Only one contender can claim the coveted island throne; each will gamble life and limb to win. Captain. Sister. Maiden. Csilla Abado yearns to prove her strength to the seasoned pirates who balk at her youth and to her elder sister who has always craved Csilla’s captainship. She will risk everything to become the first pirate queen, no matter the cost. Dealer. Son. Legacy. Kane Blackwater wants to leave behind the dirty gold and shady trades he’s made to keep his father’s ship, the Iron Jewel, alive. The Trials represent a new beginning—yet rumors of a secret heir are swirling, threatening his hopes of becoming the pirate king. Stowaway. Daughter. Storm. Lorelei Penny longs for nothing more than to avenge her mother’s death. Stowing away on the Iron Jewel was supposed to get her closer to the killer, but instead she finds herself caught up in the deadly battle where loyalty and desire collide. Csilla. Kane. Lorelei. Each on a mission. The sea, however, has other plans. Dark tides are rising, and if they aren’t careful, they’ll surely drown.

    For generations the rule of Marhavad’s kings has been absolute. But now the line of succession is divided, and whispers of revolution are heard in even the royal palace.Keshan Adaru, an outspoken man of unearthly charms, welcomes these changes. All his life he has foreseen an uprising that will shatter the castes and end the tyranny of the old laws. His visions have driven him but now, at the brink of their fulfillment, he finds himself obsessed with Prince Jandu Paran– a man whose entire family must be destroyed if the kingdom is to be freed.Tarek Amia would gladly see Jandu Paran brought low. Born the son of a charioteer, Tarek has no love for the royal princes who have slighted and insulted him all his life. Only Keshan’s philosophies have elevated him from the brutal ranks of common soldiers. Tarek owes Keshan his devotion, but he is a pragmatic man and when he discovers Keshan’s reckless affair he realizes that Keshan may have to be sacrificed for the sake of his own revolution.Young Prince Jandu Paran has never concerned himself with court intrigue. His life has been dedicated to the lordly art of archery and mastering the immense powers of the shartas. Handsome and arrogant, he is sure that no man can surpass him and yet Keshan Adaru’s mere touch brings Jandu to his knees. But his desire for Keshan is more than forbidden; it threatens to destroy Jandu’s pride, position and family. In the midst of this turmoil, an unspeakable event forces Jandu to redefine the meaning of honor and loyalty.And now, as armies arise to war, each man must decide where his allegiance lies and what he will sacrifice in his heart and on the battlefield.

    What happens next triggers a series of events leading inexplicably to the cells of Lancaster Gaol.Lancashire, 1612: The most notorious witchcraft trials in England are taking place.Among the accused, three generations of the same family. A family rooted in Pendle, tied to the infamous Malkin Towers and always followed by a whisper of evil. A family destroyed by the evidence given by a nine year old girl…

    But something has always been missing from his life, he isn’t sure what—or who. Twelve years later, an article about the bizarre murder of a childhood friend lands in his inbox, and an instinct deep inside of Ethan insists he return to Kingston. He only plans to stay in town for a few hours, but at the funeral, he runs into a man he never expected to see again: his former-best-friend and lover Jesse.
 Rooted in Kingston by forces he can't explain, Jesse couldn't leave with Ethan twelve years ago, but he doesn’t regret it. Ethan is free to live his life, while Jesse remains behind, protecting a terrible secret—a secret that began when he and five others were only nine years old. They were taken into the woods, and no one knows what happened. And only Ethan has ever left Kingston—but now he’s back, and Kingston isn’t letting Ethan leave a second time.
 After twenty dormant years, the evil that wanted them is back and it's collecting the souls who defeated it once before. Ethan and Jesse's love is as powerful as it ever was, but are they strong enough to save each other a second time? Note: This book was previously published under the same title. No significant changes have been made.

    Her only hope lies in her most persistent suitor, ship captain Marten Thorpe, but Lucy isn't sure she can trust him...

    There’s only one problem: in order for Garrik to be crowned, he must possess Wytch power of his own, and thus far, whatever power Garrik might possess has shown no sign of awakening. As things stand, it is Garrik’s younger brother, Jaire — a dreamer completely unsuited to wear the crown — who will take the throne after their father.Concerned about the future of his kingdom, the Wytch King demands that Garrik’s power be forcibly awakened. Hoping to protect his brother from the burden of rule, Garrik allows the attempt — with disastrous results. Now, Garrik must learn to control the fiery dragon that rages within him before he destroys everything he loves.Wytch Master Ilya has been alone for years. Learning to control the icy beast slumbering within him has already cost him his family and his lover, and Ilya will never open himself up to that kind of pain again. Summoned to Altan to avert disaster if he can, Ilya has no intention of allowing anyone to thaw the ice in his heart. When he meets Prince Garrik, sparks fly, and Ilya finds himself fighting feelings he thought he'd buried, long ago.Can Garrik’s fire melt Ilya’s icy heart? Or will Ilya be forced to use his ice to quench the flames that burn within Garrik once and for all?

    It would have claimed his life when he was deemed unworthy of precious resources and left in the sun to die, had not a strange man named Kristoff ridden in on the wind and told Rowen he had power. Rowen works hard to become a Storm Lord, one of a secret magical group that brings storms to break the heat waves overtaking their world. But Rowen is starting his training at a disadvantage since he cannot speak and is much older than the other novices. The desire to please Kristoff inspires him to persevere even more than the threat of being sent back to his village to die should he fail. Still, he cannot gather rain, and when his abilities manifest, they are unlike anything known to the Storm Lords. Unless Kristoff can help him control his deadly powers, the entire world will be in danger. Kristoff might be among the mightiest of the Storm Lords, but he’s never been a mentor before. For a chance to be with Rowen, he’s willing to risk everything.

    He’ll need to catch up fast to survive. Diego’s impulse to rescue a naked bridge jumper starts as just that—talk the man down and get him to social services. But there’s something odd about this homeless person, more than just his delusions of being a pooka, and something so vulnerable that Diego’s determined to help him stabilize rather than see him institutionalized or deported.Finn went into the Dreaming centuries ago to escape a heartbreak he couldn’t bear. Now that he’s back, he finds the Veil to the Otherworld closed. The fae courts have abandoned him in a poisoned human world where a displaced pooka has little chance of survival. His human rescuer is kind and compassionate—and shockingly familiar. One thing at a time, though. He needs Diego to believe he’s not human first.

    For centuries he's waited in a dusty, forgotten sarcophagus, until Logan comes along. Logan is a graduate student who stumbles on Seti in the basement of a museum and accidentally awakens him. Logan figures any way he looks at it, a missing mummy is going to be bad for his career, so he takes Seti with him until he can decide what to do. He doesn't want to be accused to theft, but who's going to believe in a mummy coming back to life? Seti and Logan have a lot more to worry about than the modern day police. There's a group of scientists that want Seti for more than decoration and a vengeful god with an agenda to get Seti gone once and for all. Logan has to deal with all of that, but his biggest problem might just be Seti himself, who's trying hard to get into Logan's pants, and his heart.

    He loves his life of learning as a monk in the far-flung stronghold of Fara, but the hot warrior blood of his chieftain father flows in his veins. Heat soothed only in the arms of his sweet-natured friend and lover, Leof.When Leof is killed during a Viking raid, Cai’s grieving heart thirsts for vengeance—and he has his chance with Fenrir, a wounded young Viking warrior left for dead. But instead of reaching for a weapon, Cai finds himself defying his abbot’s orders and using his healing skills to save Fen’s life.At first, Fen repays Cai’s kindness by attacking every Christian within reach. But as time passes, Cai’s persistent goodness touches his heart. And Cai, who had thought he would never love again, feels the stirring of a profound new attraction.Yet old loyalties call Fen back to his tribe and a relentless quest to find the ancient secret of Fara—a powerful talisman that could render the Vikings indestructible, and tear the two lovers’ bonds beyond healing. Warning: contains battles, bloodshed, explicit M/M sex, and the proper Latin term for what lies beneath those cassocks.

    While trying to finagle his way out of one tricky situation he and his family are already in by getting information their leaders want, he stumbles across something that will bring the country, if not the world, to a crashing end. Now if they can just get what he found to the right people without getting killed in the process. On the run across the country to the Paranormal Parliament in the hopes of helping all supernatural kind, he and his older brothers don’t have many options for refuge when every law enforcement agency is after them. There’s only one group in the area that has the power and protection they need to shake the heat… And it’s the one place where there seems to be a great deal of history between two of his brothers and the one vouching for them. But is the price for the help they need more than they’re willing to pay? Family always comes first to Chicago, so he makes a deal with the devil, and a few vampires on the side, to get the help they need to survive the mission ahead. And after a night of passion and a fantasy come true, Chicago has allies he never dreamed of—one even willing to risk his life, joining their mission to spark a relationship with Chicago. There’s not time for love when you’re trying to save the world though… Is there? Things never go as planned, and instead of finding the man of his dreams, Chicago realizes he might end up with a broken heart at the end of the journey. It seems silly to worry about that though when millions of lives are at stake if they don’t get the information he found to the right people. Funny how Chicago can’t seem to focus on much else given it’s his first love and his family will probably live with Aurelo’s coven… If they’re still alive by the time they reach their leaders.

    His objective? Every man he could get. Until he laid eyes on Lucas. Lucas, a dryad with a tragic past, learned the hard way that trust and love were for fools. Can Bayne break down Lucas's walls, and can Lucas tame Bayne's wild beast before it's too late for both of them? 5000 word short story

    Jim Grimsley has created a fantasy that could have come right from our world where power and greed can tempt, and sometimes conquer, even the most rightist person and where knowing who your friends and enemies are can be very difficult if not impossible. Yet it is not our world. For in Kirith Kirin's world magic is real, immortals walk the land, and people are sometimes the playthings for the dark arts. The Blue Queen, upon resuming the throne while King Kirith Kirin's eternality is renewed in the Arthen forest, has partnered with a magician of the dark arts. No longer does she need to leave the throne to renew her eternal nature. Swayed by promises of the dark magician, she has claimed the throne forever and is extending her influence to the far corners of the world. Malleable grey clouds, sidewinding wind, and intelligent lightning bolts made the trip across the vast Girdle nearly impossible. Out of nowhere, the Blue Queen's Patrols made haste to kill the boy and the warrior before they could safely reach the deep forest of Arthen. Riding upon two magnificent stallions, one a royal Prince out of Queen Mnemarra, Jessex and his uncle Sivisal reached Arthen despite a deadly storm that reeked of magic. Thus begins Jessex's new life as he enters Arthen and moves into the royal court of Kirith Kirin.

    When he passes to yet another owner in a game of chance, he goes without a fight. He's still as proud as he ever was as a warrior of his people, but he has no hope left in him. Or so he thinks. Surial doesn't keep slaves. He's not a native of Azize, the land where he serves out his banishment from his family. He doesn't believe in their customs. So when Kade comes to him on a bet, he's not sure what to do with the big, quiet man. Kade goes to work in the stables, and soon an uneasy friendship begins to grow between the unwilling slave and the unlikely master. Even Surial's servants disapprove of the relationship, but Kade and Surial have more to worry about that a few raised eyebrows. In a world where magic exists in the everyday, Surial and Kade have to face their own fears, their own dreams, and a danger that might well overtake both of them. Sean Michael builds a world full of amazing characters and places in Windbrothers, where the fragile friendship of two men is tested and tried again and again, until ultimately, they find something more precious than anything either of them has ever dreamed of.

    The voices in his head are getting louder, weirder, and more numerous. But tattoos appearing on his skin say that there might be a magical reason, something other than his own brain going around the bend. He's worked up the nerve to ask the local necromancer for help. Now he just has to survive his encounter with tall, dark, and talks-to-ghosts.Necromancer Silas Thornwood doesn't appreciate being woken out of his bed by a stranger pounding on his door. But when that stranger turns out to be a half-frozen young man with an unexpected appeal, Silas can't turn him away. Even Grim, his cat-familiar, agrees— in a world of death and demons, protecting gorgeous, ghost-ridden Darien is Silas's next difficult job.