Showing results by narrator "Chris Patton" in All Categories

Humanity is first subjugated by haughty alien colonizers calling themselves the Jao when Earth is unexpectedly attacked by the implacable and nearly-unstoppable Ekhat, exterminators of all intelligent life not their own. Now the fragile Human-Jao alliance is put to the test. A devastating encounter with the Ekhat in a distant nebula reveals a powerful alien society that may hold the key to defeating the Ekhat once and for all. There’s one big problem: they utterly loathe humanity's ally, the Jao.

Gabriel Braven is destined for a great love, but he does not believe it. His parents had a storybook romance… until a freak ocean storm robbed them of their lives and left him alone to be raised by his grandmother. With their deaths, Gabriel’s adoration for the sea turned to fear, and his belief in happy-ever-afters turned to dust. Gabriel vowed to never set foot in the ocean again and to never believe in love.

In the crucible that is the zombie apocalypse, Cade Grayson, father, husband, and former Delta Force operator has forged new friendships and tempered old ones. In those same metaphorical flames, he has seen blood spilled, loved ones perish, and dealt his own brand of justice.

With the defeat of Gauron, Sousuke's life has entered a comfortable rhythm. He's adjusting to school—the occasional car bomb false alarm notwithstanding—and balancing his newly-found normalcy with the needs of his mercenary life. He's even started to turn his thoughts toward the future—a future that might involve Kaname. But that future will soon face a threat, not from North Korean soldiers, Italian mobsters, or Russian Spetsnaz... but from the hierarchy of Mithril itself!

Can humanity survive what it never saw coming? On October 15 at 2:15 a.m. Earth vanished. A scattered few woke alone in a world with no rules, other than survival at any cost. A journalist wanders the wretched reality of an empty New York, searching for his wife and son. A serial killer must hunt in a land where prey is now an endangered species. A mother shields her young daughter from danger through every terror-filled breath. These survivors aren't truly alone... Someone or something is watching them. And waiting...

On his first day of college, all Jeremy Miller can think about is getting away from his hellish home life, making the wrestling team, and finally getting a real boyfriend. He's sick to death of being used by closeted football players who are too afraid to admit they like guys. What he doesn't count on is losing his mind over the gorgeous, golden-eyed wrestling captain who needs to keep their attraction a secret at all costs.

Reeling from a surprise attack, and with two fires burning out of control, Schriever Air Force Base goes on high alert. Former CDC Scientist Sylvester Fuentes, the apparent target, is killed along with others. Destroyed in the conflagration was the Omega antiserum Fuentes had been working to perfect and just hours prior had tested successfully on one of the recently infected.

When forced to choose between safety with the dragon organization Talon and being hunted forever as an outcast, Ember Hill chose to stand with Riley and his band of rogue dragons rather than become an assassin for Talon. She's lost any contact with her twin brother, Dante, a Talon devotee, as well as Garret, the former-enemy soldier who challenged her beliefs about her human side.

Latino linebacker Emilio Madero has a huge crush on the new backup quarterback. He's perfection in motion with his lean, muscled body and rich-boy good looks. But there's no way in hell Emilio is going to do anything about it. He'll just have to be content with fantasizing about the guy of his dreams and watching him from afar, because hitting on another player is out of the question. That is until Andrew turns the tables and makes the first move. Then all bets are off as the two of them drift into uncharted territory.

Gabriel's inevitable transformation into a merman brings him both great joy and great sadness. Though he must soon leave his human family, he is eager to experience the beauty of Emralis, the Mer city, together with his water-dwelling lover, Casillus.

In the title story, a white aspiring professor is convinced she is being followed. No need to panic - she has a handgun stowed away in her purse, just in case. But when she turns to confront her black male shadow, the situation isn't what she expects. In "The Rescuer" a promising graduate student detours to inner-city Trenton, New Jersey, to save her brother from a downward spiral. But she soon finds out there may be more to his world than to hers.

Peren LaMascares has been trapped in the mansion on the hill for too many years to count. He needs a LaMascares’ heir to free him and bring about the family’s - and world’s - dark destiny. He finds that heir in the innocent, unsuspecting Justin. Peren leads Justin into a world of sex, magic, and old gods. Will Justin abandon all the morals he’s ever had so that he can have the lust-filled passion that Peren offers forever?

Knowing he's gay and acting on it were two separate notions to Flynn Brewer until he'd met Keith, his first boyfriend, in high school. Before then, being gay wasn't as real as the pain of living day-to-day. Flynn's fear of coming out to his religious best friend, Zach, in their conservative community destroyed his relationship with Keith, but Flynn rationalized his avoidance and bottled up the truth until it was regrettably too late.

Dane Gareis is a wealthy, reclusive young man with a traumatic past, but a spine of steel. When his father is killed in a mysterious plane crash, Dane carries on the family business and continues his passion for the very antiquity that got his father murdered - a golden sarcophagus belonging to an ancient cult known as the Ydrath. Soon, the Ydrath threaten him as well, and Dane seeks to hire a bodyguard he can trust. Someone who can protect him, and someone who will respect his boundaries.

Dan Fisher is a fun-loving slacker from SSU with a passion for partying and dancing. When rich girl Avery Wakefield offers him a brand-new designer wardrobe in exchange for posing as her boyfriend, he reluctantly agrees. He hates lying, but it's hard to turn down nice clothes and a chance to live in a historic mansion in Savannah for two weeks. What he doesn't count on is falling hard for her mysterious, straight brother.

Gabriel Braven knows his destiny, but is he willing to face it? Gabriel has only one day left on land before moving to the wondrous Mer city to live forever with his true love, Mer Prince Casillus Nerion. He wishes his greatest challenges were giving up making love on land with Casillus and telling his beloved grandmother that he is a merman. But ex-soldier Johnson Tims has other plans for him.

As Gabriel struggles to cope with the three days he has left on land, a new complication arises. His grandmother’s lover, the enigmatic archaeology professor Johnson Tims seems to know more than he should about Gabriel’s transformation into a merman. Gabriel’s lifeline is his own lover, Casillus Nerion, prince of the ocean-dwelling, immortal Mer. Life on land is becoming more and more difficult, but their loving mental connection grows with Gabriel’s trust in what he is becoming.

Claire has finally found her forever home, and she and Chris soon find themselves falling in love. Then Chris' dreams of musical stardom and Claire's need for a stable home soon put their love in jeopardy. Chris struggles deeply with his plans for the future, entirely reluctant to leave Claire behind; until Claire does something that may break their love - and the only home she's comes to know - forever.

A mysterious woven metal artifact is found at a paleontological dig in Africa. Mystified experts, confounded by the impossible timeline they get from traditional dating methods, call upon a stubborn young man with a unique talent. Matthew Turner's gift is also his curse: When he touches any object, his awareness is flooded with the thoughts and feelings of those who touched it before him. It is a talent that many covet, some fear, and almost no one understands.

Gabriel should have drowned twice in his life, but he survived. Casillus Nerion, his beautiful merman savior, tells him the reason for this is simple: Gabriel is a merman. Long ago, a Braven ancestor fell in love and had a child with a powerful merman. This child did not inherit the Mer gifts, but Gabriel has. Despite seeing inexplicable physical changes to his body when he gets wet and having trouble breathing when there is plenty of air, Gabriel’s head tells him that Mer, like love, do not exist.