Taming the Beast: Eleven Paranormal Romances Read online

  Taming the Beast

  Alyse Zaftig

  Jacqueline Sweet

  Holley Trent

  Kim Fox

  Scarlett Grove

  Kit Fawkes

  Olivia Arran

  Tessa Rowan

  J. M. Klaire

  Amanda Jones

  Cynthia Fox

  Contents

  Introduction

  I. The Half-Bear’s Honey

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  II. Booty and the Beast

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Epilogue

  III. Beauty and the Bad Bearlionaire

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  IV. Baylee and the Beasts

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  V. Her Dragon Temptation

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Epilogue

  VI. Beauty & the Viking

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  VII. Dragon Untamed

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  VIII. The Cursed Werebear Prince

  1. Farewell

  2. Return

  3. Physician

  4. Carriage Ride

  5. Wedding

  6. First Time

  7. Sore

  8. Awoken

  9. Upstairs

  10. Nosebleed

  11. Roasted Chicken

  12. Wizard

  13. Loving

  14. Unspoken

  15. Stew

  16. Rescue

  17. Left Behind

  18. Inn

  19. Coachman

  20. Reclaiming

  21. Welcome

  IX. Beauty Is The Beast

  1. Belle

  2. Belle

  3. Gastard

  4. Belle

  5. Belle

  6. Gastard

  7. Belle

  8. Belle

  9. Gastard

  10. Belle

  11. Belle

  X. The Rogue and the Rose

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  XI. Beast Lightning

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Epilogue

  Introduction

  Baylee and the Beasts by Kit Fawkes

  When Baylee answers an ad to restore the library at an old estate, it’s a way to escape her obsessive ex. She doesn’t expect to find two handsome men waiting to seduce her. Duncan and Nick, her bosses, are sexy and charismatic, but it’s clear they’re hiding something from her. Why does she never see them after dark, and what about the beasts that wander their land at night? Unraveling the mystery will either leave her in grave danger or lead her to twice the happily ever after.

  Beast Lightning by Cynthia Fox

  The Earthlings have arrived. There goes the neighborhood. Unfortunately for Vizalia’s human residents, their new atmosphere is trying to kill them. Madeleine will do whatever it takes to save her family, even if it means heading straight into the belly of the beasts and working for the planet’s largest, scaliest inhabitants.

  Dragon shifter Javelin saved a group of human settlers from certain death and all he got out of it was an injured wing and a lousy nickname, Beast Lightning. Now the males in his tribe need human mates to save their species. Will he find true love and fly again?

  Beauty and the Viking by Holley Trent

  The return of magic to the Afótama people has infiltrated the underground Vikings in Fallon, Nevada, and the rich, reclusive Andreas Toft is its newest casualty. His family’s curse has reawakened, and now Andreas has new reasons to hide. He can’t control his transformations into a beast, nor remember who he is once he’s shifted. When paralegal Mary Nissen tracks him down for a witness interview, she expects some opposition from the eccentric man. She doesn’t, however, anticipate him abducting her.

  Andreas fears that once the secret of what he is gets out, the locals will kill him. Mary’s not like the others, though. She celebrates the return of magic to their people, and wants to help him. But if Andreas can’t trust that she has his best interests at heart, he’ll end up not only gambling with danger as a lone wolf. He’ll alienate the woman his animal half has claimed for a mate, as well.

  Booty and the Beast by Kim Fox

  Bella is ignoring the advice of everyone that she knows and is moving into the forest for two months to study the sleepy owl, and hopefully get an A+ on her dissertation paper. But she’ll find more than just owls in the deep dark woods.

  Logan is not an ordinary bear shifter. His furious bear cannot be trusted around humans so he has banished himself to the woods forever.

  When Bella comes trespassing by will she meet Logan the man, or Logan the beast?

  Beauty and the Bad Bearlionaire by Scarlett Grove

  The last thing Matilda Swank wants is to go back to work for her mom at Fate Mountain Cleaning, but if she wants to save money for college, she doesn't have any other options.

  Billionaire James Hill is a grumpy bear with a bad habit. He needs a cleaning lady to take care of his estate, but when Matilda shows up at his door, he finds himself consumed by his inner demons.

  Can Matilda help James clean up his act and solve the mystery of Fate Mountain's notorious haunted mansion?

  Her Dragon Temptation by Olivia Arran

  Faye is a woman on a mission. As an accountant it’s not often she gets to travel to new and exciting places, but since accepting employment with the Shifter Council life has been full of surprises. Like a certain big, brooding dragon shifter she’s been sent to audit. She’s read Bastian’s file and knows his secrets, but the Shifter Council failed to mention one important thing: the man looks like a fallen angel and has a body built for sin.

  Alpha dragon shifter Bastian Jewelcrest needs an heir, so therefore he needs a mate. He’s not picky, he doesn’t expect—or want—a love match. He’s looking for a mutu
ally beneficial business arrangement. Then he meets gorgeous, human Faye and his carefully thought out plans go up in flames. She’s his true mate, but he has to resist temptation. He’s broken and she deserves so much more than he has to give. Like love.

  Dragon Untamed by Tessa Rowan

  Ella's had it with the drama and migraines that come from being a telepath, and desperately in need of some quiet, she takes time off to visit the lush and beautiful highlands of Scotland. Far from prying eyes, she's able to hear herself think for once.

  Enjoying her solidarity a little too much, Ella gets lost in the dark moors at night, cold and miles away from town. Hoping she can make it on her own, she's relieved to find help in the tantalizing form of Bram, a brooding yet handsome stranger who reluctantly helps her out. She's can't stop thinking about him, especially after he invites her to stay the night...Will she be able to tame the beast that's living deep inside Bram?

  Against his own rules, Bram gives the beautiful Ella a place to stay for the night. He has as little to do with humans as possible, but as soon as his dragon catches her scent, it's in a hurry to brand her and make her his. Bram doesn't want any part of finding a mate, not after the disaster that happened last time. But he knows that Ella's different and ends up finding out that sometimes...you've got to give into the beast's most deepest desires.

  The Cursed Werebear Prince by Alyse Zaftig

  When Cateline’s father goes on a trip, like usual, she doesn’t expect him to come home sick and near death. When she realizes the bargain that he’s made, she’s horrified. But the prince demands that she come. If she doesn’t, her father will die.

  She agrees to go, but the castle holds more secrets than she imagined.

  Beauty Is The Beast by J. M. Klaire

  When Belle's father walks in on her and Gastard doing the dirty, curses abound. Belle is cursed to become a shifter beast, bound to the manor, and separated from her one true love. At least her dad kept the help though, right? Well, kind of.

  Gastard has his own problems, but still spends every day trying to get back to his Beauty, curse or no curse.

  When the pair reunites, spells clash. Can they break her father's inventive curses, or are they all doomed to spend forever-after in their uniquely beastly forms?

  The Rogue and the Rose by Amanda Jones

  Rose hated herself. Why shouldn’t she? After what had happened, anyone would. So she hid, and lied, and pretended everything was all right. But nothing would ever be all right again.

  Then he was there, and he wouldn’t go away. No matter what she said or how she acted, he stuck around. He wanted her.

  But he had a secret, one that could destroy her even more than she had been already. What would she do when she realized he had gone rogue?

  The Half-Bear’s Honey by Jacqueline Sweet

  On the run from a corrupt politician, librarian Rose Weston gets lost in the mountains outside Bearfield. An abandoned cottage beckons her with a promise of safety, at least for one night, but a beast lurks in the woods. A monster by night and a man by day, Liam Half-Bear stays in the shadows. He knows that if Rose saw his true face she'd run fast and far, but he can't help himself from hoping. The librarian and the cursed shifter spark an unlikely romance, in the unlikeliest of places.

  Part I

  The Half-Bear’s Honey

  Jacqueline Sweet

  Chapter 1

  “Please, someone help me!” Rose Weston shouted into the forest, but there was no one around. She was well and truly screwed this time.

  She’d driven off the road. The rain was hard and unrelenting and the old dirt roads had gone to mud. So here she was, somewhere in the wild forest west of Poppy Valley and east of the coast. Miles from anywhere. Huge trees loomed up out of the fog, leaning over the narrow road as if they were impatient to reclaim it for their own. When she’d skid, she had managed to avoid hitting one of the massive trees head-on, but the brambles that grew dense at their base had ripped up both tires on the passenger side of her car.

  She had one spare tire and knew how to change it. But who carried two spares? Nobody. She was screwed.

  Rose tried her phone, but she had no service at all.

  The moon hung full and bright above her, shining between the clouds, painting the muddy road in silver and throwing deep shadows in the forest. Rain hammered her car roof like fists banging on a door.

  “I drove off the road,” she said out loud, as if the wilderness was listening. Her voice sounded small and thin, all sound devoured by the clatter outside. “That was not very smart, was it Rose?”

  Her face felt hot and sticky and her nerves burned with the post-adrenaline rush of the crash. She touched her forehead and it was wet and sore. Rose closed her eyes and wiped her fingers on her jeans. There’d be blood on them, and she had always been terrible with blood. Just thinking about it made her dizzy and seeing it—seeing her own actual blood?—she would faint dead. It’s why, despite her parents’ pleas, she dropped out of medical school and instead took the remarkably bloodless path of becoming a librarian.

  There was very little blood-induced fainting in library school. Her parents—a surgeon and a health policy specialist—had been profoundly disappointed. “You’ll get used to it,” they said. “You just need more exposure to blood,” they said.

  “Hell no,” Rose replied.

  It was a cold night in Northern California. The wind pushed the rain almost horizontal, making Rose’s umbrella all but useless. As soon as she exited the car, a clammy dampness sank into Rose’s bones. She found the first aid kit in her trunk and blotted her forehead with sterile gauze. She had to do it with her eyes closed and the skin throbbed with even the lightest touch. Eventually she decided to wrap the gauze around her head mummy-style, and to pull a knit cap on over it to keep it all in place. All while hugging her umbrella to her chest.

  On an ordinary night, she could have huddled in her car and wrapped herself in a blanket and waited out the storm before looking for help. But it wasn’t an ordinary night. Rose was being pursued and waiting in the car was not an option.

  “Now where am I?” she asked, as if the trees would pull out a map and tell her.

  She’d been driving on the backroads, the narrow roads that no one but the hermits and the loggers used. She hoped that he wouldn’t find her this way. Ronald Parker had friends everywhere—no, not friends—goons. Lackeys. Associates. He was the mayor’s son and every door opened to his toothy smile. How long did she have before one of his cronies traced her cell signal? Or pulled up traffic cameras? When they failed to find any sign of her on the highways, would they come this way? She chose the west roads precisely because she’d never been down them before. No one from Poppy Valley ever drove west. West meant Bearfield, and everyone in Poppy Valley knew that Bearfield was where the monsters lived.

  She’d skirted south around the town of Bearfield, avoiding the tourist roads that plunged into its heart. But the roads she’d chose were narrow and steep and winding. They maneuvered through valleys and around mountains in one monotonous swerve. And Rose had never been good at night driving. Even with her high-beams on, it was hard to see. Her mother had suggested once that it was night blindness, and that Rose shouldn’t be behind a wheel at all after dark.

  She was probably right.

  Rose stuffed her pockets with anything useful from her car’s trunk: a road flare, a protein bar, a travel-sized pack of tissues, and an old flashlight no larger than a tube of lipstick. She also took the tire iron and tucked it into her belt. She had no idea what she could use it against, but it seemed comforting nonetheless to have something weapon-ish, in case she stumbled on a bear or a mountain lion or one of those narco-traffickers that everyone swore had secret grow operations deep in the forests.

  Sure, she’d probably get one good swing in before the bear or lion or drug-runners got her. It wouldn’t be much, but at least it’d be something.

  Which was basically the story of her life.
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  “I can see it now,” Rose said to the trees. “On my tombstone it’ll say it wasn’t much, but it was something. Or maybe She went down swinging. I could live with that. Or die with that, I guess.”

  No, if she died out here, they’d never find the body. She’d be one of those women who just went missing one day and everyone would wonder if she’d ran off to something better or if she’d fallen prey to one of the hidden darknesses of the world.