Ronan: This world was never meant for me—a shadowed figure wandering, fueled by carnal desires until I am destined for hell. And I embrace it wholeheartedly. But then she came into the picture after my successful hunt at a local coffee shop. She offered me a simple act of kindness, and in that moment, I was consumed by her. My obsession with Everly knows no bounds, and there is no escape. Her fate is to become one with me, bound by darkness and consumed by our twisted desires.

Stone was my best friend. My protector. My everything. Until he wasn’t. Kids like us didn’t have the best life, riddled with trauma, bounced around in a system that didn’t want us and couldn’t handle us. In our darkest hours, we had each other. Until we didn’t. We tried to hold on to what little we had. Maneuvering the rough waters of our circumstance. Until I couldn’t.

Herein lies a raw exploration of duality, darkness, and desire. A collection of sonnets, haikus, and free verse that brings to the surface our fractured pieces and celebrates how the light and the dark blend to make us whole. An invitation to embrace the shadow and give it its rightful place as a part of the self.

According to the FBI, I was considered a serial murderer after three kills. What do they call me after fifty-two? They call me the Silencer. One final bullet would have been all it took to stop me from taking another soul, and I would have been doing Meridian City a service by pulling that trigger. An angel crying for help stopped me, and that night, I took three lives for her. Then three turned into eight. Then eight turned into twenty. Twenty turned into twenty-one. Twenty-one turned into twenty-three.

Fighting wildfires is the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do and I’m damn good at it. Being the captain of an interagency hotshot crew of wildland firefighters is high-risk, high-reward. The risk blindsided me five years ago when I lost one of my crew and was changed forever. Now the only rewards I allow are to work harder, smarter, and enjoy easy, sexy nights with strangers. Until I meet Prescott Timmons. Her smart-mouth and adventurous spirit have me forgetting all of my rules—until her past shows up and lies start to feel too familiar.

Welcome to Georgian England, circa 1800. Alastair Thorne is a cad and a rake. Even his mother told him so. Pity for her that he cannot bring himself to care, for he relishes his life of debauchery and licentiousness, and is content thinking of no-one but himself. Except Alastair may have just messed with the wrong fair maiden, and his life is about to be cut violently short. That is until he comes face to face with the enigmatic stranger who's been watching him from afar.

I was no one—until the auction. Four wealthy men. Four dates. And then I would just go back to my boring life with my cat and never see them again, right? Now that they’ve had a taste, they won’t let me disappear into my old life. They want me to be theirs. Benjamin, Alexander, MacKenna, and Colin—who also happens to be my brother’s best friend.

"Jakob Larson is going to be the death of me." That’s what I think every time he strides into my bar. The Kings of Kearny run this small Texas town, and Jakob is their chief enforcer. The Viking, they call him. He’s a criminal. As dangerous as he is sexy. The kind of man who makes my inner cavewoman sit up and take notice. Him big. Make strong babies. Bring home mammoth for dinner. I’m ready to indulge her desires, but just for one night. Unfortunately, Jakob has other plans. Someone in town is breaking one of the cardinal rules set by the leader of The Kings.

One look. One touch. One sound of her beautiful voice and I’m hooked. Like a dream I never want to wake up from, she pulls me in and wraps me around her. Consumed. Driven with need. Fueled by an unrelenting desire to make her mine. One night, I take more than she has ever given before, which only leaves me wanting more. Needing more. Craving more. She’s the one I’ve waited for my whole life.

I caught the attention of a monster. I didn’t ask for it. Didn’t even see it coming. But the moment I do, it’s too late. Killian Carson is a predator wrapped in sophisticated charm. He’s cold-blooded, manipulative, and savage. The worst part is that no one sees his devil side. I do. And that will cost me everything. I run, but the thing about monsters? They always chase.

Protecting him is my duty, but falling for him could be my undoing. I’ve spent five years burying my past, leaving behind the violence and bloodshed of my former life as a Bratva enforcer. Now, I’m just Luca—the quiet guy who keeps his head down, working security for a professional hockey team. I don’t get close to anyone, and I definitely don’t let anyone get close to me. But then I’m assigned to protect Max Ryan, the team’s star defenseman, and everything changes. He's my obsession. My crush.

They warned me that the very sight of me would incite a side of Maverick I would want to flee in fear of. But I had no place else to go. My only option was to brave his wrath to survive. His darkness reaches into me, pulling at something raw, something I don’t understand. With every word he slays me, his every touch burns along my skin. He breaks down my walls, igniting my fiery temper all the while laying bare desires I was never meant to feel, much less act on. Beneath the fire and fury, I glimpse the cracks in his armor and the man he’s desperately trying to hide.

My life has been a series of bad decisions. Marrying an abusive man was the first... but falling for a dangerous inmate where I’m a nurse may be the worst. He’s brutal, heartless, and twisted. But he’s also the only one to notice the bruises on my skin. His forbidden touch becomes my addiction. His drugging kisses my obsession. After I learn the truth about why he’s in prison, I try to escape, but he finds me.

Journey through the dark, winding tributaries of love in this unforgettable live stage show, written and performed by Joe Arden. A unique perspective on the roots of love explored through original reflections and lyrical passages from literature, this sold-out Baltimore event captivates with raw energy and emotional depth. Experience the haunting beauty of Frankenstein and Edgar Allan Poe alongside contemporary romance, culminating in a never-before-published short story by Joe himself.

Raylee Lexington Adams is my stepsister and the one woman in the world who can make my blood boil. She’s vindictive, a lot of crazy, and absolutely stunning. I hate everything about her except for when she’s on her knees begging me to use her as my own personal toy. We’ve been playing a game of cat and mouse for far too long. We have used each other for our own sick pleasure.

Herein lies a raw exploration of duality, darkness, and desire. A collection of sonnets, haikus, and free verse that brings to the surface our fractured pieces and celebrates how the light and the dark blend to make us whole. An invitation to embrace the shadow and give it its rightful place as a part of the self.

Journey through the dark, winding tributaries of love in this unforgettable live stage show, written and performed by Joe Arden. A unique perspective on the roots of love explored through original reflections and lyrical passages from literature, this sold-out Baltimore event captivates with raw energy and emotional depth. Experience the haunting beauty of Frankenstein and Edgar Allan Poe alongside contemporary romance, culminating in a never-before-published short story by Joe himself.

One look. One touch. One sound of her beautiful voice and I’m hooked. Like a dream I never want to wake up from, she pulls me in and wraps me around her. Consumed. Driven with need. Fueled by an unrelenting desire to make her mine. One night, I take more than she has ever given before, which only leaves me wanting more. Needing more. Craving more. She’s the one I’ve waited for my whole life.

For a while MLB pitcher Chase "Deuce" Dixon used his bad-boy reputation as a smoke screen to cover up his elbow injury. But plummeting pitching stats don't lie, so now he's a free agent, spending the off-season in surgeons' offices and considering a postbaseball career in security. His first night moonlighting as a nightclub bouncer, he's surprised that the singer onstage is his little sister's pure, sweet, spitfire of a best friend. And some drunk guy is getting way too personal.

They warned me that the very sight of me would incite a side of Maverick I would want to flee in fear of. But I had no place else to go. My only option was to brave his wrath to survive. His darkness reaches into me, pulling at something raw, something I don’t understand. With every word he slays me, his every touch burns along my skin. He breaks down my walls, igniting my fiery temper all the while laying bare desires I was never meant to feel, much less act on. Beneath the fire and fury, I glimpse the cracks in his armor and the man he’s desperately trying to hide.

It’s the 1990s, and nothing ever happens in my small town in Texas. But then I met him, and I turned into his obsession. Hayden Drago is dangerously handsome, monstrous, and…a vampire. He’s a monster I only thought existed in fictional books or movies. I was never supposed to meet him. I’m a working college student, and one night our paths collided, and my life changed forever. I thought I knew the world I lived in, but that quickly dissolved after I got taken by him. He’s never letting me go, and I’m afraid I don’t want him to.

Nicole never imagined anyone other than her seemingly perfect boyfriend, Patrick, could grab her attention. That is, until ex-convict Cameron Hawke unexpectedly becomes their roommate, turning her entire, calculated little world upside down. The tension in the house is thick as Hawke's lifestyle clashes abruptly with hers. Nicole's curiosities get the best of her as she attempts to learn the secrets behind Hawke's mysterious past.

After losing her husband in a tragic accident, Julia Gentry is barely surviving. Raising her young daughter alone takes everything she has—and that’s not enough. She’s barely making ends meet. And then tragedy strikes again. Julia’s only hope lies in the last place she wants to look—in Crew Gentry. Her husband’s brother is broody. Irresponsible. He’s broken her heart more than once and let her down every time she’s needed him.

Ronan: This world was never meant for me—a shadowed figure wandering, fueled by carnal desires until I am destined for hell. And I embrace it wholeheartedly. But then she came into the picture after my successful hunt at a local coffee shop. She offered me a simple act of kindness, and in that moment, I was consumed by her. My obsession with Everly knows no bounds, and there is no escape. Her fate is to become one with me, bound by darkness and consumed by our twisted desires.

Addiction is my weakness. A cruel temptress that follows me wherever I go. Slowly dragging me down until I drown. Until she shows up. Johanna. My life preserver in this ocean of drugs and madness. She's a total enigma, as chaotic as they come. A vixen who lives her life without limits. But her demons are greater than mine, and they threaten to drown her right alongside me. I need her as much as she needs me. We can either hang on and save each other, or we can both sink into oblivion, letting our pasts, our memories, our addictions be the anchor that weighs us down.

When it comes to sex, good girl Skyler Thompson always plays it safe, choosing stable and sedate over wild and thrilling. She doesn't do one-night-stands, but one look at sinfully sexy Gage Holt and she's willing to reconsider. He makes her want to be bad for once in her life, and she's prepared to take what she wants.

I've got everything it takes to make it in Tinseltown: confidence, charisma, and a killer chin. Now all I need is a chance. But Los Angeles is full of hot young hunks, and talent might not be enough to separate me from the cookie-cutter crowd. So I devise a wild scheme to get noticed. Pretend I’m someone I'm not—good-bye Will O’Connell of Cincinnati and hello Liam O’Connell of Dublin. "Liam" and his talent with accents is enough to get my foot in the door, but I never anticipated meeting the woman who has me more worried about keeping my foot out of my mouth.

I always knew darkness crept through this city; like a shadow, it never really goes away, always watching, always waiting. People sin and people kill; it's a way of life. I just never expected to be thrown into the middle of a war I had no hope of surviving. Alexander Silver is as brutal as he is beautiful. A devil in disguise. The man destined to end me. I didn't go looking for trouble, and yet it found me, nonetheless. I could either join it or let it crush me.

What’s better than watching my favorite team on TV? Gettin’ to see them play live in action. My family surprised me with a once-in-a-lifetime trip, so I’m gonna live it up before the snow flies and I’m frozen to the bone with no one in my bed to warm me up. Here I am in London, ready to catch the game and find a man to set my bedsheets aflame. Realizing my tickets were a scam led me to seek out the next best opportunity and boy, did I find it.

Since the Final War, I’ve been doing just fine. I have a lovely cave, a darling vegetable patch, forest views . . . and if loneliness sometimes squeezes my aching heart, well, my books have always kept me company. That is, until a pack of hunters chase me from my home and right into the arms of several rather large, rather brutish ex-Army Rangers. And those brutes have the nerve to make me the rudest offer I’ve ever heard. Their protection—for my body.