Inquisitor Cod Skin

To my parents, I was their obedient and kind daughter. To my students, I was their gentle and understanding piano teacher. To my audience, I was the star performer at the cabaret. Of all these different identities, my favorite was by far the last. I enjoyed the hungry gazes that fell on me, searing my skin like flames. I enjoyed the juxtaposition between my different identities, never tired of playing different roles. In a sense, I was born to act, and I was passionately devoted to each of my identities. So, won't you come watch me dance?

A can change everything. One with your best friend, and it changes the whole dynamic. What will you do when you get to know that your best friend has been in love with you? What will you do when she doesn't want to be friends anymore and wants more instead? * “Everytime I see you with a guy, my skin burns” Millie hisses, pinning me with an intense look that makes my belly flip. I am pinned to the wall with her caging me. “Do you know how hard it is to pretend that you are only my friend, and nothing more? That I love you but cannot have you?” Her words spin inside my head, and the thundering beating of my heart echoes in my ear. How do we come to this situation? I pant as she leans closer, her eyes averting to my parted lips. I am having thoughts of her. Hell, I see her in my dreams so often now that I am not sure what she means to me now. Millie caresses my cheeks and a shiver runs down my spine. “I can't pretend anymore, Grace. It's getting really hard” she whispers in my ear and I squirm. When she meets my eyes, I say something that surprises her. “Then don't.” I crash my lips on hers, crossing whatever lines we had.

I jolt awake to splash of ice cold water making contact with my warm skin and ripping me from my dreams. Looking up I see my perpetrator and best friend Bailey giggling, and holding a now half-emptied bucket. “Wake up loser! Last day on the beach and you choose to sleep?” I roll my eyes in annoyance at her bubbly enthusiasm. “Alright I’ll get in for a bit but I’m not going to stay long,” I state with a huff. We each grab a floatie and make our way waist deep before hopping on and linking arms to keep from drifting apart. “Are you excited to be heading back tomorrow? I know I am!” Bailey quipped. Honestly I’d been avoiding that thought the whole trip. Returning to our pack was the last thing I wanted to think about. This week at the beach had been the calm environment I desperately needed after senior year. Returning would mean I would have to finally confront the drama that has become my life the last three months. All through high school I kept my head down, focusing on my team and training. Despite keeping to myself there was always one person stirring sh*t up, my ex, Austin. His father, the Alpha to our pack, gave his life in one of the pack battles last year. Leaving his Luna to raise Austin and his sister on her own. Austin would now be eligible for the Alpha title which worried me. Up until we left he had shown blatant disrespect to my father, Beta to our pack. Not to mention he still had his eyes and ears on me. Returning was the last thing I had on my mind, knowing sh*t is about to hit the fan.

Kathleen Murphy is on the verge of career breakthrough, having secured a prestigious project that promises to catapult her to the top of the corporate ladder. The catch? She has to work with her billionaire ex-boyfriend, Levi Grey—the man who vanished from her life five years ago without a trace. Their first reunion is anything but warm, with tension Levi’s charm and infuriating arrogance get under Kat’s skin, sparking constant clashes. And to make it even worse, he proposes a contract to have them live together till the contract ends. When the project takes a dangerous turn, with a potential scandal threatening to drag them both into legal trouble, Levi decides to make a dangerous move - pretend to truly be in a relationship or they go to jail. With everything on the line—her career, freedom, and maybe, a chance at love—Kat must make a choice whether to risk it all or take the fall.

“Compared to you, I’m too heavy,” she says softly. I scoff, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her down onto my lap. Her breath hitches, and I lean in close, my lips grazing her ear. “I bench twice your weight at the gym,” I murmur, watching the shiver ripple through her body, her skin blooming with goosebumps under my touch. “Next time I tell you to sit, you’ll do it without hesitation. And you’ll sit exactly where I want—on my fking cck.” ** I’ve always been known as many things—the cursed Alpha Prince, Shadow Pelt High’s hockey captain, the playboy who can’t keep a girl. Life is simple, and easy… until her. Ginger Orbblood. One night—just one fing night, changes everything. She’s my best friend’s girlfriend, but she’s also my mate. Our mate. Born during an eclipse, Caspian and I are tied to her by the curse of the eclipse, but she can only have one of us. It is quite a relief because I am not good at sharing. I always get what I want, and I’ve never wanted anything like I want her. I sure as hell can’t let her go, so I do not care if it ruins anything or anyone. I’ll burn the whole damn world down if I have to—just to have her.

"Master, do you miss this apprentice?" Lips painted in bright red ticked up in a sharp smile. Her eyes were a pool of dark red, like a swirl of the finest wine. One jaded hand in his throat, nails slightly digging in the skin there, the other was on his cheek carefully caressing. The clashing of both gestures were confusing, but Rion's mind only provided one instinctual response; to run away as far as possible. ----- Rion Ren, one of the strongest sword masters in the world, had to make a difficult decision to hand over his apprentice, Ruby, to the Demon Master when Ruby's real identity as a descendant of Demon Sovereign was revealed. Three years later, Ruby who had successfully taken the reign of the Demon Realm, came back to take revenge on her master that had betrayed and abandoned her in the hand of cruel demons. Rion swore on his life as a sword master, he only wanted to protect those who were precious to him, but how did it manage to turn the whole world into chaos? How would Rion face his own apprentice in a battle between life and death?!

The last time I argued with my husband, he slammed the door on me and left. I was so upset that I died from a heart attack. Meanwhile, he took his lover and her son traveling to take his mind off things. The entire time, our daughter, who was just a child, was abandoned at home for seven days with my corpse. At last, when Eliott remembered me and my daughter, he returned home to see my corpse. Having fallen sick, my daughter was all skin and bones. When Eliott realized his mistake, he hugged our daughter tightly and broke down crying in front of my grave. My daughter pulled away from him and hid behind my gravestone. She hissed sharply at him, “Who do you think you are? Don't disturb Mommy’s rest!”

In the year 2268, Raven, a highly sexual Vampire-Siren Queen rules alongside King Niklaus, a Mayan Vampire, with her harem of mates, which includes King Abatrose a marine species with gills, Prince David of Atlantis, King Kieran a Mayan vampire, and, Commander Rage. a dragon shifter. All fierce protectors with a strong sexual desire for their Queen. Their kingdom: Atlantis, She revived Atlantis and its surviving inhabitants from its 12,267-year slumber, where she now reigns as Queen with 'Neptune' their Al companion. 'The Order' a sinister organization, kidnaps her children. Raven unleashes her massive Beast, triggering her mates to also shift following her into their beast forms and take flight, in a fierce rescue mission, leaving a path of destruction behind them. They reclaim their children and return to their island home, where they celebrate.. With hard pounding of the drums and their well-oiled, half naked, firm bodies, their long hair flowing, her mates dance. Raven joins them her hips swirling seductively. The drumbeats intensified, as her mates danced closer to her, their fire torches twirling in the air. Their provocative dance moves are lustful and demanding, they dance surrounding her, beckoning her to mate with them. Their sultry desire are strong. She bathes in their heat, as they close in, their fangs half-bared. Their hands touching her skin, caressing her with their fingers, burning with primal need and raw power in their Mayan Vampiric mating dance. Admiral Jenkins, requests help against an alien threat. But first, Raven must take Atlantis to Xanthea, for much-needed upgrades where she meets Commander Rage, a dragon shifter, and her new mate. "Raven allies with the Ky'Rennei Collective on the dark side of the moon, and their leader Ambassador Aethon, an ascended species, joins her harem. As they stand ready to defend Earth.

My breath hitched in my throat as he held me closer. His mouth dangerously close to my ear, his hot breath fanning against my skin, as he started to whisper. “You're a siren, Ember. Luring me into the flames. And it just so happens that I'm ready to get consumed.” ____ Ember Flynn thought she'd left her past behind, after her world was shattered with betrayal and tragedy, she rebuilt her life in Florida with her young son. But when she runs into Maverick Nightshade, the enigmatic stranger from her darkest night - Ember's carefully constructed walls start to crumble. As their passion reignites, she's forced to confront the lies and secrets that have haunted her for so long. Can she trust Maverick, or will their love be destroyed by the very secrets that bind them? And when the full moon rises again, will her destiny be sealed or will love set her free?

We all know a Viola, we've all met a Viola, we might even be one. Viola is a woman in her early twenties with absolutely no reason to keep living. She wants to die, so she tries to, sadly for her, she doesn't. Now, she is standing in the ashes of who she used to be with no idea who she should be. Viola will break your heart, but only the best stories do. She is consumed by a loss that is as deep as the ocean, pain that knows no bound, extreme anxiety and chronic paranoia, trauma that is skin deep, sadness that always return, depression that never leaves and how agonizing a friendship-breakup can be. This is a book about Love, the love that lives between you, love that is hard to find, harder to understand, the love we were born with, waiting patiently between our ribcages, waiting to be recognized, to be seen, the love we should have for ourselves, the love that does not fade.