Chapter 6 The Evil Within

Falling for the man who is paying you for sex is a dangerous business. Stella Kaye Wyatt is running from an abusive past she'd like to forget. She secures a new identity by working at a brothel to stay hidden. When her once knight-in-shining armor boyfriend becomes what she escaped, she feels responsible for trying to save him at a high cost to herself. Alaric John Carter is an adventure seeker who uses adrenaline highs to forget his own troubled past. When his life crosses paths with Stella's and he's informed of her sexual job, he takes advantage as a paying customer with surprisingly deep pockets. Despite strictly being a business arrangement, real feelings begin to develop between the two. Stella begins to dream of a better life, but will handsome Alaric accept her for who she truly is when he learns the dark truth she's hiding? As Stella's past returns to reclaim her and Alaric's secrets are revealed, the truth will potentially end not only their feelings for each other, but their lives.

Blurb Born in a pack that rejected her for being wolfless,Lea’s life had been one of humiliation and quiet endurance. But when her connection to the lycan king, Alexander resurfaces,her life turns to chaos. Alexander was bound to his mountain by a deadly curse,but he knows Lea is his fated mate,the key to his salvation and survival. But Lea is trapped in a web of betrayal,her manipulative boyfriend,Ethan seeks to secure power,her adoptive family hides dark truth about her heritage,her sister framed her for an offence she didnt commit,and the pack’s ruling Alpha sees her as a threat to their rule. As enemies closes in,Lea must unmask the secret about her past,unleash her hidden strength,and decide if she can trust the lycan king who holds the key to her future. Love, betrayal,and prophecy collides,where true strengths is found in the heart,and nothing is as it seems.

*Daily updates*She felt as if she were floating. Her eyes were closed, and everything about her felt soft, a luxuriating fluffiness like the satin down comforter her grandma used to have. She thought she must have been sleeping. There was a not-unpleasant heaviness to her limbs, like the time she could finally sit down after standing and walking in the market for hours.Then her brain started to focus in a peculiar sort of way, powerless over thoughts that surfaced unbidden. Abubakar suddenly came to mind...how he had gotten her this way, and how she longed to tell Maama, but couldn't. Maama. . .As her consciousness began to return, she tried without success to open her eyes. Something tight and sticky was holding her lids together. Now she knew she was sleeping. She'd felt that strange paralysis before when wrapped in layers of her dreams, her legs turned to lead as she ran from shadowy pursuers and her eyes became inert shutters. She was scared, what frightened her most was her breathing. Her hand blindly went to her mouth, where she found the tube.Yaa Rahman! She was in a hospital!Her heart was thunderously racing, filling her chest with explosive fear. She blindly pulled at the tube, ripping it from her throat, gagging violently as it made her gasp and choke. But finally, finally, It was free, and she flung it far away.

Bilang isang anak ng Diyos ng Kadiliman, alam ni Cassy Aguilar na kailanman ay hinding-hindi niya maabot ang liwanag, na kahit na anong takbo niya ay hindi niya matatagpuan ang sarili na nabababalot ng sinag kundi purong anino at dilim lamang. At iyon ang dahilan kung bakit gustong-gusto niyang makatakas sa tadhanang tila kadenang nagbibigkis sa kanya sa mundo ng kadiliman at kasamaan. Nais niyang makalaya. At ang tanging paraan para mangyari iyon ay ang wakasan ang buhay ng sarili niyang ama, ang Diyos ng Kadiliman. Sakit. Kamatayan. Pagtataksil. Sakripisyo. Pag-ibig. Pakikipagsapalaran. Lahat ng ito ay naghihintay kay Cassy kasama ang mga taong magiging kasangga niya sa pagkamit ng kalayaang hinahangad niya at ang pagtapos sa buhay ng Diyos ng Kadiliman na matagal nang banta sa kapayapaan ng mamamayan.

Mate. I froze mid-step, Venom has never said that word before. I've suddenly forgotten the Rogues I was chasing, my whole attention now on the emotions I was feeling. My vision sharpened, focusing on the faint sound of labored breathing just ahead. My heart hammered in my chest as I walked closer, the bond pulling me forward with an urgency I hadn’t felt in decades. The first thing I saw was her hair, a messy dark bun with strands of white, unusual yet unique. She sat curled up against the base of an old tree, arms wrapped tightly around her knees, shoulders trembling. Her thin, tattered sweater barely shielding her from the cold air. She looked... fragile, a word I never thought I’d associate with my mate. Ariel’s life has been anything but easy. Orphaned as a child and left in the care of a cruel stepfather and stepbrother, she’s endured years of emotional and physical abuse. Despite her circumstances, she’s always felt something stirring beneath the surface—an unexplained restlessness, vivid dreams of running under the moonlight, and a deep connection to the forest around her. Zayn, the alpha of the Shadowcrest pack, has spent years searching for his fated mate, the one who would complete him and stand by his side to no avail…he had finally given up on ever finding her. His pack thrives under his leadership, but his heart has grown weary, doubting the Moon Goddess’s promise of a mate. When a chance encounter leads him to Ariel, he’s stunned to discover that the fragile, broken girl is his destined partner—and more than that, she’s a wolf completely unaware of her true nature.

" the fire takes everything with it, love, pain, happiness. worst of all, it's never enough. "Ruby Hart did everything she could to maintain a normal life with nothing out of the ordinary but the discovery of her older adoptive sister being a Nyx turns everything upside down. A very old and powerful vampire comes into town determined to take the life of Eliza Hart and break a thousands of years old curse. In doing so, he discovers that Eliza's sister is his soulmate, Ruby. Ruby thought her life couldn't get more hectic, then it did. She realized her ancestry and how extremely dangerous she could be when ticked off and the fact that she could blow up a place with her mind, like, literally.

**Dez** Dezmond woke in a cold sweat. The ache in his heart was worse than ever before. It had been growing more intense over the past few weeks. He got out of bed and went to the bathroom to wash his face. He didn't bother looking in the mirror, he knew what he would see. His face would be white and his eyes haunted with the need to find answers. Dezmond needed to know why he was being tormented in his dreams. He was never supposed to dream again. "I can't take this anymore." said Dezmond gloomily. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ **Ruby** Ruby couldn't focus in class, another night of tossing and turning. Seeing the flames consume her house. Hearing the screams as her family slowly died, knowing there was nothing she could do. It had been almost three years since the incident. The day she lost her family in the fire. She was the only one who wasn't in the house. And she relived that horror every night in her dreams. Though recently her nightmares felt different. More like a warning rather than a memory. "Rough night?" whispered Haven. Haven had been friends with Ruby since they were little kids. "Yeah, they started happening again." Ruby whispered back. They never really stopped. "Have you talked to anyone about it? Ruby, you can't keep it a secret forever." This is the same discussion they had just after the incident.

Ryder didn't lose just one mate; he lost two. His first mate died the day he found her. Angelica was his second chance mate. She was his everything. The reason his heart beat and the air he breathed. She was the mother of their child, his beautiful angel. But in the blink of an eye, she was dead. Ryder had to find a way to live, a way to move on without her. He had to for the sake of their daughter. How does one continue to live without the person who breathes life into you? How do you move on from that? Is it possible to love again? Ryder doesn't think so, but she does. She's the complete opposite of Angelica. There's nothing sweet and innocent about her. She's hard, cocky, and speaks her mind. Angelica was soft and delicate; she is hard around the edges, and tattoos cover her body. She finds the mate bond interesting, and he is her next adventure. She doesn't take no for an answer, and it infuriates the Beta beyond belief. He wants to choke her, scream at her, tell her to leave him alone, and never return, but he wants to hold her and pull her into his arms at the same time. It's a battle with his heart. How does he allow someone else in when his heart still belongs to her.

Olivia Smith's life had always been perfect, and she was envied by everyone around her. She was treated well and loved by her parents. She was living the life any girl would dream of, but everything changed when she got married to Lucas Garrison. Her parents died a few weeks after her marriage, leading her to misery. Blinded by greed, Lucas took everything her parents owned. She also finds out Lucas was cheating on her, but she finds solace in her best friend, Maddie, who was a big part of her life. Betrayed, bullied, and blackmailed by someone she loved and trusted so much. She plans on taking revenge on everyone who caused her pain and taking back what rightfully belongs to her. In the process, she fell in love with a stranger while unlocking unexpected secrets.

Appearances can lie, worse when you pretend to be something you are not. For Allison Bush, a 27 year old werewolf by birth, life has been on the move. On the way she moves to a little town in hopes that the life she is still running from will stay exactly where it is. Far from her so that she can at least live her life the way she wants to and not how she is 'supposed' to live it. In this town she surprisingly finds love, which is something that has never happened before... She wasn't supposed to fall in love, she left behind someone who was said to be hers... But Azania Mooi, a 25 year old cop, changed everything that Allison was told from birth. She made her feel again and both their worlds became one.... Or is it really one? Some people can tell you that nothing stays hidden forever... As that is, Allison is sonner faced with the demon she has been running from that is going to reveal her true self, her mate from Havana, Cecelia Kamp has come to claim what is rightfully hers. What happens when you find the person you're supposed to be with happy with someone else? What is Cecelia capable off? Can Allison embrace who she really is and accept herself as a werewolf in order to help the woman she is madly in love with? Or will she still pretend to be human and just do what she does best? Run???