Showing results by author "Heather Long" in All Categories

They say you can never go back… ‘Course, I never wanted to return. It took me years to age out. Once I made it, I took off and never turned around. Trust me, there were only three reasons I managed to survive there as long as I did and they abandoned me as soon as they were able. I’d like to say I didn’t blame them, but that would be a lie. I had zero desire to return. Yet here I was, on the road to Northland chasing a story cause my editor told me kids were disappearing… again.

My name is Grace Degas Black. Years ago, I made a splash during a charity fashion show where an agent discovered me. My work led to the glitzy world of haute couture, perfume ads, and more. I was living my best life, traveling the world, and the only thing that would have made it better was if my twin had come along for the ride. My other half. My best friend. Then one day, she disappeared.

Grandfather tried to prepare me for everything… Yet, how could anyone prepare me for this? Kidnapping. Blackmail. Deception. Grief. Vengeance. The Royals have always been about blood. Blood lines, blood relations, and the spilling of blood. I didn’t ask for this war. I didn’t go looking for it. But I will let nothing and no one keep me from the men I love and we will find what was taken from us. No one will ever steal from us again. They say desperation makes for strange bedfellows, fortunately, the men in my bed are far more dangerous to everyone else.

My name is Emersyn Sharpe. Until a few months ago, I was the lead performer for a traveling show finishing up a contract. I had been beaten, but never broken. Then they took me. I didn’t belong in their world. Still, they took me and I didn’t know why. They promised to protect me and to keep me safe, but they had to know I’d run. They had to know.

The last thing I was looking for when I left the facility was a new woman, a new relationship, and a new cause. I found all three in a dark alley. Saving her life was the best choice I’ve ever made.

My only connections were forged through the veil of a computer screen. I was their voice in the dark, their operator. I was their lifeline—until the day my past tore into my present, and they had to become mine. Captured, subjected to torture and relentless interrogation, I survived long enough for them to find me. I harbor no delusions; fleeing and disappearing again is not an option. The only way to win is to fight. But to fight, you also have to be willing to risk everything. I was okay with that when the only one at risk was me.

Jake, Archie, Coop, and Ian were my best friends, and three of them still are - but they’re also now my lovers, my boyfriends, and pretty much the anchors keeping me from getting washed away. I’ve had great moments, and I’ve had horrible ones. One thing is for sure, I’ll never forget my senior year. It’s the year everything changed. It’s the year I found them. I lost one, and now he wants me back, but I have no idea how to trust him again.

Do you ever lie to yourself? I do. Making friends has been the cruelest choice I ever inflicted upon myself. I like to say I don’t regret it, and for the most part that’s true. I resent it. I despise him because he left me behind, following another battle in this war we’ve been waging. I thought we were partners, best friends, allies, and that he would always have my back as I’ve fought to have his. I hate her because she’s perfection and everything he’s ever wanted, untouchable, brilliant, and capable. Yet, I want her too. Need her. Still, she gave herself to someone else.

From the moment my sexy death angel strode through that door, I’d been in lust. Or at least that was what I told myself. Beautiful, powerful, and far too dangerous for me, and I was hooked.

Emersyn Sharpe is more than just the girl we watched over. She’s very much the woman who fits us. The last thing we should have done was take her and the worst thing we did was keep her, but she needs us. I think more than one of us - myself included - needs her. The secret wasn’t ours to share, and the lie? I bought into the lie that keeping her was saving her. The lie that persuading her to trust us was needed. The lie that falling in love with her was as natural as breathing. It didn’t matter if I wasn’t alone in falling into this trap.

When did we become the adults? When did we become the ones who had to make the hard calls? One by one, we’ve all left our teenage years behind. College brought new challenges even as Bound Hearts brought us more. Whether we’re making music, love, war, games, or trouble, we’ve found a good balance. We’ve learned that even being apart doesn’t mean we aren’t together. Life has a habit of throwing curveballs. School, careers, new hobbies, friends in need, and family demands are hitting us from every angle. We’re going to need each other more than ever.

Madness runs in my blood or so my family history would suggest. For more than thirteen years, I've been driven by one quest. One desire. One goal. It's about more than just DNA and legacy, it's about a promise. One I swore I would never give up. I never could have planned for her. For Lainey B. For how the girl who kept my secret became a woman who is truly my partner. I've been running alone for so long, I didn't think I could be with someone.

One-hundred-seventy some odd days left in my senior year, and everything has changed. I went from untouchable to dating my best friends to making out to being betrayed. Why can’t they understand humiliating and controlling me doesn’t say I care?

Born into Hollywood royalty, I’ve been making the hot sheet and generating internet buzz since before I could even walk. Doesn’t matter that my parents divorced prior to my second birthday, I can’t escape the shadows—or scandals—of my movie star mother and my rock star father.

Emersyn Sharpe doesn’t belong in our world. In fact, the very last place she should be is with us. But someone is hurting her. We’ve all seen it. We tried to ignore the warning signs. We tried to trust the people around her. We tried to believe in her world. Too late. When she nearly died in front of us, we had to act. We took her. She doesn’t belong in our world, but I’ll be damned if someone lays a finger on her under my watch. I’ll kill them first.

When the year started, I had one goal - make my AP classes count and keep my grades up. Both my focus and my grades started wobbling. Dating my best friends came with perks like hugs, kisses, and invitations to dances, but it also came with cons in the form of vindictive posts, hate mail, and vandalism of my car. I asked if it could get any worse, and I guess I got my answer.

It’s not true. It can’t be. Four DNA tests. Only one positive. The man claiming to be my father is quite literally the worst option imaginable. This isn’t happening to me. For the first time in my life, I know who I am and where I want to be and, in the blink of an eye, everything is spinning so utterly out of control. I thought the fight with Maddy was the worst thing I faced. It’s not. I’ve grown up in a house of lies, and it’s all crashing down on the five of us, and I have no idea how to protect the ones I love best from the fallout.

Buttoned-up Corporal Kaitlyn Amador is dangerous on every level. As a human, she poses a threat to Marine Captain Jax Raymond's special Force Recon unit. Though the team has a reputation among the other recon units, only their commanding officer knows their secret. As a woman, the danger posed is entirely different. Jax can survive the temptation for only so long before his wolf takes over and pursues what it wants.

Family legacy dictates everything from type of education to suitability of friends to eligible marriage opportunities to the type of business I’m expected to go pursue. It’s more than just DNA, it’s also about birth order, gender, and unfortunately—the family name. I was born a Reed and the weight that carries isn’t limited to the doors that it opens, but also the ones it bars shut. When I was tapped for the Royals, I saw my first way out—but it only proved to be a deeper trap.

When it comes down to acclaim in the yearbook, my class rank would probably earn me my only entry, but probably very little else. I don’t wear cosmetics, do my hair, or really give a damn about my appearance in general. I don’t need to be cool, and I’ve managed my high school career navigating all the different groups from the nerds to the jocks to the theatre kids and the band geeks.