#these two make for a supremely interesting dynamic and i am thrilled by the possibilities!

[greedbent]

@whimsiicalwonders || liked for a starter! [Play Dirty – Kevin McAllister]

“You should start rehearsing your lies,” Kaz murmured in the scant space between them, voice nearly lost beneath the ceaseless hum of flowing water—that which echoed all the more in the underground. His attention was anywhere but on the magician in front of him. Scanning. Observing. But when he finally looked back, a dark and cold gaze practically dismantled him, piece by piece. (Oh, Kaz knew lying was by no means new to the little performer.) “Because this can only end one way.”

[bmacreadz]

"The Prison Healer" by Lynette Noni

I am wholly stunned and in awe at "The Prison Healer." It's saturated with romance, suspense, friendship, heartache, and mystery. I'm going to do my best to avoid spoilers as I unload everything that is this thrill of a story.

"The Prison Healer" follows Kiva, a seventeen year-old healer at the notorious prison of Wenderall known as Zalindov. The entire story takes place within the prison and the author so graciously included maps to everything, that I referenced several times throughout reading.

Kiva has done her best to stay alive within the prison for ten years, and in doing so, she's made some enemies. However, this story also introduces her to a cast of characters that soon become essential to her survival in the prison, despite Kiva's attempts to remain isolated. I loved reading these characters together so much. Tipp, Naari, Mot, Rooke... Jaren. The author wrote them and their relationships with each other incredibly well, and I would not want to imagine this story continuing on without any of them. I don't know how to explain it, but the whole dynamic just worked. It was the best group of characters together that I've read in a long time.

I won't give anything away, I promise, but I will say that not everything is as it seems in this book. "The Prison Healer" was full of twists and provided a genuinely thrilling experience for this reader. There were some things I suspected fairly early on, but other things that completely blew my mind. By the final page, I was thoroughly shocked, and my mind was reeling with all the possibilities that could come from these new revelations. I cannot wait to see what happens in book two, "The Gilded Cage." (It's supposed to be arriving at my house THURSDAY, which seems way too long for me to sit with all of this. I can't imagine having read this when it first came out.)

On another note, I love romance novels - especially fantasy romance novels. There is a much larger story brewing beneath the surface in "The Prison Healer," but I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't lacking in the romance like I initially thought it would be. A bit of foreshadowing makes me believe that romance will be a key element in the sequels, and I'm ready for it. We all know I love Happily-Ever-Afters and I'm hoping beyond hope that this series turns out in my favor.

The writing itself was phenomenal. The story flowed seamlessly and I respect that Lynette Noni was able to keep me so interested with such a "small" setting to the story. Her timing was spot-on, her twists came out of nowhere, and she answered the right questions without overloading the reader with extraneous information that didn't matter to the story. I thought Kavi to be a little naïve at times, but I never got annoyed with her and that's all because of the author. This story was also written from a third-person perspective, which I'm usually indifferent to, but I think it worked supremely well here.

I genuinely liked everything about "The Prison Healer." It's unique and I definitely think more people should be talking about it, which means yes, I highly recommend reading it! I haven't read the other books yet, but I believe it's only going to get better from here - and only a lot more interesting.

A special thanks to @wellwhatisnttaken for recommending this book to me! You definitely hit your target with this one, and I'm so glad to dive into this story.

[snarkwriteswrasslin]

FFT: won’t you stay with me; adam page

Notes:

this was originally posted on my main snarkandsarcasmwrites and it was sent to me by @mrscrain-x7​ on there. This is an alpha x omega au that never really got off the ground but I have been... high key tempted to actually plot out and do something with, so we shall see. Idk. Ya know, if anyone /thinks/ I should... I’m open to hearing that.

Summary:

Adam finds his Omega and is almost instantly smitten. Part 1 of 3.

Pairing:

Adam Hangman Page x OFC, Katya

Warnings:

heavy hinted at Alpha & Omega dynamics at play here. Fluff. That’s about it honestly.

Katya hated the way it felt; her skin burning and crawling and at the same time, feeling tight. The feeling that the air was somehow thicker. The sweating and last but certainly not least, the horomones.

Horomones equalled supreme horniness. Meaning that even the most mundane thing suddenly took on an almost erotic nature.

She kept catching his scent, only for it to be gone by the time she finally got a chance to leave her work area and try to locate it backstage.

She hit the thermostat and glared. “There’s no way this is set to cool. It feels like a fucking sauna in here.”

“It’s set to cool.” Britt Baker spoke up from the doorway as she stepped in, eyeing Katya curiously. “Is everything okay?”

“Hell no! A certain little problem decided to present itself tonight.”

“Certain little problem.” Britt mumbled only to quietly exclaim, “Oh..” and then an even lower “Oh.. That’s not good.” as she shook her head. The next thing Katya knew, she was being guided down into the chair sitting in front of her mirrored workstation and Britt was going to grab her a bottled water from catering.

All of this meant one thing and Katya found herself both thrilled and slightly horrified by what was taking place.

Her Alpha was in the building somewhere. Her true Alpha.

That’s the only reason all of this kickstarted. It had to be. There wasn’t any other logical explanation for it.

She fanned herself with a copy of the night’s program and her head fell back as she closed her eyes. The door opened and then it closed quietly.

“Britt?”

No one answered and then this rank scent filled the room. Katya swallowed hard and sat up.

MFJ stood there in his knockoff Burberry scary, smirking.

…. JUST FUCKIN GREAT. NATURALLY, MY HEAT STARTS AND NOW I’LL HAVE TO DEAL WITH EVERY UNMATED ALPHA ASSHOLE BACK HERE…. DAMN IT, WHAT’S TAKING BRITT SO LONG, I WONDER?...

He moved closer, Katya wrinkled her nose and sprayed her favorite perfume; a vain attempt to drive out the way MFJ’s scent was almost totally off putting. The whole scenting thing…. It was by far one of the bad things about being an Omega.

When he stood next to her and he leaned down, sniffing at her, she gulped. “What?”

“ I thought you might need some help with your little problem, Omega.”

“Not from you, no thanks I’ll pass.”

Rather than leave, he continued to stand there, staring down at her with an almost amused smirk, almost as if he seriously thought she were confused and hadn’t meant to tell him no.

“I meant it, sir.” Katya tried her best to sound as firm as possible, even though she felt her stomach churning, her hands beginning to shake a little and she knew damn well that at the end of her sentence her voice wavered ever so slightly. She’d never really enjoyed confrontations.

Or being cornered.

“Sir.. I like that.” he responded, only leaning in even closer, a finger curling beneath her chin which she attempted to shrink back from as best as she could.

“I’d like it if you left.” Katya repeated it, luckily for her, it was firmer this time. She wanted him gone, she was going to have to really act like it, which meant being rude, being louder than she normally would. Whatever it took to get the guy away from her.

“Sassy… I like that too.” he was leaning down and Katya was shrinking back. The guy clearly had that typical sense of Alpha entitlement and no clear sense of personal boundaries. Those two things coupled with his overwhelming and totally unappealing stench, well… It was a safe bet that she wasn’t getting closer. No amount of money in the world would get her closer.

He stared her down a few seconds; again, she got the distinct feeling that the jerk was not used to hearing the words “no, i’m not interested, not even slightly”. It wasn’t a surprise.

Britt cleared her throat from the doorway. “Get out, MFJ.”

“Oh? And whose gonna make me?” he seemed to scoff at Britt as if to challenge her. Britt stood straighter, stepping closer to where the two of them stood as if she were going to do something.

Katya turned, stared him dead in the eyes and pointed to the door. “ Go.”

“You’ll be begging for me later. Especially when none of the other Alphas around will even give you a second glance.” he walked out the door and Katya took the bottled water from Britt, uncapping it and drinking down half, choosing to let MFJ’s parting words go ignored.

She tensed when the scent she’d been driven crazy by all day long filtered into the room and despite her best efforts not to, she found herself whimpering and staring at the doorway longingly.

All Britt could do was laugh and shake her head and mumble audibly, “Thank God I’m a Beta and do not have to deal with this.”

“I wish I could say that right about…” Katya trailed off as the scent grew closer and closer. She sat down the bottled water and bolted for the door just in time to throw it open all the way and be hit with a wall of that almost mouthwatering scent that belonged to her true mate.

And the second she realized just who it was, she slammed the door shut and leaned against it heavily, trying to catch her breath.

“Oh.My.God.”

“What? Did you figure out who he is?” Britt asked, staring at the other woman intently, waiting on an answer.

Katya took a deep breath and muttered mostly in shock, “I think it’s Adam. God, I hope it’s Adam. It has to be him. It has to be…”

“As in Hangman? Holy… Wait, I thought you were saying he was sexy as hell…. I thought you’d be excited?”

“ Oh, I am… Just have… Literally no clue how to even begin to tell him?”

“Girl.. Pretty sure that as an Alpha, he knows.”

“I doubt it.”

“They always know, Kat. Especially when it comes to their Omegas.”

Out in the hallway, Adam stood, staring at the door to hair and makeup, a hand wound in his hair as he tried to puzzle out whether the scent he’d been practically running down just now, because he sensed the distress of her, -your Omega, and he’d had no choice but to at least try to locate her.

The door was shut.

The scent was strong, almost enough that his mouth was watering. He lower the hand currently rubbing the back of his head and wiped the back of it across his mouth, taking a deep breath and sniffing the air.

She seemed calmer now.

Still, the fact remained, whoever she was, she was right behind that door…  Kenny nudged his side, nodding to the door. “Well?”

“She’s in there, no doubt.”

Nick spoke up. “ I could’ve sworn I saw Britt go in there.”

The door opened and Britt said something to whoever else happened to be inside and then she walked out and right past Adam. As soon as she was out of ear shot, Kenny gave a look as if to ask Adam if Britt were the source of the scent he’d been chasing over the course of the day and Adam shook his head, staying where he stood and staring at the door.

Whoever she was, she was still inside the room.

“Fuck it. I’m not standin out here all day. I’m not a wimp.” Adam stepped forward and just as he did, the door opened again.

And he was promptly hit with a wall of vanilla, heavy and sweet.. He bit back a groan as he fixed his eyes on her.

His true Omega.

She couldn’t have been more than 5’1, maybe not even that tall.. The sweater she wore hung down to her thighs and it’s sleeves covered her fingers, the thing was clearly way too big for her. Her jeans were full of holes and fit almost like a second skin and she was wearing a pair of those boots that were fuzzy on the inside, but Adam couldn’t help noticing that despite her being dressed for the weather, a fine mist of sweat gathered on her skin. One quick scenting revealed exactly why this was so and before Adam could stop himself, he gave a low growl that was closely followed by an almost needy whine. He felt himself getting harder and harder by the second and he took a few deep breaths, desperately trying to calm himself the fuck down.

It wasn’t working, naturally.

Nick and Matt followed his gaze and chuckled quietly.

“Her name is Katya. She’s going to be doing hair and makeup, I think. Matt talked to her on the elevator earlier… Right before you got all hostile because you smelled her on him and flipped out?” Nick was trying his hardest not to laugh. Matt smiled and shrugged. “She was kind of quiet. Standoffish. Like she’s not a real big people person.”

Kenny was snickering by now. “Kind of reminds me of someone else we know when he chooses to be that way.” he mused, earning him a middle finger from Adam who finally managed to tear his eyes off her. His mind was racing. Because now her scent held curiosity.. Longing.. A little nervousness too.

Her eyes met his and they stood there, in the middle of the crowded hallway, staring at one another. When she fanned herself, Adam chuckled and rubbed his chin, giving a smirk and a slight grin as he waved.

Okay, so maybe he was trying to be a smartass.

One of them had to do something, so he figured it might as well be him, so he started to walk towards her.

… she’s fucking gorgeous… keep it together dumbass…

… mine…

… all mine…

Katya watched him walking towards her, frozen in place. She whimpered as the scent of him got stronger and he got closer. The closer he got to where she stood, the more she fidgeted under his intently focused gaze.

She swallowed hard as he came to a stop in front of her, licking his lips, leaning in carefully. Her eyes fluttered open and closed as she felt his nose just barely brush against the side of her neck and heard him mumble something, mostly to himself and in shock.

“ Uh hi?”

“Hey.” It took a few seconds, but Adam finally got the word out. He found himself staring at her, totally unable to stop doing so. Not that he really wanted to anyway.

“Was everything okay just now?” the question was out before he could stop himself from asking it. She bit her lip and shrugged, staring back up at him. “MFJ decided to grace me with his presence. I think Britt scared him away.”

Adam’s gaze momentarily flitted over to Britt, who was standing with Kenny and the Bucks, and he chuckled. “Yeah, she can be intimidating. But you’re okay, right? I mean if he messed with you at all…” his eyes fixed on her, full of concern.

“I’m fine.”

“I know the guy freaked you out a little, darlin.”

Katya swallowed hard, staring up at him. Everything inside her wanted to ask if he knew what she did, but she didn’t dare. When he spoke again, he pretty much answered her question.

“I’m your alpha. I’m gonna pick up on that.” Adam reached out, tucking some hair that fell into her eyes back behind her ear. It occurred to him that she’d been worried about whether he knew or not too, it was the main reason he said what he did. She was apparently twisting herself in and out to come up with a way to say it or ask him if he knew.

He didn’t want her worrying.

“Oh, I… I wasn’t sure how this worked.”

“You’re gonna be fine, darlin. Just let me take care of ya, yeah?” Adam moved a little closer. When she didn’t back away and instead, came closer as well, he slipped both arms around her waist, stared down at her. “ Just wanna keep you close… That’s okay, right?” and he barely restrained the quiet groan that came when she moved even closer, nodding up at him, swallowing hard. She took a ragged breath of her own and answered quietly, “Yeah, it’s more than okay.”

He gave a bright and goofy grin, raising his hand, stroking the hair at the back of her head. God, he thought to himself, all I wanna do is fucking.. Touch..  Hold… Kiss.. Among many, many other things…