Kelly Apple's Blog, page 23

More Monsters in Kindle Unlimited!

ANNOUNCEMENT! ANNOUNCEMENT!

Forgotten Monsters and Pinnacle Point are now available in Kindle Unlimited. If you got it, grab for a quick weekend read (or two)!

(Now I’m going to crawl back into my cave of blankets and continue sleeping off this creeping crud I contracted. I know you’re thrilled to hear about that. Probably as thrilled as I am to get to tell you about it. THE GRIM HAND OF DEATH IS NOTHING TO JOKE ABOUT, PEOPLE. Nothing.)

(And, yes, I’m being mildly over-dramatic. But only mildly.)

The post More Monsters in Kindle Unlimited! appeared first on Kelly Apple.

Monstrous Short – ‘Tis the Season (The Pumpkin Spice Season)

‘Tis the Season (The Pumpkin Spice Season)

Ella

Monstrous

 

“Michael, did you know there’s an entire subculture dedicated to pumpkin spice?” Ella stared at her mate until he looked up from his phone, his expression caught between confused and amused. “I’ve seen candles and lattes and cereal that’s pumpkin spice flavored. It’s incredible.”

“Yeah, El. Pumpkin spice is a thing.” Michael tucked his phone into the back pocket of his jeans and gave her his entire attention. “Have you tried any of the pumpkin spice coffees yet?”

Bouncing forward onto her toes, Ella nodded. “Yup. Ari brought be one from Hobbs. It was incredible.”

The mound of pumpkin spice flavored whipped cream on top had been the single most divine thing Ella had ever tasted. At times like these, she cursed her wings because it meant she couldn’t drag Michael out to the bakery to get one.

Man, the thought of all that glorious pumpkin spice goodness was making her salivate.

Her mate, perceptive wolf that he was, cocked an eyebrow at her. “Do you want one now?”

“Oh, GAWD, yes. I would kill for one.” Well, maybe not kill. She’d definitely brawl for one, though. You know, to first blood.

Michael flashed her an amused smile and dug in his pocket for his keys. “One pumpkin spice latte coming up. Anything else?”

“Do you think they make their cinnamon rolls glazed with pumpkin spice frosting?”

There was a long moment of silence as Michael thought about it. “I don’t know. I’ll ask. Do you want a regular cinnamon roll if they don’t have a pumpkin spice one?”

“YES! Please.” Just imagining how the cinnamon-y sweetness of the cinnamon roll would complement the coffee had her wriggling in excitement. “Ooh. Get a regular cinnamon roll and a pumpkin spice one. That way I can see which goes best with the coffee.”

Her mate nodded. “Good plan.” Leaning in, he smacked a kiss against her mouth. “See you when I get back.”

Hot damn, she loved her man. He was the type of mate every man should aspire to.

“I love you,” she trilled at him as he left. She sounded like Ari on a sugar high, but she couldn’t help herself. She was so excited about the mere thought of both coffee and a cinnamon roll—fingers crossed they’d both be pumpkin spice flavored—her wings were vibrating.

Now she just had to wait. It took almost fifteen minutes to the bakery, a few minutes getting the order, and another fifteen minutes back. Thirty, thirty-five minutes tops.

She could make it that long.

She could dooooo it.

Gods above, she was starting to sound like Ari.

Forcing herself to sit and calm down before she vibrated the feathers right off her wings, Ella perched on the edge of the couch. Her knee started jiggling as soon as she got her wings settled and a laugh bubbled up.

Okay. Maybe she was more like Ari than she thought. When it came to pumpkin spice, at least.

Who knew that such an innocuous sounding thing could inspire such passion in a person? Not her. She’d never even heard of pumpkin spice anything when she’d been in the nest. This was…well, it was a cornucopia of delights.

A wonderland for her taste buds.

Magic and the mysteries of fall all rolled into one.

A shiver ran down her spine and Ella flopped forward until she was stretched on the couch on her stomach.

The wait was going to kill her.

Absolutely kill her.

Thirty minutes shouldn’t have the power to rend a person incapacitated, but Ella had the feeling she was going to be useless to herself and the rest of the world until Michael got back.

That damn drink Ari had given her had done something to her. It had addicted her to the taste of fall and now she was destined to go through the rest of her life craving the pumpkin-y goodness.

The fact it was a seasonal flavor was something she’d deal with later. Much later. After she’d drained the spice out of everything she could get her hands on.

Ooh. Ari had told her about copycat recipes. She’d have to find one to make pumpkin spice syrup. She could add it to everything, literally everything if she had an endless supply at her fingertips.

Another shiver worked its way down her spine and the tension Ella hadn’t realized she’d been carrying melted away.

Wow. Just knowing she wouldn’t have to give up pumpkin spice after fall calmed her.

Yeah. She was good.

Totally cool.

She could wait out Michael’s return without jittering herself to pieces.

Totally.

Heck, she should go grab Ari’s laptop now and start researching those copycat recipes. That would keep her mind occupied until her darling wolf got home.

Feeling centered, Ella wriggled to a sitting position and set out to do just that.

She had a clearly defined goal to focus on. She could hold out until her wolf brought her treats.

Absolutely.

The End

Want to meet Ella for the first time? Monstrous Matchmaker: The Complete Series introduces us to her. (Or grab Operation Werewolf if you prefer to read it as a serial.)

Missed any of the other shorts? Check out the Series Shorts page and get caught up.

The post Monstrous Short – ‘Tis the Season (The Pumpkin Spice Season) appeared first on Kelly Apple.

Stuff Your Ereader with the September is for Readers Freebie Event!

Today only!

It’s time for FREEBIES! That’s right, kiddos, hop on over to the OMG READS website, pick your platform, download books. It’s that simple.

My offerings this time around are The Wicked Dragon and Operation Dragon. (Do you sense a theme here?!?!) They’ll only be free for a limited time, so grab ’em while they’re hot! (Also, those two series are Amazon exclusives since *other* platforms don’t want to carry them.)

September is for Readers!

Happy reading!

(And just because these graphics are purty…)

The post Stuff Your Ereader with the September is for Readers Freebie Event! appeared first on Kelly Apple.

Monstrous Short – Kitchen Duty

Kitchen Duty

Liz

Monstrous

 

Being in charge of the kitchen at the house wasn’t a hardship. Not for Liz, at least.

When she lived with the pack, kitchen duty had been a chore. A hundred plus ravenous wolves to feed had sucked all the joy out of cooking.

Plus, she hadn’t been in charge there.

She’d been just a worker bee, washing dishes and stirring pots while the real cooks had been planning meals and sourcing ingredients. The one time she’d screwed up her courage enough to suggest a substitution in one of the staple dishes, she’d gotten such looks of horror that she’d wanted to crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment.

So, yeah. Cooking for people who got irrationally excited whenever she mixed things up a bit was no hardship.

And she was allowed to bake.

Good gravy, she hadn’t known how voracious supernaturals could get around sweets until she’d made her first batch of scones. She’d barely finished putting the icing glaze on them when her friends had appeared.

Michael had given her the most pathetic set of puppy dog eyes she’d ever seen until she relented and slid the cooling tray over to him. Those scones had been gone in a heartbeat.

And the next batch.

She’d put her foot down on the third batch and refused to let them eat them until Ari got home. Her decree had earned her more than a few grumbles of discontent, but, for once, Liz hadn’t been bothered by them.

She made quality baked goods. If they wanted more on a regular basis, they’d abide by her rules.

When Hobs Bakery opened by the college, she’d been a cross between relieved and irritated. It meant her friends could sneak off and buy their baked goods instead of hounding her, but it also meant she…

Actually, not having to make five dozen sweet treats a day had freed up a lot of her time. Which she wasn’t going to complain about because more free time meant more time spent with Akakios.

But it kind of stung to have them raving about those damn cinnamon rolls.

Those damn, delicious, heavenly cinnamon rolls.

Hobs Bakery sure did know their dough.

The house quiet around her in the early pre-dawn hours, Liz pulled out her battered cookbook and flipped through the pages until she found the recipe she wanted to try. It was a twist on the classic cinnamon roll and she was…well, she was a little nervous about tweaking something that was such a hit with the others.

What it they hated it?

What if they loved it? What if her changes had her friends abandoning the bakery rolls and demanding she gave up all other pursuits to make them exclusively?

A laugh snorted out of her and Liz clapped her hand over her mouth before she was overcome with giggles.

Right. Like her recipe was going to ruin them for all other cinnamon rolls. The Hobs Bakery ones were good enough she didn’t have to worry about being forced to become the sole supplier of sweet, cinnamon-y goodness.

The soft rustle of wings alerted Liz to the presence of one of her friends.

Turning, she found Vane hovering in the doorway, his expression apologetic. Vane often came down before dawn to wish her a good day and ask her to relay a message to Liam or Ari if it was important enough it couldn’t wait until he rose the following evening.

Flashing him a smile, Liz gestured him in.

One thing she could say about her friends, they might be monsters and beasts, but they were all very careful to observe the unwritten rules that said the kitchen was her domain. Her territory.

Well, except Ari. But that was to be expected seeing as it was her house.

Although, Liz would prefer she didn’t use all the flour and sugar when making muffins and then NOT tell her they were out.

Some people had no concept of the sheer quantity of ingredients were needed to keep a household this size fed.

Vane cleared his throat.

Liz’s gaze snapped to him. Right. She needed to stop dwelling on Ari’s flour incident from a few weeks ago.

“What’s up, Vane?”

The big gargoyle looked almost embarrassed as he shifted from foot to foot. It was sort of sweet.

“If you were to make anything sweet today, I was wondering if you might put some aside for me.” He gave her a slight smile. “Cin brought a box of donuts from the bakery the other night, but they weren’t quite what I wanted.”

For Vane, she’d certainly set aside some of her hybrid cinnamon rolls. He so rarely asked for anything since his schedule was the opposite of everyone else’s. By the time he rose from his daylight slumber, she’d usually finished cooking for the day.

“Sure thing,” she told him softly. “I’ll put aside a whole batch for you.”

The gargoyle was startlingly handsome when he smiled like he was now. Happiness was a good look on him.

She’d have to make sure she put aside something for him every time she baked.

Just because a guy only came alive during the nighttime hours didn’t mean he had to miss out on treats.

“Thank you, Liz. I appreciate it.”

As Vane disappeared into the heart of the house to seek out his daytime resting place, Liz turned back to her preparations.

Moments like these were why she didn’t mind kitchen duty.

Would the house survive if she suddenly stopped cooking for them? Yeah, it would. But she made a difference here. She gave people happiness in the form of sugary confections and fuel to keep them strong and ready for anything.

No, this definitely wasn’t a hardship.

The End

Want to meet Liz for the first time? Monstrous Matchmaker: The Complete Series introduces us to her. (Or grab Operation Minotaur if you prefer to read it as a serial.)

Missed any of the other shorts? Check out the Series Shorts page and get caught up.

The post Monstrous Short – Kitchen Duty appeared first on Kelly Apple.

Looking Back on August

Whew. Another month gone by.

My kiddo is back in school (college, so it’s not like he’s underfoot when he’s home or anything, but…wait a second! How do I have a college-age kid again? MAN, time flies!) and pumpkin spice lattes are back at Starbucks. GOOD TIMES!

What happened on the bookish front? WELL…

Monstrous Planning, book 2 in the Monstrous Revelations series, came out. Ari’s at it again and this time she’s trying to be adult-ish about it. HAHA. No. That doesn’t sound quite right. Anyway. She’s doing her thing. With her man. While planning GLORIOUS THINGS. As one does.

I got my booty in gear and finally got the newsletter serial I’ve been playing with started. Part 4 goes out next week, but it’s SUPER easy to catch up on previous installments if you missed them. You just have to, you know, subscribe to my newsletter.

The Series Shorts continue to go up every Tuesday (except this past Tuesday, THANKS, SIS!) and there are A LOT of behind the scenes snippets for you to catch up on if you need an extra hit of your favorite characters.

I also co-hosted and participated in the Bout of Books read-a-thon which is both exhilarating and exhausting all at the same time. (It was FUN, though. SO MUCH FUN!)

I have a long weekend coming up and I’m CRAZY looking forward to it. Reading, writing, and other shenanigans! Yessssss.

Until next month!

The post Looking Back on August appeared first on Kelly Apple.

And now for a short intermission

Hey, guys. I’m feeling a bit under the weather (this is me sending a hearty thanks to my sister for coming over this past weekend while sounding like she’d just knocked away the grim hand of death), so there’s no new Series Short this week. (And that’s what I get for putting off writing one until the last minute. Whoopsies!)

However, I am going to link up the previous Series Shorts since there are A LOT of them now. You know how I like to spread the love, right? Yeah. I don’t know how to do things in half measures.

Anywho. Series Shorts. If you’re not caught up, now’s a great time to do it.

anderson high wolves

Jenny’s Story
Unexpected Gifts (Mason and Natalie) – Part 1 of 4
Misdirection and Deflection (Mason and Natalie) – Part 2 of 4
Just Breathe (Mason and Natalie) – Part 3 of 4
The Exchange (Mason and Natalie) – Part 4 of 4
A Very Werewolf Thanksgiving (Evan and Jenny)
Intersecting Lines (Jenny and Evan)
The Wheel Turns (Mason and Natalie)
The Haunted House (Jenny and Evan)
Quiet Moments (Lane and Matty)
The End of a Perfect Day (Jenny, Lane, and Natalie)

 

the demonkind chronicles

New Traditions (Bas)
Baby Steps (Evie)
Someday (Evie and Bas)
Small Victories (Bas and Evie)
Storm Warnings (Evie and Bas)
Comfort Zone (Evie)

 

grimwood

Apple Wine and Kisses (Zel and Geneva)
Home Is Where the Heart Is (Lucy and Connor)
Broken Things (Isobel and Cade)
The Heart of a Romantic (Adria and Micah)
The Well in the Garden (Fen)

 

monstrous tales/matchmaker

Never Say Never (Ari)
Date Nights, Sprites, and the Truth of Hidden Things (Liam)
Making Plans (Ari and Liam) – Part 1 of 3
The Drive (Liam and Ari) – Part 2 of 3
Inner Peace (Ari and Liam) – Part 3 of 3
Territorial Leanings (Thisseral and Io)
Coffee and Cupcakes (Ella and Ari)
Dinner Plans (Max and Siri)
Even Monsters Like Sweet Things (Cin and Vane)
The Thrill of the Chase (Akakios and Liz)
A Hundred Types of Kisses (Lon and Ivy)
A Very Special Night (Amanda and Jerinth)
Alone Time (Michael and Ella)
Damn Lucky (Liam)
Baking Lessons (Cin and Ari)
No Ordinary Muffin (Michael and Ari)
Going a Little Crazy (Ari)
All’s Fair in Love and Cinnamon Rolls (Ella)
Her Gargoyle (Cin)
Damn Fabulous (Ari)
Interesting Lives (Ari and Cin)

 

pinnacle point

Afterlife Dating (Chance and Alison)
When the Heart Beats (Maisie and Zane)
Tension Relief (Logan and Jenna)
A Whole Lot of Something (Eugene and Megan)

 

stronghold

Letting Go (Drew)

 

wicked pride

Girls’ Night (Cami and Luna)
Growing Pains (Luna and Sam)
The Great Cookie Caper (Carrie and Kane)
The Reckoning (Callie and Ivan)
A Very Beastly Holiday

 

I tend to update the Series Shorts page fairly regularly, so if you miss one of two that’s the best place to catch them.

Okay. I’m going to go wallow in my pitiful meh-ness for a while. That said, I do plan on being on the ball for next week. Plan, being the operative word.

The post And now for a short intermission appeared first on Kelly Apple.

Monstrous Planning is now live!

Did you see? The next Monstrous Revelations series is here and it’s under a buck for a limited time! Grab it while it’s hot!

As with all the Monstrous titles, it’s an Amazon exclusive. What does that mean? If you have Kindle Unlimited, you can read it for FREE!

Monstrous Planning

(Monstrous Revelations #2)

Amazon

Add on Goodreads

Release Date: August 23, 2018

Pages: 54

Genre: Monster Erotica, Paranormal Romance

Change is coming.

Arabella Colton knows that in her bones and she’s determined to make the monstrous community’s unveiling as painless as possible. Let’s face it, when a nymph sets her sights on a goal, there’s no telling what she can accomplish.

Provided, that is, she doesn’t get bogged down by doubt. Or her fears. Or realize just how big a task she’s set for herself.

Ari’s always believed supernaturals are stronger together. Now she’s going to have to put her money where her mouth is.

That’s right, she’s going to suck it up, shore up all her courage, and ask for help.

Because nothing’s going to stop this nymph from saving the ones she loves.

Warning: This book contains a confident nymph. Well, a mostly confident nymph. It also contains a medusa with a stony stare and a green monster who will love the confidence back into his mate if he has to stay up all night trying. Because that’s what monsters do.

<< Monstrous Connections - Monstrous Rogues >>

{series page}

{all books}

The post Monstrous Planning is now live! appeared first on Kelly Apple.

Monstrous Short – Interesting Lives

Interesting Lives

Ari and Cin

Monstrous

 

If Ari’s life were to be written as a sitcom, it would be one of those madcap, laugh a minute ones where everything seemed to turn out right despite the odds being against her.

At least that was what Ari thought.

Like, there’s be an episode where she missed out on a sweet, sweet parking spot when she went shopping only to have the car that stole it from her getting hit by a runaway cart and getting its paint scratched to hell and back.

You know, it would be one of those shows where even the bad things turn out to be fortuitous because fate was smiling down on her.

She’d have a romantic interest in this sitcom, of course. A hunky intellectual who always paused when he walked through doors to give the women viewers a chance to admire his gorgeous physique.

Her own hunk and a half walked by the window and Ari let out a sigh, unable to stop herself from craning her neck to watch until he was out of sight.

Screw that fictional sitcom. What she had was so much better than anything any script writer could come up with.

No actor could ever compare to Liam.

They didn’t have his gorgeous green skin. Or his muscles. Or his beautiful, frisky tentacles.

Hot damn, she loved that man.

She should go get him. Right now. Immediately, in fact.

Maybe coax him inside with naughty whispers of everything she wanted to do to him.

Lead him to the bedroom and…

“I can always tell when you have Liam thoughts running through your head.”

Cin’s words startled Ari so badly she jolted in her chair, her eyes going wide.

Damn. She hadn’t realized she wasn’t alone. Good thing she’d kept her hands from straying south while contemplating all the things she’d like to do to her favorite monster.

“And there you go again.”

Caught, Ari made a face at her best human friend. Cin knew her too well. “What? Have you seen him? It’s not like I can stop those thoughts once they start.” She would have said more—teasing her friend about her own monster, perhaps—but the lines of exhaustion marking Cin’s face stopped her.

Concerned, Ari popped out of her chair and circled her desk until she was right in front of her. Yep, those circles under her eyes were epic.

Cin looked like she needed to crawl into bed and sleep for a day.

“What’s up?” Ari asked, urging her down into a chair. “You look like you’re about to drop?”

“Nothing.” At Ari’s look, Cin shrugged. “Really, it’s nothing. Weird dreams. I can’t sleep for more than a few hours at a time.”

Not good. Not good at all. Sleep was important. Ari turned into a cranky she-witch when she didn’t get enough.

Okay, wait. That actually wasn’t entirely accurate. Sure, lack of sleep made her cranky, but a shot or two of her honey’s man-juice and her energy levels bounced back up.

Oh, the joys of being a nymph.

Sadly, Cin didn’t have that gift. She was human. She had to deal with sleepless nights like every other human.

“What can I do to help?” She’d make gallons of coffee if that’s what her BFF needed. Gallons.

Man, coffee sounded good right now. Something sweet with a hint of saltiness in it. Or chocolate. She could go for a mocha.

No. A raspberry mocha. Pure, unadulterated goodness.

“I dunno. Can you put me in a trance so I can get a good night’s sleep?”

Ari paused her rapturous musings about coffee and frowned. “I don’t know. I’ve never tried. Do you want me to?”

The two women stared at one another. Cin broke first, a tired smile creasing her face. “No. I think I’d rather you didn’t try to bespell my mind with your wicked nymphly ways.”

Snickering, Ari sank down into the chair beside her. “Right. I might make you cluck like a chicken or bark like a dog on accident and then you’d get mad at me and we’d have to have an emotional heart to heart to hash things out so our storyline could move forward.”

Cin blinked once. Twice. “Huh?”

“Oh, I was imagining what my life would be like as a sitcom. As the requisite human BFF, you and I would always forgive one another no matter what befell us.”

“Why would your life be a…you know what? Never mind. I’m cool not knowing.”

Ari glanced at her friend out of the corner of her eye. “We have interesting lives. We’d make an awesome sitcom.”

Cin snorted out a laugh. “Yeah, okay. I’ll give you that.”

Settling back, Ari looked out the window to see if she could catch Liam and his green magnificence walking by again. No luck. Darn.

“The monsters would be problematic,” she said after a minute of silence. “Like, could you imagine Vane as anything but a gargoyle? I just…can’t. I can’t see some human actor playing a guy who sleeps all day and goes around scowling and getting frisky with his boo at night.”

Cin’s laughter was lighter than it had been. “We do more than get frisky. And Vane doesn’t scowl all the time.”

“Yeah, he does. It’s hot.”

“Oh my god, Ari.”

“What? We scored a bunch of hotties. We need to own that.”

Cin was fully giggling now and it was just like old times. “We both got crazy lucky, didn’t we?”

“It wasn’t luck.”

It wasn’t. Something bigger than luck had put them on the path they were on now. Fate. Or…something.

“You ever wonder what things would be like if you had never met Liam?”

Ari shook her head. “No. Me and Liam were meant to be. If we hadn’t met in that parking lot, we would have met somewhere else.” She rolled her head again and eyed her best friend. “Same with you and Vane. You two were kinda into each other the first time you met. If it hadn’t been that night, maybe he would have seen you from the tower some other night and things would have gone from there.”

Cin smiled. Some of the exhaustion had fallen away and she looked like she didn’t need a gallon of coffee or a good night’s sleep.

Still, it wouldn’t hurt for her to grab some shut eye before her honey woke for the evening.

“You should catch a nap before Vane wakes.”

Cin’s smile deepened. “Yeah. That sounds like a good idea.” She pushed herself up and paused. “We should do this more often. You know, talk like old times.”

They should.

They might have interesting lives, but there would always be time for friends.

Always.

The End

Want to see Ari and Cin’s first interaction? Monstrous Tales: The Complete Series gives us their story. (Or grab The Wicked Merman if you prefer to read it as a serial.)

Missed any of the other shorts? Check out the Series Shorts page and get caught up.

The post Monstrous Short – Interesting Lives appeared first on Kelly Apple.

Cover Reveal – Monstrous Revelations Book 2

Oh, heyyyy. The second Monstrous Revelations book is with the editor and it will probably go live next week (unless something unforeseen happens like an alien abduction or something. I’m not saying that WILL happen, but plan for the worst, right? Or the best if the alien turns out to be hunky and stuff. The point is that sometimes things happen.) and I just realized I never shared the cover and blurb for it.

Whoops!

So here I am. Sharing! Because sharing is good life skill to have. That’s what I’ve learned from Ari, at least.

LOOK! COVER AND BLURB!

Monstrous Planning

(Monstrous Revelations #2)

Release Date: Coming Soon!

Genre: Monster Erotica, Paranormal Romance

Change is coming.

Arabella Colton knows that in her bones and she’s determined to make the monstrous community’s unveiling as painless as possible. Let’s face it, when a nymph sets her sights on a goal, there’s no telling what she can accomplish.

Provided, that is, she doesn’t get bogged down by doubt. Or her fears. Or realize just how big a task she’s set for herself.

Ari’s always believed supernaturals are stronger together. Now she’s going to have to put her money where her mouth is.

That’s right, she’s going to suck it up, shore up all her courage, and ask for help.

Because nothing’s going to stop this nymph from saving the ones she loves.

Warning: This book contains a confident nymph. Well, a mostly confident nymph. It also contains a medusa with a stony stare and a green monster who will love the confidence back into his mate if he has to stay up all night trying. Because that’s what monsters do.

<< Monstrous Connections - Monstrous Rogues >>

{series page}

{all books}

It’s COMING! (Soon. So soon.)

The post Cover Reveal – Monstrous Revelations Book 2 appeared first on Kelly Apple.

Monstrous Short – Damn Fabulous

Damn Fabulous

Ari

Monstrous

 

If there was an award for most fabulous nymph, Ari expected she’d win it without even trying.

Wait. Maybe she was being hasty. After all, it wasn’t like she knew any other actual nymphs. Maybe they were all as fabulous as her.

Whatever.

No way were there other nymphs out there rocking the mating thing as well as she did.

Or the friend thing. She absolutely slayed at that.

Yep. Hands down, she’d win most fabulous in a heartbeat.

Feeling empowered, Ari trotted up the stairs to the bedroom she shared with Liam and shut the door firmly behind her.

She needed a few minutes of alone time and the best way to get that was to lock herself in her room.

Everyone living in the house knew what the closed bedroom door meant.

Too bad Liam wasn’t around to make what everyone was thinking reality.

Nope. She wasn’t going to dwell. Her fabulousness was at an all-time high and she was damn well going to bask in it until the next great moment came along.

Unable to stand still, Ari shimmied in place as she surveyed the room trying to figure out where to put her surprise.

The bed was the most obvious, it being front and center and all, but…that felt too easy. Like, why be obvious? She needed to put some thought into this. Really show Liam she wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty on the heavy planning.

Dresser? Possibly. Except, would Liam even look there?

Arrgh. Maybe not.

On the other hand, it provided a nice, flat surface that would keep her gift from tumbling over and making a mess.

Their room didn’t have a lot of other options. Liam needed only the basics—he’d been living in a cave before they’d met, for goodness sake, and was used to only the bare essentials—so a bed, the dresser, and the massive chair he sometimes used for reading were her only options.

Okay. Think creatively. If the she wasn’t going to consider the bed and the dresser was out, that left, well, the floor.

Ooh. Picnic.

She could put down one of the blankets the wolves had given them, arrange some pillows, and create an indoor picnic for the two of them.

That might work.

After all, it wasn’t every day a nymph and her mate celebrated the anniversary of the day they met.

Excitement zinging through her, Ari carefully placed her surprise on the dresser and went to go find a blanket. And water. Liam liked staying hydrated. Especially if things were to turn sexy.

Stamina, thy name is Liam.

Ooh. She should grab some of those nut cakes he liked. The chewy, savory ones he’d been showing Ivy how to make. Those Liath Mor sure did like those things.

Liam said they were great for keeping up a monster’s energy.

Yes. She was definitely bringing up a few of those.

Uggh. Maybe she should have sweet talked Liz into making some special ones instead of going the route she went. She knew Liam liked them, she had no clue if he’d care for her surprise.

No. Stop. That was way too negative for today.

Liam would love her surprise. He loved everything she did.

Gods above, she was one lucky nymph. The day Liam had abducted her from that parking lot had been the best damn day of her life.

Just look at her now. Mated, friends with a slew of awesome supernaturals, and so goddamn fabulous it almost hurt.

Locking herself in the room again with her loot, Ari grinned as she worked on setting everything up.

Yeah, if the supernatural world ever wanted to award anyone for being a damn fabulous nymph, she’d definitely win. It didn’t even matter if other nymphs rocked it as well as she did.

She was Arabella Effing Colton.

And she was damn fabulous.

And tonight, she was going to lavish love on her mate for nabbing her from that parking lot and opening her eyes to this crazy, insane, perfect world she was part of now.

The End

Want to see how Ari first met Liam? Monstrous Tales: The Complete Series gives us their story. (Or grab The Wicked Woods if you prefer to read it as a serial.)

Missed any of the other shorts? Check out the Series Shorts page and get caught up.

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