Dlab Study Guide

I only wanted to survive senior year. Keep my head down, graduate, and leave Blackthorne Academy behind. But the moment I stepped through its iron gates, I became prey. The Academy is wrong in every way—no mirrors in the dorms, wolves howling during study hall, and strict orders to never leave your room on red moon nights. And then there are the four Alphas who have marked me with their eyes, their obsession, and their danger. Ronan Veyr, the storm-eyed heir destined for the crown, who recoils at my touch yet can’t seem to stay away. Cassian Drax, the golden boy trickster whose dangerous smile hides a ruthless streak. Malachai Frost, the untouchable prodigy who shadows me like a silent warden. And Professor Adrian Vale, the man who looks at me as if I’m a memory he can’t bury. They shouldn’t want me. I have no wolf, no pack, no power. But whispers of a legacy trail me through Blackthorne’s haunted corridors—a bloodline strong enough to crown kings… and dangerous enough to kill for. Strange visions tear through my body whenever one of them is near. My strength is rising, my secret unraveling, and I’m beginning to understand why my mother died to protect it. Because I am not wolf. I am something older. Something every Alpha was born to obey. And if I want to leave Blackthorne alive, I must decide: Will I let one of them claim me— or will I rise to command them all?

It took me ten years to become the right hand to Damian Costello, the Consigliere of the Costello crime family. From a nobody to the woman wearing his engagement ring. But two weeks before the wedding, I decided to throw that ring away. Everyone in the family knew how hard I had fought all these years just to stand by Damian's side. I gave up the chance to become a top trader on Wall Street, willingly becoming Damian's assistant, his shadow. This man was infamous for his coldness and exacting nature, keeping everyone at arm's length. So I hid my sharp edges, spending a decade wearing down his icy exterior with gentleness. I cleansed the blood from every dollar he made. I became a necessity to him, as essential as the air he breathed. I thought that after ten years, I had finally made my presence indispensable. And finally earned what looked, to outsiders, like a glimmer of his affection. The family's notoriously aloof genius actually remembered my birthday. He even made an exception, letting me spend the night in his private study when I was unwell. He didn't even push me away when, emboldened by wine, I pressed a kiss to the side of his neck. If the Don's daughter, Isabella, hadn't returned from Italy, I might have kept playing my part, clinging to that false dream forever. But sadly, there are no ‘ifs’. I am going to give up everything here and leave you.

When I turn 18, my family suddenly strikes gold. Dad makes a fortune in business. We move into a huge house with a driver and a housekeeper. My younger brother, Vincent Becker, is sent to study in Basmar. After that, he graduates and marries a rich heiress. Their partnership makes our family's business soar. I'm the only one who misses my college entrance exam because of stomach cramps, and my parents marry me off to a lonely man in some rundown countryside. He locks me in a basement and hurts me every single day. I crawl my way back home, half-alive, but my parents only look at me with disgust. "Useless brat! How did you not die out there?" Vincent says that he'll take me out to clear my head. Instead, he shoves me in front of a truck. I'm rushed to the ICU with nearly every bone in my body broken. Right before I die, he leans down in his designer suit and whispers in my ear. "Let me tell you the truth before you die. Our family didn't get rich from business. We got rich because of the hundred-million-dollar lottery ticket you bought. "We cashed it behind your back and never told you." I die full of resentment, and right after my death, they sell my organs for 120 thousand dollars. I open my eyes, and suddenly I'm there again—to the very day I bought the lottery ticket.

Joel Gleason, my childhood sweetheart and fiancé, promised he'd marry no one but me. But then, to help Jenny Swisher, my adoptive sister, get through her depression, he secretly married her. I didn't hesitate for a second before agreeing to marry Conrad Lennon, Jasselton's most untouchable heir, who'd been in love with me for years. After seven years of marriage, he still spoiled me rotten. He clung to me every night like he couldn't get enough. And there was nothing he wouldn't do for me. I really thought I'd found happiness at last. But one day, after we'd slept together, I heard him talking to his best friend. "Jenny's an international best actress now. When are you dumping Jean?" "It doesn't matter. I wouldn't end up with the person I love either way. Besides, I have to keep an eye on Jean. I can't let her ruin all the happiness Jenny worked so hard for." I booted up the computer in Conrad's study and stumbled upon a hidden folder. Inside were over 100,000 photos of Jenny, plus 100 unsent love letters. I'd been fooling myself long enough. It was time to wake up. I got myself a fake body and got ready to start a fire. That was it. Conrad and I were done for good.

The Mother That Fed the Dark is a study of inherited guilt, ritual, and the long reach of a mother's choices. Amahle, a woman who practices the old rituals in secret, believes that her younger son , Sipho, was born as a spiritual "door" to be sacrificed for the sake of power and protection. During the ritual she performed , she got interrupted by the older son, Thando, who died instead. While the community believes Thando's death was accidental, Amahle knows better: it was the wrong son who died, and the ritual was left unfinished. Drenched in fear and resentment , Amahle raises Sipho as if he is the love of her life, while at the same time working to destroy him. Behind closed doors, she feeds the supernatural force from the failed ritual, which weakens Sipho, making him fearful and dependent. As Sipho grows, so do the misfortunes that follow him, and an unseen entity begins to present itself-first in dreams and whispers, then in the physical world . What we see is that the ritual did not bind to the house but to Sipho's bloodline. When Sipho leaves home, the haunting grows stronger. After Amahle's death, Sipho finds her secret notebooks , which reveal to him the shocking truth: that his brother's death was a mistake and, in fact, Sipho was never meant to die but to be the vehicle for the ritual, which he indeed is. Setting the family home on fire brings only temporary relief , but the curse does not break. In the final revelation, Sipho realizes that he is not the offering but the keeper, the living portal through which harmony, hardship, and magical power flow. Unlike his mother, he comes to the realization that he has a choice.

With flights suspended at airports, Berat tries to escape by car from the harsh Turkish winter and the pain of having lost his wife, traveling with their two children: Ferhat, four years old, and Volkan, two, to Georgia. Unexpectedly, a rock slides across the road, causing it to overturn and leaving Berat and the children trapped by their seat belts. Efé, who was returning from a family wedding, next to his wife and also their six-month-old twin children, did not think twice before parking the vehicle on the side of the road and saving that man and his children. After saving Berat and the boys from death, a strong friendship begins between them, making both sign a Marriage Contract between their children Ferhat and Luna. Twenty-one years pass, Ferhat and Volkan study and graduate in the USA and when they return to Turkey they start working at their father's Automobile Company. Volkan became a famous basketball player, but abandoned his career to be his father's right-hand man in business. His brother Ferhat despite being the eldest son, is nothing more than a seductive bohemian, who will steal the heart of Rabia, the daughter of his father's partner. The beautiful Luna will grow up knowing that one day she will have to marry a man she has never seen, but destiny will cross her paths with Volkan in a charity basketball match, in favor of the homeless of the earthquake, making a beautiful story of love start for them. Never having been touched by a man, Luna will be kissed by Volkan, who will fall madly in love with her. Upon discovering that Luna is his brother's betrothed, Volkan will despair and will do the impossible for the Marriage Contract to be undone and for him to marry in her place.

“I now pronounce you both, husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.” ━━━━━━༺༻ ━━━━━━ Nadia Petrov Jules, barely eighteen years old, only had one dream in her life - to study abroad and become a doctor. She had even managed to convince her traditional and overprotective strict uncle to let her pursue her dreams in New York. Despite her family's political connections to the mafia cartel, her life was surprisingly calm and peacefully simple. Until he claimed her and took away her virginity. Anatoly Kiseleva, the Russian mafia heir is one word only - destruction in human form, a dedicated hunter who hunts down his enemies until he makes them bleed to their death. He is rumored not to have any beating heart inside his left sided chest. His marriage was fixed with the beautiful Ivanova, Nadia's maternal cousin. On the night of his engagement party, he was a bit drunk and met a girl with a mask on who he had believed to be Ivanova. He made love to the girl in the mask and didn't bother to notice the obvious differences. When the morning came, he was beyond furious after he took off the mask. Now they are both married and Anatoly despises and loathes his new bride who doesn't even have two complete legs. Nadia's life was much too sweet before she was forced and pulled into bitterness and sorrow with a husband who hated her and was disgusted by her disability. To Her, it wasn't a marriage but her death sentence. And to Him, it also wasn't a marriage but an endless torment of shame.

For six years, my stepbrother Draven, the heir to a mafia family, and I have been in a secret relationship. Every night, his hands would trace every curve of my body with desperate hunger. The way he would look at me in those intimate moments made me believe I was the only woman who could ignite such passion in him. Until a month ago, when I found out I was pregnant. The day before Valentine's Day, I snuck into his study, planning to surprise him. Through the crack in the door, I heard him talking to Nico, the family's consigliere. "Aren't you tired of your little stepsister, Jasmine? The engagement is right around the corner. You haven't actually fallen for her, have you?" A cruel smirk played on his lips. "Fall for her? She was an easy target who fell right into my lap. It would've been a waste not to take a bite." "Her mother drove mine to an early grave. These six years have been her penance. And she's deserved every moment of it." "Besides, I've said it before. My wife will be Bianca Tyler, and no one else." "Marrying her secures the Tyler family's port smuggling routes. That's all that matters." So, what I thought was love was nothing more than an elaborate act of revenge. Every one of his embraces was a calculated lie. Fine. It was time for me and our unborn baby to disappear from his world completely.

Anna Marie Marcelo is like any normal college girl who dreamed of a fairytale-like life but ends up accepting the reality that she is a farmers’ daughter and that’s just it. This made her study hard and work harder for the dream she wants to achieve shortly. Together with her friend Margie Rose Domingo, they both face the reality of their boring, normal yet contented life. A sudden change happens to Anna that causes a stir into her normal life. She will find herself wearing gowns, expensive dresses, and high-class pieces of jewelry and dine in the finest food chains and get to meet handsome but arrogant prince charming. Almost like a fairytale story… a Cinderella story, but THIS is not a fairytale story. Cole Lyrus Pilkin is a cold handsome businessman behind his parents’ back who always goes against his decisions. His relationship with his parents is not so well even during his childhood that he starts becoming a rebel to them. His life starts to get messed-up upon meeting the woman who is the heiress of their adoptive grandfather, their so-called cousin who grew up in poverty. With her appearance, all hell breaks loose yet Cole starts getting drawn to her. What will he do? Who will he choose between her and his parents? This is a story you will love, join Anna as she faces the trials of being the so-called heiress surrounded by many handsome princes that are ready to take her fancy just for her inheritance. Will she be able to find true love or not? Will she wait to be saved just like what those fairytale princesses did on all the fairytale books she had read?

Book 1– ALEX Elysia Crinshaw, a cunning and resourceful young woman, is caught in a daring heist at the opulent Landry estate. To avoid incarceration, she strikes a deal with the enigmatic billionaire Alex Landry: in exchange for her freedom, she must become an integral part of his underground BDSM club, "The Golden Chains Palace." Initially uncertain of the lifestyle, Elysia soon finds herself drawn into the seductive world of power play, submission, and the darkest desires of the elite. As she navigates the club's intricate social dynamics, she discovers that Alex is not just a dominant, but a man with a secret; he’s a werewolf and believes she is his mate. Though she refuses the bond, Alex won't just let her walk out of his life. Genre: steamy romance Tags: steamy, werewolf Book 2– WILLOW In the mystical world of the Moonshadow pack, where werewolves live by a strict code of loyalty and destiny, Willow, the fiercely independent and rebellious daughter of the alpha for the Landry Pack, is destined to bond with Kyan, the Moonshadows' alpha’s son and heir to the pack's leadership. However, Willow’s heart secretly yearns for Twix who has been her mentor and confidant since childhood. The bonding ceremony, a sacred tradition that cements the unity between two werewolves and ensures the continuation of the pack’s bloodline, is fast approaching. Willow is torn between her duty to the pack and her forbidden love for Twix. Meanwhile, Twix, aware of Willow’s feelings, struggles with his own desire to protect and guide her while upholding the ancient laws that dictate the future of their kind. Genre: steamy, werewolf Tags: steamy, age-gap, forbidden, father’s best friend Book 3-