GENRE: Gay Speculative Fiction Spicy Romance Box Set
LENGTH: 579,603 words
RATING:

Imagine an earth just a bit different from ours. In this world normals unknowingly share the planet with all manner of beings, including vampyres, shapeshifters, aliens, and ancient gods. What would happen if ordinary people learned of their existence? These stories tell those tales.

Contains the novels:

Destiny’s End: It’s the early part of the 20th century, and Warrick Synclaire, a baronet’s son, is in love with his best friend, Thomas Smythe. After they part, Warrick is bitten by a werewolf, although he doesn’t turn immediately. Events keep them separated, they find other lovers, but Warrick can’t forget Thomas. He returns home and his life unravels under the full moon. Will any love be able to save him?

The Most Loved of All: Years after they first met, Roddy Sayer and Thomas Fortescue-Smythe cross paths again in Egypt and renew their friendship. But the danger that lurked in the hot desert follows them home to England. Can they save each other from the threat of a millennia-old curse?

Lagoon of Dreams: Scientist David Knight has been plagued by dreams his entire life, only to have no memory of them when he awakens. Now his dreams are drawing him to the Amazon, where an unidentifiable clawed hand has been found. Theories abound, and an expedition is put together to explore the stretch of the Amazon leading to the Lagoon of Dreams. Will what they find once they arrive there give them an answer?

Rainbows in Your Eyes: Andrew Dorincourt has the blood of powerful shifters in his veins. However, he can hide what he is. Da’ric is the son of an extraterrestrial and a Terran. His physical characteristics, rainbow-colored eyes and scale-patterned skin, make it difficult for him to conceal his heritage. They meet when Da’ is kidnapped and Drew helps him escape. What will the future hold for these two unusual men?

More by all Mores: In an effort to gain his father’s notice, St. John Ashford sets his sights on Andrew Dorincourt, a man for whom the Viscount has nothing but disdain. However, St. John finds himself more attracted to Andrew’s brother, Robin. When Robin realizes Drew wants someone else, he decides to go after St. John. St. John might be attracted to Robin, but he’ll be damned if he’s anyone’s second choice.

They Come By Night: Tyrell Small has always felt different. On his sixteenth birthday, he learns exactly how different. He’s a sabor, a being vampyres need in order to survive. Ty decides he’s not having any of that, but while attempting to run away, he meets Adam Dasani, a vampyre who’ll one day feed from him. Others also want Ty, however, and it’s up to Adam to keep the young sabor safe. The question is, can he?

EXCERPT FROM "Destiny’s End"
Note: may contain sexually explicit scenes of a homoerotic nature.

The gypsy studied me for a moment, then gestured for Thomas to seat himself before her. “I think he is more than a friend.” Her voice was so low I almost couldn’t distinguish her words, and for a moment I worried, but then I knew I didn’t need to, since both Thomas and I would be leaving soon. “Tell me, young sir. What is your desire?”

He promptly held his palm out to her. “What does my future hold, Grandmother?”

I stood at Thomas’s shoulder and watched as Syeira took his hand in her work-worn grip and studied it intently. She stroked her fingertips over the plump mound at the base of his thumb and across the depression in the centre of his palm. She shivered. “Do you wish for the truth?”

He looked affronted. “Of course I want the truth. I’m a man. I can deal with whatever comes my way.”

The gypsy smiled sadly and looked at his palm again. “Proud,” she murmured, almost to herself. “Very well, young sir. Your path will not be easy. There will be loss along the way -- great loss. But you are brave and will bring much honour to the name you bear.” She met his gaze. “What more do you wish to know?”

“Love, Grandmother. Will my love return to me?” He glanced at me through his lashes.

“The one you love will come to you through danger, across flood and fire -- ” She gasped and her hand tightened convulsively on Thomas’s. Her eyes searched his deeply. “Because of the one who will love you, you will be under the protection of a very ancient power.” She looked at him with something akin to awe.

I thrust my palm in front of her. “Read my future, old woman.” Already I was trying to determine how I could make her words to Thomas refer to me. I was going across the ocean, surely that could signify as a flood. Danger and fire, though ...

She let my friend withdraw his hand, and then she took mine. She shivered again and reached up to move aside the collar of my shirt. I thought she lost all colour in her cheeks, but I dismissed it as fancy since I was unable to come up with a logical explanation for that. She released my collar and turned to Thomas, all the while maintaining her hold on my left hand with her other hand. “Young sir, be so kind as to bring me another candle,” she directed him. He ducked out of the tent, and I slid into his seat. The gypsy leaned forward, speaking urgently. The words that spilled from her mouth were indecipherable. They seemed to roll over me, reverberating in my skull, but I couldn’t make sense of a single one of them.

“Speak English, Syeira,” I demanded petulantly. “What are you telling me?”

And then abruptly I could understand her again. “The young sir is not for you, my son. Your future paths will cross, but there will be only sorrow and death at the end of them if you do not let him be.”

I was stunned. This was not the type of reading a gypsy normally gave, and I struggled to free my hand. “You must be mad, old woman!”

Thomas returned just then with a candle stuck in a tin cup. “Here you are, Grandmother.”

“Thank you, young sir.” She held my gaze over the flickering light. “You will recall my words, and return to this place, when the time has ripened. Until then, go with God, my son. Nicolae,” she called. A young gypsy male thrust aside the opening of the tent. He wasn’t as tall as I, but he was brawny, and I backed away from him. “Show these gentlemen from the camp.”

She refused to accept our coins. Thomas bowed politely over her hand, but I could see he was concerned by her action.

The gypsy, Nicolae, laid his hand on my shoulder, and I shrugged it off sharply, disturbed by the sensation of his touch. His dark eyes bored into mine, and it was as if something passed between us.

“Come,” he said in a guttural tone, and he led us to the edge of the camp.

It had grown late. The fires had been banked, and the villagers and tenants had all returned home.

“Thank you for visiting us,” the gypsy murmured. He started to turn away, but Thomas seized his arm.

“Wait. Take this, with thanks for the fortune the grandmother foretold.”

He took the coins from Thomas, then stared into my eyes. His lips were parted in a frightening smile, revealing sharp teeth, and I wanted to whimper. It was a cruel smile, such as I’d never before seen directed at me.