Showing results by author "James Tate" in All Categories

I’ve spent too many nights caught between reality and nightmare, each bleeding into the other like a twisted dream I can’t wake from. The Devil’s Backbone Society continues to host our deepest terrors. The weight of betrayal crushes me, pressing down on my chest—bitter and suffocating. I don’t know what would be worse: losing the ones I love, the ones who have become my anchors, or losing myself entirely. In the end, is there even a difference?

You want my advice? Never look a gift horse in the mouth. You don’t want to see the rotten teeth. In this case, the gift is a scholarship to attend the prestigious Neveah University. The rotten teeth? Well, they came in the form of my brand new stepbrother and his little cohort of entitled, arrogant best friends. Four dangerously handsome and stupidly wealthy men who made up their minds about me long before we met. Men who are used to getting everything they want no matter what the price.

Just when you think it can’t get any worse, the universe seems to take that as a personal challenge. The Devil’s Backbone Society has their fingers everywhere. It’s more than a secret society―it’s a leash and a prison sentence. The elders insist it’s about making connections that will help you for the rest of your life, but what they don’t tell you is how long―or, in this case, short―your life might be.

Meadowridge College was supposed to be a fresh start at the safest college in America. I'd be rubbing elbows with the elite of the world, while trying to complete my degree and find a path to a brighter future. My trauma had other ideas though. When the panic attacks send me into the arms of a gorgeous stranger in the library, it sets off a chaotic chain of events that end with me being kicked out of my dorms and forced to live and renovate a rundown old house on the edge of campus.

“You’ll always be mine.” The latest taunt from my stalker reminded me I was nothing more than a possession to my father, to the Reapers, to Archer D’Ath. Even to Kody and Steele. Princess Danvers - the prize. His wife. Archer D’Ath’s wife. I hate them. They lied to me. Over and over again. I knew they were lying, and I hate myself for letting it happen. For believing in the fake relationships I want so desperately to be real.

Riot Night changed my life. Coming back to Shadow Grove turned it on its head. I’ve been hunted, stabbed, stalked, tormented, and used. Hate fueled me, lies tore me apart, and in the end, everything I thought I knew turned out to be fake. Except...Riot Night also brought Archer, Kody, and Steele back into my life. No matter how much I’ve fought it, hated it, been lied to, or discovered the deceptions - I want them in my life.

My best friend, my right hand, the man I trusted above all others. Zayden de Rosa declared his love for me and pursued me until he shattered the walls between us. Then the man who loved me proved to be a traitor. I never saw that coming.

They say to keep your enemies close and mine are all around me. At the heart of it are four dangerously gorgeous men. The man who wants to light my darkness and already paid the price for loving me. The man who can handle my power and loves every dark inch of me. The man who has been my closest companion and now threatens to upend our carefully balanced world in pursuit of me. But the fourth man is probably the most terrifying. He wants to take the others away. He wants to tear the spinal column out my empire. Destroy my businesses. Destroy me.

Five years ago, I masterminded the infamous massacre of the Tri-state Timberwolves. The streets outside the Wolves HQ ran red with the blood of the old guard, and not one of those members loyal to my father were spared mercy. Not a single one. I let the media twist and distort the story. My new recruits eagerly proved themselves in spreading false news, in covering our tracks. To the general public, the Tri-State Timberwolves were extinct. But that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

Ashley erhält ein Stipendium für die angesehene Neveah University – ein Geschenk, das ihr Leben verändern soll. Doch hinter der glänzenden Fassade lauert eine dunkle Realität: Ihr neuer Stiefbruder und seine Clique – vier reiche, gefährlich attraktive Männer – haben sie von Anfang an als Zielscheibe. Was mit Mutproben und geheimen Partys beginnt, entwickelt sich schnell zu einem Spiel aus Macht, Verführung und gefährlichen Geheimnissen. Denn wer sich der Devil's Backbone Society anschließt, betritt eine Welt, aus der es kein Zurück gibt.

I thought I’d hit rock bottom when I turned 16. The day I broke my first love's heart, ending things before I could ruin his career as a rock star. But damn, was I wrong. Things got progressively worse from that moment on, until now. Eight years later, when I find myself homeless, jobless, covered in blood, and running from a ghost of my past.

Five years ago, I made a choice that I haven’t regretted a day since. I protected the single most important person in my world, my little sister. I protected myself, and I seized control of the Tri-State Timberwolves. Since then, I’ve wielded that power with an iron fist. Done whatever it took to take care of my people. Kept us out of the public eye, and kept us safe. Now a ghost from my past is threatening my position. Challenging me. Peddling their poison and breaking my rules. Stabbing at me in the dark.

“Madison Kate Danvers was murdered tonight.” Those words changed my life, and not for the better. They were wrong, of course. I wasn’t dead. But I was set up. After being charged with a string of offences - and made an example of by my political-minded father - I’m eventually released back into Shadow Grove with one thing on my mind. Hate. Someone is going to pay for derailing my carefully laid-out future. How very convenient that someone just moved into the bedroom down the hall from me.

I thought I’d reached a whole new low the day I ran from Bellerose. The day I was snatched by mafia goons, beaten half to death, and left wishing they’d finish the job. But then an Angel saved me. His kind of salvation wasn’t the freedom I’d been hoping for, though. Two months later, I’m his prisoner in the gilded cage of his home. His pregnant mistress.

All I’ve ever known is the Guild. They clothed me, fed me, raised me. They trained me. And in return I became their perfect weapon, their loyal soldier, their deadly asset. For as long as I can remember, the Guild has been my life. But now, it’s about to become my death. Not everyone is cut out to be a mercenary. I’ve watched countless colleagues fail in their missions and pay the ultimate price. I’ve watched peers lose their minds with the weight of the work we do, and pay with their lives to keep our secrets. I never thought I would become one of them.

My quest for answers is what’s led me here. Here, to the edge of civilization, where shifters are free from persecution and able to live in peace. Or at least they were until I arrived. In the aftermath of the trouble I brought, one man holds the answers I seek so desperately. Whether he will part with his secrets, that’s another matter. This world is not what I always thought it to be, and someone is doing their best to kill us all; when accidents continue to happen, I must consider the possibility that someone I love is setting me up.

Shattered Dreams is book three of four in the Boys Of Bellerose series. This is a mafia/rock star reverse harem romance series with dark elements and gripping cliffhangers throughout. Content is intended for a mature audience.

Being in the Guild is our life…or death. Not everyone is created equal, and not everyone is truly cut out for the work we do. It’s not pretty, it’s not glamorous, and it’s sure as shit not moral or good. The weight of the sins we carry can become too much for some, and they crack. When they do, they become a threat. No one quits the Guild. Not really. Either they cut a deal to make themselves useful in another capacity, or they get eliminated. But who, you might ask, can kill a killer? Who scares the boogeyman into running and hiding? Men like me.

They're waiting for you. Those four words should have been a warning. They should have filled Violet with dread. But she was so focused on Rafe's disappearance, she forgot. The resistance was supposed to be fighting for a better world. A group of freedom fighters formed during the Monarch War, pushing back against laws that would see everyone enslaved. For a while there, they gave hope. But with power comes corruption. The Society has been quietly amassing the strength and backing to become a real threat, and not everyone wants to use that power for good.

Every four years, the criminal underworld engages in a game. The Game. The challenges range from the impossible to the deadly to the truly insane. Things that only a crazy person would tackle. I’ve won the game five times. This time will be no different. I’m at the top of my field now, the best of the world’s thieves. There’s nothing I can’t steal, and this time, the game is all about theft, subterfuge, and sleight of hand. Starting with a legendary painting of poppy flowers.