Showing results by author "R.A. Steffan" in All Categories

Or rather, he can try - but it should come as no surprise when he’s crushed by the vast powers arrayed against him. Caius Oppita knows this, but after what he’s seen, it suits him better to go down fighting than to crawl on his hands and knees. The empire he’s served faithfully since he was a boy now wants him dead, and the lover he thought he could trust has betrayed him in the worst possible way. Maybe Caius can’t win the fight he’s about to undertake, but he’ll damn well drag the imperial family's corruption into the light of day if it kills him.

Caius Oppita has served the Alyrion Empire for more than half his life, watching with growing revulsion as the royal family descends ever deeper into corruption and depravity. Powerless to do more than stand by as the land he loves slides toward civil war and social upheaval, he longs for his days as a general on the battlefield rather than a tame palace lapdog.

Len needs to track down a handbasket ASAP, because things are going straight to hell. In the aftermath of the disastrous battle to close the rip between realms, he's stuck with a Fae who seems convinced that the only way to fix things is to leap directly into the maw of the Wild Hunt. Len recognizes martyrdom when he sees it, and he's not about to let Albigard of the Unseelie sacrifice himself on the altar of his own guilty conscience.

Despite decades spent in service to the Alyrion Empire, Caius Oppita has betrayed both Decian and the imperial family he purports to serve, all within the space of a few weeks.

I never thought I’d see home again. Now, I almost wish I hadn’t. After giving myself up to the Fae, I expected to become the latest casualty of a war that should have ended centuries ago. Instead, I ended up inextricably bound to the last vampire on earth. My life since the Fae marked me has become unrecognizable. Inside, I’m still the 26-year-old waitress who struggled with working two jobs while being serially dumped by a parade of disgruntled boyfriends. Now, I’ve somehow become a figurehead, coveted, and despised in equal measure by two warring supernatural races.

A week ago, Trynn thought she had the best job in the world. By day, she’s a globetrotting corporate security consultant. By night, she and her fellow hacktivists in the anonymous group MASQUE hunt down the worst criminals the underworld has to offer. Now, those underworld criminals are hunting her. But who is the dark, mysterious stranger who keeps appearing to save her? Why does the merest brush of his skin ignite her passion?

So… yesterday was hell. Literally. Now, I find myself asking how a day could be that terrible, while also being the most amazing day of my life.When I fled my safe haven in the demon realm to deliver news of betrayal and conspiracy to Rans, I thought it meant I was losing everything. Again. Instead, I've just gained the most valuable gift I could ever receive. I’m hopelessly in love with the last vampire on Earth. That’s hardly a news flash at this point. But I never expected my feelings to be returned…and I’ve never been happier to be wrong.

Skye Chantrell has just escaped a war zone. She's carrying the stolen antidote to a deadly bioweapon. When her damaged shuttle crashes on a remote lunar outpost, she's captured by the leader of a rogue group of barbaric aliens. Now her people's survival - not to mention her own - rests in the hands of the Seven Systems' most feared and hated criminal. A man with the face of a brutal thug, and the eyes of an angel. Hunter Tarthasian has every reason to hate the Regime. He and his comrades have turned vigilante.

The forces that took him aren't of this world. I've barely recovered from the revelations that my boss is a vampire and magic is real. Now, my child has been kidnapped by Fae who want to rule humanity, and I've acquired powers I can't control. Blowing doors off their hinges and starting fires with the power of my mind won't help me find Jace.

Xander hates werewolves. In all fairness, they’re not too keen on him either. Normally, avoidance would be the obvious solution. At least, it would be if the werewolves in question weren’t holding a newly-turned six-year-old vampire child as a prisoner. Alone in London, it’s up to Xander to rescue the boy before he can fall into the hands of Bael’s sadistic servant, Bastian Kovac. That mission that becomes exponentially more difficult when Xander discovers the identity of the mysterious female werewolf acting as the boy’s guardian.

His fate is to save a planet in crisis. Survival comes second to that. That’s what Kade of House Shadow Wing has always believed, ever since his parents were executed for their political beliefs, and he was jailed for daring to be their son. Just his luck that a female human diplomat with hard eyes and a silver tongue would choose the most inconvenient possible moment to barrel in, upending all of Kade’s carefully constructed plans.

No, cyborgs are only good at three things: following orders, destroying whatever target you point them at, and walking calmly into the vaporization chamber when it’s time for them to be decommissioned. PX-12, better known to his friends as Pax, adequately performed two of those functions during his stint in the Ilarian military. D-8, his unit-sibling, performed all three exceptionally well. For that reason, when D-8’s unique distress beacon activates some seven years after Pax saw him destroyed, it would doubtless be quite surprising if Pax were still capable of being surprised.

What’s the worst betrayal you can imagine? It doesn’t matter what you just answered. Duchess has done something worse. Before she killed her husband during a frenzy of vampiric bloodlust, he begged her to honor a single request. She failed him, and she’s been paying for that failure for the last 400 years. But Duchess’ lost love has finally returned to her. Reincarnated as Chan Wei Yong, the former king’s musketeer is now a hardened CIA undercover agent working in the seedy underbelly of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

With Nigellus poised to attack the Fae forces massed at Dhuinne’s gate, Neveah must decide what she is willing to sacrifice to alter the balance of power between long-standing supernatural enemies. Hell’s forces will soon spill into the human realm, and if the Fae queen gets her way, no safe haven will remain anywhere for humans, vampires, or demons.

The Fae Queen and the ruler of the Demon Council can agree on one thing. They want a war to end all wars, and they'll flatten anyone who gets in their way.

Ryder isn’t a stupid woman, and she knows better than to volunteer for things. Volunteering always gets you into trouble. So it’s really no surprise when her undercover operation to retrieve Temple Akenzua from the belly of a Regime prison goes tits-up in fairly short order. With Ryder stuck on the wrongs side of the bars, the rescue mission has now become a mission of survival. Her only hope - and Temple’s - lies with her comrades in the Shadow Wing. Ryder just needs to stay alive until they come up with a plan.

Carivel, Andoc, and Senovo have defied convention by declaring their love for each other. Carivel is a pariah - a female who has been quietly living as a man. Senovo has been hiding his shape-shifting curse, believing the wolf inside him to be a vicious killer. When their secrets are finally revealed to the village elders, they fear dragging Andoc down with them. Next in line to become Draebard's tribal chieftain, Andoc risks his position by continuing with such an unorthodox relationship.

Ash is dead. Okay, that’s a lie. He’s not. Not really. Somehow, that doesn’t make things any better. After reports of a fatal hovercar accident outside the Capital - complete with a charred body and DNA identification - it seems at first that all is lost in the Shadow Wing’s quest to infiltrate the Premiere’s inner circle. But one member of the vigilante group refuses to accept the evidence of his human comrade’s death. Draven knows Ash. He knows that devious mind, and more importantly, he knows the martyr complex that lies beneath it.

Kathrael is a nobody - an escaped Rhytheeri slave with a face disfigured by an acid attack and a giant chip on her shoulder. Despite being alone in the world, with no possessions other than the clothes on her back, she has vowed to lead a rebellion against the brutal overseers who once owned her. First, though, she's going to murder the cowardly bastard of a shape-shifter who was prophesied to save them all, and didn't.

Carivel, Andoc, and Senovo have refused to let circumstances tear them away from each other. Draebard's tribal chieftain does not approve of Andoc's decision to continue with the unconventional relationship, and now, on top of everything else, war is looming after the combined forces of Draebard and Meren destroyed the Alyrion Empire's military outpost in northern Eburos. Senovo and Carivel have long relied on Andoc to be their rock. Their touchstone. But when Andoc's future is shattered by betrayal.