Rare Layne Staley 2002 Novels & Stories

During the holiday, I make a rare trip back to my hometown. After dinner, Dad orders me to wash the dishes. I pause for a moment and ask, "Do we not have a caretaker at home?" Mom frowns and says, "Julia works so hard taking care of us every day. Since you are back, you should let her rest. You should be the one doing everything." I fail to fathom the logic behind her reasoning. So, I argue, "I am paying her to be a caretaker here. Is this not exactly what she is hired to do? How does it make sense that I pay and still have to do the chores myself?" My words make the caretaker, Julia Woodard, cry. My parents get angry at me too. The frown on Mom's face becomes even more pronounced. "What's the point of raising you? We barely see you all year. You are not as thoughtful as Julia! At least she stays by our side every day." Dad points at me and scolds, "You might as well stop coming back. From now on, Julia is our real daughter! Go do whatever you want!" I let out a helpless laugh. I am busy working away from home, but I send a large amount of money back every month and even fork out extra money to hire a caretaker for them. But in the end, they think her as their caring daughter and shower her with affection instead. If that's the case, I'll stop sending money and see whether Julia will still act like their "daughter" for free.

I have been dead for seven years. For seven years, a rare plague had ravaged the Silver Moon Kingdom. The new Luna, Lilith, wasn't immune either. She coughed up blood daily, her old wounds weeping anew with every full moon. Even in death, to the wolf packs, I was still the jinx. The false Luna who had beguiled the Alpha King. The cursed one destined to bring ruin to the kingdom. The entire kingdom begged Alpha King Kaelan to banish my vengeful spirit. My former mate was in the royal palace, softly consoling his current Luna, my sister. "Lilith, don't be afraid. If she insists on tormenting you with her curse even after death, then I will tear her inner wolf to shreds. You'll never be threatened by her again." But when they set foot in the Rogue Lands where I had been exiled, they found no wandering spirit of mine. Before them knelt the corpses of dozens of she-wolves, arranged neatly before my crude grave. They had all been exiled as "sinners", yet now, in death, they offered their final act of devotion. There was no trace of any spirit. There was only a small girl, about six years old, sitting beside the tombstone and clutching a photograph of me from when I was alive. Her ice-blue eyes were a perfect reflection of Kaelan's. "You're too late," she said. "Her inner wolf returned to the Moon Goddess long ago." "I've only been waiting here to get justice for my mother."

Vince never planned to see his mate but he did and now he has to handle a relationship with his mate and at the same time try to find the threats against the Vampire world which wants to destroy it. ********* The primordials. The legend about how vampires came to be is a little sketchy but vampires have been known for the destroying of their race until the seven primordial. They changed the vampires world and now, vampires have a successful community, experience growth and development. They are also on the brink of war with the other two dominant races. The shifters (half man, half beast) and the sorcerers (Magic wielding folkes.) Gwen Stephens was as normal as a newly turned vampire could be. She was turned just a year earlier at 22 and she still had troubles with controlling her thirst and vampire gifts. Gifts which happens to be rare and very powerful. One fateful day, her life changed as she was going to the training center. She perceived the most tempting scent of blood and she couldn't control her thirst and she latch on the Vampire neck. Vince was on his way to find his sister when a vampire bit into his neck. He knew that she was his mate and he teleported them to his lair. Vince discovered at his mate was a spit fire and as much as he wanted to enjoy spending time with his mate. He needed to deal with the current threat as what he created would crumble if he didn't. As the Unofficial leader of the primordials he needed to ensure the safety of the Vampire race. He discovered soon enough that it was more complicated than he imagined.

In my past life, I was a rare treasure: the only she-wolf capable of bearing a pureblood werewolf heir. That singular gift made me a prize, claimed by Leon, the Alpha of the formidable Silvermoon Pack in North America. Leon's ambition burned with the desire for a child. A pureblood heir, he believed, would secure his ascension to President Alpha—the supreme leader of all North American Lycan packs. But fate, as it often does, twisted his expectations. After ten long months, I birthed a pup with gray fur and gray eyes which was different to the golden-marked purebloods. By all standards, a low-ranking wolf. Simultaneously, my sister Eve, wedded to the rival Seurin Pack, delivered a golden-furred, golden-eyed pureblood. Leon's dream of becoming President Alpha shattered in an instant. From that moment, he harbored a strong hatred for me and my pup. He forced wolfsbane down our throats and ended our lives with a silver blade in a cold merciless way. Only in my dying breath did the horrifying truth reveal itself: my own sister had stolen my gift—the ability to bear purebloods—using dark magic, claiming it as her own. Now, I am reborn. I find myself reliving the day Leon and Seurin arrived to propose marriage. Just as before, Leon chose my sister Eve without hesitation. I saw it in his eyes—he remembers everything. He, too, has been reborn. But this time, I possess the knowledge. Without me, he will never father a pup—not pureblood, not even half-blood. Not even a mutt.

Our expedition team ventured into a desert wilderness to investigate rare mineral resources when we were suddenly struck by extreme heat that reached 158 °F. I nearly passed out from dehydration and quickly reached into my backpack for the electrolyte water I had prepared in advance. Just as I was about to drink it, I realized the bottle was half-filled with urine. When I turned around, I saw Ben Murphy, my wife’s childhood friend, gulping down my electrolyte water. As I was about to confront him, Amy Garner, my wife, grabbed my sleeve and said, “Don’t be mad. I gave Ben your electrolyte water. He’s almost dehydrated. You can make do with this for now.” My vision started to blur. Clutching the half-empty bottle of urine, I asked through gritted teeth, “I’m dehydrated. Instead of letting me rehydrate properly, you want me to drink this? Are you trying to kill me?” Amy was upset. “Don’t be ridiculous! Ben doesn’t work out daily like you do. He can’t handle this heat. Wasn’t it right to give him the electrolyte water? Besides, urine can hydrate you, too! Don’t be picky at a time like this.” Seeing how unreasonable she was being, I sent a distress signal with my location just before losing consciousness. [Severely dehydrated, near death. Expedition mission suspended. Request immediate rescue. Also reporting a robber in the team. Notify the police immediately.]

My boyfriend has always doted on me. However, after learning that I can't go to work at the bank after falling and injuring myself, he snaps at me. "Why didn't you tell me you switched shifts with someone else? That was a cheap move!" I don't refute him. Instead, I pull out a hospitalization record as I watch the bank descend into chaos. In my past life, I attended to a couple who wanted to deposit five million dollars into their account. Their child had been diagnosed with a rare illness. They'd gotten the money by selling their organs and mortgaging the home—it was to save their child's life and pay for the surgery the following day. However, the money was stolen the following day. I helped them check where the money was withdrawn, but the surveillance footage showed I was the one who did it. My best friend wept when the couple questioned me. "You shouldn't have stolen the money someone needed to save a life, no matter how materialistic and covetous you are!" My boyfriend hurried over and said, "I wondered why you suddenly had money to buy a car—you stole it! You're heartless!" The child died after failing to receive treatment in time, and the couple stabbed me to death on the streets out of devastation. When I open my eyes again, I think injuring myself will help me escape this. To my surprise, the surveillance cameras once again capture me stealing the money.

Rebel King has spent her whole life being controlled—first by parents who hid and abused her, then by the fear they left behind. Rescued as a child by her uncle Fang, president of a ruthless wolf-shifter motorcycle club, Rebel finally learned what freedom tasted like. But when her parents resurface demanding she be mated off to a pack of their choosing, Rebel refuses to be owned ever again. Their revenge is brutal: Fang’s entire club is arrested in a police raid, leaving Rebel hiding in the panic room he built for her… alone, terrified, and furious. Then the engines roar. A new motorcycle gang arrives—summoned by Fang before he was taken. The Rogue Legion: a lethal, mixed-shifter crew led by Ruin, an alpha wolf whose presence hits Rebel like a punch to the soul. His men—Reaper, Asmodeus, and Viking—radiate power, danger, and something else she’s not ready for: desire. Rebel has always been told she’s nothing. But Ruin’s pack can sense exactly what she is. A rare omega. Untouched. Unclaimed. And theirs to protect. As Rebel is pulled into their world of dominance, heat, and undeniable chemistry, she must face a truth she’s never dared to believe—she isn’t meant to submit. She’s meant to choose. And the Rogue Legion is ready to tear the world apart if anyone tries to take that choice from her. Her past wants to cage her. Her future wants to claim her. And Rebel King is about to discover just how dangerous an omega can be when she finally finds a pack worth fighting for.

On the night of her eighteenth birthday, Zara Ashlen expected to be chosen. Instead, Damon Wells the Alpha she was fated to love rejected her in front of the entire pack. No reason. No apology. Just cold, certain words that tore the bond from her chest and left her with nothing. So she ran. Five years later, Zara has built a quiet life far from pack territory. A job. An apartment. A daughter she would burn the world down to protect. She doesn't think about the bond anymore. She doesn't think about Damon. She almost believes she's free. Then the summons arrives a mandatory pack summit she cannot refuse and Zara is dragged back into the world she escaped. But something is different this time. Something ancient and unstoppable stirs the moment she walks into that room. And it has nothing to do with Damon. Kael Drevon is the Lycan King. Ruthless. Untouchable. A man who has never once failed to take what he wants. He has spent years waiting for a mate the bond refused to show him. Until now. Until her. Zara has no intention of belonging to another Alpha not after what the last one cost her. But Kael didn't build a kingdom by accepting no. And the closer he gets, the more she realizes her daughter's rare blood has made them both a target. Running once saved her life. This time, her only chance at survival might be the King she's desperately trying to resist.

Ten years ago, there was an auction no one knew about, whispered only by the lips of the most powerful and elite clans and packs. There, Raya, a rare lunar-blood, was sold like a piece of property, to the highest bidder, the brooding and dark Alpha of the Red Moon Pack. But on the same day, under the blue moon, at the event that was meant to mark the beginning of a new era for the pack, Raya was publicly rejected and labelled cursed. But what no one knew was that Alpha Rex carried a deadly prophecy that stuck to him like a disease, slowly eating him from within. If he didn’t claim his second fated Luna, he would die within a year. To protect her from that ache, he let her go. She was banished, and it caused a scar on her soul. Raya hated him for it. Now, she lives in the shadows, a skilled rogue warrior, hiding a secret. Raya is pregnant with Rex’s child, a drunken magical manipulation neither of them remembers. But that moment could change everything. A new mandate is passed by the High Council that a blood marriage is needed to preserve the werewolf legacy and Rex’s life force. Raya is searched for again, forced to return to the Alpha who didn’t want her. And now, she is back for revenge. But Rex is dying. The curse is back. And worse is the fact that it is all tied to their bloodline, to the contrast hidden in their blood. And his first mate might not just have died while trying……. In a world where the elements of the earth didn’t want them together, can Raya risk everything, including her life, to save the man who once abandoned her?

On the way to a dance competition, a massive truck rammed into me. My legs were shattered, and my mother was sent flying from the impact after she tried to protect me. My stepbrother, who was also my secret boyfriend of six years, went crazy after hearing the news. He had the driver dragged off to a lawless borderland and called in the best doctors in the country to save me and my mother. Not many people knew, but I was born with a rare sensitivity to pain. The more it hurt, the clearer my mind became. That was how I ended up lying wide awake on the bed, listening to Luke Quinton and his friend, Harvey Lane, talking just outside my hospital room. "Luke, are you sure about this? You really want to let Queenie practice on Natalie's mother's heart?" "She deserves it. That vile woman seduced my father and drove my mother to her death. If not for revenge, do you think I'd stomach being with her daughter for six years? "She should be honored that Queenie is dissecting her heart. Keep it from Natalie for now. If she loses it, she might ruin my wedding with Queenie. What would I do if that happened? The only woman I'll ever have as my wife is Queenie. No one will ever take her place." So, that was the truth. What I thought was a love strong enough to defy the world had been a lie from the very beginning—just a carefully crafted act of revenge.