CHAPTER ONE

      Atlantis

      VALERIAN, KING OF THE NYMPHS, lover extraordinaire and greatest leader of the greatest army in the history of Atlantis, untangled from the naked, slumbering woman beside him...only to discover his legs were entwined with two other naked, slumbering women.

      He truly thought to leave this paradise?

      With a sleep-rough chuckle, he abandoned all efforts to escape and relaxed against the softness of the bed. Satisfaction hummed inside him.

      The females curled closer to him, soft tendrils of hair—a delightful mix of black, brown and red—cascading across the muscle and sinew he worked hard to maintain.

      Did life get any better than this?

      Had he known what awaited him in this massive palace, he would have fought the dragon shape-shifter army for rights to it years ago rather than mere weeks.

      Nymphs, once touted eternal wanderers, had desired a permanent home almost as desperately as they desired sex.

      Sex was like air to nymphs. Without it, they suffered, and they died.

      They’d won the palace with only minor losses, expecting to charm and seduce the female dragon shape-shifters still in residence. Within minutes of victory, however, the entire enclosure had emptied, leaving no one to wine, dine and recline.

      Until yesterday.

      Beneath the palace were catacombs. There, Valerian discovered a strange, upright pool—or rather, a portal leading into another world. The human world. Earth, it was called.

      All his life he’d heard rumors about the portal and the topside world. Everyone inside Atlantis had heard, considering