Swallowing Stones

Trudy Valcoas was studying to become a physician assistant. On a study abroad trip in Scotland, Tru’s long-term boyfriend, Bryan, asks her to move in with him. When she refuses, he becomes angry and threatens to leave her stranded with no money to get home. Heartbroken, Tru finds herself in a mysterious cave where she meets Taran. He offers her a deal. He will give her money in exchange for her help in finding a special stone and navigating this time. Will Tru give Taran more than just her energy and help? Or will she end up with Bryan after discovering Taran’s true intentions when he rebuilds his kingdom? Taran is the dragon prince. The Dragon Stone, the key to their magical power and what allows them to shift from human to beast, is stolen by humans. In a desperate attempt to save their kind, Taran encased in stone. He wakes 500 years later to a new world and a hunger for revenge. Taran plans to enslave humanity since dragons need their energy to power the stone. This requires Taran to find a human companion. Finding a woman named Tru, he offers her a deal. He offers her money in exchange for her help finding the stone and navigating this new time. Will Tru make Taran reconsidered enslaving humanity as revenge for stealing the stone? What will happen when Tru finds out about his plans? Can he convince her to stay his human companion, or will he lose her to the wolf, Bryan?

My younger brother and I shared one body, but we had two different souls. Ever since we were little, my family used a lottery draw each month to decide who would stay awake and who would fall asleep. The long straw was mine. The short straw was his. Whenever my brother was awake, our parents and older sister took him on vacations, road trips, and around the world to see places I had never seen. Whenever I was awake, they locked me inside the house and forced me to study day and night. I was the one who took the SAT. I was the one who faced every challenge life threw at us. But every time I succeeded, they would make sure my brother woke up next, so he could enjoy all the praise and rewards I had earned without lifting a finger. Everything changed the day my brother beat a local bully's son so badly that the boy ended up in the hospital. Carla made her decision without hesitation. "Tomorrow is the first day of the month anyway. Since we decide who gets picked, let's wake Harry and have him take the blame for Simon." My parents agreed without a second thought. Trapped deep inside our shared soul, I could only smile bitterly. Watching them protect my brother while turning me into his scapegoat filled me with despair. What they didn't know was that I had one chance to choose eternal sleep. With a broken heart, I made my decision. I would never again be my brother's stepping stone and scapegoat.

"Shit!" I hissed as Jide eased into me and teased my core. My fingers made a burning path up his toned back, as I gripped him hard, urging him to go faster. And as we made sweet love into the night, I could not help but wonder how I had fallen. Fallen so deeply in love with him. **** Raised singlehandedly by her ruthless grandmother, after her father died and her mother eloped with a lover, Ivory Stone grew to be a strong and independent CEO who took over her family's legacy and company. She's had everyone and everything answer to her; and would definitely not take 'no' for an answer. And in came Jide. The farmer with the heart of gold who had little to nothing to his name. He was charming, pure, and he defied her in every possible way, testing her limit and questioning everything's she'd been taught. The minute she locked eyes with Jide, she least expected he was what she needed to turn her world upside down. She fell and she fell deeply.

Half a year into my death, my wife, Serena Beckett, wants me to donate my kidney to William Clark, her heavily ill first love. Serena smashes my tombstone like a madwoman in the graveyard. Then, she kicks the tokens aside. "He's dead? What sort of sick joke is this? Jason Shaw is a coward! He definitely doesn't have the guts to die! "I think he just doesn't want to save William's life! To think that he actually roped you guys into putting up this act just to pretend that he's actually dead!" Serena is furious, to say the least. The graveyard's staff members are so frightened that they dare not speak up at all. A newly-recruited staff member finally muster the courage to say something. "Ma'am, Mr. Shaw really is dead. Apparently, he died in the donation surgery that had taken place half a year ago… He—" "Shut up!" Serena slaps him while cutting him off. "You really think I'll believe that bullshit? Tell him that if he doesn't show his face in three days, his little sister can forget about getting off the surgical table alive! I mean what I said!" With a dark expression, Serena turns on her heel and leaves angrily afterward. But the staff member looks toward another tombstone not far away. Then, he lets out a heavy sigh. "It's a shame that his sister has already died due to her illness taking a turn for the worse."

Legend has it that if you venture deep into Moon Forest, find a moonstone that symbolizes love, and give it to your beloved, the two of you will be together forever. In the seven years since I became Sebastian's mate, owning a moonstone necklace had become my obsession. He once promised me that the very first thing he would do after becoming Alpha was give me a moonstone himself. For that promise, I waited year after year. I once asked him, "Could you get me a moonstone necklace? It shouldn't be that difficult for you." But he didn't even look up. "I've been busy lately. I'll go find one for you once things settle down." But he was always busy, and I never brought it up again. Until one day, I saw an elegant little box on his desk with a moonstone inside. I was overjoyed, thinking the day I had been waiting for had finally come. But the next day, I saw that very moonstone on his Beta's Instagram. Her caption read: "I just casually said I wanted one, and you actually got it for me. So this is what it feels like to be someone's first choice." I gripped the hem of my shirt and silently turned off my phone. I went to a witch and asked for a potion to break the mate bond. I boarded a plane and left the place I had called home for seven years. I was no longer fixated on that little stone. I had my own wilderness to explore.

One night a young boy unable to cultivate falls into a cave and changes his destiny forever. Orphaned, unable to cultivate, ridiculed by all, the boy who fought with bones has a bone to pick with all those who wronged him and a mystery to uncover.