Bare Bones Synonym

“You need to know what you are getting into, sweetie.” He smirked, running his eyes down my body, stripping me bare with his dark, wanton eyes. I gulped and took slow steps towards him, walking on shaky legs but trying to look strong. “You don't know I am, Mark. Bring it on. I can sate your demons.” No matter how dark they are. After all, I'm not the angel he thinks I am… **** Running from her foster parents, Giulia had a run-in with Mark, a Mafia Lord in Spain. The meeting was incidental, but it sealed the hearts of the strangers, bringing them back to each other despite how far they tried to go. One is a sadist, and the other is a closeted masochist, waiting for the right one to set free her inner restraints. Will their paths be straight, or will there be internal and external forces trying to keep them apart? Would Giulia succeed in taming the mafia Lord, or will his darkness engulf her? Note: This is the second book in the series.

As my blade pierces the base of his neck, the silver sizzles against his skin. His cold blue eyes open wide. The grim reality of his situation sets in. He gulps hard and shakes his head in fear. "I repent." He squeaks like the coward he is. "Forgive my crimes. Let me face the Council." "You'll find no mercy here, Sin." Blood gushes down his bare chest freely. "You will be judged by the Goddess." His expression quickly changes to one of anger, exposing his ruse. "I see you in the Palace of the Goddess, I will kill you again." I growl. "And if she casts me out, I will meet you on the edge of the River Styx and kill you in Purgatory over and over until the Ferryman come to collect us. And if Hades allows, I will continue to kill you in the Underworld until the end of time." "I underestimated you." He chokes. "Everyone does." I whisper as I lay my full weight against the pommel.

In Black Salt, love is a sickness you can’t hide—a slow gnawing beneath the skin that leaves you hollowed, grayed, and eventually gone. No one stays long enough to see it through; they leave before the rot finishes its work. It’s what the town teaches you: when it starts, you run. You look away. You survive by pretending not to feel. But Atlas is tired of pretending. The halls of Black Salt High are full of kids pretending they don’t see each other’s bruised hearts, pretending their bones aren’t already whispering warnings. Still, he can’t forget the weight of a father who stayed—not out of love, but because he never felt it deep enough to decay. That truth lingers in Atlas like a second shadow. And then there’s Nova—the outsider with a storm in her bones. And Wren, all sharpness and fight. Milo, who cracks jokes to keep the silence at bay. Luce, who wears her thorns like jewelry. Together, they don’t know how to stop the rot. But they’re learning how to sit with it, how to name it, how to refuse the small, hollow deaths of pretending not to care. In a town where love is a death sentence, staying might be the bravest thing of all.

I didn’t just lose my mate on the night of our Ascendance Ball. I lost my dignity. Standing in the center of the gilded ballroom, in a dress that cost more than my life, I watched Drail choose her. My best friend. He didn't just reject our fated bond; he laughed while doing it, his hand resting on her pregnant stomach. Cast out. Humiliated. Rogue. I ran into the storm and straight into the chest of a monster. Derek Montenegro. The Ruthless. The exiled Prince of the European packs. A man with tattoos crawling up his neck and a reputation for breaking bones as easily as he breaks hearts. He’s cold, commanding, and dangerously beautiful. He offers me a deal. A contract. "Marry me, Raya. Wear my mark. Become the Queen of the underworld, and I will give you the power to crush the people who broke you." I thought I was signing a deal with the devil to get revenge. I didn't know the devil had a twin. And I certainly didn't know that the rejection wasn't an accident—it was the first move in a war between brothers, and I am the weapon they both intend to wield.

My online boyfriend is my university professor and the future werewolf king, Sarek. And me? I’m Mila—just a human hunter’s descendant scraping by in the cracks of an era where species coexist in uneasy peace. What he doesn’t know is that his online girlfriend, whom he wishes to tear apart a thousand times over, is sitting in the very last row of his classroom. The online relationship was never meant to be real. It started as revenge to get back at him for failing me. But who would’ve thought this werewolf was so starved for affection that he’d fall deeper and deeper in love? Again and again, he pushed to meet in person. However, if we ever really met face to face, I’d be torn apart and swallowed whole—bones and all. To save my life, I made a split-second decision and broke up with him. The result? The “abandoned” werewolf king lost his mind. Classes dragged on for three extra hours, and homework increased fivefold. For the sake of my classmates’ mental and physical health, getting back together… wasn’t entirely impossible. There was only one condition: he could never find out who I really am.

Before the flight takes off, my fiance, the pilot, boards the plane with a suitcase. He says it's a gift from his childhood sweetheart and warns me not to touch it. I can't shake the uneasy feeling creeping into my heart, so I sneak inside. To my shock, I find high-risk contraband hidden in the luggage. I report it immediately and use my commendation to cover for Edward's mistake and save his career. However, his precious childhood sweetheart is arrested, detained, and sentenced. He doesn't say a word after the incident. However, during another flight, he cuts the cord to my parachute. "Jade, I know you're jealous of Cindy! You sabotaged her during her flight attendant training and framed her afterward! Do you think this will make me love you? Dream on! I would never marry a petty woman like you!" I plunge from ten thousand meters above the ground, leaving nothing but blood and broken bones behind. When I open my eyes again, I see Cindy sending Edward off, and he's carrying the same suitcase. I quietly step back and decide I won't save him this time.

My adopted sister, an Omega who has always seemed delicate, harmless, and wolf-less, vanishes the night before full moon. Everyone, including my parents and my mate—the Alpha who's supposed to protect me—blames me for driving her away. They drag me to the Memory Offering altar, bind my wolf in silver chains, and demand the truth from my memories. Little do they know that my body has been laced with 99 silver needles, buried deep under my skin, each one driven in by the hand of the innocent girl they adore the most. The silverbane has seeped through my blood, eating away at my bones and my wolf spirit. I don't have long. So, I seize control. I invoke the oldest rite in the pack, the Memory Offering, to let them see the truth with their own eyes. For three years, I've been the one who was framed, humiliated, and tortured. Meanwhile, my so-called gentle sister is the real monster behind it all. By the time the truth is revealed, the silverbane has devoured my soul. Bathed in the blinding white light of the rite, I die on that cold, stone altar, with a pain that cuts to the bone and a peace that feels almost like freedom.

When a sudden 10-hour flight delay leaves Rosie scrambling for a hotel, she and Carter find themselves at the same place at the same time. With only one room available, Carter gives it up for Rosie. As the night unfolds, their chance encounter turns into something more. Sharing a flight to New York, Carter upgrades Rosie to business class. Amidst casual conversation, Rosie reveals her journey to interview at SweetHarvest Delights. Carter conceals his identity, presenting himself as a simple engineer to avoid any professional favoritism. Rosie, skeptical but accepting, lands the job at SweetHarvest Delights. On her first day, the truth unravels—Carter's deception exposed. Hurt and betrayed, Rosie confronts Carter, setting the stage for a tense confrontation. Carter, realizing the gravity of his mistake, grovels in an earnest attempt to salvage their connection. Carter pours his regrets and vulnerabilities, yet the question looms large: Can Rosie forgive a well-intentioned deception that blurred the lines between truth and lies? Will this unexpected connection lead to a sweet love story? Dive into the pages, where trust is tested, hearts are laid bare, and Carter's sincere grovel sets the stage for a resolution that remains tantalizingly uncertain.

Book Two of: My Mafia Princess “Breathe... Breathe Cassandra... Breathe...” She was about to give the best show of her life… But never did I imagine I was going to become the star of it. From the moment that our breaths mingled and our skins melted. She became the only reason that I breathed. MY ONLY DESIRE TO LIVE. Living a life ruled by my father and the ever-burning demands of his mafia empire; if ever I was going to defy it all, then it was going to be for her. And that was exactly what I did. I was determined to watch it all crash down and burn. Start a war. ALL FOR HER. Except I never imagined the secrets that I would uncover. The truths revealed and the lies that would be untold. A life perfectly orchestrated by the hands of the ones that I thought I could trust. So I had a choice… I could lay my soul bare and let her slice me open… LOSE IT ALL. Or play it safe and obey the code by which we lived… Was it ever a question? Ever a decision that needed to be made? She was my blind desire. AND SHE WAS ABOUT TO TEACH ME HOW TO LOVE.

"I will help you get your revenge, Ashley, but on one condition... Let's get married," My jaw dropped when Asher looked me in the eyes and said those words to me. How could he ask me to marry him? "You are my husband's brother, Asher..." "Your soon-to-be ex husband. You two are going to get a divorce soon. He treated you like a piece of trash, and you want nothing but to get your revenge. Don't you think I'm the best tool you can use?" My heart raced as his hand crawled up my bare thigh while pinning me to the wall, his face nuzzled in my neck as he teased the nape of my neck, sending this weird feeling through my body. "I'm willing to be your tool of vengeance, Ashley," His husky voice made my heart flutter as his breath fanned my ear, biting my earlobe after. "What do you want in return?" I managed to ask him, but his reply made me freeze on the spot. "Be my sex toy, Ashley,"