Introduction
That is where my family lives.
Every twenty years, we invite an "outsider"—a man not of our blood—to be our guest. They all share one thing in common: each is steeped in wickedness.
Ron was the eighteenth. And he was the key to whether I would successfully shed my skin.
He believed he had come only to inherit a fortune.
He did not know that the altar in the basement was already prepared.
And our family's tradition is to awaken the blood of Lamia within us—
using the heart of the wicked.
Chapter 1
I'm hungry again.
My family comes from ancient mountain range.
The blood of Lamia, the serpent woman, flows through every member of our clan.
Because of that, every twenty years, our family must undergo a shedding ritual.
And the ritual requires a human heart to complete.
Sitting in the Starbucks at downtown Philadelphia, I stared at the Tinder profile on my phone screen, my index finger mechanically swiping left.
Wall Street broker, suited up, "passionate about charity" - I could smell the rot emanating from him.
But it was just slightly nauseating. Many capitalists carry that scent.
My mother once told me that though the ritual needs human hearts, the Lamias only sacrifice the hearts of the wicked.
It's been nineteen years and eight months since my last molting.
I can feel the scales beneath my skin stirring restlessly, fine cracks beginning to appear at my fingertips.
In a while longer, if I still can't find a suitable "offering," I'll probably turn into a pile of dried bones some morning.
Just then...
A new profile popped up on screen.
Blond hair, blue eyes, radiant smile, wearing a college football team jersey.
Ron, 19, Penn State quarterback, enjoys working out and small animals.
I almost laughed out loud.
What evil could this puppy possibly harbor? Peeked at his roommate in the shower? Cheated on an exam?
But just as I was about to swipe left, a familiar stench drilled into my nostrils.
It was the smell of blood.
Fresh blood. Young girl's blood.
...
Ron asked me to meet at the movie theater downtown.
He was more handsome than his photos, wearing a clean white T-shirt and jeans, holding a bouquet of sunflowers.
The moment he saw me, his eyes lit up.
"Hey!" He walked over quickly, "I thought you might stand me up."
"Why would you think that?"
"Because you're too beautiful." He scratched his head, revealing a shy smile, "A woman like you probably wouldn't be interested in a poor student like me."
I took the flowers and smiled at him: "Let's go, the movie's about to start."
Throughout the entire film, he was well-behaved, didn't make any moves, even carefully passed the popcorn to my hand.
After the screening, he suggested going to a nearby motel to "chat."
I agreed.
The motel room was small, but he'd cleaned it well.
He poured me water, adjusted the air conditioning temperature, asked if I was cold. Then sat on the edge of the bed like a big dog waiting for praise.
"Hey," he suddenly said, "do you believe in love at first sight?"
"No."
"I do." He leaned closer, his eyes excessively sincere, "From the first moment I saw your photo, I knew you were the one I'd been waiting for."
I stared into his eyes.
In those azure eyes, my face was reflected.
...
Over the next week, Ron performed like a textbook-perfect boyfriend.
He sent good morning texts every day, good night texts every evening, with various expressions of care in between.
He opened car doors for me, pulled out chairs at restaurants, and even when he saw a stray cat on the street, he crouched down to feed it.
"Look how thin it is," he said softly, "must have been hungry for a long time."
I watched him gently stroke the kitten, beginning to doubt myself.
Had I really been wrong?
That night at home, I stared at myself in the mirror.
The cracks on my arms had deepened another degree.
On the seventh night, I decided to end it.
"Ron, I don't think we're right for each other."
In the motel room, I threw several thousand dollars in cash onto the bed: "This money is compensation for you."
Ron froze, his eyes instantly reddening: "Did I do something wrong?"
"You're too clingy. I need space."
"Please," Ron grabbed my hand, his voice choked, "just have one more drink with me, one last drink. I promise I won't bother you again."
He pulled out a bottle of bourbon whiskey from his backpack and poured two glasses.
I picked up the glass and drank it down.
Ron's expression changed, just for an instant.
"Hey, are you okay?"
My vision began to blur, my limbs went weak.
I watched the corners of his mouth gradually curl upward.
I knew I hadn't been wrong.
...
When I woke again, I was in the bed of a beat-up Ford pickup.
My hands and feet were tightly bound with nylon rope, tape over my mouth.
The truck bed reeked of motor oil and sweat.
I heard voices from the front seats.
"This chick's got a nice body, old Earl's gonna love her." A tattooed brute spat out smoke, laughing lecherously.
"No shit, I picked her out special."
Ron's voice had lost all tenderness, leaving only naked greed, "These stupid bitches are easiest to fool, shed a few tears and you've got them."
"I'll give you thirty percent?"
"Forty." Ron haggled, "I'm risking getting kicked off the football team for this job."
I lay in the cold truck bed, but my heart beat faster and faster.
Until the truck stopped.
Ron jumped down from the driver's seat and opened the tailgate.
Night wind rushed in, carrying the dampness of mountain forests.
He ripped the tape off my mouth in one motion, that sunny boy's face now full of savagery: "Awake now? Baby?"
"Ron, please let me go..." I squeezed out tears, my voice trembling.
"Let you go?"
Ron crouched down, scraping my face with his fingertips.
"Soon enough, I'll hand you over to the redneck old bachelors in the sticks as their toy, enjoy it, bitch. They'll take real good care of you."
Last Chapters
You Might Like 😍
Underwater: The Silent Luna
It sounded like fate. Like rescue. Like the moment the universe finally chose her.
Even with the suspicion clinging to the proposal, Meadow let herself believe it. She stepped into the marriage blindly, hoping love would fill the quiet spaces of her mute, colourless life.
But the truth comes fast, and cruel.
The Alpha never asked for her. Never wanted her. Luna Amber arranged everything without his consent, driven by selfish motives Meadow couldn’t see until it was too late. What should have been tender and sacred becomes a cage, and Meadow is trapped in a nightmare she can’t wake from.
BROKEN TRUST
Neither of them knew she was carrying his child.
Emily’s affair didn’t just end her marriage—it erased the life she thought was guaranteed. Ryan left without looking back, carrying his anger like armor and leaving Emily alone with regret she would never outrun. Three years later, fate drags them back into each other’s world, along with a little girl who has Ryan’s eyes and a truth that shatters everything he thought he knew.
Old wounds reopen, grief masquerades as rage, and love refuses to stay buried. As parenthood binds them together and the past demands accountability, Emily and Ryan must face the question neither of them is ready to answer: is broken trust the end of their story… or the beginning of a love forged through loss, forgiveness, and brutal honesty?
BRUISED LOVE
The safe dorm.
The boring dorm.
What he got instead was Maverick Hale campus menace, underground street fighter, walking bruise factory, and the last person he ever wanted anywhere near his neat piles of textbooks.
Maverick doesn't care that he's broke.
or in arrears with his fees.
Or one wrong move away from getting kicked out.
He’ll graduate out of sheer spite—he refuses to give his estranged, homophobic father the satisfaction of calling him a failure.
He definitely doesn’t care about the determined, overachieving half-Indian nursing major he’s stuck sharing a room with…
Until Bodhi becomes the only thing keeping him in school.
His tutor.
His healer.
His undoing.
And when Maverick stumbles into their dorm one night with a knife wound and Bodhi stitches him up with shaking hands and a breaking heart…
no longer can that be denied.
Opposites weren’t supposed to collide this way.
But they did.
Hard.
The Cursed Alpha King’s Wolfless Bride
Lightborn: The Demon’s Bond
Alpha Cameron's Vengeful Mate
Alpha Cameron is the strongest Alpha in America and the most feared, but he has a secret. He doesn’t want a mate because of this and has decided to take a chosen mate to become his Luna in name only. His mother, sister, and beta urge him constantly to rethink his decision as the woman he has chosen is a nightmare. They believe that he should wait for his fated mate, but their pleas fall on deaf ears. What happens when he visits the Red Dawn Pack for the Alpha daughters’ coming of age party and finds his fated mate being beaten? Will he save her or reject her?
Billionaire love and pleasure
The Vampire Prince's Hybrid Bride
Game of Destiny
When Finlay finds her, she is living among humans. He is smitten by the stubborn wolf that refuse to acknowledge his existence. She may not be his mate, but he wants her to be a part of his pack, latent wolf or not.
Amie cant resist the Alpha that comes into her life and drags her back into pack life. Not only does she find herself happier than she has been in a long time, her wolf finally comes to her. Finlay isn't her mate, but he becomes her best friend. Together with the other top wolves in the pack, they work to create the best and strongest pack.
When it's time for the pack games, the event that decides the packs rank for the coming ten year, Amie needs to face her old pack. When she sees the man that rejected her for the first time in ten years, everything she thought she knew is turned around. Amie and Finlay need to adapt to the new reality and find a way forward for their pack. But will the curve ball split them apart?
What the Heart Wants (Book 1 of the Alpha Faros Series)
Not loving him will cost more.
Derek has one goal: survive high school without drawing too much attention or pissing off his pack’s alpha.
As the youngest son of the alpha, his life is governed by lycan hierarchy, tradition, and politics. With no signs of awakening a lycan spirit, his only value is what he can do for the pack’s image. He knows he’s only ever one misstep away from exile… or worse.
Then, he finds a boy trapped in a locker on orientation day, and everything changes.
Derek shouldn’t want Nikolias. He’s off-limits. A risk Derek can’t afford.
So why does it feel like he’s the only thing worth fighting for?
Nikolias has just lost everything: his parents, his home, and any sense of peace. Sent back to the town his family left years ago to live with his prejudiced and controlling uncle, who wants nothing to do with anything—or anyone—not human, he’s trying to do everything in his power to get out quickly.
But then he meets Derek again, and all of his plans vanish in the soft, yearning flecks of gold in Derek’s green-hazel eyes. He’s drawn to Derek in a way that’s impossible to deny, and he thinks Derek feels the same way, despite the danger their relationship holds for him.
As Moonshadow's politics turn deadly, Derek and Nikolai are caught in the crossfire of a war that had started long before they were born, and their bond becomes a threat and a lifeline that neither can afford to sever.
Because the heart wants what it wants….
And it never asks permission.
TW: Graphic Violence, Suicide Ideation, Suicide Attempt, Child Abuse, Cult-Like Behavior
The Missing Mafia Princess and her CEO Mafia Don
The Alpha's Stripper Mate
"What?" It was out of my mouth before I could stop it. I did not wait for him to answer me, I walked toward him.
"Dance on my lap."
My head screamed at me to turn around and run. But my whole body responded to his command.
"Yes, Alpha," I pulled my dress over my body, it dropped over my head and fell to the ground behind me. I was left in nothing but my matching bra and thong. My hands covered my chest on reflex.
"Let me see."
My hands dropped to my sides.
I lowered myself into his lap, facing him. His eyes peered into mine, and I could feel his hot breath fan my face. His dick responded to all my moves, hardening against my now-moist vagina. I swallowed hard, allowing my lips to part in a ragged breath. His hands trailed up to my waist.
"No touching."
At the tender age of eleven, JoJo Wyatt was forced to grow up far sooner than she should have. Born to a cruel father and a weak mother, she quickly realized she had to become the breadwinner for herself and her sister. Nothing else mattered to her, not even the hottest men. In fact, she despised them. After one horrific night, she swore never to have any contact with the male species again. That was, until she started working for him as his stripper.
Meanwhile, Alpha Lake Rush, thirty, was the most feared Alpha in the country. Burdened by his own share of life's struggles, he had learned only to be cruel and reckless, rejecting not one but two mates. But what happens when he discovers yet another mate, and she turns out to be his stripper?
