Let me tell you what it was to be made vampire. It wasn't birth. Birth implies pushing, tearing forth into the light, screaming. Becoming immortal was to be pulled, to be tugged irrevocably into darkness, and it was silent. I should have fought, any person should fight, but my mind had been filled with a hazy calm which forbade any battle. Struggling had been the last thing on my mind, even when my bus arrived and my assailant waved it on, dismissing my last hope of escape. Yet my lack of rebellion was far from the most unsettling part of the stranger's control over me. The truth was that the man could've asked anything of me and I would've complied, but he didn't need to vocalise his request. I knew instinctively what he wanted. I sighed and surrendered myself as he held me against his front in a lover's embrace, tipping my head and willingly giving him access to my throat. "One day you'll understand," he whispered, his tone subdued. I've often wondered since if he was really talking to me. Perhaps he'd been talking to himself, persuading himself that one day I'd know and accept his reasons for what he'd planned for me. I wouldn't. I couldn't. Because when my fangs came in, my world altered irrevocably. It became somewhere dark, somewhere filled with murder and blood, where magic was sinister and where even my closest ally seemed more like an enemy... Even if he did make my heart skip a beat. VAMPIRE/PARANORMAL/URBAN FANTASY

"It is your choice," he said, stepping so close to me that our lips were almost touching. "Either do what I say - or get another job." My heart stood still as I gazed up into his deep, dark, dangerous eyes... In a world where women's only role in life is to sit at home and look pretty, Lilly is determined to fight for her freedom. There's only one problem: a powerful man blocking her way.

**WINNER of 3 awards in 2016 and 2017** [[+18]] ** this book is on hold for now, but I haven't abandoned it. I'll do my best to get back and finish it, and many thanks for the amazing support from Aella fans <3 ** Aella is an island far away in the sea, with a few smaller islands around it. It is said that only the wind reaches it and ships rarely sail that far as it is mostly secluded from other lands. The Aellos is a tribe of several clans of hunters and warriors that existed for centuries on that island. Over the years, and mostly due to the harsh weather, the number of women have dropped drastically leading to fights and wars between the different clans of the tribe. Tired of being both subjects of dispute and objects of treaties, the proud women, referred to as Aellas, declared their own clan and secluded themselves in their own territory. Now there are only two clans: the Aellas, living in the north part of the island and above a very high cliff, and the Aellos, which is the clan of men living in the forests and small mountains on the rest of the island. All the laws of the tribe are now set for one purpose only: protecting the women and the survival of the tribe. To that reason, both clans meet once a year for what they call: Agape, the season of love, where a male from the Aellos and a woman from the Aellas choose each other to live together and enjoy each other's company for a month. Ceri, a 17 years old, is the only man living with the Aella clan. He was born and raised there, never once stepping foot beyond the limit of their territory... until the day he met the gorgeous Ithel. This is a romantic love story between the innocent Ceri and the lonely hunter, Ithel. [Disclaimer: Contains adult themes and graphic content + abuse and ra pe to be expected + manxman]