The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance

tears. She’d bribed a member of the cleaning crew, bought her way back into the building, and out onto the ledge. The crew was gone now, everyone was gone. Even the streets were empty.
    There was no one here but her and Mord.
    She inched forwards. Ran her hand down his arm. He was cold, still, stone.
    She was here. Mord tried to stop his heart from beating, tried to stay in his stony state. If he revealed that he was alive, he’d have to make the choice. Do his duty and kill her? Or go with his heart and let her live?
    Her hand grazed his arm, warm and supple. His body tingled, the feeling of life flowing into him almost painful. He gritted his teeth. Why wouldn’t she give up?
    “Mord?” Her voice caught. “Mord?” A whisper. Her fingers trailed down his side.
    He kept his gaze firm — straight ahead.
    “I love you.” She pressed a kiss against his shoulder, started to move backwards, towards the window.
    He’d won. She’d given up.
    Then he heard it, a sob. He felt the moisture she’d left behind on his skin.
    She was crying, over him.
    He tried to resist, tried to stop himself, but couldn’t. Couldn’t deny any longer that the magic wasn’t temporary. It had changed him. He loved this human, enough that he would risk anything, everything, to keep her safe.
    He stepped forwards, off of the ledge. He spread his wings behind him and hovered behind Kami. “I love you too.”
    She froze, twisted too quickly, and fell. But Mord was there to catch her. Just like he would always be.

The Lighthouse Keeper and His Wife
Sara Mackenzie
    She placed her hands on the man’s face. He lay still, his flesh cold, giving the impression of death. But the Sorceress knew better. Beneath the chill flowed warm blood, just waiting for the moment to spark into life. His eyelashes flickered. She began to chant the words of waking, her voice soft at first and then rising, growing louder and louder until it echoed about the high-vaulted cathedral. The incense-laden air vibrated.
    His eyes opened, one as dark and shining as jet, the other dull and sightless. There was a scar running down his cheek where the ship’s wooden spar had caught him, blinding him and tearing his flesh. He should have died in the storm that wrecked his ship, rather than later, when he was the lighthouse keeper, trying to save drowning passengers from a sinking steamer.
    “Why have you woken me?” Zek asked, his voice ragged from disuse.
    “Because you have work to do,” the Sorceress said sternly, her blue eyes burning bright, her long red hair loose about her face.
    He struggled to sit up. His dark hair was tied back in a seaman’s pigtail, his skin tanned from all weathers. This was a man who’d spent his life outside in the wind and the sun, and who relished pitting himself against the elements.
    He knew who she was: the Sorceress, the ruler of the between-worlds otherwise known as purgatory. It was her practice to choose certain mortals, those she considered had not reached their full potential during their original lifetime and, when the time was right, return them to the living world for a second chance.
    “I am sending you back to the mortal world,” she told him now. “You must put right the wrong. All those lives lost. You must save them and at the same time help me to capture the monster responsible.”
    He looked up at her, his one good eye glittering in the candlelight, the other dead and empty. She waited for him to argue with her, tell her he couldn’t possibly do any such thing. But he surprised her.
    “If I am to help you, I want something in return.”
    Anger flashed in her eyes. “I am giving you a second chance at life and you ask for more?”
    “There is someone I have to find. My wife, Isabel. I long for her. I ache for her. Will you help me find her again?”
    The Sorceress smiled. “Ah, you speak of love. Or is it lust?”
    He smiled back, but she knew his heart was racing.
    “She has been reborn into another time, into another body. Her life with you is over. There are some rules that even I cannot break, Zek.”
    “I don’t care about the rules. I want my wife back again. I will only help you if you grant my wish.”
    “I could send you into the pit for eternity.” Her voice was a growl. “Obey me, mortal.”
    Most men would have backed down, but not this one. “Not without her.”
    The Sorceress smiled; his reckless courage amused her. She had chosen well because he would need both those attributes to