Niall O’Connell, master sword maker of the old Kingdom of Ciarrai, hates Fae, resenting the time when Shifters were little better than Fae slaves. But Alanna's heartbreaking story and her beauty are difficult to resist. Together, she and Niall forge a sword that changes Shifter history, at the same time forging an unbreakable bond between their hearts.This novella is prequel to the Shifters Unbound series, a standalone story that tells how the Sword of the Guardian came to be.This is a 10,000 word novella. It also appears in print in the Mammoth Book of Irish Romance.

    Sexy, wild, out-of-this-world talents that can leave any woman feeling weak at the knees (among other body parts), they're the ones to call when you want pleasure that lasts…and lasts...SHELLY LAURENSTONCAN'T GET ENOUGHEven for a dragon, Ailean the Wicked has a bad reputation. For 150 years he's been renowned for his fighting prowess, but now he's got a new conquest in mind-a gorgeous dragoness known as Shalin the Innocent. Ailean suspects she's anything but. And while he's saving her from her enemies, he plans to prove that, even in human form, a bad-boy dragon can show a girl a good time that's truly off the scale...CYNTHIA EDENSPELLBOUNDNo witch in her right mind would summon an immortal soul-hunter to her aid, but Serena Tyme needs Luis D'Amil's help to destroy the warlock who's stalking her coven. And she's willing to pay any price he names…especially when the tall, dark, sexy-as-hell assassin shows her he can work some sensual magic of his own...NOELLE MACKTURN ME ONFinally, Beth Danforth has found a man who can flip her switch. That's because supersexy Justin Watts, CEO of SpectraSign, is literally made of light, with a dazzling, custom-built body. The only thing he needs to maintain his energy level is to turn up the heat with a real woman, and with Beth, the results are guaranteed to be electrifying.

    Cecile steals my food, brings guys over at all hours, and parties instead of studying. But those quirks pale in comparison to what she does next. She drugs me, and I wake up imprisoned in an alternate universe full of terrifying creatures. Now, the biggest and scariest creature of all - a fae king - believes I'm his mate. He's freed me from the dungeon, but, keeps me close. So close, in fact, that I'm beginning to like his wintery gaze and ice-chiselled body. But, secrets and villains lurk throughout this new world. And I don't know if I'll survive long enough to figure out how to get back home.

    Instead, she falls into the arms of a sexy, sleek-tailed monster. He’s wild, seductive, and sets her blood on fire every time he touches her, and soon she begins to need him for more than his magic to breathe underwater. He might just give her a new reason to live.Zantu has evaded the mate-bond for thirty-five years, dodging promiscuous mermaids with vile intents. Unlike mermaids, mermen bond for life, and Zantu refuses to accept the heartbreak most mermen die of. That is, until the glint of gold catches his eye, and a simple salvage mission turns to passion. Now he’s bonded to a human, and begins to wonder if bonding to the right mate might not be so bad. The problem? A finless female won’t live long among the dangers of the sea.Now Zantu must choose between keeping her at his side, and keeping her safe. Either way, he’s sure he’ll end up with a broken heart.Content Warning: Explicit love scenes, dangerous mermaids, and sexy merman secrets. Guaranteed HEA with no cliffhangers. Intended for mature audiences.

    At their enthusiastic behest, we have delivered this brand-new short story collection, including stories previously exclusive to Sherrilyn’s website, as well as an all-new, never-before seen story!Sherrilyn Kenyon takes readers from the Dark-Hunters to the demigods, from Dream-Hunters to demons, and everything in between. Dangerous and exciting, each story is one thrill ride after the next, proving time and again how Sherrilyn has captivated millions of readers worldwide. Now, readers are invited to go deep into Kenyon’s rich and imaginative world and experience the heart-racing moments that never stop coming!Included novellas:House of the Rising Son Phantom Lover (V’Aidan) Winter Born (Dante) A Dark-Hunter Christmas (Gallagher) Until Death We Do Part (Velkan) A Hard Day’s Night Searcher (Rafael) Shadow of the Moon (Fury) Fear the Darkness Where Angels Fear to Tread (Zeke) Love Bytes Santa Wears Spurs Redemption (bonus scene from The Guardian)

    Not an easy task for a She-dragon of royal descent. But the evil plots of her father are turning her quiet, boring life upside down, and she has now become the enemy of the most vicious queen her kind has ever known. But for once, Braith won't have to fight alone. Not when the warrior dragon of her dreams is willing to risk everything to save her neck.Addolgar the Cheerful wishes he could say he’s helping the pretty royal strictly for honorable reasons - but he'd be lying. It’s not his fault, though! He didn't tell Braith of the Darkness to have the most delicious tail he’s ever seen! Yet before Addolgar can get his very strong claws on that tail, heads are going to roll. Just hopefully not theirs...

    Creating a vast network of spies worldwide, he never expected to discover that the answer might be beneath his very nose. But when Ashe, a beautiful human female, crosses his path, his most primitive instincts are stirred. Unable to resist, he takes her to his bed, and is shocked when she becomes pregnant with his child. It’s a miracle that might prove to be the salvation of his people, but only if he can keep her safe from the mercenaries determined to kill her. PARISHUntamed and undeniably sexy, Parish, leader of the Pantera hunters, rarely leaves the magic of the Wildlands to deal with the humans he despises. But with the prized and risky Pantera birth on the way, puma shifter, Parish must travel to New Orleans to find and bring back a human doctor. The moment he sees the lovely, talented and all too human Dr. Julia Cabot he cannot resist the wild, potent drive to make her his. Betrayed and destroyed by love, Julia will not let her heart choose her path again. But as she and Parish fight to save the life of an unborn child, a fierce and overwhelming bond develops between them, threatening her frozen heart with the secret hope and ultimate temptation of love and family.

    The only thing that threatens to shatter his hard-won control is Esme, his closest friend and the only woman he's ever wanted. If the stubborn beauty ever realized precisely what was going through his mind, their friendship would be ruined.For six months, Esme has waited for Rip to recover and take her as his thrall, not daring to hope for more. Too afraid to put her heart on the line, she is devastated when Rip reveals that he never had any intentions of making her his.But when a savage gang of Slashers start causing havoc in Whitechapel, Rip and Esme have no choice. They must face up to the depth of the passion that burns between them and forge a new relationship…or risk losing each other forever.

    . . In Angela Knights' Blood and Roses, a vampire warrior and his seductive captor join forces to stop a traitor from unleashing an army of demonic predators on their kingdom.New in Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series is Whisper of Sin, in which a woman in lethal danger finds an unlikely protector—and lover—in a volatile member of the DarkRiver pack.Virginia Kantra continues the haunting tales of the Children of the Sea in Shifting Sea, the story of a wounded soldier rescued by a strange and enigmatic young woman.Meljean Brook launches a bold new steampunk series with Here There Be Monsters, as a desperate woman strikes provocative- and terrifying- bargain to gain overseas passage.

     A QUESTIONABLE CLIENT – In this ‘intro’ to the Kate Daniels world, we meet the extremely ‘shifty’ Saiman for the very first time, when Kate takes on the task of serving as his bodyguard to protect him from some very determined—and dangerous—Russian wizards. RETRIBUTION CLAUSE – Saiman’s cousin, Adam—a frost giant and also an insurance adjuster—and his enigmatic partner, Siroun, set out on an impossible mission to enforce a client’s Retribution Clause; that is, to kill the person who killed her. But is their target even guilty? Magic and mayhem and a little personal chemistry will reveal the truth! OF SWINE AND ROSES – A young adult story about a girl, a pig, some magic, and the worst date ever. Chad Thurman is a thug, who carries brass knuckles in both pockets and lays magic traps for intruders into "his" neighborhood. The last thing Alena Kornov wants to do is to go on the date with him. But when her family pressures her, she can't say no. Now the ice-cream is absent, the pig is running for its life, and we won't even mention the dead guy... GRACE OF SMALL MAGICS – Grace has always known she wasn’t like everyone else and that her family has magic abilities. After flying to meet the head of Clan Dreoch in order to fulfill her families’ “duties” as servants, Grace finds herself in the middle of a mage clan war… MAGIC TESTS – A short story in the Kate Daniels universe. Kate recruits her teenage ward, Julie, to search out a missing student whose location spell has her hidden somewhere on campus…

    Because she’s forgotten how to shift into a wolf, the pack alpha has ordered her to choose a mate or leave. The only male Beth desires is Dale, a fiercely protective Lupine who loathes the human lifestyle she embraces. She hungers for the handsome shifter’s touch, but fears their differences are too vast to overcome.Dale has waited for four long years for Beth’s return. Her scent ignites his desire and her voluptuous body fires his blood. He is determined to awaken her to the sensual world of the Lupine. Although she acts more “Skin” than wolf, he can’t deny his overwhelming drive to claim her.As the heat of passion threatens to consume them both, a new peril arises. Someone is killing a local rancher’s livestock and blaming it on wolves, endangering the pack’s ability to shapeshift. It will take all Beth’s courage and Dale’s skill to find the enemy threatening to destroy their world...

    But Newberry faces a danger of another kind: to his heart, by the woman forced to marry him. What will it take for this prudish bounder to convince his wife to stay?Vixen by Jill Myles - A shifter novella of 15,000 words: Miko's denied her were-fox nature for far too long and turned her back on her vixen heritage. But when she meets two very sexy cat-shifters, she has to decide if she truly wants to give up on her frisky side, or embrace it. Because the were-fox in her doesn't want to choose between both men...it wants them both. Kitten-tiger & the Monk by Carolyn Crane - A Disillusionists novella of 20,000 words: Sophia Sidway, Midcity's most dangerous memory revisionist, seeks out the mysterious Monk in the wasteland beneath the Tangle turnpike, hoping for redemption...but it turns out that the Monk is not all that pious, and the turnpike is no turnpike at all.

    With four new stories, this is a collection packed with more surprises than Christmas morning, and more chills than the snowiest winter night . . .

     This captivating tattoo theme surrounds each author's popular characters and worlds: Karen Chance's war mage Lia de Croissets, Marjorie M. Liu's demon-hunter Maxine Kiss, Yasmine Galenorn's Otherworld Intelligence Agency operative Camille D'Artigo, and Eileen Wilk's Lupi world.

    Let's face it-some bonds are made to be broken.Here, for the first time ever, are four stories from today's most provocative authors that take the classic idea of the "faerie tale wedding" and give it a swift kick in the bustle.“Can He Bake a Cherry Pie?” by Laurell K. Hamilton.“The Shadow of Mist” by Yasmine Galenorn.“The Tangleroot Palace” by Marjorie M. Liu.“The Wrong Bridegroom” by Sharon Shinn.