Shield Drawing

My neighbor's daughter is sick, and my mother forces me to donate a kidney to her. I've been malnourished since childhood—just drawing blood is enough to cost me my life. However, my mother says, "What does your death matter to me? Rhea is my actual daughter!" Only then do I learn that my mother switched me and our wealthy next-door neighbor's daughter at birth! I glance at my neighbor's daughter, but she's calm and unaffected. I watch as my mother signs the consent form for the operation. My father ties me to the operating table, and my brother performs the surgery. I have no strength to retaliate, so I make one last request—a DNA test with my mother. She agrees—she wants me to stop holding out hope. Later, I forget everything after the surgery, but she breaks down.

Clair is an omega maid in the Vulcan pack. She never aimed for anything except doing her job diligently as the maid she is. Things, however, took a different turn when she met this handsome man in the garden admiring flowers. Her wolf never called out to him as her mate, but there's something strange which keeps drawing her to him whenever they meet. Unfortunately, he's the Alpha of the Nightingale pack, a pack known for its immense wealth and powers, and he is in an arranged marriage with Roxanne, the Alpha's daughter and the lady she serves. Knowing this, Clair decides to get rid of whatever feelings she has for him since he's far above her level, but hell breaks loose when she is to go to the Nightingale pack as Roxanne's personal maid. To worsen it, Clair is further placed in a dire situation where she is subjected to having a one-night stand with this Alpha. What will happen after this one-night stand with the man she's always been in love with? Will things turn out for good?

She was meant to save the heroine, but now she's carrying the tyrant's baby. "Found you." He smirked, tightening his grip on Selene's arm. ~~~ Selene is an avid reader of dark romance and is currently obsessed with a tragic tale where the beautiful Rosalind, daughter of a fallen noble, becomes a servant and falls into the clutches of the ruthless tyrant king, Alaric. When Rosalind becomes pregnant, the king casts her aside for another woman, leaving her to die in heartbreak. Devastated after finishing the book, Selene's emotions overwhelm her-until, in a flash, she's pulled into the very world that shattered her heart. But to her surprise, she's no longer just a reader but Rosalind's loyal servant. She then accepts her destiny and becomes determined to rewrite the story and protect the female lead from the king's cruelty. Yet fate has a twisted sense of humor. As Selene tries to shield Rosalind from King Alaric, the tyrant becomes captivated by Selene's fiery defiance and wit. Instead of Rosalind, it's Selene who catches his eye... and soon, it is she who is carrying the tyrant's child.

After my pack fell, my father and I joined the Black Moon Pack. Alpha Victor admired my gift for runes and promised to make me his Luna. I was so full of hope, I didn’t even mind that he was using my gift to shield his entire pack. But he kept delaying our marking ceremony, leaving me to endure the pack’s scorn for my fallen bloodline. On the eve of my father’s death, he even temporarily marked Seraphina, the daughter of another Alpha. He claimed it was to secure an alliance. I cried myself dry in the endless wait, only to hold my father as he died in my arms. Victor, however, continued to use my gift, commissioning runes from me only to give them to Seraphina. The final straw was when Seraphina destroyed my rune sanctum and flaunted the very pendant I’d crafted for my own bonding ceremony. That’s when my heart finally shattered. I no longer cared about being his Luna. I simply walked away. But after I left, Victor’s desperate plea echoed from the Moon Goddess altar. “Come back and be my Luna. Please.”

She knows that she should pull away, Heather cannot. She feels herself once again drawing closer to Casey without conscious thought. She can feel his breath on her cheek and the smell of his aftershave. Casey completely consumes her. This time there is nothing to break their connection or disrupt the moment. ***Heather is a woman looking to avenge her mother’s death, and it just so happens that she believes the Sullivans who happen to be the richest most powerful family in Boston are responsible. In her hunt for justice, Heather finds herself drawn to the eldest son. Casey. Coming from two different worlds, each with a troubled past. Can she love the son of the man who murdered her mother?***“I don’t know what else to do. With everything that has happened, I’m just feeling lost. I don’t think I know Casey as well as I think I do.” Heather says regretfully.***The Billionaire’s Heir: Loving the Son of a Murderer by Roxanne Greyson, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

An anonymous girl is seen running away from men who are behind her like wolves, amidst the darkness of the valley and the gleaming moon. Panting, gasping for breath she reached for her shield huffing. As she saw his silhouette she felt relieved and started to run to him to find warmth in his embrace. As she stepped closer to him, the men stopped. Suddenly she heard his voice which made her steps stall and her heart crack. "Stop! Don't come near me" She felt her bleeding heart slashed by his stern words. She expected his comfort to surround her and his love to transcend her plight, but neither happened. Eventually, her demons overcame her as her feet began to give way. Her bruised body started to feel twice the pain as before. "You don't trust me" she muttered and let the darkness lull her to sleep. It's difficult to say what led her to give up: the same distrust from her loved ones twice, or the fact that she was the favorite victim of all the bad luck. ****** Hailey is a nerd, anti-social and awkward. Her striking orbs were hidden behind rimmed spectacles and her curvy figure was hidden behind her oversized hoodies. During high school, she was the most famous person in college. What changed? Enter Mark Anderson, the hottest guy in college. Girls swoon over him and boys envy him but does he give a damn? Naa! He isn't a playboy or a bookworm. He is just the man of dreams. His plan is simple. He is saving himself for the queen of his heart. His parents were his role models. Their love was the ideal example for him and he wanted something like that. Magical. What happens when they meet? ******

As Jimmy investigates an abandoned car, he finds a journal that sheds light on a mystery from twenty years before. As he explores his memories he discovers the truth behind the city and the supernaturals who run it. ~~~ Inside of each of us is the darkness wanting out. But what if that darkness is the ending and the beginning of us all? The full moon hung like a ghost in the night sky as Yada overlooked the lights of the city below from her tenth-floor apartment. She studied the diamond twilight for over an hour before turning away--No longer able to stomach the sight. It had been nearly a month since she had been home, having stayed in the coven’s inner chambers since the city fell under siege to a rival house a little over three weeks ago. Over the years, the city had seen many battles for control of the streets. To date, the two bloodiest battles took place within the last fifteen years. The Badens orchestrated both attacks. Led by Darius, the Badens seemed hell-bent on ruling the city with little regard for the Michelsons. The Michelsons governed the streets for nearly two hundred years and were a formidable force. Led by Gabriel, the Michelsons protected the city, and it survived unscathed. The streets were free from the blood deals, which went unnoticed by the public eye, normally. However, this last battle proved more difficult to keep quiet. It had been an all-out war for control, drawing innocent people into the blood feud as the Badens raided the streets for warriors to fortify their numbers. The Michelsons retaliated through unusual ventures to keep the war silent.

The Vale family was the most powerful mafia syndicate in the New York City. And I—along with a few other carefully chosen girls—had been handpicked to join their ranks, trained from the ground up so that the next head of the family could choose his wife from among us. Wife. That was the kinder word for it. The truth was whoever got picked would become his shield, his weapon, his most loyal protector. Someone who would kill for him. Die for him. Years passed. One by one, the others fell away. In the end, only Elara Quinn and I remained. And then, Elara died—killed on a secret mission. After that, there were no more choices left. I became Adrian Vale’s wife by default. I had given everything to Adrian. And I loved him. I thought he loved me too until I took a bullet to the chest—meant for him. As I lay there, barely breathing, I heard Adrian talking to his assistant, “Don’t bury her in the Vale cemetery. My half is reserved for Elara.” That was it. Elara—who had never even lived long enough to marry him—still had a space carved beside him in death. I? I had taken the hit that should have ended him… and yet I wasn’t even good enough to be buried near him. I slowly closed my eyes. And when I opened them again, I was back on the day the Vale family formally announced Adrian as their new head. The day everything began.

"You think you've seen me unhinged?" I asked with a dark grin. "Tonight... I'm not your husband. I'm the man you betrayed." I kissed her then, without restraint, and she stifled a moan that threatened to escape her lips. "You should be scared," I whispered, brushing my fingertips along her spine, slow and teasing, then down over the swell of her ass. My palm lingered, gripping one cheek possessively. "Because you've just given yourself to the devil." I leaned down, my lips brushing her ear. "And the devil? He doesn’t believe in mercy." .... I should have known better than to sign his contract. My new husband was never meant to be real. He was supposed to be a name on paper, a shield against the vultures circling my late husband's empire. An arrangement with an expiration date. But Killian Cross doesn't let go. He's ruthless, obsessive, and dangerously possessive. The kind of man who doesn't just own his empire. He owns everything in his grasp. And now, that includes me. I thought I could play his game. That I could survive the year, take my freedom, and walk away unscathed. I was wrong. Because my contract husband has made one thing clear. I belong to him now. But what if he's the real enemy hidden in the shadows?

Have you ever had everything you wanted, only to have it all stolen from you? Ella finds herself in this exact situation when she is finally ready to make a fresh start in life. Her bad luck sends her to the arms of a cold rescuer who gets her everything she wants except her freedom. But when she finally gets her freedom back, will the price be too high to pay? Ella discovers that the price of her freedom is much higher than she could have imagined. He independence is riddled with sadness and guilt as long as a strong sense of pride that she wears as a shield. will she ever put her shield down and let love find its way into her cold heart?