How Does 'The Beast Within' Explore The Theme Of Duality?

I shivered in the darkness, the air stale, damp and cold making goosebumps appear on my bare skin. The low rumbles and huffs which were coming from behind made me a little scared, and I knew the beast was still there, watching me with interest. I knew screaming and calling for help was futile since my voice was already hoarse for trying to scream the past few hours, but the only thing to be heard was my echo, and the snarl that followed next. I heard it shift and felt it's soft fur brush against my body and skin. I swallowed hard and held in my voice. The more it leaned in, the more my heart beat wildly, and I tried to move away from it. It's warm breath brushed against my cold skin making me shiver in response. I couldn't see but I had an idea what it wanted. I kept resisting but it was much stronger than I was, easily able to pull my thin legs apart. It showed it's dominance as a way to make me submit. I knew I wasn't strong enough to fight or escape it, but that didn't mean I was going to willingly do what the beast said, at least at that minute. But everything changed when I felt it's big head dip between my legs, easily parting them to the extreme, and a rough, yet soft , in my opening. I couldn't help the moan that left my lips. The was long, rough, and filled me to the brim, and that's when I knew I was in . The beast wanted to breed with me.

For thousands of years, the tale of the Lycan beast who lurked the forbidden forest had been told. Every five hundred years, six females were allegedly sacrificed from the wolf village to the beast and it was rumoured that their bodies were left to rot at the entrance of the forest for all to see. Many times, this tale was retold to scare the young wolves from venturing into the forest and keep them in check, because no one wanted to be a scapegoat in the hands of the unforgiving and murderous beast. Nola Reynolds has always been a headstrong fiery pure blood who has always believed there was no Lycan beast and all the tales about him were just made up myths and fairy tales, aimed at scaring the younger ones. Little does she know that one night was all it was going to take to change her life forever. Things take an unsettling turn for Nola when she, alongside five other girls, are chosen on the night of the full moon. She is faced with the most shocking revelation of her life standing before her, in flesh and blood— The Lycan Beast. Is it her fate to run away and free herself from the hands of the predator, or does she have to give in to her sweet, twisted story of beauty and the beast?

I met evil when I was a teenager. It never left me after that, hovered over me like a dark cloud, followed me everywhere. When I least expected, he barged into my life like he owned it. Kidnapped and vulnerable, I am trapped on a stranded island with no way out. There's nowhere I can hide. I am afraid. I fear his gentleness more than his cruelity. I don't know if I can survive this but I do know that one of us will be ruined by the time this ends. Every princess dreams about meeting a prince charming. I don't get the prince, I get the King who wants to rule over everything. He's a Beast but I am no Belle. The Beauty changed the beast. The Beast fell in love with her. A beautiful fairytale it was. The Beast doesn't love me, I can't tame him. This isn't a love story. It's a story of obsession. 18+. Not your traditional Mafia Romance. Proceed with Caution.

Shea Vestine was an orphan who grew up to be an innocent and kind lady in the Riverstone Pack. She was a servant omega who just wanted to find her mate before her eighteenth birthday – hoping that it would be a strong one and could save her weak wolf. However, if not, they will have to move to the South Side for a month to prove that they belong to the pack. Unfortunately, no one ever goes back to the South Side. Because it was where the ruthless rogues, the wicked half-blooded werewolves, and a lot of bad blood were located. But here comes the newly assigned Alpha of their pack, Denvereaux Thorne. Shea instantly felt their connection. She couldn’t believe that the kind and gentle Alpha of their pack would be her mate! Denver proposed to her, and they got married. Everything seemed surreal for Shea. She felt like the happiest woman in the world. But would that be the case if she discovered the darkest secret of her husband? Would she still fight for her love even when Denver was a beast? Could she possibly tame the beast within him?

A wolf in hunter's clothing. Belle is a rare and odd beauty among her pack. Unlike the lycans in her pack who can combine themselves with their wolves when they shift, she can only become a full wolf or a full human. She is different, but that does not mean that she is weak. With her being the newly appointed beta of the pack, the alpha assigned her a mission to watch over a human child. Belle did not like the idea of using a kid for their plans to take down the humans, so she helped the girl escape. Because of saving the child she was adopted by the humans, allowing her to enroll to their academy and learn their secrets to compensate to her pack for letting the child escape. But the more she learns, the more she realizes she is siding with the wrong people. Mysteries emerge as she learns that she is not the only lycan who can shift between human and wolf, or otherwise known as werewolves. Whenever she tries to learn about these creatures like her, she is always hampered by Ajax Finnegan, another hunter in training at the academy who is just as strong as she is. To Ajax, he feels like Belle is hiding something. He can sense that she's too different - too special, to be just an ordinary human. She's a beauty with the strength of a beast. Will Belle continue to side with the lycans, or will she continue her search for answers about these so called werewolves? Can Ajax figure out the beauty's secret?

The Beast locked me up in his fake castle. As the daughter of one of the most dangerous Bratva bosses in the underworld, I uncovered a secret so deadly, I fled Russia and escaped to America. But my high school enemy, the Beast, kidnapped me and trapped me on his island with no way to escape. And without my medication, I had no control over the heat that consumed me as an Omega. His rough hands made me crave things I never wanted before. I was powerless to resist him. The Beast. My Mate. With my life on the line, I tried to resist my dark, dangerous captor, yet I found myself drawn to him. The truth was supposed to set me free, but in the Bratva world, the only freedom was death. Author's Note: Beast is a stand-alone novel. It is a steamy dark Russian mafia enemies-to-lovers standalone novel with some trigger warnings! There's no cheating or cliffhangers, and always a guaranteed HEA