Pride Bundle 2025: Explicit Imprint Short Stories

For the 2025 Explicit Imprint Pride Bundle for charity, 15 authors have contributed their queer stories to help us raise money for Rainbow Railroad. 10 of these stories are usually exclusively available to backers of our Patreon. Approximately 50% of the proceeds from this bundle will be donated to the selected charity after the bundle sale ends on June 30th 2025.

The stories included in this bundle are:

A Blessing Shared by A. L. Heard

As Roghan squinted at his chest in the darkness, hoping against hope that his night vision would increase as he awakened, he tried to feel what was there. Attempts to breathe in and out deeply were restricted. It was like a band spread across him, keeping his back pressed firmly against the tree. So firmly, in fact, that he no longer bore his own weight. His arms still stretched above him, dangling numbly from their bindings, but his legs were slack. Was he tied to the trunk as well? It would be a difficult feat indeed, given how wide it had looked and the awkward shape created by the hollow. He tried to picture how he would tie someone to the base of the willow, yet he couldn’t think of a way to do so inside the nook.
Bit by bit, lines began to take shape. They had the look of ropes at first, though very thin and very numerous. It was only as he recognized the gossamer leaves spread along each rope that he realized the awful truth.
They were vines.

Running Mates by boneturtle

Oh no.
The scent that washed over Alegra when she opened the locker-room door was unmistakable. Layered over the mingled odors of shampoo and sunbaked sneakers and the briny tang of runner sweat was the familiar, intoxicating blend of wild sweet clover and warm pine sap that had tormented Alegra for months.

sweet static by Cedar D. McCafferty-Svec

Six really needed to sand the wall. Or at least install some softer padding on it. Or do something, anything, to protect his back when Emery had him shoved against it. Emery’s mouth was hot on his neck, Six’s shirt was half unbuttoned, and his mind was spinning out in a flare of endless colors that he could barely process.
Emery’s hands kneaded at his waist again, and Six moaned, open and unabashed, as his knees trembled and threatened to buckle.

The Benefits of Consequences by Dei Walker

Arien leaned against the wall, the stone cool on his back, one foot propped up at an angle, watching his partner pick a lock. Kaira’s fingers danced nimbly over the intricate mechanism, then paused, the lockpicks sliding just so with another shift of her fingers. She had a way of sticking out the corner of her tongue that was more endearing than he let on.
As though she could read his mind, her blue eyes caught his. “Stop looking at me like you want to eat me.”

In the Moonlight by E. V. Dean

Remy slips her oversized sunglasses over her nose. The afternoon sun has taken a deep dive and hangs low above the horizon. Not yet subdued in its oranges and reds, its sharp rays shine straight through the windshield into her eyes. She should have been more firm about taking off early if they wanted to arrive before nightfall, but she just couldn’t bring herself to deprive Julia of her well-deserved sleep on her day off.
At least it’s not much farther now, and the plan is to have the red wine from the cooler and some quick snack for dinner on their girls’ night in. They don’t need daylight for that. And they’ll have four full days to enjoy sunbathing and swimming in the picturesque lake that awaits them.

then, too, at sea by ilgaksu

When they first met, Dáithí had dragged himself onto the shores of the beach below Oliver’s lighthouse, and he had done so in order to die. Oliver had spotted him. Blood-slicked, eyes unblinking with agony, the little grey seal had splayed there, alone, and heaved for breath.
“Leave it until the morning,” his father had said. “No point to doing it in ourselves. It won’t last the night. Then we can skin and eat it.”
But Oliver had not left it.

What Monsters Need by Lyn Weaver

Lazarus Blythe’s older sister Leona had a serious problem. She couldn’t walk past an unhappy couple without poking her nose into their business and trying to seduce any women involved. Sometimes this worked out well for her, and she left a string of dizzy, lovesick maidens behind her; they fanned their faces and used lace to hide the tell-tale bitemarks on their necks. And legs. And breasts. And anywhere else the amorous vampire could reach. The rest of the time, Leona had to flee the area quickly, usually with an angry mob on her heels. And whenever she was chased, she fell back on her go-to tactic: lead them to Laz’s lair, cast an illusion of herself flying inside, and then flap off to hide in bat form until the chaos died down. The siblings had the same slender build, long dark hair, and yellow eyes, and between Leona’s elegantly tailored suits and Laz’s taste in flowing poet shirts, it was easy for humans to mistake one for the other.
It was incredibly frustrating, but Laz had gotten more than a few good fights out of it, so he had trouble chewing her out properly.

Hold My Reins by Lyonel Loy

“Oh, shit,” Marius moans. The belt of his hauling harness is firm and snug over the human half of his hips, the velvet inner lining as soft and smooth as a lover’s touch. A too-familiar, too-delightful restriction; his cock takes immediate and enthusiastic interest. “Shit, Devon. Look what you’ve done to me.”
“What I’ve done?” Devon demands in mock outrage, looking up from the sacks and baskets he is carefully loading into their cart. “Who’s the one who’s always begging for it to be done to him? ‘Devon, please put your fingers up my arse. Devon, treat me like a common pony.’ Like anyone puts their fingers up a pony’s arse.”

The Fated Prince by Mikki Madison

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today—”
To watch His Royal Highness, Prince Richard, sacrifice himself on the altar of his father’s hubris.
Richard was not such a fool as to say it aloud, but he and every attendee at this wedding knew the truth.

Lust by Nina Waters

The scent of musk and anticipation hung heavy in the studio air. The musk was unavoidable—the set dressers sprayed it during every clean-up session to cover up the stink of the many sex scenes filmed in the room—but the anticipation was unusual. Surprised, Daniel sniffed again; he was roughly 86.3% sure that he wasn’t the source of that aroma.
He sure as hell could have been, though. Fuck, did he want this. He was slick and half hard just thinking about it.

Tough Job, Sweet Reward by Samantha M. Piper

Cam dropped her towel and reached for the drawer that held their sleep clothes, but Mads’s hand darted out to stop her with a touch to her upper arm.
“Ah ah ah,” Mads said softly. Cam frowned in confusion. “First things first, I think you need a bit of self-care after the day you had.” Mads trailed her fingers down Cam’s arm. “And since I know you won’t take care of yourself properly, I’ll do it.”

Escape by Sanne Burg

Sometimes, when everything becomes Too Much, Liam flees to his Quiet Spot.
His Quiet Spot isn’t necessarily silent, and he doesn’t need it to be, but he does need to be physically away from whatever is causing his brain to overload. Sometimes, that’s his phone and the internet; it’s easier to put his phone down when he’s in his Quiet Spot. Sometimes, that’s other people. Sometimes, that’s his own emotions.
Today, it’s mostly the internet. He’s moderately famous, but he’s never grown used to being in the public eye, and he’s even less used to people shipping him with others. He can usually deal with it pretty well, if he says so himself, but finding art of him and his best friend, entangled in a rather intimate position (their bodies barely covered, Dan clearly riding Liam’s cock, both looking desperate, heads bent together intimately) in his social media notifications because someone tagged him in the artwork was the straw that has broken the proverbial camel’s back.
Or more specifically, it’s that the art was eerily accurate that tipped him over.

Dancing for the King by Terra P. Waters

Five years ago, when Andelion was 16, he had won the lottery at his school and was given the privilege of, as part of the ceremony, carrying the Book through the temple to where Tenemor sat on a dais. As Andelion had gotten his first close-up look at the god-king, he had been awestruck. Tenemor was of giant stature; his crown soared three yards up. The king’s skin was unnaturally pale, gray, and death-like, nothing like Anavita’s deep, soil-toned brown skin. Nothing like the medium-brown skin that Andelion and his family members all had. And his eyes! Andelion had fallen into those gray-brown eyes, irreparably changed.
In that moment, Andelion decided he would join Tenemor’s harem and become one of the few mortals the god-king loved.

Just Let Me Lose Control by Tris Lawrence

Alaric takes out his phone, and it takes him five tries to type the words into a brand-new conversation to a number that he took without thinking he’d use it. They look stark and solid in the little space on the screen, and he feels his breath punch out when he presses “Send.”
If you meant it, I need to get laid.

This Treatment for Chronic Pain has an Unbelievable Side Effect! by Xianyu Zhou

Zeta had known that volunteering to be a participant for a clinical trial would have certain risks—certain unexpected side effects—but he had never expected it to turn out like this.