Once Untold

All's fair when you're in love with War.

For seventeen-year-old Mia Ahlström, a world ruled by order is the only world she allows. A lifetime of chore charts, to-do lists and study schedules have helped earn her a spot in Redwood State University’s engineering program. And while her five-year plan includes finding her very own happily-evah-aftah, years at an all girls’ boarding school left her woefully unprepared for keg parties and co-ed extracurricular activities.

So nothing surprises her more than catching the eye of Tyr Fredriksen at her first college party. The imposing Swede is arrogantly charming, stubbornly overprotective, and runs hot-and-cold in ways that defy reason . . . until Mia learns that she’s fallen for the Norse God of War; an immortal battle deity hiding on Midgard (Earth) to protect a valuable Asgardian treasure from a feral enemy. With a price on his head, Tyr brings more than a little excitement to Mia’s rigidly controlled life. Choosing Tyr may be the biggest distraction—or the greatest adventure—she’s ever had.

He was the player. The most popular guy in highschool. In other words, the stereotypical heartbreaker that every girl died for.

She was one of the nerds. The outcast teased and shunned by the popular kids in school. In other words, him and his crew.

He always wanted her, she just never knew it . . .

In order to maintain his popularity, he buried those feelings deep, deep down in the pit of his miserable little soul.

That is, until one night he lost control.

They both did.

Unfortunately, they weren’t the only ones that knew it. What his friends ended up doing with the knowledge would scar her for the next seven years of her life.

And leave him wrecked, dealing with years of agony because he’d lost her.

Highschool graduation came and went, and they never saw each other again.

Now, seven years later, Andrew’s stepped in and taken his father’s place as CEO of his family’s company, Drevlow Systems, Inc.

Along with the new position comes a host of perks . . . and a brand new systems genius working as the head of his company’s IT department.

An IT genius that just happens to be the one woman he never forgot.

She hasn’t forgotten him or his reputation either and she wants nothing to do with him.

He’s determined to have her—she’s determined to see him burn in hell before that happens.

What ensues takes the term War of the Sexes to a whole new level.

{Episode #1}

Andrew is forced to face his past in a way he’d never expected.

Or prepared for.

Seven years.

That’s how long he waited to find Lexi again. Seven years worth of memories. Fantasies that tormented his life, making it impossible for him to move on.

Seven years worth of guilt for what he’d inadvertently allowed to happen.

He had it all planned out, every step of the epic-groveling he knew he’d have to do.

His plan was absolutely perfect.

Genius, actually.

Then he walked into his company’s IT department and seen the same big, blue-gray eyes that had haunted him for years . . .

Glaring at him from behind familiar, black-framed glasses.

And Andrew knew, right then, without a doubt . . .

That his plan wasn’t worth sh*t.

Disclaimer: Systematic Siege: Provocative Tendencies is a series of short stories, each roughly 10,000-15,000 words long, with an estimated final total of nine episodes for the entire series.

Aidan

Surf.
Fuck.
Get high.

Sounds like the perfect day to Aidan Callahan. As second-born son to Chicago’s most influential business owner, Aidan’s life has always been about responsibility. Tradition. Toeing the goddamn line. Just do as you’re told, Aidan. Don’t make waves.

Well, screw that. Riding waves is way more fun than making them.

Hawaii is paradise on earth. Smoking hot women. Tiny bikinis. As far as Aidan’s concerned, wild horses couldn’t drag him kicking and screaming back to the windy city. Or at least that’s what he thought.

When his brother crashes his Mercedes, killing himself on impact, Aidan finds himself next in line to the Callahan fortune and all the ties that come with it.

And this time there’s no getting out of it.

Essie

A warm bed.
A steady job.
A brother who loves her.

For Essie Floyd, life’s been one hard kick in the teeth after another. With her parents both dead, her brother is her only living relative. That is until Vaughn’s truck is written off, his life snatched away by the careless actions of a rich playboy in a flashy sports car.

Now, the only thing that will bring Essie peace is revenge. She must take what was taken from her. Only when the name Callahan has been wiped from the face of the earth forever will she be able to start living again.

Of course, the new head of the Callahan Corporation isn’t what she expected. Aidan’s sexy and sad, and just as damaged as she is. Will she be able to distance herself enough to accomplish her goal?

After all, ruining a man’s really hard when you find yourself falling for him…

Following an accident injuring her dad, twenty-four year old Leigh Storm returns home to the town she was once so desperate to escape.

It is only a matter of hours before she runs into Max 'Manwhore' Morgan. Dark eyed and dangerous to her heart, he is the very last person she wants to see. It might have been four years since she saw him last, but there's no denying the chemistry between them is as potent as ever. Max makes it clear he isn't about to let her run again, even if he is the one thing Leigh vowed to herself she would never date: a street racer.

After racing tore apart her own family and left a path of destruction in its wake, Leigh decided long ago that it is not the life she wants for herself. But when a wager gone wrong threatens her dad's livelihood, Leigh must go against everything she believes in.

This time there's more at stake on the quarter mile that just the family business-She's risking her heart as well.

What does it take to move past a lifetime of hating?

Charity’s luck never ran strong because her original configuration was unstable. Her handlers designed experiments to fix the problem, but only made it worse. Sick to death of living under their thumb, she jumps at a chance to escape her compound. She’s no sooner settled in as a CIA special operative—a role where she can put her augmented mind and body to use—when her wobbly genetics escalate.

Tony’s a freak—a genetically altered human waging war against the government. He snaps up an offer of amnesty, walking away from his role as a genetic researcher to work for the CIA. When Charity collapses in a severe seizure, he labors to save her life, but nothing’s working. In a last ditch effort, he joins his mind to hers and discovers he wants her more than he’s ever wanted anything. Only problem is she hates every single male freak for how they treated women in the compounds.

Charity recovers from her medical crisis, but all she can think about is Tony. Furious, determined to never let anyone like him near her, she blocks him from her mind, but he seeps back in anyway. Loving someone like Tony is a huge risk, a gamble that could throw her already precarious genes into a tailspin.

Knowing all that, why the hell is she considering it?

They say you never forget your first love. No matter how many more come along or how much time goes by, there will always be that one person who will be forever embedded deep inside your heart and soul. For me, that was Jaxson Callahan.

We were complete opposites. I was a senator’s daughter. My parents were always too busy keeping up appearances on the political scene to show me love, so instead they bought my affection.

He was the son of a woman who allowed men to use and abuse her as well as him, just for her next fix.

We became each other’s solace during that summer we met, creating a lifetime of memories in three short months. I provided him with a sense of hope that there was more than just the harsh reality of the life he had grown accustomed to, and he showed me a genuine love that I had been yearning for my entire life. We vowed to be together forever. I loved him and he loved me…. and nothing would keep us apart.

Nothing except the secrets that were hiding in that small seaside town.

Secrets that altered our destiny. We were never given any warning as we watched our future shake, crumble and disappear altogether, leaving us with nothing but memories of a bittersweet past.

Life can be beautiful.

Life can be kind.

And, life can be heartless…..because nothing about our situation was fair.

The line between hunter and hunted thins, blurs, and finally shatters.

Series Backstory: Sometime between the interminable wars in the Middle East and 9/11, the United States moved forward breeding a race of super humans. Clandestine labs formed, armed with eager scientists who’d always yearned to manipulate human DNA. At first the clones looked promising, growing to fighting size in as little as a dozen years, but V1 had design flaws.

Seven years ago, a rogue group turned on their creators, blew up the lab, and hit all the other breeding farms, freeing whomever they could find. In the intervening time, they’ve retreated to hidden compounds and created a society run by men. Women are kept on a tight leash because the men fear if they discover their innate power, they’d launch their own rebellion.

***

Being a genetically altered human without a name grew old, so Glory named herself. Surrounded by a maze of unpleasant alternatives, she makes a bold choice and ends up a fugitive in the midst of a Minnesota winter. Once she’s on the run, she discovers how unprepared she is for life outside her protected compound.

CIA agent, Roy Kincaid, devoted his career to hunting super humans who staged a rebellion seven years before. He’s not making much headway, so he goes deep undercover. One blustery night, a striking woman staggers into the café where he’s catching a late meal. Part waif, part runway model, the half-frozen woman arrows straight into his heart.

Glory’s flat out of alternatives, but death in the storm might be preferable to telling the tall stranger looming over her anything. Sensing Roy is dangerous, she pushes into his head seeking clues and discovers he hunts those like her. Maybe she can fool him, just for tonight. Get a hot meal and dry motel room out of the deal. If she’s lucky, he’ll never find out she’s on the run from the same group he’s targeted for death.

The thing she didn’t count on was falling in love.

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