Powers That Be

Book One in The Powers That Be series, The Golden Ellipse, weaves humankind's most enduring mysteries into a thrilling race against time to recover a legendary relic and save the world from an alien apocalypse. Fresh off a space tourism flight in 2044, newlyweds Rachel and Owen Haig are thrust on a perilous crusade while adjusting to married life and battling demons from Rachel's past. Against formidable odds and malevolent forces from Earth and beyond, they join forces with an agent dispatched from a clandestine organization, The Powers That Be. 90,000 bc: Light Specters, aka foo fighters, erect a proto-pyramidic beacon on a desolate savannah to foster a nascent hominid species through its prehistory. A misanthropic faction from the spectral race splinters and conspires to silence the beacon's signal by removing its infinite energy source, the golden ellipse. 1944 ad: After eons of failure, a German spy loots the golden ellipse from atop the beacon long since concealed far below the Great Pyramid, triggering a marauding universe to interpret silencing of the beacon's signal as open season on Earth. In the fog of world war, the looted golden ellipse changes hands until two American pilots hide it in the Libyan desert but experience disparate paranormal fates. The Powers That Be dispatches black-suited investigators in search of the pilots-and the solid gold enigma-but the trail goes cold. 2044 ad: Fresh off a white-knuckle space tourism touchdown in France, Rachel and Owen Haig's honeymoon is hijacked by a ghost from Rachel's ancestral past. The ethereal entity sends the couple on a dangerous odyssey across North Africa to recover the golden ellipse and replace it atop the beacon before time runs out. Culminating in a harrowing pitch-black descent through a labyrinthine maze underneath the Giza Plateau, their destiny collides with a psychopathic Egyptologist and a monstrous alien presence as invasion fleets breach the sky. By the gripping conclusion, readers will be chomping at the bit for the next book in The Powers That Be series with eyes wide open and a unique new perspective on humankind's place in the universe. Includes an excerpt from THE LOST SHIP, Book Two in The Powers That Be series.

An ancient Gray race time travels to the present after a humiliating Cretaceous-era colonization failure, seeking to recover and detonate a world-killer superweapon abandoned on a 90-million-year-old shipwreck lost to time in what is now the Amazon's vast unexplored reaches. ***** Book Two in The Powers That Be Trilogy, THE LOST SHIP, immerses readers in the day-after chaos, carnage, and confusion following the near-apocalyptic ending of THE GOLDEN ELLIPSE. ***** An offer they can't refuse: Rachel and Owen Haig convalesce in a decimated Cairo hospital following their death-defying heroism beneath the Giza Plateau, contending with unwanted notoriety and a job proposal from The Powers That Be. The fourth kind: A battlecruiser from the time-traveling Gray's fleet seizes Agent Flynn's lunar-bound medevac, imprisoning the crew in a mind-bending nightmare where startling revelations materialize from the terrifying shadows. Never let a disaster go to waste: Griffin Pike, a megalomaniacal tech mogul, schemes to project international anger onto the only entity athwart his new world order master plan: The Powers That Be. Leaving nothing to chance, Pike's failsafe manifests in cryptic clues within the ink-splotched pages of a worn leather-bound notebook leading to a doomsday device concealed deep in the Amazon. Lost worlds: Artemus Pennywell, the ageless CEO, parries post-invasion gut punches, overseeing PTB relief efforts alongside his quintessential replicant, Andrew. With Pike's cutthroat mercenaries-and the vengeful Grays-in hot pursuit of the lost ship, he dispatches eccentric scientist Richard King and new PTB agents Rachel and Owen on a perilous Amazon expedition to secure the prehistoric payload. Trekking through unexplored jungles teeming with exotic dangers, paths collide on a treacherous descent into a primeval rift valley safeguarded by a ghostly cannibal tribe. THE LOST SHIP twists and turns through post-invasion ruins, culminating in a supernatural confrontation deep in the heart of the unforgiving Amazon wilderness where fates are sealed, and humanity's destiny illuminates in a cerulean glow. Stay tuned for THE BLUE SPARK, the epic conclusion to The Powers That Be Trilogy.

Drake Powers had to be the most infuriating piece of work I'd met in my entire life. Never mind his gorgeous face, body, and tattoos. That was beside the point. The things that came out of the cocky bastard's mouth-directed toward me, of course-had my own mouth falling open in shock.His controlling, bad-boy demeanor should've had me running in the other direction.But there was something behind that dominant presence of his.Something guarded.And I had to find out what it was.I knew it was probably in my best interest to stay away.But when was I ever one to listen? USA Today Best Selling author Harper Bentley writes about hot alpha males who love hard. Following her childhood dream, she taught high school English forever, but has since left the profession. Although she misses her students and colleagues, never having to grade another paper again helps alleviate the loss.After traveling the nation in her younger years as a military brat, having lived in Alaska, Washington State and California, she now resides in Oklahoma with her wonderful husband, a grumpy old cat and an overly energetic Yorkie happily writing stories that she hopes her readers will enjoy.You can contact her at HarperBentleyWrites@gmail.com, harperbentleywrites.com, on Facebook or follow her on Twitter @HarperBentley. She'd love to hear from you! Gable, Zeke, Loch, Ryker and Drake are the Powers boys. Bad boys who fall hard for their women.I dare you not to fall back...

I met Zane Powers two years ago. Strike that. I became aware of Zane Powers two years ago.And he was the hottest guy I'd ever seen.Then I met him.Then I slept with him.Then I forgot him.I'd only wanted a summer fling, and, boy, did I get one. Best. Sex. Ever. But I had a career to get to amongst other things, and I forgot about the sexy baseball player who'd rocked my world. So it was kind of funny how in a city of almost a quarter million people I happened to run into him again. While chained to a tree. Along with being handcuffed.And he was wearing a badge.As much as I told myself I didn't need him in my life, my heart told me otherwise (as well as other parts of my body). And just when I was ready to put all my cards on the table and admit that we should be together, the truth hit me smackdab in the face.And the tables turned.

Power opens all doors. Some should stay closed.Adam Slate sees something other humans can't: Connections, all around him. People, places, relationships, possessions, all as clear as letters on a page. But seeing the web makes it too easy to pull the strands, and even his riskier machinationsan illegal slave trade for one, and a gathering of dark magicians, for anotherare growing boring. That is, until he runs across a slave with a connection he can't see.Everybody's looking for something, and Micah can craft a persona to suit any taste. Or so he thought until his newest owner. He tries one tactic after another to please Slate, to no avail. It's as if Slate can see straight through Micah's many masks and doesn't like what liesor doesn't liebeneath.In relentless pursuit of Micah's mysterious connection, Slate's magic opens a gateway to a place that seems like nowhere. The damage mounts, but the door sings a siren song that Slate can't resist. Micah's connected to something in the darkness, and Slate's determined to find out whateven if it kills them both.A standalone The Powers That Be prequel.**See this title's page on RiptidePublishing for content warnings.**