Symbols In The Glass Castle Novels & Stories

At the engagement party for one of our former high school classmates, the bride suggested we play King's Cup. Whoever drew Eight had to do a cross-arm toast with someone of the opposite sex in front of everyone. My husband, Luke Flandern, had always been a germaphobe. The second he saw the card in his hand, his brow furrowed. I stood up, ready to help him out. But then—Sarah Weaver, the girl everyone called the beauty of our class, who was sitting right across from him—asked softly, "Need a hand?" Luke looked at her, and the frown on his face instantly melted. "Yeah, sure." The room erupted. Everyone was laughing and cheering. "Classic Luke—always generous. No wonder he was valedictorian back in the day." "Someone get this on camera. The golden couple from high school is finally reconnecting after all these years? That's destiny right there." Sarah blushed and shyly reached her wine glass toward him. Luke smiled and didn't pull away. I just stood off to the side, quietly watching the two of them drink that cross-arm toast together. And then I remembered how I'd been ready to help him out. A bitter smile crossed my lips. Guess I was kidding myself.

"In this pack, you aren't a guest. You're a trophy. And Alphas don't share their toys." Victor Cruz was a ghost. A premier dancer in a glass cage, hiding a lineage that could set the supernatural underworld on fire. When the Vargas brothers—the twin Alphas ruling the desert’s most brutal pack—offer him a seven-figure contract to be their "property," he takes it. It’s supposed to be a job: play the part, survive the heat, and disappear. Mateo Vargas is the charm—the silver-tongued predator who marks Victor with a scent so thick it screams mine to every wolf in the city. Alejandro Vargas is the blade—the cold, suspicious enforcer who wants to break Victor just to see what’s hiding underneath. One wants to worship him; the other wants to expose him. The Pack is hungry. But as the Vargas brothers pull Victor into a high-stakes world of blood-vows, ancient rivalries, and the looming threat of the Dragunov hunters, the lines of the contract begin to bleed. Victor isn't just a dancer anymore. He's a pawn in a war between Alphas, and the scent he’s carrying might just be the death of them all. In a world where loyalty is bought in gold and dominance is taken in blood, Victor must decide: will he run from the wolves, or will he learn to lead the pack?

When I was being harassed by the Romano family’s consigliere, my fiancé, Don Luca of the Villani family, was busy kissing and drinking with Gianna at a party. To secure the partnership, I had no choice but to drink the glass the consigliere pressed against my lips. My stomach churned violently, and I could barely breathe. However, Luca never once looked at me. Instead, he focused entirely on picking the lime slices out of Gianna’s drink, coaxing her gently into finishing it. Once the party ended, Gianna casually mentioned she was bored, and Luca immediately made me get out of the car so he could take her bar-hopping afterward. “She’s been helping me manage the accounts lately, so I’m taking her out to relax. “You don’t even like bars, so don’t come along. “And I’m staying with her tonight until she has fun. So we’ll postpone the wedding again, since I can’t make it to the church tomorrow.” Our wedding had already been delayed for eight years. This was the ninety-eighth time Luca had canceled it on his own. I simply nodded. Since he was always too busy, maybe this wedding didn’t need to happen.

The night before my fiancé, Soren, and I were supposed to leave for Northern Europe to start our new life, the sounds of a lively discussion drifted from his private club. "Christ, Boss, are you insane? Why the sudden marriage alliance with the Rosetti family to make a play for Italy? Didn't you say you were getting out of the life with Abby and heading north?" Soren leaned back into a leather sofa, his voice nonchalant and muffled by a cloud of smoke. "Plans change. Besides, remember, I'm the one who made her who she is." "Once she sees the new empire I'm building, that little canary will come flying right back to my cage. The woman can't live without me." I stood in the shadows of the club, a wine glass in my hand, a dull ache blooming in my chest. The anniversary gift I had so carefully chosen for Soren was still in my purse, waiting for me to give it to him. I slipped out of the smoke-filled club, tossed the gift into the nearest trash can, and booked a one-way ticket to Northern Europe. But what he didn't know was that just as he could betray our future for Monica, I could abandon him for mine. All those years we spent dancing with death were never just for his sake.

MATCHED is book #3 in a new paranormal romance series by bestselling author Bella Lore, whose series MY TRUE MATE and THE ALPHA’S MATE have over 500 five-star reviews. “I couldn’t stop reading.” --Amazon review (My True Mate) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ When her father suddenly dies, Winter Grace, 17, is forced to fly across the country and attend a mysterious prep school, an ancient castle in a fog-covered island on the coast of Maine. Nothing here is what it seems, and it isn’t long before Winter, feeling a surging power for the first time, realizes that she is not who—or what—she thinks she is. But when Winter feels an inexplicable crush for an elusive and dangerous boy at the school, she realizes a greater destiny is at play. She knows the relationship might destroy them both—yet she also knows that they can never be apart. In MATCHED, Winter and her love reach the place they never though they would. They are so close to retrieving the relic—when an unexpected twist may just force her love to sacrifice everything—even himself—for her. Creating an unforgettable world of vampires, werewolves, shifters and magic of all sorts, a world of fantasy, love and sacrifice, MORTAL will take you to another place, rife with shocking twists and turns. Fans of books such as Vampire Academy and Twilight and Crush are sure to fall in love! Future books in the series are also available. "The story was very well written and was unique as compared to other shifter stories.” --Amazon review (The Alpha’s Mate) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Excellent from start to finish and leaves you wanting more.” --Amazon review (My True Mate) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"On the table!" He ordered, leaving me fear-stricken as I scurried and positioned myself the way he had instructed earlier. Who was I to disobey the most callous Alpha King? "Part those legs!" He bellowed calmly, yet dangerously, emphasizing on every word. His voice sounded like the voices of many mighty men...authoritative, mysterious, deafening..like a thunder ready to strike. My eyes travelled up to the Moon that hung up in the sky, communicating to it as if telling it to send me a saviour. "There is no one coming to save you, Aurora. I am your new master. Now take off your clothes, I want to see the goods I purchased!" *** Aurora was supposed to be the Alpha's beloved daughter, but fate played a trick on her, making her serve as the pack's slave instead. Someone stole her life. Years went by, the truth got exposed, but when she was about to live her best life and assume her role in the pack, trouble rears its ugly head. Her pack was under attack. Faced with two difficult choices, she would either offer herself as a peace offering to the most cruel Alpha King in exchange for protection for her loved ones, or watch everything she holds dear crumble before her eyes. Desperate to save her loved ones, she offered herself to the king without thinking of the consequences. But the castle of the Alpha King is filled with shocking secrets. What if plans changed and she finds not one, not two, but three Alpha Kings ready to claim her? Would she agree to become their breeder? How long would she be able to resist their charms?

"My pack sold me to the devil to pay back a debt." Maya is a twenty-two years old Omega, and she has always been the unimportant runt of her pack. But her fate changes in just a second when her Alpha drags her to the auction block. To salvage her pack from ruin, the pack sells her for King Dante-the meanest and most feared alpha in the area. The deal is hard-core: one year. One heir. Then free. Dante is fully cold, basically domineering and marked by what may be called a woeful past. To him, it is simply a business transaction that will guarantee his throne. But when he touches Maya, suddenly his inner beast erupts. She is more than simply a purchase; she is his True Mate. The problem? Maya has yet to shift. She feels no tether but only fear mixed with an off-putting, blazing heat whenever he's near. She thinks he's just some cold-hearted guy, not knowing that he's actually struggling against all instinct to claim her in every way possible. Locked up in his castle, they become increasingly carnally contractual. Possessive and controlling, Dante awakens a hunger in Maya she has never felt before. But just as she begins to fall for the broken man underneath the crown, enemies tighten around her like a noose. She suddenly finds herself a pawn in a rival Alpha's scheme as well as the unwanted gift of a jealous ex returned with a claim that could ruin everything. Maya walked in as a prisoner yet when her wolf really wakes, the world will tremble. She is not just a breeder; she is a Queen.

MATED is book #2 in a new paranormal romance series by bestselling author Bella Lore, whose series MY TRUE MATE and THE ALPHA’S MATE have over 500 five-star reviews.

“I couldn’t stop reading.”

--Reader review (My True Mate)

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

When her father suddenly dies, Winter Grace, 17, is forced to fly across the country and attend a mysterious prep school, an ancient castle in a fog-covered island on the coast of Maine. Nothing here is what it seems, and it isn’t long before Winter, feeling a surging power for the first time, realizes that she is not who—or what—she thinks she is.

But when Winter feels an inexplicable crush for an elusive and dangerous boy at the school, she realizes a greater destiny is at play. She knows the relationship might destroy them both—yet she also knows that they can never be apart.

In MATED, Winter and her crush embark on a dangerous quest to retrieve the magic relic and save their friends their school.

Yet they have no idea of the fate awaiting them—or what they will need to do for each other to survive.

Creating an unforgettable world of vampires, werewolves, shifters and magic of all sorts, a world of fantasy, love and sacrifice, MORTAL will take you to another place, rife with shocking twists and turns. Fans of books such as Vampire Academy and Twilight and Crush are sure to fall in love!

Future books in the series are also available.

"The story was very well written and was unique as compared to other shifter stories.”

--Reader review (The Alpha’s Mate)

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Excellent from start to finish and leaves you wanting more.”

--Reader review (My True Mate)

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Lyria spent five years of her life trying to make her husband accept her. She did everything, but to Alpha Dave nothing was enough. On the day she was to break the news of her pregnancy to her husband, she caught him having sex with her bestfriend. Right in their matrimonial home. Broken and sad, she approached them, finding out even a more shocking truth. Not even an ounce of guilt from her husband; instead, he pushed her, causing her to hit her head on the glass table. In the pool of her blood, she was abandoned to bleed to death. Just when Lyria thought it was over, she was granted a second chance! She opened her eyes to the exact day she got married to Alpha Dave. This time, Lyria made up her mind not to make the same mistake that led to her death. She chose another man on her wedding day instead. Her wedding with Azriel was supposed to be simple. An alliance between both packs and a way to escape dying by Dave's hands… But what if there is more? What if fate plays in the most cunning way? Would Lyria be able to escape her fate or get caught up in something more dangerous?

"No stop. We should not be doing this. You are Noah's brother and my boss" Esme murmured and tried to push Leo away. But he didn't budge. He pinned her to the glass wall in his office and started kissing her. Her protests drowned with his kiss. ....... Esme stood on the Altar alone, waiting for the groom who dissappeared. Standing alone on the Altar on her big day should have been devastating. That too when the groom was her best friend of fifteen years and fiance of four years. She should have seen this coming. And she should be a crying mess. But she is not. Strangely, she is feeling relieved. Her gaze fixed on Leo Ashford, her Fiance's elder brother. The wrong brother she fell for. The brother she shouldn't be thinking about. The brother who is off limits. The last man to whom she shouldn't have lost her virginity to. 'I promise Esme, I will cherish you this time' she remembered Noah's promise from just a few hours ago. She felt bitter, because he couldn't even hold his promise for even a day.