What Is A Devouring Mother

"Mr. Charlton… Please don't… I could get pregnant…" On Christmas Eve, my best friend pulled me along to help cover for her and her boyfriend. After several rounds of drinks, a burning hand slipped beneath the fabric of my tight dress. It moved slowly over me, stroking and teasing, as a man's low voice murmured by my ear, "Relax… I'm only touching. I won't go any further."

The nanny, Polly Jackson, pushes me down the stairs when I'm seven months pregnant. I suffer from major blood loss and go into premature labor. Before I can question her about it, Zachary Campbell brushes me off with a lame excuse. "Polly didn't mean it. You and the baby are fine, so don't be so petty about this." I get out of bed to move around. I'm at the bathroom door when I hear Zachary and Polly's conversation. "Are you sure that wretch can stay alive, Zachary? Switching it out won't be that easy if it dies." "Don't worry about whether Daisy Jameson's baby can live, Mom. Either way, mine and Danielle's child will be the Campbell family's sole heir." I pretend I've never heard this and raise my son for 18 years. During a banquet held in honor of a share ownership transfer, Polly suddenly shows up with my mentally impaired daughter. She cries, "Mason is my grandson! It's high time he's returned to his rightful place after being raised by the wrong family for so long!" I'm unfazed. I even laugh at her words. "Fine, then!"

In a small town, Mia, a rebellious young werewolf, finds herself trapped in a dead-end job and a life she never wanted. Running away from her pack and an arranged mating, she crosses paths with Asher, a wealthy and wounded billionaire. Despite their rocky start, Asher becomes captivated by Mia's fierce spirit and the unspoken connection between them. As the world conspires to keep them apart, Mia's past comes knocking at the door, threatening to expose her secrets. In a desperate bid to protect Asher, Mia makes a heart-wrenching decision, fleeing the city and leaving him behind. Haunted by his love for Mia, Asher embarks on a relentless search, uncovering clues and enlisting help along the way. But danger lurks in the shadows. Can Mia and Asher rewrite their destinies and forge a path to happiness, or will they succumb to the forces that threaten to tear them apart forever?

For someone who nearly dies because of an accident that wipes the memories of her 23 years of existence - the only thing that Sammia Avileigh can do is to depend on everything that her family told her. With the help and support from them, she did her best to live a normal life. She follows everything that her parents told her about who she was, what she likes, what she does, what she wants, what's her favorite, how she dresses, what she hates, and what she's not good at. A year later, she finally recovers, she's happy with her life despite forgetting those memories that define her. But her almost perfect life turns upside down when she saw a strange note on the empty abandoned room on the back of their house. 'Aliano Silvanus Rivvero, you need to kill him. Remember that.' What does the note mean? Why does she feel like it is connected to her? And if that's the case- why would she kill the man she is bound to marry? The man that she really likes, according to her parents? They say a memory can be a star or a stain, and Sammia Avileigh didn't know that the latter defines her lost memories. And that's, what they will never let her know...

This book is principally about a girl named Izzy, a young beautiful Christain girl who has left her country of birth in search of education in a foreign land; but along the way meets her true self. The self that’s been hiding behind the curtains of her parent’s discipline. Her new found self surprises no one, even those she’s involved with and by “those”, I mean boys and men! Her parents have no idea of what her life is like without them and apparently, you’d be surprised to find out how easy it is to trick or better still “deceive” strict parents. Her parents still believe their daughter is pursuing “their” dreams with her eyes on the prize. Well her eyes are on the prize, it’s just not the prize they have in mind. Now, don’t get me wrong, she’s still all about the education, but alongside that, is what she finds pleasure in doing- changing partners when the sex is not what it used to be, cheating, being bisexual along many others. She has a turnaround in her life when she finally goes upcountry to work as a member of an NGO that provides for the poor, where she unexpectedly meets a man who changes her life and brings her back to the faith. This time, she wasn’t Izzy that followed her parents to church and not know why she went, but Izzy who understood her faith and why she loved the Lord and it inspired others in every way. People knowing who she was starts to shame her for who she is now, but she’s a goddamn QUEEN in her own way, and for her, that’s the best way and because she believes it, it’s become contagious!

Prior to that day, she had never been so hopeless in her life. In any case, when she was in the most humiliating circumstance, the nonsensical man she met ended up being the legend of M city. He was rich, amazing, attractive, and he had a unique association with her… She was orchestrated to go on a prearranged meet-up. The two kids cried and called her: "Daddy beats us, help!" She hurried over in sweat, while the man was remunerating those two kids for their incredible acting abilities with huge drumsticks ... She indignantly said, "Alex, my prearranged meet-up has been obliterated by you!" The man said in a soft tone, "I'm the dad of the kid. Assuming you need to get hitched, shouldn't I be the best option?"

At the banquet hall, I refuse to let my adopted twin pups eat the walnut cake. Ivana Lamont—the childhood sweetheart of my mate, Luther Hardwick—chokes up dramatically. She cries accusingly, "Yara, they may not be yours biologically, but you can't abuse them! Why won't you even let them have a slice of cake?" I'm just about to explain that the twins are allergic to nuts, but they point at me and complain in aggrieved voices. "Mommy often doesn't give us food. We never have enough to eat!" With that, I'm unceremoniously driven out of the banquet hall by the host. When I go to look for my mate to talk about it, I accidentally overhear his conversation with a friend. "Alpha Luther, it's been eight years. Are you still not going to mark Yara?" "There's no rush. I'll wait until the kids are a little older. We love each other very much, so it's fine even if I don't mark her." His friend responds disapprovingly, "You've been hiding from her that the twins are actually your and Ivana's pups. Aren't you afraid she may leave in anger if she finds out?" Luther shakes his head and replies with certainty, "She won't. Yara is an orphan, so she has no family. If she leaves me, where else can she go?" The ugly truth causes me to freeze on the spot. It turns out the pups I've loved for eight years were born to my mate and another she-wolf. What I thought was a happy life is nothing but a cold, heartless deception! I touch my belly, thinking of the pup I just conceived. My tears fall like a relentless downpour. In the shadows, I say inaudibly, "You're wrong, Luther. In fact, I found my birth parents three days ago. I just haven't had the chance to tell you. But it doesn't matter now because you don't need to know about that anymore." I have Luther sign the mate bond dissolution agreement before finalizing my withdrawal from the Sharp Teeth pack. Two days later, I give both my mate and the pups to Ivana. With the pup that Luther has never known or laid his eyes on, I disappear from his world forever.

Three months after my baby was born, I found out my husband, Joe, was cheating. The other woman? Hailey. Pregnant and smug. Joe actually got on his knees, begging for a divorce. I said yes. Until I could find a place, Joe's mom, Claudia, let me stay at the house. "Hailey," Claudia said, "you'll handle all the household responsibilities now." Hailey, all fake enthusiasm, chirped, "I'll take good care of this family!" Claudia replied, "Great. You'll start your day at five making breakfast. When Luca's hungry, you'll feed him and change his diapers. Once he's down for a nap, clean the house, grocery shop, and prep lunch. Laundry in the afternoon, tea service mid-day, then bathe Luca and cook dinner. After that, you'll put him to bed." Hailey's face? Priceless.

On my mother’s seventieth birthday party, I ran around handling various matters, paying out of pocket and putting in all the work. I did not even have the time to sit down and drink a sip of water. When I finally found the time to surprise her, I prepared eighty-eight grams of gold jewelry as her gift. Just as I was about to give it to her, I heard her talking to the other relatives. “See that? My daughter is truly my sweetheart. She woke up so early this morning to bake me this cake. I wouldn’t trade this cake for gold.” Our relatives immediately began praising my younger sister, Jessie Radley, for being so devoted. Only a couple of them pushed back. “Why aren’t you praising your eldest daughter, Mary? I heard she handled the entire birthday party.” “Tch. She only knows how to muddle through things. None of it had been done to my liking. Jessie is the good one. She got up at seven in the morning just to bake me this cake.” I turned around and walked away from the doorway. Since she loved Jessie so much, she could pay for this birthday party, worth eighty thousand dollars.

Megan Starks and Damon Zahan are two strangers suffering same fate -heartbreak from previous relationships- and need company to while away time. They click and hit things off pretty quick: a journey from the bar to the bed. No strings attached. But then, what is supposed to be a night stand brews pregnancy, driving Megan to search for her baby Daddy. She is dire need of financial assistance as her search for her Baby Daddy proves futile. Desperate and left with no choice, she applies to be a surrogate and she hits her jackpot when she is taken. But what she doesn't know is that her Baby Daddy and employer are not only related but are sworn enemies. And when their paths cross, she is stuck between choosing who will father her kids.