Devils & Rye

by Alta Hensley

  Until I met him.

  Axel Rye.

  Yes.

  He fucked me up.

  He really fucked me up.

  It all started so simply. I only wanted to write a book about the dark, gritty world of nightclubs, booze, drugs, and sex. I didn’t expect to be sucked in to the point where I could no longer see the light. But I became weak. Axel Rye made me weak.

  He was wrong in every way. He was a drug dealer, a criminal, and the kind of man your parents told you to stay away from. Yet, he became my drug, and I shook in need until my next fix.

  I was delicate.

  He was scarred.

  But together…together we became delicate scars.

  Maddox, The Black Stallion Trilogy #1 (with Maggie Ryan)

  USA Today Bestselling Authors Maggie Ryan and Alta Hensley join forces to bring you the first novel in this action-packed, romantic suspense trilogy full of bad boys and the women who love them.

  Power… danger… desire

  Maddox Steele, along with his two brothers and father, lives by one code: Help all in need. No questions asked. Even if it means saving those who walk among the most sinister criminals in the world. Known as The Black Stallions, their mission is simple – provide rescue and safety to the underground.

  Adira Nazar has no idea her entire life is about to explode into a million pieces. With her life in extreme danger, her only choice is to hand over complete trust to a dark and mysterious man she has never met before… Maddox Steele.

  Just another job…

  Someone to protect like all the others…

  But when Maddox sets eyes on Adira, all bets are off. She is his save, and he's determined to make sure that nothing happens to this exotic beauty trapped in a ruthless world.

  Tucked away at The Black Stallion Ranch, and with the few clues they have, can the Steeles put together the pieces in time to save her, or will they lose Adira to the clutches of darkness?

  Stryder, The Black Stallion Trilogy #2 (with Maggie Ryan)

  USA Today Bestselling Authors Maggie Ryan and Alta Hensley join forces again to bring you the second novel in this action-packed, romantic suspense trilogy full of bad boys and the women who love them.

  Dark… seductive… promise

  Stryder Steele, along with his two brothers and father, lives by one code: Help all in need. Even if it means saving those who walk among the most sinister criminals in the world. Known as The Black Stallions, their mission is simple – provide rescue and safety to the innocents drawn into the evil depths of the underground.

  Zoya Morozova has been kidnapped and ready to be sold at an underground human auction in Moscow. Being sold to the highest bidder, she has no idea her life is about to change when her new Master is the dark and mysterious… Stryder Steele.

  Bad boy Stryder remembers the pain of being unable to save another but he’ll put his life on the line to save this beautiful Russian farm girl. When he buys Zoya with the purpose of rescuing her, he has no idea that she may have the power to rescue him as well.

  Flown to The Black Stallion Ranch, and with the help of Zoya and the knowledge of the human sex trade she has, can the Steeles put together the pieces in time to save all the innocent women who had been sold to the monsters of the underground, or will they lose to the mastermind of it all?

  Anson, The Black Stallion Trilogy #3 (with Maggie Ryan)

  USA Today Bestselling Authors Maggie Ryan and Alta Hensley join forces again to bring you the third novel in this action-packed, romantic suspense trilogy full of bad boys and the women who love them.

  Sinister… passion… freedom

  Anson Steele, along with his two brothers and father, lives by one code: Help all in need. Even if it means saving those who walk among the most sinister criminals in the world. Known as The Black Stallions, their mission is simple – provide rescue and safety to the innocents drawn into the evil depths of the underground.

  Natalia Alvarez has been sold to the leader of one of Argentinian’s largest drug cartels at an underground human auction. Having been purchased by the highest bidder, she is now nothing more than a possession of Juan Montez and hidden away deep within the walls of his South American compound.

  Anson Steele has been on the hunt for Natalia since the day he first saw her at the auction and helplessly had to watch her while not being able to do a thing about it. But he has made it his life’s mission to find this woman and pull her out of the depths of hell – at whatever cost. She will be his save one way or another.

  With the backdrop of the mission being the unforgiving jungles and the dangerous streets of Argentina, and escaping a foreign country near impossible, is Natalia doomed to be locked away forever?

  While fighting against a powerful drug cartel and their ruthless leader, will Anson Steele be able to rescue Natalia before it is too late? Will they both be able to find refuge in The Black Stallion Ranch and put this awful nightmare behind them?

  Dark Feather

  USA Today bestselling author Alta Hensley brings you an erotic and dark story that transports you to a gritty and ruthless world...

  Commander Rigby Moss was the leader of the Cyan army, and I was now his captive. Forced to learn the art of submission, as well as the art of war, I became his soldier. From the moment I was captured, I became a mighty warrior amongst a cast of men.

  But I had a curse that haunted me daily. I was nothing but a mutant who possessed the answer for warmth, waterproofing, and ultimately, survival—feathers. They marked my skin, forever branding me as a Penna no matter how hard I tried not to be. I hated them. They shamed me. And although the feathers kept me alive, I was dead on the inside.

  But I was HIS. And he would do whatever it took to battle my demons as we battled the enemy. Could a dark and broken woman come to terms with friendship, trust, forgiveness and love?

  Could a woman taught to remain strong at all times, learn to submit? Could I let go of the darkness, the hate, the death, and all I knew? Was it possible to truly be his DARK FEATHER?

  Disclaimer: Dominance, submission, and erotic discipline elements are weaved throughout, including breath play. If such material offends you, please do not purchase this book.

  Caring For Citrine

  In the Palace of Lazar - Harem (Book One)

  Conquering Lazar - Harem (Book Two)

  Traditional Love

  Traditional Terms

  Traditional Change

  Poppa's Progeny

  Captured by Time (with Carolyn Faulkner)

  A New Forever (with Carolyn Faulkner)

  Enrolling Little Etta (with Allison West)

  The Nanny (with Allison West)

  Little Secrets (with Allison West)

  For more of my books check out my Amazon Page!

  http://amzn.to/2CTmeen

  Dark Fantasy Series

  SNOW & THE SEVEN HUNTSMEN

  RED & THE WOLVES

  QUEEN & THE KINGSMEN

  Snow & the Seven Huntsmen

  This is no fairytale…

  They’ve been sent to break me.

  Not one, but seven.

  They plan to steal my beauty, my innocence.

  Seven Hunters to track me down and claim me as theirs.

  I try to run, but it is hopeless.

  They have caught me.

  I am their prey, their prize, to do with as they please.

  But I will capture something far more precious… the Huntsmen’s hearts.

  Red & the Wolves

  This is no fairytale…

  As the Blood Moon rises, I’ve been chosen.

  Chosen to serve, to obey…to die…for no one survives their time with the Wolves.

  As I am dressed in the ceremonial Red Hood, all I can think of is escape.

  But there is no escape.

  The lives of my village depend on my submission to the accursed Wolves.

  There are five of them.

  Five men cursed to live as Wolves.

/>   Cursed for generations, forced to protect my village from the dark forces.

  But they demand a heavy price for their protection. Me.

  Five against one…against me alone.

  My only hope for survival is to tame the wolves…but submission is not in my nature.

  Queen & the Kingsmen

  This is no fairytale…

  Captured and imprisoned.

  They seek to break my curse by breaking me.

  But I will not submit, no matter what tortures they have planned.

  I am stronger then the Kingsmen.

  Not just one man, but six.

  For I am the powerful and feared evil queen.

  My curse will stand.

  Newsletter

  ALTA HENSLEY’S HOT, DARK & DIRTY NEWS

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  HAVE YOU READ CAPTIVE VOW?

  Chapter One

  Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water.

  Jack fell down and broke his crown,

  And Jill came tumbling after.

  My momma used to hum that nursery rhyme. She used to hum it a lot. And on days she was stressed, anxious, or short fused, she would even sing it with a high-pitched, haunting voice over and over again like a stuck record. It was the sound of my childhood. I hated that song.

  I still remember the day I asked her why she loved it so. I wanted to know why two people climbing a hill and then falling off it was so important to her. Who was Jack? Who was Jill? She had looked at me stunned, as if surprised I had noticed and had paid attention to her humming and singing it all these years. Or was she shocked I didn’t know the answer to my question? Whatever it was, she studied me for several minutes before answering me.

  “It was your father’s and my song. It reflects us. Our love we once shared.”

  My mother never spoke of my father. I had never met him nor ever saw a picture. Whenever I asked about him, for stories describing who he was, my momma was quick to shut it down. She said he was ‘gone’ and that was the best answer I would ever get.

  “A nursery rhyme?” I had asked. “That was your song?”

  “Yes. It’s about two lovers who beat all the odds holding them down. They climb above it all, but only to be crushed again.”

  “I don’t understand. Why do they have a pail of water?”

  “A pail of water is a euphemism for having sex. For finally being in love and able to be together. But then Jack dies… and Jill soon follows.”

  “They die?”

  She nodded, appearing so deep in thought. “Yes, they both eventually die.”

  The sound of the phone ringing in the middle of the night was never a good thing. It’s always the sound of bad news, an emergency, or even death. The shrill resonance cutting through the night’s air is like a town crier announcing impending doom.

  My heart thumped against my chest as I reached for my cell phone sitting on the nightstand beside my bed. The number on the screen showed unknown, which only intensified my panic.

  I cleared my throat, not wanting to sound as if I had been woken from a deep slumber and answered, “Hello?”

  There was an operator’s voice on the other end. “This is a collect call for Demi Wayne from The Eastland Women’s Correction Facility. Would you like to accept the charges?” I had heard this question many times before.

  “Yes, I will accept the charges.” I sat up in my bed and turned on the bedside lamp, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

  A clicking sound was followed by, “Demi?”

  “Hello.” I felt sick. I wanted to vomit. Her voice on the other end always made me feel ill, but tonight was worse. So much worse. I scanned my nightstand, wishing I still had the emergency pack of cigarettes I kept for an occasion such as this. Why the fuck did I decide to quit?

  “How are you?” she asked.

  What did she expect me to say? How was I supposed to be when I was getting a call from my mother in the middle of the night from a prison where she’d been incarcerated for the past six years? I needed a goddamn cigarette is how I was.

  “Fine,” I lied.

  “Have you been watching the news?”

  “No.” Ever since my mother was arrested for blowing up a building and killing the five guards on that night’s duty, I avoided the media completely. I couldn’t take it. The pictures of her. The pictures of me. The pictures of us together and how the media would say I was a spitting image of my mother. They would say we looked like angels with our blonde hair and blue eyes, but then in the same sentence, say my mother had nothing but the devil inside of her. I didn’t want to look like her. I didn’t want to be the devil. I hated the media. I hated them all. I couldn’t handle all the awful things being said about my mother.

  Demon.

  Murderer.

  Monster.

  And they were all true. Everything they said was true.

  There was a long pause of silence. “I’m calling to say goodbye,” she said with a wavering voice.

  Bile built up in the back of my throat. “Goodbye?” We had already said our goodbyes when she was handcuffed and escorted off to prison. So what could she possibly mean by saying it again?

  “I lost the final appeal.”

  I remained silent. I struggled to comprehend the information being fed through the phone line. It was as if my body was protecting me from processing the words threatening to shatter my soul. Lost. Final.

  “I’m being sentenced to death tomorrow. Lethal injection. The lawyer says today was my final attempt at overturning the guilty verdict. I lost again.”

  Guilty.

  The judge and jury had deemed her guilty.

  She was guilty. She had placed the bomb in the building. She had killed those men. When she was asked why, she had said it was for the cause. The company housed in the building was testing against animals. She had been the judge and jury in that case, deciding that the experiments they were conducting deemed them worthy of being destroyed. ‘A cause,’ she had stated over and over. She was proud of her cause. She was proud of what she did. Not once did she say she was sorry. Not once did she glance over at the wives and families of the men she killed and beg for their forgiveness. Not once did she look at me and tell me she had made a huge mistake and wished she could take it all back. Not once did she show even an ounce of decency in her actions. When I had asked her why she would kill those innocent men, praying to God it was an accident, she simply shrugged and told me it was collateral damage. The price to pay for a bigger and better cause. So yes, what the media was saying about her was true.

  Demon.

  Murderer.

  Monster.

  My momma.

  Yes.

  So, I had no choice but to carry the shame for the both of us, and what a heavy weight it was. On my eighteenth birthday, I sat in the crowded courtroom and watched my mother stand with an aura of defiance and pride while the judge sentenced her to death for five counts of murder.

  Happy Birthday to me.

  “Demi?”

  “Yes?” My voice cracked. I glanced around my bedroom at the piles of dirty clothes strewn about as my heart threatened to beat out of my chest. My room reflected my life. Dirty, neglected, disarrayed, shambles. My life was in chaos, and all I wanted right now was a fucking cigarette. This couldn’t be real. This couldn’t be real. This couldn’t be real… yet, it was.

  “Did you hear what I said?”

  “Yes.”

  There was a long pause as darkness suffocated me. As darkness stabbed at my heart over and over. As darkness bludgeoned me to a bloody pulp. Darkness destroyed me as I sat there with the phone to my ear.

  Dead man walking…

  Correction.

  Dead woman walking…

  “It’s okay, Demi. I’m at peace. I
finally get to be with your father.”

  I said nothing as I struggled to breathe. The small room of my one-bedroom apartment shrank in size as the walls appeared to be closing in on me. I was trapped in this nightmare that I couldn’t elude. There was no escape from my life.

  “Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown. And Jill came tumbling after,” she sang softly as she had done so many times in my youth. She paused, as if she were waiting for me to say something. As if wanting me to ask for clarification.

  I wanted to scream for her to stop. I didn’t want to hear that awful nursery rhyme ever again. I wanted her to shut the fuck up! Yet, I didn’t want those to be my last words to her. No matter what, she didn’t deserve that. I didn’t want her to die hearing my cruel—but honest—words ringing in her ears. A daughter’s truth to a mother who had done her wrong… so very wrong. So, I remained silent. Silent like all the times I watched her and others meet in my living room planning to take down a government agency or corrupt company. These strangers plotting and planning in my childhood home all spoke as if they were the good guys, and everyone else were the villains. I had grown up to distrust our government due to all the conspiracy theories I heard growing up. I never questioned. I never disagreed. I never told a soul of their plans. I only remained silent as a good little girl would do.