What if you could cast a spell to help you do your everyday job? But . . . that didn’t help when an ancient force brought you and your soul mate together, and you weren’t ready?

Magic practitioners in the modern world have supernatural skills to do their everyday jobs. They also have a legendary force, the imperative, that brings each to his or her soul mate, who will be the love of their lives. The mates are also guaranteed to recognize each other almost immediately. Or so the stories go.

Consultant Clay Morgan, literally a computer wizard, is going after a hacker for one of his clients. When he meets Francie Stevens, he’s immediately attracted, but thinks because she’s not a practitioner, she can’t be his soul mate. Right?

Not exactly.

Francie works for Clay’s client, and the hacker plaguing the company turns out to be the boyfriend of her best friend. She’s had terrible experiences with men in the past, so she’s determined to avoid Clay. They must work together to foil the hacker, however, and the attraction between the two of them is a constant source of worry for her.

Clay realizes quickly that she is his soul mate, and he’s not about to let her get away. First, he must explain magic, get her to agree that it exists, he can wield it, and they’re soul mates who belong together.

What if you could cast a spell to help you do your everyday job? But . . . what if that job included casting fireballs and lightning bolts and destroying evil magic items? And your soul mate turns out to be a “wild talent” with abilities neither of you dreamed of? And you’re up against the immensely horrible Cataclysm Stone?

Within the world of magic practitioners exist a group called Defenders and Swords. Their purpose: to find and destroy items of evil magic.

Irenee Sabel is a Sword, new to her blade and anxious to prove herself. On her first mission to recover a powerful crystal of ancient evil--The Cataclysm Stone--from its practitioner users, she encounters DEA Agent Jim Tylan. Part of a law-enforcement task force but also for personal reasons, Jim is after the same people for drugs and weapons trafficking.

When Jim and Irenee come together, they find that each is more than appears on the surface. Irenee is surprised to discover that Jim is a “wild talent,” in whom magic abilities spontaneously occur. Jim is astonished to realize that he can cast spells and Irenee and her team can actually destroy evil magic items.

The biggest revelation of all concerns both Jim and Irenee. They are, in fact, ready or not, soul mates, and the soul-mate imperative is lurking, determined to bring them together.

The villains have other plans for them, ones that will test Irenee and Jim’s new found magic powers--and their new found love.

What if you could cast a spell to help you do your everyday job? But . . . there’s more to living than work, and you’ve lost your soul mates to death? What if an ancient force brings you together with another? And throws both of you up against the worst, most evil magic item around?

Magic practitioners always find their soul mates and live happily ever after. Always.

What if the unthinkable happens, however, and a mate dies young? Is the living mate doomed to a life alone? After a perfect love, does the mate even want another life partner?

Defenders and Swords form teams to destroy evil magic items by sharing their energy. Sword Johanna Mahler and her team have developed a revolutionary method for combining magic energy--now they need to know if others can use it. Johanna has also vowed never to let a student Sword destroy himself by taking on a powerful item the way her young mate did--and died for his recklessness when they were teenagers.

The Defender Council sends widower Sword Saxton Falkner to demonstrate a new apparatus for measuring magic energy output. Equally important is determining how to best use those independents not affiliated with a team.

Neither expects to find a new soul mate in the midst of political practitioner arguments, bullies among the young--and older--Swords, a totally new method for generating magic energy, and battles with a disgruntled Sword determined to prove his superiority, especially to Johanna.

Before Johanna and Saxt can live happily ever after, they must survive not only all these problems, and come to terms with their losses and gains, but face a return of the Cataclysm Stone, a tremendously powerful evil crystal that wants the Swords’ blood.

What if you could cast a spell to help you do your everyday job? But . . . your everyday job is destroying evil magic items, and the biggest, baddest item of all time has reappeared? And you and your soul mate have no clue how to use the biggest, goodest items of all to fight it?

Once upon an ancient time in practitioner lore, the wizards who commanded the most powerful magic items ever known fought the Last Great Battle.

Blaze Stone, Wielder of the Pinnacle of Heaven and Keeper of the Veil of Serenity, waged war against Toyfel, the Manipulator of the Depths of Hell. Blaze Stone and his supremely good crystals won, and Toyfel and the Depths of Hell, a crystal growth of enormous evil, fell into the abyss.

Now the Depths has risen to create a new Manipulator and wreak havoc on the modern world. The hereditary Wielder of the Pinnacle and Keeper of the Veil will be called upon again to destroy both Toyfel and the Depths of Hell.

Wielder Lucius Blasdon, 32^nd English Earl of Bartlett, does not, however, possess the Pinnacle, and worse, he doesn’t know how to use it. Worst of all, the Pinnacle has killed would-be wielders of its powers. Enter American Kendra Degen, the most powerful Sword ever born, with the perfect means to lure Toyfel into battle and the talents to help discover how to use the Pinnacle.

The clues to the Pinnacle’s secrets are vague and difficult to interpret, and the battle will be upon them soon. The discovery that Lucius and Kendra are soul mates should help their cause. But Kendra has her own secrets, powerful ones that may ruin their ability to mate and become more powerful magically. In fact, her secrets could kill Lucius. The two mates must take two chances: mate without harm to either and use the Pinnacle without it killing them.

In its history, Windswept Plantation has been many things to many people. To the Jamison family, it has been the ancestral home since 1830. To historian Barrett Browning, it is a repository of correspondence, journals, and stories which can lead to publications, promotions, and success in her academic career. To venture capitalist Davis Jamison, all these documents are a pain in the neck, since he must preserve them for history, while guarding his heritage. To Davis’s cousin Lloyd, the papers hold a horrible secret, the revelation of which will ruin them all.

Historian Barrett wants to bare the facts--all of them--to the light of day. Falling in love with the owner of the documents is not in her plans. Davis wants to solve the family mystery while protecting its good name. His cousin’s desperate fixation on hiding secrets and Davis’s intense attraction to Barrett both surprise him.

A secret will out, however, and it’s found in the journal of the first Jamison plantation mistress. Hiding the truth brings Barrett to a difficult choice: success with her career or a life with Davis. Revealing the truth brings Davis to an equally hard decision: ruin the family reputation or risk all to have Barrett forever.