Blake Blessing

Sell your body or your mind? When forced to make an impossible choice, would you sacrifice your pride or your morals? I’m Amorette Monet Black, and I was abducted. Funny thing, I have a choice. One that most women don’t get. I could stay here and be forced to share my body... Or, I could let four questionable men take me away. Only there’s a price. It doesn't matter how much time I don't have, the choice is slipping through my fingers. Victim or accomplice? I know the choice I need to make, but will I be able to live with myself?

How dirty am I willing to get? Accepting the brothers for who they are is one thing. Understanding that they might always commit terrible crimes, is another. That was as far as I ever expected to be pushed into their world. But I’m facing an impossible choice when someone else’s life is on the line… Stain my soul or hold fast to my white-gloved morals? Could I actually let go of who I was? Do I want to? Hero or the villain–Is there even a difference? As the four most infuriatingly possessive men circle me, I’m starting to believe there are no choices. Not really. Now it’s time to find my limit.

This dark, corrupt world threatens to drown me. While the Institution is fracturing, I am certain of only one thing—the brothers. They’re mine and I’m theirs. We’re going to survive no matter the cost. I won’t let it be any other way. I can’t… I’ve learned that it’s adapt or die, and I’m embracing it. For them. For me. Yet, just when we should be more united than ever, the brothers are breaking apart. Egos. Schemes. Drugs. Complications that threaten to poison us all. We should be fighting the world, not each other. There’s no longer a line I won’t cross to keep them safe. At one point, I thought my only choice was to be a victim or an accomplice. To save them--to be their hero, I will be the villain.

Life had always been about right and wrong. No gray area. No exceptions. But my time with the bastard sons of the Institution were slowly changing my mind–forcing me to see that sometimes the only options available to someone were bad and worse. Their justice was different than mine and I struggled with it. Except now, they were gone. Every day I’d fought to leave them, to go home. But…I wanted them back. What did that say about me? I was too afraid to look in the mirror. What if I do get back to them? Their father wanted them dead. Could I sacrifice the life I loved for them? Could I forsake my sister to stay? Yet a nagging feeling in the back of my mind said they were glad to be rid of me. I’d been a thorn in their side from day one. Why wouldn’t they be happy I was gone? But I was taken for a reason. Now the most important question was… Am I bait? Or collateral damage?

I’m not crazy. I’m the product of a schizophrenic mother who seemed more evil than human, and a bipolar father who didn’t love me enough to stay. But I’m not crazy. Now I’m struggling with life and question myself and my decisions every single day. Are these signs? Red flags? I won’t let myself look too close. I refuse to be crazy. Then four men swoop in just when I need them. They’re protective, supportive, and everything I never had even though we’re unconventional. I want to be the person they need me to be. I need it. But I’m afraid...that I’m crazy.

So close. We were so close to getting free. A few more deals here. A few more nasty secrets there. All in the name of the cause of course. Then she walked in at the wrong place, wrong time. Should we kill her? Keep her? Making the right decision was critical, but we were literally at a crossroads. That’s how the top tier of Alpha Delta Omega inducted our unofficial fourth member. But we weren’t who we said we were. And danger threatened us on every corner. She should be very afraid of us. Or should we be afraid of her?

“Why are you all so pretty?” It all started when I was six years old. I was homeless. They were held prisoner. I saved them. Even though it put me in the system. They believed we built an unbreakable bond forged by trauma. These beautiful, damaged boys saw me differently than the rest of the world. As much as I wished I could feel the same. I couldn’t. These boys–men–had too much anger. Too much hate. They wanted to burn down anything and everyone who had wronged them. It was eating them up inside. I tried to warn them. Instead of listening to me, they were set on destroying themselves. And me in the process.

One secret. One mistake. New fears. Winter break is here, and this is our opportunity to celebrate our first Christmas together. It’s wild to think we’ve only known each other since the beginning of the school year, but I want to experience everything with my guys. I’m hoping we’ll get to build sweet memories and lifelong traditions, but that might be harder than I thought it would be. Something is wrong. Maybe not wrong exactly, but off with Beck. I’ve tried to corner Jonah but he’s not giving anything away. How am I supposed to help if they won’t tell me what’s wrong? A taste of what life could truly be like for us once we graduate is within our grasp, but secrets have a funny way of destroying happiness. How can I keep us all together when this time, we might be torn apart from the inside?

New town. New school. Same lies. This is my senior year, and not only have my parents moved me to a new place where I know nothing and no one, they are determined to make me fall in line with the life they want me to have. Not the life that I want. But what fits perfectly into their world. I’m looking for any possible way to escape this prison and leave them behind. Which has been harder than I thought. An opportunity to escape appears. And I’m going to take it. I’m going to use four so-called perfect guys in this new town to make it happen. The ones that have it all, or so everyone thinks. And they’re going to be my ticket out.

Broken isn’t forever. It’s time I worked on myself and my mental health. I won’t give up. Broken can’t be forever. What happened to Eli still haunts my thoughts no matter what I do to block it out. Broken won’t be forever. I see Lauren in myself and it hurts. I see Kenzo and Atticus and it hurts. I run into Saint and Ambrose and it hurts. Then there’s Drake, so determined to reopen the wounds of the past. Please don’t let broken be forever. It hurts.

Four guys. One girl. Dangerous truths. Now that I maneuvered my parents into giving me the future I wanted, life seems easy. I finally have some freedom to enjoy my senior year without feeling like I’m slowly suffocating under the twisted morals and warped expectations of my parents. But it’s not long until everything starts to fall apart. The pretty lies that kept my world tied up in a pretty red bow? They’re starting to unravel. And not just for me. Something’s wrong with Jonah. No matter how I push, he’s not letting me or the guys in to help. Then there’s the tension between Thatcher and Beck. Not to mention the sudden change in my friendship with Rhys. How do you stay afloat when the ugly truths emerge from the pretty lies? You don’t.

Small town. Broken homes. Big dreams. Finally. Finally, life seems like it’s on the track I want it to be on. I had good friends that really care about me as a person, not me the pastor’s daughter. Good memories of senior year, maybe even good enough to overcloud Mother Dearest. There are even some new experiences that I blush just thinking about. But the guys? They want to get out too. My new goal in life is helping them achieve their dreams. They need a photographer? Perfect. Study buddy? No problem. Motivational speaker? I’ll do my best, but words aren’t really my strong suit. I got my dream, now it’s time for them to get theirs. But like always in the small town of Silver Ranch, nothing is ever easy. Betrayal, drama, and freaking elephant sized obstacles are thrown in our path and… I don’t know if we’re going to all make it out. The world always seems to break us apart at the worst times, in the worst ways. I was learning very quickly that… fears will bust dreams to pieces every time.

I was just minding my own business, trying to win in life (while in reality just barely passing) when I discovered the existence of a secret race, who think I’m the answer to their prayers. The Mazza, they called me. Someone who bears the marks of all four houses of this mysterious people, holding untold powers. Every time a Mazza has appeared in their history it has signaled great change. Change they so desperately need when they are on the brink of war. Their savior. Their Messiah. More like scale tipper for whatever side holds the Mazza. I just wish I knew what this war is about and who the players are. Everyone is out to get me, manipulate me, own me. Navigating the minefield I just stumbled into could very well cost me my life. Good thing I stumbled into a mistaken Uber full of men of said race who I can trust to help me navigate my new normal. Or can I? MARKS OF THE MAZZA is a full-length 70,000 word paranormal, reverse harem romance. Book one in the Mazza Series.