A short story about Cooper & Grace's mated life. Timeline: Takes place during Tangle of Need, soon after Declaration of Courtship.This story can be found in Nalini Singh's December 2013 newsletter.

    Good luck is his to command, but it comes at the cost of any place to call home or people to reckon as family. Resigned to die and shunned by all, he is forced to sail every three days, until he begins to dream of a special woman. Treated by our youth-oriented society as invisible and sexless, Emily Pawes is ready to move on with life. She attends a pirate festival, hoping to recapture the make-believe magic she knew as a young woman. Lucky to win an interesting bit of booty at a brick-a-brac stand, she finds herself transported by the Kraken's mirror through a magical portal to a land of Hollywood piratitude, where swashbuckling heroes own iPods. With little choice, Emily embraces the madness. Playing pirate has to be safer than falling into the arms of handsome Captain Silvestri, right? When they meet, sparks fly, passion flares. He needs her to be free, but more than that, he needs her to be whole. Setting sail and uncertain of who actually controls the wheel, they seek ways to defeat his curse of good luck and discover the Kraken's mirror has plans for them. Will Emily stay in this pirate haven to fight alongside him or will he lose her because of his curse?

    At 25, according to decree, it is time for to her to marry, but there is so much more at stake. Her royal suitors, those chosen by her parents, must fight to the death for her hand in marriage. Sam's obligations and inner wolf are at odds. But when, she meets a sexy stranger, Sam decides forever is just what she wants--with the right wolf. Spending his life alone, Chase Michaels can't believe the odds that his alpha wolf reacts so strongly to a chance encounter with a beautiful woman. Never experiencing such desire and need, Chase is bound and determined to make Sam his, despite the laws against it. Unprepared for the snobbery of the noble families, Chase prepares for battle. Can he fight the laws and ancient tradition to win the heart of the woman he's destined to be with? Or will he die trying?

    While in rehab at the Naval Medical Center, Navy SEAL Frank Decorah has a paranormal experience that sets the course for the rest of his life.

    As a last resort, she signs up for the Midnight Liaisons dating service, never expecting that she’d find the alpha she seeks. She certainly didn’t expect Jackson Wilder, a laid back, sexy-as-sin outsider who claims to be an alpha.But Alice has a problem that most female wolf alphas don’t — she’s a virgin. And the female alpha of a wolf pack always belongs to a male alpha. Luckily for her, Jackson’s utterly gorgeous and willing to take things slow. But is he alpha enough to help her save her pack…or is he too easy-going to be the man she needs?

    He’s been tracking and evaluating one shifter in particular for some time. Cree Forest is a clever fox shifter—and very foxy. Cree is a translator for the UN and John is keen to recruit her brilliant mind and persuasive skills to join the DCO.But Cree isn’t what she seems. Just as John has been watching her, Cree has been spying on him. She is working with a rogue shifter and John is getting too close—professionally and personally! On opposite sides professionally, can they trust each other with their hearts?

     He's a warrior, hardened by years of protecting his town from vampire attack. She's a garden witch who sees the world in shades of sunshine and delight. Opposites don't only attract, they go supernova in this sizzling tale of magic and mayhem. [Author's note: this novella - 84 pages, 22,000 words -- was originally published in the Dark & Deadly: 8 Bad Boys of Paranormal boxed set, so if you have that one, you already have it. Thanks!]

    After he rescues her from the unwanted attentions of another partygoer, she succumbs to his kisses and spends an evening engaged in wicked-sexy lovemaking. Sure she's just a one-night stand, she tries to exit gracefully, but soon find she needs Dylan's special skills when her world is turned upside down by a blood-drinking killer and his gang who target her for their next meal. Dylan O'Hara only wants a night of passion to slake his sexual needs, but finds Emmy is a full-bodied, red-blooded siren whose innocence and humor draws this Master vampire like a moth to a red-hot flame. When Emmy attracts the attention of a serial-killing vampire, Dylan vows to protect her, but he fears he'll lose Emmy once she discovers her "Dracula" has real fangs

    But her partner, Max Murphy, suspects. She's had one too many spot-on hunches. When they're sent to the scene of a murder, Liz's latest psychic flash leads to disaster. In the Beginning reveals how Liz came to be an ex-cop and started on the road to becoming the Leader of the Light.

    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.

     Mia is just a college girl trying to earn her business degree and dig out of the poverty she was born into--being a shifter is something she hides, hoping her secret won't sabotage her dreams. Lucas is a broken alpha, a wolf who lost his mate, his pack, and almost himself--he wasn't looking to rescue a girl or start a pack war. But now he has to keep her safe or it won't just be her life, but his whole family at risk... only his inner wolf can't seem to keep its paws off a girl who has secrets of her own. Desired (True Alpha 1) is 80 pages or 20,000 words and is the first of six TRUE ALPHA episodes. The complete series box set is available as a bundle. All the individual episodes are available in kindle unlimited. Contains strong sexual themes/language and is meant for readers over 18.

    It is now part of the full-length novel "Mystic Wolves".What would you do if a simple errand takes a deadly twist, turning you from cautious prey to dangerous predator?When Darcy's outing takes a turn for the worst and tests her to the point of breaking, she struggles to maintain her humanity. Where loyalty and pack mean everything, she surrenders to the inevitable and only an act of complete trust can touch her. When all is said and done, with memories flooding her mind, Darcy holds tightly to the only thing that makes sense...it was all a dream. Or was it?

    Once the government is back in business then the short story will no longer be available on line, at least not until my publisher and I figure out what we might want to do with it. But for right now, while we’re all wondering how it got to this point, here’s a brand new Anita Blake short story, featuring our favorite bad boy werewolf, yep, I mean Richard Zeeman. Hey, I’ve been telling you, he’s been working his therapy: read on to see the results that hard work and being brave enough to own your whole self can get you.

    Wild magic, unexpected allies, a conflagration of sorcery and shifter magic the likes of which has not been seen in centuries... That's what awaits the peaceful town of Grizzly Cove. That, and love. Lots and lots of love.This anthology contains:All About the BearWelcome to Grizzly Cove, where the sheriff has more than the peace to protect. The proprietor of the new bakery in town is clueless about the dual nature of her nearest neighbors, but not for long. It’ll be up to Sheriff Brody to clue her in and convince her to stay calm—and in his bed—for the next fifty years or so.Mating DanceTom, Grizzly Cove’s only lawyer, is also a badass grizzly bear, but he’s met his match in Ashley, the woman he just can’t get out of his mind. She’s got a dark secret, that only he knows. When ugliness from her past tracks her to her new home, can Tom protect the woman he is fast coming to believe is his mate?Night ShiftSheriff’s Deputy Zak is one of the few black bear shifters in a colony of grizzlies. When his job takes him into closer proximity to the lovely Tina, though, he finds he can’t resist her. Could it be he’s finally found his mate? And when adversity strikes, will she turn to him, or run into the night? Zak will do all he can to make sure she chooses him.

    He’ll show up again in the series, but what about in the meantime? What does a powerful, four-hundred-year-old vampire with a serious grudge against his old mass murdering master to do when he suddenly finds himself with too much time on his hands? Hang around Faerie, where there’s nothing to eat (Fey blood=nasty) just because our intrepid heroine parked him there?Uh, no. Not so much. Because Tomas is obsessed, and has been for pretty much his whole existence, with one thing: taking out Alejandro, the aforementioned murdering bastard. In “The Day of the Dead,” he slips back into our world to confront his nemesis, only to find unexpected help in the form of a band of magical mercenaries. Think the A-Team with spells and potions instead of (well, actually in addition to) guns and knives and things that go boom. It makes for a lot of mayhem down Mexico way.NOTE: “The Day of the Dead” is a short story connected to the New York Times bestselling Cassandra Palmer series of urban fantasy novels. It was first published in The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance (2008) and is now being offered as a free ebook. It features Tomas, a character from Touch the Dark (2006), the first Cassandra Palmer novel.