Once Bitten, Twice Shy

After suffering the devastating loss of her aunt and her second child, Keilah makes the heart-wrenching decision to step away from her life with Ralph, the Alpha of Moonrise Pack.  However, as she grapples with her grief, the vampire’s mark that had once vanished resurfaces with an overwhelming force, consuming her thoughts and pulling her towards the very vampire king she thought was gone forever. Damien Draven, the vampire king who saved Keilah from the brink of death with his venom, vanished into the shadows of the underworld where no light or human soul could reach. Yet, even in the darkest depths, he couldn't escape the persistent echo of Keilah's name, a call so powerful it drags him back to the human world. Here, love and war are set to collide once more, forcing both Damien and Keilah to face a destiny neither of them can outrun. "The Sting of the Vampire's Bite" is a spin-off from "TETHERED." To fully understand and enjoy Damien and Keilah's story, be sure to read "TETHERED" first.

He took a step into the room and stopped as he heard her breath hitch in her chest, and she shrank back slightly in fear. “What is your name?” His raspy voice carried across the room. He pulled off his shirt, revealing the beautiful, intricate tattoos that designed his skin. He noticed her eyes shine with interest. He caressed the side of her face with the back of his hand. She stiffened on the bed as hand traced down her shoulders. When his hand cupped her breast and massaged her hard nipples, it was like she came to life. She swung with all her might, burying the pointy end of a comb into his abdomen. He cursed under his breath as she slipped away from his grasp and made a run for the door. He bound across the bed in one leap and pressed her face and chest against the wall. Growling under his breath, he gripped the neck of her cloth and tore it away. “You. Have. Not. Answered. My. Question -” His sentence was cut short by a knock on the door, and his brother walked in. ************ Claire Fischer had a perfect life. A perfect family. A loving fiance she was supposed to marry and rule over the pack. But it all changed as soon as her father died. She caught her fiance cheating and a family secret looms overhead. After being betrayed twice in a row, she decides that she can't take it anymore and she leaves the pack, placing her life in the hands of fate. Would fate treat her better than her pack? Or did she just get into an even worse situation because fate is not kind to anyone, especially a wolfless mutt with alpha blood, and a cursed Lycan king on the hunt.

No wolf. No mate. No place in the world. On the night of her eighteenth birthday, Ava Cole waited for her wolf — and nothing came. In a kingdom built on strength, that made her nothing. Laughed at, cast out, and abused by everyone who should have loved her — including her own family — Ava learned to survive in the shadows of a world that had no use for her. Then she met her fated mate. Alpha Jackson Edgar, the powerful Alpha of Night Howl, took one look at the wolfless girl fate had chosen for him and said the words that shattered what little was left of her: I reject you. Heartbroken and alone, Ava stopped believing in the moon goddess, in fate, and in the idea that anyone could ever truly want her. She was done with second chances. She was done with hope. Until the Lycan King came. Sebastian Reynolds didn't come to Night Howl looking for a mate. But the moment his eyes found Ava, the bond was undeniable — fierce, consuming, and impossible to ignore. He wasn't asking her to trust a bond she had already watched destroy her. He was asking her to trust him. But Ava has been broken before. And just as she begins to lower her walls, Jackson resurfaces — realising too late what he threw away, and refusing to let another man claim what he now believes is his. Two powerful men. One wounded woman. And a choice that will change the fate of the entire kingdom. Will Ava risk her heart again — or will she let fear decide her future?

His touch could kill her. Her love could break his curse. But the truth buried inside her own blood might be the most dangerous thing of all. For ten years, Azalea believed she was the problem. Too fat. Too lacking. Too undeserving of the mate fate chose for her. A rejection in front of the entire pack by the future Alpha King, introduces a younger alpha into her life — an Alpha heir who has been cursed to never love, whose touch could destroy them both. Yet he can't stay away. But the closer she gets to the truth, the more her whole life unravels. Someone close to her wants the past to stay buried. And the man who once threw her away isn't done fighting for her. The wolf they underestimated is about to remind them all why they should have been afraid.

“You! What do you think you're doing?” She squealed, her eyes wide as she scrambled backwards in a panic. He didn't stop and instead, backed her up until she was sandwiched between the wall and himself. His hand grabbed her waist and pulled her flush against him before leaning down till his lips was level with the her ear. “What do you think I'm doing?” His voice was a deep baritone that made her tremble. Her face flushed as she felt the signs of her arousal. He stuck out his tongue and lapped at her earlobe making her tremble and whimper. “Of course, I'm trying to get closer to my Luna.” With that, he didn't wait for her to say her usual protest of “I'm not your Luna” before he captured her lips in his, kissing her till her knees turned to jelly. Laila Reeds felt like her life was the happiest it could be and that nothing could go wrong. Her Alpha loved and cherished her. Her pack was flourishing and she was happy. But good things always come to an end. Laila suddenly finds that everything that her world was built on were lies and what she thought was love was only a ploy to get something from her. Shattered and condemned to death, she thought she wouldn't make it. But then he came. With his silver hair and violet eyes, he descended and killed her enemies while saying “Who dares to touch my mate?” Even with this, Laila wasn't moved as her heart was already dead. “Dead? Her heart is dead? What a joke. Watch how this Luna doting Lycan nurses her heart back to health. Soon, her heart would be beating again and it will be beating only for me.” he proclaimed with a confident smile.

He smelled like danger. He looked like power. He made Ari's instincts scream one thing—run. But it was already too late. Ari just wanted a normal college life. For a timid bunny hybrid who startles at loud sounds and avoids eye contact like it’s a sport, "normal" means flying under the radar, keeping his ears tucked under hoodies, and staying far away from alphas who smell like trouble. But trouble finds him anyway—in the form of Thorn, a tiger-panther hybrid with a stare sharp enough to slice, and an aura so intense it shuts Ari's brain off completely. Thorn doesn’t ask. He doesn’t beg. He claims. And from the moment he catches Ari’s scent, he decides one thing: Mine. Now Ari’s peaceful life is spiraling into something else. Something darker. Something hungrier. Thorn is everywhere—on campus, in his dreams, always one step away from baring his fangs. But there’s something worse than being hunted by a predator. Wanting one.