In VAL there’s no line a vampire won’t cross to secure a true mate once found. Only death can separate them….Set One: The Beginning contains the following novellas:KNIGHT AFTER NIGHT: Scot laird Thoran MacKettryck has met his mate, after years of bitter longing and endless existence. He expected someone more experienced; a little less quick with her tongue; a bit more agreeable. What he got was his perfect match – Jolie Pritchard.BE STILL MY HEART: Sasha Stroyanovich is pure killing machine. There isn’t a man out there safe from her relentless need for vengeance. She hasn’t got a heart. She hasn’t got a dream. She hasn’t got anything other than hate. And then she tries to kill Dr. Stuart Findlay.DEARLY BELOVED: Dominick Miklos St Guis is a recluse. A shadow. Killing and draining blood without leaving a trace. It’s his signature. Until something goes terribly wrong and he winds up with a captive who came very close to killing him. And for that, Courtney Dwyer is paying… WE ARE GATHERED: Tristan Navarre Invaris died a crusader knight - a warrior steeped in lessons learned at the end of a sword blade. He’s got everything under control as VAL’s Innovation Specialist. And then something goes awry as the one thing he can’t fathom enters his tightly controlled world: A female. Rori. His mate.

    Don't miss this charming and passionate addendum, in which Gareth proves that some things get better with age, Hyacinth gains new respect for her mother (with a daughter like Isabella she'd have to, wouldn't she?), and everyone learns that while diamonds are lovely, sometimes tenacity is a girl's best friend.

    A short collection of fantasy stories to tickle your funny bone.MY GUARDIAN IDIOT A woman is saddled with a bumbling angel sent to protect her. SEXUAL HEALINGA therapist with a unique strategy for healing her patients.GENIE SCHOOL DROPOUTAn antiques dealer inherits a genie who seems to be hard of hearing.STEPHEN KING KILLS HIS DARLINGSA funeral director receives on odd request from a famous horror author. CUPID’S ARROWThe son of Venus has a plan for his over-worked mother.

    But when suspicion falls on werewolf alpha Julian Kasey—Ava’s ex-lover and the man who still haunts her dreams—Ava knows that she’ll either have to prove his innocence…or watch the whole town go up in flames.Originally part of an Entangled anthology.

    Free online fiction from author website

    In a new novella told through his letters, his history is revealed.

    who can read minds. But Sookie's far from being the only person in Bon Temps, Louisiana with a handicap, what with the local vampire population demanding their unhuman rights and weres fighting for territory ... In fact, Bon Temps is a pretty lively place these days!A Touch of Dead collects together all the Sookie Stackhouse short stories in one gorgeous volume, and showcases the writing talents of international bestseller Charlaine Harris.

    Griffin is a young future Councilman and leader of the Vampire Nation. As the only surviving son from the House of Vaughn he has been groomed since birth for the position. His parents' plans for the future of their House are a constant weight he must bear.Tessa is a waitress who has been struggling to survive on her own since the death of her parents and the rejection of her family. The clairvoyant dreams that have plagued her since her childhood force her into a solitary existence.Tempers flare and the battle between duty and desire ignites when their two worlds collide on a life changing cold winter night. Tessa’s heart hangs in the balance. Griffin is the only one who can tip the scales. Will his good intentions and love for Tessa be enough? *ADULT CONTENT*

    The lump soon morphs into a shape familiar to everyone but her, triggering her curiosity and her father's greatest fears. He frantically tries to intervene, but having a large phantom phallus in a curious maiden's bed is never a good combination.

    Caring for their best friend’s younger sister came naturally to the two panther shifters. However the last thing the men expect to discover on Angelica’s twenty-first birthday is that she is their mate. The only thing more shocking to Angelica than Stephan and Owen admitting they want her, is her own reaction to the men as they stake their claim.Thrust in to a world of supernatural, where things she believed to be fairly tales are real, Angelica must learn to cope and learn what it means to be mated to shifters. Will Stephan and Owen’s need to protect their mate from everything cost them the one thing they have always wanted? Or will Angelica realize that nothing will ever compare to being claimed by her panthers?

    This short story tells the tale of that night, and sheds a little light on her masters’ motivations.

    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.

    A free short story taken straight from the pages of THE MONSTER’S CORNER, an all original anthology from some of today’s hottest supernatural writers, featuring stories from the monster’s point of view.SPECIMEN 313 is the story of a meat-eating plant named Max, surviving in the greenhouse with his mad doctor keeper when he gets a new female neighbor.

    With her trademark "sassy dialogue, lusty lovemaking [and] irreverent humor"* New York Times bestselling author MaryJanice Davidson delighted fans with her wickedly sexy and wildly funny anthology, Dead and Loving It-stories in which the worlds of the Wyndham Werewolves and Undead Queens collided. Now she returns to that sensual and irresistible after-dark realm of werewolves, vampires, and mermaids in three more original novellas--including an all-new Betsy Taylor novella.

    So as a free update for Shopaholic fans, I have decided to share with you one of the adventures of the newly-wed Becky and Luke. I hope you enjoy it! Love Sophie xThe new Mr and Mrs Brandon are on honeymoon, and Becky has big plans! They’ve got a whole year to explore Venice, learn yoga in India, sleep in little wooden huts in South America… maybe even see penguins in the Antarctic. And of course they’ll need to buy just a few essential souvenirs along the way (everyone needs a set of Murano glass goblets, after all).They’re not just tourists, they’re travellers. Becky is sure it is just the thing that Luke needs – time to unwind. He’ll come back a changed man… with all the good bits still intact of course.But it soon becomes clear that Luke has different plans entirely. Can Becky help him let go, or will this little disagreement threaten their whole honeymoon?