A novella companion to New York Times best-selling author Maya Banks' Shades of Gray. Softly at Sunrise takes place in a gap of time that occurs in Shades of Gray. Rachel Kelly has traveled a long, hard road in her journey back to her husband, Ethan, and the Kelly family. Now, as she and Ethan are poised to move into their new home, safe behind the walls of the Kelly compound, Rachel wonders if she’ll finally be free of the ghosts that have haunted her for so long and if she’ll step into the sun after a past steeped in darkness.

As a flight attendant, Rayne Jackson is used to cancellations, but she never dreamed her latest would lead to a whirlwind tour of London with a handsome stranger...or a life-altering night in his bed. One evening is all the enigmatic man can give her, and Rayne greedily takes it, despite suspecting it will never be enough.

When Caleb Devereaux's younger sister is kidnapped, the scion of a powerful and wealthy family turns to an unlikely source for help: a beautiful and sensitive woman with a gift for finding answers others cannot. While Ramie can connect to victims and locate them by feeling their pain, her ability comes with a price. Every time she uses it, it costs her a piece of herself. Helping the infuriatingly attractive and impatient Caleb successfully find his sister nearly destroys her.

For Morgan Yancy, an operative and team leader in a paramilitary group, nothing comes before his job. But when he's ambushed and almost killed, his supervisor is determined to find out who's after the members of his elite squad - and why. Due to worries that this unknown enemy will strike again, Morgan is sent to a remote location and told to lay low and stay vigilant. But between a tempting housemate he's determined to protect and a deadly threat waiting in the shadows, keeping under the radar is proving to be his most dangerous mission yet.

It was a typical evening at a mall outside Portland, Maine. Three teenage friends waited for the movie to start. A boy flirted with the girl selling sunglasses. Then the shooters arrived. The chaos and carnage lasted only eight minutes before the killers were taken down. But one person wasn't satisfied with the shockingly high death toll at the DownEast Mall. And as the survivors slowly heal, find shelter, and rebuild, they will discover that another conspirator is lying in wait - and this time, there might be nowhere safe to hide.

Matthew "Wolf" Steel hated flying commercial. Luckily his job as a Navy SEAL meant he didn't have to do it very often. He'd been unlucky enough to be assigned a middle seat on the cramped jet, but fortunately for him, the woman next to him was willing to switch seats with him. Hoping for a relaxing flight, Wolf was pleasantly surprised at the good conversation and sense of humor the woman had as they flew 36,000 feet over the countryside.

Daxton Chambers loved being a part of the oldest and most distinguished law enforcement agency in the state of Texas: the Texas Rangers. But the person who was burying women alive in his city of San Antonio was always two steps ahead of him...and he hated it.

Dakota James's life has become the stuff of nightmares. The leader of the Ansar al-Shari'a terrorist group has become obsessed with her, determined to take her as his wife. On the run, she'll have to pin her hopes on the retired SEAL charged with finding and stopping Aziz Fourati before he can carry out plans to bomb more US airports. Recently recruited to join a sleeper SEAL team tasked with fighting terrorism on US soil, Slade "Cutter" Cutsinger, with the help of some Special Forces friends, has located the one woman who can identify the deadly leader.

Taya Kostas is a survivor. She's clawed her way back from the hell she was subjected to at the hands of an undercover agent working for the US government. Since then she's dedicated her life to preventing the same from happening to anyone else. Now her story has come full circle. She's about to take the stand as the key federal witness in the biggest terrorist case the country has seen in years. But even though the man responsible for her nightmares is behind bars, the evil she escaped is still hunting her.

Former US Army Captain Mia Starr has built a new life for herself in Denver, far away from camel spiders and sand - and the terrible secrets of her first deployment to Iraq. She isn't looking for a relationship, especially not with an intrusive photojournalist. Joaquin Ramirez might be sexy, but in her experience, photojournalists only want to make a buck off other people's suffering. Still, the universe must have a sick sense of humor because it keeps throwing her together with Joaquin, making the desire she feels for him harder and harder to resist.

Successful architect Rachel Granger loves her job and her life, but when a terrorist on the FBI's most wanted list targets her, there's only one man she can trust. She hasn't seen Jake in years, but her former college friend told her he'd always be there for her and she definitely needs him now. Even though her feelings for him go far deeper than friendship and just being around him risks her heart, she would do anything to keep those she loves safe from a madman bent on unleashing hell.

Marisol Lorenzo landed her dream job as an assistant US attorney and is working on the case that could make her career; now she's determined to put away the most dangerous drug lord in the country. But his incarceration has opened up a lethal turf war among his lieutenants. Their enforcers are out hunting their enemies and anyone who gets in their way. When one of them sets his sights on Marisol, she turns to a man she grew up with and has wanted for years - a member of the FBI's elite Hostage Rescue Team.

After an attack on the job that nearly killed her, Special Agent Celida Morales is determined to salvage her reputation in the FBI and get back to the career she loves. Domestic terrorism has left its mark on her - literally - and now she's more determined than ever to leave her mark on it. But when a hostage situation takes an unexpected turn she's confronted with the realization that she may not only lose the hostages, but also the only man she's lost her heart to.

Past experience has taught FBI Special Agent Clay Bauer not to trust his judgment when it comes to the opposite sex, yet despite his jaded outlook there's one woman he can't get out of his head - and she's off limits. They're opposites in every way, but Zoe's gotten deep under his skin, and when she's drawn into a dangerous situation against a faceless enemy he steps in to help protect her. Then she disappears without a trace, and the loss leaves him reeling. Now he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back alive.

The daughter of a wealthy businessman, Jillian Kincaid grew up with bodyguards shadowing her every move - and she hated it. Now a TV anchorwoman, she refuses to let another hired thug follow her around. Not even when she begins to receive terrifying death threats. Not even when the bodyguard is the darkly seductive Nolan Garrett. Trained in Special Ops, bodyguard Nolan Garrett has been hired by Jillian's father to keep her out of danger. But it's clear from the start that Jillian isn't going to make his job easy.