Thrown to the Wolves

My life has never been normal. Raised by a survivalist, taught how to endure anything, I've learned to rely on myself. To keep my head down-to mind my own business. That all changes when I hear the screams. There, in that filthy alley, I thought I was pulling Emmeline out of the darkness and toward safety, but it turns out, she was pulling me in. My new friend's world collides with my own, and they couldn't be more different. Where I spend my days alone, she rarely can. Not with four brooding brothers hellbent on her protection, watching over her every move. Guardians that set their sights on me, who want to claim me as their own. Theirs is a world of violence and bloodshed, of teeth and fangs. Monsters lurk in the shadows, just waiting for their chance to strike. A sane person would be terrified, but even as danger closes in around us, I know without a shadow of a doubt that they're bigger threats than the ones they tell me I should fear. To protect their family, they'll become the monsters of legends and myths. The question is, if I'm supposed to be their salvation, does that mean I'm even more cursed than they are? To save us all, am I willing to damn myself? Contains mature themes.

My mates think I can extinguish their demons, but I know better. I'm gasoline and wind, fanning the flames higher. I'm finally starting to believe that I've found the place I belong, that maybe life holds more than loneliness and pain. Naturally, that's when my mother's past catches up to me. When the mates she ran from send three foreign alphas to our door to drag me back "home," my dream of a happy life surrounded by my men begins to crack into jagged little pieces. These new alphas claim to want what's best for me. But while Emmy's suitors came bearing gifts of luxury, mine only bring one painful revelation after another, threatening my already tenuous grasp on sanity. Secrets spread like poison, rising from the shadows to infect everything they touch. And all the while, wolves are closing in around us, attempting to snuff us out once and for all. But I'm tired of being hunted, sick of paying the price for simply existing. I may not be the Slaughters' daughter in blood, but I'll choose to be in name. After all, it isn't the creature in our chests that makes us less than human; it's us. We're monsters whether or not we ever set ours free. Contains mature themes.

When your world becomes a ticking time-bomb, you might as well time the explosion to inflict maximum damage. The real challenge comes in the aftermath, when you're forced to face everything you lost in order to survive. Uniting multiple packs is impossible enough with their constant fighting, and now Damian, Hunter, and Kaige expect me to get the Slaughters on our side? To dethrone a man that already survived death at their hands once? I'm no one's salvation, I'm their ruin. All that I inspire in these men is the desire to throw what remains of their souls onto the pyre, forcing me to helplessly watch as all of our lives go up in flames. Maybe they're just as broken as I am, but the one thing I'm certain of? Either we come together, or we'll be ripped apart; in every sense of the words. I have no idea what to expect when we get to murder mountain, but the silver lining that comes from being broken? I get to construct someone new out of the pieces. The monster prowling beneath my flesh isn't afraid to reduce anyone who'd dare take what's ours to smoke and ash. We're hellfire and damnation wrapped in a pretty little package. And we're done running. Contains mature themes.

You can't outrun your demons, but you sure as hell can give them a run for their money. The monster that's tormented us from the shadows has finally stepped into the light, and he has his sights set on me. But discovering that my entire life has been orchestrated as a twisted form of training to help him literally unleash Hell on earth? Not exactly my idea of a romantic gesture. There's an invisible noose around our necks, tightening more with every passing day, every saccharine smile Ash sends my way. He may have had centuries to put his plans in place, but he underestimates the depth of my spite, the lengths I'm willing to go to protect what's mine. You don't die for the people you love, you live for them. And unfortunately for Ash, he forgot to take the most important variable into account when making his plans; me. The thing even Nightmares fear. Contains mature themes.