is which man will it be, and are either of the friends ready for the way their relationship might change after a night of Mistletoe and Submission?"

    With nowhere to turn after my father died, I tried my luck in the capital city. Little did I know how quickly I would be robbed, beaten and forced to sell myself into servitude. But I was lucky enough to gain the attention of Roberd Tallisk, an irascible but intriguing tattoo artist who offered to mark me with enchanted ink for the enjoyment of the nobles. I was given a chance to better my station in life, and I could not refuse.But the divine rulers want not only the art but the body that bears it. In their company I can rise above the dregs of society and experience a life most only dream of, at the cost of suffering their every desire as a pawn in games of lavish intrigue. Their attention is flattering, but I find I'd rather have Tallisk's. Caught between factions, I learn that a revolution is brewing, one that could ruin Kered—and Roberd and myself along with it…