Dread

I was different from the others in my pack. My wolf could hear the truths hidden deep in someone’s heart. Whenever someone lied, she would immediately whisper their real thoughts to me. During the two years I was with Jace, my wolf stayed silent. I knew his love for me was real. But on the day before our marking ceremony, my wolf finally spoke. "I need to stall Leah tomorrow. I have to mark Elena." "Elena's pregnant. She has to be marked to be accepted by the pack. Leah loves me too much to blame me." My hand tightened around the pregnancy test tucked deep in my bag. A cold dread swept over me. Jace, I was pregnant too. But I wouldn't tell you. I played along with his plan, pretending I didn't know the truth. I let him make Elena his mate, father to her pup. After their ceremony, all he'd find was the discarded pregnancy test I left behind. His heir and I would be gone from his world—forever.

A comedy of errors, that offers second chances for first love in this BDSM Mafia, Reverse Harem Romance. In that moment of embarrassment, fear and dread, I do the unthinkable…….. I jump into the black clad stranger's arms, and kiss him with all the drama of a soap opera. Yes, I meant it to be for show to avoid my stalker, but .....Let’s just say it’s not all fake when I practically swoon like the well-to-do British lady I’m impersonating. “Renfield tricked me,” I pant, pointing my shaking finger at the obnoxious blonde man, literally crying, this is all so hysterical to him. “Dracula's spell is too powerful. I can't fight it, go! Go find Van Helsing!" How did this happen? Nicky! That’s right, this is all my orphan brother, Roman Nikolai Cross’ fault! Ever since that tweedle twap jerk named me after the bad luck stray cat outside our orphanage, there is no end to the comedy of errors that is my life. I was hoping to avoid the so tragic it’s funny or so funny it’s tragic stigma with my second chance on life, but no such luck with his latest shenanigans.

"She is a fool. It was as easy as fucking." Lucien smirked and my heart started to pound heavily against my chest, especially when he began advancing towards me with murderous intent. What was going on? What did they mean by their words? "L-Lucien, why is she h-here?" I choked as he reached forward to grab me by the neck. Malia laughed as I struggled to breathe, my airways being blocked as Lucien tightened his grip on my neck. He raised me up over the cliff and I was dangling in the air, a feeling of dread going through me as I could see my death. I kicked and clawed at his hand, trying to get him to let me go when he flung me against the nearest tree hard. I coughed blood as I crashed into the tree heavily, my body hurting as I collapsed to the floor. I tried to talk but my mouth felt too heavy, my eyes widening in disbelief as I watched Lucien bring out a sharp knife. He opened my mouth and brought out my tongue while Malia kept laughing, pointing at me with a smug look on her face. I was still confused. What was going on? Was Lucien being controlled? "I reject you, Nadia, as my mate and future Luna," He growled as he sliced my tongue off.

“Why do you suddenly want out of this marriage? Who the fuck are you screwing, you dumb bitch?!” “I'm not screw-” I tried to explain, but he was already on me and I screamed as he dragged me up by my neck, his hand so tight on my throat I couldn’t breathe. “Who is it?!” he growled. “Who the fuck would dare!” ---- In a world absent the mate bond, alliances were formed through blood, power, and betrayal rather than fate. Makena Blackwell was born into the mafia's lowest-ranking position, promised at birth to a powerful heir in exchange for her family's survival. She was ready to marry him. But he was ready to destroy her. On the night she was meant to die, however, something impossible happened. A man rose from the icy steel trays of her father’s morgue. He was a stranger, with no memory, no name, and no pulse. And when their gazes met, fate spoke the word they never expected to hear in their lifetime, echoing so loudly in their souls it shook the very fabric of their being. “Mate!” The man the world left for dead wasn’t just anyone; he was the dread every mafia house feared, and he was hers. She was promised to a prince of power… but fate gave her the king of the dead.

“You think you can run away from me?” he scowled, giving me a death-stare which made me petrified to face my consequences of trying to liberate myself from him. My heart was about to burst from the terror as my soul gave up on me. “Please.. Let me go..” I whispered, crawling back. He moved to my ears and whispered in his deep husky voice, submerging me in dread, “Letting you go was never an option.” *** A human mate. Humans... Creatures he despises at the bottom of his heart. Something he deeply wishes he never has in his life but who can twist fate? He has to face the inevitable reality of having a human mate. With that intense hate for humans, he was destined with one. He can't reject her for the sake of his pack but he can't accept her either. Struck between these two dilemmas, he's obstructed. But, Will his resentment let him attain salvation? Because he never knew his devastation would turn into something memorable, a feeble emotion of love he never wanted to accept; leading him to the labyrinth of darkness and regrets.

I thought running from the mate who used me as a pawn, and rejected me, would be the end of my cruel fate. I was wrong. I ran straight into a pack that didn’t just hate me, but also wanted me dead. I ran into the hands of three men who shattered everything I thought I knew about survival. My alpha stepbrothers: Quin, Rio, and Hunter. They’re called the Three Devils: dangerous, wild, and untamed. To me, they are living temptation. My forbidden desires. My ruin. They don’t know boundaries. They don’t do gentle. They want me for themselves. Quin wants to claim my rut. Rio wants to mark me. And Hunter? He’s ready to burn the world just to make me his. But the Moon Goddess doesn’t play fair. Pack laws don’t bend…not even for Alphas. And now we’re trapped in a web of fate that will either bind us together, or tear us apart completely. This is a dangerous game and I dread who the winner will be, the feral alpha, the biker president or the sex god? _ Warning ️ This book blurs the lines of morality. Contents are explicit, sometimes triggering too.

(Royal Beta Brum and Dragon Princess Zisealer's story) A dragon king’s first child should be a son, if not, that child is killed. My mother said no when the men came with their sharp swords to butcher me alive and she paid with her life. I am a warrior, I can fight my wars but not this one. My younger brother wants me dead because I am a threat when it comes to the throne and to protect me, my father forces me to mate with a werewolf royal beta. One look at him and I know nothing but heartache awaits me. He looks at me but doesn't see me. It seems he doesn’t even see the world. His dark haunted eyes are dead with nothing but dread and such coldness pouring from him. There is no one I hate more than him—the sexy, cold, and heartless Beta who dominates my dreams and leaves me burning with want and need for him. Fate has other plans for us as I wake up on a mountain having been brutally gutted to death. The grim reaper wracks havoc in our lives, a war breaks out and blood is all that flaws. This is book 3 in the ‘Royally screwed’ series. Book 1: The Royally Screwed Luna Book 2: The Royally Screwed Queen

Catherina Hanshaw Dalton has spent six years believing she lived a fairytale, married to billionaire Xavier Dalton, cherished by him, and building a life rooted in devotion, even amid one heartbreak she cannot control: their inability to have a child. Though Xavier assures her she is enough, Catherine senses his quiet disappointment, a wound deepened by the venomous hostility of his mother, Lydia Dalton. Lydia never misses a chance to insult Catherine’s infertility, idolize Xavier’s sister Mia and her children, or imply Xavier married beneath his status. Catherine endures it all, clinging to the one constant comfort, Xavier always defends her. Or so she believes. This Christmas, however, Catherine’s dread of another humiliating Dalton family gathering turns into confusion. Lydia is gracious….kind, even. The manor is full of relatives, business partners, and esteemed guests, including Hunter Powell, Xavier’s ruthless business rival. The brief moment when Cathy’s eyes meet Hunter unsettles her, but nothing prepares her for Lydia’s “special Christmas gift.” During the toast, Lydia presents Caroline Turner…a beautiful young woman who is allegedly four months pregnant through surrogacy…with Xavier’s child.

My best friend and my husband, Lorenzo Bartoli, fought every time they met. Lorenzo was the Don of the family, while my best friend was his Consigliere. She always fiercely opposed his most ruthless, high-risk decisions. Tempers explode every single time. But there was one rule that they both agreed on without any hesitation. No one was allowed to touch me. Because of them, no one in the city dared to cross me. Until the fifth month of my pregnancy, when I went down to the basement vault to organize Lorenzo's guns for him. I opened the safe to see stacks of letters, hundreds of them, all unsent. I picked one up. The moment I opened the letter, cold dread overwhelmed me. The receiver of the letter wasn't me. [My dearest Sofia…] I quickly scanned downward to the final lines of the letter. [If I don't make it back alive, everything in the Swissie accounts goes to you. As for Vittoria, she's a good woman, but I have never loved her.] With trembling hands, I tore open the rest of the letters like a hysterical woman. Three hundred of them in total. Every single one was addressed to Sofia Finzi. Sofia was not a stranger. She was my best friend.

I was eight months pregnant, at a charity gala with my husband, Don Massimo, when a rival family hit us. The crowd panicked. I was shoved to the floor, hard. Blood everywhere. Massimo lost his mind, screaming for medics, desperate to save my baby. But when I woke up, they were gone. Both of them. No baby, no Massimo. I remembered the gunfire, Massimo shielding me with his body. A cold dread washed over me. I hauled myself into a wheelchair and raced down the hall. That’s when I heard them—Massimo and the doctor. "Boss, I'm sorry. We did everything we could. The baby… he didn't make it." Tears streamed down my face. They killed my baby. The rival family killed my baby. But his next words shattered my world. "There was only one medical team. I had to make a choice. Bianca… she was carrying my child, too." Massimo sighed, then gave the order. "No one tells Arabella. She'll raise Bianca's son as her own. He will be my only heir." I slapped a hand over my mouth, my vision blurred by tears as I turned away. The man I loved was a lie. Fine. If he wants a war, he'll get one.