Romantic Dark

It’s complicated. Two years ago, he broke my heart when he left me to do his father’s bidding. After months of crying, I finally accepted he was gone and wasn’t going to look back. That maybe he’d never loved me at all. I never wanted to see Luca again. Now, a cruel twist of fate has signed me over to him in a heartless deal. I’m his. He thinks he did me a favor, but I feel like I’ve been given a death sentence. He doesn't want to get married because he still loves me. No, he did it for money. More power.

I'm anything but sweet, despite what people think, so when he tells me I'm too good for him and I'm better off without him, I don't listen. My life was simple before Grave stepped through that door, but who wants simple?

I was born into a deadly Mafia family, yet I’m a nobody. To the world, I don’t exist. Shuffled from Vegas as a child and sent to Italy for my protection, I became invisible. Until they found a use for me. Now I’m a card my father can play. A chance to cash in on the family name to the highest bidder.

I know I have a black soul. Bloodshed and danger are what I live for. A King is supposed to rule his Kingdom using any means necessary to demand respect. I’m not a weak man. A King kneels to no one. I’ve only ever cared about one other person in my life, but the thing is, she never belonged to me. And before I could tell her how I felt, she left. Now she’s returned, needing someone to save her. Emilee York was always meant to be mine, and I’ll see to it that happens. I always get what I want, even if that means I have to take it.

Have you ever stood next to a fire and felt the heat of it on your skin? Stared into the flames and thought how amazing it would be to be that free? It changes direction with the wind, destroying everything in its wake. That's what she felt like. Alexa was a wildfire that torched everything she touched, and I couldn't wait to be consumed by her.

It ends where it begins. Four couples. Six books. One saga. Tristan and Morana. Dante and Amara. Alpha and Zephyr. Shadow Man and Lyla. The world is darker. The game more dangerous. The stakes much more deadly. A new era is born.

Arden, Lorcan, and Carrick are the men everyone fears... They are known as the Deana-dhe. Dealing in debts, they steal information and manipulate. To them, I am Cyn. I'm their original sin. The mute girl they never wanted to be drawn to. The girl who put a spell on them, who became their cailleach. You see, I'm a modern-day witch skilled in the art of alchemy. A long time ago, I made a deal with the Deana-dhe, and they're back to cash in on my debt. If I'm the apple they never wanted to take a bite out of, then they're the snakes willing to use me for their own gain.

Massimo D’Agostino is the heir to his father’s empire. Don’t be fooled by his handsome face or that piercing blue gaze. He’s no prince charming. He’s dangerous and feared, possessive and fierce. Our first meeting began with a contract that forced me to marry him and sign my life away. I was a debt repayment and a pawn in his game to exact revenge against my father. The only way out is death. I belong to him now. Me, the Balesteri Mafia princess. Pure and untouched. Owned by the devil who placed me in a gilded cage.

Love is supposed to be magical. Ours is suicide. The first time I met Emma Jean Parish she conned me into taking her p*ssy. Her cat. When she was 16 she conned me into her first kiss. At 18 she gave me everything. She's a con artist. I'm a criminal. I use her. She manipulates me. Our attraction is explosive. What we have can be forever. If we survive the detonation. Contains mature themes.

I'm Muse Harper. I'm a twenty-something painter who loves red wine, quirky movies, and men with fatal flaws. But that was before I met Jasper King. He became my fatal flaw. Eight months ago I had a choice to make - abandon everything I've ever known to protect my family or stay and risk someone getting hurt. I chose the former. My plan was working just fine until I found out my father had gone missing. That was when I met Jasper.

It was supposed to be easy: one night of sin with a beautiful stranger to forever cut ties with my Bratva past. But I didn't pick a stranger. I picked him. Hades Drakos, the dark prince of the Drakos Mafia family, is a lethally beautiful psychopath with a trail of broken hearts and bloodshed in his wake. Oh, and he's my client. It doesn't matter that our one night was under darkness, disguised by masks. He knows my secret sin. He knows it was my first time. And now, he'll use that to trap me as his own personal Persephone.

Vampire King Ronan Kayrs wasn't supposed to survive the savage sacrifice he willingly endured to rid the world of the ultimate evil. He wasn't supposed to emerge in this time and place, and he sure as hell wasn't supposed to finally touch the woman who's haunted his dreams for centuries. Yet here he is, in an era where vampires are hidden, the enemy has grown stronger, and his mate has no idea of the power she holds.

Our first meeting was at a nightclub, and it was something straight out of my most romantic fantasies. My ovaries exploded at the sight of the Russian God. And by God, I mean he was ripped, tall, dark, and deadly attractive. There were enough sparks between us to light up a city. Then an explosion blasted through the nightclub, and we got trapped together for three hours, sharing our most personal details...everything but our names. Two years later, our second meeting is the complete opposite of the first. It's clear Misha Petrov, a Russian enforcer for the bratva, despises me.

I chose the hottest club in town, Rapture, to find my prey. Little did I know the person I hooked was the head of the Irish Mafia, who became haunted by the memory of our night. When I drunkenly return to Rapture with a broken heart, I find myself being drawn into the dark underground world of the Irish Mafia and the four men that rule it. As my normal, perfectly managed life slowly unravels, these men help me to reconnect with the woman I once was, and she wasn't always innocent. Will I be able to rebuild a life I truly desire, or is it all just an illusion?

A three-year stay will award you with an education that will rival any college and enough money to aid you in whatever career you choose. I’m applying to give my mom the life she deserves, to fund my sister’s medical bills...and so that I can have the only thing I truly want. For my family I will give them my time, my soul and my body, but I will never give them my heart. This place is going to test me, and the guys very well could break me, but they won't keep me down forever.

Birdie In this world, it is a sin to have a good heart. In a world where power is inherited, promises are broken, and kindness is eradicated, I tried to be good. But no matter how far I ran, the past yanked me back by the collar. The worst thing that can happen to a good heart? It is catching the devil's attention. And liking it. He made the likes of me learn how to beg—begging for it to stop. That pull of brusque hands, the pitch black and Russian laced words. The second worst thing to happen? It is to want to understand it. Sasha I hate many things, but nothing tops the specific kind of...

Commanding my family's empire is an honor, yet the thoughts I have about this woman? Anything but. However, she's the one woman I shouldn't pursue. She intrigues me, and not just because of her refusal to speak. It's the quiet rebellion she exhibits in every nuanced movement and pointed look. Like a siren, her behavior calls to me but leaves me unsure whether to protect, punish, or pleasure her.

When Detective Rebecca North left her rural hometown, she vowed never to return. Her father’s apparent suicide has changed that. The official report is that retired cop Noah North shot himself, knocked over a lantern, and set his isolated cabin ablaze. But Rebecca cannot believe he killed himself. To prove it, she needs the help of Ash Haugen, the man she left behind. But Rebecca and Ash share more than broken hearts. Something darker lies between them, and the investigation is stirring it back to life.

A skilled compositor for the FBI, Kendra Smith has a way with witnesses, helping them to remember crucial details about their attackers they might otherwise have forgotten. She believes her work helps to provide closure for the victims and their families—closure that has eluded her for the eleven years since her brother was kidnapped, his body never found. Determined to put her painful past behind her, Kendra throws herself into every case one hundred percent. Now she is called in to sketch the face of a man the press is calling the Soccer Mom Killer.

At the heart of Dark Romanticism is its brooding, pessimistic tone, its emphasis on the supernatural and the sins of humanity, and its use of iconic symbols and horrifying imagery. The classic Dark Romantic authors (Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville) are represented in the stories and poems in this volume, as well as some authors who are not commonly included in this genre.