1132 Book(s) Related to Joe and Alice

I never imagined that the most humiliating secret of my life would be laid bare in a flimsy tent in the middle of nowhere.

Even less did I imagine that the person witnessing my unraveling would be Sebastian. He’s the CEO of a top-tier conglomerate, my direct boss, and, most damningly, my ex’s stepfather.

A freak accident left us stranded in the jungle late at night. Inside that cramped, suffocating tent, the air felt scorching, almost unbearable. Worst of all, in my rush to leave, I’d forgotten to bring the medication that suppresses my “craving disorder.”

When that sickening desire surged through me like a tidal wave, when his body heat pressed against my back through his shirt, I could only bite my lip hard, teetering on the edge of shame and instinct.

“Mr. Blackwood, please… stay away from me.”

I died once.

In my last life, someone posted my photo on the company's anonymous forum, claiming I slept my way to the top.

The comment section exploded.

Colleagues whispered behind my back and pointed fingers.

A blurry video convinced everyone the woman in it was me.

I explained. I cried. I begged.

No one believed me.

The company forced me out. My parents kicked me out.

I walked to my death, condemned by everyone.

Then I opened my eyes.

Everything went back to the beginning.

The same post, the same accusation, the same man swearing in the comments he'd seen it all himself.

This time, I'm getting my revenge.

On my due date, my husband Russell locked me in an underground freezer at minus ten degrees.

The Pembroke family's unbreakable rule: the first-born male inherits the entire mafia empire. My sister-in-law Natasha and I were both pregnant, our due dates only one day apart. To ensure his brother's child was born first, Russell made this insane decision.

"My brother and Natasha's baby has to come first—this is what you owe them!" He ignored my desperate pleas and violent contractions, coldly shoving me into the freezer.

But that wasn't enough. They forcibly injected me with labor-delaying drugs. I curled up in agony on the freezing concrete floor, feeling my baby slowly slipping away, tears of despair streaming down my face.

My baby, Mommy is so sorry...

Everyone knows my husband is obsessed with me.

He's gone against the board for me, walked away from billion-dollar deals, dropped millions at charity galas. Everyone said I'd married into a fairytale. I believed it too.

Until the anonymous email.

In the photo, he was kissing a little girl's forehead—three years old, maybe four. He looked at her the way fathers do.

Three years of marriage. Countless failed IVF attempts. Then finally—I was pregnant.

I was about to tell him when his phone buzzed. He left immediately—for another woman and her child.

I was the only one who didn't know.

If the love was fake, if the marriage was fake—then I could disappear too.

In two days, the typhoon hits. My car will go off the cliff into the ocean. No one survives that.

I'll disappear from his world forever—me and the baby he doesn't know about.

I'm eight months pregnant, throwing up so violently I can taste bile, three "miracles" growing inside me.

Until that night at their celebration dinner, when I leaned against the wall and heard laughter from inside the private room.

I could hear the amusement in my husband Frank's voice: "Let's up the bet—another million. I'm betting two boys, one girl."

His mistress Ava giggled: "You already know the results."

"Of course," he said casually. "They're my children. Of course I know."

Then I heard it.

They talked about my womb like I was some kind of breeding machine.

They clinked glasses, debating "whose eggs were worth more."

They were even betting on "which baby would come out first."

And there I was, outside the door, my swollen feet barely holding up my aching, stretched body.

Inside, they were laughing and celebrating.

Celebrating their perfect little surrogate, carrying my husband's babies with his mistress.

Right then, the nausea just... stopped.

I just felt cold.

And slowly, a plan started forming in my head.

I used to believe my husband was my hero. When Julian Miller’s empire was falling apart, I made a desperate choice to save him. I spent a night in the suite of his fiercest competitor, Arthur Vance. Julian called me his hero and said he trusted me.

But he was lying to me for five long years.

Everything changed in an instant. Watching our daughter hang from a broken roller coaster, Julian didn’t attempt to save her. Instead, he reached for his phone to call his mistress.

To him, she wasn’t a child in peril; she was just a chance to wipe out a 'mistake' and start fresh with someone who had been in our lives since the very beginning of our marriage.

Now, people see me as a heartbroken mother and an ashamed wife. Julian thinks he’s buried me under his web of lies and his influence. But he overlooked one crucial point: I have nothing more to lose, and I'm ready to settle a score.

With the one man Julian fears most by my side, I’m stepping back into the light. And by the time I’m through, he’ll understand that the woman he treated like a pawn is the very one who will bring his whole world crashing down.

After Nicholas got engaged, his assistant handed me a plane ticket.

"Leave. Don’t ever show your face in Silverlight City again."

"Otherwise, Mr. Jackson has more than enough ways to ruin you."

All those years I spent by his side, I was admired by everyone, living in the spotlight.

Yet when I finally left, I was reduced to a pitiful, laughable sight.

I said, "Fine."

But that very night, the flight plunged from over thirty thousand feet in the air.

I’m Maria, thirty years old, my body like a forgotten vine, aching to be watered and revived. Once, I thought marriage was my safe harbor, but my husband—that useless bastard—not only left me unsatisfied in bed, he betrayed my heart, screwing around with another woman. My pussy has long been dry, yet desire burns in my chest, forcing me to flee that cold, empty home and seek refuge in the vineyards of Provence, desperate for a breath of life.

Here, I met Julian. That evening, under the grapevines, he fucked me hard. I know this is just the beginning. My body and soul will be reborn in this steamy affair.

I'm a forensic audio specialist. I make a living digging up the truths people deliberately erase from static and noise.
My 19-year-old brother was accused of pushing a billionaire's bride to her death at her wedding.
The police presented their "smoking gun" recording. I heard exactly twelve seconds missing from it.
Those twelve seconds hold the truth about how the bride really died—and the billionaire family's dark secret that will get both me and my brother killed.
They smashed my equipment, threatened my life, bribed the cops, and tried to bury the truth forever.
But what they don't know is—
Some voices refuse to stay silent. Even when they're cut out.

“Why is Elara dying on my stream?”

Sienna Vale laughed in front of half a million viewers while my heroine glitched on-screen, wearing the ring I designed and speaking the line I wrote.

Caleb didn’t ask if I was okay. He shoved the emergency laptop toward me and said, “Fix it before the investors panic.”

So I opened the live build.

But instead of saving his launch, I patched one line into the game credits:

Created by Maya Reed.

I’m Aurora. I died at the hands of my family.
“You were born a walking curse to this Pack. Taking Nora’s place and marrying Liam is what you owe us!” My mother, Patricia, bound my arms and legs with a rope dusted in silver powder. My sister Nora raised a silver-laced dagger and drove it straight into my heart. “Your name, your mate, everything belonged to you is mine!” Then she used a face-shaping spell to transform into my appearance, took over Black Moon manor, and waited for my Alpha mate, Liam, to come home.
I became a ghost and was pinned to her side by a soul-sealing array, forced to watch her clumsy imitation. “Liam, I made your favorite wild-berry oatmeal.” But a wolf’s nose never lies. Liam frowned and stepped away. “That artificial perfume on you… that isn’t her.” I watched him spend sleepless nights after his Wolf-Soul Stone shattered. I watched him uncover the truth that my old injury on my left foot was gone, and “I” was no longer allergic to silver-scale fish. Only then did I understand: the Alpha who looked cold had already carved me into his heart.
Not until he dug up what was left of my body, two undeveloped twin pups still hidden inside me, did Liam finally break. With eyes burning red, he roared, “What you owe me… what you owe Aurora… you’ll pay with your lives!” When dawn rose, my soul dissolved into the morning light. All I wished for, in the next life, was to meet him somewhere without betrayal, to be two ordinary wolves who could protect our children, together.

A story of Werewolves, fated love, and redemption.
Due to wars and violations of soulmate bonds, "born Lunas" are becoming increasingly rare. Without a Luna, the alpha's soulmate, the females' heat period is not activated, and without procreation, the clan disappears.
Upon turning twenty-six, Alpha Dérik felt the pain of losing his soulmate even before meeting her. Amidst despair, his soul became increasingly dark and his heart colder and more ruthless. One day, his clan receives a visit from the Luna of an allied clan, and Dérik makes a decision that would change his destiny. He takes advantage of the presence of the visiting alphas to choose a warrior from his clan and enthrone her as Luna. Secretly, he carries out the plan to induce the chosen one's heat, to produce an heir.
Three years later, a young wolf escapes captivity. She enters Alpha Dérik's territory, hoping to gain exile. Alpha Dérik never imagined that this young wolf could be his miracle, and that the decision he made in the past could destroy his chances of knowing the meaning of a true love.

An Alpha can be trained, but a Luna is born a Luna!

This story takes place in the same universe as my other book, a world called Oníria, unknown to most of the Earth's population.
Esmeralda is a young Muslim Human who suffers from anxiety. She's impulsive, intelligent, and funny. When trying to escape an unhappy marriage, she's kidnapped by a group of mate hunters. She's taken to Oníria, where she's bought by an Alpha werewolf named Ares. Ares is known as The Cursed Alpha, soulless, however, to everyone's surprise, including his own, Esmeralda, the human, is his soulmate. Ares, the strongest Alpha in Oníria, has to learn to accept the differences of his human mate, and Esmeralda, a fun and charismatic character, needs to understand the cultural differences, allow herself to be loved by a werewolf, face a rival who tries to take her place with lies, all without losing her irreverent and funny personality.
Ares is a cold, hopeless, lonely, and authoritarian werewolf, while Esmeralda is full of life, funny, sincere, and talkative, as well as impulsive. The disparity of their personalities makes the couple fun, charismatic, and the development of their love is the most beautiful of werewolf stories.

When the apocalyptic red rain fell, my brother and I both awakened spatial abilities.

He awakened a space as vast as a mansion and was hailed by the entire family as their savior.

While I only awakened a "suitcase" and was ruthlessly drained of all my assets by my parents to support my brother, then kicked out of the house.

They mocked me cruelly: "We don't keep deadweights. Go wait for death in the 70-degree furnace outside!"

What they didn't know was that my brother's space had no preservation function—his stockpile of premium ingredients would soon rot into a pile of maggot-infested meat.

But my suitcase had upgrade attributes!

While they fought each other over a sip of putrid green water in the 200-degree hellscape,

I sat in the "Eden" I had created, watching herds of cattle and sheep, drinking ice-cold fresh milk.

[ UPDATES ARE AVAILABLE ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAY ] Xavier Gray, the youngest president of USK state and a billionaire CEO coming from the most powerful, ruling family in the whole country.The founder of Eden International Limited, an international company who has been ruling over all the companies for the last decade in the state.A 29 years old, the most wanted, attractive and alluring bachelor that the nation girls are dying to be in his arms. Despite being domineering, cold and ruthless, he has another spilt personality that is asexual. A rare psychological trauma of not having sexual desires for any person. Naturally he always keeps his safe distance from women.But what will happen to all his restrictions when his life will encounter a multi-talented, undeniable beauty, smart and creepy characteristic, 22 years old, Iris Young who enters in his life only the purpose of seducing the dominant president?Will the bridge burn finally? Or a planned mission will turn into an unplanned Love? To Watch The Trailer, Visit Author's Instagram account: anamika_author Or Official Facebook Page: Books Of Anamika Ana

Two hundred million dollars—that was the price tag on my soul.

I stood on the auction block, chains biting into my wrists, while men in masks bid on me like I was cattle. I thought my life was over. Then he spoke. "Two hundred million."

Alpha Damian Wolfe. The King of the City. The man who kills without blinking.

He didn't buy me to free me. He bought me to keep me.

"You belong to me now, Selene," he whispered, dragging me into his world of blood and silk. He locked me in a gilded cage, dressed me in couture, and forced me to watch him execute traitors at galas. He is a monster. But God, he is a beautiful one.

I tried to run. I tried to fight him. But every time I pushed, he pulled harder.

"I need you to mark me," I begged him one night, desperate for protection from the Council. I stood in his room, bare and vulnerable, offering him my neck.

He refused. "I won't mark you because you need saving," he growled, his eyes burning with dark hunger. "I'll mark you when you are strong enough to carry the weight of my soul."

But before that day could come, I was taken. Snapped right out from under his nose by a ghost named Mark.

Now I sit in chains again, but this time, it's different. Because I know Damian is coming. And he’s not coming to negotiate. He’s coming to burn the world down.


Selene lost everything in a single night—her pack, her father, her freedom. Dragged to an underground auction, she expects death. Instead, she is bought by the most dangerous Alpha in Italy, Damian Wolfe. He doesn't want a slave; he needs a fake Luna to solidify his power. But Selene isn't the type to submit. Locked in his fortress, she discovers that being the Alpha's property might be safer than being free... until she realizes that the only thing more dangerous than his enemies is the way he looks at her. Will she escape his golden cage, or will she become the Queen of his criminal empire?

"Maybe you should get yourself checked to see if you’re barren," my mate said coldly, while his mistress stood in our living room, her hand resting on her pregnant belly.

The words hit me harder than any physical blow. Five years. I had given Sebastian five years of my life, my loyalty, and my love. And now, Brittany stood there, glowing with triumph, announcing she was carrying his heir.

"I can't change the fact that she's pregnant," Sebastian said, not even looking at me. "At least now we have a child coming."

I stood there, shattered. The man who promised to love me forever was now looking at me like I was broken goods. Like I was the problem. I ran out into the rain, my heart bleeding, until I found myself at a bar, drinking to forget. I wanted to erase him. I wanted to erase the pain.

But when I woke up the next morning, I wasn't in my own bed. I was naked. And the man standing in the doorway with a smirk on his face wasn't my husband.

It was his exiled brother, Hardin.

"Morning, Little Wolf," he drawled, his eyes sweeping over my bare shoulders. "You were very... enthusiastic last night."


Rhianna is dying, but her mate Sebastian is too busy with his ex-lover to notice. When Sebastian's exiled, dangerous brother Hardin returns to the pack, he sees what Sebastian ignores. As Rhianna’s life fades, she finds herself torn between the mate who broke her and the "monster" who would burn the world to save her.

He promised her dying father he'd protect her. Always.
Dante Moretti grew up under Liliana's dad—a powerful mafia boss who taught him everything and treated him like a son. When the old man was killed, Dante swore he'd keep Liliana safe, no matter what. For years, he watched over her like a big brother, making sure no one ever hurt her.
Now Liliana is 21 and back home. She's beautiful, curvy, and done with Dante's rules. She wants to date, go out, live her life. But Dante won't let any guy near her. He scares them all away.
He tells himself it's because he's her guardian.
He tells himself she's like family.
But the truth? He doesn't want anyone touching her... because he wants her for himself.
One night, the jealousy boils over. One touch changes everything. What started as protection turns into something dark, hot, and completely forbidden.
In Dante's dangerous world, love is a weakness enemies can use. Old secrets about her father's death are coming out, and rivals are watching. But Dante can't let her go. Not now. Not ever.
She's his to protect.
She's his to have.
And some lines were meant to be crossed.
A steamy, possessive mafia guardian romance full of forbidden love, intense jealousy, and off-the-charts passion. Perfect for fans of dark, obsessive alphas and the women who bring them to their knees.

"Last chance. If you decide to stay, pay attention... my name will never leave your head again."

Dominic’s voice was a low growl, vibrating through the empty, renovation-smelling office. He stood there, a masterpiece of temptation in a gray suit, undoing his tie with a slowness that made my knees weak. I should have run. I should have remembered I was just a scholarship intern and he was the billionaire CMO of the entire university. But I didn't. "I can’t do it anymore either..." I whispered, and that was the spark that blew up the powder keg.

I jumped into his lap, wrapping my legs around his waist, kissing him like my life depended on burning in that ember. He pinned me against the wall, his hands claiming my body, sliding my dress up. "I want you naked," he demanded, his mouth devouring my neck. He carried me to the table by the window, the city lights of São Paulo witnessing our madness. He was dangerous, illicit, and exactly what I craved. But as he unbuttoned my shirt, exposing me to his hungry gaze, I realized this wasn't just lust. It was a freefall into a world I wasn't ready for. "I have a request," he murmured, his eyes darkening with a perverted promise. "That mouth around my cock..."

Isabella Kensington's dream came true when she secured an internship and scholarship at the prestigious international university, WIS University. But the breathtakingly handsome man she encountered in the elevator—Dominic Whitmore—turned out to be the company's CMO and the cousin of her cousin's boyfriend.
An irresistible, fatal attraction ignited between them. From their electric exchange in the elevator to a wild night in the unfinished office, they shattered every rule.

In a world where female werewolves are prizes to be hunted, one Alpha's daughter refuses to be caught.

Eighteen-year-old Lena Blackwood has always been different—preferring books to forests, independence to tradition. Now, as the annual werewolf hunting party approaches, she faces the barbaric ritual that haunts every unmated female: becoming prey for males eager to claim her with their bite.

As the daughter of a powerful Alpha, Lena is the ultimate trophy. One mark on her neck could force her into a lifetime of submission to a stranger, tearing her away from everything she's ever known. With no say in who becomes her mate, Lena must risk everything to maintain control over her own destiny.

But when the mysterious and feared Kieran Stone—the youngest Alpha in generations with a reputation for brutality—makes a surprise appearance at the hunting party, the stakes become deadlier than ever. Caught between ancient werewolf traditions and her desperate fight for freedom, Lena discovers unexpected allies and enemies lurking in the shadows.

In a society where females are expected to submit and males are entitled to claim, Lena must find the strength to rewrite the rules—or become another victim of a tradition soaked in blood.

Some traditions aren't meant to be followed. Some bonds can't be broken. And some hunts turn the prey into the predator.

Leon Sterling — the cold, calculating heir to a powerful corporate empire — doesn’t believe in love, nor does he care for marriage. In a world where everything can be measured, traded, or bought, he chooses a different path: fatherhood through science, with no strings attached.

Anna Monroe — a gentle, ordinary woman — unexpectedly becomes the surrogate chosen for Leon’s child. But beneath the layers of a sterile contract, what begins as a purely transactional relationship slowly unravels into something far more fragile… and dangerously real.

An old accident.
A handkerchief once dropped.
A forgotten memory that refuses to stay buried.

As fate tightens its grip, they find themselves caught in a game of heart and consequence — where emotions grow in the most unexpected places, and nothing goes according to plan.

When the contract ends and the lines blur, will Leon still choose solitude… or will he fight to keep Anna — not as a surrogate, but as the one woman he can’t let go?

Maximilian Adenhart ruled over his coven for full five hundred years without any trifle stumbling on his feet. He's the greatest among the ruling class. Anyone who tells otherwise will perish under his gentle hands. For him, he lacks nothing in life. But his sister has a different opinion of him. That's why Max found himself having a 'vacation' inside the town of Little Maddison. Where he later on came to meet his fated mate, Dolly. A sweet, lovely rabbit shifter who's unfortunately living with another man.
It was never what Max had expected from the beginning.

In my past life, I personally dug up two alien meteorites, handing the blue one that granted "Frost Mastery" to my childhood friend, Mike. He repaid me by sealing me inside an ice wall, cursing me to "die like a piece of trash" in the minus 70-degree blizzard.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the initial blast site.
This time, I didn't even spare him a glance; I stuffed both meteorites into my pocket.
I transformed a missile silo into a doomsday bunker, brought my parents inside, and stockpiled ten years' worth of supplies.
When Mike arrived with a gang of thugs to smash my door down, I stood in the warm command center, watching half his face rot with frostbite on the monitor.
I didn't open the door.
This time, I am sending back the despair of my past life tenfold.

After I retired, I was willing to do the dirtiest work at a small auto repair shop—just to give my sick daughter an ordinary childhood.
I endured my mother’s insults, my eldest brother’s wage cuts, my younger brother’s extortion.
But they actually joined forces to steal my daughter’s life-saving money for gambling, then sold me into an illegal mine to pay off their debts.
When the iron chain locked around my wrist, when my daughter cried in despair, the killing intent that had slept in my blood for three years finally woke up completely.
They had no idea I was once the iron-blooded God of War—commander of a million troops, the name that made enemy nations tremble.

“You were never meant for him,” his voice was a dark promise, his fingers tilting my chin up. “You were meant for me.”

Elara spent her entire life as a human outsider in a world ruled by supernatural beings. When she discovers that she is the fated mate of Rael, the ruthless and possessive heir to the supernatural elite, she is thrust into a dangerous world of power, blood, and betrayal. Bound to him by an unbreakable force, she struggles to resist the pull of their connection.
But Rael isn’t the only one who wants her.
There’s another—Kian, a rebel in the shadows, a man who stands against everything Rael represents. Mysterious, defiant, and fiercely protective, he offers her a different kind of freedom. A choice. A love that isn’t bound by fate but by desire.
With war brewing between the supernatural elite and the rebellion, Elara is caught between two powerful men—one who claims her by destiny and one who challenges her to defy it.
But in a world where love can be a weapon, and loyalty is a dangerous game, the real question isn’t who she will choose.
It’s whether she will survive long enough to make that choice.

On the day of her birthday, Alicia was framed of cheating and rejected by her mate/boyfriend.

She flees the town to a new home where she discovers she is mated to the Trio brothers from school but what's even more shocking is when the same three guys are introduced as her stepbrothers and they won't give up easily on their mate whom they've been searching to find for years

Things are about to take a wild turn...

Ailenna Maytha and Marianne Lyon-Maytha are the betrothed sisters of Prince Nickolas of Luavyn — however, the future King can only have one Queen. The three were allowed to live freely until the age at which Nickolas would receive the crown. What their parents didn't expect is that the distance between the three would create unexpected bonds that could compromise the Real game and the interests of many important people.
When Nickolas begins his journey to prepare to take the crown, the three will have to make a difficult choice: reason or heart. How much tension can a relationship endure before bonds break? What kind of love are we looking for when we choose not only the person to say “yes”, but also the future of the entire Kingdom?

"Well, you did keep your end of the bargain and we do have a little before dinner," she said wrapping her arms around his neck pulling him down. Trailing a kiss from his jawline to the corner of his mouth.

He opened his eyes to see her biting her lower lip smiling at him. Leaning down he captured her lips as they shared a slow, lingering kiss. Biting her lower lip she gasped and he took the opportunity to plunge his tongue into her mouth as their tongues began a dance so old time stood still, leaving them both breathless as they pulled apart. Covering her round bottom in his hands he picked her up and walked to the lounge loving the close contact as he sat down with her in his lap.+

"I'm glad you knocked me down with your car querida, or else I wouldn't have you right here with me. You are so..."

"Baby. Just shut up," she stated as she leaned towards him and kissed him.

Stepping out of the car he stood in front of her looking down at her angry little face.

"How dare you disgrace me in such a manner. Where do you think you are going with her?" She spat.

"Woman step aside. Let me help that poor girl you are so afraid of," he said in a low voice. "It's funny how you feel threatened by a woman you have never spoken to, a woman I have not yet known," he said as his lips twitched into a smirk.

The queen seemed to think over his words an appealed expression dominating her features.

"Just remember who your wife is," she huffed walking away from him looking around to see their audience.

You want more....? Then hurry up and start reading

PS DON'T OVERANALYSE THE STORY WHEN READING. IT IS AFTER ALL JUST MY MIND GOING CRAZY TO GIVE YO'LL A STORY ☺️.

Their worlds were never meant to clash, but through knowing each other their lives unraveled.

"Don't think about Malcolm because I am not him. I will treat you better, give you the desires of your heart, showered you with kisses that will make you weak at the knees, even go as far as giving you my heart, but just don't leave me," he said looking lost as he pulled her closer supporting her some more.

"No, no, not again," I murmured as my heart rate increased.

"Then this is what is going to happen. Tomorrow we are getting married I don't care if you have to be in bed for the ceremony but so be it. We are going to live together as man and wife, and I am going to f***k that idiot out of your system until I am the only one in your mind, until you long for only my touch.....

He won me in a bet. He broke me in a garden. Now the Alpha of Lead Claw is begging for my help and he doesn't know I survived.

Six years ago, Pete Leadsilver laughed when I told him I was pregnant. Hours later, his thugs beat me and threatened everyone I loved. I left with forty-three dollars and a secret growing inside me.

Today, I own D'Matt Laboratories. He needs my cure to save his dying pack. He doesn't recognize my name on the letterhead and he doesn't know his son exists.

He's about to learn both.

Wha..what do you..you wa..want?"

"You," he said with a lopsided grin only his eyes showed his true intentions as he placed his hands on her waist lifting her up onto the counter stepping in between her legs.

"You..you.can't," she stuttered.

"I am, I can and I will have you Lia. This I promise you," he said nuzzling her neck before claiming her lips stealing her breath.

"Ethan no," she said breathlessly pushing him away.

"Lia why do you keep pushing me away. You know you want this as much as I do. I know you feel the same way as I feel about you. Why are you fighting us!" He growled frustratedly.


"Don't lie to me," he growled saying each word slowly whilst pacing in front of the door.

"Ethan I."

"Don't," his voice boomed as he stopped looking at her angrily as she flinched. "Start speaking," he whispered.