Showing results by narrator "Zachary Johnson" in All Categories

In reality, Alex welcomes all of his friends back from their month abroad, as they quickly notice the newest additions to his life, as they prepare to truly get used to living in Alex’s new home together. Meanwhile, in Eternal Dominion, the time has finally come for Xeal to meet with the reclusive elven queen to speak about the future relations between men and elves. Will the talks go smoothly, or will Xeal have to deal with a few unwanted wrinkles?

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.

The fragrance of chaos. The flavor of terror. The color of madness. Jackson Pryde and Xander Wright are loving a life of hunting and harvesting rare reagents wherever the Black Market travels. But a routine trip to visit Japanese tree spirits turns up something sinister: Two crystal shards, embedded in the bodies of wild animals. They’re familiar, glimmering, violet...like splinters of amethyst. But that’s not all. Two rival guilds are in strife, Jack and Xander caught in a crossfire of spells and slander.

Bhasura would have everything she could ever want. Freedom, respect, family, and her mate. Her aitanta. But behind the island’s beautiful cities and smiling citizens, she can hear the lies poisoning their stories. She wants to believe it's all in her head, but a dark anger starts to grow inside her, and she can't ignore the feeling that something is wrong. Something besides the vivid dreams that plague her sleep the moment she sets foot on the island.

Jackson Pryde and Xander Wright are happier than ever. The guild of artificers grows stronger thanks to the black market’s masters. The second AI is awakening, closer to divulging its forgotten secrets. And most shocking of all, Jackson has finally invented something worth selling. But war is brewing in the arcane underground. Madame Catherine Grayhaven does not forgive easily. The grand dame of the elite academy has rallied her students for a vengeful attack on the Verdance, the realm of the fae.

Two years ago, the Makanza virus was eradicated from the public. Now, everyone thinks they’re safe - including Davin. As the oldest among his siblings, Davin plans to leave for college after a short visit with his divorced father on the Cheyenne River Reservation. But then the Makanza sirens go off, and everything changes. The warning alarm splits the soft April skies over the vast South Dakota prairie. Against all odds, the virus has returned, and the outbreak is only a few miles from his father’s ramshackle home.

Alex/Xeal tried to let things come to him and in doing so things escalated quickly almost ending in disaster for him. Now it’s time for him to make his will known and assert himself on those who wish to assert themselves on him. As forces from both reality and Eternal Dominion try to manipulate Alex/Xeal for their own designs, will he succeed, or will he find himself overwhelmed and bogged down by the plans of others?

Having completed his tier-five trial Alex/Xeal can finally travel to the other continents and explore. Meanwhile a certain guild that has found themselves in trouble hasn’t given up on securing his assistance. Add to the mix another quest from Prince Victor and Alex/Xeal will find himself very busy as he tries to balance multiple diplomatic missions while his guild continues to have one member after another face their tier-five challenge to include two ladies that mean the world to him.

The day Mona died, she found her true life in the realm of the dead. She discovered her wild and seductive side. She learned the truth about her magic. And she fell in love with a dark prince.

Jack Jensen is a middle-aged nobody who lives a lackluster life in an even more uninteresting town. Having sampled every job the small town of Merrill, Wisconsin has to offer, he has excelled at nothing but growing his beer gut and his luxurious curly, chestnut brown hair. His life is one of unrealized potential and lack of direction. Things change one morning when his brother, an Army Major, lands his helicopter in the parking lot of Jack’s less-than-profitable gaming store.

Everything was supposed to be fine. Keaton was going to cure all of the Loup Mountain wolves and monsters, and we were going to head back to my old apartment for some space and alone time to figure out what we wanted to do about...well, everything. But then we realized we had bigger problems. The Loup Mountain werewolves think I'm their Alpha. Most of them are set on staying in Lyka Bay, even if it means living in the forest for the foreseeable future. The ones that aren't so set on forest-living want me dead, so that my gift will transfer to someone else.

Besieged by an army of bloodthirsty orcs and goblins, unlikely heroes Jack, Gooch, Topher, Geoe, and Dobby must find a way to save the city of Edinburgh and its inhabitants. Riding high on the success of wresting a power source away from Ravanan control, the team finally arrives in Edinburgh. Instead of the expected heroes’ welcome, they are captured and thrown in prison. To save the city, they must first win over its rulers and inhabitants, remove a decade long curse, and find a traitor.

I’m fully bound to Caius, and I don’t regret it. I carry more than his blood within me, and I don’t regret that either. Although we found safety, we can’t hide because souls aren't the only thing at stake anymore, and time is running out as we race toward the dagger and whatever future comes after. The veils themselves are weakening. Everyone knows my secret. Old wounds are forcing me to stop and face them. And now, I have more to fight for than the lost. I’ve never had so much lose.

Lilac Trécesson is a prisoner in her parents' castle after a most wicked secret was revealed on the eve of her fifteenth birthday. Years later, her Accession looms upon her father's decision to abdicate, and between the riotous townsfolk and scheming noble bent on snatching her throne, she prepares for the worst… Until a letter arrives from The Witch of Lupine Grotto, containing a curious offer to banish her curse forever.

Piper dreams of the days when unemployment was her biggest problem. Working for a jerk boss she could handle but working for six sexy vampires? Not so much. This little maid is going to wish that was all she had to worry about now that her master's master has called them home. And daddy dearest wants to meet her.

What do you do when you follow a strange girl through a wall into a world where alchemy is real? You move in with her cousin, become a magic barista, and try your hand at higher education one more time. Only instead of biochemistry and physics, you're taking elixirs and searching the school grounds for secret chambers and long-lost spells. How do you go from someone who was never supposed to wind up here in the first place to becoming the greatest alchemist that ever lived?

Everything started the night after Jo’s mother was buried. When someone tried to kill her and she was pulled into something bigger than the mortal world she’d grown up in. That was when she met Caius, a powerful and dangerous demon hybrid. She doesn’t know why he helped save her life that night; she only knows what she’s been told: The demonborn are enemies.

During a public relations trip to Europe the first lady Abby Patterson; her daughter, Beth; and son, Dave, lose their lives to a very fast and suspicious virus. As the virus takes over the world the president of the United States Arnold Patterson must deal with the collapse of the United States Government. His trusted adviser Admiral Nial Hagerly does his best to keep the military viable but it is a losing battle. The government moves to Camp David while they deal with the collapse then ultimately they are forced to move to an aircraft carrier in the Atlantic where they plan to rebuild the country and Earth.

Mazak is a weary cyborg mercenary about to settle his debt to a deadly trade lord. He is furious when one last job is demanded of him—to deliver a captive human female with an encrypted message inscribed on her arm to a dangerous space station before the message fades from her skin. It should be straightforward, but Mazak’s outdated cyborg systems are malfunctioning, making him vulnerable. To make matters worse, the female lights a fire in both of Mazak’s synthetic hearts—something he did not think possible since becoming part machine.

Xerus: loyal, protective, swift, powerful. Named predomis—highest warrior among the vrisha—and guardian to his queen. And Lana's one true mate. Several years after Lazris, Lana has called the vrisha's world her home. After a long mission kept her and Xerus away, they finally return to Tryth, hoping to settle back into the life they had and spend each moment together.