It’s time.

Evil is running rampant and sweet Anna Whitt is its target. Nobody knows when or how the Dukes will strike, but Anna and her Nephilim allies will do anything necessary to rid the earth of the demons and their oppressive ways.

The stakes are higher than ever, and Anna is determined that the love she feels will be her strength, not a liability. But trying to protect the ones she loves while running for her life and battling demonic forces proves to be perilous—especially as faces are changing and trust is fleeting. When the Duke of Lust sends Anna’s great love, Kaidan Rowe, to work against her, Anna must decide how much she’s prepared to risk.

In the most sensual and fast-paced installment yet, Sweet Reckoning brings all the beloved Neph together one last time to fight for their freedom.

Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it’s been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems besides the point now.

Maybe that was always besides the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn’t expect to him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts . . .

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

Pink Balloons

Prologue:

I pull the collar of my shirt up to my eyes and wipe them again. I know how much Miss Irene hates it when I do that. She says it stretches the collars of my tops and ruins the shirts. I don’t want to ruin all the nice shirts she bought me, so I’ve been trying not to cry as much as I used to. I quickly glance up at her, hoping she didn’t notice, but she just smiles and squeezes my hand.

“Now Olivia, you knew when you came to stay with me that this was only temporary. I’m getting too old to keep foster children and I hadn’t planned on taking any more at all before you came along.“ She bends down and puts her arms around me. I automatically tense up like I do every time she hugs me. I’ve been here three months and, although I’m still not used to it, I’ve received more hugs in these three months than I have in my entire ten years.

“I knew it was only until they could find me somewhere else to live again, Miss Irene. I was just…I was hoping you would change your mind.” I sit down on the bed behind me and fold my hands in my lap. The fingernail polish on my thumb is already starting to chip. When Miss Irene painted them last weekend, I couldn’t decide which color to choose, there were so many. She told me that sometimes the best choice is when you choose all the choices. So that’s what I chose. All of them. Each one of my nails is painted a different color, just like a rainbow.

Except now that rainbow is chipping.

“Olivia,” she says, lowering her voice. She sits beside me on the bed and lifts her hand to my chin, pulling my focus to hers. “I’ve been completely honest with you since the moment we met, haven’t I? I’m moving in with my daughter now so she can help take care of me. I’m getting too old to take care of myself, much less you.“

I nod and try to appear understanding. She has been honest with me, I just didn’t expect to…love her. I try to turn away from her but she places her palm against my cheek and refocuses my attention back in her direction.

“Remember, Olivia, you need to be strong.” She lays her hand over my heart, looks me in the eyes and says, “You need to be strong in here.” She moves her hand up to my temple and taps it. “And especially in here. Your happiness isn’t determined by where or who you live with. Happiness comes from within you, and only you can control that. No one else.”

I squeeze my eyes shut as soon as I feel the tears building. Her arms go around me again, and I melt into her. “I’m scared,” I cry into her shirt. “I’m so scared. What if they don’t like me? What if they don’t want to keep me? What if I just keep getting moved from family to family like I have been all year?”

She continues to hug me and strokes her hand across my hair. The feel of her hands against my head instantly comforts me. I’ve never felt as secure in my whole life as I do when she strokes my hair. I wish my mother would have done that. I don’t ever remember her touching my hair. If I ever have kids, I’m going to make sure I stroke their hair every single day of their life.

“Oh, Olivia,” she says, squeezing me tighter. Her voice cracks when she says my name, so I instinctively pull back and look up at her. She’s crying, too. I’ve never seen her cry before. Her expression softens and she smiles at me, then pulls out the collar of her own shirt and wipes her tears away. It makes me giggle, seeing her do the very thing that she tells me not to do. When she realizes what she just did, she laughs, too.

“You see? “ she says, smiling. “That right there is why I don’t worry about you. The fact that you find the positive in every situation. That right there is why you shouldn’t worry about you, either.” She takes my hands in hers and brings her face down level to mine. “You have been dealt a very tough hand in life, Olivia King. A very tough hand. But you know what? Instead of spending the rest of your life complaining about the hand you were dealt, you are the type of person who will spend the rest of your life feeling lucky that you were even dealt a hand. And that, my dear, is what makes you so special.”

Sometimes the things Miss. Irene says don’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but I try to remember them anyway. For some reason, everything she says seems important, so I repeat her words in the back of my mind.

“I’m going to miss you so much, Olivia. So, so much. But as much as I’ll miss you, I’m not going to worry about you. I know for a fact that you’ll be just fine.” She stands and picks up my suitcase. She holds out her hand, gesturing her head toward the bedroom door, indicating it’s time to leave.

I don’t know why I believe her, but I do. No matter what happens or where I go from here, I’m going to be just fine. I know I will.

Miss Irene said so.

I kissed her, pressing my lips to hers, working at the seam of her mouth until she opened, allowing me in. The taste of her skin had sparked a fire deep inside me, but the feel of her warm mouth ignited a blazing fire. I couldn’t get enough of her lips, of her kisses or the soft, breathy sounds she was making.

I groaned as I slid my hand out from underneath her, guiding her onto her back. Her body immediately stiffened, and I knew I needed to tone it down. The last thing I wanted was to scare her.

God, that was the last thing.

Cupping her cheek, I softly kissed her until her body relaxed under mine and then, shocking the hell out of me, her small hand ended up under my shirt, pressing against the bare skin of my abs.

It was like being branded.

Heat roared through my veins as my body jerked on reflex. Air punched from my lungs. She wanted to touch me? Holy hell, she could touch me. I pulled back, reached down and yanked my shirt over my head.

Avery’s mouth parted as her gaze moved over my chest, the tattoo, and then down. It was like a touch, but better. My body was burning to feel hers.

I tugged the comforter down and planted my hands on either side of her head, tangling them in her hair. There was a primal part that took over when her hands flattened over the lower part of my stomach. My entire body tightened.

I dropped my forehead to hers. “You have no idea what you do to me.”

The day Ella has waited for is just around the corner. It’s the day she’ll marry Micha, the love of her life, the light that guided her out of the darkness. It looks like it will be the perfect Christmas-until an unexpected package arrives with a harsh reminder of Ella’s past. Suddenly Ella doesn’t feel as confident about her future. Can she really have a “happily-ever-after” if she’s never even seen one?

Micha will stand by Ella no matter what she’s going through-though he worries that she might leave him standing at the altar again. When he’s offered a once-in-a-lifetime chance to tour with his favorite bands for three months, Micha knows he can’t leave Ella behind. But can he ask her to uproot her life to join him on the road?

Now Ella and Micha must find a way to balance their fears, their dreams, and their love . . . if they ever want to hear wedding bells.