Remembering

Liana Elizabeth Rose of the prestigious Rose family woke gasping—remembering everything. At first, she thought it was a dream. Or a hallucination. Maybe heaven, maybe hell, or wherever people go when life has been cruel enough to steal their breath. But the room was the same. The curtains were the same. The smooth, unscarred skin she touched was the same. As if the last five years of betrayal and humiliation had never etched themselves into her. Then the panic hit. She remembered. Every. Single. Thing. The cold metal of prison bars. Her husband Adrian’s dead, beautiful eyes accusing her of the accident. The trial. The cousin who framed her. The family who abandoned her. The little brother who no longer remembered her voice. Her death. And the cruelest truth: she wasn’t even from this world. It was a book a stupid novel her roommate had recommended. She died inside a story she didn’t write. And now, she woke up at the moment everything began to crumble. Fine. Sharpen her mind. Feed her ambition. And when the plot tried to drag her back, she’d pull harder. Then there was him—Adrian. From his point of view, the world shifted. Her scent. Her voice. Her existence. Everything about her crawled under his skin, sank into his bloodstream, coiled around his bones. He didn’t understand it. He didn’t want to. He only knew: if she breathed, he wanted it. If she moved, he followed. Obsession wasn’t a symptom—it was his nature. And Liana? She had rewritten herself into the one thing he could never let go of. This time, she wasn’t the victim. She wasn’t a plot device. She was the storm. And Adrian? Learning, too late, that even possession has a price.

"I’ll make you beg and cry out my name, Father Hale. You won’t even be able to face the altar without remembering how you came apart on my tongue." Vincente terrifying voice admitted curling around the crucifix at my throat as his rough, unforgiving fingers, pinned my wrists above my head. His thigh shoved between mine, spreading me open, and the heavy press of his cock ground against the thin barrier of my underclothes. Mine answered before I could stop it, swelling shamefully through the thin clothes that clung like a second, traitorous skin. "Feel that?" he whispered, rolling slow, merciless circles that tore a broken sound from my throat. "That’s your body confessing louder than any prayer." I tried to twist away, but the movement only dragged my hips harder against him. "Please," I gasped, the word cracking open like a wound. "Vicente —God—" "God’s not here," he growled, his teeth grazing the shell of my ear. "Only me, you don't call God when you are about to sin." His hands slipped under me working on me. I bit my lip until I tasted blood, but the moan slipped out anyway, raw and ragged. "Say it. Say you want me," he demanded, his thumb circling the slick head until my vision blurred. "Beg me to stop. Or beg me not to." A sob tore free as my body arched, chasing the pleasure I hated myself for craving. "Please...Vicente—" He swallowed the broken plea with his mouth, teeth and tongue, sucking the faint copper of my own blood. When he pulled back, his eyes glittered like black glass. "Oh." He smiled, "You mean I can continue?" And my last hope to get him stop chattered.

Sometimes, all I can do is lie in bed and hope to drift away to sleep before I fall apart. I can't seem to get you off my mind. Your love was the only real thing in my small world. Losing you was the worst thing that could happen to me. I've gotten used to it but I still wake up to full consciousness each day remembering what we had. This heartbreak and any other disappointment is just part of life. I thought I had found my soulmate, but it turns out you were just another lesson. Right now, I can't face the world. I thought I had the most fantastic plot, but I was wrong. I have come to terms with what happened between us, but I need some more time to move on past us completely. You have hurt me in ways I never expected or deserved. Thanks to you, I have understood the importance of self-love and self-growth. I have become a better person and a better friend. I know I will find true love once again. I feel shattered and broken because the only time I gave love a chance, I ended up feeling heartbroken. I'm scared and sad because I don't think I'll ever recover from this pain. I'm hoping to move on and try new things. I just really can't be with you or can't be without and I don't think I'll ever love anything else the way I love you. I'm heartbroken! It's surprising how the pain of living without someone can make you feel like you've lost everything that means happiness to you in this world, that's how I feel right now that I'm heartbroken.

"Don't hurt her!" Liliana screams, throwing herself over me ready to give up everything to protect me the same as I will do for her. I whimper at the taste of blood in my mouth making me feel sick knowing the source and what it likely means. "She didn't mean it, I promise she didn't," Liliana cries while looking up at the wolf not afraid for herself, but me, then I catch a glimpse of why. I whimper when my eyes find Benji on the ground with his throat ripped apart making me tear my eyes away to look up at the large familiar wolf. "Raven?" His link connects to mine and my eyes widen not sure why I can hear him knowing I should only be able to hear my pack members. "Beta Embry?" I cry recognizing his voice, looking around I try to figure out what happened as wolves began to show up growling in anger as a few howl. "What did I do? What happened? What did I do?" I almost scream while looking at my hands remembering what it felt like to hurt Benji, feeling his flesh between my teeth and his blood running down my throat.Raven born by a blood moon and Liliana her identical twin born by a hunter's moon. Raven's life feels like a waking dream as she struggles through shifting at an unusually young age, navigating her abilities, becoming an Alpha, and finding her mates. While Liliana struggles with her world crashing down around her, becoming the subject of bullying, abuse, and constantly being overlooked. Follow Raven's journey to protect Liliana above all else while finding herself, her mates, and her purpose in a world full of people who would control or destroy her. Continue book two: Raven's Agony of Desire