Uraya is desperate to live in peace. Having finally escaped the queen of the south, her goal is to vanish, to leave the war in the Twin Realms and start a new life.
But to get her freedom she must work with the most intolerable dragonlord across the Realms.
Known for reducing women into simpering worshipers, Sethorn ruins the lives of any woman he desires.
Uraya refuses to be his plaything…
And her defiance fuels his intense captivation with her.
In an effort to maintain her quest for serenity, Uraya is forced to bargain with him, but Sethorn rouses a sinful craving that only he can control.
Primal attraction erupts into savage, carnal hunger.
When the queen complicates their mission, Uraya realizes she is on the brink of losing not just the peace she has always dreamed of but herself.
And if she doesn’t evade Sethorn’s obsessive claim on her, he will drag her to a fate of his choosing.
The moment she walked into the room, the alpha’s eyes tracked down her body, and Uraya resisted the urge to pull her robes tighter. Maybe what she was wearing wasn’t the best choice of attire to meet him in. “How may I help you, dragorai?”
His smirk disappeared. “That is not how you will address me.”
“It is the middle of the night.” She forced her voice to remain level. “If you wish me to address you appropriately, maybe you should visit at a more appropriate time of the day.”
Sethorn said nothing for a long moment. “Gather your things. We are leaving for my lair.”
Shock jolted through Uraya’s body. “What are you talking about?”
“You are aware that we have been tasked with working together on this ridiculous mission you have insisted on. In order for us to do that, you need to be in my lair.”
“I do not.”
Sethorn lifted his chin, looking down on her through narrow eyes. “Then how do you hope for us to be successful? You do not have any means of getting to my territory frequently enough.”
Uraya shook her head. “Why can’t you come here to work? There is enough space and I will make myself available at any time.”
“I will not keep breaching my brother’s territory simply to work on something that benefits you alone. If you wish for us to carry out this mission quickly and efficiently, you need to be based in my lair. No further discussion.”
Her heart thudded as she glared at him, holding back all the things she wanted to scream in his face. He wasn’t saying this to help her, he simply wanted her in his lair, like he’d insisted from the first time they’d met.
Sethorn stepped closer, his hazel eyes trained on her, and within the depths of the fiery annoyance in his gaze was something that terrified her—a gleam of amusement. His smirk returned. “I can promise you, you will be treated in my lair exactly as you would expect.”
A surge of anger flared in Uraya’s chest. “Respectfully, I decline,” she replied tightly. Turning on her heel, she walked out of the room.
As soon as she was out in the corridor, she exhaled heavily and headed back to her room. How dare he turn up in the middle of the night insisting she go to his lair. He must think she—
Her breath was knocked out of her as something clamped around her stomach and hoisted her into the air. Yelping, Uraya tried to fight against it, but her arms were locked by her sides, and instinctively she recognized the thick arm wrapped around her.
“Put me down!” Uraya struggled against his hold, but it was firm, with no room to squeeze or slip out of his grip.
“Quiet.” Sethorn strode down the corridor. “We do not have time for this. We need to start working tomorrow and for that you need to be in my lair. You do not have a say.”
He fixed her in such a manner that she slightly flopped over his arm like a sack of potatoes. Furious, Uraya abandoned all attempts to remain calm. She fought him as best she could with her arms locked down by her sides while screaming for him to release her. Her voice echoed off the stone walls of the corridor. Surely someone had to hear her? Sethorn hoisted her up higher. “Keep screaming, little foe,” he murmured. “It is good practice for you.”
Zoey Ellis writes dark, magical, fantasy romances about tortured, possessive, alpha anti-heroes and the sassy heroines who belong to them (even if they don’t want to!). Filled with passionate, carnal steam, Zoey’s stories feature couples that go through tough journeys and make mistakes but ultimately have to grow for each other to survive the dark worlds they inhabit.
Described as ‘deliciously dark’ and ‘unputdownable’, Zoey’s thrilling, fantastical romances come complete with roller-coaster twists and turns, unique worlds, and happy endings.
Zoey is a Londoner, cat mama, and proud romance and epic fantasy addict. She loves jealous/possessive heroes, sexual tension that jumps off the page, and memorable, magical worlds. She reads most genres of romance and has a special love for the ‘true mates’ trope and dark angst. However, she enjoys all different genres of fiction, usually on the darker side.
When not working on her stories, Zoey is usually gaming, buddying reading with friends or stumbling upon new and ridiculous ways to mess up a date!
Title: TEMPEST Author: Ketley Allison Genre: Dark Contemporary Romance
I shouldn’t want her. I shouldn’t crave her.
She’s not safe — especially not from me.
I know the trouble that comes with people running from the shadows. I know the danger of getting involved with those who deal in secrets. I make those problems go away.
Hitman. Fixer. Whatever.
The biggest mistake I made was choosing to keep my little sister and her best friend, Ardyn Kaine, safe after their friend was murdered.
Ardyn is quiet, soft, and fragile. She spends her evenings studying in her dorm’s common room at the historic Titan Falls University — near where they once burned witches. They say the walls of TFU can talk, but I don’t believe in things I can’t see.
All the blood is on my hands, but Ardyn is the only thing that keeps me up at night.
She might hate me.
But I hate her more for the lies I have to tell.
One thing I know for certain — Ardyn isn’t safe from me.
I’m used to operating in Mila’s shadow. Come to think of it, Clover’s, too. But there’s something about this guy that makes his dismissal hard to swallow. Probably because I don’t even get that much from him. I’m less than a ghost, not even requiring the close inspection of a mite on his bedspread. Since I was nine, I’ve been trained to be invisible. I was able to accept it until I met him. A gorgeous, witty, charismatic boy who made friends with everybody and had every single girl he came across becoming stupid for him. Including me. I was obsessed with watching him, amazed at his easy confidence and a little light-headed every time he unleashed a smile. Never at me, since I was usually hiding somewhere in the shadows stalking him, but always nearby.
And I hate myself for it.
A black car rolls up to the curb, anything but covert. Due to Barry’s love of cars, I’m able to immediately tag this one as a Lyken Hypersport. Rare, only 7 in the world, and of course this dude owns one of them.
The tinted passenger window rolls down, taking my bedraggled reflection with it.
In its place is a silhouette who melts out of the luxury interior’s shadows, his angles cutting through the dark as seamlessly as sharpened weapons.
I gulp.
Yes, for nine years I was able to accept being invisible. Until I met Tempest Callahan.
Author of Romantic Suspense, New Adult and mature Young Adult novels.
Ketley Allison has always been a romantic at heart. That passion ignited when she realized she could put those dreams into words and her soul into characters. Ketley was born in Canada, moved to Australia when she was thirteen, to California when she was twenty, and finally to New York to attend law school, but most of that time was spent sitting in coffee shops and wine bars thinking of her next book. Her other passions include coffee, wine, Big Macs, her cat, and her husband, possibly in that order
Is he the answer to her troubles or an intoxicating illusion that could turn deadly?
Single mom Olivia Burkhart struggles to rebuild her life after the murder of her fiancé, Brent Allen, a deputy on Honeysuckle Island. She vows to never get involved with another cop, and then Flynn Yates enters her life with his playful smile and penetrating blue eyes.
As Olivia tries to come to terms with her feelings for Flynn, life delivers some hard blows that resurface her fears with a vengeance.
Then fate gives her the chance to work six weeks at an exclusive art gallery in charming and quaint Carmel, California by the sea.
When Olivia catches the eye of world-renown artist Xavier Kipling, a brooding and handsome widower, she finds herself drawn into a sophisticated world of wealth beyond anything she’d ever imagined.
A strange painting gives way to unsettling events, making Olivia question if her aching heart can discern between illusion and reality.
Is the Kipling mansion an idyllic haven, or a hiding place for deadly secrets?
As he stepped up, Olivia rolled down the window and placed both hands on the steering wheel as Brent had taught her to do. The officer removed his sunglasses and tucked them into his shirt pocket. Olivia jerked, taken aback by the vividness of his deep blue eyes. A tidal wave of heat gushed over her cheeks as she took in his rugged features. She was mortified at the attraction that pinged through her. Why did he have to be so dang good-looking? And why did he have to exude such a bad-boy, reckless vibe that called to her inner soul? It didn’t hurt that he filled out his cop uniform well with his cut biceps and masculine forearms. Great gravity, he was nice to look at.
His gaze lingered on her a moment too long, and then he seemed to catch himself. “Good afternoon,” he began in a brisk tone. “May I see your license and registration?”
It happened again. Their eyes connected, sending all rational thoughts flying out the window. When a tiny smile tugged at a corner of the officer’s mouth, Olivia found herself grinning back like a goober.
His quirk of amusement gave her the jolt she needed to return to her senses. Good grief, she was acting like a moonstruck idiot! She’d always been a sucker for cops. Add in his stunning good looks and sense of arrogance, and she was a goner for sure.
“Your license and registration,” he prompted
She snapped out of her daze. No way could she get involved with another cop. Hadn’t she had enough heartache over Brent to last her a lifetime? Danger followed cops, or rather cops followed danger. She owed it to Ryan and to herself to find a guy who had a stable, predictable job.
What the freaky Frankenstein was she thinking! Here she was contemplating a future … or squelching any chance of a future with some guy who probably wasn’t remotely interested in her. He was simply doing his job. The eye-locking thing was probably a figment of her imagination—proof that she was in desperate need of a good night’s sleep. She was getting twitter-pated over nothing. Was the guy even single? She glanced at his ring finger and felt a curious blip of relief when she saw the naked strip of skin over that all-important finger. Of course, just because he wasn’t wearing a ring didn’t mean that he wasn’t involved with someone.
“Uh, sure,” she stammered as she turned to find her purse. She glanced down at the floorboard and Arden’s feet only to realize that her purse was in the back seat. She was twisting around to get it when Arden caught hold of her arm.
“I’ve got this.” Arden’s voice rang out both confident and indignant.
Crumb! Arden was about to get on her high horse. This was bound to end poorly.
“Officer, do you have any idea who this is?” She looked at Olivia as she spoke.
He raised an eyebrow in faint amusement. “A woman who was speeding in a school zone,” he quipped dryly.
Olivia’s jaw dropped. “I was not speeding! I slowed down.”
He didn’t back down in the slightest. “When you saw my car. And for the record, you didn’t slow down soon enough.”
“I never saw your car.” Anger blanketed her, hot and furious. “I slowed down the instant I saw the sign. That sign should be displayed more prominently,” she added defensively.
He smirked. “If it had been a snake, it would’ve bitten you. License and registration,” he demanded, looking her in the eye.
It went through Olivia’s mind that the guy was a jerk. She should be outraged about the snake wisecrack. But right now, she couldn’t think straight. She was feeling things she never thought she’d feel again—the stir of ribbons through her stomach, the flush of warmth over her skin, the heady sizzle of energy pulsing through her like a fireball.
“Fine,” she spouted as she turned to get her purse. Placing it in her lap, she reached for her wallet and slid out her license. As she handed it over, her hand brushed against the cop’s, rustling awareness through her. Okay, this idiotic attraction was out of control. She turned to Arden, her discomfort spewing out in irritation. “Don’t just sit there like a ninny. Get the registration out of the glovebox.”
Jennifer Youngblood is a USA Today Bestselling Author of clean romance, sweet romance, romantic comedy, and romantic suspense novels. For as long as she could remember, Jennifer has wanted to be an author. In those rare moments when she’s not dreaming up another story, Jennifer loves cooking, spending time with family, and occasionally breaking away from her hectic life to take spontaneous trips to exotic and sometimes not so exotic locations. She couldn’t survive in a world without chocolate, good books, family, and friends.
