Discover a new side to the saga with this novella, The Darkest Prison.Once, Atlas, the Titan god of strength, was the Greek goddess Nike's slave. Now, he is her master. And soon these sworn enemies destined to destroy one another will be forced to risk everything for a chance at love…. Discover how the Lords of the Underworld series began in The Darkest Night, and look for the latest installment of the series, The Darkest Seduction, available now.

    A man she's never even met. A man who, by reputation, is one of Scotland's cruelest lairds in over a century. But what choice does she have, with her father dead and her uncle now married to his brother's widow, putting him in charge of not only the Blackthorne fortune, but Sibyl's future as well? Then her betrothed turns out to actually be far worse than his reputation, so headstrong Sibyl decides life as a peasant, or even death, would be preferable to a future with such a despicable man, and makes plans to run away. On an organized hunt for wolves--or, as the Scots call them, wulvers--Sybil escapes her fiancé's clutches, only to find she's run into something far more untamed and dangerous in the middle of the woods. When a big, brawny, long-haired man, who only speaks to her in Gaelic and calls himself Raife, simply picks her up and carries her off with him into the Scottish wild, Sibyl knows she's in trouble. When he takes her to a place no human has ever been, she knows she's gone over the edge. And when he, at last, marks her as his own, she discovers that only one wild heart can claim another.Note To Readers: This is the extended version with over 10K words of new material and a BONUS epilogue and preview of the SEQUEL.

    Crimson Kisses is a boxed set of ALL NEW short stories set in Zodiac Shifters, a collection of books with an astrological spin on love. From Aries to Virgo … discover all-new tales of paranormal romance and urban fantasy. Our world features New York Times, USA Today, and other bestselling authors. Warning: Crimson Kisses is all about the sexy Zodiac Shifters who rendezvous for a sexy Valentine’s Day Tryst. And ... it's our gift to you! This volume includes:> The Bonded by Melissa Thomas> A Dragon’s Heart by Dominique Eastwick> Love’s Magic by Crystal Dawn> My Dragon’s Love by P.T. Macias> Tara’s Unexpected Mates by McKayla Schutt> Priestess of Truth by Laura Greenwood> Star Kissed by C.D. Gorri

    Can the fallen ever be redeemed? Aurora’s mum is sick, and she’ll do anything to help her. Except she accidentally triggers the wrath of the terrifying Guardians who want her dead. Only the quick thinking of a sexy stranger saves her, but the price is high. She can never go home again.The Archangel Gabriel’s a mercenary for hire and if the price is right, he’ll do anything. Unless a treacherous human is involved. But he can’t let Aurora be taken. Now, she’s his responsibility. Problem is, he can’t get her out of his mind.On a mission to find a missing child, he can’t afford to be distracted. But Aurora’s touch is electrifying and the closer they get, the more he craves her. He’s pledged to keep her safe, but she doesn’t make things easy.As danger stalks them, a devastating secret threatens more than their lives. And with time running out to rescue the child, the only way to survive might be the one thing that tears them apart forever

    When her widowed dad uproots her to Seoul from her home in L.A., Jae thinks her biggest challenges will be fitting in to a new school and dealing with her dismissive Korean grandfather. Then she discovers that a Korean demi-god, Haemosu, has been stealing the soul of the oldest daughter of each generation in her family for centuries. And she's next.But that’s not Jae’s only problem.There's also Marc. Irresistible and charming, Marc threatens to break the barriers around Jae's heart. As the two grow closer, Jae must decide if she can trust him. But Marc has a secret of his own—one that could help Jae overturn the curse on her family for good. It turns out that Jae's been wrong about a lot of things: her grandfather is her greatest ally, even the tough girl can fall in love, and Korea might just be the home she's always been looking for.

    Adara wants love and passion, but knows she can't get them back home. When a raging storm halts her escape, Adara seeks refuge in the first dwelling she sees.Prince Richard is tired of the trite, vain, frigid princesses his mother introduces him to in hopes he'll marry. On this stormy night, he's in the mood to love a woman, but he's all alone. Then, Adara arrives on the castle doorstep, saying she's a princess in need of help. The queen is doubtful and decides to lock Adara in a room with a pea to determine if the girl is a real princess. Richard believes the beautiful, charming stranger, but he wants her locked in a bedroom for other reasons.When Richard and Adara hook up, there's more than a pea-sized bit of passion involved....

    Do not shut your eyes to the gifts with which the Gods have endowed you."☆Greek mythology,☆Cursed artefacts☆A connection that shatters the time barrier.☆A sassy, talking kittenI never believed in paranormal. Curses, enchantments, lucky amulets, evil spirits, angels, demons, Heaven, and Hell - all this meant nothing more than fantasies found between the covers of a book.What changed my mind? A new job at a museum.Getting used to the new place was at very least awkward, but life went back to normal-more or less.Things become genuinely complicated with the discovery of a very unlikely connection — me, from the present, and a young woman from the 19th-century named Leah. Capable of taking over her body when Leah agrees, l get to discover hidden lies, mistakes, and foolish ambitions, which if left alone can destroy the future.But, how can I face this situation when my own heart is about to get stolen by the surprising charm of the past?Only Time can tell...

    . .If one is to believe Bram Stoker’s legendary vampire tale, Lucy Weston is Dracula’s most wanton creation, a sexual creature of the night who preys on innocent boys. But the real-life Lucy is nothing like her fictional counterpart -- and she demands to know why the Victorian author deliberately lied. With Stoker’s reluctant help, she’s determined to track down the very fiend who transformed her -- from the sensual underworld where humans vie to become vampires, to a hidden cell beneath a temple to madness, and finally into the glittering Crystal Palace where death reigns supreme.Haunted by fragmentary memories of her lost life and love, Lucy must battle her thirst for blood as she struggles to stop a catastrophic war that will doom vampires and humans alike. Ultimately, she must make a choice that illuminates for her -- and for us -- what it means to be human.

    It is a place of contradictions—the bright lights mask the peeling paint; a carnie in greasy overalls slinks away from the direction of the Barker’s seductive call. It is a place of illusion—is that woman’s beard real? How can she live locked in that watery box?And while many are tricked by sleight of hand, there are hints of something truly magical going on. One must remain alert and learn quickly the unwritten rules of this dark show. To beat the carnival, one had better have either a whole lot of luck or a whole lot of guns—or maybe some magic of one’s own.Featuring stories grotesque and comical, outrageous and action-packed, Carniepunk is the first anthology to channel the energy and attitude of urban fantasy into the bizarre world of creaking machinery, twisted myths, and vivid new magic.RACHEL CAINE’s vampires aren’t child’s play, as a naïve teen discovers when her heart leads her far, far astray in “The Cold Girl.” With “Parlor Tricks,” JENNIFER ESTEP pits Gin Blanco, the Elemental Assassin, against the Wheel of Death and some dangerously creepy clowns. SEANAN McGUIRE narrates a poignant, ethereal tale of a mysterious carnival that returns to a dangerous town after twenty years in “Daughter of the Midway, the Mermaid, and the Open, Lonely Sea.” KEVIN HEARNE’s Iron Druid and his wisecracking Irish wolfhound discover in “The Demon Barker of Wheat Street” that the impossibly wholesome sounding Kansas Wheat Festival is actually not a healthy place to hang out. With an eerie, unpredictable twist, ROB THURMAN reveals the fate of a psychopath stalking two young carnies in “Painted Love.”

    The story is available for free on Karen Chance's website.

    I took what wasn’t mine.I paid my penance by dying in his stead.But it wasn’t enough to restore the Balance.When the Goddess gave me a chance to make things right, to serve as a soldier of the Pure Ones, I embraced that offer. Even though what I really wanted to do was stay dead and numb. Never to be reawakened in this world.Never to feel again. To yearn and desire and seethe with jealousy and despair at my own helplessness. The Goddess warned me at the moment of my death and rebirth not to want her again. For our paths would cross in the future, though I wouldn’t know the time and place. Nor would I recognize her physical incarnation. For she was never meant to be mine. Will never be mine.But the moment I realized who she was—the Pure Queen I’d been assigned to protect as the Paladin—the moment I recognized her soul, I Fell again.I wanted. I craved. I yearned. I seethed.I resisted.I pushed her away over and over again. Made her angry and confused.Made her hate me.But Goddess above! I cannot change how I feel. I cannot stop wanting her.Cannot stop loving her. All my existence, my body, heart and soul have belonged to one woman.Even though she can never be mine. I love her still.I love her forever.This is the beginning of the end of our story.Judge me if you dare.

    Through their shared love of books and music, they form a friendship that quickly develops into romance. Ichabod knows that as an itinerant schoolteacher of little social standing, he has nothing to offer the wealthy Katrina – unlike her childhood friend-turned-enemy, Brom Van Brunt, who is the suitor Katrina’s father favors.But when romance gives way to passion, Ichabod and Katrina embark on a secret love affair, sneaking away into the woods after dark to be together – all while praying they do not catch sight of Sleepy Hollow’s legendary Headless Horseman. That is, until All Hallows’s Eve, when Ichabod suddenly disappears, leaving Katrina alone and in a perilous position.Enlisting the help of her friend – and rumored witch – Charlotte Jansen, Katrina seeks the truth of Ichabod Crane’s disappearance, investigating the forest around Sleepy Hollow using unconventional – often magical – means. What they find forces Katrina to question everything she once knew, and to wonder if the Headless Horseman is perhaps more than just a story after all. In Alyssa Palombo's The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel nothing is as it seems, and love is a thing even death won't erase.

    Normally, he would eliminate someone in Gemma’s position to protect himself, but his feelings for Gemma won’t allow him to do that. She’s too important to him and he knows he has to save her without hurting her.But can he find a way to save her before someone gets hurt?

    But as the illegitimate daughter of the nymph king, she's stuck in the human world, exiled until she can earn a place in the royal family. Then her half-brother offers her a chance to prove herself. All she has to do is acquire some magic … by stealing it from the most dangerous spell weavers in the Underworld.Lyre prefers to go unnoticed, which is a tricky objective for an incubus. He can’t hide his looks or his coveted spell weaving skills, but he's learned to mask his true intentions. As an unwilling pawn of the tyrannical Hades family, he stays alive by keeping one step ahead of his masters.Now he's been assigned to watch over a visitor from the Overworld—one who's definitely hiding something. And with her unholy talent for triggering chaos and catastrophe, his job just keeps getting more perilous. Clearly, she'll never survive this world.The thing is, he's no longer sure he can survive it either.

    She's been keeping secrets her whole life. Two, actually. First, that she ages five times slower than average people, so that while she looks eighteen years old, she's well over eighty. Second, that her blood has a mysterious power to heal. For Elyse, these things don't make her special. They make life dangerous. After the death of her parents, she's been careful to keep her secret as closely guarded as possible. Now, only one other person in the world knows about her age and ability. Or so she thinks. Elyse is not the only one keeping secrets. There are others like her all over the world, descendants of the very people the Greeks considered gods. She is one of them, and they have been waiting for her for a long time. Some are waiting for her to put an end to centuries of traditions that have oppressed their people under the guise of safeguarding them. Others are determined to keep her from doing just that. But for Elyse, the game is just beginning-and she's not entirely willing to play by their rules.