Tapha & Cassiem

{TAF-uh} {CASS-ee-EM}

Human Special Bloodline x Multi Fire Race Descendant

Marked as rejected by fire, and therefore rejected by the fateful, blazing balls of fire called stars, Tapha’s dreams of finding a lover who can see past the burn on her face have all but leveled to the bottom of her peddling wagon. She’ll wring the answers out of the nearest arsonist even if it kills her. But she never imagined she’d have to become an escort to do it. Caught between the nonchalant caring of a man scorned and the prospect that the man who took everything from her might be the one seducing her, Tapha must decide how long she can weather his touch to get answers, or whether she’s staying for another reason.

Working as a cremator to make a living by day, and beset at parties by disdainful rivals by night, Cassiem is dead-set on never compromising his hidden agenda in the star temple. That means no escorts. No stardust drugging. No acolyte assistants. But if he can help Tapha, an outsider, overcome her aversion to fire, she can infiltrate wherever he cannot. However, Tapha’s fiery nature is igniting a need in him that he hasn’t felt since his wife died. If rekindling his heart during the star convergence keeps threatening his grip on his already chaotic fire abilities, Tapha could easily become his next partner casualty instead of his salvation.

Key Tropes:

LIGHT-TO-DARK RELATIONSHIP SCALE: Give and Take, Make You Like It, Mutually Acknowledged Secrets

Heat Intensity: ▲▲▲▲▲
Percent of Story in High Heat: ▲▲▲▲

Wishe & Feme

Cheshire Cat Shifter x Human

Feme can take being walked all over, but one thing she knows for certain: No one can ever know she is a woman or where she comes from. Constantly outclassed and out-powered, Feme can’t afford for the rough and tumble crowd she travels with to see her as a commodity. When a Cheshire cat swaggers in on her most desperate hour with a wild grin, a practiced hand, and an infinite number of tricks up his sleeve, there’s no way someone that crazy wants her for keeps. But if she plays his game, winning even one round could be more dazzling than any chance in her life.

Wishe has brokered wishes and deals for a living for hundreds of years, and he knows an ice trophy of an opportunity when he sees one. A misfit who can’t even go by her real name is bound to bring loads of future deals, and all a Cheshire has to do is slip in at the right moment. But every time she loses to him, this tomboyish female who first seemed so gullible puts more of Wishe’s curious heart in the kitty. If he doesn’t weave a little of his magic into her, he might lose her instead of the deal.

Key Tropes:

LIGHT-TO-DARK RELATIONSHIP SCALE: Tricky, Truth Omission, DubCon, Winner Takes All

Heat Intensity: ▲▲▲▲▲
Percent of Story in High Heat: ▲▲▲▲

Tags: Wishe x Hoth, Cheshire Cat x Abominable Snowman

Prequel:

Tessa & Theodyne

{THEE-oh-DYE-n}

Human x Rock Dragon Hybrid

Tessa never stays in one place long enough to try out a relationship, and she certainly doesn’t go outside her species for one-night stands. But when a member of an unknown dragon sect wraps his tail a little too close around her heart, she might follow him to a tower and back when his rear needs saving.

Tracking earns Theodyne little love, and few females get warm and fuzzies from the idea of sleeping with a mineral dragon. Even worse, this human female bard is about to get him beaten senseless. Good thing her kisses are worth it.

Key Tropes:

LIGHT-TO-DARK RELATIONSHIP SCALE: Neutral

Heat Intensity: ▲▲▲▲▲
Percent of Story in High Heat: ▲▲▲

Tags: Tessa x Theo

Zaina & Kiran

Hippo Shifter x Hero

Blacksmithing isn’t the sexiest profession for a shifter who sweats red. Already in a protection-for-benefits arrangement with another shifter, Zaina isn’t looking for a romantic match, and the humans’ hero is the last friend-with-benefits she would ever choose. But when her work lands her in a tent with the hero for a week, it’s just a little too much fun to push his buttons. Even though the whole thing could get her killed by the end.

Kiran isn’t the hero of light everyone thinks he is, and his party is a harem of women he’d rather avoid. When the only woman with a hint of his secret doses him with a love potion to get in his pants, he’s not sure he wants to throw out the one person in his life who doesn’t want him to be a hero.

Key Tropes:

LIGHT-TO-DARK RELATIONSHIP SCALE: Neutral, DubCon

Heat Intensity: ▲▲▲▲▲
Percent of Story in High Heat: ▲▲▲▲▲

Labriella & Rrohm

Human x Legendary Beast Shifter Hybrid

From the moment she met him as a child, Rrohm was all Labriella could think about. Wild, free, and completely self-sufficient, he is everything she is not. When Rrohm appears out of nowhere to save her from the worst nights of her life, Labriella can see her one chance to grab hold of him and keep him in her life for good. But first, she must win his forgiveness and his frigid heart.

Of all the people who have passed through his immortal life, all who have abandoned him, Labriella is the one person Rrohm can label a traitor. Constantly taking a back seat to her temple, supervisor, new friends and suitors, he has only one objective: This oblivious female will realize what she left behind. Labriella is a magnet for trouble, and everything he does to keep her at a distance keeps forcing them closer together. If she succeeds in making him take her for his own, will she survive it, and what happens to the rest of the world?

Key Tropes:

LIGHT-TO-DARK RELATIONSHIP SCALE: Semi-Dark, Convince Me, Second Chance

Heat Intensity: ▲▲▲▲▲
Percent of Series in High Heat: ▲▲▲

Tags: Rome x Bre, Kit x Glade