Showing results by narrator "Daryl Mayfield" in All Categories

When Ciara attends the Intergalactic Medicine Symposium, the last thing she expects is to run into Kayog, an infallible empathic matchmaker, who declares he knows who her soulmate is. Her excitement at the prospect of meeting Amreth, a magnificent and powerful Obosian Hell Lord, is crushed when a pirate attack results in her near-death and abduction.

After rescuing Amy and dismantling the twisted experimentation lab, Xay and his team get honored as heroes. However, Cosmos Academy responds with brutal, individualized coaching—forcing them to confront their weaknesses and face the true scale of power within the Awakened World.

J.B. Clarke enrolled in college to earn his degree and find a steady job. What he got instead was an adventure in a secret underworld where vampires rule over all. Emma Rose, a friendly gamer who turns out to be a succubus, recruits him into Broken Fang, an overly ambitious team of monster girls. These lovely ladies know they’ll need help if they’re to stand a chance against the vampires, and they’re looking for a few good men. Well, one man, actually. And that’s him.

The Awakened aren’t just humanity’s last defense against the monsters—they’re celebrities, flush with power, status, and wealth. Xay had always dreamed of becoming the strongest—fighting epic battles and living a fast-paced life of adventure. But when the Awakened System assigned him a skill from the Artificer Sphere, his dreams seemed out of reach. Until his unknown Bloodline manifested—granting him the ability to bond with other Awakened and transfigure their essence into weapons.

I came to the House of Night broken, barely breathing, barely me. Now I’m waiting in the crypts for the events that will change everything. First, The Baron Hunt. And, second, my arranged marriage to the King. I spent my youth being groomed under the watchful eye of my uncle, preparing for the day I united our families. My uncle wants to be tied to Royalty. The Baron King? He wants more than a bride. He wants secrets.

Having always done what is expected of her, Mila dresses the part, only dates college boys with exemplary backgrounds, and doesn’t ask questions. Not about her papa’s absences or his refusal to let her set foot in her birthplace - Russia. Suffocated by the rules and unanswered questions, Mila does what she’s always wanted to. She boards a plane to Moscow. She never expected to fall for a man on the way. One with unexplained wealth, tattoos on his hands, and secrets in his eyes. But it doesn’t take long for his caress to become a rough grasp muffling her screams.

These stories and more are featured in the third short story anthology for the System Apocalypse, continuing the saga of survival in a world transformed by the arrival of the System. Humanity has adapted to a new reality filled with Classes, magic and monsters, but the struggle for life, love and purpose never ends. This anthology brings together gripping tales from returning authors and two new short stories by Tao Wong.

No pity. Trust no one. Keep it moving. My name is Sheena May, and those are my rules. With secrets worth killing for, I'll do whatever it takes to avoid being caged again. That's why I can't stop running, even if it means I never find out why I have these powers. When fate drags me back into the magical world kicking and screaming, I'm torn between a demon I can't resist and a shifter who tells me we belong together. They promise me things I've never dared to want, but my secrets remain my own.

Magic powers? His own mech? A whole airship of gorgeous women desperate for his genes? Yes, please! Paralyzed by a drunk driver, let go from his job, and stuck in a sad, stagnant town in the middle of nowhere, Joseph Locke was having the worst day of his life. And then he died. But considering that he wakes up with a brand new body, in the cockpit of a badass steampunk robot, on an airship of nothing but hot babes, his next life may not be all that bad. Especially when he learns that he’s a void mage—the rarest and most powerful of all mages on the world of Haven.

Arden gave everything he had to rise as a guild adventurer, pushing his warrior training and artificer talents to their limits. His dream: becoming the best in the empire. But for four soul-crushing years, his Rank 0 Epiphany remained locked at 99 percent.

Azra A.Z. Matthews is a business major at Blake University and part of Phi Rho fraternity. A.Z. was raised in the suburbs by a successful father and doting mother. His sister also attends Blake University and is premed. Once A.Z. ventures off to college, he discovers a world vastly different from the one he was raised in. A.Z. discovers a sense of freedom and the ability to do him without being under the scrutinizing eye of his parents. Even though he enjoys his freedom, A.Z. doesn't do too much with the partying and living his best life because he still has his eyes on the prize.

After thousands of people suddenly vanish from Earth, former gymnast Jade Callian finds herself thrust into an endless dungeon filled with magic, monsters, and far too few instructions. When Jade receives a mortal wound soon after her arrival in this new world, she is forced to pick a new race that has the power to save her. There's just one problem: Her only choice is to turn into a succubus.

The clock is ticking for Earth, and in more ways than one. Dangerous monsters are pouring out of the Labyrinth, dimensional events scour resources from the land, and beneath it all, demonic plots begin to bear fruit. Facing all this as a succubus wasn’t Jade’s first choice, it didn’t even make the list, but that ship has sailed. If she wants to save the world, she’ll have to leverage every advantage: Shape changing, seductive charm, and all the bonuses that come from wearing embarrassingly revealing armor.

It’s been three months since Axel Hunter Radcliff fell through a magic portal into another world of dangerous monsters. Hailing from a family of Chosen Ones, he’s trained his whole life to be a hero. He just didn’t expect destiny to involve taming monster girls into semi-civilized adventurers.

As a third daughter on the farming colony of Meterion, Susan’s future prospects aren’t too promising. A pretty face, top-notch skills, and hard work mean nothing if your dowry doesn’t include fertile lands. With her 25th birthday approaching, and no suitors, her only way out is to settle for an arranged marriage through the PMA - the Prime Mating Agency. She just never expected to be paired with a grumpy, massive lizardman, and above all not to grow so fond of his scales and quirky ways.

After decades of violence, the war pitting the human colony on Cibbos against the Yurus tribe has finally ended. Lara never expected that peace between their species would lead to a romantic entanglement with one of their former enemies. Resembling a cross between an orc and a minotaur, Wonjin looks nothing like how Lara had imagined a potential mate. And yet, she cannot deny the attraction she feels.

Axel Hunter Radcliff has trained his whole life to be a hero. Once every generation, someone in his family is called upon to be a Chosen One, and Axel’s prepared himself extensively, just in case it’s him. He just wasn't prepared for the portal. Now he's in another world brimming with dangerous monsters beneath a sky full of magic portals ... and with no idea what he's been summoned to do. All he knows is that every Chosen Radcliff has been aided by a support staff of skilled women.

When Venus embarked on a luxury cruise, she never expected to rescue a young Promethean demigod—or that he’d bind her as his guardian. Now stranded on his primitive planet, she agrees to a temporary marriage of convenience to Atlas, the Commander of the Black Guard, in exchange for protection against those hellbent on seizing control of the youngling in her care. Against all odds, she finds herself falling for the sweet and honorable Atlas—antennae, scales, wings and all.

Rihanna is condemned to a 20-year sentence on the most savage prison planet in the sector for a crime she didn’t commit. On the day of her transfer, she’s offered a deal to commute her sentence: an arranged marriage with a grumpy orc-minotaur, who has muscles for days, devilish red eyes, and an insufferably smart mouth. Despite his species’ reputation for being violent brutes, Rihanna soon finds herself drawn to the gentle giant that lurks beneath his terrifying appearance.

J.B. Clarke and the lovely ladies of Broken Fang have won their first victory against the vampires who secretly rule the world. But their fight is far from over. To defeat the vampires once and for all, they’ll need to rally powerful allies to their cause. But before they can do that, they need to make a name for themselves amongst the hidden underworld of monsters, mages, and vampire slayers.