Mark Twain Library Long Beach Romane & Geschichten

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?

Kayla Stone has been married for two years, but somehow, she’s still a virgin. Her husband has never touched her. He humiliated her, controlled her, broke her; but just never took her body. So on one reckless night, desperate to feel truly wanted, a drunk Kayla surrenders her innocence to a stranger in a New York lounge. That stranger happens to be Gabriel Pearson. Her husband’s uncle. The same man who wrecked her heart eight years ago and disappeared to Italy. On the night the ruthless kingpin of the Italian mafia world returns to New York, he visits a lounge and runs into none other than his drunk niece in-law. Kayla Stone. The same woman he has deluded himself into thinking he has gotten over for the past eight years. That night, he makes an earth-shattering discovery when pushes inside her and meets the barrier her husband never claimed. His nephew’s wife was untouched, until him. How was that even possible? This night of passion which was supposed to be a mistake, steers something dark and possessive within Gabriel. Kayla wasn’t his to be claimed, but fuck the consequences.

“I know you want me in jail, but I want you in my bed.” Every man and woman Ángel meets disappears. Their severed finger arrives first, like a pretty little Christmas gift, wrapped in silk and presented in box filled with silent promises from his stalker. Castle, Mafia heir. Executioner. Obsessed beyond reason. He doesn’t send threats. He sends bodies. Because no one touches what belongs to him. No one tastes what he’s claimed. And if they try? They bleed for it. At sixteen, Ángel Di Cristina lost everything. His father—an FBI agent—was closing in on the Mafia when a brutal massacre left his parents dead. But that night, one masked man went rogue. He killed his own allies, marked Ángel with a scar, and disappeared. For years, Ángel hunted him. And now, he’s closer than ever. But Castle doesn’t play by rules. He never had. What he wanted, he got. He bends Ángel, fills his whole life with the thought of him. He whispers filthy things against his throat while pressing a knife to his pulse. Run? Hide? Fight? Useless. Because Castillo doesn’t just want to own Ángel. He wants to ruin him. And the worst part? Ángel is ready to let him.

The first of a twin is always created to protect and guide the second, but no one said anything about them giving up their identity to fulfill the destiny of their younger sibling. London Elrod had no ambition in life, unlike her sister, who had her head in the cloud. One incident and a thing of joy becomes a river of sorrow, and London takes on the identity of her sister. She now has to answer a name that wasn't hers and carry a cross she knew nothing about. There's a light at the end of the tunnel, but would she be able to survive till she gets there?

Sophia Miller spent her entire life surviving debts, humiliation, and the kind of poverty that forced people to sacrifice their dignity just to keep breathing. One wrong decision inside a luxury club changes everything when she accidentally walks into the private suite of Elija Hudson, the ruthless heir to one of the most powerful business empires in the country. Drugged and betrayed by the people around him, Elija loses control for one reckless night with a woman whose name he never learns. By morning, Sophia overhears the terrifying truth about the kind of man he really is: powerful enough to silence anyone who becomes a problem. Fearing for her life, Sophia disappears without a trace. But months later, fate drags her back into the same city she tried to escape—straight into the company now ruled by Elija himself. This time, he notices her. The quiet employee who refuses to be intimidated. The woman who keeps avoiding his gaze despite the strange familiarity he cannot explain. What Elija doesn’t know is that Sophia is carrying his child. And the deeper he pulls her into his world of power, revenge, and dangerous family secrets, the harder it becomes for Sophia to protect the truth that could destroy them both. Because in Elija Hudson’s world, love is weakness, trust is dangerous, and walking away is never that simple.

Elena Rivers was supposed to marry her fated mate. Instead, on their wedding day, Lucan Woods rejected her before all fifteen packs of Roseville and marked her best friend in her place. Humiliated and broken, Elena swears revenge. But while hunting the truth behind Lucan’s betrayal, she meets Nicholas Hale—a dangerous stranger with scars, secrets, and eyes that make her wolf go still. Nicholas knows exactly who Elena is. And he knows something she doesn’t. Lucan was never her mate. What Elena believed was fate… was a lie created with forbidden magic. Now trapped between revenge, war, and a bond she never saw coming, Elena must decide what matters more: destroying the man who ruined her… or trusting the one who could ruin her even worse.

For three years, I played the role of a dutiful wife to my husband, Williams, until I found out I was just a mere substitute for his first love— the woman he truly loved.  When she returned, he threw divorce papers at me as if I meant nothing.  And when I refused to sign them, I was forced to donate my blood to his precious mistress, causing me to lose a child I never even knew I was carrying. Shattered and broken, I walked away with one purpose— avenging the death of my unborn child.  He realised his mistake, but it was too late. I was no longer his substitute, but a future he'll never touch.  “You were right, Williams. I was a substitute you never deserved.” 

The night before our Mating Ceremony, my fated mate, Alpha Ryker of the Howling Moon Pack, ordered me to give him the Moon Soul Crystal—the very thing that protected my pack, the Willow Creek Pack. He said he needed it to power up the Howling Moon Pack's Blood Moon Altar. He also promised he'd keep me and my people safe. But he didn't know that we, the healers of the Willow Creek Pack, can only create one Moon Soul Crystal in our entire lives. Making one takes a crazy amount of moon energy. It's the treasure that keeps our pack alive. My mother, worried about me using up my moon energy while I was pregnant, gave up her own Moon Soul Crystal instead. But just three months after Ryker and I were mated, she got sick, fast. She was dying. I knelt in front of Ryker, crying, begging him for the Silverleaf Herb from the Howling Moon's forbidden grounds. It was the only thing that could save my mom. But he just looked at me, his eyes full of disappointment, and kicked me away. "I asked for the Moon Soul Crystal to test you," he snarled. "And just as I thought, you married me for our pack's treasures! Your mother's not sick. You're making it all up!" "You don't deserve to be the Luna of the Howling Moon Pack!" It wasn't until after my mother died, when he was arguing with me, trying to kick me out of the pack, that my mother's things fell and scattered everywhere. Her Soul Stone, the symbol of a wolf's spirit, shattered. That's when he finally realized he was wrong. He fell to his knees, begging me not to leave, crying for me to forgive him.

Sushmita Erin Garcellano just turned twenty-eight years old. She is the youngest daughter of Antonio Garcellano, the owner of Garcellano Group of Companies but she has the biggest secret ever- she's not a virgin anymore after a hot encounter with a handsome stranger in El Nido Palawan ten years ago. In order to save their company from bankruptcy, her father set her up with a business tycoon named Rodney Xiu, the second son of the Xiu Group of Companies. They said that this bachelor has a devil inside of him that makes people leave him and turn their backs on him because of his ugly appearance and an arrogant attitude. A total monster to everyone. Will Sushmita handle it if the one who secretly marked her ten years ago in El Nido on her eighteenth birthday is the one whom she's fated to be with?

She was never meant to survive their world. Now she’s the only one who can burn it down. Lyra thought she was just a girl with strange dreams and a birthmark that shimmered beneath moonlight. But when a celestial event rips her from Earth and drops her into the brutal halls of the Academy of the Ascendant, she discovers a deadly truth: she’s the lost heir of a realm that erased her bloodline—and she’s carrying the forbidden magic that could unravel it all. The Academy is ruled by power and hierarchy. The weak are crushed. The strong ascend. And the Triad—three elite heirs born of elemental fire, storm, and air—will do anything to break her. Until they realize she’s more powerful than all of them. Mocked. Hunted. Desired. As Lyra unlocks the four elemental affinities no student should possess, she becomes the center of a prophecy that the Council has killed to keep buried. But it’s the fifth element—the forbidden Void—that marks her for something more. Survival means mastering her magic. Love could cost her everything. And rebellion might just start with a kiss. Perfect for fans of Zodiac Academy, Throne of Glass, and The Cruel Prince, Marked by Starlight is the explosive first book in a dark fantasy romance series filled with elemental magic, enemies-to-lovers heat, and a heroine who refuses to bow.