Rescuing the witch was the easy part. Convincing her we're destined may be the death of me.

SIERRA

One day I'm minding my own business, the next I'm face-to-face with a Duke of Hell bent on ruling mankind and ensuring the Brethren, whoever they are, never find me or the rest of the prophesied “brides”.

I try to keep up with the rantings, but frankly, the disfigured demon no longer scares me. What does are the voices in my head that are the only things keeping me company in my dark prison inside a cave under a volcano. Okay, maybe it's just one voice. One deep, rumbly sexy voice that keeps telling me to hold on. I'm beginning to think these sulphureous fumes are making me hallucinate.

Then he shows up and with an inhuman roar, takes out the half dozen demons who've been guarding me for months. And when I get my first look at my rescuer, something I buried a long time ago, awakens. The very thing the Duke of Hell kidnapped me for. But that's not what I'm most scared of.

Not by a mile.

It's the man who's not quite human, not even close, who claims we're fated mates setting off a huge battle between my head—which craves solitude, and my heart plus my traitorous body which wants my bigger-than-life rescuer, his large hands and even larger muscles up close and personal: forever.

MAC

For months I've run on little more than adrenaline. I've finally discovered my mate, but she's being held by my family's greatest enemy: a power hungry demon even Lucifer cowers from.

My first glimpse of Sierra was on a video link, too brief, but enough that the power of our connection almost knocked me off my feet.

With my grizzly driving me crazy, then driving me from my brothers to search every corner of the globe for my mate. With an assist from our otherworld father, I locate her in Iceland. Instead of being grateful, she insists I take her home. Back to the safe, boring (aka lonely) life she was living.

It's not easy convincing my mate that we belong together with demons chasing us, but if anyone can win over my reluctant bride, it's me. Am I too confident? No. Am I frustrated? You bet your as…, ah yes—yes, I am.

But I have faith in my charm, and my determination. Now, to show her how good we'll be together.

As the only phoenix shifter in existence, I've always been the brother least likely to find his mate. Dying and being reborn every hundred years has a way of messing with my dating life, not to mention I can only touch, without fear of causing severe burns, the one woman meant for me.

A perimeter alarm at the Brethren's headquarters has me coming out of hiding and back to Scotland to fight alongside my five brothers, and instead of my family, I find…her. My fated mate.

A beautiful, curvy witch with an attitude bigger than she is tall has somehow broken through the centuries old spell that's kept our castle in the Highlands hidden from man and demon.

She claims she's lost, but our mating bond says otherwise. She's on a hunt for an ancient grimoire and when she refuses to believe we are fated mates, my interfering mother, Athena, arrives and locks us down in the castle. (Yes, that Athena.)

We spend our time bickering and playing strip Scrabble as I do my best to show her what's happening between us is real. After I explain the details of the prophecy she's now a part of, and that a demon bent on world domination wants her for himself, will she accept me as her mate, or will this cycle of death and rebirth be my last?

There's no denying the strings of fate, no matter how quickly they move. I will convince Bex that she's neither convenient nor without choice—that she's my only hope for survival, for true love.

If I have to die one final time to save her, I will.

Moving back home after retiring from the Army, I have two goals—begin my new career as a cement designer/contractor and win over the woman whos made me want to give up my confirmed bachelor badge.

Shayla is a curvy single mom, and my sisters business partner, who seems uninterested in anything personal and only grudgingly appreciates my designs when we work together on a remodeling project.

But what she doesnt realize is that I will do everything to cement her love.

Whether theyre carpenters, plumbers, mechanics, electricians, framers, forklift drivers, loggers, farmers, high-voltage linemen, cement or masonry workers, tow truck drivers, oil rig workers, septic system technicians or arborists, these blue-collar heroes all have in two things in common:

They're good with their hands, and they're not afraid to get dirty. Really, really dirty.