I’m happy to announce that I sold a co-written erotic shapeshifter anthology with Loribelle Hunt to Samhain Publishing. This antho will be split into four ebook novellas for release in November ’10, December ’10, February ’11, and March ’11, and one single print anthology called FORBIDDEN PASSIONS in early 2012.
Here are the tentative titles and blurbs for the stories. I’m so freaking stoked!
FORBIDDEN PASSIONS by Loribelle Hunt and Crystal Jordan
King Leonidas I of Sparta became legendary for his bravery in the face of an onslaught of Persian forces under the command of Xerxes I. So impressed with the Leonidas’ courageous death, the hunter goddess Artemis made his sons more than men. They became wereleopards, and over the centuries have scattered to the four corners of the globe.
The current ruler of the Leonidas family, Hector, went missing the same week as his eldest son’s mate. An uneasy truce exists between the wereleopards and werewolves of America. Each claim half of the country as their territory–wolves in the east and leopards in the west. But someone aims to upset that balance, and Hector’s sons must uncover the plot…and save their father.
“Stolen Passions” by Crystal Jordan
Lyra Marcus is attacked and left unconscious in the middle of the desert. When she awakens, she realizes the horror of her predicament. She’s a werewolf in the heart of wereleopard territory. Worse still, she’s discovered by Zander Leonidas, one of the sons of the most powerful leopard family. She might die at her enemy’s hand, but she won’t go down without a fight.
Zander has no intention of killing the little she-wolf who landed on the doorstep of his family’s resort, but he wants to know how she ended up there. What he never expected was to find himself drawn to a wolf. Sex is one thing, but the urge to mark her as his mate is almost irresistible. A woman like her shouldn’t fit him so well–a match between their kinds would rock the foundations of their world.
But whoever left Lyra for dead doesn’t intend to fail again, and Zander’s not about to let anyone touch his woman.
“Passions Recalled” by Loribelle Hunt
When both his mate and his father died in a freak accident, Jason, the oldest Leonidas brother left home and became a park ranger in the Florida Panhandle. The distance and solitude suit him. After all, the less he cares, the less he hurts.
With a hurricane bearing down on the coast, his job is to secure and evacuate the park. As the storm worsens to a point where evacuation is no longer possible, he discovers Celeste Lykaios injured and unconscious. The problem is…his mate died over a year ago.
Celeste’s world has turned upside down. After being gravely injured in a plane crash, Jason abandoned her. In a mere twenty-four hours she finds out her werewolf step-father lost her birth father’s land, her family hid her survival from Jason, and her new fiancé is a killer. She goes to the only person she is certain can keep her safe, driving straight into a hurricane only to be attacked before she finds him. She wakes up in Jason’s home with no idea how she got there or why.
They take shelter from the storm to unravel the betrayal that split them apart, but first have to face the danger stalking Celeste.
When the storm passes, one question remains. If his mate–a human–survived the airplane crash that was supposed to have taken her life and the life of his father…what happened to the stronger wereleopard leader?
“Fleeting Passions” by Crystal Jordan
Cleo Nemean is on the run from her violent past when she takes a job at Refuge Resort. She spends an evening toasting her escape and ends up having a one night stand. The catch? Her one night lover is Adrian Leonidas, her new boss . . . and they accidentally marked each other as mates.
Just when things couldn’t get any worse, her werebear ex-fiancé tracks her down, bent on bringing her back under his control. Terrified, she bolts, leaving behind the safety of Refuge . . . and the protection of her new mate. The one thing she can’t risk is Adrian’s life.
Adrian is a man of supreme control. Whether he meant to mate with Cleo or not, she’s now his woman and he’s not about to see her harmed before he has a chance to explore the undeniable heat between them. He follows her and uses her as bait to set a trap for her ex. He’s going to end the threat to her life once and for all.
But the trap is sprung too soon and it leaves them both in mortal danger.
While they survive the encounter, they’re left to wonder who tipped off the werebear about their location. It’s one too many bad coincidences for the Leonidas family. They need to find out if there is a traitor in their midst . . . and how all of this ties into the disappearance of their father.
“Renegade Passions” by Loribelle Hunt
Wereeagle Alexandra “Ajax” Petros is destined to lead her people…and running from that fate. She’s spent several years in the Messenger Corps, the elite werebirds who carry communications between the different were species.
As a bird, she’s neutral and her people have enjoyed and prospered under that neutrality. When she uncovers a plot by one of her own to not only steal her throne, but destroy the leopards and wolves in the process, what will she decide? Face the threat on her own and take her rightful place, or stick to her neutrality in the coming war?
Only one man has the power to make her choose, the power to make her forsake her oath to her people’s ways. But what does Nicodemus Leonidas want from her? Her help…or her soul?
Nico is the family’s coldly methodical security expert. The last thing he wants while trying to discover what happened to his father is the werebird who literally drops into his lap. She’s driving him crazy, but their chemistry is incredible–and if she insists on sticking her messenger nose into the middle of wereleopard business, who is he to stop her?
Except everyone in this game has secrets and Ajax’s are the biggest of all. When the dust has settled and Nico’s family is reunited what will become of the mate he was so reluctant to claim? He must either convince her to stay with him or follow her as she pursues her own destiny. For the first time in his life, Nico lets his heart–not his mind–decide his fate.
