Corrupting Kross by J. D. Light

Larrin Brenner
I know there is more to Kross than most people see. I mean, it’s not like I’ve been stalking the guy, but I may or may not have happened by all the places my hand-to-hand combat instructor goes and possibly watched as he played with the kids at the daycare and helped at the animal shelter in his free time. I also may be obsessed with the man, but as long as my friends keep me from making drunken confessions that will only prove just how much Kross is not into me when he rejects me like a bad check, all will be fine. Until one of the other gargoyles on Terra Mortis falls asleep a real girl and is rubble only hours later. Suddenly, Kross’s protective instincts are in overdrive and as it turns out, that’s because I’m his mate. As a member of the regiulapis bloodline of gargoyles, I was born without the ability to scent my mate, but Kross is bellalapis and had known since the first time we met. Though his reason for not telling me immediately is solid and becomes more so once I meet the man who raised him, I can’t help but be hurt. And it might not matter, if the unknown person using forbidden magic against me succeeds in their mission to get rid of me completely.

Kross McCabe
A century is a long time to train for something, only to find out it was never meant to be in my life anyway. And that’s exactly the shock I get, when I find my mate facedown on the sidewalk in front of the castle that serves as a training facility for special factions of immortal warriors. Terra Mortis is an island in the Caribbean where that training facility is located, and it’s supposed to be the last milestone before I’m sworn in as a master for the Praemani, a group of men who devote their entire life to the study of immortal history and hand-to-hand combat. The problem is, I can’t have a mate and be a master. Full devotion is needed for both. I’ve chosen my mate, but before I’m ready to claim him, I have to figure out who I am outside of the only thing I’ve ever known. And did I mention that celibacy is part of the full devotion to Praemani? So, yeah. I’m a hundred-year-old virgin. Can I convince my mate to accept me when I’m still struggling with being myself? And what if I’m the reason a practitioner of forbidden magic is targeting him? Can I forgive myself if I trusted the wrong person and my mate suffers for it? Can he?