long shadows david baldacci

Everyone always talks about how amazing it would be to find your mate. For me, that's the last thing I want. I mean when you're held prisoner by some sick bastard, there's not a lot you can offer your mate. No matter who it is, they can't save me from this. All that finding my mate would do is crush my heart and make my life that much more harder. Yet when I saw him at that gas station, I couldn't get him out of my head. I need to stay away, but I don't know that I can. I keep finding myself traveling to him even when I don't mean to. This doesn't bode well for me. *** "I have to go." I told him. "No, wait." He grabbed my hand, causing a strong spark to course through my body. It made me inhale deeply, intoxicating me with his scent. I pulled my hand away quickly, as if he'd burned me. His eyes widened as he stared at me. He had felt the spark too. He furrowed his brows at me, but I let the shadows start to swallow me, disappearing before him. "Please, come see me again." Were his last words to me. ***** Zerena has had one rule all her life, never find her mate. The life she leads is dangerous and not her own. Held captive by a scientist, forced to do his bidding alongside 4 others. Zerena has always known that if she found her mate it would cause her more trouble than anything else. As a shadow weaver, she knows nothing but darkness & cruel fates. She's used to danger, but how will she handle love?

I froze in the room's doorway and turned into a statue of stone who could only stare at the nightmare before my eyes. I wanted to wake up, but it was impossible. My movements seemed to be immobilized by something that was squeezing me tighter and tighter. ……………………… Emily, a successful writer, gets the shock of her life when the man she just married cheats on her on their wedding night. Hurt and disappointed she finds refuge on an island but life has another surprise for her. Mike, an attractive and charismatic young man will not make her days easy. Driven by hate but also by love, Emily will learn to open her heart again. But Mike is hiding a terrible secret. Will Emily be able to forgive and love again?

When Miranda Forbes wakes from a stolen kiss under the cover of darkness, her world unravels. The man before her is not Fiore Ilarde, her devoted boyfriend of three years and newly minted fiancé, but Xylon Diaz—Fiore’s closest confidant and the last man she ever wanted to be near. What should have been a moment of bliss becomes a haunting betrayal that sets their lives ablaze. Fiore’s anger destroys their future, leaving Miranda’s heart fractured and her disdain for Xylon consuming her every thought. Yet, fate intervenes, forcing Miranda and Xylon into the isolation of a remote estate nestled deep in the woods. Resentment gives way to reluctant understanding, and Miranda begins to see beyond Xylon’s arrogant facade. The fiery disdain she once felt begins to transform into something she cannot control: longing. Against her better judgment, she finds herself drawn to the very man she swore to despise, craving the touch that awakened her soul. But when Fiore reappears, promising redemption and reigniting old flames, Miranda faces a harrowing choice. Torn between the man who was her first love and the one who now claims her desires, she must decide: Will she follow her heart or surrender to the untamed passion that could destroy everything she once believed in? A tale of betrayal, redemption, and the unpredictable nature of love—a story where every choice carries the weight of the soul.

It all started with a nightmare. A nightmare that will make the biggest twist of her life she had never imagined. Inside her dream, she was brought to a place very close to her heart, yet the era was different, she was with her so-called mom wih two witches in the form of snakes. She was somewhat elemental, witch or something enchantress, she don't know. It was just so unnatural at out of this world. Then she met this guy who captured her heart effortlessly. But what she didn't understand is that, why does it seems like it was forbidden. Why can't they be together when they both love each other? One day in their department orientation as students someone caught her attention and as their gaze met, it feels like she have known those eyes long ago. What was that? Were they connected? Or it was just a mere product of her wild imagination?

Houston Legacies Series Book 1 Angel's life has never been easy. Growing up in poverty with her mother had made it even harder than most. But she was a fighter, in so many ways… How could the truth so totally alter someone's life as they knew it? How did she adjust to this life? All she knew was she had family now, and she was going to make them proud. This was just the beginning she was going to change the world. At least her small part of it. It was time to change some lives… Life was all about change…

"Shadows of the Past" is a story about *Natasha Fernandez* (26),the daughter of a billionaire who never enjoyed her childhood due to the loss of her mother and her father's busy schedule. She struggles with health issues and finding true love until she meets *Jamal smith* (29) who rescues her from a robber and becomes her friend, and eventually her husband. Years later, Natasha hires her childhood friend *Imade Martins*(25) a home tutor for her adopted daughter *Tessa* (3). However, Natasha is heartbroken when she discovers Jamal's affair with Imade, and she uses her power to frustrate Imade's business life. Unbeknownst to them all, Jamal is the biological father of Imade's daughter, whom she lost in the hands of a matron to an orphanage some years back. Imade leaves for another city where she falls in love with her boss, Mr. *George Henry,*(34) an influential business tycoon and a single father. Twenty years later, *Roy Henry,* George's son, falls in love with Tessa, Natasha's daughter. However, their love is jeopardized after a family introduction takes place, and complicated truths unravel, putting Tessa's life at stake. The story explores the drama and chaos that ensue as the characters confront their past and navigate their present relationships.

“Please…please stop and let me go.” I pleaded when he was taking steps towards me. I was scared to death because I never thought I would be caught up in this mess due to my father. “Why, my beauty? Why should I let a beauty like you go?” he asks with a smirk on his face. In a second, he was standing in front of me, nuzzling my neck and takes my blood scent in ” After all, your father is indebted to me, and to pay his debt, he offered you for fulfilling my hunger and sexual cravings.” he murmured licking my skin. After a few licks on my neck, he sunk his fangs in my skin, and I screamed in pain as he feeds on me, which later turned into pleasure, and I end up screaming his name in pleasure. Minerva Cole is a girl, offered by his father to pay the debt he owes to a wealthy businessman, namely Easton Lemeire. She loves her father so much that’s why she agreed to pay the debt with her body if it saves her father’s life. But when she is taken to the businessman, she gets shocked to know that he is a vampire. Not just a vampire but the King of all the vampires. Later she falls in love with him, and they both got married, but some enemies around them don’t want them together and are after Minerva's unique powers, which she doesn’t know about. Will Minerva ever find out about her secret powers, or will her enemies succeed in taking her powers? Will Easton and Minerva be able to have their happily ever after?

Bethany Carter CEO of Carter Group is powerful, beautiful, confident, dedicated, and a competent leader who was indestructive until her brother Nathanial Carter went into the world of drugs and different scandals that destroyed their family's reputation and pushed the family corporate empire to bankruptcy. For her to get back on her feet and be the best in the business after the scandals she has to partner up with someone in the shadows but of great caliber, then she meets Levi Gomez, he is everything she needs for her company, a man of few words but when he he did choose to utter words it carried power As they worked together love, betrayal, and hard choices got in the way. Love In The Shadows is a story of love, navigating love and betrayal, revenge, power, family bonds, and secrets.

It is believed that those children born on every 31st night had been blessed with a special ability that could save the world. But in every century, there will be a child of prophecy that will be born with power over the dead; the one that will destroy the world. They are called the necromancer; the Lord of the Shadows and the Conqueror of the Dead. Out of fear, just after they were born, they have been hunted and killed. But then, one Necromancer has been spared. Upon mastering how to control her power before the Night of the Conqueror, she met an Archer. Will she be able to trust the Archer even though all of the people around her just wanted her to be killed?

I live alone. At eleven o'clock on a rainy night, an unexpected call came through. The voice on the other end said my car window was left open and urged me to go downstairs. Cautious as a woman should be, I didn't act rashly. Instead, I called the property security office, only to discover that even the security was fake. It hit me suddenly—I was ensnared in a vast conspiracy. Someone was orchestrating all of this. But for what purpose?