Papers with secrets that could spell death. Crispin needs to get them back before anyone finds out what he's been doing, or what his magic can do.Crispin tracks his quarry down to waste paper dealer Ned Hall. He needs help, and Ned can’t resist Crispin’s pleading—and appealing—looks. But can the waste-man and the magician prevent a disaster and save Crispin’s skin?A 16,000 word story set in the Charm of Magpies world, and a prequel to the novel Rag and Bone (March 2016). This story was first published as part of the Charmed & Dangerous anthology.Cover design by Catherine Dair.

    Aside from passing contact with railship captains, the only person he sees is the enemy: the man who guards the other side of the border. A bad fall places John’s life in the other soldier’s hands. He’s wary of his rescuer, First Lieutenant Thomas Fellowes, but over time he finds himself drawn to his new companion. Both soldiers carry the war in their souls, but they might find peace in each other.

    But when commanded to kill a baby girl, he defies his commander and deserts the Federation, seeking a place in the universe for himself and the defenseless innocent he’s promised to protect. Dear Author,This man is a protector, a fierce and rugged man with a checkered past and an absent family… and yet he holds our new daughter with such tenderness and care. He loves my entire clan of a family nearly as much as he loves me, and despite his horrid birth family, he has become the brother, the son, the cousin, the uncle that they never knew they were missing.He loves us all, and protects us all… even when the proverbial s*$% hits the fan.Please tell our story, how he came to be so gentle and loving of my family, OUR family, yet can be so fierce, so distant, from the rest of the world.Photo Description: A sepia tone photograph shows a handsome man, bare-chested, who sits cradling a baby in both hands. He has short hair and a muscled body, and he gazes adoringly at the baby.This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Love Has No Boundaries" event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story.

    And once his deadly secret was exposed, it cost him everything—his birthright, his family, and his stellar military career.Ture Xans spent his entire life hiding from everyone around him—his family, his friends, and anyone who wanted to get close to him—while trying desperately to fit in and keep his head low. Badly hurt by everyone he’s ever known, he trusts no one except his own best friend. But honestly, he can’t understand why he trusts her. Nor can he believe her when she describes a loyalty between the League allies the likes of which he’s never seen.Yet when Ture is captured by the League in a coup he wanted no part of, his life is saved by a hero he thought only existed in fables. A man who is every bit as scarred and mistrusting as he is. One who has no interest in being dragged into another war for any reason. Having spent his life as a living study of doomed relationships, Maris is well aware of the fiasco that invariably follows. Still, there is something about Ture he can’t resist. Something that won’t let him walk away when he knows he should. But when old enemies return to threaten them both, they either have to stand together or die alone.

    It’s her birthday and she’s determined to be a little wild and a whole lot carefree, at least until she has to get back to reality tomorrow. But the last thing she expects is to be seduced by two gorgeous men on the dance floor. Theo and Galen are each incredibly sexy on their own, and potentially devastating as a pair—and they want her. Meg isn’t down for anything resembling complicated when her life is such a mess, but the pair win her over with the promise of a night out of her deepest, darkest fantasy—and that they walk the next morning with no strings attached. After all, anything goes when it’s only for one night…

    The Prince of the Moon desperately seeks to break the curse on his kingdom, but will the stranger who arrives to help him prove to be only a hindrance? In Learning to See a man saves his family by sacrificing everything to a stranger in a mysterious castle. Cinder-Elle lost his birthright alongside his vision, and his dreary days are brightened only by a man he met by chance in the marketplace, a man about whom he knows very little … and Capture the Moon is about a woman who leaves home in the guise of a boy to see what the world has to offer.

    Godlike reflexes and hawk eyes make him a natural gunner assigned to fly the futuristic ship with technology so advanced it’s still classified. But it takes a two-man crew and Chaz, the lone wolf, must have a partner.On his first day he meets Ferron, the most dangerous man at the Academy. The ice blue eyes and scarred face of the older cadet aren’t enough to scare Chaz. Nor are the rumors that Ferron killed his last partner. But when he finds out they are to be a team, his anxiety starts to mount.Tension climbs to a breaking point when Ferron informs him that in order to fly the Needle he and Chaz must have their bodies pressed together in a dance of sensual intimacy that makes the sexually straight Chaz angry and uncomfortable.Ferron must master Chaz completely and break down his physical and emotional boundaries. The only thing that will keep them alive is their partnership—any space between them means certain death.

    A cobra shifter, he’s held captive by a collector who keeps him—and other shifters—in a private harem-style “zoo” in the Libyan desert. Considered a dangerous predator by the other shifters, and little more than a boy toy to the collector, Jiri is friendless, timid, and despondent.Miksa is the collector’s latest find. But honey badgers are known for their bad attitude, fearlessness, and fighting spirit. Miksa has no doubt he’ll escape, even if it means taking the whole zoo down with him.When honey badger and cobra meet, there should be instant enmity—after all, honey badgers eat cobras—yet both men find themselves oddly drawn to the other. Romance blossoms, but can it survive captivity and beyond? In order to do so, Jiri will have to find a strength he doesn’t know he possesses and Miksa will have to open a heart long closed to anyone except his immediate family.

    Submissive by nature, he can’t help but fall in love with the master who treats him kindly.When the mistress walks out, Tam dares to hope his love will be enough. Then he’s ordered to purchase another slave.He wants to hate Kai for being unruly and ungrateful. For being of the same race as the men who murdered his family. For being his eventual replacement in their master’s bed. But it’s hard to hate a man who cries himself to sleep, flinches at the slightest touch, and blushes beautifully when he’s kissed. 64,000 words.THE FREE MEN SERIES:THE SLAVETHE SOLDIERTHE MASTER

    We guard our treasure well and the fun loving part notwithstanding we’ll fight to defend what’s ours. Amidst all this I’m trying to find my mate. He has to be somewhere.Photo Description: A digital painting of a very fit, moonlit man submerged to the waist in the ocean and with tentacles emerging around him.This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Love’s Landscapes" event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story. This story may contain sexually explicit content and is intended for adult readers. It may contain content that is disagreeable or distressing to some readers. The M/M Romance Group strongly recommends that each reader review the General Information section before each story for story tags as well as for content warnings.

    First Officer Ryan Nelson accompanies the sickest patients to the planet's surface, where he is put under the supervision of Juo-ta-ri, an apprentice to one of the healers who is helping the crew. The two have barely begun to explore the chemistry between them when Ryan's body betrays him and he falls ill as well. Now it's a race against time to see if Juo can bring the fever down before Ryan's hallucinations kill him.Reprint: This novella was originally published in the Dreamspinner Press anthology Size Matters.Revisit Ryan and Juo in Hot Cargo by Nicki Bennett and Ariel Tachna.

    After a night of drinking, he orders a doll from PETS only, when it arrives, he gets a surprise--he's received a free upgrade to a Living Companion! He does his best to clinically and professionally deal with a Pet that was genetically engineered to be a companion, in every sense of the word, to another man. But when Ichi starts to suspect his new Pet isn't what he seems, his dull little life gets turned upside down.

    If the prisoners don't kill each other, they'll die slowly from mining the poisonous drug chojal. Yet Aleron still hopes that he can escape.Only thirty Athaki guards keep the chaos of Tantoret in check, a race of aliens stronger and faster than their human charges. Most intimidating of all is the head guard, Jasak, who has his own reasons for being sent to Tantoret.Amidst the darkness and desperation, Aleron and Jasak share an unexpected attraction. An attraction neither can resist when Jasak claims Aleron as his mate to protect him. Then they discover that both guards and inmates are planning a coup, while a traitor from an enemy nation threatens the whole planet. Suddenly escape from Tantoret isn't just Aleron's dream--it's a matter of survival for them both.84,400 words

    Now he lives only for his job as a glassblower…and occasional glimpses of his sexy downstairs neighbors, Rai Nakamura and Evan Truman.Every time he overhears the diminutive academic and the hunky plumber having loud and obviously kinky sex, Josh is overwhelmed with lust…and a longing for a fraction of what they have.To his amazement, Rai and Evan find his embarrassing tendency to blush utterly charming, and the three men grow closer over the course of the long, hot summer. Despite Rai’s charming flirtation and Evan’s smoldering gaze, Josh is determined never to break his new friends’ loving bonds.On the night a naked Josh falls—quite literally—into the middle of one of Rai and Evan’s marathon sex sessions, the force of their mutual attraction takes control. But just as Josh dares to hope, he senses a change. Leaving him to wonder if the winds of love are about to blow his way at last…or if history is about to repeat itself.Warning: Contains one well-endowed stud with a sexy accent, one improbably toppy bottom boy with an unfortunate owl obsession, and one blushing naïf who can’t believe his luck. Also, the occasional indulgence in mathematical spanking and some shameless armpit sex.

    Enchanted mechanical animals are all the rage among the upper classes, and selling them will save his struggling family business. Enter Jak, whose enchanting ability is second only to his talent for flirting. It’s dangerous to keep such a tempting man close, but Leander can’t resist—in more ways than one.Jak needs money to continue his aimless life of running. A partnership with Leander provides both income and a lovely diversion. Their masterful creations catch the attention of an eccentric baroness who offers them an enormous sum for an ambitious project—a full-scale mechanical dragon.Swept into a life rubbing elbows with nobility, Leander is pleased but overwhelmed. Spending both workdays and evenings with Jak, he finds himself drawing closer to the charming mage. But Jak is hiding a dangerous secret, and the truth could tear them apart.