asian desert crossword clue

Her One Night Stand was hot and enticing. It gave her very intense feelings that she hadn’t felt before. But that was all Nara Aurora could remember of that night. She couldn’t remember anything else. She had no clue who she had sex with or why she had sex with him. But life made things worse by giving her a child. A child whom she couldn’t afford to take care of. She needed to pin the pregnancy on whomever she could. Anyone at all! Anyone who would collect the burden of her child in exchange for cash. A wealthy man in need of a surrogate mother came to her and an idea struck her mind. What if she lied about the surrogacy in exchange for wealth? Well that sounded easier than done until it was time to let her child go. Her strong motherly instincts came into play and she realized she couldn’t let her go. Her child was her life and she was getting too attached. But what could she do? She needed to let her go. She had to let go. She signed a freaking contract!

Elizabeth Bell, acting Luna of the Moon Tides pack, is shocked to find herself at the mercy of their near neighbour, Alpha Byron, a TV celebrity who leads the shifters from Wild Horses. And all because her brother, Richard, whose gambling is out of control owes him a huge debt. When he sends some of his men to fetch her to his home on the edge of the desert she doesn't rebel, thinking of her pack members and the promise she made to her late parents to always put them first. Spending time with the rich Alpha is an eye-opener in more ways than one, the mate bond unlooked for and surprising because of the nature of her wolf. Byron swears her to secrecy, informing her she may be in danger. Alphas have been going missing all over the territory, including his sister's husband and, possibly now, her brother. A Lycan appears to be the mastermind behind it and, when Alpha Byron is abducted, Liz must do everything she can to stop the destruction of werewolf society, even if this means pretending she is in love with him. Will their relationship survive her sacrifice? And could this be the end of independence for the packs?

Helena burned. She burned with the flames of rage. In the fire her mate set to her body. With the power she possessed. She burned with the need for revenge and when she finds herself reborn a year before her gruesome death, she is going to get that revenge. Helena had once been an ignorant, simple girl, too in love with being loved to notice the monster she had given herself to. Love from anyone, was an oasis in the desert of a world that saw her as a mistake, because she did not have a wolf form and it made her blind. Love corrupted her mind, making her the perfect pawn in Rigel's game, and she was discarded when she had outlived her usefulness. She was back, now, with the taste of ashes on her tongue. And with her magic, that she had once treated like a disease, as her closest companion, she was going to make Rigel pay. Things rarely go according to plans and Helena learns that the hard way as her road to destroying the man who had hurt her, grows longer and more difficult. The appearance of a man who claims to be her mate, destroys the timeline she was coming from, leaving her confused and feeling vulnerable. Orion is a powerful alpha with a mighty and ruthless pack that she needs to attack Rigel before he grows too powerful, so the decision to be with him makes itself for her. The impossible slowly becomes possible with Orion by her side to serve as a voice of reason and Helena learns how to love someone who cares about her and sees her worth. Alliances are made, friendships are created and relationships are strengthened as Helena's quest for revenge slowly becomes one of discovery and love.

Alessia Ferreira is Italy’s Mafia Princess and yet… she has absolutely no clue about it. She doesn’t know she’s being watched and targeted. She is worth millions and everyone wants their hands on her. Including him. Judas Sinclair is known around Rome for being a dangerous man, someone you should stay away from, a psychopath, a girl’s worst nightmare. He has issues on top of issues and the last thing he needs is a girl in his life after what he did to the last one. But his job is his life and when he gets assigned by The Boss as Alessia’s bodyguard, he has no other option but to obey. Alessia is in great danger but at least she has Judas on her side to take care of her… right?

I slept with my boyfriend’s twin brother, a Mafia don. One wild, drunk night, I gave in to him at his family’s masquerade ball, only to discover too late that the man who held me was not Nikolai my loving boyfriend. It was his twin Kieran Petrov, the feared don of the NY Mafia. A cruel man with blood on his hands, now I hold a devastating secret. I’m pregnant and I have no clue which of the brothers is the father. So when I decide to come clean to Nikolai and get closure before I leave the city, I find out a grave secret. Nikolai had been cheating on me with my best friend for years. So I run away, leaving it all behind and going into hiding. However, the Petrov family has enemies, does that want the only heir of the family dead. But Kieran tracks me down, he brings me back and present me with a deal I can’t refuse. Marry him and receive protection or stay where I am and die. I should hate him, in fact I do, he had known I was his brother’s girlfriend and still went ahead to make love to me. But I have no choice, I signed the contract and become Kieran’s contract wife. It was just for protection, nothing else, at least that’s what I think

The story of a beta wolf, Cara of the West who enters a contract in order to find a mate. She is given three options and will have to decide which of them will be best for her. She travels to packs in different cardinals to be with her so called mates before the end of the time given. In her travels, she encounters a lone wolf, Taki from an unknown cardinal who, just like her, was entered into a contract. However, his contract carries a weight that is untold. She discovers other deeper secrets on her so called journey and it affects her view on people whom she thought she could trust. Things began falling apart for her and her contract bound mates. Without a clue on what to do she does the unexpected that brings about a big turn of events for the good, the bad and the worse.

"Oh my God! Who's there?" I was shocked as I noticed a movement in the thick bushes behind me. It was dark at night and I found myself in the middle of a thick forest without the slightest clue of where I was.This can't be happening. I only had a torchlight with me to see my way in such darkness. I was on full alert as I tried to be brave, pointing the torchlight around without much panic.  Suddenly, out of the bushes came two black wild animals that I couldn't make out their identity on time. They were glaring at me with gritted teeth, turns out they were wolves. I became terrified and almost fainted on the spot, realizing I had no where to run or hide. Just then, I got the shock of my life when they started acting strange and sounds of bones cracking could be heard. Both of them were trying to straighten themselves in an awkward, humanly manner. What was going on?

On her wedding day, Isla faced a series of disasters no bride could ever imagine. Her fiancé, Jeremy, dropped a bombshell in front of the entire congregation, revealing an explicit video of her and another man—a video she had no knowledge of or clue how it came to be. To make matters worse, Jeremy took things further by proposing to her sister right then and there. Devastated beyond belief, Isla ran out of the chapel—and his life—without looking back. She swore never to let herself be humiliated like that again and decided that love was no longer worth the risk. With her heart in pieces, she headed to the nearest bar to drown her sorrows in alcohol, where, in a haze of pain and anger, she met a handsome stranger. What was meant to be a fleeting escape turned into a one-night stand. She disappeared without a trace, determined to sever all ties with Jeremy. That included quitting her job at his father’s company—she didn’t want anything to do with him or his family anymore. As she searched for a new beginning, fate led her into the path of Jaxon Waverly. Jaxon Waverly—a billionaire CEO by day and a fearless Mafia leader by night. Isla becomes his secretary, unknown to her and Jaxon himself that she is Jaxon’s long-lost love and unforgettable one-night-stand. Determined to win her over, Jaxon will stop at nothing to make her his wife.

Hera Leandra Bardin, 24 years old, was on the brink of death in the middle of the desert. As she felt her blood trickle, she recalled all of the past memories she had that led to this moment. She remembered her mother who died from an incurable disease. And her father who had betrayed her. She remembered leaving the place she called home at 15 years old and the moment she made the decision to join the army. The anger and hatred she felt towards liars and cheaters sparked her strong sense of justice. As she felt her life fade away, she couldn’t accept that this would be her end. Until–a business mogul, Nathaniel Orion Martel spots her abandoned figure in the desert and extends her life, by giving her his dark blood. Hera wakes up to a new way of living. Her savior, Nathaniel Orion Martel, a 300-year old vampire took her in, much to the dissatisfaction of the elders of the Martel clan. They saw her as an obstacle to their plan of marrying Nathaniel Orion to a Royal Princess to expand their influence. Hera claimed to have no interest in being part of this rivalry and was focused on getting the justice she was owed. She left in search of answers, but came to know her mother’s secrets along the way. When Hera and Nathaniel met again, she had already become a different person. She was no longer without purpose, having found a new responsibility towards her mother's clan. Hera and Nathaniel's separation pushed them to recognize their budding romance. Facing rivalry against the Royal Princess and her clan's alpha, Hera is determined to use her own strength and emerge victorious, and possibly place her trust and have the happily ever after she thought she'd never have.

In our galaxy, there are at least twenty billion Earth-like planets able to sustain life. My name is Skye. I am eighteen years old. Our astronautic scientists discovered a planet within our galaxy with human life similar to ours. By probing this planet’s satellite systems, they have learnt that wars have wracked this world over many millennia, where various zealots strive for dominance. Before setting out on a twenty-year expedition to visit this planet, our group has spent a year being educated in the various languages of this alien world and acquiring the skills to survive in any hostile environment we may find ourselves in. OUR DESTINATION IS EARTH. SKYE is the first book in a trilogy. It is a coming-of-age adventure of Skye, a young alien girl, and her fight to survive in a post-apocalyptic world governed by fundamentalists. After surviving a meteoroid tsunami, her spaceship crash lands in the Mexican wilderness. One of the survivors, Judah, a gifted physician from a superior technological civilization, is discovered in the desert and taken to Texas. Judah is promoted as the new Messiah by a right-wing extremist known as ‘The Preacher’. The Preacher’s propaganda machine convinces America’s devastated survivors that it was the sins of the world’s population that, as prophesized in the Bible, brought down the wrath of God. Judah is exploited to restore the people’s faith in the divinity of God as decreed by the Preacher’s tyrannical interpretation. The Preacher aims to reverse the emancipation achieved by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 and bring about a dictatorship through the reunification of America. Skye must put her trust in a member of the Preacher’s security team to rescue Judah from this new confederacy.