Short Stories
Chase Through the Wormhole
Lure of the Hunt
FF&P 10/11/2024
Distant futures, dangerous desires. Will love survive the hunt?
The Fantasy, Futuristic, and Paranormal Romance Writers invite you to join us on adventures across the stars in LURE OF THE HUNT, a science-fiction romance anthology. Tales of fated mates, enemies to lovers, found family, secret identities, heists, and forbidden love unfold on dystopian worlds, space stations, and starships. Our collection features never-before-published works from best-selling and debut authors whose romantic stories focus on the theme of the hunt.
By Claire Davon – Chase Through the Wormhole
She has a high bounty on her head. But one hunter desires a much different prize…
By Jaylee Austin – Chasing Destiny
Love, technology, and destiny collide in this futuristic cyborg romance. Will trust and loyalty prevail in a world of deception and danger?
By Fenley Grant – The Mission: Search for Survivors
She prepared for every aspect of her mission to find humanity’s survivors…except for falling in love.
By Akira Angel – Escape from the Exteris
As their world falls apart, a tale of sacrifice and survival takes flight, with two souls charting a course into the unknown.
By B.L. Lucas – Starlight and Shadow
On the run from a dark military order, a woman with extraordinary tech powers and a man whose memories have been erased by the same enemy struggle to trust each other and the mysterious bond they share.
By Korie Beth Brown – The Singer (Not the Song)
Of all the dive bars in the universe, he chose this one….
By Natasha Wilco – Technicolor Raspberry
Of all the hitchhiking androids this side of the Milky Way, she had to pick up the one with wartime secrets…and a cute processor.
By Leah Vega – Aukera
Being given the choice to choose your own eternal mate is a gift from the gods. But it doesn’t come without consequences.
These stories and more await you in LURE OF THE HUNT whether you’re looking for enemies-to-lovers, second chances, or a dash of interstellar mystery, this anthology delivers unforgettable romances set against the stars.
Don’t miss your chance to explore new worlds and experience the allure of the hunt. Love, danger, and destiny are just a heartbeat away in this anthology proudly sponsored by the Fantasy, Futuristic, and Paranormal Romance Writers chapter.
Excerpt
The bounty hunter followed Proxima through the wormhole, intent on catching her. They were alone in this part of the universe, with no planets or asteroids around them.
Except one. Oradon, the world she’d called home until the age of twenty, circled an orange dwarf star close enough to sustain life. The theory was that the star and its planet had been ejected from a galaxy billions of years ago and had wandered through empty space ever since. The solar system was so far from any galaxies that its sky had few stars, and those were barely visible points in the night.
Proxima waved toward the ship on her tail, though Roark couldn’t see the movement. You’re on my turf now.
The bounty hunter—who was also her ex—had to catch her to claim the credits. But she wouldn’t be so easily snared. Not when her home planet lay so close at hand.
Her com crackled to life.
Roark’s smooth, rumbling baritone came over the speakers. “I suspected you’d flee home. You can’t win. You may as well make it easy. Valinot has promised he’ll be fair.”
When she’d realized that Prince Valinot Quensid Zandibar had claimed the right to take her as a lover, Proxima had run. She had thought once she left, he’d forget about her and move on but that had proved a terrible miscalculation.
“Don’t be stupid, Roark. Valinot has no interest in fairness.”
Proxima glanced at the gauges and then at Oradon. The wormhole was so close to the single planet system that some speculated it might have been the thing that anchored them to this place.
When the galactic government showed up thirty years ago with the news of an entire universe beyond their tiny system, the news had changed the planet forever. Many older folks on Oradon preferred not to deal with their new reality and went about their lives as if nothing had changed. The ones who had grown up recognizing they were one planet among millions—billions—had a different experience. They understood that not only was Oradon not alone, but it was far from unique.
Proxima kept her attention on the tiny planet. She had gotten no transmissions from below and wasn’t sure of her reception when she arrived. That shouldn’t surprise her, after the way she left. Nobody had prevented her from going through the wormhole. A handful of ships were in orbit around the planet, but none turned to meet her.
She’d run away in the middle of the night five years ago rather than risk her parents trying to stop her. Just like she had done to Roark when he wouldn’t stop trying to protect her, and they fought for what turned out to be the last time. She hadn’t expected to come home so soon, but here she was, with an ex chasing her and an uncertain welcome on the planet she once called home.
“He has a valid claim. You can’t win.”
“He’s lying. You know me better than that. I thought you did, anyway. Forget it, Roark. I’m not going back.”
She could imagine him clenching his jaw. Roark did that when he was angry or thwarted. The memory of that tight mouth and narrowed eyes had haunted her as she fled. Maybe things could have been different, if she’d stayed.
Too late now.