The Family comes first.I've been part of the Leone family since Don Massimo took me in when I was a boy.Now I sit beside his son, il capo, Don Sebastiano. Being a mobster is all I know and want. Even when betrayal comes knocking at my door.A teasing smile, the most striking cloud-gray eyes, an androgynous body wrapped in lingerie, and a belly chain around his narrow hips. Can a man be pretty? I must be drunker than I thought to wonder such ...

Six years ago, Elira's husband gambled the most important thing to them in the Quadrant Trials. He thought he was outsmarting them, until he died screaming, and the empire took the payment anyway. Now Elira has entered the Trials herself, determined to burn the world down to get it back. But the man who kept her alive, her protector, the one she was falling for despite every vow she made, had been lying the whole time.He wanted her to lose. To be broken. To owe him everything....

Ezra Hamilton hasn't felt the warm spurt of blood flow through his fingers or the indescribable feeling of pushing a knife deep into someone's flesh in a long time. Too long.He's been watching a man stalk women, curious as to what he's doing with them. Ezra's never encountered someone with similar dark tendencies before, and what starts off as genuine curiosity turns into much more when Kaspian turns the tables on him.As their chemistry builds, so does the ...

Class D has decided to run a ramen stand at the Academy’s annual cultural festival! But when a demon’s plot to make a full comeback continues to unfold and a poisoned concubine plots to bring harm to our intrepid heroine, the cultural festival she’s been looking forward to is soon plunged into utter chaos!Laviange unleashes her hidden power and shows her true fury! How will Laviange fare when miscommunication raises its ugly head? And what will happen when the world finds out she’s...

What if a curious question could lead you all the way to God? Tosh is a fluffy young rabbit with a head full of questions. Why does the sky sometimes cloud over and sometimes stay clear? Where did the meadow, the creek, and the forest come from? No one in his family seems to know — not his mother, not his father, not even the wisest rabbit in the meadow. So Tosh sets off with his best friend, a timid crow named Corky, and their spunky, straight-talking friend Dilly the field mouse, to find...

Slavery was a continuous presence in the Pre-Modern Era, roughly 500 ce to 1450 ce, when changes in geopolitical forces, demography, and cultural background contributed to the nature of enslavement. Coercion as a way of life differed across sociocultural and economic realities, ranging from chattel slaves and war captives, to sexual and domestic slaves. This volume destabilizes the deep-seated idea that during the so-called “Middle Ages,” social and cultural relationships ...

Lucy is looking forward to date night with her husband Brad. When he forgets, Brad must make it up to her. They decide to spice things up by watching porn together, but Lucy believes they can do it better, and they let their inhibitions go and make a sex tape.All characters in this short story are over 18 years of age.

"Sir, Your Prostate Cancer Awaits"The biopsy had spoken.Diagnosed with cancerous prostate tumors, a broke, unemployed animation writer focuses on the humorous as he struggles to comprehend his carcinoma, select between surgery and radiation, and land a new health care provider all in less than two months.A hilarious, rollicking autobiography, author JP Mac chronicles bureaucratic bungles, medical complications and a difficult post-treatment future. A...

Nina is excited to see her high school best friend Tahlia, but things have changed in the last two years. She is not the innocent ballerina Nina remembers. Tahlia now likes a new type of dance, one she can't wait to show Nina and her boyfriend Marcus.The characters in this short story are over 18 years of age.

Life is short in the old village where Muira has spent all her days, but her life truly begins the day she steps into Castle Campbell as a servant. The aging fortress and its cold laird feel a world away from the warmth of her mother and home, yet the innocent young woman is about to discover a much deeper, more dangerous heat within its stone walls.Stumbling upon the castle's darkest secret, Muira is drawn into a forbidden world controlled by the laird’s mysterious, rumored son, T...

My name is Liner Hellvilleshine, and I am the sworn knight of Sieg. After returning from a year in the Dungeon, I resumed my duties as a knight of Whoseyards, diligently carrying out a secret mission entrusted to me by Lastiara. The objective: Recover the blood of Saint Tiara that was flowing within the Jewelculi. With that mission nearing completion, all that remained was to await the resurrection ritual. But then, a person claiming to be Saint Tiara herself appeared before me, telling me...

He’s a notorious mafia enforcer and the beast lurking in the shadows.Bryan Quinn. Dublin Beast. Soulless criminal. Despised bastard. I protect my family, fight our battles, and uphold the Quinn legacy in Dublin’s brutal underworld. We have a code—the Quinn Laws—and while women are normally off-limits, Siobhan Daley betrayed us, acted on behalf of our enemy, and poisoned our father.She will pay for taking the life of someone I love—not that it’s the...