A Fine Balance

My name is Aria, so I’ve been told. Last week I was a normal girl about to celebrate her eighteenth birthday. Today I woke up and I can’t even remember my own name. Everyone says I’m not acting like myself but how can I when I don’t remember anything? The touch of THOSE three elicits unfamiliar sensations, can I trust them? Who can I trust if I can’t trust myself? Excerpt: I was shocked. This fine piece of man has never had a girlfriend? “Why not?” I asked him. “I was saving myself for my mate. You don’t know how long I’ve waited for you. How long the three of us waited,” he answered. “Waited as in no girlfriends?” I asked. He smirked, “princess, you’re my first everything. Our first everything.” He winked at me when realization hit. Oh my god. We were all virgins. They saved themselves for me. Trigger Warnings: Blood/blood play Murder/death Abuse of a minor/abuse Dubious consent Compelling (the act of forcing one to do things against their will) Violence Attempted sexual assault

"Cool," she said, targeting my lips again but I dragged backward till I met a wall. The look of unreadiness and confusion dispersed around my gaze the more I tried to hide them. "umm...can we really do this here? I mean it's a classroom" I chuckled reluctantly. She stared into my eyes and her face told a lot. I didn't want to be that person just yet, I still wanted to spend more time with her. "fine, if you're not in the mood" she turned to go away. I couldn't stop my arm from holding her and dragging her close to me. I wish I could let her walk away. ********************************************** I met Zara first and she wasn't a twin wolf I picked up to have fun with. She was a human I wanted to have fun with. Even though she was a kind girl with a glistening beauty, I knew I would break her heart. No, that's what I thought until started to feel something deeper. I abandoned my task from the Luna and spent the weeks with her, playing football with humans in Mexico. The minute I thought to correct that, her twin sister, Clara showed up and worsen the scenario. Unlike Zara, Clara is a wolf and... my mate.

It's been five years. Five years since we broke up and the last time I saw him. And yet I still can't get him out of my head. He returns to my thoughts and my dreams, completely uninvited and unwelcome. Even though I'm assigned now and I should think of my friend, not him. But he was the first. The first one that has captivated my heart and body and I still can't seem to forget somewhere inside. But I can pretend. Everything is fine because he moved out and we don't see each other anymore. My life goes on and I am happy. Happy. OLLIE F**king five years. Five years of suffering, loneliness and anger. I never wanted to break up with her. I should never have let her go. She took everything from me and I could never breathe fully after she left. There were others, but none like her. But I could still pretend that my life was not such hell. But now ... now I'm going back to the city where it all started. I'm going back to take what's mine. Because she always belonged only to me

CONTRACTS AND SECRETS BY JET HERRERA Synopsis: "We keep on searching for a person whom we can spend our lifetime with, not knowing that they're just an inch away." -Captain Gerbacio Escalante Matapos mabigo sa pag-ibig ay gusto na lamang ni Antonia Buenafe na maging successful sa kanyang career. She’s doing fine until one pregnancy test and a double red line changed everything. Ginawa niya ang lahat para hindi malaman ng kanyang ex-boyfriend ang tungkol doon. Captain Gerbacio Escalante needs a bride. Hiniling ng kanyang lola na nasa ospital na mag-asawa na siya at ang gusto nitong pakasalan niya ay si Antonia. Ang problema, hiwalay na silang dalawa. Malapit na ring matapos ang kontrata ng pagtatrabaho nito sa kanyang opisina. Pero dahil ayaw niyang biguin ang kanyang lola, kinausap niya si Antonia at nagkaroon sila ng kasunduan. Kapalit ng malaking halaga ay magiging asawa niya ito sa loob ng isang taon. Naging maayos naman lahat ngunit isang umaga ay bigla na lamang itong hinimatay sa loob ng kanyang opisina.

The odds are stacked against her--just how she like it.... After the Revelation, when Vampires around the world came forward and disclosed themselves to the world, the Hunters and Guardians that had fought in the shadows to defend humanity were also exposed—and hunted down, enslaved, destroyed, and sent into hiding. Jo McReynolds, the daughter of the most powerful Vampire Hunter to ever live, continues to slay bloodsuckers in the night. After the mysterious disappearance of her mother and a series of conflicts with the rest of her family, Jo is out on her own, and that’s fine with her. Because she doesn’t need anyone but herself. But the others need her. When her team gets a tip as to the whereabouts of the Vampire responsible for the disappearance of Jo’s mom, her family wants her back. No one can kill bloodsuckers like Jo McReynolds. Saying she’s sorry and coming back to the fold will be difficult, and she’s not sure she even wants to go—but finding this Vampire might reveal what really happened to her mother, so Jo accepts. With Jo as part of the team, can they track down the Vampire and discover what happened to her mother? Is it possible to rid the earth of Vampires once and for all and restore the Hunters and Guardians to their former glory—or will Jo and her team end up captured or destroyed like so many of their colleagues?

I just asked Lisa to get married to me. Believe it or not, I'm just as shocked as she is. This was meant to be a hit and quit mission not a hit and trip mission! I've fallen for Lisa. It hurts my ego to admit this but this tender spoiled brat has got me into a mental and emotional war. "W.. Will you marry me Lisa? "I question again. This time deciding to go with the flow. Lisa stares at me with wide eyes. "You're... You're joking right? "She questions and I remain silent and motionless. Allowing my eyes to pass the message. She sees I'm not joking and this causes her to recline. She quickly grabs her purse off the dash board and hurries out of my car. Slamming the door shut and I watch as she runs away. Well that wasn't expected. Falling in love was never the plan;25 years of doing what he likes. Being the master of his own game and the king of his ring. Everything seems to be going fine till one cold night when he realizes he wasn't just inlove but in pain. What could possibly go wrong for an all time player and over protective brother? Lets follow five friends into this NIGERIAN novel to find out!!

Harry DuBois is the name everyone knows. At 6'4", sharply dressed, with silver at his temples and a velvet voice, he commands attention the moment he enters a room. Owner of DuBois Fine Arts & Jazz Lounge, the town’s cultural heartbeat, he offers a haven for music, poetry, and taste. Women adore him, men envy him, and all assume he’s living the dream. But Harry is haunted. Beneath success lies a past that won’t let him go, a tragedy he never speaks of. For Harry, love isn’t just risky, it’s dangerous. He’s a single father to Naomi, his teenage daughter, the only light he’s allowed to stay. Yet even with her, there are walls. When new art curator Elena Rivera arrives from New York to partner with his lounge on a revival series, a celebration of Black art, music, and history. Harry is drawn to someone he hasn’t been with in decades. But Elena has secrets, and she’s starting to notice cracks in Harry’s perfect image. As past and present collide, Harry is forced to confront the pain he has buried for over 25 years. A love lost, a betrayal unforgiving, and a night that changed everything. The question is: can Harry finally allow himself to feel again, or will the past claim him once and for all?

Disguised as a boy, twenty one years old Layla Monroe hides in the one place no one would dare look for a runaway she-wolf, the Alpha Training Academy. Fleeing a forced marriage to a cruel Alpha twice her age, Layla Monroe chops her hair, masks her scent, and takes on the identity of her dead brother who had been just eighteen. But survival isn’t easy when she’s assigned to share a dorm with the Academy’s most ruthless and desired trainee, Asher Voss. He’s arrogant, sharp-eyed, and far too close for comfort. Worse, the mate bond begins to pull them and there’s no hiding from that pull. As the full moon approaches and Asher’s senses sharpen, Layla must balance gruelling combat training, a growing rebellion in the pack, and the danger of being discovered, not only as a girl, but as the mate of the very Alpha she can never claim. Because if her secret is exposed, it won’t just be her heart at stake, it will be her life.

In a world where love is luxury and power is everything, July Noel dares defy convention. On the night of her third divorce, news of the wealthiest man’s divorce spreads across every news station and social media platform. Douglas Prime is now single, and July was ready to mingle. This time, she’s ditched romance for a calculated plan: become the billionaire’s baby mama and secure her future. But when mysterious billionaire Douglas comes up with a marriage contract, July’s entire strategy is turned upside down. As they navigate their high-status arrangement, July and Douglas must confront their demons and learn to trust each other. But with secrets, lies, past traumas and their exes threatening their relationship, can they make their union work? Can July keep her heart locked away, or will Douglas’s piercing gaze and razor-sharp intellect tear down her defenses? As her calculated plan for motherhood becomes a journey of the heart, can she balance ambition and love? Dive into a world of luxury, love and deception.

My smile wasn't the only thing that dropped. I lost my balance and I found myself slipping to the floor, I was supposed to have a bad fall but I was able to catch myself before that happened. "Holy fuck" that was the first word which escaped my lips. Dante Garvino was seated right in front of me with his green deadly eyes pinned on me. "Dante" I mumbled under my breath, how was I going to provide 400 million dollars?" Ashely had been kidnapped by Dante Garvino, a well knowned feared alpha mafia Lord. A man who was trained on how to destroy and torture with his heart as cold as ice, he claimed she committed a heinous crime and she must pay for her actions but when opposite attracts she finds herself smitten and drawn to his enigmatic ways but his enemies are against it as his dead long secrets comes to light, she is one woman who brought him down on his knees.