*Arcana* means *secrets*, and these Arcana Chronicles short stories from #1 *New York Times* bestselling author Kresley Cole are filled with them. Experience firsthand the beginning of the end and behold the apocalypse through the eyes of characters you only *thought* you knew. **Ashes to ashes . . .** Evie Greene’s story of the Flash is just one of many. All over the world, those connected in some way to the lethal Arcana game—like Death, Jack, and Fortune—must first survive a horrifying night of blood and screams. **We all fall down.** Some will have to grapple with new powers; all will be damned to a hellish new existence of plague, brutality, desolation, and cannibalism. Find out who they lost, why they endure, and what they sacrificed in order to live past Day Zero. . . .

Charlotte Arkendale knew all there was to know about men. After all, she'd made a career out of steering marriage-minded women away from untrustworthy members of the opposite sex. Yet nothing could have prepared her for Baxter St. Ives--an arresting stranger too daring, too determined, too dangerous to be her new man-of-affairs. Still, perhaps he was the perfect person to help Charlotte investigate the recent murder of one of her clients. So she gave him a chance, never realizing that Baxter, a gifted scientist, would soon conduct a risky exploration into the alchemy of desire, with Charlotte as his subject. But even as he sets out to seduce Charlotte, a twisted killer lies in wait, ready to part the lovers...or see them joined together forever--in death. From the Paperback edition.

A powerful alpha wolf. A gifted witch. Each haunted by death. Can passion drive them to an everlasting love? Or will the enemy forge a hopeless chasm? The Graveyard was not the place Mark Braden thought he’d breathe his last. He was sure he’d die in the pine forest of Savage Territory, chasing a drug-runner and getting hit by a spray of bullets. Instead, he’d been ambushed… ~ A Touch of Flame, A Paranormal Romance About A TOUCH OF FLAME: Braden should have died in the Graveyard, but the witch, Maeve, saved him. The call of his wolf is on him and he wants her. She can be his alpha-mate. But she has powers that can destroy him and a disrupted memory that holds the answers to his wife’s murder. Can he ever trust a woman who can kill with the power she streams from her bare hands? Maeve has known only horror, death and destruction since her arrival in Five Bridges as a transformed alter witch. She goes to the Graveyard nightly to rescue those left for dead by the evil rampant in all five territories of her new world. She fears the power she possesses and the gaps in her memory frighten her more than anything else. But when she rescues Braden from an attack in the Graveyard, and she realizes she’s drawn to the handsome wolf, the nightmare really begins. A TOUCH OF FLAME, A Paranormal Romance, is a passionate, tender, standalone romance set in the Flame Series and the world of Five Bridges. About the Author: Caris Roane is the New York Times bestselling author of thirty-nine paranormal romances. She loves her desert garden, especially the birds and lizards who like to hang out. But she encourages the scorpions to inhabit elsewhere! Caris’s motto: Live the fang! Do you love giveaways? Caris offers lots of goodies to her newsletter subscribers. Be sure to sign up for her mailing list by going to her website homepage. Just copy and paste this link into your browser: http://bit.ly/1JCmHAK So, are you ready for some steamy wolf-and-witch love? Just scroll back up and grab a copy of A TOUCH OF FLAME today!

What if the life you wanted, and the woman you fell in love with, belonged to someone else? Chris and Claire Canton’s marriage is on life support. Downsized during the recession and out of work for a year, Chris copes by retreating to a dark place where no one can reach him, not even Claire. When he’s offered a position that will keep him away from home four nights a week, he dismisses Claire’s concern that time apart could be the one thing their fragile union can’t weather. Their suburban life may look idyllic on the outside, but Claire has never felt so disconnected from Chris, or so lonely. Local police officer Daniel Rush used to have it all, but now he goes home to an empty house every night. He pulls Claire over during a routine traffic stop, and they run into each other again at the 4th of July parade. When Claire is hired to do some graphic design work for the police department, her friendship with Daniel grows, and soon they’re spending hours together. Claire loves the way Daniel makes her feel, and the way his face lights up when she walks into the room. Daniel knows that Claire’s marital status means their relationship will never be anything other than platonic. But it doesn’t take long before Claire and Daniel are in way over their heads, and skating close to the line that Claire has sworn she’ll never cross.

Physicist Portia Harding’s life is grounded in facts. There’s nothing that can’t be explained by logic and science. Until she travels with her best friend to England—and accidentally summons an ethereal Virtue who bequeaths her gift of weather control to Portia… Now Portia’s walking around with a literal cloud over her head—and a heartstoppingly handsome maniac trying to kidnap her. But Theondre North is no run-of-the-mill maniac. He’s a nephilim—the son of a fallen angel—who needs Portia’s help to change his fate. Problem is, Portia’s down-to-earth attitude frustrates beings from both heavenly and hellish realms—and gets Theo turned into a vampire. But at least he has Portia to satisfy his newfound hungers—and possibly save his soul…

The year is 1777. As the brooding mists of war settle over a stark American battlefield, Captain Ritcherd Buchanan yearns for his native England—and for Kyrah Payne, the woman he loves. Wounded and disheartened, he eventually returns home, only to have Kyrah torn cruelly away from him and deported for a crime she didn’t commit. An exceptional love story by bestselling author Anita Stansfield.The year is 1777. As the brooding mists of war settle over a stark American battlefield, Captain Ritcherd Buchanan yearns for his native England—and for Kyrah Payne, the woman he loves. Wounded and disheartened, he eventually returns home, only to have Kyrah torn cruelly away from him and deported for a crime she didn’t commit. Desperate to bring her home, he joins a band of privateers and finds himself embracing the American patriot cause—a cause he’d once sworn to defeat.All alone in a country at war, Kyrah becomes a victim of the breach between her own impoverished circumstances and the aristocratic upbringing of the man she loves. They had been best friends and confidants for more than half her life, but now she wonders if Ritcherd will ever be able to find her—or if he’ll even try. And she fears that the chasm between their worlds can never be bridged.A powerful and deeply moving saga, its intricate plot expertly woven and guaranteed to keep any reader turning its pages. The only disappointment is that the book ends!The Captain of Her Heart may be the finest novel yet by bestselling author Anita Stansfield.

When their oldest child calls to let Nate know that their youngest daughter is missing in Alaska, Avery and Nate, with a few friends, drop everything to rush to save her. Will they make it in time? What secrets does the tiny town in Alaska hold? It's all anybody's guess, but it means they’ll be working through the weekend.So Avery has found out she’s a mythical creature. That's got to be pretty cool, right? On the plus side, it comes with all sorts of cool powers that she’s learning how to control. It also means she, probably, can’t be mortally wounded. It’s only probably because something went a little haywire with her last resurrection and no one really knows what’s happening. Part of the faulty resurrection made her lose all memories of her past lives. Those memories include a soul mate, who’s now her fiancé in this lifetime, and five children. When their oldest child calls to let Nate know that their youngest daughter is missing in Alaska, Avery and Nate, with a few friends, drop everything to rush to save her. Will they make it in time? What secrets does the tiny town in Alaska hold? It's all anybody's guess, but it means they’ll be working through the weekend.

Death. Is it the end or merely a new beginning?From a child, Shane felt as though at one time he had been someone else. His dreams haunted him with the memories of a different life and his death. Is there more than this life? Do our souls move on, or does our life-force cease to exist?Sometimes our souls touch and we find ourselves drawn to each other. This is a special gift. This is Heart Ties.Death. Is it the end or merely a new beginning?From a child, Shane felt as though at one time he had been someone else. His dreams haunted him with the memories of a different life and his death. Is there more than this life? Do our souls move on, or does our life-force cease to exist?Sometimes in this life, our souls touch another, and we find ourselves helplessly drawn to them. This is a special gift, not to be denied. This is Heart Ties.

Librarian's note: See alternate cover edition of ISBN 0671739727 here. Bronwyn MacArran was a proud Scot. Stephen Montgomery was one of the hated English. He came to Scotland as a conqueror, saw her beauty and was vanquished. But still she would abhor him. She owned a temper hot enough to forge the armors of battle or inflame a valiant soldier's passion. Yet still she would resist him. She became his reason to live, his reason to love. And still she would deny him. But while clan fought clan, while brother took up sword against brother, and the highlands ran with blood -- their destiny was made... and this mighty warrior pledged himself to his woman's pride, her honor and her name -- and made of their love a torch to burn through the ages!

From a fascinating corner of history, comes a thrilling story of England in the time of the Romans. Quintus Tullius, a young standard bearer for the Ninth Roman legion, vows to properly bury his grandfather who had been killed by the Druids. In the strange foreign country of the Britons, Quintus meets lovely Regan, the mysterious foster daughter of the Warrior Queen of the Iceanians. Once, he saves her, and then in a daring scene, she rescues him. They are at once bound into history in a time of magic and mystery.

Kole Smith will soon become the leader of his pack, and not just any pack. He will lead the Royal Guard of the Werewolf Society. Before he accepts his role, he has unfinished business and her name is Sarah. Sarah’s family ran the Casino Operation used as a front for The Werewolf Society, until the greed of the rebels trying to overthrow their government led to her families murder. Kole saved her life, gave her the opportunity to live, and to deliver the vengeance she craves against the rebels. When they meet again, their passion will explode in a firestorm that will either heal the pain of the past or destroy them forever.

It is 1962, and Elisa Esposito—mute her whole life, orphaned as a child—is struggling with her humdrum existence as a janitor working the graveyard shift at Baltimore’s Occam Aerospace Research Center. Were it not for Zelda, a protective coworker, and Giles, her loving neighbor, she doesn’t know how she’d make it through the day. Then, one fateful night, she sees something she was never meant to see, the Center’s most sensitive asset ever: an amphibious man, captured in the Amazon, to be studied for Cold War advancements. The creature is terrifying but also magnificent, capable of language and of understanding emotions…and Elisa can’t keep away. Using sign language, the two learn to communicate. Soon, affection turns into love, and the creature becomes Elisa’s sole reason to live. But outside forces are pressing in. Richard Strickland, the obsessed soldier who tracked the asset through the Amazon, wants nothing more than to dissect it before the Russians get a chance to steal it. Elisa has no choice but to risk everything to save her beloved. With the help of Zelda and Giles, Elisa hatches a plan to break out the creature. But Strickland is on to them. And the Russians are, indeed, coming.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author, a stunning, epic novel featuring the characters of the beloved Cavendon series For years things have run smoothly at Cavendon Hall, with very few quarrels, dramas, or upsets among the Inghams and the Swanns. But since the end of World War II, things have changed. The Secrets of Cavendon picks up in the summer of 1949, with the new generation of the estate at the forefront of the scandal and intrigue. With romance, betrayal, heartbreak, and possible murder threatening to tear them apart, the Inghams and Swanns will have to find a way to come together and protect each other in the face of threats they never could have predicted.

Ghoulies. Ghosties. Long-legged beasties. Things that go bump in the night... The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity-and humanity from them. Enter Verity Price. Despite being trained from birth as a cryptozoologist, she'd rather dance a tango than tangle with a demon, and is spending a year in Manhattan while she pursues her career in professional ballroom dance. Sounds pretty simple, right? It would be, if it weren't for the talking mice, the telepathic mathematicians, the asbestos supermodels, and the trained monster-hunter sent by the Price family's old enemies, the Covenant of St. George. When a Price girl meets a Covenant boy, high stakes, high heels, and a lot of collateral damage are almost guaranteed. To complicate matters further, local cryptids are disappearing, strange lizard-men are appearing in the sewers, and someone's spreading rumors about a dragon sleeping underneath the city...

Not your typical prostitute ... this is a story of unconditional love. * “I need a reason to exist.” Beautiful, intelligent, independent, strong-willed, wealthy—Lilith Fontenot seems by all appearances, to have it all. But that’s not how the highest paid prostitute in New Orleans sees herself. A stain on society. A scourge. A waste. Outsider. Prisoner… Any idyllic dream of the normal life she may have once imagined, Lilith buried long ago. Her only plan now is survival. But mob boss Nico Santelli and community center owner Soti Christos have not given up on Lilith. Each has his own very specific, very opposing, plans for her, and neither will rest until it becomes a reality. LILITH is a singularly bracing take on an ancient tale of tireless love, betrayal, and the possibility of redemption.