Who said finding the remaining five protectors was going to be easy? As it turns out, it's going take more than I ever thought possible. It's going to take an oracle with some kick-ass gifts and a plan to even locate him or her. I just hope I can do it before its too late. The Final Five is a bridge novelette spanning across Carissa Andrews' fiction worlds of Oracle and the upcoming world from Awakening bridging the two together.

"Happily Ever After" wasn't supposed to come with a do-over option. But when my husband of 20 years packs up and heads for greener pastures, and my son heads away to college, that's exactly what my midlife becomes. A do-over. This time, though, I plan to do things differently. Age is just a number, after all, and at 40 I'm ready to carve my own path. Eager for a fresh start, I make a somewhat unorthodox decision and move to a tiny town in the Sierra foothills.

No one should live day-to-day just to exist. It only took an invite from a person I’ve never met to a place I didn’t know existed to tempt me to walk…no, run away from everything I knew. How sad is it when I’m the last one to see that my crappy life needs a do-over? Starting over in my midlife wasn’t exactly the plan. But with the discovery that I actually have an aunt I never knew existed, magic is real, humans can turn into animals, and there might even be a real freaking dragon living in Guardian Lake—I can’t help but hope there has to be a better life waiting for me.

Tate is not the sort of neighbor you can ignore. Especially when he walks around half naked for all the world to see. I can't help that I got a weak spot for bad boys. But that was before I became a single mom, and I’m not so weak anymore. Besides, Tate lights my temper without even trying, and I swear he enjoys teasing me. Well, two can play at that game, and I think it’s time someone teaches him a lesson.

As the adopted and weakest member of my pack, I’ve always been an outcast and mistreated, especially since I've never been able to shift into my animal form. Every time I try to find a way to escape my personal hell, my pack leader stops me, vowing that I'll never be free from him.

To grandmother’s house I go, though I want nothing to do with magic or my former life. Especially not after being kicked out of the Fairy Fine Arts Academy. But when I find a dangerous, heavily scarred wolf shifter in my grandma’s bedroom, the fragile human lifestyle I've built from scratch is suddenly at stake. Magic, chaos, and my past is charging at me like a raging ogre on pixie sticks. My grandma is nowhere to be found, and I’m being hunted.

Sparrow “Ro” Meadowcroft is about to get the promotion she’s always dreamed of–curator of the museum where she works. She loves old things and the history that surrounds them, so when a patron leaves some items to the museum, Ro is eager to dig in. The sword in the stone that comes with those items is clearly a joke. A well-made but obvious replica meant to be a conversation starter. Why anyone would think that belonged in the museum is beyond her, but she can’t resist taking a crack at it and finding out if she’s the chosen one. And as it turns out...she is.

Stormy “Breeze” Morgan was living the high life until her dreams came crashing down around her and she lost her book contract. With nothing left to do—and no money in her bank account—she’s forced to return to the family business, a diner in Northern Lower Michigan. Stormy never thought she would have to work with her family again, and it’s just as horrific as she expected. Things only get worse when, after a night of drinking with her cousin, a family Ouija board leads to a burst of magic and Stormy wakes floating over her bed the next morning.

Luna Thorn’s past is a mystery...even to herself. She arrived in Detroit amid a swirl of lights and magic. She had no memory of where she came from. No idea why she was there. Years later, she’s established herself as a force to be reckoned with on the Detroit magical scene. She ingratiated herself with the local reapers. She set up a community called the Cathedral to help those who had been displaced from their homes and families, declaring that nobody would fall through the cracks. Still, doubt remains.

Ten years ago, I "died", and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I should have known it wouldn't last. Once my family thought I was dead I was finally free to live. Until the day my brother walks into my tiny book shop....

On the worst birthday of my life, I come home to find my boyfriend in bed with another woman. Within hours, I’m drunk, homeless, and pledging to stay single forever. And that is when the dangerously sexy Seelie King rolls through town, looking for fae like me. Every generation, the king holds a competition for Seelie queen. But for reasons he won’t explain, Torin is looking for a charade, not a real marriage. So when I drunkenly sling insults his way, I have his attention.

My name's Lyra Ridley, and I run headlong into supernatural danger for a living. When a criminal has magic too dangerous to merely lock up, we send them to a blackout prison. Hell would've been a better destination for this guy. As a lowly cop in the LVMPD's Rapid Response unit, I'm used to dealing with all kinds of dumpster-fire scenarios, from drunk salamanders on a building-melting bender and angry manticore landlords threatening to eat tenants' gallbladders in lieu of payment to human summoners calling up monsters from the deep to impress their girlfriends to name a few.

After my nightmarish past, starting fresh should be a dream come true. But when my father’s death leaves me on the run, I have no choice but to seek shelter with the only family I have left: an uncle I’ve never even met.

It wasn’t until I lost everything—my home, my marriage, even my career—that I started to wonder if our “family curse” might be more than an unfortunate turn of phrase. Now turning forty-five, the age at which every woman in my family dies, I need answers not only for myself but for my two daughters. And I’ll see every specialist in the country if that’s what it takes. But when a lifelong friend discovers a link between my strange family history and an abandoned estate, I can't pass up the opportunity to learn what happened before the death certificates started piling up.

Plucked out of the Collector’s Pens, auctioned off to a vampire contingent, and sent across the ocean to the Alpha Territories was not exactly how I planned to spend my week. Actually, scratch that. I had planned the first bit. But I was supposed to be sold to the werewolves so I could save my friend from a fate worse than death. Instead, the bloodsuckers have me and so far? It's not going great. I've been shoved into a corset and made to look like an extra on the cast of Bridgerton, all to take part in the Harvest Games....

I’m the guy you don’t want to meet in a dark alley. And that’s just my human side - my wolf is so untamed and dangerous even supernaturals fear me. I’m known for my ability to hunt and kill. It doesn’t matter to me that my next assignment is a small-town schoolteacher. I don’t ask questions. Then I see Serene for the first time. The wolf in me knows immediately she’s my mate, and I’m not going to let anyone else touch her. Except with a contract out on her life, if I don’t kill her, someone else will.

Vampire and private investigator Evan Fournier isn't supposed to be taking on paranormal cases, but when the murderer hits close to home, he agrees to look into it. The last thing he expects is to become a target himself - and then to become irrevocably bonded to the man who just tried to kill him. With his memory gone and his soul bonded to a stranger, former firefighter Colin Zhang wants to be anywhere else. He doesn't have a damn clue why he just tried to kill Evan. Every time either of them tries to leave, pure agony stops them short.

As a college student, I spend my days in class and my evenings selling sage to PTA moms who do moon rituals to manifest better parking spaces. My best friend is a cat who likes pizza, and a “night out” includes hand delivering mysterious packages to the local “coven” of small business owners who repeatedly invite me to their meetings - clothing optional. My life is weird. But it’s not magic. Magic isn’t real. At least, that’s what I believed - right up until the moment he walks into my store.

Anthony was my best friend and the first boy I ever kissed. The first boy I ever loved. I always thought we would be together. Then, he left town, and I never heard from him again. Now, there’s a new doctor at the hospital in the department where I work, and I can’t believe who it is. It’s Anthony.

Tori King is a normal senior in high school. Head over heels in love with her childhood sweetheart, she is busy making plans for college when a chance encounter with an alien bounty hunter turns her world upside down. Now she's experiencing terrifying changes and developing supernatural abilities that leave her questioning her entire existence.

Seventeen-year-old Layla just wants to be normal. But with a kiss that kills anything with a soul, she's anything but normal. Half demon, half gargoyle, Layla has abilities no one else possesses. Raised among the Wardens - a race of gargoyles tasked with hunting demons and keeping humanity safe - Layla tries to fit in, but that means hiding her own dark side from those she loves the most.

Everything Emma Thompson owns fits in a suitcase. She moves from one roach infested motel to another. She and Jake, her five-year-old son, who can see the future, are running from the men intent on taking him. Emma will do anything to protect him, even when it means accepting the help of a stranger named Will. Jake insists she needs Will, but Emma's never needed help before. And even though she's learned to trust her son, it doesn't mean she trusts Will.

Rejection bites...Cal and I were destined to be mates. Until he rejected me. Even though it’s been years, it still hurts like hell. But now Cal’s returned, and he says I’m the only who can help him. He’s convinced someone in my pack was responsible for his father’s death, and they’re endangering his mother. Unfortunately, my big brother isn’t pleased with our little reunion. He’s the pack’s new Alpha after our father died and he’s willing to throw me to the wolves to hold on to his throne. And he’s not the only one who is angry about Cal’s reappearance...

When Marty Andrews gets bitten by a mangy mutt while walking her teacup poodle, her blond hair darkens, the hair on her legs starts growing at an alarming rate, and her mood swings put her dream job as a sales rep for Bobbie-Sue Cosmetics in serious jeopardy. Then a drool-worthy man shows up at her door claiming that he accidentally bit Marty. And since he's a werewolf, she is now, too. Thinking Keegan Flaherty is clearly insane, Marty refuses to believe a word until a kidnapping makes her realize there's more at stake than just her highlights.

A War is Brewing. Kennedy is one of the last known Druids. Wanted dead by the Seelie Queen and as a coveted asset to defeat this cruel ruler, Kennedy has become a mark. Especially by a sexy, merciless....

Rancher Adam Sloan is more than meets the eye. As the heir to his Pack, the sexy werewolf's biggest challenge is keeping his kin's true nature under wraps. But a group of jaguar shifters threatens to reveal the pack, blasting into town killing humans in plain sight. And when he smells one at the local diner, his standing orders are to take her out. Lana Turpin doesn't realize she's a moving target. Raised in the foster system, she only knows that she blacks out during the new moon and wakes up without remembering a thing.

King Hall - where the Mysticals go to learn their craft, get their degrees, and transition into adulthood. And where four new Rulers will rise and meet their destinies. Lily Ruckler is adept at one thing: Survival. Born a Mystical hybrid, her mere existence is forbidden, but her nightmare is only about to start. Fluke, happenstance, and a deep personal loss finds Lily deeply entrenched with those who would destroy her simply for existing - The Mystical Kings.

What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences? This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels. Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She's aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but Anna, the ultimate good girl, has always had the advantage of her angel side to balance the darkness within. It isn't until she turns 16 and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test.

Grieving the death of his partner, Theo Bosco has no room in his life for distractions. Though his instincts scream that he should avoid Juliet "Jules" Jackson, he can't seem to stay away. When Jules rescued her siblings, whisking them away to the safety of the beautifully rugged Colorado Rockies, she never expected to catch the eye - or the heart - of a cop. Yet as Jules struggles to fight her growing attraction to the brooding K9 officer, another threat lurks much closer to home. And this time, there's no escape.

"I look like an all-American grad student. But I am a werecat, a shape-shifter, and I live in two worlds. Despite reservations from my family and my Pride, I escaped the pressure to continue my species and carved out a normal life for myself. Until the night a Stray attacked."