Black Water Joyce Carol Oates

Rima: Jacob Snow is a puzzle. I had initially mistaken him for a cold, uncaring, and arrogant CEO, but as we work together, I realize he's the exact opposite. He's warm, considerate, and humble, a far cry from the man I had painted in my mind. But acknowledging this doesn't mean I'm ready to let my guard down. My past is a dark, haunting shadow, and I refuse to let anyone get too close, afraid of the potential pain that could follow. It's been a while since I've felt this way about someone, and the familiarity of these feelings scares me. The last time it ended being the worst mistake of my life. I don't want to give in to these feelings, but I can't deny that Jacob is becoming more than just a boss to me. Jacob: Rima is enigmatic. She’s resilient, determined, and initially, she appears distant. But as we collaborate, I find myself drawn to her strength and determination. She’s unlike anyone I’ve ever met, and the spark between us is undeniable. She’s built a fortress around herself, a wall that's impossible to penetrate, but I’m determined to break it down. I sense she’s hiding something, and I can’t shake off the protective instinct that emerges whenever I see her. As we confront the danger together, I find myself struggling to resist the growing feelings I have for her. As danger looms, Rima and Jacob find themselves struggling to resist the growing attraction between them. Their pasts threaten to tear them apart, but they can’t deny the feelings that are blossoming between them. Will they be able to overcome their fears and trust each other? Or will their pasts continue to haunt them and prevent them from finding love?

My Alpha Series Book 2 (Standalone) Adrian: This girl is everything I did not want in a mate. She’s vulgar, acts and speaks like a savage, refuses to comply to me as her alpha, challenges me at every turn, and worst of all…she comes from the most evil rogue pack in the whole states. That fact alone should have made me kill her on the spot, if only my wolf and heart would agree with me. Lennox: Come on Adrian! Just because she’s a little… different, doesn’t mean you get to throw the gift that the goddess sent our way after all that time waiting for her! Besides, do you smell that? My goddess, her smell is so mouthwatering! Rhea: I want nothing to do with this arrogant prick! His royal highness thinks I’m not good enough for him, well I say he’s not good enough for me! Walking around with that stick up his ass, reminding me every second that I should consider myself lucky that I turned out to be his mate! I may be a rogue, but that doesn’t mean words don’t hurt me. After all, I wasn’t exactly like the rest of my rogue pack. Hazel: It wouldn’t hurt if you would just give the man a chance to see the real you Rhea! We never belonged with those animals! He’s just trying to show us a better way of living, the right way. Besides, his attitude aside, I know you’re dying for a taste of him despite everything, because I’m dying for one myself from his wolf. Come on! If you two don’t want a taste of each other, at least set us free to do our own tasting!

Alpha Xendy has been searching for his mate since he turned eighteen. At a hundred years old, he has lost hope and is losing his powers and influence in the largest Pack in America. The council is pushing for a chosen mate, and his ruthless stepbrother, whom he believes killed his mother for the Alpha position, has been planning to take over for the last century. Bewitched by her stepmother, Iyya is a nineteen-year-old condemned to live in a peacock's body. After her transformation, she is brought into a supernatural world she never knew existed. Fate has brought Iyya and Xendy together as destined mates, but there is more to be revealed to these two. A choice between life and death, between love and the lives of the entire werewolf, lies in their hands.

“Mom, Dan, I received an offer from an overseas university. I plan to take it.” Lucille Shaw’s voice was soft in the silent living room, like a single drop of water rippling across a still pond. Her mother Victoria exclaimed with joy, "Really? Congratulations! When are you planning to go?" “In Ten days.”

Luciano Salvatore 'The Bullet' was born, raised, and comes from a long family line of serial killers. But he wants nothing to do with that legacy. The block that has made it impossible for him to run away from all of it is his uncle, Don Mauro. The most powerful drug lord and a serial killer who had snapped a long time ago. Don Mauro promised to kill Luciano's remaining family to keep him in check. On his mother's death anniversary, Luciano tried to go against Don Mauro to make his mother proud by doing the right thing and trying to save a woman named Keirah from becoming his uncle's victim in his sex trade. Unfortunately for him, he fell in love with her at first sight. He finds out later that Don Mauro was not after Keirah for the sex trade, but Keirah is a biomedical engineer his uncle has been searching for. A person Don Mauro will do anything to possess. Succumbing to his heart's desire, even after Luciano finds out about this information. He tries to protect her in the only way he knows how. By kidnapping her and running away with her and his family out of the Mafia world. Setting them both on an expected path toward a love-and-hate relationship while discovering the hidden supernatural fate set upon them. What chances does Luciano have for survival and redemption while caught up in his unfamiliar feelings for Keirah?

In my past life, my selfish son stopped caring about my husband and me after marrying a woman who followed her mother's words like they were holy commandments. In fact, he orchestrates an accident to kill my husband and me under the influence of his wife and her family. It's all so he can inherit our fortunes earlier than expected. When I'm reborn, I look at my son, who's rotten to the core, and decide that I don't want him anymore!

At that age, when every woman in Keirah's hometown believes she is supposed to be married and have kids of her own already. She is still single and Childless. Getting married and having children of her own has always been her dream. But everything changed after her long-term fiance humiliated her in front of the whole town and he left on the altar to marry her sister. Keirah has been stuck in the past. It has been impossible to unlove her brother-in-law who has found his way into her immediate family. She has a plan to get over him and start fresh. The plan is to get a child into her life by deceit far away from her hometown and walk back into her hometown pregnant, with a baby, to become a single mother. Luciano Salvatore, 'The Bullet,' is the most wanted Italian boss Mafia in the world. When the two paths intertwine and the two people from different worlds meet. What happens to Keirah and her plan? PLEASE NOTE THIS BOOK CONTAINS LANGUAGE, MATURE AND DISTURBING SCENES 18+

Ella is a 17 year old servant, who has been abused by the alpha and beta of her pack for quite sometimes. After they are killed, a new alpha takes over the pack and Ella tries to run away and start a new life for herself. However, fate does not allow her to escape into the human world, when she gets caught and taken back to the pack house to be punished by her new alpha for running away. Alpha Klaus is conflicted about punishing a 17 year old girl who was obviously running away from something, or someone. Yet, he needed to set an example out of her to prove to his new pack that he is not to be crossed with. Dangerous secrets require alpha Klaus to keep Ella safe and protect her despite her apparent hatred of him. Will she ever be able to trust another alpha again? Will alpha Klaus ever open his heart to someone else after he lost his mate? TRIGGER WARNING: This book contains sexual and physical abuse, torture, and rape that might be triggering to some of you. So if you can handle it, enjoy reading the story.

My sister and I were caught up in a severe car accident during a family road trip down the mountain for the New Year. Shattered glass pierced straight through my heart. Amid the excruciating pain, my fiance and family insisted the rescue team take my sister, who only had a scratched arm, to the hospital first. As I cried out for them to save me, my fiance snapped at me. “Carol, you should know when to stop vying for attention! “Delila is bleeding so much. Why must you compete with her?” Dad shook his head and sighed while Mom looked at me with disgust. I forced my stiff neck to look over. They were all surrounding my younger sister. She only sported a faint red mark on her arm. No one saw the blood gushing from my chest. No one heard my fading heartbeat. I died during that snowy, bitterly frigid night. When they finally remembered me and came across my cold body, my fiance and family went mad.

What's the color of voice? Does it send you the shiver like morning snow when someone calls your name? Carol Bianca found her groom standing with another woman in the wedding venue she paid to get married to her childhood sweetheart. She wanted to get married to the man who accepted her the way she was. A deaf but the woman he wanted would be his world- His word. But she finds herself standing with a bouquet of Lily and a withering heart. . She couldn't hear what he said. But she knew -- Her love for him was too big to endure this disrespect to her feelings. She left, with her head high until her hands were caged by someone - " Would you mind marrying me?" She looked at the Man, sitting on the wheel chair, breathtakingly handsome. She wants him. She knew it. " I am a deaf. Will you be okay?" she asked, using sign language. " You deserve more than me but I will be glad!" He said, and it was genuine.