But Pete has this dream of becoming a metaphysical scientist and that means all his time—his attention—is taken up by college and studying. So in order to deal with the pain of watching Peter and never having him I spend most of my time in the Gray Zone, the no-man’s-land between the city of Atlanta and the Dens. There I’m free to drown myself; with drugs, with booze…With the inhuman.Lesser-Breds. Kin hybrids. The offspring of Humans and Dragons.But then an act of revenge led to a stupid college prank, which put Peter right into my arms.A better man would make the right decision and tell Pete no.I am so not that man.

    When Etienne ends up alone and hungry, with a ramshackle cottage his only shelter and a feral cat his only friend, he believes himself doomed to a sad, cold death. But out of the shadows of the night arrives a visitor who brings comfort. He presents himself as a servant, but the man called “Jacques” spends the long hours instructing Etienne in the cruel delights of a disciplined passion. Jacques is gone with the morning light, but Etienne thinks he knows the stranger’s secret. Will Etienne tame the beast that lurks within his lover? Or will he find himself a victim of the bitter rage that rules Jacques’ heart? Based on the classic French fairy tale, “Puss In Boots,” this story explores what happens when the servant becomes the master, and the master lives to serve...

    But his stepbrother proves to be the very last person he expected to encounter. On top of that, the long-ago residents of the tourist hot spot, a tower dating back to the revolution, are not quite as dead as Gene would have liked..

    Not because he's not intelligent or can't follow along in class, but because he's different than all the other students. He's a male witch in a society ruled by females. That's no minor problem since Magic Theory is his major.His visits to his sometime lover, Gabe Santini, provide him a safe and uncomplicated haven to escape to, until one night when his fear of commitment drives him away. He learns that monsters aren't the only things that stalk their prey.In the end he may discover he was safer with the vampire than anything his college life has to offer. ----------Free eBook featuring characters from the upcoming Dominion series.Approx. Word Count: 4,348Cover Art by: L.C. Chase

    Few who venture in ever return, and those that do rarely come back all the way. The leopards in this forest have a protector who walks the worlds between leopard and man, but who calls the leopard kin and the human only enemy. When a frightened boy escapes from the latest hunting party to feel the protector's wrath, he tracks the boy down, determined to leave no survivors. But when he comes fact-to-face with the exotic, defenseless boy, he cannot bring himself to end that life. Instead, what he has reviled for years becomes his constant companion. That is, until the humans dare to set foot in his forest once more.Original Prompt: Dear Author,Hmmm, I can almost taste him on the wind now. He's so close. I've been tracking him for days, his scent is driving me wild for the last few miles. He's good, damn good – but I'm better. Photo Description: A leopard walking alongside a body of water with a jungle/forest surrounding it.This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Love is Always Write" 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.Also read the story here or find it in Love Is Always Write: Volume 5.

    However, tensions within the pack soon escalate when they're forced to all live in the apartment rented by Jax, the human lover of David, the pack's second in command. Knowing he needs money to buy better and bigger accommodation for his pack, River disappears for a few days and returns with a bag of gold chips he's sniffed out from the Cascade River near his old pack grounds. Coyote shifter Foster's true mate has made his presence known, but when the coyote alpha finally shows himself, Foster is faced with a difficult decision. Stay with the werewolves and risk his mate's unhappiness, or leave those he's come to love as family? Meanwhile, David continues to want to submit to Jax while being alpha to his beta mate, Brooks. Tension in the threesome grows as Jax's reluctance to take the bite turns into flat-out refusal. Can their relationship survive this as well as Brooks pregnancy and David's hyper-protectiveness of his werewolf mate? When Josiah suggests the pack admit rogue werewolves, River's desire to please his omega mate wars with his responsibilities to his pack as he questions past decisions and Josiah's influence on them. Will history repeat itself, leading to the downfall of the newly-formed Cascade City Pack?

    Okay, figuring out you're gay is hard enough, right? I mean I've barely admitted the truth to myself. Forget about telling anyone else about liking guys. I thought it would be the most difficult thing I had to deal with, until my dad showed up to claim me for the summer. Did I mention I hadn't seen him for more than twenty minutes each birthday? Seriously, he couldn't be bothered to visit me any other time, yet now he expects me to welcome him with open arms. Well, did I mention he's Death? And his plans for me will change my life.

    There are two problems in my life.Number one – I’m an ink magician, the thing of myths. A lot of very powerful people would love to get their hands on me, and I have no intention of letting that happen. Number two – A tattoo thief came to my city, and the magical community has decided that I’m the guy to stop them. Somehow, I have to catch the thief without letting my secret out of the bag, and that’s even harder than it sounds.

    No doubt it’s because of his fascination with humans and their culture. For decades he’s been content to observe from the shadows, but then a lonely human wanders onto Rodney’s rooftop one night and turns his world upside down. David Marshall is everything Rodney has wanted in all his years of solitude. Rodney manages to keep his crush and his identity a secret until David needs a gargoyle’s protection more than late-night conversations with a reclusive friend. Will David be able to see past the monstrous exterior to the true person within? Time is running out, and Rodney must try to grab onto life—and love—before it’s too late.

    When he finds Professor Phoenix Lamoure, he soon discovers that Headquarters got a couple of key points wrong—Phoenix isn’t actually a professor, but he is Saffron Tiger royalty, a member of the lost royal line.Phoenix didn’t have things easy growing up. His mother spent most of her life in a mental institution, and he spent his formative years in foster care. When a stranger approaches and tries to unearth his family history, Phoenix becomes wary. And when the stranger actually kidnaps him, all bets are off!Can Phoenix ever believe what Grio has to tell him? Or will he be forever convinced that he’s as crazy as his mother?

    While on a trip to celebrate his recovery, he gets lost in the woods and meets an unusual wolf. When the animal turns out to be more than just a wolf, Reed is astonished and a little afraid.Werewolf Ethan Amhurst has been alone a long time. Finding Reed lost on his property seems to be a stroke of luck. He wants to show Reed that his scars don’t matter, but can there be any future for a werewolf and a scarred ex-model?

    He loved his work, the owners of the ranch, and his co-workers; wranglers who helped tourists with guided horse tours and trail riding all year round.But after a chance meeting with a handsome gay man who had helped Charlie change a flat tire on Interstate 80 a month ago, Charlie was beginning to wonder about his sexuality. And if that wasn’t confusing enough, strange things were happening on the ranch. Satanic worship? A strange cult ritual? Whatever it was, it wasn’t good for the owners or the horses on it.One night Charlie stumbles upon Roman Burk in the woods, naked, bleeding and shivering in the cold. What Charlie never imagined was who -or what- Roman was. Even though the handsome stranger seemed to vanish at times and reappear as if by magic, Charlie was infatuated by this man.Roman was fearful of revealing his secret. Most of all to a cowboy who was spending more time hunting him, than loving him. In this shape-shifting story of sexual bonding and discovery, can both Charlie and Roman find what they’re looking for? It’s a question of honor; one that has been up for debate since the first time man set his eyes on this formidable predator. It’s about the mutual respect of Wolves and Men.

    Once he got away, he vowed never to look back. But years later, on the eve of his thirtieth birthday, he receives a bizarre letter from his dad indicating Shaun's in grave danger. The letter sends him on a journey deep into the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. There, he uncovers a disturbing family history that leaves Shaun questioning everything he thought he knew about his past and even his future.His only ally comes in the form of a mysterious drifter named Rannon James who seems to know more about Shaun's history than Shaun does. Shaun's drawn to the sexy and vaguely familiar man. And when Rannon tells him a story of love and loss, of loyalty and betrayal, and of two childhood friends who share a destiny, Shaun realizes he's inextricably and intimately linked to the other man.But with danger stalking his every move, and fighting a terrifying change in himself that he never asked for, Shaun's not sure who he can trust. Maybe not even himself...Genres: Gay / Contemporary / Dark Fantasy / Shapeshifter / Suspense / Thriller

    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.

    Time is against them and even love might not be enough to survive the change.Dan Bailey is a loner, a shifter without a pack that no pack will accept unless he has a mate. He's only looking for work and a few beers with friends when he meets Blythe Kenner, and suddenly his priorities change.Blythe doesn't trust anyone—especially shifters. All he wants to do is bide his time working behind the bar while getting his law degree. That is until Dan walks in and makes it his sole vocation to get under Blythe's skin…and his covers. Blythe never counted on having a shifter as a lover, and complicated doesn't begin to describe how he feels.Dan knows how he feels and he's not going to let Blythe go without a fight. But time is running out. A rival pack isn't happy with Dan's living arrangements, and if Dan can't win Blythe's trust soon, their very lives will be at stake.