Where Shadows Lie

My childhood friend promised to marry me once we came of age — but at my wedding ceremony, he gave my wedding ring to my stepsister, Summer Hugh. At the time, it was Victor Lowell, the fearsome mafia heir, who saved me by publicly announcing he had loved me for years. In the five years we had been married, he would fulfill every wish I had, even those I mentioned offhand. I truly believed I was the center of his world. All that changed when I stumbled across a top-secret folder as I was cleaning his bookshelf. The very first page was a file on Summer, with three red words printed in bold, “Top protection priority.” It was followed by a mission report I knew too well. On the night of the mission, there had been an attempt on my life. My blood had almost run dry before I was saved. When I woke up at the hospital, I found out that I had lost a baby I did not know I had been carrying. I wept bitterly in Victor’s arms, but I did not tell him about the baby. I did not want him to worry about me more. Now, I finally found out — Summer had been attacked that night as well, and Victor’s orders had been: “Save Summer first.” My tears soaked into the paper, smudging his handwriting. “Alright,” I said softly but firmly into the silence. “If my marriage had been a lie all along, I’ll disappear from your life. Forever.”

One night can change a life forever... As a respected elementary school teacher, Isabella Givens is not the kind of woman to visit bars, drink all night or take a stranger home… until she meets him. Tall, handsome and full of trouble, Kohl is a bad decision waiting to happen. Suddenly, Isabelle is two shots and one dance away from changing her life. Prince Kohl has returned to Earth injured and in need. He knows that somewhere on this planet there are crystals that can turn the tide of a war that has raged on his world for years... one that has stripped his once proud people of their place, their status and their home. When he learns that one of the precious crystals is hidden in a safe at a local bar, he intends to retrieve it. Meeting a beautiful distraction is NOT part of his plans, yet for some reason, Kohl can’t help himself… Neither of them knows where their night of passion will lead, nor how soon their actions will threaten everything both of them hold dear. Fate and love intertwine across the galaxy, bringing two lost souls together in this stand-alone novella and first book in ‘The Aliens of Renjer Series’.

Emerald, a compassionate pediatric doctor, is trapped in a toxic marriage with Myron, the violent alpha of the Crescent Pack. Myron’s brutality has cost her two pregnancies, and his coldness leaves her yearning for love—particularly from Eli, her enigmatic godfather who stirs forbidden feelings she can’t shake. When Emerald uncovers Myron’s secret son from an affair, her world unravels. An attack leaves her waking up beside a mysterious stranger, only for Myron and Eli to reveal a web of secrets tying her to the pack’s true lineage. As Emerald grapples with betrayal, her growing bond with Eli ignites a dangerous passion that could either save her or destroy the pack entirely.

"Well, well, well. Now, there is no escape for you from our grasp. You are ours." The triplets said, sharpening their claws. The story centers on Amber who lost her brother and was adopted by the Alpha of her pack. She was mistreated by he and his daughter and this led her to apply for a scholarship program to a famous school in the nearest city. This was where she met the famous triplets who turned out to be her mates. However, they also didn't treat her right and when her scholarship expired, they bought her from her former pack, to continue the misery that they enjoyed making her go through. What is going to become of her while she lives under the same roof with the mean and feared triplets? We can only find out as the story goes on.

At sixty-five, I got served divorce papers. The same day, my husband Sebastian — decked out in his wedding suit, of all things — popped a handful of sleeping pills in a suicide attempt. For years, we were the perfect couple. The kind of pair neighbors whispered about with envy. I couldn't wrap my head around it. The divorce. The pills. None of it made sense. Not until I found the photo and letter in his pocket.

J'avais été mariée à Alexander pendant trois ans. Tout le monde craignait sa cruauté, mais avec moi, il avait toujours été d'une douceur incroyable. Mais depuis qu'Elena avait pris une balle pour lui lors d'une fusillade il y a six mois, tout avait changé. Il répétait toujours qu'elle avait été blessée en le sauvant, alors je devais me montrer compréhensive. Lors du gala le plus prestigieux de la famille, mon mari — le Don, Alexander — est arrivé avec sa secrétaire, Elena, à son bras. Sur sa poitrine était épinglée la broche en rubis qui symbolisait la position de la Donna de la famille. « Elena a pris une balle pour moi. Elle aimait cette broche, alors je la lui ai prêtée pour un moment. Quoi qu'il en soit, tu restes la seule Donna ici. Essaie de montrer un peu de classe. » Je ne me suis pas disputée avec lui. J'ai simplement retiré mon alliance et j'ai sorti les papiers du divorce : « Puisqu'elle l'aime tant, elle peut l'avoir. Y compris cette place à tes côtés. J'y renonce aussi. » Alexander a signé sans la moindre hésitation, un sourire froid aux lèvres. « Quel genre de stratagème manipulateur es-tu encore en train de jouer ? Tu es une orpheline, séparée de ta famille ; tu ne survivras pas trois jours en Sicily. J'attendrai que tu reviennes me supplier. » J'ai sorti un téléphone crypté que je n'avais pas utilisé depuis trois ans. Alexander ne savait pas que j'étais en réalité la fille de la plus ancienne famille mafieuse d'Europe. Mais ma famille et celle d'Alexander avaient toujours été ennemies. Pour l'épouser, j'avais changé de nom et même avais rompu tout lien avec mon père et mes frères. L'appel s'est connecté. J'ai pris une profonde inspiration et j'ai murmuré : « Papa, je regrette. Envoie quelqu'un me chercher dans deux semaines. »

I always knew that I had to rule. It was written in my blood, as well as my father’s. And my great grandfather. For centuries, my family has been responsible for the monarchy of vampires. Our powers allowed us to drink human blood and then eliminate that memory. In fact, at the time of biting them, we could see some memories of that human. The most relevant of their life. Humans would only wake up the next day in their bed, with a mosquito bite on their neck, not remembering and without even suspecting anything. Although of course, exceptions existed. Wolves had their mates, the sorcerers their connections, and even the sirens had their other half. We were not different, not at all. For each existing vampire, there was a special blood. The donor with only a drop of blood that could keep us active and strong for weeks. In most cases, those people became a couple of vampires. However, not in my family. The lineage should remain pure, so even if I managed to find my donor, as we used to call them, I could only keep it as a lover. Did I want to be a monarch vampire? Of course not. Did I have another option? Of course not. I should not worry about getting my donor, because the statistics of finding them were so small, that even some vampires believed that it was a myth. The only way to find that special blood was drinking from it. And it was impossible to try the blood of all the humans of the world. So many didn’t bother looking for it. Me included. However, I did not expect to meet her in a somewhat peculiar situation.

Mein Jugendfreund hatte mir versprochen, mich zu heiraten, sobald wir alt genug wären – doch an meinem Hochzeitstag steckte er meiner Stiefschwester, Summer Hugh, meinen Ehering an. Damals war es Victor Lowell, der gefürchtete Mafia-Erbe, der mich rettete, indem er öffentlich erklärte, er liebe mich schon seit Jahren. In den fünf Jahren, die wir verheiratet waren, erfüllte er jeden meiner Wünsche, selbst die, die ich nur beiläufig erwähnt hatte. Ich glaubte wirklich, ich sei der Mittelpunkt seiner Welt. Alles änderte sich, als ich beim Putzen seines Bücherregals auf eine streng geheime Mappe stieß. Gleich auf der ersten Seite war eine Akte über Summer mit fettgedruckten, roten Worten: „Höchste Schutzpriorität“. Darauf folgte ein Einsatzbericht, den ich nur allzu gut kannte. In jener Nacht hatte es einen Anschlag auf mein Leben gegeben. Ich hatte fast mein gesamtes Blut verloren, bevor man mich rettete. Als ich im Krankenhaus erwachte, erfuhr ich, dass ich ein Kind verloren hatte – ein Kind, von dem ich nicht einmal wusste, dass ich es in mir getragen hatte. Ich weinte bitterlich in Victors Armen, doch ich erzählte ihm nichts von dem Baby. Ich wollte nicht, dass er sich noch mehr Sorgen um mich machte. Jetzt wusste ich endlich – auch Summer war in jener Nacht angegriffen worden, und Victors Befehl hatte gelautet: „Rettet zuerst Summer.“ Meine Tränen tropften auf das Papier und ließen seine Handschrift verlaufen. „Gut“, sagte ich leise, aber fest in die Stille. „Wenn meine Ehe von Anfang an eine Lüge war, werde ich aus deinem Leben verschwinden. Für immer.“

Zax Derix, half breed son of an alien king gets taken to be gifted to the brother of his enamored captor. Zax just wants to live his life on his own terms. Relationships begin to build and tough decisions must be made for his very survival as he traverses the universe. BXB, violence, mature content

I accidentally saw a notification pop up on my husband’s phone saying that an automatic transfer had been completed when I was using it for navigation. Immediately after that, his ex-girlfriend, Wanda Blake, sent him a message on WhatsApp: [I’ve received this month’s 10,000 dollars for child support. Thank you, Koah. I don't know what I would have done without you.] I froze. “Child support? “Koah, you told me that the money you send every month was for medical expenses for your mother’s treatment!” Koah Quinn’s expression stiffened as he explained, “Honey, don’t misunderstand. I just felt that life has become really hard for her because she’s a woman raising a child on her own. Her ex-husband refuses to pay child support, so I wanted to help her out…” I touched the old watch on my wrist. The one I had not replaced in years to save money, and felt extremely disappointed. “Your monthly salary is only 6,000 dollars. Where did you get so much money to send her?” He was silent for some time before finally admitting. “I used the money we had set aside for the new house’s downpayment.” I was stunned. He had taken the money my parents had scrimped and saved for decades for me as downpayment for a home and then transferred it to his ex-girlfriend as child support.