How do you find your soul mate if you're born without a soul? Deva Rainsong is a chimera, a mixed breed of all four higher races, bred in a lab by the dragons' mortal enemy. She was meant to be a vessel to house the enemy's soul, but with the enemy dead in the recent war, Deva is left unclaimed - without a soul of her own and with a deep, cold longing for a love she doesn't think Fate will ever offer. Five men have captured Deva's heart, yet she refuses to entertain the thought of binding them to her. Even if she could unlock her ability to mark mates of her own, she has no soul to offer a potential soul mate. Love without a true soul mate can only be an empty affair, and surely Fate has other plans for all of her men that don't include a soulless girl like her. But when the six of them embark on a mission to uncover the secrets of a pack of rogue Fate hounds, Deva learns that Fate's reach is not boundless, and that she may have more...

When Nemea Jones wakes up naked and bruised, amidst the wreckage of an isolated cabin, she discovers that twelve hours of memories have been stolen from her. In their place, she has gained the ability to wreak havoc on the world with every flicker of emotion. The arrival of a dark, alluring stranger a few days later only threatens to fan those sparks into a raging inferno. She used to believe she was insignificant. Despite belonging to a portion of humanity interwoven with the essence of magical races, she has yet to touch her own magic and understand what it can do. This longing for truth compels her to accept this stranger's invitation and begin a perilous journey to unleash her dormant elemental power, convinced that something truly extraordinary slumbers within her. From the secluded, elite art institute nestled along the Puget Sound to the unfathomable abyss of Tartarus, Nemea relentlessly pursues power and enigmas she never imagined possible. Along the way,...

When men fail, our monsters will satisfy... A primal growl. The rustle of fur. Eerie eyes peer out from the darkness. There's no use resisting. They've been waiting, patient in their hunt. Now, they've come to corner you. Take you. Claim you. But beware... No man can compare to the savage love of a monster. Thirteen exceedingly sexy short romances that will give you goosebumps in all the right places. Reticent Desire Publications and the monster-loving readers' group, Monsters, Demons & Knotting, oh My! is thrilled to present this limited-edition anthology featuring steamy encounters with creatures both paranormal and alien. *PARTICIPATING AUTHORS* Ophelia Bell V.T. Bonds Jocelyn Montana Leslie Chase Godiva Glenn Leanna Ryans Elizabeth Austin Cassie Alexander Cara Wylde Layla...

Not even the king of Los Angeles's underground can stop me from loving Celeste. Arturo Flores could make me disappear with a snap of his fingers, and nearly did. Limping away from a beatdown when I was sixteen didn't change the fact that his daughter was worth the pain. Running into her in my tattoo shop twelve years later, she still makes my blood run hot with a glance. But I'm not that clueless teenage boy anymore. And Celeste isn't the only one I want. Leo is a temptation I crave, but in our world, admitting desires like mine could get me killed. The gangbanger is as ruthless as he is beautiful, yet he can't see anything beyond Celeste. That hurts like hell to admit, but I would sooner die at her crime lord father's hands than let either of them get hurt. I'm prepared to let them have each other when Leo comes to me with an offer. One that could connect the three of us in a way that flies in the face of the world we live in. His proposal...

Her reign will come at a price. Still reeling in the aftermath of sexual assault, Dr. Gwen Brennan struggles with feelings of powerlessness—until she joins the Whitewood Club's masquerade night. There she reigns supreme, and it is only by her grace that anyone is allowed to touch her. When a mysterious masked man steals her heart, she's left with a choice: does she take a chance on forging a new relationship, or does she retreat into the arms of her stalwart bodyguard? Can she have both? The Queen's Knights is the fifth novel in Ophelia Bell's kinky "Rebel Lust Taboo" series. It's a short, steamy read with an HEA, perfect for fans of Cherise Sinclair, Chelle Bliss, Jade West, Meghan March, Lynda Aicher, and Sawyer Bennett.

Thrust into a world beyond her understanding, Nemea Jones struggles to come to terms with her newfound powers of chaos. Believing she finally understands where she belongs, she gives into the inexorable desires to surrender to the monsters and gods alike who guard the depths of Tartarus. But when she learns that the place she hoped to call home is no more than a prison for her too, she begs the only guard who can leave the place to help her escape. With the threat of attack from four angry Titans looming, the pressure is on for the warden of Tartarus to find a way to beat them and return them to the prison. But his secret weapon is in the wind, stealing his heart in the process. It may require all his and his brothers' considerable power to find her and return her to the place she belongs by their side.

Three years ago, J.J. Santos, Jr. got himself killed—at least that's what it said on paper. The DEA resurrected me as Mason Black, forcing me to leave behind everyone I've ever card about, including an angel in blue scrubs I can't seem to get out of my head. Her name is Dr. Callie Nicolo, and when our paths cross again, I'm in more danger than ever before. But I'm not about to leave her behind this time. Not even if it compromises my identity and my mission. I'm the kind of man who wants it all. I'll find a way to pacify the warring cartels on my tail and make up for lost time with the woman of my dreams. Most importantly, I'll protect what's mine—the doc who saved my life in more ways than one, and the little girl waiting for me back in Mexico.

Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea... I never imagined myself as a pawn in a dangerous game between two crime lords. But that was before I discovered I'm secretly one of their daughters, and suddenly I'm not just a girl, but an asset in need of protecting. At least two of my new guard dogs are Ben and Baz, a pair of twins I grew up with—and wow, have they grown. Not only do they handle security for Drake Stavros—the sexy, haunted billionaire whose tower I'm forced to occupy for the duration of this cartel blood feud–but they've gotten hotter too, brooding sentinels covered in muscles and tattoos. Drake is supposed to be using his near-limitless resources to keep me safe, with the twins there to make sure he follows through. But I'm beginning to realize the danger I'm in isn't limited to the world outside as desires darker than my criminal bloodlines awaken within me, threatening to undo us all.

Dimitri and his twin brother, Alex, always led a charmed life. The inseparable twins were were good looking and smart. They grew up in an idyllic part of the world on the island of Crete. They studied hard together at university and graduated from a prestigious school with honors. But tragedy struck and Dimitri’s other half was wrenched from his life. After that Dimitri struggled to fill the emptiness his brother’s death left behind. He had girlfriends. He had boyfriends. But nothing ever clicked, so he focused on being an award-winning anthropologist just hoping to distract himself enough from his loss to eventually move on. Then the offer of a lifetime fell at his feet, an expedition the likes of which he’d never imagined and just outrageous enough to spark his interest. After a two-week trek through the Sumatran jungle, Dimitri’s wildest dreams are trumped by what he finds inside the dragon temple. Twin golden dragons await inside a dark chamber for him to awaken them. Will he be able to satisfy them both? All he knows when faced with the dilemma is that his sanity might just depend on it. 16k-word novelette including menage, voyeurism, anal sex, masturbation, and all kinds of other fun kinks involving shapeshifting mythical beasts who breathe magic smoke and have very long, prehensile tongues. Intended for mature audiences only.

Camille never believed she could capture the attention of the object of her desire, the gorgeous, irreverent geologist, Eben. Now she is over the moon with happiness at being adored not only by him, but the Dragon Guardian, Roka, who she awakened during the Ritual with her virgin blood. But when a black dragon, a Shadow named Rafe, shows up unannounced and in dire need of help, their perfect trio is forced to split. Without the Guardian’s balancing influence, Camille and Eben find themselves at odds over their new mission: rejoining Erika to help locate the lost fragment of the Verdanith, the magical artifact that will enhance dragon fertility and allow Camille to conceive Roka’s child. There are secrets being kept even among their close-knit group, and the only dragon Camille trusts to be honest with her is thousands of miles away on a separate secret mission. Even Eben’s uncharacteristic silence worries Camille, but she can’t seem to get through to him. Will she and Eben be able to overcome their differences and find their way back to the love they first shared? Will their idyllic trio be reunited after Roka completes his mission?

Gaia save the Queen…Emma Stonetree’s father is missing. Worse yet, her uncle’s gone too, leaving her and her two cousins, Jasper and Jade, floundering for an explanation.All Emma can think of are their fathers’ stories—tall tales of magic, mystery, and a whole host of shifter races. Stories she might not have believed, if not for her own research into the matter—research that hardly prepares her for the trials of magic she and her cousins will endure as they set off that Midwinter’s night to discover their roots.Nor does it prepare her for what she finds on the other side of the mystical portal her father disappeared into: the ursa, a fertility-focused race of bear shifters, with customs that defy her human sensibilities. Except she swiftly learns she isn’t really human either, and once inside the ursa Sanctuary, she is just as bound by their laws as the earth is bound by the seasons.Emma must make a choice: accept her legacy as the heir to the ursa matriarchy, accept the love she finds with a pair of fertile ursa males, or reject her passion and retreat to her safe, mundane life, never to return to the realm she was meant to inherit—and the men that come as a package deal. 

They say love is a battlefield... My family's ties to a certain set of crime lords are more tangled and volatile than the wires in an IED. They've called on me to disarm a situation ready to explode, but in spite of all my training, I'm not sure any of us are getting out of this unscathed. That's especially true when I find out the black-ops mission I've signed up for is commanded by none other than Sadie Watts, the girl who left me in the dust so many years ago I should be over it. But I'm not, and seeing her again, especially in such close quarters, is a distraction I can't afford. I know what I'm out here fighting for—my brothers; my sister; the USA—but as we close in on our target, I start to wonder if it's not her I'm fighting for too.

Fate doesn’t negotiate. Dragon law is on the verge of change, but Kris has other worries. All he wants is for his mate, Issa, to survive her difficult pregnancy. He’s lost patience with the Dragon Council to help. With the arrival of the Dragon Court and their mates comes hope. In the midst of a negotiation that will define the future of dragonkind, Kris finds salvation, but his saviors are on the verge of being banished. Two human mates step up and offer to help, and the pair are ambrosia to his pregnant mate. Issa might see her way through the pregnancy, but will the rest of their race see its way to freedom? The more the dragons learn, the more they realize that perhaps not even the immortal Dragon Council has a choice. Breath of Fate is the seventh episode in a series of novellas that include menage, voyeurism, and all kinds of other fun kinks involving shapeshifting mythical beasts who breathe magic smoke and have very long, prehensile tongues. It is intended for adult audiences.

A woman born on the wind... A Turul princess, Evie North has waited long enough for her "one true love" — a man she's stopped believing truly exists. She throws caution—literally—to the wind and decides to take matters into her own hands. She chooses a handsome stranger from a crowd and falls into bed with him, hoping love might find her in his arms. A human man drawn to powers beyond his comprehension... The only thing Marcus Calais knows is that he's likely to die in a pointless war but also honor-bound to run into battle. At least until he meets an angel named Evie in Central Park who incites stronger desires than he's ever had and whose songs drive him to levels of passion he never imagined. After just one night with the lovely, waifish beauty, he discovers he has so much more to live for. Will he sacrifice his principles to stay alive for her? The immortal dragon who owns both their souls... "Ked" is what his five...

Golden dragon, Aurik, wants the man he loves to find happiness, even if he can’t be with him when he finds it. He and his twin sister made a pact to share the human, Dimitri’s affection. But the enigmatic Dragon Council isn’t quite so content with the trio’s situation. When Aurik receives a decree that he find a female human mate or be treated like an Unbound and forced into servitude, he despairs of ever holding on to true happiness. He doesn’t want a human woman. He wants Dimitri, but Court dragons like Aurik are expected to procreate or lose their rank and forfeit whatever riches they own. Thea is still healing from the tragic loss of her lover, Alex, and the alienation of his twin brother Dimitri, who she also shared an intimate connection with. Finally close to rebuilding her life, her plans are thrown into chaos yet again when she receives an unexpected call from Dimitri. But he’s not calling to reconcile. He’s requesting her help with a mysterious research project he refuses to discuss except in person and promising that she will be well compensated. Resolving not to let their past ghosts interfere with the project, she agrees. She is unprepared when she meets Dimitri’s new lovers, a pair of twins whose beauty dazzles her, and whose allure entices her into a new and amazing world beyond her imagining. Except one of them seems oddly distant and unreceptive to her interest. The shadow of Alex’s death begins to fade as Thea learns to find happiness and pleasure again, but the one person she wishes she could find a deeper connection with retreats further with each passing day. Can she get through to Aurik before he resigns himself to exile?

Passion can be the ultimate sin… Jade Stonetree has spent her entire life in the shadows of her family. Now that they’ve found their true loves and true callings, Jade is left behind, wondering where she really belongs. All the other young ursa who are born inside the Sanctuary take a pilgrimage into the human world when they come of age, but Jade grew up Outside. She’s seen the human world. Lived in it for her entire life. So instead she recruits a pair of young ursa males to give her a tour of her new home, under the pretense of a camping trip. In truth, she’s taking her own personal pilgrimage to try to find herself. If only she could find a moment alone without her pair of attractive, solicitous traveling companions distracting her at every turn. But the solitude Jade steals away to is interrupted by magical and hormonal urges she isn’t prepared for, and which only a male of her own race can remedy. Without her companions she is beyond hope, until a pair of strong arms drags her from mortal peril and coaxes her through the ordeal. When she regains her senses, she is faced with a quandary of epic proportions: accept an infertile ursa male who’s stolen her heart with his selflessness, or give him up for the pair who can give her what every ursa female wishes for: a child? The Black Mountain Bears trilogy includes three books to be read in order: Book 1: Clawed Book 2: Bitten Book 3: Nailed Also look for four other great trilogy collaborations by Amelie Hunt: Winter Pass Wolves, with Vivian Wood Emerald Isle Tigers, with Cass Reynolds Sunset Glade Panthers, with Sennah Tate Arctic Station Bears, with Maeve Morrick

Read the Conclusion of Rafe and Rowan's story. Rowan’s fallen in love with a dragon, and it’s left her spinning. Her new lover belongs to a race she never even knew existed until Rafe came into her life. The worst part? She’s just discovered that she’s a dragon, too, her true identity magically hidden from her for her entire life by her unknown parents. Her entire life crashes down around her in the face of the knowledge that the lover who showed her who she was doesn’t really love her. On the run from the overwhelming discovery of her origins and the heartbreak of Rafe’s rejection, Rowan stretches her new wings to the point of self-destruction. She has to make a decision: rejoin humanity and reject her nature, or embrace her race and help them overcome a millennia-old set of laws. But none of that matters to her without Rafe’s love. Meanwhile, Rafe is destroying himself over the regret of not telling Rowan how he truly feels, but dragon law would not have allowed him to mate another dragon. He hunts the farthest reaches of the Earth to find her, hoping that she will agree to help their race, but longing even more to finally confess to her what’s truly in his heart. Breath of Flame and Shadow is the sixth episode in a series of novellas that include menage, voyeurism, and all kinds of other fun kinks involving shapeshifting mythical beasts who breathe magic smoke and have very long, prehensile tongues. It is intended for adult audiences.

Camille’s smart, bookish, and very shy demeanor has left her in the dust where men are concerned. But she loves her job as a linguist specializing in lost, ancient languages. When she gets chosen for an expedition into the far reaches of the Sumatran jungle the likes of which no one has attempted before, she jumps at the opportunity. Along the way, she becomes enamored of the geologist, a beautiful man named Eben, but is too shy to approach him and he seems to keep his distance. Something inside the dragon temple awakens a deeper part of her and soon she learns of the ritual to awaken a long-forgotten race of creatures the world hasn’t seen in thousands of years. Her research tells her she’s a key. A virgin sacrifice. But it doesn’t tell her what that means. The magic in the temple reveals only that the dragons must awaken for her to earn Eben’s attention. She sheds her inhibitions in one dark, heated moment to make it happen. What follows is pleasure beyond her wildest and dirtiest dreams. Note to readers: Tabula Rasa is an 11,000-word fantasy erotica short story. It is Book 2 in the Sleeping Dragons series and is intended for mature audiences.

What Corey Monaghan wants most is to live an honorable life and find a woman worthy of his love. In spite of heartbreak he never believed he’d recover from, he has finally found that woman: Racha Aris, the Queen of Dragons. But when his old love and the reason for his heartbreak walks back into his life again reigniting his old passion, he is terrified that he’ll lose the life he’s made with the Queen and jeopardize their plans to start a family. Will he be forced to accept an alternative that might sabotage his every desire? Or will he learn that he has room in his heart for two women? Publisher's Note: Breath of Memory is the second episode in a series of novellas that include menage, voyeurism, and all kinds of other fun kinks involving shapeshifting mythical beasts who breathe magic smoke and have very long, prehensile tongues. It is intended for adult audiences.

Born to a race of creatures that strictly polices its presence among humans, Kris possesses a gift only one dragon in each generation may possess – that of a human form that requires no magic to maintain. Only to Kris, his form is a curse because it means he has spent his life without the touch of another since he left his mother’s breast. Graced by his mother with the mark of his race and raised by a reclusive sect of monks, Kris learns his destiny, and the means to shed his affliction, lies within the slumbering depths of a long forgotten temple in the Sumatran jungle. To fulfill his destiny, he must lead a group of archaeologists there to awaken his brethren. Kris has been a patient observer during the ritual, watching while the dragons of the temple’s court gathered sexual energy from the humans. But finally his part of the ritual is at hand. His task is to receive that gathered power through the same means it was taken, and serve as the conduit through which that energy will awaken their Queen.

Lazaro desires a particularly kinky favor from his beautiful girlfriend, Celeste. She says no, not unless he goes first. Except what she has in mind is slightly out of his comfort zone. She knows the perfect man to encourage Lazaro to follow through—their tattoo artist friend, Maddox. Maddox has been secretly in love with Lazaro and Celeste ever since he met the attractive couple. When Lazaro makes an enticing proposition to fulfill his girlfriend's fantasies, Maddox knows better than to turn it down. Even one night of pleasure with them would be worth risking a lifetime alone, and Maddox has nothing to lose. Publisher's note: This is a 10,000 word short story with explicit content. It is intended for adult readers only.

What can awaken a sleeping dragon?

Corey has always led an honorable life. He’s worked hard, found success doing a job he enjoys. He longs for a partner—a woman who will be his match, who might love him as much as she challenges him. The last thing he ever expected was to wind up the consort of the Dragon Queen. Racha, the Queen of Dragons, is awake after five centuries, but her promised mate is reluctant to bed her, the last and most crucial step in the ritual to awaken the brood of dragons she rules. Will she be able to convince him before the magic consumes her?

A 3AM call is never good news, and for eighteen-year-old Britannia Vale, it’s the worst. The man who raised her is on the other end, relaying a tragedy that will tear her entire world apart. In the midst of grief, Britannia and Michael struggle to pick up the pieces, but the old pieces don’t quite fit together they way they used to. She's no longer the little girl Michael helped her mother raise. Michael is still her hero, but looks at her in a way that incites overwhelming desires for the only man who can keep her whole in the aftermath of her mother's death. What’s worse is that she might be the only person who can keep him whole, too. How far will Britannia and Michael go to help each other through their loss? Burying His Desires is a 7,500-word short story intended for adult audiences.

Hallie ran from her old life into the jungle and the arms of a dragon shifter named Kol. In the span of an evening spent fulfilling the ancient dragon ritual, she fell for the huge black dragon, his race’s First Shadow and largest dragon of his generation. Mated to the highest ranking dragon after the Queen has been both a challenge and the happiest time of her life, but what Hallie wants more than anything is to be able to conceive her lover’s child. She and Kol are so close to their hearts’ desire, they can both taste it, but when her ex-lover tracks her down and threatens to disrupt her happy life, Hallie fears she’ll lose everything. Breath of Love is the fifth episode in a series of novellas that include menage, voyeurism, and all kinds of other fun kinks involving shapeshifting mythical beasts who breathe magic smoke and have very long, prehensile tongues. It is intended for adult audiences.

Everyone has a little bit of darkness in them. Hallie’s denied her own inner demons for months, running whenever someone gets too close to illuminating things she’d rather keep hidden. On the run from her past yet again, she fakes some credentials to join an archaeology expedition to the Sumatran jungle that sounds like the perfect way to escape. Out of her depth, she struggles not to let her teammates know she’s not really one of them, but she learns the dragon temple they discover might provide answers to questions she'd been afraid to ask. The first night inside the temple she awakens to an invisible presence bringing her to heights of pleasure she’s never known before. He then disappears into the darkness without a word. She chases a shadow that might just be a hallucination, but pleasure like that can’t be all in her head. When she finds her shadow man, she also comes face to face with her own darkness. She is forced to reconcile her past in order to embrace the person who will finally give her a reason to stop running.

Fate and Desire make strange bedfellows…Jasper Stonetree used to think he knew what he wanted, but meeting the beautiful pair of ursa who just saved his life changes everything. Autumn Sundance and Gunnar Windchaser have him twisted so tight he can’t think straight. He’s actually considering falling for them, which is completely out of his character—romantic entanglements only lead to pain, after all. He knows that better than anyone.Except Autumn, whose pain is so palpable Jasper can almost taste it. She alone understands the danger in loving too fiercely, and she has paid the price—a devastating tax that has come back to haunt her.To save her, Jasper must accept the truth of what he is. He is an ursa male, and one of two chosen to be the future mate of a high-ranking female.And that female is in trouble.On the chase to find the missing piece of his incomplete soul, Jasper is forced to make a choice. Leave behind his true family—his blood—or take a step there will be no retreat from to rescue the woman he loves, and forge a new family outside the ursa Sanctuary.