Gathering Darkness: A Paranormal Romance Collection Read online

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Overview

  Close Liaisons by Anna Zaires & Dima Zales

  The Time Stopper by Anna Zaires & Dima Zales

  Shifted Undercover by C.E. Black

  Capturing Her Bear by Charlie Daye

  Bitten By Choice by Izzy Szyn

  Let The Fur Fly and Red’s Wolf by Jenika Snow

  Walking Dead Girl by Lili Saint Germain

  Dragon’s Chase by Mina Carter

  Zane (Were Zoo One) by R.E. Butler

  Captive’s Kiss by Sharon Kay

  After The End

  Gathering Darkness

  There is a gathering on the horizon... It's a place where Vampires feed off your desires, Weres dominate you, Demons seduce you and Aliens whisk you away to fulfill fantasies you never knew you had. Where your darkest appetites are sated, leaving you weak and breathless... Come and join us as we lead you into the Gathering Darkness.

  Close Liaisons by Anna Zaires & Dima Zales

  His people took over her planet. Now he wants her.

  In the near future, the Krinar rule the Earth. An advanced race from another galaxy, they are still a mystery to us—and we are completely at their mercy.

  Shy and innocent, Mia Stalis is a college student in New York City who's led a normal life. Like most people, she’s never had any interactions with the invaders—until one fateful day in the park changes everything. Having caught Korum’s eye, she must now contend with a powerful, dangerously seductive Krinar who wants to possess her and will stop at nothing to make her his own.

  How far would you go to regain your freedom? How much would you sacrifice to help your people? What choice will you make when you begin to fall for your enemy?

  Shifted Undercover by C.E. Black

  Between secrets and deceit, lies an untamed desire neither of them can resist.

  Nikki Hughes is newly married to a man she’s only known for six months. Adam is the perfect guy. He’s loving, hot as hell and only has eyes for Nikki. They have spent months getting to know each other and falling madly in love, but Nikki hasn’t been completely honest with Adam. She has a secret life he knows nothing about, and she plans on keeping it that way.

  Nikki has a job to do. One that means the difference between life or death. So what if she’s on a flight traveling to their honeymoon destination. Except, how is she supposed to work a secret job with a sexy as sin husband trying to seduce her every ten minutes? Well, it is one the reasons she agreed to marry the insufferable man so easily.

  When all hell breaks loose on the flight, Nikki finds herself in a deadly situation. And she quickly comes to realize that she’s not the only one keeping secrets in this relationship.

  Capturing Her Bear by Charlie Daye

  She wants her freedom, he wants her heart.

  She's no lab rat...

  Naked and caged in a lab, Apsen has no idea why she's there, and no one will talk to her. After experimenting on her, they let her go into the woods...only to hunt her with rifles. Terrified, she tries to out run her pursuers. But gunshot wounds and exhaustion take their toll, and she falls, welcoming the darkness that envelopes her.

  She's his mate...

  Bear shifter Torbin is hunting for dinner when the smell of blood permeates the air. It's not just any blood, it's the blood of his mate and she's dying. He rushes to her side and whisks her back to his cabin, where he tends her wounds and waits for her to recover.

  When Aspen wakes in the arms of the sexiest man she's ever seen, she's torn between wanting to succumb to the urge to mate him and wanting to return to the life she knew before. But when Torbin is mortally wounded by the same people who tried kill her, she makes a choice that will change both their destinies.

  Will her choice bind them, or break them?

  Bitten By Choice by Izzy Szyn

  Sold to the billionaire vampire boss.

  Out of all the stepsiblings Becky has had over the years, the one that she always felt closest to was Bryan. They remained friends long after their parents’ brief marriage ended.

  When Bryan asks her out to dinner to meet with her stepbrother’s new bosses, she discovers that he is a male escort for vampires. Not only that they are recruiting more escorts for their business Dark Cravings and want to hire Becky as their newest escort.

  Let the Fur Fly by Jenika Snow

  Two shifters, one night…the fur will definitely fly.

  Hannah has just come into her mating heat and wants Beau to ease her suffering. But Beau is an over-the-top alpha, and used to having his way in all things. For what she needs him for, though, Hannah knows he is just the shifter to have her blissfully sated.

  When she propositions him for one night of uninhibited sex, she doesn’t realize the feelings that will rise inside of her when she’s with the wolf shifter. But Beau doesn’t seem ready to let her go just yet either.

  Hannah must decide if being with a growly alpha shifter is really what she wants.

  Red’s Wolf by Jenika Snow

  Where the fairytales are twisted.

  After leaving a costume party, Red gets lost and finds herself deep within the woods that surround her town. With her fear of not knowing where she is comes the realization that she is being stalked. The harder and faster she runs, the more she feels like the prey to a very deadly predator.

  And then she is caught, and she has nowhere to hide. The man that comes out of the darkness is naked, massive in form, and seems feral. He is solely focused on her, yet he doesn't touch her. The way he watches Red, inhales her scent like he is trying to imprint her into his body, makes her feel shockingly aroused.

  He doesn't seem to want to hurt her, but to mate with her, like a beast in the wild claiming his woman. Red should be fighting for her life to escape, not submitting to a man that has these kinds of sexual needs moving through her like a violent animal.

  Walking Dead Girl by Lili Saint Germain

  I was seventeen years old the first time I died. I didn't expect to wake up afterwards.

  This is not a story about love. There is no happy ending. There is only darkness, and the struggle to avoid being consumed by it.

  This is a story about survival.

  I was seventeen years old the first time I died. When I was first taken, I thought that my ending had arrived, a smirk on his mouth and bloodlust alight in his beautiful eyes. I waited to die, to be torn apart by sharp teeth and vicious hands.

  And I did die.

  I just didn’t expect to wake up afterwards.

  Dragon’s Chase by Mina Carter

  He’s found his mate. But can he convince her that he’s her man?

  Working for the Paranormal Protection Agency has never been boring, but shadow-dragon Duke didn’t expect to meet his mate in the line of duty. He certainly didn’t expect a warrior every inch his match, or for her to slap him across the ass with her tail and take off across the city.

  With Baron on a very personal protection detail, Duke has to fly solo on the pair’s investigation into the warlock who nearly killed Baron’s mate. Just one problem, his mate is working with the warlock. So, dead or alive, he has to bring her in…

  She found the one thing she didn’t want. Her mate. Now she needs to get rid of him before he ruins her mission…

  Sleeping for centuries has it’s drawbacks, Chase knew that going in. What she didn’t expect was to wake with a Warlock’s spelled collar around her
neck and to find her charge, the Queen’s daughter, in a cage. Vowing to free them both will take skill and strength and she doesn’t need the distraction of a hot as hell male dragon trying to make his claim on her. Even though her heart aches to complete their joining, she can’t. Not yet.

  The mission, or her heart. Can she have both? Or will she need one to complete the other?

  Zane (Were Zoo One) by R.E. Butler

  He saved his soulmate's life. Will she save his in return?

  Gorilla shifter Zane Keeton has spent the last twenty-seven years of his life at Amazing Adventures Safari Park, where shifters live in secret away from humans. The enjoyment he gets from tuning up safari vehicles and hanging out in his shifted form for the park visitors has slowly ebbed, and now his thoughts are consumed with finding a mate of his own.

  When human Adriana and her best friend, Celeste, receive free tickets for a VIP tour of the safari, they decide that it’s just the sort of exciting adventure that they’ve been waiting for. But when their vehicles are separated, Adriana finds herself on the receiving end of unwanted attention from a creepy tour guide. As the tour guide suddenly attacks her in front of the gorilla paddock, she’s rescued by an unlikely hero – one of the gorillas.

  Adriana quickly discovers that her rescuer is no ordinary gorilla. Not only are shifters real, but the gorilla who saved her life claims that she’s his soulmate. Is she willing to let go of everything she knows and embrace being Zane’s mate?

  Captive’s Kiss by Sharon Kay

  A hardened warrior. A woman coerced. Both must trust each other to escape a brutal fighting ring.

  It was only supposed to be one hookup. One hot night to ease the mating urge of his race’s fertile period.

  But after scorching, up-against-the-wall sex in a darkened club. Tanner can’t get Saige out of his mind. And when he spots her the next day, in league with an enemy, he’s determined to uncover more about her than her delectable curves.

  Saige knows Tanner is one of the good guys. And that’s why she can never see him again.

  Her life has crumbled into a horrific turmoil, forced to aid criminals in the act of kidnapping men for bloody arena fights. Held against her will, she has no hope of escape from her captors.

  Determination rages through Tanner until he tracks Saige down. But to save her from her jailers’ sadistic whims, his only option is to go willingly into her underground hell. Posing as her victim and locked in a cell, he must find a way to save them both before he is pushed into a fight to the death.

  Gathering Darkness

  By

  Anna Zaires & Dima Zales, C.E. Black, Charlie Daye,

  Izzy Szyn, Jenika Snow, Lili Saint Germain,

  Mina Carter, R. E. Butler, Sharon Kay

  ***

  Copyright 2015

  Cover Design by Mina Carter. All stock photos licensed appropriately.

  mina-carter.com

  Published in the United States by City Owl Press.

  www.cityowlpress.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior consent and permission of the publisher.

  Close Liaisons

  by Anna Zaires & Dima Zales

  The Krinar Chronicles: Volume 1

  His people took over her planet. Now he wants her.

  In the near future, the Krinar rule the Earth. An advanced race from another galaxy, they are still a mystery to us—and we are completely at their mercy.

  Shy and innocent, Mia Stalis is a college student in New York City who's led a normal life. Like most people, she’s never had any interactions with the invaders—until one fateful day in the park changes everything. Having caught Korum’s eye, she must now contend with a powerful, dangerously seductive Krinar who wants to possess her and will stop at nothing to make her his own.

  How far would you go to regain your freedom? How much would you sacrifice to help your people? What choice will you make when you begin to fall for your enemy?

  Note: This is book 1 of a completed trilogy. All three books are now available.

  PROLOGUE

  Five Years Earlier

  “Mr. President, they’re all waiting for you.”

  The President of the United States of America looked up wearily and shut the folder lying on his desk. He had slept poorly for the past week, his mind occupied by the deteriorating situation in the Middle East and the continued weakness in the economy. While no president had it easy, it seemed like his term had been marked by one impossible task after another, and the daily stress was beginning to affect his health. He made a mental note to get himself checked out by the doctor later this week. The country didn’t need a sick and exhausted president on top of all of its other woes.

  Getting up, the President exited the Oval Office and headed toward the Situation Room. He had been briefed earlier that NASA had detected something unusual. He’d hoped that it might be nothing more than a stray satellite, but that didn’t appear to be the case, given the urgency with which the National Security Advisor requested his presence.

  Entering the room, he greeted his advisors and sat down, waiting to hear what necessitated this meeting.

  The Secretary of Defense spoke first. “Mr. President, we have discovered something in Earth’s orbit that doesn’t belong there. We don’t know what it is, but we have reason to believe that it may be a threat.” He motioned toward the images displayed on one of the six flat screens lining the walls of the room. “As you can see, the object is large, bigger than any of our satellites, but it seems to have come out of nowhere. We didn’t see anything launching from any point on the globe, and we haven’t detected anything approaching Earth. It’s as though the object simply appeared here a few hours ago.”

  The screen showed several pictures of a dark blur set against a dark, starry background.

  “What does NASA think it could be?” the President asked calmly, trying to analyze the possibilities. If the Chinese had come up with some new satellite technology, they would have already known about it, and the Russian space program was no longer what it used to be. The presence of the object simply didn’t make any sense.

  “They don’t know,” the National Security Advisor said. “It doesn’t look like anything they’ve ever seen before.”

  “NASA couldn’t even venture an educated guess?”

  “They know it’s not any kind of an astronomical body.”

  So it had to be man-made. Puzzled, the President stared at the images, refusing to even contemplate the outlandish idea that had just occurred to him. Turning to the Advisor, he asked, “Have we reached out to the Chinese? Do they know anything about this?”

  The Advisor opened his mouth, about to reply, when there was a sudden flash of bright light. Momentarily blinded, the President blinked to clear his vision—and froze in shock.

  In front of the screen that the President had just been looking at, there was now a man. Tall and muscular, he had black hair and dark eyes, and his olive skin contrasted with the white color of his outfit. He stood there calmly, relaxed, as though he had not just invaded the inner sanctum of the United States government.

  The Secret Service agents reacted first, shouting and firing at the intruder in panic. Before the President could think, he found himself pushed against the wall, with two agents forming a human shield in front of him.

  “There’s no need for that,” the intruder said, his voice deep and sonorous. “I don’t intend to hurt your president—and if I did, there’s nothing you can do about it.” He spoke in perfect American English, without even a hint of an accent. D
espite the gunfire that had just been directed at him, he appeared to be completely uninjured, and the President could now see the bullets lying harmlessly on the floor in front of the man.

  Only years of handling one major crisis after another enabled the President to do what he did next. “Who are you?” he asked in a steady voice, ignoring the effects of terror and adrenaline rushing through his veins.

  The intruder smiled. “My name is Arus. We’ve decided that it’s time for our species to meet.”

  CHAPTER ONE

  The air was crisp and clear as Mia walked briskly down a winding path in Central Park. Signs of spring were everywhere, from tiny buds on still-bare trees to the proliferation of nannies out to enjoy the first warm day with their rambunctious charges.

  It was strange how much everything had changed in the last few years, and yet how much remained the same. If anyone had asked Mia ten years ago how she thought life might be after an alien invasion, this would have been nowhere near her imaginings. Independence Day, The War of the Worlds—none of these were even close to the reality of encountering a more advanced civilization. There had been no fight, no resistance of any kind on government level—because they had not allowed it. In hindsight, it was clear how silly those movies had been. Nuclear weapons, satellites, fighter jets—these were little more than rocks and sticks to an ancient civilization that could cross the universe faster than the speed of light.

  Spotting an empty bench near the lake, Mia gratefully headed for it, her shoulders feeling the strain of the backpack filled with her chunky twelve-year-old laptop and old-fashioned paper books. At twenty-one, she sometimes felt old, out of step with the fast-paced new world of razor-slim tablets and cell phones embedded in wristwatches. The pace of technological progress had not slowed since K-Day; if anything, many of the new gadgets had been influenced by what the Krinar had. Not that the Ks had shared any of their precious technology; as far as they were concerned, their little experiment had to continue uninterrupted.