Hashira Deaths

 “Take me, please?” I shuddered as sweet relief flooded through me and ached for more.  “If you want me, you can have me, all of me, but you might not like what I ask in return.” He gritted teeth as if he was tested by his own self-control.  I could feel his struggle, judging by the tightening of his hard muscles pressed against my back.  He was rough tonight, as if he was here to punish me for being a very naughty girl. *** Outcast and wolfless Amelia Hayes has been bullied her whole life. Before turning eighteen, she survives the fire, and her handsome alpha, Ryden Braxton rejects and banishes her. Two years later, she returns beautiful and strong, but she also brings threats to the pack. While Ryden wants to claim her, she’s also mystified by her constant sensual dreams of a stranger.  With werewolves dying in mysterious deaths, she has to entrust her secret with her mate— the power of fire within her that can cause more destruction than salvation. When her past which she has no memory of, pulls forward to her present, she becomes so drawn to a dangerous Alpha King Lucius with a primal instinct to claim her— the very same man in her dreams. After too many betrayals in his pack, Ryden has to work with his ruthless rival to protect his mate against their formidable foe.  Lucius has waited too long to reunite with Amelia but has to put his anger aside to get his revenge against the being who killed his wife and his entire pack twenty years ago. With Amelia still bound to her past and present, will she choose between the two alphas who equally love her, or choose the one that sacrifices a lot for her to live?

On my wedding day, my best friend, Beatrice Hopper, buys a lottery ticket from a convenience store and gives it to me as a wedding gift. I initially believe that she's joking, but when I see the unmistakable disdain in her eyes, I know something is off. "They say it's the thought that counts. This gift is precisely how I show that I care. Besides, I'm pregnant and need money for everything right now. I don't want you to feel bad about taking my money," she says. Honestly, I'm disappointed. But since it's my wedding, I can only stand there and watch as my best friend drags her entire family to the reception for free food and drinks. As expected, the wedding ends on a sour note. The two of us part ways unhappily. What I don't see coming, though, is winning 50 million dollars in the lottery that night. Elated, I tell my husband the news, and we head to the lottery office first thing in the morning to claim the prize. The news quickly spreads among our friends and family. But by the afternoon, Beatrice pounds on my door, demanding I return the lottery ticket. "I should've been the winner!" she screamed. "I was the one who bought it, so why should you take away my prize?" I keep backing away from her, panic flooding my entire body, so much so that I don't even notice she's holding a knife. The last thing I expect is for her to swing it at me in the middle of our struggle. By the time I realize what's happening, the blade is already buried in my husband's chest. I try to call the police, but Beatrice yanks me back. We grapple, stumble, and crash through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Eventually, we fall to our deaths in the courtyard below. The universe must've had mercy on me because when I open my eyes again, I'm back at the moment she hands me that lottery ticket. Here comes my second chance.

I died... and then I died again. “Vale,” I moaned, my voice fractured. He met my gaze, his heart racing. “Yes, baby.” I whimpered softly, my breath hitching as his name escaped my lips once more. “V–Vale–!” “You want to make a mess in your pants again, don’t you?” He asked, locking his gaze with my watery eyes as he pulled my face down to meet his by my throat. “Such a naughty vampire, you were so messy and sticky all over your thighs just earlier, and now you want to do it again,” he murmured hoarsely, watching as I cried out in response. Where had all that macho boldness disappeared? He wondered. Just moments ago, I was ready to drive him insane with my teasing, and now I was a mess, a puddle melting away in his hands, completely at his mercy. The power dynamic shifted, and he reveled in my surrender, eager to push me further into this wild desire. **** Talon/Virgil faces an agonizing cycle of deaths. In his first life, his love was crushed, and he was murdered—only for fate to repeat its cruel game in his next existence. How many more deaths must he suffer before he can find the happiness he's been relentlessly pursuing? Just when Talon believes he’s finally found peace, fate spins him back into chaos, casting him into a void once again. This time, he awakens from a coma to discover he's inhabiting the body of a stepbrother he never knew existed until, of course, he awakened in his body—a married man with a family. As Talon grapples with his new reality, he must balance the façade of being a devoted stepbrother, husband, and father while yearning for the one true love that has haunted him through the ages.