Showing results by narrator "Lilly Drake" 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?

King Midas made me the woman I am today. Notorious. Unattainable. His. The thing about being confined is that you believe it's to keep the bad out...Until you realize it's about keeping you in. I'm now in a strange kingdom surrounded by liars, with no allies of my own, but I won't sit idly by and let myself wither. No, something's bloomed from the pit of my repression. Something dark. Something angry.

My life has been made up of gilded lies. But death has been shaped from rot. Like a phoenix caught fire, I need to rise from the ashes and learn to wield my power. My wings may have been clipped, but I am not in a cage, and I'm finally free to fly from the frozen kingdoms I've been kept in.

King Midas rescued me. Dug me out of the slums and placed me on a pedestal. I'm called his precious. His favored. I'm the woman he Gold-Touched to show everyone that I belong to him. To show how powerful he is. He gave me protection, and I gave him my heart. And even though I don't leave the confines of the palace, I'm safe. Until war comes to the kingdom and a deal is struck.

Every end is also a beginning. I thought I was going to die, and would have if it weren't for Slade. The only way he could save me was to open a rip between worlds. The only way for me to save myself was to go through it. Sometimes, fleeing one dangerous place just brings you to another.

War has broken out between Annwyn and Orea, though that's not the only battle being waged. There's a fight inside me, and it's one I'm determined to win, no matter how much they try to strip me down and hollow me out.

For ten years, I lived in a gilded cage inside King Midas's golden castle. One night changed everything. Now I'm here, a prisoner of Fourth Kingdom's army, and I'm not sure if I'm going to make it out of this in one piece. They're marching to battle, and I'm the bargaining chip that will either douse the fire or spark a war.

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.

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.

My father sold me to the Shadow King. Faerie is a completely different world than the one I'm used to. Winged creatures fly in and out of mirrors, and fantastical gardens conceal treacherous illusions. Shadows draw me in a little more for each day my magic grows, but I can't afford to let my guard down. To survive, I must play by the king's rules and protect myself from the nightmares, dreams, and fantasies that govern his seductive realm. Most of all, I must resist him. If I don't, my kingdom will fall.

Life as I knew it ended with a bullet. It stole my brother from me and destroyed my family. From the ashes, I rose stronger and meaner, to exact the kind of revenge best served bloody and cold. I took out every single person I held responsible. Except one. He’s a phantom but his days are numbered. I won’t stop until I’m done. Then she shows up—the forbidden fruit, a light to my darkness. I should resist her because what I touch, I destroy. My feisty wildflower deserves more: more than this, more than me.

You know the story where the hero comes in and saves the day, rescuing the heroine right in the nick of time? This isn't that story. Instead of a knight in shining armor, he's a sexy, tatted-up Bratva boss with a reputation for being brutal and fierce. Vasily finds me after I've already been brought to my lowest—broken by cruel men until I barely recognize myself. He doesn't offer me salvation. He offers me protection and revenge. And I gladly take it. Because I don't need a knight in shining armor. I need a villain who doesn't mind getting his hands dirty.

I use my body to make men fall to their knees. I just wasn't expecting a man as powerful as my boss to fall for the act. Dutton Taylor is a man who is not used to hearing no. Good thing denying dangerous men just so happens to be my specialty. The past broke me, and I refuse to be tempted by promiscuous lies. I'll do whatever it takes to protect my son and the new life I've built for us. We should keep our distance. But my body doesn't get the memo… and neither does he.

I only came to Blackwell Falls to find my missing sister. First on my list of suspects: the notorious Kings of Aventine. Now I'm forced to live with the three men I can't afford to trust. Rock tries to fool me with a soft touch, kind blue eyes, and the nurturing I secretly crave. Brooding, dark-eyed Oscar takes pictures of me when I'm not looking and tempts me with his piercings, inked skin, and honeyed words.

I never would have moved to Chicago, if I had known he would be there. Moving to a brand new city to share an apartment with my older brother was bad enough. Becoming neighbors with Kane Barlow, my brother’s arrogant pro-hockey-playing best friend, was just the cherry on top of the dumpster fire my life has become. Did I mention that Kane is also the guy I had a secret fling with years ago? I haven't seen him since and let’s just say his icy glares and frigid demeanor are reason enough for me to get my own place.

Parents murdered and brother stolen: meet Zora Vyner, a spitfire woman turned vengeful spymaster on the hunt for the secrets of her past. Taking down the men who abused her and infiltrating a magical underground of vicious crime bosses, she finds herself on a mission to kill a rising threat to her Boss's business. She's promised information on the brother she so desperately wants to find, but instead, she gets an exclusive invite.

Valeri Medvedev is a man I would happily fall on my knees to worship. I had no idea he was a dangerous Bratva boss. All I saw was the sexy smile, the dimple on his cheek, and the body that made my mouth water. I was blinded by him…and then I found out the truth. He's dangerous. He's a killer. And I'm the one he wants.

As a Bratva boss, I'm not allowed to make mistakes. But I make a big one when I kidnap the wrong damn woman. It's not safe to let her go, so instead, I take her up on her offer and hire her to work for me. Under my watchful eye, I make sure she does what she's supposed to and upholds our agreement. As much as I try to keep her at arm's length, she keeps getting under my skin. All the possessive and protective instincts that I never knew I had come out with Maddie. She likes to tease me and taunt me, trying to get me to claim her. She has no idea how much I enjoy the hunt.

On the outside, it looks like I've got it all together. I'm killing it on the football field, pushing harder than ever before and breaking league records. But on the inside, I'm drowning and there's no one to pull me up. Until her. I tried to stay away, to keep my distance so I wouldn't ruin us both, but I was powerless against her. She's everything I didn't know I wanted and more than I could ever deserve.

Once upon a time, there lived a girl named Fallon who was taken far away from home shortly after she was born. A home that held more than strange traditions and bizarre superstitions. Twenty-four years later, she returned to Weeping Hollow, a town she'd only heard about in stories during restless nights under a marble moon, to take care of her last living relative.