The Lone Wanderer - Chapter 6: Pilgrimage

William Scott, a soldier, returned to the city with the goal to live the rest of his life peacefully. He would practice the lifestyle of a retired person.

However, his mother set him up on blind dates time and again. Unwilling to keep up with her arrangements, he was left with no choice but to pretend to be in a relationship with Yvette Quinn, a female CEO who was also forced by her parents to go on blind dates.

To his surprise, this was only the beginning of many troubles to come. Before he could get to settling those troubles, he first needed to sort out an even more pressing problem.

The girl looked at him and asked, “Take a guess. Am I the elder cousin or the younger cousin? As my boyfriend, you should be able to differentiate between the two of us, right?”

His contract girlfriend was so unprofessional. Although they had an agreement, she was always asking her younger cousin to take her place and pretend to be her around him.

What should he do about that?

A conversation with a handsome stranger leaves Ariane chained in a cellar with a strange affliction. She soon discovers that the darkness of the nineteenth century’s Deep South hides many dangers. Mages, wolf shifters and the humans who hunt them play a risky game where to stumble is to die, all under the amused gaze of the apex predators of the supernatural world: vampires.

It is never healthy to attract the gaze of the aristocracy of the night. It takes much to survive in this merciless world, but Ariane will not let that deter her. The southern belle has a bite, and she is willing to learn and to grow in this hostile new world. She will use whatever means necessary to reclaim her freedom, be it guile, charm, or those intriguing new instincts that make blood so delectable.

This is a story of vampires as I believe they should be, with their strengths and weaknesses, with their remnants of humanity and the beast inside. Updates every Friday. Mind the tags.

Cover by Antti Hakosaari: https://www.artstation.com/haco

Special thanks to Svensonsen for getting me started, as well as Omi Nya, Hesketh, Rhaegar, Yaksher, Selkie and Raven for proofreading my stuff. Thanks to my patrons and you dear readers, for the support. I could not do it without you.

Journey is on Amazon, both in ebooks and audio. here is a link to the first one:

https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B08DK6G8Y8

The story probably exists in your local marketplace as well of I can tempt you.

A young man plagued by recurring nightmares finds himself visiting a blind fortune teller, who sends him to a world of martial arts that looks a lot like the wuxia stories he used to read.

In the sky of this world, a tome shines every now and then, revealing the hierarchy of mighty beings that seek power amid troubled times. Determined to unravel the mysteries of his involuntary journey and the secrets of the world he has ended up in, he endeavors to ascend the tome’s rankings, all while looking for a path back home.

Official Chinese blurb

Wandering the jianghu with a blade and wine, where beauties’ grace is filling one’s mind.

A youth, saber on his back and wine gourd at the waist, strides forth, yet the jianghu of his heart seems only more elusive;

With each flipped page of the Tome of Troubled Times, decades of nights soaked in rain pass over the jianghu.

As he suddenly turns to look back, he finds that the mortal world has shattered in his wake.

“Darling, you are the moon that gave light in my darkest times.”

Giving up to find a man who could make her heart skip a beat and fall in love, Hailey Hillson accepted her best friend’s marriage proposal, and then she relented after hearing from another woman saying she couldn’t please a man in bed.

When it was just a week away from their wedding day, Bryan got back together with his ex-girlfriend Eva Lan. Hailey broke up with Bryan and called off their wedding.

But then, she discovered an interesting fact about Eva Lan—she is married.

‘Didn’t her husband know she cheated on him?’

After her heartbreak, Hailey focused on completing her life project. To achieve it, she went abroad where she came across the CEO of Shen Group Construction Firm, Vincent Lopez Shen, who offered her a contract later to pretend as his mistress to get his wife's attention.

As she has also had an ulterior motive, she signed it without thinking twice.

But what will happen after she lives with Vincent on one roof when he is Eva’s husband—the woman who destroys her relationship with Bryan?

Will Vincent find out her secret regarding her true identity? Would she find out the secret Vincent keeps that is related to her?

EXCERPT:

“Miss Eva Lan, why won’t you sign the divorce papers if you are happy with someone’s fiancé’s bed?”

Glancing at her with disbelief, Bryan turned his head to the woman inside his arm; he asked, “What the hell is this, Eva?”

Hailey cut in. Her words are a bomb to Bryan. “Oh, you didn’t know Miss Lan is a married woman, my dear ex-fiance?”

“You shut up! Don’t believe her, Bryan! She is just jealous of me because you love me over her!”

Hailey scoffed, a playful smile playing on her lips; before she could spout another word, the woman in front of her paled like a ghost.

“Vincent, what are you doing here?” Horror, panic, and shock linger on her face to see her husband appear out of nowhere and his arms wrapped around the girl’s waist.

Vince shoots a cold glare at his wife, which he feels no familiarity in between them.

He withdrew his gaze from the two people before them. He turned his head to the woman standing next to him, he looked at her with tenderness in his eyes, and with a loving tone, he asked her, “Darling, who upsets you? Tell me, and I will remove them from your sight in an instant.”

As her eyes flickered, her cheeks were flushing scarlet red. Hailey lifted her chin, then whispered, “Honey, Miss Lan bullied me. She said I couldn’t satisfy a man in bed. She told me, I didn’t know how to… do that….”

He contorted the corners of his mouth, Vince beamed. “That’s interesting.”

“What do you mean by that?” she pouted.

“What I’m trying to say is… Honestly, you are a fast learner. All you need is the right partner.”