Shell Games is a cops-and-robbers tale set in a double-crossing world where smugglers fight turf wars over some of the world's strangest marine creatures. Puget Sound sits south of the border between the U.S. and Canada and is home to the magnificent geoduck (pronounced "gooey duck"), the world's largest burrowing clam. Comically proportioned but increasingly fashionable as seafood, the geoduck has been the subject of pranks, TV specials, and gourmet feasts. But this shellfish is so valuable it is also traded for millions of dollars on the black market— a world where outlaw scuba divers dodge cops while using souped-up boats, night-vision goggles, and weighted belts to pluck the succulent treasures from the sea floor. And the greatest dangers come from rival poachers who resort to arson and hit men to eliminate competition and stake their claim in the geoduck market. Detective Ed Volz spent his life chasing elk-antler thieves, bobcat smugglers, and eagle talon poachers. Now he was determined to find the kingpin of the geoduck underworld. He and a team of federal agents set up illegal sales, secretly recorded conversations, and photographed hand-offs from the bushes. For years, they tracked a rogues' gallery of lawbreakers, who eventually led them to the biggest thief of all— a darkly charming con man who called himself the "GeoduckGotti" and who worked both sides of the law. In Shell Games, veteran environmental journalist Craig Welch delves into the wilds of our nation's waters and forests in search of some of America's most unusual criminals and the cops who are on a mission to take them down. This thrilling examination of the international black market for wildlife is filled with butterfly thieves, bear slayers, and shark-trafficking pastors— all part of one of the largest illegal trades in the world.

In the aftermath of an assassination attempt, Sylvan Mir, wolf Were Alpha, and her mate Drake McKennan turn their backs on the government that has threatened their survival, vowing to protect their own with primal force, regardless the cost in blood. After escaping the Vampire dungeons beneath the blood club Nocturne, Fae royal Torren de Brinna petitions Sylvan for sanctuary, setting Sylvan and her allies on a collision course with Francesca, Viceregal of the Eastern Vampire seethe. In the midst of war, Torren finds her heart at risk from a young dominant Were, while Francesca's Vampire enforcer Michel draws one of Sylvan's trusted guards into a web of seduction and danger. Hunted by human extremists, targeted by the Shadow Lords who fear her growing power, and beset by enemies masquerading as friends, Sylvan leads the Timberwolf Pack to war on two fronts as alliances shift and long-held beliefs are challenged. A Midnight Hunters novel.

In 1999, off the coast of the Pacific Northwest, the first gray whale in seven decades was killed by Makah whalers. The hunt marked the return of a centuries-old tradition and, predictably, set off a fierce political and environmental debate. Whalers from the Makah Indian Tribe and antiwhaling activists have clashed for over twenty years, with no end to this conflict in sight. In Contesting Leviathan, anthropologist Les Beldo describes the complex judicial and political climate for whale conservation in the United States, and the limits of the current framework in which whales are treated as “large fish” managed by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Emphasizing the moral dimension of the conflict between the Makah, the US government, and antiwhaling activists, Beldo brings to light the lived ethics of human-animal interaction, as well as how different groups claim to speak for the whale—the only silent party in this conflict. A timely and sensitive study of a complicated issue, this book calls into question anthropological expectations regarding who benefits from the exercise of state power in environmental conflicts, especially where indigenous groups are involved. Vividly told and rigorously argued, Contesting Leviathan will appeal to anthropologists, scholars of indigenous culture, animal activists, and any reader interested in the place of animals in contemporary life.

“A swashbuckling adventure.” —Booklist “A rollicking Indiana Jones flick with a female lead.” —BCCB The Last Magician meets A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue in this thrilling, “breathless” (Kirkus Reviews) tale filled with magic and set in the mysterious Carpathian Mountains where a girl must hunt down Vlad the Impaler’s cursed ring in order to save her father. Some legends never die… Traveling with her treasure-hunting father has always been a dream for Theodora. She’s read every book in his library, has an impressive knowledge of the world’s most sought-after relics, and has all the ambition in the world. What she doesn’t have is her father’s permission. That honor goes to her father’s nineteen-year-old protégé—and once-upon-a-time love of Theodora’s life—Huck Gallagher, while Theodora is left to sit alone in her hotel in Istanbul. Until Huck returns from an expedition without her father and enlists Theodora’s help in rescuing him. Armed with her father’s travel journal, the reluctant duo learns that her father had been digging up information on a legendary and magical ring that once belonged to Vlad the Impaler—more widely known as Dracula—and that it just might be the key to finding him. Journeying into Romania, Theodora and Huck embark on a captivating adventure through Gothic villages and dark castles in the misty Carpathian Mountains to recover the notorious ring. But they aren’t the only ones who are searching for it. A secretive and dangerous occult society with a powerful link to Vlad the Impaler himself is hunting for it, too. And they will go to any lengths—including murder—to possess it.

I know that better than most. Since rejoining the Pride, I've made big decisions and even bigger mistakes: the kind paid for with innocent lives. As the first and only female enforcer, I have plenty to prove to my father, the Pride and myself. And with murdered toms turning up in our territory, I'm working harder than ever, though I always find the energy for a little after-hours recreation with Marc, my partner both on and off duty. But not all my mistakes are behind me. We're beginning to suspect that the dead are connected to a rash of missing human women and that they can all be laid at my feet-two or four, take your pick. And one horrible indiscretion may yet cost me more than I can bear....

Come join us for a fun-filled vacation in Mystic Pines, Alaska, where the weather isn’t always warm, but our hospitality is. Kip Larson moved to Mystic Pines to fulfill his dream of owning his own spa. Too bad Alaska wasn’t the nature lover’s paradise he’d hoped it would be, especially when he was stuck knee deep in mud with a grizzly bear staring him down and licking his chops. Kip had always been an animal lover but that was put to the test as he had to decide which of them should die. Rogue Jennings had grown up in Mystic Pines which, at the time, had been declining into a dying town. Now he’s back and happy to be so. Hunting has been in his blood since the day he could hold a rifle, which seemed to cause a rift between him and the man he was beginning to care for. Can Rogue show Kip that if he’d open his mind and his heart, despite their differences, they could build a wonderful life together? Warning: This series takes place in the middle of the Alaskan Triangle. Anything could happen, including Bigfoot, aliens, disappearance, sinking in a mud pit, upside-down trees and even coming face to face with some of the most dangerous predators on the planet, so expect the unexpected. PLEASE NOTE: This installment ends in an HEA, but the series is better enjoyed when read in order.

Third book in the rollicking, galaxy-spanning SF adventure series that will make your imagination spin! McGill Feighan is able to “fling”—or teleport—himself or anything else as far away as he can imagine. As such, he makes a rather substantial living by flinging anything and everything, for a fee, to the far corners of the universe. His real quest, though, is to find the Far Being Retzglaran, who has meddled in his life since birth. Oh, and he’s trying to avoid the dread Organization, which is trying to kill him at every turn. They’ve had a contract out on his life since he was four days old, but they’ve been unsuccessful. So far. Now McGill teams up with an Actuni plant-monk—who is not your everyday sentient cactus—as they flee the PsychSection of the Flinger Network and seek an encounter with the most ancient of all mysteries. It is a thorny dilemma indeed.

As chaos looms, a warrior queen is reborn Bookish academic Diana Laughton has been having terrible dreams. Dreams of battle, dreams of blood… dreams so vivid she's living them day and night. When demons invade her quiet life, she wonders if she’s going mad. Or if perhaps she's remembering a past life she had no idea existed… In the midst of betrayal, he must protect her Mythean Guardian Cadan Trinovante loved and betrayed Britain's warrior queen Boudica two millennia ago. Now he’s tasked with protecting mortals whose lives affect the fate of humanity. His latest assignment is Boudica herself, reincarnated as a woman with no idea of her past or her fated future. Though in the irresistible form of Diana Laughton, it's possible Cadan has once again met his match… To succumb to seduction could prove fatal Thrown together in a shadowy world that exists alongside our own, Diana and Cadan must fight not only the demonic forces that want Diana dead, but a past and a passion that have lasted centuries. Their desire could be deadly. But as evil from the underworld unites against them, their only hope could be each other.

One does not break an oath to the fae… But I am getting much better at finding and exploiting the loopholes. I may have promised the ruthlessly sensual fae lord, Rogue, that he can sire my firstborn child—but I never said when. And I’m not giving into his will-eroding attempts to seduce me until he tells me what will happen to my child. Which he refuses to do. So, I’m holding out against his allure, no matter how he tantalizes me, because the one way to protect my child is to make sure they’re never born. Unfortunately, Rogue is as wily as he is persistent, and soon I find myself in more bargains—I must give him a kiss every day and sleep by his side at night. Even as I travel through Faerie, perfecting my sorceress skills and seeking the answers to the questions Rogue won’t—or can’t—answer, he is constantly by my side, working his way through my defenses. He refuses to let me go. Most terrifying of all, I’m finding I don’t want him to…