Tor Essentials Novels & Stories

My fiancé, Conrad Reese, fell in love with his secretary, Kelly Dunn, and insisted on breaking off our engagement. I tried to reason with him. "She doesn't have any power behind her; she can't help you become the heir to the Reeses' fortune. You'd be better off keeping her as your mistress." Kelly, feeling insulted, threw herself off a building in front of everyone. Five years later, after he became the heir, the first thing he did was divorce me, destroying my family in the process. "This is what you owe Kelly," he said. I woke up again, and it was my 22nd birthday. Conrad's grandfather asked me what my wish was. "I hope Conrad and Ms. Dunn… will live happily ever after." I bowed slightly and said, "Please, Mr. Jonathan. I hope you'll let me end my engagement with Conrad."

“I thought you wanted to sleep, my Queen,” Lorcan whispered. “I changed my mind,” Niamh kissed Lorcan again, deeply, hungrily. “Besides, you owe me a wedding night.” “I stand reminded,” Lorcan bowed his head. Looking up, he grasped Niamh around the waist and turned to lay her beneath him, kissing her passionately. *** Niamh had dutifully fulfilled her obligation to marry King Lorcan of the Elven Realms, only to watch her new husband ride off to battle the very next day. But he was lost in battle, and she was left to face her new role as Queen among haters, admirers, and potential suitors… and a traitor. Despite the challenges she formed new alliances, treaties, and friends, and, once the King was found, they built an unshakable love while facing turmoil. Once free to leave, what choice will she make? Will the love they formed be strong enough to endure more than time? Rising Storm in the Elven Realms is created by Heather Dilts-Baiano, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

Her father's murder was just the beginning. Sold to the Italian mafia as punishment for a betrayal she never committed, Violet Fernandez finds herself imprisoned by Vlad Romano—ruthless heir to a criminal empire that shows no mercy. But the captor who should be her nightmare becomes her unlikely ally when Vlad discovers the truth: Violet was merely a pawn in her father's dangerous double life. Together, they uncover that her father died protecting explosive secrets—information that could bring the cartel to its knees. Now, marked for death and hunted at every turn, Violet and Vlad are forced to flee into shadows where only the most dangerous survive. With each desperate escape, the line blurs between captor and captive, between hatred and a forbidden desire neither can deny. As bullets fly and passion ignites, Violet must decide: is Vlad truly her savior, or is he leading her straight into a trap where there is no escape? Just when freedom seems within reach, a devastating revelation changes everything... "CAPTIVE HEARTS" — Some chains are made of steel. Others are forged by desire.

My boyfriend and I set out on a graduation trip, but in the remote wilderness, we were kidnapped. The abductors had cruel intentions toward me, and to protect my boyfriend, I played along, buying time for him to escape and get help. After our rescue, though, a video of my assault spread online, turning me into a target of vicious gossip. "She's the woman who got it on with two guys in the wild!" "Kidnapped but so into it? What a freak!" "How does she even show her face? Shameless!" When I confronted my boyfriend about the video, he dodged the question and broke up with me. "I'm about to start at a top company. I can't be with someone so tainted." Heartbroken, I was pushed off a rooftop to my death. But when I opened my eyes, I was back on the day of the kidnapping, given a second chance to rewrite my fate.

"You think I'll have anything serious to do with a wolfless omega?" Those words destroyed me. But when my dormant wolf awakened with impossible power, suddenly everyone wanted a piece of me. Mary Hart spent 22 years believing she was a worthless wolfless omega, enduring her boyfriend's betrayal and the hospital's mockery. But when she mysteriously performs impossible surgeries, the truth emerges: her wolf was magically bound to hide her identity as the last surviving Healer Alpha, a bloodline hunted to extinction. As her power awakens, so does her connection to Dr. Owen Prescott, the brooding Alpha surgeon who fights his attraction to her. But enemies close in, desperate to finish what they started when they murdered her parents. Between deadly conspiracies, forbidden love, and a ex-boyfriend who suddenly wants her back, Mary must embrace her destiny or die trying. Some bonds are meant to be broken. Others are worth fighting for. And some secrets are buried in blood.

Avani is the last earth dragon in the world. Not only that, but he is also the last male dragon. The other three remaining elemental dragons, air, water and fire, are all females. Unless he mates with one of the other three dragons, the race of pure dragons will die out. Since he snubs the idea of finding a mate, refusing to allow anyone to claim him and therefore control him, he has taken over as protector of the forest. The hunters are always searching for supernaturals to force into their Arenas, a modern-day gladiator fighting ring. And now, they are capturing supernaturals to experiment on, creating a new race of hybrid creatures. Because Avani can shift his emerald-green scales into the black of onyx, those he saves have started to call him The Dark Protector. Merethyl is an elven princess. She and her brother, Yhendorn, are captured by hunters when her family is attacked, her parents slaughtered in front of her. She and Yhendorn are held captive, experimented on, until one day they find a way to escape. As they flee, Yhendorn is re-captured sacrificing himself to make sure Merethyl gets away. As she runs, the hunters chase her, trying to run her down. Avani hears her and flies to her rescue, killing the hunters that are after her. When he realizes that she smells better than anyone he’s ever smelled before, he knows he must get away from her. He cannot allow her to have the total control over him that claiming him would give her. But Merethyl has nowhere else to go and she needs Avani’s help to rescue her brother. Will Avani be able to resist the charms of the elven princess, or will he fall to her, claimed, making her his dragonrider?

I thought he was my savior. I didn't know he was the heir to a blood empire that had been stalking me for months. The life of Ruby Lane, a reserved art restorer, is shattered the night she witnesses a mafia execution in the shadows of a prestigious gallery. But the man who "rescues" her is no fairy-tale hero. He is Nevan, a lethal mercenary with ice-blue eyes and a dark, dangerous fixation. After being kidnapped and locked away in an isolated cabin, Ruby discovers a terrifying truth: Nevan is no stranger. He has been her shadow long before that night, watching her every move, knowing her secrets and the dangerous legacy her father left behind. As an army of assassins closes in, Ruby is caught between a killer who wants her dead and a man who is not only her protector, but also the future head of a criminal syndicate that claims ownership over her. In this game of survival, the line between protection and possession is blurred, and the forbidden heat of Nevan's touch becomes more dangerous than any bullet. He was hired to protect her. He decided she belongs to him.

“I reject you as my mate!” he thundered, his voice booming across the clearing. Her breathing hitched, her heartbeat increasing, threatening to break through her rib cage.  She could see the cheeky sneer on her step-sister Eve's face; she didn't need anyone to tell her that she was the cause of her agony. “I'll never be bonded to someone who killed my mother!” he roared. In the world of werewolves, loyalty and honor are paramount. But when Nora, the former Luna of Zodak Pack, is rejected by her mate, accused of a crime she didn't commit, and forced to work as a maid in his household. She must rely on her wits and her strength to survive.  Nora's life had been a tangled web of pain and betrayal. But Alpha Alex's hatred for Nora clouded his sense that he didn't notice the true intentions of Ryder, the Alpha of the Stone Moon Pack, who would stop at nothing to claim Nora as his own. As the stakes grow higher, Nora must confront the darkness within herself and the secrets of her past. Will she emerge victorious, or will she succumb to the shadows that haunt her?"

On the day of the United Nations meeting, I noticed a new electronic watch on my wife’s wrist. She said it was a gift from her first love to monitor her health. It was a veiled jab, which implied I was not as thoughtful or caring as an outsider. Something felt off, so during her lunch break I secretly checked, and found a bugging device. I reported it immediately, using my official title to cover her wrongdoing. Her first love, however, was now wanted by the authorities. While fleeing, he tragically died in a car accident. My wife said coldly that it served him right, yet treated me with even more care and attention. However, she deliberately leaked my translation files at work, which resulted in me being accused of espionage and taken in for investigation. “Miles, that bug was clearly planted by you. You were jealous of Ash and wanted him dead!” “I truly regret giving up Ash to marry someone as malicious as you. You should go to hell and atone for him!” When I opened my eyes again, I was back there once again on the day her first love gave her that watch. I did not interfere this time. I simply signed my name on the divorce papers.

Four years after marrying Wesley Coleman, Emma Payne is expecting a baby. She shows up at the hospital with her forms to get registered, but when the nurse runs her info, she tells her that the marriage certificate isn't valid. Emma simply can't believe it. "No way. That can't be right." The nurse taps on the stamp. "Look at that. The seal is all crooked, and the code doesn't check out." Emma isn't convinced yet. She rushes to the courthouse, but they tell her the same thing. "Mr. Coleman is married, and his spouse's name is Sandra Payne." The news hits her like a ton of bricks. Her mind just goes blank. Sandra Payne is Emma's half-sister. Worst of all, she is also Wesley's first love. Years ago, she went abroad to chase her dreams. She never showed up to her own wedding and left Wesley heartbroken. And now, she is actually his legal wife.