The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance

heart and soul.
    He brushed her wet hair away from her face with his fingertips. She lifted her head to look at him and smiled. Such an innocent, sweet, genuine smile. Nothing like the sultry, experienced look she’d given him when she’d been a Succubus.
    Archer no longer doubted his sanity - or hers.
    And now he’d lost his heart to this sweet woman in his arms. He wanted to show her the world and then give it to her.
    Give everything to her.
    The vision of a clear stone slipped through his mind. He drew away from Lilin and rolled out of bed.
    “What’s wrong?” she asked, sounding concerned. “Archer?”
    Confusion clouded Archer’s mind, but he knew he had to go to his drawer. “Wait.”
    He reached his bureau, opened his sock drawer, and dug through it. His fingers finally touched something round and hard, hidden in one of his socks. When he returned to the bed, he shook the sock out over the mattress. An enormous diamond slipped out of it. Archer’s eyes widened, and so did Lilin’s.
    Where had it come from and why had he just remembered having it?
    He grasped the stone in his hand - and everything came back in a rush so fast he nearly collapsed.
    Every memory of being an Incubus, every woman he had ever taken. And Queen Rusalka with her fierce beauty and even fiercer temper. She’d been pissed with him when he’d said no to becoming one of her concubines. He’d never expected her to make him human.
    The Queen had given him the stone so that every now and then he would remember what he had lost - an immortal life and the ability to bed any woman he wanted, every night if he chose to. But he had to be holding the diamond to remember. A little while after he parted with it, his memories would be gone again.
    But with the stone he could also call to the Queen and beg to have his old life back.
    He looked from the diamond to his beautiful Lilin. He would give her the stone, allowing her to remember her past - and return to the Unseelie Court.
    His heart in his throat, he placed the diamond in her hand and folded her fingers around it. “My gift to you.”
    Immediately, shock registered on Lilin’s features as she held the stone, and her eyes darted back and forth as if she was watching a ping-pong match.
    “I could return,” Lilin whispered. “The Queen would take me back.”
    It hit him like a blow to the chest. Lilin might leave. She would go back to the Queen and she would forget he existed.
    And he would never forget her.
    In that single crystal-clear moment he realized how much she had come to mean to him over the period of time he’d known her.
    He didn’t want to lose her.
    Archer was on the verge of grabbing her, taking her into his arms and holding her tight so she could never leave him. Then she blinked as if coming back to reality and looked at him for a long moment.
    His words and his breath caught in his throat as she took the sock he had hidden the diamond in, and slipped the stone inside so that it dropped to the toe.
    Lilin handed it to Archer and smiled. “I choose to live a mortal life if it means I can be with you.” She bit her lower lip before adding, “If you’ll have me.”
    The relief was so great it stunned him.
    “Will I have you?” Archer tossed the sock-covered diamond over his shoulder and it landed on the floor with a thump. “Does that answer your question?” He planned to take that damned stone and bury it in the landfill first thing in the morning.
    She grinned and flung her arms around his neck. “I think I love you, Archer.”
    “I know I love you, Lilin.” Archer couldn’t keep the love out of his smile and voice as he looked down at her. “And I’m never letting you go.”

Paranormal Romance Blues
Kelley Armstrong
    “When I said I was in the mood for a meat market, I meant that metaphorically. I don’t actually want to be anyone’s dinner.”
    Tiffany rolled her eyes. “It’s not that kind of vampire bar, Mel.”
    “What other kind is there? It’s for vampires. What do they drink? Blood. And we’re their primary suppliers of that beverage. Ergo ...”
    If she rolled her eyes any higher, they’d disappear into her skull. As I sipped my beer, I overheard a guy at the bar talking about women and not-so-discreetly jerking his chin our way. Cute guy, too. Hmm.
    “I’ll take the blonde,” he said to his friend. “You can have the brunette.”
    “No, I want the blonde.”
    It was always nice to be argued over. Too bad I was the one they