Stories by @penguininja

Moon-Kissed

Alexandria Helios is on a mission to find her brother. Landon disappeared on his quest to find the Sacred Library that holds the cure to the moon sickness affecting their people. There is one problem. Her journey will take her through the Kingdom of Night and directly into Torrin’s path as the head of the Night King’s army. He’s egotistical, sexy, sin incarnate, and everything she knows she shouldn’t want, but his whispered promise of dark desires awakens something deep within her that makes him hard to resist. Torrin didn’t expect the lead assassin of the Moon Clan to walk into his trap. Alexandria has ignited something within him he thought was gone, and he knows he shouldn’t crave her, but he does. She’s a fire in a world of ice, bathed in blood and moonlight that calls to the darkness within him. Secrets are unraveling as both are tossed into a ploy that neither is destined to survive. Can they find common ground and work together to defeat the darkness? Or will the world come crashing down around them as they tear each other apart?

Beneath the Waves of the Neversea

Wendie feels trapped, and she wants nothing more than to escape her life in London. When the promise of adventure lures her from her bedroom window, she eagerly follows the boy with golden hair and stars in his eyes. Wendie falls under Peter’s spell, and he draws her to him in ways she can’t explain. He is intoxicating, and dangerous, and makes her crave an adventure of a different kind. But Peter is determined never to grow up. For him, Wendie is a means to an end, a way to rekindle the belief that holds the very fabric of Neverland together. Until she crosses the boundary into adulthood, dragging Peter with her. Ronan is lost. Banished from Wonderland for crimes he can’t remember. After being thrown into a world where he isn’t welcome, Ronan is imprisoned by Peter and the Lost Boys. They condemn him for his age and his magic, but with Wendie’s help, Ronan escapes Peter’s clutches. Ronan clings to his magic and madness, battling his heart and his mind as he tries to stay alive. His one goal: to find his way back home. But Peter won’t allow Ronan to leave. No one leaves Neverland unless he says so. Forced together by a common foe, Wendie and Ronan must fight for their hearts and their lives. Will Wendie be Ronan’s saviour, or will they both suffer at the hands of Peter Pan?

Of Thorns and Beauty

Zaina will never be free. She's forced into an arranged marriage to a Viking King in a castle full of secrets. But she carries secrets of her own, and the scars of her haunted past. Handed off from one monster to another, she has no choice but to do her best to survive and protect her sisters. Even if it costs her everything.

The Lovely Dark

Harvey Anderson always knew the universe was against him, but there’s a lot of stuff he never expected to happen, like having a crush on the most popular girl at school, and then falling into a giant hole in the middle of nowhere with her. And if that wasn’t enough, somehow they managed to release a soul-sucking, ancient witch as well. So yeah, there’s that. You’d think it’d be pretty hard to beat, but knowing Harvey’s luck, it’s about to get a whole lot worse.

The Baker's Guide to Risky Rituals

Josie Benoit, gourmet patissier and kitchen witch, may not be a Sweet Pea native but she's made the small town her home and she intends on keeping it that way. When trouble rolls into town on the seats of shining motorcycles, and the safety of her home and her own reputation are put at risk, Josie bands together with her coven to protect her world from a dark influence. If only that dark influence wasn't so deliciously handsome. King Beleth is not a demon to be trifled with. Leader of the Hell’s Bells MC and one of the great warlords of the Bowels, Beleth takes pride in his work and has the patience of a… man who knows what is best is worth waiting for. Known as Bell—to his friends, which you are not—he’s come to Sweet Pea to dismantle the core of good at the heart of the little town. But upon arrival he discovers three things that might just get in the way of his work: Sweet Pea is more disgustingly adorable than they were warned. The town has a coven of witches protecting it. He’s developing a sweet tooth.

Already Gone

Lacy Shelton and her sister Hope couldn't be more different, despite being less than a year apart in age. Lacy is captain of the debate team, poised to be Valedictorian of the high school and waiting for an admission letter from Yale any day. Hope is captain of the swim team, but will be happy if she gets into community college. Hope has taken everything Lacy ever wanted, from pacifiers to high heels. But Lacy won't let that happen again, not this time. She won't let Hope take the new guy in school, and she sure as heck won’t let Hope ruin her chances with Yale. Until a shocking death changes all of Lacy's plans. Now stuck in a court-mandated psychiatrist's office, she's forced to relive the months leading up to the tragedy to determine whether Hope will take her future, too. Alternating between Lacy's and Hope's points of view, Already Gone pieces together a tense puzzle of sisterhood, betrayal, mistakes, and ultimately forgiving someone who can be gone in a blink.

For the Strange and Suprising

When a waterspout drops me on the shores of a seemingly deserted island, I soon realize that I’m not on Earth and I’m not alone. This new world is full of dangers, from sea monsters and feuding tribes to poisonous food and beasts that lurk in the shadows. None of those things are as dangerous as the Mongrel men appointed to guard and teach me. All I want to do is go home, but the island has no intentions of letting me leave. I’ll be forced to interact with total strangers to survive this perilous land surrounded by treacherous waters. My dreams of happiness sink into the dark depths below as I struggle to save myself from certain death. The Mongrels will learn that fear makes a person reckless. My name is Adelaide Storm. But they’ll call me Ada Stormbrave.

Displaced

Being a twin complicates the Evian line of succession, but Chancery Alamecha is fine letting Judica inherit the throne. After all, she’s the stronger sister—the merciless fighter, the ruthless politician, and the groomed heir. But something unexpected happens when Chancery tries on her mother’s staridium ring, forcing her into a role that she never wanted: the prophesied queen who will prevent the destruction of Earth. Now I have to kill my sister. Judica, enraged by this turn of events, vows to do anything to reclaim her rightful place as empress. Including challenging Chancery to a battle to the death. While Chancery is away training, she gets a taste of the human world, where she can do whatever she wants without genetic obligations. Now torn between a life she was born into and one that makes her happy, she must confront her treacherous sister—or cause the end of the world.

Scarlet Princess

Princess Rowan thought she knew her place in the world. She never expected to feel like an outsider. She certainly never imagined she would fall in love, least of all with a man from a barbarian kingdom half a world away. But when series of missteps lands her in the hands of the people she was brought up to hate, she is forced to reconsider everything she thought she knew about both lands. And about herself. After a lifetime of animosity between the kingdoms, will the Socairans ever accept her as one of their own? Or will her mistakes push her people into yet another war?

Someone Else's Shadow

My name is Peyton Lane, and I have no idea who I am. Six months ago, I woke from a coma with no recollection of anybody, anything. My family tells me that I’m a good woman, that I’m loved. It seems I’ve lived a full, rewarding life, but I would give all of it up in a heartbeat to remember who I was. My mind is a blank slate. Every moment in time wiped clean. But there is one thing I can remember, something I haven’t dared to tell anyone about—a mysterious oak tree, a red ribbon, and a vision of drowning. I know the answers I seek lie buried at the bottom of a lake. And that’s why I’m here in South Carolina. The memory I have is something I witnessed… So I wonder what it would feel like to remember…remember who I was, but more importantly, remember what I did.

The Queen's Line

Bryony, Princess of Kimmery, has a secret. She lacks the Hunger, the magical and passionate craving that is responsible for Kimmery's prosperity. Without that power, she will lose the crown and the chance to rule the kingdom she sincerely loves. The Queen's Line must select Chosen to satiate their Hunger with and Bryony's Choosing ceremony has arrived. On her first night with her newly assembled men—a prince, an ambassador, a stablehand, a sculptor, and a rogue—her own secret, and the secrets of Kimmery, spill out between them. North of Kimmery's capitol, the people are starving. When her truth is revealed to her iron-hearted grandmother, Bryony invents a plan to buy time. She and her Chosen will go to the desolate Winter palace where she can pretend to explore her Hunger while investigating the kingdom's failings. Bryony is determined to take Kimmery and its people back into a golden age, and keep her crown. As passions rise with her chosen so do the obstacles and adversaries they face. Kimmery's prosperity isn't the only thing Bryony misunderstood, and the Hunger is more than what it appears.

Marked

All Ruby Behl wants for her seventeenth birthday is a good career path match, and to kiss her best friend and long time crush, Wesley Fairchild. Unfortunately, the simplicity of teenage wishes evaporated a decade ago when the Tercera virus nearly wiped out the human race. Transmitted through touch, the slightest contact is prohibited in the safe haven community of Port Gibson. An innocent game of Spin the Bottle, a rite of passage for Port Gibson’s teens, provides the opportunity Ruby’s been waiting for, but when Wesley winds up Marked, Ruby realizes her first kiss may also be her last. Ruby races the viral clock to uncover long buried secrets about her dead parents, and her once cloudy future becomes clear. She’s the key to finding the cure, but is she willing to pay the price?

Dreary Shadows

Dreary Shadows Academy was not where I wanted to be for my final year of high school. Things never go as planned, though, and now, the Shadow Brothers have me on their radar. They seem to show up everywhere I turn. I hoped they’d back off, but fate has other plans. When I’m attacked, they’re the ones to save me, opening my eyes to a whole new world. The supernatural aren’t supposed to exist, and I wasn’t supposed to be thrown in the middle like this. I’m just a normal girl. Or so I thought. In a world full of vampires, werewolves, and witches, it’s no surprise when everything crumbles and someone gets cursed. I’ll be surprised if I get through the year alive, or at least with my heart intact. These vampires are going to break me, I just know it.

A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor

On the brink of losing her position as a maid and with no prospects to go on, the offer of a place at Rooksgrave Manor—a house of ill and unusual repute—sounds like a perfect fit for a young woman with Esther’s inclinations. Even better, the invitation comes by the hand of the handsome Dr. Underwood, a delicate gentleman with a ferocious alter ego who knows exactly what he wants from Esther. Upon arrival the men and the daily decadence of the manor feel too good to be true for a girl of Esther’s station. There are rules to be followed, expectations to meet, and Esther is afraid she might be too wicked even for a place like Rooksgrave. Temptations lurk around every shadowy corner and Esther has never been a girl able to resist. But the risk of disappointing her new gentlemen isn’t all that’s threatening Esther’s new position. Rooksgrave Manor’s protections for its unusual patrons are failing, the wards are crumbling, and Esther’s new and exquisitely pleasurable life may all come tumbling down.

Marked by the Moon

All my life, death was right around the corner, I just never expected it to be delivered by the man I was falling in love with… Magic has been outlawed for almost a century and anyone caught wielding it, or bearing its mark, is executed. Which is why I know every day could be my last. I’m marked for death. My skin bears the branding of the moon. I just thank the stars that it’s not somewhere visible. For one night I willingly put myself in danger, picking a stranger to lose myself in before I begin my life of servitude to the crown as a member of the King’s Guard. But the man I thought was a stranger turns out to be the Blade of the King, Thorn, my new boss. It doesn’t matter that he’s temptation incarnate or that the slightest flick of his fingers against my skin brings back echoes of the night we spent in each other’s arms. We can never be together again because I can’t risk losing this job and I definitely can’t risk him finding out my secret. Not everything in the Eaorin Kingdom is as it seems though and my boss has secrets too. Ones that are just as deadly as my own…

Sol & Lune

Born into a war almost as old as Sol and Lune themselves, Lumen, Lady of Fenn Manor has watched her family sacrifice for years at the altar of her country's ambitions. Alone and unprotected when the enemy army arrives on her doorstep, she faces two impossible choices: run north to her countrymen, or protect her home and bear the company of the temperamental General Westbrook. As the army’s stay stretches on, Lumen learns what she’s willing to sacrifice and what cannot be surrendered. Westbrook isn’t the only man in the company interested in Lumen. There is Healer Brink who hides secrets as fiercely as feelings, and Gideon Jones who fights as fiercely as he loves. Can Lumen survive the onslaught against her home, her honor, her heart? Only Mother Lune knows.

The Witch Collector

Raina Bloodgood has one desire: kill the Frost King and the Witch Collector who stole her sister. On Collecting Day, she means to exact murderous revenge, but a more sinister threat sets fire to her world. Rising from the ashes is the Collector, Alexus Thibault, the man she vowed to slay and the only person who can help save her sister. Thrust into an age-old story of ice, fire, and ancient gods, Raina must abandon vengeance and aid the Witch Collector in saving the Frost King or let their empire—and her sister—fall into enemy hands. But the lines between good and evil blur, and Raina has more to lose than she imagined. What is she to do when the Witch Collector is no longer the villain who stole her sister, but the hero who’s stealing her heart?

King of Beasts

Rex Valentino is my enemy. He has the power to wave a hand and make all my family problems go away. In return, he only requires one thing...my complete surrender. Caterina Alfera, an angel lost in a world of beasts. I didn’t ask for her. Destiny brought her to me. And now I can’t let her leave. She’s mine to keep.

The Blood Countess

Pandora English is no ordinary small town orphan. When she's invited to live with her mysterious Great-Aunt Celia in New York City, she seizes the opportunity to escape her stifling hometown break from her tragic past and make it as a writer. Things, however, are not what she is expecting. For starters, her great-aunt's gothic mansion is in a mist-wreathed Manhattan suburb that doesn't appear on maps. And then there's Celia herself - a former designer to the stars of Hollywood's Golden Age - who is elegant, unnaturally young and always wearing a veil. Pandora lands a job at a fashion magazine and her first assignment is covering the A-list launch of the latest miracle cream, BloodofYouth. But something is not right about the product, nor Athanasia, the drop-dead beautiful face of the brand. It seems there may be a secret ingredient in BloodofYouth, a secret worth killing for...

A Date With Death

I’d felt a pull to this city my whole life. I was going to make the best of it, now that I was here. At least, that was the plan before I started traveling to another world every night. Before he started haunting me everywhere I went. He said, “I’m not the one you want watching her,” and that smirk said so many things. It held a promise. A warning. Instantly, I was hooked, no longer caring about what he did or how much he hated what I was becoming - I wanted him. In the deepest parts of my soul, in any and every way I could get him. The problem? I was alive, and he was Death himself. It was going to take a lot more than a date through the Otherworld to get past all that. Then, when death showed up where it wasn't supposed to be, I knew my time was wearing thin, and I found myself clinging to the hope of just making it out alive. However, with my biology, I should've known better than to hope for the impossible.