Bracing Myself Meaning

My name is Greyson Langley-just call me Lang. I'm a heavy-metal band player who just back from a concert tour. On my Clofus campus, I reunited with my friends and my beautiful four crushes. Later, I heard about the largest prostitution complex in South East Asia was threatened by being evicted by the government. There, I met a prostitute with a golden voice with a dark past. So, I promised to free her from that despicable valley. Later, I found myself torn between five different women in five irreconcilable lives. The deeper I became involved in their lives, I catapulted into the intrigues of a world that threatens my life and may shatter my heart. And even my nation's democracy. One day, I found a diary written by my grandfather, which made me enlightened also threatened. Stranded amid love, danger, passion, and violence, I should choose between myself, my lover, or my nation. What I begin in compulsion now becomes my urgent need. Come, read my story ... If you dare! WARNING: This story contains adult, explicit, disturbing, and sensitive material. Reader discretion is advised.

Olivia’s POV The moment Armando left, the dam broke. I sobbed into the silence, my chest heaving with the weight of everything I’d pushed down for so long. I wanted to hold him tight. To kiss him and to tell him how much I loved him and how much I wanted his protection but I just couldn’t because I didn’t trust anyone else and because I never wanted anything to do with love after James. I hated myself for pushing him away. But more than that, I hated that I felt anything for him at all. I sat there, drowning in the storm of my own heart, knowing that love was a battlefield I might never cross again, and yet, for the first time, I wished I had the courage to try. Armando’s POV Back in my study, I poured myself a glass of whiskey, my hand trembling as I lit a cigarette. The tears came slowly at first, hot and unfamiliar against my skin. I hadn’t cried since I was ten years old. But tonight, I wept. For her. For me. For everything we could never be.

I never thought I would find myself in a situation like this. I wanted to be normal. There wasn't supposed to be anything special about me. But as soon as I turn eighteen, things turned south. My crush on the Astronomy professor isn't as innocent as I thought. The rudest jock in the academy has a hold of my lust. And I am no longer human. What has my life turn into?

During a long holiday, my husband booked flights for a family vacation. On the way to the airport, I suddenly saw numbers appearing on everyone’s head. The numbers on my husband’s head indicated sixty years, but my parents and I had only six hours indicated on our heads. While I was puzzled over the meaning of those numbers, I noticed that the driver next to us only had six seconds indicated over his head through the car window. Five… Four… Three… Two… One. When the number turned zero, a massive truck immediately rammed into the car next to us. I saw flickers of fire, flesh and blood exploding before my eyes. People were screaming for help, but I could not hear anything. I trembled as cold sweat drenched my entire body. It was because my flight would be taking off in six hours.

I am a vampire, and that is the truth. But the modern meaning of the word vampire, the stories that have been told about creatures such as I, are not precisely true. I do not turn to ash in the sun, nor do I cringe when I see a crucifix. I wear a tiny gold cross now around my neck, but only because I like it. I cannot command a pack of wolves to attack or fly through the air. Nor can I make another of my kind simply by having him drink my blood. Wolves do like me, though, as do most predators, and I can jump so high that one might imagine I can fly. As to blood--ah, blood, the whole subject fascinates me. I do like that as well, warm and dripping, when I am thirsty. And I am often thirsty.

How would you feel knowing that your lifelong dream will be the cause of your downfall? Would life still hold any sort of meaning after that? Well, in the blink of an eye, everything I’ve had collapsed. Since I was young, I’ve always dreamed about the day I’d shift and become a strong, fierce, and powerful female wolf who can carry her family’s legacy. I wanted to become one of the first remarkable female Alphas and make my father proud. But fate had other plans. I was never truly my family’s child. And now, I must pay the price for a crime I never committed. The cruelest part? The one destined to punish me is none other than my mate, the Alpha King himself.

Evina Chen is a young career woman who is not afraid to defy her superiors. She would even risk her personal life to defend her colleagues from tyrannical bosses. Meanwhile, Gabriel Yang is a ruthless, dominant CEO who would sacrifice anything for the sake of the growth of their company. He would crush anyone who would dare stand in his way. She hates authorities. He hates rebels. But both would learn the true meaning of love in each other's arms. The question is, will their love for one another be enough to overcome the power struggles along the way? ****** NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: > Forgive me in advance for the mistakes. I don't have an editor yet. :') > Feel free to get in touch with me at @7arabella7 > Thank you for giving this story a chance. I hope you like it! :*

R-18 (contains mature content) Verena Layton: He is an irresistible good-looking vampire, a newcomer to our university. So I thought. Well, he actually is a human, as stated by the world. Whatever he is, he is a hundred percent my type. However, he got a damn cocky attitude that really puts me off. I try to keep myself away from him after he knocked the image of harsh reality into my head. But why do I feel such a strong pull toward him? I feel like a moth flying into the fire. This fire might change my life and everything Lorcan Judson: I despise humans - creatures with no morals. Yet, she is one of them: An annoyingly clingy, vampire-enthusiastic human. Astonishingly, her presence shakes me to the core tempting me to abandon my important mission and go after her. I try to keep my distance, but I am so pulled toward her. Her scent entices me to the verge of losing my sanity. I find myself questioning what my next move should be - chase after her or focus on my mission. It makes me wonder if she is truly a human or maybe one of us.

In Evergreen Pack, turning 18 means awakening, shifting into wolf form, and being marked by your mate. But on the day of my coming-of-age ceremony, my older brothers and my fiance bring back a gravely injured Omega from the border. They place her in my room, and my eldest brother, Corey Newman, personally put the moonstone pendant my parents left me around her neck. My fiance, Zachary Russell, who's supposed to mark me, instead takes the Omega, Nora Gates, by the hand. He looks at me coldly and hisses, "I refuse to be your mate." The pain is too much for my wolf and me. Yet, my other brother, Wesley Newman, only says, "Stop making a scene or get out." I realize then that they were no longer my family. So, I decide to exile myself and throw myself into ten years of closed research in Central City. They think I'm just throwing a tantrum, and they even take Nora to see the aurora in Everfrost, something I've always longed to do. When they finally realize that I'm never coming back, they fall to their knees at my feet, begging me like lunatics to return.

My roommate beamed with pride as she told me a horrifying secret: she had allowed a wealthy businessman to "remove" her unborn child, claiming he absorbed the baby’s fortune in exchange for a hefty payout. Chills ran down my spine. I urged her to stop meddling with such dark dealings before it destroyed her, but she wouldn’t listen. Instead, she threw herself into it, addicted to helping people "transfer luck" for money. Her luck ran out when she contracted a mysterious disease. When her boyfriend found out, she turned on me, tearfully accusing me of tying her to another man’s bed. Before I could even defend myself, an enraged man ran me down with his car. The next thing I knew, I woke up to find myself back in time. My roommate was leaning in close, her eyes glinting with excitement as she whispered, asking if I wanted to join her "luck transfer" schemes. This time, I wasn’t taking any chances. I noticed the slight swell of her belly and immediately sent a text to her boyfriend: "Congrats! You’re going to be a dad!"