From Prison To Power: Rise Of The War Goddess
Scarlett Hayes thought marrying James Whitmore would finally make her family see her as more than a burden.
Instead, it destroyed her life.
Framed for crimes she didn't commit, betrayed by the people she trusted most, and sentenced to prison while pregnant, Scarlett lost everything in a single night.
Then came the cruelest blow of all.
After giving birth in chains, she was told her baby had died.
The people responsible believed she would spend the rest of her life rotting behind bars.
They were wrong.
Five years later, Scarlett returns.
No longer the discarded daughter of the Hayes family. No longer the broken woman they left behind.
Now she is Commander Scarlett Hayes-a decorated war hero, the unseen force behind a global intelligence empire, and a woman powerful enough to make governments tremble.
She comes back for one reason only: revenge.
Her ex-husband, the stepsister who stole her life, and the family who buried her alive are about to learn exactly what happens when a woman with nothing left to lose takes back everything they stole.
But as Scarlett tears through the secrets of her past, one truth threatens to change everything-
the child she mourned for years may not be dead.
And the mysterious man connected to the night that changed her life has been watching from the shadows all along.
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Chapter 4
Scarlett was about to dodge-
When suddenly-
A hand caught her wrist.
Before she could react, an arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her hard against someone's chest.
Her forehead hit something solid.
Warm.
Firm.
A man.
Her eyes darkened instantly.
She moved to break free-
But the arm around her tightened, pulling her even closer.
Her expression turned cold.
Was this guy seriously trying something?
Her hand slid to her waist, fingers closing around the hilt of a hidden blade-
But before she could strike-
He let go.
Scarlett stepped back immediately, every nerve on alert as she looked up-
And froze.
For a split second, her pupils shrank.
The man standing in front of her was striking.
Sharp features, as if carved from stone. Strong brows, a straight, defined nose, and thin lips that naturally carried a hint of severity.
There was an effortless elegance about him-
The kind that couldn't be faked. The kind that came from power, from upbringing, from standing at the very top.
But what caught her off guard the most-
Was how much he resembled the boy.
Father and son?
While Scarlett studied him-
He studied her.
Carefully.
Silently.
Behind his back, his fingers brushed lightly together-the same hand that had just been around her waist.
His dark eyes stayed fixed on her.
Unblinking.
Then-
The boy ran over on unsteady legs and threw his arms around Scarlett's leg, clinging to her like he never planned to let go.
"Mommy! Mommy! I finally found you!" he cried, tears streaming down his face.
Mommy?
Theron's expression shifted almost imperceptibly.
His gaze flicked between Scarlett and the boy.
Looking closer-
There really was a resemblance.
Could it be...
That night, five years ago-
Was it her?
His eyes sharpened slightly as his gaze moved to the corner of her eye.
Nothing.
No mark.
That night, his mind had been clouded, his memory incomplete-but one detail had stayed clear.
The woman had a small red mark near her eye.
Scarlett didn't.
Her skin there was flawless.
And besides-
He had found the child abandoned in a trash bin.
What kind of mother would do that?
Someone capable of that kind of cruelty...
Couldn't be the same woman who had just risked everything to protect a child.
No.
It wasn't her.
Scarlett looked down at the boy, his face streaked with tears. She frowned slightly and wiped them away.
"Hey. Easy," she said, her voice gentler now. "You don't have to cry like that. If you're hurt, deal with it-but don't fall apart over it."
"O-Okay..." the boy sniffed, trying hard to hold it together. "Theo will be good... I'll listen to Mommy..."
His eyes were still glassy, trembling with tears he refused to let fall.
He was scared-
That if he cried, she wouldn't like him anymore.
Scarlett paused.
"You said your name is Theo?"
The boy nodded quickly.
"Yeah! Theo is my nickname. My full name is Theodore Cross!"
He looked up at her, hopeful. Expectant.
Still calling her Mommy.
Strangely-
Scarlett didn't mind it.
Every time he said it, something in her chest softened.
It felt... natural.
Familiar.
Almost like-
He really belonged to her.
"Listen," she said, her tone gentler now. "I'm not your mom. If you don't believe me... ask your dad."
As she spoke-
Theron had already walked over.
Scarlett straightened and faced him. "He's probably just shaken up and confused me with someone else."
"He doesn't have a mother," Theron said calmly, his gaze steady.
Scarlett raised a brow.
And why was he telling her that?
Before she could ask-
His voice lowered slightly, smooth and controlled.
"You saved my son."
A brief pause.
"I owe you. Name your price-whatever you want."
"I don't need anything," Scarlett replied without hesitation. "I helped him because I wanted to."
Theron studied her for a moment.
That confirmed it.
A woman like her-
Calm. Decisive. Protective-
There was no way she was the one who had abandoned this child.
"Saving him makes you someone I owe," he said. "I'll repay you. No matter what it takes."
Scarlett frowned, a flicker of impatience crossing her face.
"I said-I don't want money."
Theron went quiet for a few seconds.
Then slowly-
A faint smile touched his lips.
His gaze locked onto hers.
"What about me?"
"...What?" Scarlett blinked, caught off guard.
She stared into his eyes-
Dark. Focused. Entirely on her.
Like nothing else existed.
Before she could respond-
He added, just as calmly,
"If you don't want money... then I'll repay you with myself."
Scarlett stared at him, momentarily speechless.
So that's what he meant.
Even Howard looked stunned. He'd been with Scarlett for years-this was the first time he'd ever seen someone come at her like this.
But the happiest one-
Was Theo.
He grabbed Scarlett's hand with one hand, Theron's with the other, his face lighting up.
"This is perfect! I have a mommy now! I have a real family!"
Scarlett looked at his bright, hopeful smile-
And for once...
She couldn't bring herself to break it.
But then-
Theo's eyes suddenly rolled back.
His body went limp.
"Theo!"
Scarlett reacted instantly, catching him before he hit the ground. His face was flushed. She pressed a hand to his forehead-
Burning.
"He's got a fever," she said sharply, looking up at Theron.
Theron took the boy from her arms.
After a couple of steps, he stopped-and turned back.
"You're not coming with us?"
Scarlett's gaze lingered on Theo for a moment before she looked away.
"Like I said, I helped because I wanted to. I don't need repayment-especially not... that."
Theron's brows drew together slightly.
When he spoke, his voice was calm-but absolute.
"I don't go back on my word."
A beat.
"I said I'd repay you with myself. I meant it."
His eyes held hers.
"Wait for me. I'll come find you."
And just like that-
He turned and walked away, long strides carrying him to the car, Theo still in his arms.
The car pulled off.
Scarlett stood there, watching the taillights disappear into the distance.
"...Whether you keep your promise or not-what does that have to do with me?" she muttered under her breath.
Then she turned and got back into her own car.
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9.2
She loved him until she lost herself.
Now, behind locked doors and shattered glass, she must learn to breathe again.
When she first met Lloyd, he was magnetic and intoxicating. The kind of man who turned every head when he entered a room, who spoke in promises sweet enough to taste. With him, she felt chosen, cherished, and safe.
But safety was an illusion, and love became a weapon.
And slowly, piece by piece, he dismantled her until nothing of the woman she once was remained.
Now institutionalized after a breakdown, she begins to piece together the brutal truth of what really happened in the shadows of their love story. Memories sting like open wounds: the manipulation disguised as tenderness, the apologies that blurred into threats, the desperate hope that tomorrow he'd be the man she fell for again.
Yet beneath the grief and the shame, a quiet rebellion stirs, a vow to reclaim her voice, her freedom, and her life. Because this is not just a story of how she fell apart. It is a story of how she rises.
Haunting, raw, and achingly intimate, Boys like him peels back the glittering mask of a toxic love affair to reveal the kind of darkness that hides in plain sight, and the unbreakable strength it takes to escape it.
7.5
For five years, I was locked away in the freezing royal dungeon, starved and used as a bloody plaything by the kingdom's sadistic Cabinet Minister, Brandt Fischer.
He tortured me daily for one twisted reason: I simply looked like someone else.
When he visited my cell to casually announce my father's execution and drag a silver dagger across my neck, he expected me to beg.
Instead, I laughed, sank my teeth directly into his carotid artery, and was violently thrown against a jagged stone wall to my death.
As my skull cracked and my blood stained the moss, I thought about my so-called family. The moment Brandt had demanded me, my father, the Duke, handed me over without a single hesitation to save his own political career.
I was nothing but a disposable pawn, left to rot in the dark while the monsters who ruined my life thrived.
I died suffocating on my own blood and absolute, destructive vengeance.
Then, I opened my eyes.
I was lying in my silk-sheeted bed, reborn as my fifteen-year-old self.
Today was the exact day Lord Daryl Langley, the God of War, would be ambushed and crippled—the event that allowed Brandt to seize ultimate power.
I immediately stole a horse, rode to the palace gates, and threw myself directly in front of Daryl's moving carriage.
"I just didn't want to see a hero die like a slaughtered pig."
I didn't care if I had to shatter my own ankle to hijack his convoy. This time, I was going to save the general, and he would become the blade I use to slaughter them all.
8.4
On the night before her wedding, Navia Harrison discovers her fiancé in bed with her step-sister-and worse, the two of them are already planning how to get rid of her after the marriage.
Humiliated and consumed by hatred, Navia exposes their affair during the wedding ceremony itself, destroying both families' reputations in a single move.
Then, she meets him.
Leonel Crawford - the cold and dangerously powerful head of the Crawford family. Untouchable. Ruthless. A man no woman has ever been able to keep close.
He's also her ex-fiancé's uncle.
One impulsive proposal changes everything.
"If you need a wife... marry me instead."
"Honestly... we'd make a pretty good match."
8.7
I was dying in a cold hospital bed, listening to the monitor count down my final seconds.
As a ghost, I watched my own funeral. My popular friends and wealthy family soon moved on, but one person stayed.
Cas Riley. The invisible outcast from the back of my history class.
He brought a white rose to my grave every single day, withering away until he collapsed on the frozen ground, dying of a broken heart for a girl who barely knew his name.
Opening my eyes again, the hospital smell was gone. I was reborn back in my high school classroom.
I immediately tracked him down, only to witness the brutal hell he was trapped in.
He was humiliated by a cruel foreman for pennies, violently slapped by his uncle over his sick mother's medical money, and forced into bloody street fights.
He was starving, covered in bruises, and completely alone.
When I tried to buy him medicine and step into his life to protect him, he violently pushed me away in the pouring rain.
"Stay out of my life! To protect you, I have to fight, and when I fight, I lose everything!"
He wasn't rejecting me out of hate. He was terrified that his dark, violent reality would drag me down with him.
Standing soaked in the rain, my resolve hardened like steel.
Gentle kindness wasn't going to save him from this hell.
To protect the boy who died for me, I had to become ruthless enough to tear down his entire rotten world and build him a new one.
8.6
Book Two of the Betrayed Luna to Alpha Queen Series
Can be read as a standalone or after Book One
-----
"They were supposed to hate me. All four of them. But the Moon Goddess doesn't make mistakes, she just has a twisted sense of humor."
-----
"Let me die free rather than live as his possession."
Those were Lyralei Ravenwood's last words before she jumped off Widow's Cliff, choosing death over marriage to a monster hiding behind a charming smile.
She should have died.
Instead, she wakes in the camp of the Four Great Alphas..the most powerful, dangerous men in the ancient werewolf world. Men who look at her with resentment. Men who make it clear she's not welcome.
The Moon Goddess sent her to unite them against a rising darkness.
But they don't want unity. They don't want her.
Lyra didn't ask to be sent anywhere. She just wanted to escape a cage.
Now she's trapped with four hostile Alphas who see her as an obligation rather than a person. Who resent every breath she takes. Who make it clear that prophecy or not, she will never command their loyalty.
But something is awakening between them. Something ancient and undeniable.
The Primordial Mate Bond-a force that links one soul to multiple Alphas, pulling them together whether they want it or not.
As shadow wolves attack and an ancient evil rises, Lyra must navigate not just war, but the far more dangerous battlefield of four hearts that were determined to hate her.
Because feelings without trust are torture.
CONTENT WARNING: This book contains mature themes including explicit sexual content, violence, death of major characters, psychological trauma, and morally complex situations. Recommended for readers 18+
8.3
The dragons and royals are at war. Dragons have power and the royals want it to cement their rule in their kingdoms. Rather than creating a bond between the two, the royals have been stealing dragon eggs, hoping they will bond with the dragon once it hatches, allowing the royal to become a dragon rider. However, there is a thief among them, someone who is stealing the dragon eggs and returning them to the dragons. Someone who, when found, will be put to death.
Princess Skylar is the daughter of King Augustus. Her father has been hunting dragon eggs for years. Unbeknownst to him, Skylar is the thief that he is searching for. She does not agree with stealing dragon eggs from the mothers who make their nests away from the other dragons, making themselves vulnerable to attack. Her betrothed, Prince Kenneth, also supports stealing dragon eggs in the hope of bonding with a dragon and making his kingdom stronger.
Ryuki is a dragon rider. He bonded with his dragon, Bynjym, a year ago when he stumbled across him in the wild. The bond between dragon and rider is sacred. Ryuki and other dragon riders believe that it should never be forced. The riders fight against the royals who steal dragon eggs, working to keep them from being able to access the eggs, or fighting to get the eggs back to their dragon mothers.
What will happen when Ryuki realizes that Skylar is a royal like no other? Can Skylar keep her secret from her father, continuing to work inside the palace to take the stolen eggs back to their mothers? What will happen when Skylar realizes that her feelings for Ryuki are much stronger than her feelings for Prince Kenneth? Find out in The Dragon Thief.