
Betting on Bambi
Taylor Ashcraft · Ongoing · 153.9k Words
Introduction
I thought my life would forever be shrouded in the shadow of my mother's death, until I left my hometown and unexpectedly encountered another monster who had bullied me in high school. I was once again drawn into a strange emotional entanglement with him, and even discovered he harbored a dark secret. My already tragic life became even more unpredictable…
Chapter 1
ONE YEAR AGO
Thunder shook the house, startling me from a dead sleep. Rain pelted the window repeatedly, and as my eyes adjusted, lightning shattered the darkness that consumed my room.
My heart pounded in my chest like a snare drum, but no matter how many breaths I took, in and out, my heart refused to calm down.
I gripped my shirt, my nails scraping against my skin through the fabric. I could feel the steady thumping of my heart beneath my fingertips.
Storms don’t normally bother me. Quite the opposite, actually, so this reaction has me puzzled.
Had I been dreaming? Grabbing my phone, I checked the time. It’s almost three in the morning. I’ll be getting ready for school in just three short hours.
I flopped backwards, pulling my quilt up to my chin, and closing my eyes in hopes that I could just fall back asleep.
After a few minutes, I couldn’t shake the feeling of dread that sat like a dead weight in the pit of my stomach.
Throwing off my blankets, I carefully pushed my feet into a fluffy pair of slippers, but in a moment of silence, I heard a creak in the hallway. Peering out of my door, I saw Caelum standing just outside his room.
“Something is wrong.”
“Go back to your room and wait for me. I’m going to check it out. Don’t come out until I come and get you. Got it?”
Caelum chews on his bottom lip for a moment before nodding. After hearing the click of his door, I slowly made my way down the hall.
With every step towards my mother’s room, the weight in my stomach intensifies until I feel as if I weighed a million pounds. A chill runs down my spine when I hear another noise. This one is less muffled than before. I’m certain it sounded like a popping noise.
The oxygen in the hall feels like it was suctioned out, and breathing was difficult. A chainsaw couldn't even cut through the tense air surrounding me. I held my breath until I was standing just in front of my mother's door.
A flash of lightning illuminated the hall before thunder shook the house and had me pressing my hand to my mouth to muffle a startled scream.
Easing closer, I pressed my ear against the cool wood, listening closely. Another boom of thunder caused me to jump, lightly banging my forehead against the frame.
On the opposite side of the door was the sound of something…. Someone shuffling around. My father wasn’t home. It was just me, Caelum, and mom… And mom was too sick to get out of bed easily anymore.
Had she somehow attempted it? I haven’t seen her feet touch the floor in weeks.
Reaching for the handle, my hand grazed the chilled brass finish just before the door was pulled open from the inside.
A gasp left my lips, and fear consumed me as my eyes met the blackened holes of a ski mask.
Frozen in fear, I stared into soulless eyes as time stood still.
The person pushed me back hard, causing my head to bang against the molding, and everything instantly became blurry before darkness slipped over my eyes.
My head ached when I came to, but it must have only been a few seconds because the sound of the front door slamming had me trying to stand before my body was ready.
I fell to my knees in the middle of the hallway, crawling towards Caelum’s room. The floor seemed to be swimming, and nausea lurched in my stomach. Sparing one last glance at my mother's slightly ajar door, I just knew. Knew she was gone. Knew it wouldn't matter if I turned around and went into that room.
I could still fight for Cae.
Something warm and wet slid down my temples from my hair before clouding my vision further. No matter how many times I blinked, my left eye was clouded with… Swiping at my face with the back of my hand, I saw the crimson stain of blood.
The fall against hard wood must have split open the back of my head.
It took what felt like a lifetime to get to Caelum’s room, and I forced my way inside, seeing Caelum holding up a baseball bat near his bed. The bat fell to the floor the moment he saw that it was me, and he crouched beside me.
Noises came from his mouth, but I couldn’t make anything out. Forcing myself to my knees, I signed, “Call police”
Caelum dialed 911, sliding the phone in front of me, before grabbing a shirt from his drawer and pressing it against the back of my head. I could feel the trembling of his fingers, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t focus on consoling him.
Swaying on my knees, I fell forward again, causing blood to slide down the bridge of my nose, splattering against the carpet.
Drop. Drop. Drop.
Please be okay mom. Please let me be wrong.
The details of the next fifteen minutes were a blur. Honestly, the details of the next twenty-four hours were a blur.
Someone had broken into our house and killed my mother. It was likely that Caelum and I were supposed to die that night too, but when I woke up, finding him in our mother’s room, he panicked and fled instead of finishing the job.
At least that’s what I thought. The police seemed to think it was a random attack. That was actually my father’s idea, because who attacks a sickly mother in her sleep?
Did that mean he planned to come back? Was this simply a burglary gone wrong? A spur of the moment murder or something deeper and more thought out….
It was supposed to be the tumor. We were supposed to have more time. I never got to say goodbye.
I’m sorry mom. I couldn’t protect you. I wasn’t strong enough.
I don't believe that you died accidentally. I will find out who killed you and make him pay for your death!
Last Chapters
#131 Drowning
Last Updated: 4/18/2026#130 Unexpected
Last Updated: 4/18/2026#129 Play pretend
Last Updated: 4/18/2026#128 Tell me lies
Last Updated: 4/18/2026#127 Self-medicated
Last Updated: 4/18/2026#126 Endless thoughts
Last Updated: 4/18/2026#125 Cold-blooded killer
Last Updated: 4/18/2026#124 Taking charge
Last Updated: 4/18/2026#123 A tattered, old doll
Last Updated: 4/18/2026#122 Funeral
Last Updated: 4/18/2026
You Might Like 😍
Accardi
“I thought you said you were done chasing me?” Gen mocked.
“I am done chasing you.”
Before she could formulate a witty remark, Matteo threw her down. She landed hard on her back atop his dining room table. She tried to sit up when she noticed what he was doing. His hands were working on his belt. It came free of his pants with a violent yank. She collapsed back on her elbows, her mouth gaping open at the display. His face was a mask of sheer determination, his eyes were a dark gold swimming with heat and desire. His hands wrapped around her thighs and pulled her to the edge of the table. He glided his fingers up her thighs and hooked several around the inside of her panties. His knuckles brushed her dripping sex.
“You’re soaking wet, Genevieve. Tell me, was it me that made you this way or him?” his voice told her to be careful with her answer. His knuckles slid down through her folds and she threw her head back as she moaned. “Weakness?”
“You…” she breathed.
Genevieve loses a bet she can’t afford to pay. In a compromise, she agrees to convince any man her opponent chooses to go home with her that night. What she doesn’t realize when her sister’s friend points out the brooding man sitting alone at the bar, is that man won’t be okay with just one night with her. No, Matteo Accardi, Don of one of the largest gangs in New York City doesn’t do one night stands. Not with her anyway.
A pack of their own
Shattered Girl
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. Was that too much?” I could see the worry in his eyes as I took a deep breath.
“I just didn’t want you to see all my scars,” I whispered, feeling ashamed of my marked body.
Emmy Nichols is used to surviving. She survived her abusive father for years until he beat her so severely, she ended up in the hospital, and her father was finally arrested. Now, Emmy is thrown into a life she never expected. Now she has a mother
who doesn't want her, a politically motivated stepfather with ties to the Irish mob, four older stepbrothers, and their best friend who swear to love and protect her. Then, one night, everything shatters, and Emmy feels her only option is to run.
When her stepbrothers and their best friend finally find her, will they pick up the pieces and convince Emmy that they will keep her safe and their love will hold them together?
After the Affair: Falling into a Billionaire's Arms
From first crush to wedding vows, George Capulet and I had been inseparable. But in our seventh year of marriage, he began an affair with his secretary.
On my birthday, he took her on vacation. On our anniversary, he brought her to our home and made love to her in our bed...
Heartbroken, I tricked him into signing divorce papers.
George remained unconcerned, convinced I would never leave him.
His deceptions continued until the day the divorce was finalized. I threw the papers in his face: "George Capulet, from this moment on, get out of my life!"
Only then did panic flood his eyes as he begged me to stay.
When his calls bombarded my phone later that night, it wasn't me who answered, but my new boyfriend Julian.
"Don't you know," Julian chuckled into the receiver, "that a proper ex-boyfriend should be as quiet as the dead?"
George seethed through gritted teeth: "Put her on the phone!"
"I'm afraid that's impossible."
Julian dropped a gentle kiss on my sleeping form nestled against him. "She's exhausted. She just fell asleep."
The Lycan Prince’s Puppy
“Soon enough, you’ll be begging for me. And when you do—I’ll use you as I see fit, and then I’ll reject you.”
—
When Violet Hastings begins her freshman year at Starlight Shifters Academy, she only wants two things—honor her mother’s legacy by becoming a skilled healer for her pack and get through the academy without anyone calling her a freak for her strange eye condition.
Things take a dramatic turn when she discovers that Kylan, the arrogant heir to the Lycan throne who has made her life miserable from the moment they met, is her mate.
Kylan, known for his cold personality and cruel ways, is far from thrilled. He refuses to accept Violet as his mate, yet he doesn’t want to reject her either. Instead, he sees her as his puppy, and is determined to make her life even more of a living hell.
As if dealing with Kylan’s torment isn’t enough, Violet begins to uncover secrets about her past that change everything she thought she knew. Where does she truly come from? What is the secret behind her eyes? And has her whole life been a lie?
Oops, Wrong Girl to Bully
My back hit the desk. Pain exploded through my skull.
"Girls like you don't get to dream about guys like Kai." Bella's breath was hot on my face. "You don't get to write pathetic love letters."
She shoved me again. Harder.
"Maybe if you weren't such a desperate little—"
I fell. My head cracked against the corner.
Warmth trickled down my neck. Blood.
Their laughter turned to gasps.
The door slammed.
I tried to stand. Couldn't. The room was spinning, fading to black.
Someone... please...
Angelina, the most powerful Alpha who conquered forty-nine packs, dies in a yacht explosion—only to wake up as Aria Sterling, a fifteen-year-old Omega's daughter who just died from bullying.
The original Aria's life was a nightmare. Humiliated when golden boy Kai Matthews posted her love letter online, then shoved to death by his girlfriend Bella Morrison. But that's not all her family faces:
"You got until Monday," the tattooed gangster sneered at Aria's mother. "Ten grand cash. Or I'm taking collateral—your kids' organs fetch top dollar. That pretty daughter of yours? She could make us money another way too."
Now Angelina's lethal combat skills awaken in this fragile body. No more hiding. No more fear.
Armed with an Alpha's ruthlessness and a mysterious blood-red pendant, she'll dismantle everyone who hurt this family—one calculated move at a time.
Goddess Of The Underworld
When the veil between the Divine, the Living, and the Dead begins to crack, Envy is thrust beneath with a job she can’t drop: keep the worlds from bleeding together, shepherd the lost, and make ordinary into armour, breakfasts, bedtime, battle plans. Peace lasts exactly one lullaby. This is the story of an orphan pup who became a goddess by choosing her family; of four imperfect alphas learning how to be better. Steamy, fierce, and full of heart, Goddess of the Underworld is a reverse harem, found-family paranormal romance where love writes the rules and keeps three realms from falling apart.
The Prison Project
Can love tame the untouchable? Or will it only fuel the fire and cause chaos amongst the inmates?
Fresh out of high school and suffocating in her dead-end hometown, Margot longs for her escape. Her reckless best friend, Cara, thinks she's found the perfect way out for them both - The Prisoner Project - a controversial program offering a life-changing sum of money in exchange for time spent with maximum-security inmates.
Without hesitation, Cara rushes to sign them up.
Their reward? A one-way ticket into the depths of a prison ruled by gang leaders, mob bosses, and men the guards wouldn't even dare to cross...
At the centre of it all, meets Coban Santorelli - a man colder than ice, darker than midnight, and as deadly as the fire that fuels his inner rage. He knows that the project may very well be his only ticket to freedom - his only ticket to revenge on the one who managed to lock him up and so he must prove that he can learn to love…
Will Margot be the lucky one chosen to help reform him?
Will Coban be capable of bringing something to the table other than just sex?
What starts off as denial may very well grow in to obsession which could then fester in to becoming true love…
A temperamental romance novel.
The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates
"Let me go," I whimper, my body trembling with need. "I don't want you touching me."
I fall forward onto the bed then turn around to stare at him. The dark tattoos of Domonic's chiseled shoulders, quiver and and expand with the heave of his chest. His deep dimpled smile is full of arrogance as he reaches behind himself to lock the door.
Biting his lip, he stalks toward me, his hand going to the seam of his pants and the thickening bulge there.
"Are you sure you don't want me to touch you?" He whispers, untying the knot and slipping a hand inside. "Because I swear to God, that is all I have been wanting to do. Every single day from the moment you stepped in our bar and I smelled your perfect flavor from across the room."
New to the world of shifters, Draven is human on the run. A beautiful girl who no one could protect. Domonic is the cold Alpha of the Red Wolf Pack. A brotherhood of twelve wolves that live by twelve rules. Rules which they vowed could NEVER be broken.
Especially - Rule Number One - No Mates
When Draven meets Domonic, he knows that she is his mate, but Draven has no idea what a mate is, only that she has fallen in love with a shifter. An Alpha that will break her heart to make her leave. Promising herself, she will never forgive him, she disappears.
But she doesn’t know about the child she’s carrying or that the moment she left, Domonic decided rules were made to be broken - and now will he ever find her again? Will she forgive him?












