This is a 45,000-word novella He’s on a Quest for Justice Her Secrets are his Only Hope When mage investigative reporter Rick Moore gets the unexpected chance to clear his father’s name, it looks like a dream come true. But there’s a price. He must first uncover the truth about the mage world’s most wanted fugitive. Caroline Dare knows her beloved brother had a reason for killing a member of the mages’ governing council. Real heroes don’t go rogue on a whim. Burned by shady reporters, she pours her devastating worry for him into her fabric art career and maintains stony silence about him. But when her art is panned as a fraud because she’s blind, she’s forced to seek help from Rick, a man she knows only as a sexy arts writer. Helping beautiful, determined Caroline prove her art is her own gets Rick inside her well tended walls. But as he wins her trust, he finds he’s losing his heart. Now he has a choice—give up his dream or betray the woman he loves.

"Not. Dead. Yet." panted Valeria Banning behind a sour-tasting gag. She still had half a chance to survive." The Collegium Council sheriff for SE US follows the rules. Mage Griffin, sworn to protect innocents from dark magic, breaks rules. Together, they run for their lives - from the law, the threat of a ghoul takeover, and a possible Collegium mole.

When firefighter and paramedic Edie Lang arrives to battle a wildfire in southeast Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, she's dismayed to encounter the man who ruined her life in just one night. Their reunion doesn't make helicopter pilot Josh Campbell any happier than Edie is. Despite their efforts to ignore each other, the sparks between them have not diminished, but neither intends to let them flare again. When one of them is gravely injured, the two discover their passion runs deeper than either of them could have imagined and they have Dr. Stefan Harper to thank for that chance. Dr. Harper is happy to have given the couple a second chance, but realizes through Josh and Edie, as well as his good friends Val and Griff, that what's missing from his life is love.

Camellia "Mel" Wray is an FBI agent, investigating the murder of her former music teacher, a woman she considered a dear friend. Dr. Stefan Harper is the medical expert called in to identify the strange substance found in the blood of the victim. Years ago, as students, Stefan and Mel were lovers—until Stefan's secrets destroyed their relationship. Stefan is not only a doctor but secretly a mage, and Mel can't abide even the suggestion of anything "woo-woo" because of the ridicule she suffered as a child over her mother's New Age beliefs and wacky behavior. Stefan lost his childhood best friend when the boy saw Stefan performing magic, and terrified, ran into the path of a car and was killed. Knowing how Mel felt about magic, and still guilt-ridden over the death of his friend, he never told her of his abilities. Now Stefan has to find a way to make Mel accept not only the reality of magic but its dangers. The murderer they seek isn't going to stop with one victim. Even if Mel believes Stefan, will the truth destroy the love tentatively blooming between them?

A Woman Tormented by Darkness Archaeologist Audra Grayson hopes the dig in the Okefenokee Swamp will save her career. But that hope is dashed when she finds out-of-place relics and brilliant, sexy consultant Will Davis comes to investigate her for fraud. Worse, working on the site strengthens the evil shadow that has haunted her since childhood, and she knows he will think she’s crazy and unfit for the job. A Mage Who Must Oppose it At All Costs Mage Will Davis senses the darkness in Audra when they meet. Wondering whether she’s in league with dark forces, he vows to ignore his growing attraction to her. Then deadly ghouls target her dig, and Will discovers they want the ancient bronze pieces to open a portal for demons from the Void between worlds. If they succeed, everything on Earth is an endangered species. A Fateful Choice With ghoul attacks escalating and mage traitors in league with the enemy, time is running out for Will to stop the portal from opening. The chemistry between him and Audra threatens to combust, but the darkness within her may give the enemy its chance. Must Will choose between the fate of the world and the love of his life?

Tiny Treats is a multi-author collection of holiday-themed micro-stories. These are tales that can be read in their entirety in only a handful of minutes. The stories are submitted by dozens of authors who often set them in the larger worlds of their other books. Stories and Authors in the collection: Mistletoe Cowboy by Trish Milburn An Ugly Sweater Christmas by Heather McGovern Close to Perfect by Suzanne Ferrell To Santa with Love by Lindsey Brookes A Perfect Party by Anna Sugden The Miracle of the Child by Bridget Hodder Mistletoe Magic by D.B. Sieders On This Christmas Day by Natalie J. Damschroder Fashionably Late for Christmas by Tanya Michaels A SEAL’s Proposal by Tawny Weber White Christmas Pizza by Donna MacMeans The Christmas Before Hell Froze Over by Sally Kilpatrick Snowflake by Monica McCabe An Unexpected Guest by Beth Pattillo New Year’s Magic by Jody Wallace Giving Thanks by Jeanette Grey A Holiday Miracle by Michelle Monkou A Bluestone Christmas Homecoming by M.J. Fredrick Haintsgiving by Maureen Hardegree All She Wants for Christmas by Janice Lynn The Solstice Ball by Nancy Northcott Zombie of Good Cheer by Gretchen Stull Snow and Ghosts by Nicki Salcedo A Candle in the Window by Dorien Kelly In Which Miss Gardella Receives Three Gifts by Colleen Gleason A Miracle for Molly by Trish Milburn

(Note: This is a short story with six chapters. A condensed version of the first chapter appeared in the Tiny Treats: A Holiday Collection anthology.) CAN A BOOKWORM AND A BADASS FIND LOVE? Mage teacher Peri Lee came from a neighborhood so rough that she worried each day about whether her mom would make it home from work safely. All that is behind her now, and she wants a quiet, predictable life. So when big, tough Deputy Shire Reeve Roland Wade asks her out, she turns him down. With his linebacker’s build, broken nose, and badass manner, he reminds her too much of the thugs who lurked in the area where she grew up. Books aren’t Roland’s thing, but petite, smart Peri has a spark that draws him. Just when he thinks his cause is hopeless, until battling an attack by ghouls, the mages’ deadly enemies, on the bus carrying Peri and her class shows her a different side of him. Still, his job puts him in danger and causes her the same worry she knew as a child. She isn’t sure she can take it, and he isn’t sure he should put her through it. Will the strain be too much for their relationship, or will magic and mistletoe help them find their way to each other?

A Light Mage Wars Short Story A Heart Scarred by Loss Who knew that the small town of Wayfarer, Georgia, was freaking Christmas Central? Accountant Jenny Bridges, haunted by the Christmas Eve death of her twin sister, plans to ignore the twinkling lights and festivities and focus on her new job, which she desperately needs. Her boss, however, insists that Jenny help her hunky neighbor across the street—who just happens to be a mage like she is—with the town’s annual holiday carnival. A Magic Man Deputy Mike McLean loves Christmas. Every wreath, every colored bulb, every ho, ho, ho. Each December for decades, his family has hosted the town's annual charity carnival at their old Victorian home, and this year his pretty new neighbor adds extra zing. Lo and behold, she’s a mage, too, but as the attraction between them sparkles like the lights on the holiday trees, Jenny sees it, and him, as a betrayal of her sister’s memory. A Season for Miracles What Jenny doesn’t know is that along with holiday spirit and magical gifts, Mike has patience in spades. Can the hope of the season heal her wounded soul, and make the kind of magic that lasts forever?

He Wants A Second Chance at Love She Fears Her Secrets Will Drive Him Away When Carter and Tasha served together in the US Navy, regs forced them to ignore the heat sizzling between them. Then his hardnosed, unbendable approach to the rules ended her promising naval career. But when ghouls target Tasha, Carter marches back into her world, all his iron determination now focused on saving her life—and on the chemistry that burns hot as ever. Older and wiser, Tasha forgives him for putting duty first years ago, but he can never learn the truth. He's the golden boy of a political family, and her past is mired in the kind of dirt that sticks. He’s hell bent on gaining her trust, but will her secret past destroy their last chance at love?

Is the Guy Next Door Just a Friend? Or Is He Exactly What She’s Been Looking For? When deputy shire reeve GiGi Gonzales goes home for Christmas, her sister suggests that GiGi and the guy next door, Matt Giordano, could be more than friends. GiGi initially dismisses the unsettling idea but can’t stop thinking about it. Matt thinks GiGi is something special, but his role as his family’s fixer doesn’t leave much time for a social life. Besides, if they cross that line and the relationship fizzles, they could lose a friendship they both consider irreplaceable. If they don’t try, though, they’ll never know whether they could’ve built a life together. Can magical Christmas kisses lead to a lifetime of love? Or will stepping out of the friend zone doom the trust they treasure?