When the Dark Wins Read online

  When the Dark Wins

  A Dark and Disturbing Anthology

  Jennifer Bene

  Addison Cain

  Cari Silverwood

  Zoe Blake

  Yolanda Olson

  Dani René

  Eris Adderly

  Michelle Brown

  Contents

  When the Dark Wins

  Blurb

  Totally Real* Praise

  Foreword

  I. Breaking Beth

  Breaking Beth

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Epilogue

  About Jennifer Bene

  Books by Jennifer Bene

  II. My Name is Jane

  My Name is Jane

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  About Zoe Blake

  Find Zoe Online

  Books by Zoe Blake

  III. Catacombs

  Catacombs

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  About Addison Cain

  Books by Addison Cain

  IV. What Lies Beneath

  What Lies Beneath

  Copyright

  What Lies Beneath

  About Yolanda Olson

  V. Used

  Used

  Copyright

  Warning

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  About Cari Silverwood

  Books by Cari Silverwood

  VI. Severed

  Severed

  Copyright

  Prologue

  Caia

  Drake

  Caia

  Drake

  Caia

  Drake

  Caia

  Drake

  Acknowledgments

  About Dani René

  Books by Dani René

  VII. A Sinner in Virtue

  A Sinner in Virtue

  Copyright

  The Valley of the Shadow

  Deliver Me From Evil

  He Maketh Me Lie Down

  And the Power, Forever

  Epilogue

  About Eris Adderly

  Books by Eris Adderly

  VIII. The Hunted

  The Hunted

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Playlist

  Acknowledgments

  About Michelle Brown

  Books by Michelle Brown

  Need a little therapy after this anthology?

  When the Dark Wins

  A Dark and Disturbing Anthology

  By

  NY Times, USA Today, and Bestselling Authors

  Jennifer Bene, Addison Cain, Cari Silverwood,

  Zoe Blake, Yolanda Olson, Dani René,

  Eris Adderly, Michelle Brown

  When the Dark Wins. © 2018

  Jennifer Bene, Addison Cain, Cari Silverwood, Zoe Blake, Yolanda Olson, Dani René, Eris Adderly, Michelle Brown

  All Rights Reserved

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author(s). The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN (ebook): 978-1-946722-29-4

  ISBN (paperback): 978-1-946722-28-7

  Cover art by Raven Designs.

  Blurb

  A Dark and Disturbing Anthology

  Inside these pages lurks the stuff of nightmares, the inky blackness of our world captured by the top authors of dark romance. Except in these stories there is no romance. No heroes. No happy endings.

  This is a book that has been crafted, twisted, and deformed to shred you, scare you, and possibly traumatize your mere mortal mind. Here is your last warning... no one is coming to save you if you choose to dive into the depravity.

  In these stories, the dark wins.

  Every. Single. Time.

  Eight Corrupting Tales Designed to Blacken Your Heart.

  Breaking Beth by Jennifer Bene

  It would take time. Time to destroy who she used to be... time for all her hope to die... time to break her... time to truly make her a thing. But he would.

  JENNIFER BENE is a USA Today bestselling author of dark and devious romance in a variety of genres. It’s always been the dark stuff that turns her on, so her books are full of aggressive alpha males, feisty women who may or may not have a submissive streak, and intense, psychological story lines.

  Catacombs by Addison Cain

  Every night he destroys her innocence. Each morning she awakes anew, memory clean — pure enough to be tainted, twisted, and adored for the devil’s sick pleasures.

  ADDISON CAIN is the USA Today bestselling author of the Alpha’s Claim series. She has a penchant for dark themes and unrepentant lust. Heroes are villains, wrong is right, and concepts of obsession color her tales beyond simple black and white.

  Used by Cari Silverwood

  Red’s on a mission to kill. When you’re violated and broken, sometimes the only way left is down.

  CARI SILVERWOOD is a NY Times and USA Today bestselling author of kinky darkness or sometimes of dark kinkiness, depending on her moods and the amount of time she’s spent staring into the night.

  My Name is Jane by Zoe Blake

  There is no Escape. No Hope.

  I have nothing left. Only my name.

  ZOE BLAKE is a USA Today bestselling author of dark romance. She knows we are all attracted to the forbidden. Addicted to the rush we get from reading something naughty... something kinky. We love to lose ourselves in the fantasy — and she writes those dark fantasies.

  What Lies Beneath by Yolanda Olson

  One too many nights working the streets can make the abused break, but when two become one, the price of sin can be much higher than expected.

  YOLANDA OLSON is an award winning and international bestselling author, she usually spends her time watching her favorite channel, Investigation Discovery. O
ccasionally, she takes a break to write books and test the limits of her mind. As an avid horror movie fan, she likes to incorporate dark elements into the majority of her books.

  Severed by Dani René

  Monsters are real. He’s broken me, tortured me, and made me who I am. I’d accepted my fate.

  But the moment I lay my eyes on her my world tilts and I want her. But there is no way out of the darkness. There is no escape. Unless…

  DANI RENÉ is an international bestselling author and a fan of dark romance that grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. It’s from this passion that her writing has evolved from sweet and romantic, to dark and delicious.

  A Sinner in Virtue by Eris Adderly

  You will accept them on your knees. You will accept them on your back. You will open yourself in any way they ask, Sinner, because you are a servant now.

  ERIS ADDERLY is an award winning author who writes dark, escape-from-reality romance full of criminals and outcasts. Expect the decadent and filthy, the crude and sublime, sometimes all at once. Pick a safeword and grab a towel before reading.

  The Hunted by Michelle Brown

  Hunted. Taken. Destroyed. When the nightmare never ends and there’s nowhere to run... What would you do to survive?

  MICHELLE BROWN is an author of murderous mayhem with a touch of romance who has always been an avid reader and music lover. She likes Oreos, and pizza rolls when writing, and is a lover of GIFs and dark books who spends way too much time stalking her favorite authors.

  Totally Real* Praise

  for ‘When the Dark Wins’

  “I found it to be a perfect Sunday afternoon read.”

  - Hannibal Lecter

  “Brought the art of torture to new and exciting heights.”

  - Atilla the Hun

  “I was uncomfortable with the depths of their depravity.”

  - Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde

  “Finally, a book for someone like me.”

  - Jack the Ripper

  “I screamed with laughter. Loved every word.”

  - Vlad the Impaler

  “It crossed a line. Too much depravity for my tastes.”

  - Caligula

  “Five thumbs up.”

  - Jeffery Dahmer

  “Mediocre.”

  - Immortan Joe

  “Pairs well with a nice basket of lotion.”

  - Buffalo Bill

  *FYI quotes are not actually real.

  Foreword

  To Our Readers —

  ‘When the Dark Wins’ is a dark and disturbing anthology. We are not kidding, but we know you’re probably chuckling to yourself because you’re familiar with many, if not all, of the authors in this set. You’re probably thinking that all of our stories are pretty dark, or at least edgy and dirty, and you’ve loved them. But this? This is new territory.

  We want to be very clear that these are not love stories. Reading this anthology is a walk into a deep, dark fucking cave where the only thing that happens is the light of the entrance shrinking ever smaller at your back while you keep trudging forward. Everyone that has read ARCs of the stories within have said in different ways that by the end they felt gutted, horrified, emptied out, disturbed, questioning their own sanity, and many times just a little more tainted than they were when they went in.

  There are no happy endings here, there are no ‘happy for nows’ — there is no happy.

  If you’re still brave enough to turn the page, we adore you for trusting us enough to read it, and we do hope you enjoy it. It’s for the truly dark hearted among us.

  I

  Breaking Beth

  Breaking Beth

  Jennifer Bene

  Copyright

  Text copyright © 2018 Jennifer Bene

  All Rights Reserved

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  I just want to thank you for being brave enough to walk into the dark with me on this one, lovelies. If you’ve read the Thalia series you might have a greater appreciation for this book as Beth is originally referenced in ‘Security Binds Her,’ but it’s not necessary to have read Thalia. I will share that from the first moment I referenced Beth, there was a little spark of darkness in the back of my mind that wanted to know exactly what had happened to her. What horrific things did Anthony do that made even Marcus quail? That was the thought I couldn’t get out of my head, and it resulted in… this.

  ‘Breaking Beth’ is a story about hope dying, about coming face to face with a psychopath and losing (or winning by losing, depending on your perspective).

  While I hope to eventually write a duet for Beth in such a way that this book isn’t required, it will always be the dark and fucked up prequel to the rest of Beth’s story, and I love you for trusting me enough to read it. It will not be an easy read, but I do hope you enjoy it, lovelies.

  Good luck.

  1

  “Is the girl situated?” Glancing up from his phone, Anthony caught the flush in Marcus' cheeks. It was either arousal or simple exertion — he’d always had trouble telling the two apart — but it didn't matter. He didn’t care what his brother was feeling or not feeling.

  “Yeah, she's in there.”

  “Secured?” he asked, and Marcus shoved his hand through his hair, gripping it at the back where it was just long enough to do so. The silence between them lingered. “Was that a complicated question?”

  “Fuck off,” Marcus snapped, stomping away from the bedroom, and Anthony sighed. Short-tempered and shortsighted, his little brother clearly needed to be coddled again.

  His least favorite activity.

  Following at a leisurely pace, he finished his email reply and then tucked the phone away in his pocket. Marcus was already pouring a glass of whiskey when he found him in the office.

  So weak. So pathetic.

  But… he had his uses.

  “Was there an issue acquiring her that I should be aware of?” Anthony waited as Marcus knocked back the whiskey and poured another.

  “Of course not, I knew where to get her. It was simple.”

  “Then would you care to answer my question?” Anthony sighed when Marcus muttered obscenities under his breath. “If you need me to secure her because you did not, tell me now so I can go handle it.”

  “She's tied down, collar on, but I’m telling you my method is better. If you’d just fucking let me, I could make her like it.” Another grumbled curse as Marcus licked the whiskey from his bottom lip, an irritated sigh escaping. “You won't even have a chance to talk to her when she wakes up terrified. She'll just start screaming.”

  “Oh, I know she will.” A smile tugged at the edge of his lips, and he couldn't ignore the buzz in his blood that the idea inspired. The only highs in his life came from those screams and the crying and the begging that would follow.

  Everything in-between those brief moments of suffering was just so much... white noise.

  “How can you expect to train her when she won't even listen to you?”

  “They always listen to pain, Marcus.” Tilting his head, he met his brother's eyes. “Eventually.”

  “Pleasure works faster.”

  “And did you pleasure this new one?” The mockery in his tone was unavoidable.

  Marcus' greatest weakness was his lust. Lust for physical intimacy, lust for gaining positive responses from the slaves, and mostly his lust to finally come out on top and be better than him at something.