Faith fled her compound one wintry night with four other genetically modified women. Glory, Honor, Charity, and Hope have all found men who adore them. Faith is happy for her sisters, but it's lonely on her own. A man piqued her interest, but she ran the probabilities, and the odds of him ever being interested in her are thin. Tough and forbidding, Reginald was a field surgeon in the Middle East. He eats and breathes medicine. Besides, he's married to the CIA. No wives in his past. Faith hacked into the personnel database to check.Reginald Thomas agreed to run the CIA's infirmary after a bullet nailed him in Afghanistan. He's one of a handful of scientists who produced the original batches of genetically modified humans, and he's laid low since their rebellion. The catastrophe rankles, but he hasn't given up finding a fix for their genome problems.A permanent bachelor for a host of feeble reasons, he's substituted immersion in medicine and science for a personal life. Easier that way. And a whole lot cleaner. The status quo might be sterile, but at least it's trouble free. When Faith catches his eye, he fights his attraction to her, but it's a losing battle. Loving her fulfills him, and he can't walk away. What will happen if she discovers he helped create those like her? In a radical departure from his normal forthright manner, he buries that fact deep. If she never finds out, it can't ever come back to bite him.
Gone. Everything. In one fell swoop. Maybe it didn't happen quite that fast, but it sure seemed like it.I remember everything like it was yesterday. Or, more accurately, I couldn't forget even if I tried. And I have, tried that is. With every fiber of my being. But the damned tape reel has an automatic replay button, and it blasts through my brain over and over again.I was just nineteen then. One very long year ago. I'd finished my first year at university and was on vacation between semesters. We were in Mexico at a sorcery retreat when our phones beeped and screamed warning of impending doom. Details didn't emerge for a long while, but our relative isolation in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains saved us from immediate annihilation.We should have remained there, but hindsight is always twenty-twenty.In an ill-conceived attempt to escape, we finally gave up navigating clogged roads, left our bus, and teleported back to the States. I'm not sure if that was the beginning because it felt like the end of everything I've ever known.Survival has reduced me to someone I barely recognize. Some days, I wonder why I bother, but then I pick up the banner and face another day. Better not to think too hard or pick reality apart. If I did, I'd loose my power and burn down the world.
Cancer is a bitch of a disease. Every single person who's lived through being diagnosed and treated is a hero. There are a lot of cancer books out there. What's different about this one?Maybe nothing. Maybe a lot. I'm a psychologist by trade. About fifteen years back, I started writing novels. Unfortunately, there's not a scrap of fiction in Alive. There are also no dragons, unicorns, or magical worlds. This book was tough to write. In places, it will be equally tough to read. In addition to my personal saga, it includes stories from other brave souls who volunteered to be part of this project. There are also chapters about the etiology of cancer, cancer as big business in America (and elsewhere), avoiding scams, and integrative oncology.Like most, I started my cancer journey believing the MDs had my best interests at heart. A few did, but to so many others I was nothing but a number, a statistic, many steps removed from a human being.My hope for Alive is it will empower others to stand up for themselves, to ask questions, to do their own research. Ultimately, everyone's life is precious and worth the effort of self-advocacy.
Magic runs strong in me, but power isn't enough.Actually, these days nothing is enough. I've done a fine job alienating everyone who ever cared about me, from the witches in my Coven to the man I love to my wolfie familiar. Mother's familiar left, winging a path to Faery. My wolf made it abundantly clear he'd have gone with her except the familiar bond doesn't allow that level of latitude.He howled up a storm about being stuck with me, and then quit talking.Meanwhile, the babe growing within me is equally silent. He misses Damien's soothing voice, mandolin, and Fae love. I'm under a geas to return my son to Faery the second he's born. Ha! They'll have to find me first. No power words in the universe will make me relinquish my boy.Hecate still rattles around in my mind. I'm done with her. If I hadn't allowed her in, I'd still be in Faery with Damien's arms around me.Woulda. Coulda. Shoulda. Talk is cheap.Pregnant. Nowhere to call home. No money. Nothing but my magic. Somehow, it will have to carry us through.
I'm one of the old ones. I've lived many lives, done many things. I've been called sorceress, witch, and far worse. Mortals have hung me, burned me, staked me out, and left me to die. What a pack of fools. I'm immortal, and their petty attempts were laughable.So were they when I stopped their puny, pathetic hearts. The thrill of ending someone never gets old, no matter how unbalanced the contest.When I want a break from everything, Dorcha-my bondmate-and I bide with the Circle of Assassins. I never mean to stay long, but the years have a way of slipping by.While I find peace within the Circle, Dorcha becomes restive. She never used to mind being the only unicorn, but she's grown silent, withdrawn. The place within me where I feel her energy is often empty.We need a nice juicy assignment to get things back on track, a mission worthy of our skill. Excited by the prospect of free-flowing blood and the crusty stench of battle, I searched for her, but she was gone.Worse than gone, my link with her was buried beneath layers of unicorn enchantment. Could I find her? Sure, but she didn't wish to be found.
The only constant in my long life is murder. Assassin for hire, to put a finer point on it.I''m an earth wizard. Usually, we''re on the peaceful side. Not sure what happened to me, but I never fit in with my kinsmen. They''d have chased me out of the fold-for obvious reasons-but I saved them the trouble. I left on my own. The same way I left the Circle of Assassins because it was too tame for my taste. Or maybe too structured.Along with my bondmate, an oversized eagle, I''ve been playing fast and loose with the rules forever. Of course, the rules have changed, but I''ve rolled with the punches. Never found a policy I couldn''t manipulate to my advantage.There''s an old saying about life coming full circle. It''s about to snatch me up and spit me out. I can run, but there''s nowhere far enough to hide from what I am or the Circle of Assassins.My first home.My first nemesis.Grigori said I''d be back. How in the hell could he have known?
NEW EDITION WITH NEW STORIES!Here's a roadmap to Edge of Night. Welcome to an eclectic collection of horror and paranormal short stories.~~~~~~~~~It takes guts to read the stuff woven into nightmares.It's a tough job, but you're up to it.Welcome to my world. A world where magic holds court and the dude next door just might be a demon. Or a shifter. Or an alien.You've done time at the edge of night. Nail-biting, stomach-churning time filled with hissing snarls, menacing growls, the whoosh of unnatural wings, and the flash of hellfire. Time that lasts forever but is over within seconds because it becomes unpredictable in places like that. You don't want to stay, but it's too fascinating-in a grisly, macabre, toe-curling kind of way-to turn your back on. You recognize it, though. The place just at the threshold of darkness where it's not quite safe anymore. Evil broke its bounds at the edge of night, or maybe it always ran free and we've been deluding ourselves all along.Join me for an even dozen supernatural tales. Monsters, demons, gods-fallen and otherwise-ghosts, aliens. A touch of science fiction. More than a splash of romance. From magical lands to a chilling glance into the past, Edge of Night has something to tempt everyone.Everyone who doesn't mind sleeping with the lights on...
Sparks igniteFlames turn hotScorching hotBut what would you expect from two dragons?Zachary Marston, dragon shifter, hasn’t done a whole lot of shifting lately. Nope, he spends his time buried in law books as he presides over Superior Court in Denver. He’s convinced himself things are great, but his dragon has other ideas. His bondmate is a tough adversary. After it threatens to abandon him, Zachary gives in and agrees to a meeting with a few other shifters. Maybe he can help out—before returning to his cushy courtroom. Chloe’s always longed for a bondmate of her own. After her twin brother links with a lion, she ups the ante, casting every spell she can think of, but none of them work. Even the smoking-hot dragon shifter who crosses her path can’t ease the sting of remaining mateless. Vampires are gaining strength, draining mage magic to augment their own. Shifters and mages—the good ones—have to mobilize fast. Libra to his bones, Zachary slings words Chloe’s way, but she’s a Leo and not intimidated by anyone. They’re an unlikely pairing, but destiny won’t be denied. Like it or not, a shifter’s mate is in the stars.
An exiled dragon shifter.A restless witch.A wild, unruly spell.What could possibly go wrong?Nothing ever happens in sleepy little Stillwater, California, which was exactly why Liam settled there. What better spot to avoid discovery? Banished by his dragon-shifter kinsmen for sexual improprieties, his sentence has ten years to go. The only snag is he has to find a mate before he can return to Xara, the dragons’ home world.Aisha has a problem. She’s stuck tending a herd of Arabians, and she’ll be there forever if she doesn’t produce another witch to take over. To do that, she needs a man. No one permanent. Just someone to grace her bed long enough to get her pregnant.Intent on fulfilling her obligation to the Colewright witches, Aisha casts a love charm aimed right at Liam. She has no idea what he is—or that his magic overshadows hers by a country mile—and her spell backfires. Badly. She’s picking up the pieces, determined to move past the humiliation, but another spell snaps her up right alongside Liam.Impossible to ignore, hot, sweet, and urgent, Heart’s Desire snares them both.
Release date: August 14, 2018A newly-minted cave lion shifter + an eagle shifter who's lived long enough to know better = irresistible allureStrong and self-assured, Jeremiah is the closest thing his mage kinfolk have to an alpha. He takes his responsibilities seriously, which hasn't left time for much of anything, and it's about to get worse. Mages are in trouble. A few signed on with vampires, causing human deaths. Because of them, all mages are being smeared with the traitor brush.Renee's eagle bondmate jerks her awake one night with the terse message a cave lion, one of the most ancient of the animals, has bonded. According to the bird, they have to drop everything and go to Colorado. Reluctant to weave the fabric of lies she'll need to cover her absence, she finally gives in.She's horrified to discover the lion bonded with a man who used to be a mage. A mage. The rogues who joined up with vampires. She wants to hate Jeremiah, but it's a tough sell. Not only is he gorgeous, he's smart and kind and funny. None of it matters, though, because he doesn't like her, either.Are the hurdles too high? Or is a shifter's mate truly in the stars?
Niall's nothing if not charming with his Irish brogue and dashing good looks. Jaguar shifter and player to the core, he's a love 'em and leave 'em type. His job as a paramedic keeps him busy and offers under-the-table opportunities to splash a wee bit of magic around.In a world where magic is all but invisible, Sarai and her family fly beneath the radar living on a small ranch outside Denver. She only takes her wolf form on the darkest nights when discovery is unlikely. Captured by a vampire consortium hellbent on world domination, she watches with horror as they siphon her power, diverting it to kill humans for sport.An unnatural fog causes a ten-car pileup. Niall nearly chokes on the thick, malevolent power hanging around the accident site. Anger running just below boiling point, he takes his jaguar form and follows a scent track, making a discovery that changes everything. For once, he curses his curiosity and wishes he'd left well enough alone. Vampires are rising. Fueled by shifter magic, their evil threatens not just him but magic's very existence.
A runaway spell is the most dangerous weapon of all.Alpha for the few remaining Sea Shifters, Leif's been playing fast and loose with death for years. Plagued by a poisoned ocean, treacherous sea gods, illness, and bad bargains, he's learned to roll with the punches. Setting ancient antagonism aside, he joined a group of land Shifters, pledging both his help and that of his pod.A vulture shifter, Moira embraces her life on Arkady, a small polar cruise ship. She faces problems-ones that may kill all of them-but at least she's free. No more sneaking around hiding from Vampires and not having enough magic to shift, courtesy of short rations and toxic air.Leif yearns for Moira, but Sea Shifters don't mate with their land cousins-ever. Besides, they have their hands more than full. Not only is there no time for love, there's barely space to breathe as they wend their way through a volatile obstacle field littered with demons, hostile gods, and ancient horrors bent on their destruction.
A woman running from her magic.A man who's given up.Mutant culture colonies.A doomed ship.After violent, out of control magic killed her sister and drove her father mad, Kayna Quan ran as far and as fast as she could from the mixture of Chinese and Celtic power boiling through her blood. Fresh out of residency, she opts for a tour in Antarctica. Money is short, so she hires on as medical officer aboard a Russian research vessel headed for McMurdo Station.Brynn McMichaels' stint on remote South Georgia Island is a fancy, probably overplayed, escape from a crappy breakup. He may have left an irate woman behind, but he could have picked somewhere closer to get away.When cultures of the single-celled organism, archaea, begin shifting into another form, overgrowing the bins in his lab, he's convinced the isolation got to him until a call from an old buddy at McMurdo reveals a similar phenomenon. Intrigued, Brynn agrees to lend a hand. The weather's too uncertain to send a plane, so he hitches a ride aboard Kayna's ship, bringing his mutant culture colonies with him.And that's only the beginning…
One of three remaining demon assassin witches, Colleen is almost the last of her kind. Along with her familiar, a changeling spirit, she was hoping for a few months of quiet, running a small magicians' supply store in Fairbanks, Alaska. Peace isn't in the cards, though. Demons are raising hell in Seattle. She's on her way to kick some serious demon ass, when a Sidhe shows up and demands she accompany him to England to quell a demon uprising.The Sidhe might be the best-looking man Colleen's ever stumbled over, but she doesn't have time for him-or much of anything else. She, Jenna, and Roz are Earth's only hedge against being overrun by Hell's minions. Even with help from a powerful magic wielder like the Sidhe, the odds aren't good and the demons know it.Sensing victory is within their grasp, they close in for the kill.
Pioneer your own journey.Part guidebook, part self-help manual, Grit is a 4-Letter Word covers mental preparedness for living with only the gear on your back and a nimble mind. But it isn't a "how to" set of instructions, mostly because there are as many ways of enjoying the wilderness as there are backcountry travelers.The beauty of wilderness travel is discovering what works for you.Ann Gimpel is a clinical psychologist. She's also a mountaineer and a vagabond. The wilderness has played a huge role in her life.Stories speak to us at a bone-deep level, so this book is packed full of stories from the author as well as others. Read them with an open heart. It's how they were written.Appendices covering gear and backcountry kitchen ideas have been added, along with a resource guide, but this is only a starting point.Read. Absorb. Ask questions. Live your dreams.
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