Karlach Zethino Answers

At the engagement party, the champagne tower is only half-built when Marcus Harrison answers a phone call. He glances at me and says, "I have to go. Lily collapsed at the airport." I say, "If you leave, we're done." He leaves anyway, in front of 200 guests. He carries Lily Bardot in his arms, wearing the coat I gave him, as he drives away in my car. The next day, he sends me an email that reads, "Lily will be moving into my apartment. She needs me, and I hope you can understand. Once Lily gets better, we'll get married. Please trust me." I stare at the screen and suddenly laugh. So what he wants isn't someone who loves him. It's someone who needs him. And I'm too independent, so I don't make the cut. That evening, I scroll through my contacts and find a number I've never given a second glance to. It belongs to someone who's been waiting for me for 23 years. I dial it. "Tomorrow night, 7:00 pm. Meet me at the restaurant by the sea."

Finding love is supposed to be easy. You turn twenty-one and you scent your mate and the rest falls into place. Well, for most people. But not for me. No, I was rejected the second we discovered we were mates. Now five years later I have moved on and here he is once more. Not to claim me and make me his, nope. Maverick is here to take me to be courted by his boss, the Alpha of Alpha’s. The worst part? Maverick has only gotten more attractive over the years and his eyes are saying a hell of a lot more than his sealed lips. Lips I fully intend to get answers from. Two words: Tatum Rhodes. My best friend's little sister, my ex mate. The very last person I want to be picking up to deliver to my Alpha as his potential chosen mate. Rumor is second chance mates aren’t a thing, I can believe that. But they also say once the mate bond is broken so is the attraction. And that I can confirm with certainty is bullshit, because I feel like I just found the fucking sun after five years of living in a dungeon.

•The story traces the transformation of a young woman as her otherwise ordinary life was rudely interrupted by one tragic event after another. She then used her sexual prowess, her innate ability to be one step ahead of her erstwhile adversaries in and out of the ob-lo, or the jailhouse where she was incarcerated, and her cunning to turn things around by unexpectedly aligning herself with her enemies and disposing of her seemingly most trusted friends and acquaintances. In other words, from an ordinary life, Nina transformed into a femme fatale. The story is also a steamy prison novel full of the unexpected romance and the exciting thrill of escaping the ob-lo and finally getting the much-sought justice served - before the deadline for innocence finally expires. Nina’s story also reveals the deep cracks in the judicial system of the country. But who are Nina’s real enemies and true friends? How could she prove her innocence to a crime she did not commit at all? The answers to these intriguing questions would somehow only be revealed in the final chapter of this story. In the end, a twist of fate led Nina’s luck to smile at her, but with the most dangerous of consequences; and no longer as a mere femme fatale, but the biggest drug lord this side of the world would now have to contend with.

Rejected. Burned. Forgotten and left to die. Serena was nothing more than an omega in the shadows—until disaster befell their pack and kills her mother. They saw her as cursed and reduced her to a slave. The first daughter of the Alpha king. Her mated Alpha whom she loved so much, rejected her publicly and chose her sister as his Luna. Her father ordered her execution by death in the fire. They thought the flames would consume her. But the fire doesn’t kill a phoenix. It awakens her. Now, Serena has returned—reborn with powers no pack has ever seen, cloaked in mystery, chosen by the moon goddess and bound to a darkness that answers only to her. She’s not back for love. She’s back for vengeance, revenge. But when fate ties her to the Lycan prince with secrets of his own, she is armed with power and authority. She could choose to go solo and destroy everything in her path as she returns to Bluemoon Pack for revenge or she could give herself to this new found burning desire that could destroy her. Serena is here to stay and no mated Alpha can take what rightfully belongs to her. Not when the moon goddess has not ordained it.

William Kelly, a former Combat Marine, and a Corporal at the six-three precinct of the Heights Police has his world turned upside down when he answers a radio call of a multiple homicide at the East Coast Green Herbal Shop. The "Heights," well known for its persecution and execution of witches for almost four centuries is the backdrop of the wickedness he is about to encounter. A legacy in the Heights Police, his family has served in the precinct from its inception just after the Civil War. His bloodline's haunting history is soon revealed as he combats an evil that he doesn't believe in nor comprehend. He finds that a witch's coven is secretly operating out of a storefront in town. This coven, lead by Casper Crowningshield, are perpetrating rival gangs to war so that they can take over the drug trade. Kelly's hard nose Marine Corps approach and a quest for justice, leads him into a world of death, retribution, vengeance, and great pain. Warned by his fiancé and his best friend, Kelly ignores them and pushes on for the truth. Putting his job on the line, Kelly leaps in to solve a four-hundred-year-old mystery of a missing witch, a coven's witches bottle, and a story of wickedness that has plagued the town forever.

My mother-in-law lives alone. One day, her house suddenly catches on fire. It's a life-threatening situation. I call my firefighter husband several times before he answers impatiently. "I don't care why you're calling—can't it wait? I'm fixing Sophie's pipes!" I tell him about his mother being trapped in a fire, but he merely sneers. "How dare you curse my mother just to make me go home? You're insane!" He hangs up without another word. I'm left helpless. All I can do is wait for his colleagues to arrive, but they only come half an hour later. Their expressions shift to horror when they see the blazing fire. "Didn't Captain Scott say his wife was lying?" My mother-in-law dies due to the delay. My husband even misses the funeral because of his first love. I give up on him and ask for a divorce. However, he rips the divorce agreement to shreds and shatters the urn that contains his mother's ashes. "Drop the act—I would definitely go through with the divorce if not for my mother!" I laugh. He doesn't even know his mother is already dead.

Rejected. Burned. Left for dead. Thalia was nothing more than an omega in the shadows—until Catastrophy strikes their park and kills her mother. They label her as cursed and reduce her to a slave. The first daughter of the Alpha king. Her mated Alpha whom she loved publicly rejected her and chose her sister as his Luna. Her father ordered Thalia’s execution by death in the flames. They thought the fire would consume her. But the fire doesn’t kill a phoenix. It awakens her. Now, Thalia has returned—reborn with power no pack has ever seen, cloaked in mystery, chosen by the moon goddess and bound to a darkness that answers only to her. She’s not back for love. She’s back for vengeance, revenge. But when fate ties her to the Lycan prince with secrets of his own, she is armed with power and authority. She could choose to go solo and destroy everything in her path as she returns to Greenwood Park for revenge or she could give herself to this new found burning desire that could destroy her. Thalia is here to stay and no mated Alpha can take what rightfully belongs to her. Not when the moon goddess has not ordained it.

She runs into a man's private room as she's being chased down by someone, and she becomes his cure. After a night of passion, she stabs the man in the chest without hesitation before fleeing. Unexpectedly, the man becomes addicted to her and chases her all the way to Jipsfort. He pulls all sorts of tricks to lure her into his trap of lust. "What is it about me that attracts you so, Xavier?" Quinn Jowell asks. Xavier Patterson answers, "Your beautiful eyes, dainty nose, slender waist, and the way you look underneath me…" "You just want to get into my pants. Let's break up." He pulls her into his arms and seals her lips with his. "Over my dead body. Don't even dream about breaking up with me in your next lifetime, let alone this one." Everyone says that Xavier, the heir of the Patterson family, isn't interested in women. Quinn, whose legs are trembling, looks at Xavier while he lies in bed, looking sated. She can't help but think everyone is blind. Xavier is nothing but a monster who can never get his fill of her!

"My plan was reckless but simple: find a pure-blooded werewolf, seduce him, and let him mark me. TONIGHT." Flora Graham is cursed—a hybrid without a wolf, doomed to die before her eighteenth birthday unless she’s marked. For five years, she believed her boyfriend, Donovan, would be the one to save her. But on their anniversary, he shattered her heart, choosing his fated mate over her. With time slipping away, Flora makes a desperate choice. One night. One stranger. One bite to break the curse for good. But the werewolf she seduces isn’t just anyone—he’s Alaric Blackwood, the powerful Alpha of Moonvalley Pack. When he marks her, the curse vanishes… only to return three days later, stronger than before. The Moon Goddess has punished her, but for what? Now, with her life hanging by a thread, Flora must uncover the dark truth behind her curse before it’s too late. But as she searches for answers, Alaric refuses to let her go. Why does he act like she’s his? And what if the one destined to save her… is the one she’s trying to escape?

A natural born female Alpha is unheard of in the werewolf world. It's always the first born male that's the Alpha. However, at least one exists. Faelyn was sold to another pack at the age of eight under a false name and rank after being ripped away from her parents and brother who disappeared without a trace. She spent ten years being mistreated and abused in the Red Moon pack as Alyce Lilly, Omega to the Pack Manor. She also spent ten years plotting revenge on the man responsible for taking everything away from her, including her pack and her family. She has plans to leave Red Moon and seems the stars are aligning for her do so successfully. Fate, however, has other plans for her when she discovers her mate and rejects him without hesitation. With her best friend by her side she presses forward with her plans, only for another to throw her off again. Will she succeed in getting back her rightful pack while keeping her secrets safe until she does? Will she find the answers she seeks, the family she secretly yearns for? *I will be posting this on RoyalRoad.com*