. . The holidays always seem to bring out the best in everyone, with heartfelt hugs for long-missed friends, sincere smiles in the spirit of the season, and a feeling of magic in the air . . .Here, for the first time, is a collection of paranormal romances celebrating the holidays as never before. From a shape-shifting leopardess who wants a pack-mate to be her soulmate to a surprise snowstorm that brings a surprise gift, these all-new tales by Maggie Shayne, Erin McCarthy, Nalini Singh, and Jean Johnson will stir your spirit in all the right places.

    Free short stories to update readers on the lives of the Demonica characters.Wraith and SerenaTayla and Eidolon - the scene takes place between Sin Undone and Eternal RiderKaden and Andrea - these two chapters are included in the ebook version of Eternity Embraced, but are not in the print short story found in The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2: Love BitesLuc and Kar - this scene takes place eight months after the events of Sin UndoneShade and Runa - this scene takes place between Rogue Rider and ReaverReaver - his scene takes place between Rogue Rider and Reaver

    He keeps to himself until a pesky female journalist arrives, anxious to interview him about his checkered past—his last assistant disappeared under mysterious and bloody circumstances, earning him the nickname “The Deadly Daggerman.”Unsinkable journalist and adventurer Jacinda Harville doesn’t take no for an answer, and she’s determined to wear down Marco no matter how threatening—or incredibly desirable—he might appear. He agrees to an interview—but only if she’ll let him strap her to a spinning table and throw knives at her body. How can she say no? And how can she resist him when he leans close for a kiss that strikes her more sharply than any blade? It’s the first time she’s let a man get the better of her, and she’s determined it will be the last…Just when she thinks she can’t take any more of his games, Jacinda receives a note from Marco saying he’s finally ready to tell her the truth about what happened to his missing assistant. She sets out for an address miles away, but what she finds there turns the tables on everything she thought she knew about the tender lover who wears a smile as sharp as his knives.As secrets are unraveled and passions take hold, Jacinda realizes her hard heart has melted. But will it be too late to save Marco—and herself—from the daggerman’s dangerous past?

    Welcome to Cambio Springs.In this small desert town, secrets bubble up from the desert floor, and history is written on the canyon walls. Seven friends will gather at the crossroads, because in Cambio Springs, everything—and everyone—changes.Jena Crowe escaped the Springs ten years ago. Now, she’s heading home with two boys to start a new life. With her husband’s ghost keeping her company on the road, Jena will learn that moving back and moving backward aren’t necessarily the same thing, and sometimes the places you try to escape are exactly where you need to fall.Three nights to say goodbye. Three days to come to grips with the future. For Jena and her two sons, it’s going to be a long ride home.Long Ride Home is a short story of approximately twenty-five pages.

    To find a killer, she must seduce the boldest male in the Sinclair pack. Her twin sister lies in a hospital bed, fighting for her life, the fourth and only surviving victim of a vicious attacker. The werewolf rangers suspect the Sinclair pack, and the only way Neva can infiltrate their close-knit ranks is to unleash the wildness within and offer herself to Duncan Sinclair. Duncan’s appetite for women is legendary on the reservation. But when this new woman stirs his hunger, he finds his desire for her goes deeper than anything he’s ever felt before. When he realizes that she’s playing a game and he’s taken the bait, he is determined to push her to the breaking point. As Duncan and Neva engage in a dangerous dance, they must somehow find a way to join forces—before a cornered killer bites back.

    His dark secrets drive him to take increasingly extreme risks, but he’s never lived so quite so dangerously as when he hooks up with Midcity’s most powerful prognosticator. Fawna Brady is tormented by the destinies she sees for those around her. To Fawna, knowledge of the future is a cage she’d do anything to escape. She’s stunned to discover a taste of the freedom for which she yearns at the side of Simon, the one person in the world who despises everything she is, everything she stands for. Simon’s defiant attitude toward destiny captivates Fawna, but will her love destroy him? And will Simon rush headlong into the delicious doom she offers?

    He’s a controller of shadows, able to wield darkness at will. But when a mysterious woman at the club turns out to have powers greater than his own, he has no choice but seduction…Now exclusive as a standalone e-title, read the sexy story that captivate readers from New York Times bestselling author Gena Showalter.

    He doesn’t need her. Like hell…Destin Mortin’s psychic gift comes with an ugly twist—she excels at tracking down violent rapists. But it’s rough on relationships. Once, her partner Caleb was her everything: filter, shield, rescuer, lover. The only man who didn’t think her a freak. Then he walked away.Destin turned her back on the FBI to work for a private agency, but now a particularly horrendous case has come up, and her boss wants her paired with only the best.For Caleb Durand, leaving Destin was an act of self-preservation. Every time she flung herself headlong into dangerous situations, every time he nursed her through soul-crushing visions, he’d died a little more inside.Now they are forced to work together one last time. Tragedy has changed them both, but Caleb knows if he lowers his shields for an instant, he won’t have an icicle’s chance in hell of resisting the temptation to lose himself in her wild power.But to catch the rapist, it’s exactly what he’ll have to do.Warning: Contains tortured souls who have lost love and pined for their missing half, a woman who can see evil, and a hot FBI agent.

    Not hard at all. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about, really. It's been a breeze! Or so I thought.” When Alpha Locke Winfield’s pack decided it was time for him to step up and take care of his own child for once, his whole life turned upside down. Too busy for tea parties and ballet recitals, he hadn’t realized his daughter, Sara, was no longer a little girl. And preteens, he was learning, were a whole other breed. Locke needed a woman. One who could do more than take care of his daughter. He couldn’t remember the last time a woman had taken care of him. Which was why he joined the online dating site, Alpha Singles. Sara needed a mother. And Locke needed a mate. ASAP. There were thousands of women out there. Surely he could find one who was willing to take on a workaholic Alpha Wolf and his moody preteen daughter.

    Underneath, she harbors a hopelessly unrequited love for the sexy werewolf everyone thinks of as her cousin. Taran rarely notices her except to condescend or lecture. He's treated her the same way since she was eight years old, and there s no reason to think he'll ever change.Taran Lloyd, a detective in the Houston Police Department s Shifters Investigations Unit (SHIU), lives for those rare moments he gets to spend around Lark, torturing himself with what he can t have. Kin only by marriage, she thinks of him as her big brother. He couldn t bear her pity or her disgust if she learned he wants her for his mate.When weres from a rival pack attack her, Lark screams out the first name that comes to mind Taran. Only this sexy alpha can keep her safe until they find out who wants her dead, and why. But keeping her safe means keeping her close. And the closer they get, the harder it gets for these not-really-cousins to honor their commitment to keep their paws off."

    The fact she’s deaf doesn’t make her survival skills any weaker, and she’s been craving the chance to escape into the Yukon wilderness. Only the sexy beast of a man she bumps into at the cabin starts cravings of another kind, setting her hormones raging as well as raising strange questions about wolves, and mates, and pack challenges.All wilderness guide Keil Lynus wanted was a nice quiet retreat before challenging for the Alpha position of his Alaskan pack. He wasn’t planning on meeting his destined mate, or finding out she’s not aware she has the genes of a wolf. Between dealing with his accident-prone younger brother, a deaf mate with an attitude and an impending duel to the death, his week—and his bed—is suddenly full.Far from the relaxing getaway any of them had in mind…Warning: Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “talking with your hands”. Includes dangerous use of sarcasm and hot nookie in a remote wilderness sauna.-----This NORTHERN LIGHTS EDITION is a revised and extended version of the 2009 original.

    But can Ashton keep me safe forever? Lily Veilleux? Things are heating up between Victor and me. I’m sure he’s the one, but dare I hope he feels he same way?

    “Signatures of the Dead” tells the story of the vampire massacre that made Jane Yellowrock a household name.And in “Cajun with Fangs,” Jane makes a new friend who turns out to have old enemies, and finds herself drawn into a vicious blood feud, fueled by dark magic and ancient grudges.

    Alexander, Shifting Reality, Book 1. Thomas Lyons is your average cat shifter. Cool, seductive…and bored out of his mind. He doesn’t like hiding, and with the new popularity of all things paranormal, he doesn’t see why he should. When his roommate Saint, a half demon technofile, gets him hooked up with his own computer, he has an idea. He starts a weblog called Shifting Reality, announcing to the world who and what he is. Oddly enough, the more he shares, the less he is believed. In fact, people begin thinking it is a new online series with fantastic effects. Margo Anderson prefers not to be noticed, she is no longer the wild young thing she used to be. No more dancing on tables for her. Not after her reckless behavior cost her so much. Her only guilty pleasures are dark chocolate and shoes—and a certain website with a man whose purring voice sends shivers down her spine. She never thought she’d win a trip to spend a week in a haunted Scottish castle with the men of Shifting Reality. Or that her boss at the production office would want her to mix business with pleasure…or else. When Margo and Thomas meet, its love at first scent for the usually fickle Casanova. It’s hard to host the show when his attention is taken up by the luscious handful. And it’s hard for a girl to think about contracts when she’s surrounded by newlywed ghosthunters, a matchmaking demon and a man whose addictive touch makes her head spin. Warning: Tons of explicit sex. A cat shifter with an oral fixation, voyeurism, anal sex, sex in pantries, with ghosts…you get the idea. *Previously published in 2010.

    Free online fiction from author website