Metal Slug Soldiers

They say Alpha Kael Vorthrane is not a man. He is a curse. A beast born from betrayal. A ruler who destroyed entire packs to build his throne. And now… he owns mine. I am Liora Ashwyn. Daughter of the Dark Moon Alpha. The girl my own parents handed over like a peace offering when Alpha Kael came for revenge. I watched him slaughter my pack. I watched my parents choose me to save themselves. And I watched his soldiers drag me away to be his “gift.” But when Alpha Kael finally looked at me… He didn’t see a slave. He saw the daughter of the people who ruined his life. And he decided I would pay for their sins. Kael doesn’t just want my body. He wants my fear. My pride. My spirit. He wants to break me slowly. Because his wolf is insatiable. Cruel. Hungry for revenge. And I am the perfect victim. But Alpha Kael doesn’t know one thing… I am not as weak as I look. And the girl he plans to destroy might be the only one capable of destroying him. Or worse… Becoming the one thing his wolf never expected. His perfect mate.

“You really think a chrome leash makes me yours?” Timothy’s voice was a jagged shard of glass, his pulse thrumming frantically against the cold metal of the Blackwell collar. Kan leaned in, the scent of expensive bourbon and gunpowder clinging to him. He captured Timothy’s chin, forcing those defiant lavender eyes to meet his own. “It doesn’t make you mine, little ghost. It just keeps you still long enough for me to show you why you’ll never want to leave.” Behind him, Gideon’s shadow fell over them both, heavy and suffocating. “Careful, Kan,” the enforcer rumbled, his knuckles still stained with the blood of the men who’d tried to stop them. “He’s a reaper. He doesn't want a home. He wants a body count.” One Ghost. Two Predators. No Escape. Timothy Gal is a shadow. A high-level operative for the Nash Rebellion, he’s spent his life as a nameless tool in the war-torn Sopttyi District. He doesn’t feel, he doesn’t miss, and he certainly doesn't belong to anyone. But when a routine surveillance mission in Saati Town goes south, he catches the eye of the two most dangerous men in the Blackwell Mafia. Gideon Blackwell is the muscle—a man of controlled violence and territorial hunger. Kan Nelblack is the mind—a predator with a silver tongue and a taste for absolute submission. They don’t just want Timothy’s secrets. They want his soul.

Adam lifted her high into the air. “Hold onto the bar, baby.” Startled, she reached up and grasped the metal, her back against the wall. He stepped right under her, wrapped her legs around his neck and shoulders. His hands gripped her rounded ass and pulled her pussy right up against his mouth. She gasped and arched her back. Adam felt her incredible need. “I’m not going to make you wait, sweetheart.” “Please,” she whispered. “Please.” **** When Katie Lloyd learns her stepfather is dying, she’ll do anything to reach him. Stranded by bad weather and no transportation, she’s forced to accept help from the last man she wants to be trapped with: Adam Pierce. Big, brutal, arrogant... and the one person she’s argued with nonstop since the day they met. A five-day road trip with him sounds like hell. But Katie is out of options. Adam respects Katie’s talent as a photographer, even if her stubbornness drives him insane. Then an accident exposes the truth about her past... and everything changes. Adam shifts from adversary to protector, determined to get Katie home and face the man who destroyed her childhood. Along endless highways and dangerous truths, attraction ignites where anger once lived. And when the journey ends, Adam wants more than her survival – he wants to help her rebuild. In his arms, and in his bed, if she’ll let him.

My husband and my best friend had seemingly vanished during my grandfather-in-law's funeral. As I searched for them, I passed Shawn Whitaker's coffin and suddenly saw a live chat window flash into view: [Oh goodie, we're finally dealing with a male lead with a 200 IQ! He dragged Best Girl straight into the coffin before that bitch could find out!] [Aww, he's comforting Best Girl because she's scared of the dark! Aaaaahhhhh!] [That annoying extra is still outside looking for Vincent. She's so dumb, oh my god. I'm right here cheering for Best Boy to cheat with Best Girl because I swear that bitch exists just to get in their way!] Fury surged through me. I moved to flip the coffin lid open, but Jasmine grabbed my arm. "Wait! He can't possibly be in there. I think he went to buy Grandpa coffin nails." [Get yourself a little sister who helps you find happiness like Jazzy, chat.] [And now, in the warm, cramped, humid darkness, two bodies collide and sparks fly. This is metal as hell.] [It's also dangerous as hell. I'm just glad our guy was smart enough to leave a crack for air.] I smirked. Oh, was he? I slammed the lid shut, dragged a nearby lounge chair over, and settled into it. "We've got an hour before the funeral begins, don't we? I think I'll keep Grandpa company." The audience was stunned. [An hour?! They're going to die in there!]

New SYNOPSIS – QUEENS AND MONSTERS – Mafia/cartel, arranged marriage, forbidden, love triangle, dangerous romance Reinaldo Roríguez Emiliano Ruiz Both are dangerous, deadly, and powerful. Both are second-generation soldiers proving themselves in the Roríguez cartel. Both want me. Of course, I wasn’t told until it was too late. That’s the way things work in the famiglia. My fate is up to Dario Luciano, my guardian. He doesn’t care the way the men make me feel. How when I’m near them, the air crackles and my skin warms with stinging electricity, stirring something deep inside me that never before existed. One fills me with desire, twisting my insides. The other recognizes my need to be loved, filling me with a comfortable warmth. By the time I learn that both have requested my hand, a deal has been brokered. Neither man from the Roríguez cartel will have me. I’ve been promised to another, the son of Dario’s sworn enemy. Will I have any say in my future? What will happen to the alliance between the Luciano famiglia and the Roríguez cartel when tragedy strikes? Have you been Aleatha’d?

My friend, George, and I are both knocked unconscious by a basketball. When I wake up, I suddenly hear my late mother's voice. "Tam, don’t let George fool you again. He loves pretending to have amnesia just to toy with you and please Ariana Rogers." I freeze and look at George, who has just woken up. I hear him ask, "Who are you?" My mom goes on, "In your past life, he ruined you. You gave him a good life and everything you have, but he killed you just to be with Ariana. "Listen, your dad is about to ask you to choose a boy to be your brother. Don't pick George. Choose the boy from the Muller family. Even though he never smiles or gives you the time of day. He quietly carries your bottle for you during training every time." Before I can process it, my dad walks toward me and holds out several photos of boys. He says, "Tam, they are all children of soldiers who sacrificed for our country. I plan to adopt one to be your brother. You choose. From now on, we will be a family." This time, I do not hesitate. I point straight at Clyde Muller. "I'll listen to Mom and choose him."

At my father's wake, my wife came in carrying her son. The boy was less than two years old. He was not mine. In front of me, in front of every person there to mourn my father, she opened the urn and held the boy over it. I screamed and lunged for the urn. The Vance security team was on me before I cleared the aisle. They held me on the floor. My father's ashes, mixed with the boy's urine, smeared across my face and into my mouth. I could not stop crying. Stella Vance straightened her skirt. "Zane has been crying every night. Our adviser said the ash of an honored elder will calm a child like that. Good for his health." The taste of metal came up the back of my throat. Before I could move, she was already at the door. "Have his ashes dried out by morning. Zane will need it again tomorrow night." By the time I came back to myself, she was gone. I held the rage in. I sent her one message. "You think you're going to do this to my father. You're insane. The divorce papers are coming." After that, every message I sent was blocked. I turned to the woman next to me, the woman who had stood beside me my whole life. And I said, "I will sign the company over to you. Help me bury Vance Group." Cassia Wynn looked at me a long time. "I don't want the company. I want you." I went still. Then I said, "Yes."

Three days before the wedding, I was cleaning out some old boxes when I remembered the time capsule Natasha Rowe and I buried ten years ago. When I mentioned it, her face stiffened for a moment. She quickly tried to talk me out of going. "It's been so long," she said. "Someone probably dug it up already." I didn't think much of it and went back to our old high school alone. At the spot where we buried it, I started digging. Instead of one box, I pulled out five metal containers of different sizes. Two of them were the ones Natasha and I buried ten years ago, their surfaces rusted and worn. But there were three others. One of them was just as rusted as ours. The other two looked almost brand new. The old extra box had a name scratched into the lid. Vince Houle. On it were the words, [My secret crush was a war I fought alone. Natasha, I hope you're happy.] I remembered him then. He had been a quiet guy who sat behind us in class. The kind of student no one really noticed. The two newer boxes had names carved into them, too. Natasha and Vince. The date etched into both of them was today. On Natasha's box were the words, [The greatest regret of my life is that I couldn't marry you.] On Vince's box were the words, [The greatest regret of my life is that I can't openly congratulate you on getting married.]

When Selovia's soldiers seized me, I sent Leon ninety-nine letters, each one begging for rescue. He tore them apart. "I sent Aya back to her duchy after she struck Mira—but I gave her my finest escort. Selovia could not have touched her." A sharp breath. "I allowed Mira the ceremonial gown, nothing more. And now Aya makes a spectacle to win back my favor. It shames her." He paced once, restless. "Mira's brother died protecting me. He was my Captain of the Royal Guard. I swore to guard her in his place. Tell Aya this—no matter how she rages, I will not cast Mira aside. If she keeps making a spectacle, I will delay the wedding." Three days later, he rode into Valecrest with the marriage contract in hand, ready to wed me. That same hour, Selovia's envoys delivered an ornate gift box. Leon glanced at it and exhaled. "So the dowry is prepared. All this noise was Aya stirring unrest." The lid opened. Inside— My head. From the tower, mourning bells began to toll. Slow. Heavy. Final. The chapel doors parted. The officiant stepped out, robes dark, face set in solemn lines. "Her Grace, Aya Valecrest, Duchess of Valecrest, has been returned to us. The burial rites begin at once."

Victor and I were nothing more than a pair of sworn enemies married inside the camp. He hated me for handing over my frail sister to the research institute, all so they could extract the antiviral serum from her blood. And I hated him for never seeing anyone but her, even in the apocalypse, when she could barely lift a metal rod. For the ten years of the apocalypse, the words we said to each other most often were, "Die a miserable death." … However, when the zombie horde finally broke through the last line of defense, he chained me to the modified mech truck and went out alone to face it. "Live…" I watched as the tide of corpses swallowed him whole, the crack of breaking bones mixing with the sound of flesh being torn apart. On the edge of death, he pulled out my sister's faded photo and placed it over the one clean spot on his chest. "This life is yours. But if there's a next one, don't go near her again." … That night, when I returned, I blew up the camp. When I opened my eyes again, I went to the zombie king. His razor-sharp claws closed around my throat, and I smiled as I took hold of his hand. "Let's make a deal. Give humans five more years, and I'll willingly be your queen." Last time, he gave his life to save me. This time, I'll be the monster—so they can all get what they want.