I took my glass of sweet tea from her, and moved Dain's hand so he could scratch behind Jonathan's ears, which he did, still bewildered. I looked up at my parents as they settled into their own seats, and then over at David as he came running in with a sheaf of drawings, and started laughing again, happy and full of joy. There was always, always a third choice, and I was so glad for the chance to take it.

Endings are only new beginnings…
Read on for more by Mallory Dunlin!

About the Author

Mallory is a monster aficionado who spends her time reading, writing, and dreaming about beastly lovers. When she doesn't have monsters on the mind, she can be found hiking with her wolfhound or watching survival shows with avid glee. She makes her home on the East Coast alongside her dog, three chickens, and a mischief of rats.

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Do you enjoy forced proximity, accidental empathy bonds, and the healing power of love?

Read on for a preview of Mallory's next book, "The Sorceress and the Incubus", a high fantasy monster romance coming early 2023.

The Sorceress and the Incubus

Chapter 1: Falling Stars

The summoning circle of Barixeor Spire burned with abyssal power as I leaned into the strength of the volcano beneath it. Standing more than five thousand feet above the peak of the caldera island at the very apex of the Spire, I called the swirling flow of the ley confluence together, feeding it through the complex lines of my diagram until it narrowed to a beam of focused power collared by the seven rings of the circle. The burn-off of my spell filled the massive room with blinding light that I could see even through the layers of black silk over my eyes, as bright white as starlight.

I kept my eyes closed and focused on my mage-sight. The invisible world of magic blazed into life in every direction around me for hundreds of miles, appearing as rivers and coronas and filaments of light. From this height I could see the curvature of the Material Plane in which I lived, the home of nearly a billion people who I'd sworn to protect. It was my home, too, a beautiful place I couldn't bear to see scoured to the bedrock by the fury of the stars.

Near Kamenhe, I reminded myself. To the southwest.

With a steadying breath, I turned my attention to the great spells written deep in the ley of the Spire, a curling lattice-work of magic through which the power of the Tsirisma Confluence flowed. The spells stretched across space in a way that hurt my mind to think about, so I didn't try to comprehend the how, instead following the entangled ley-lines of the Spires to Kamenhe Spire halfway across the world.