Theresa Oliver is an author of clean contemporary romance, clean historical romance, young adult, middle grades, and children's picture books. Theresa is the author of the Christmas Cove series, the Whiskey River Brides series with Hot Tree Publishing, and much more. She lives in Florida with her husband, children, a persnickety cat, and a very bossy dog.

In Thou Shalt Not Kill, Catholic high school students are faced with a decision: Do I kill to save my life and the lives of others or not, even at the cost of my own life?

Casey Nichols and her friends are forced to answer this question after finding themselves in the middle of WWIII when their school, their city, and their country are overrun by terrorists. The decisions they make have consequences, but can they live with the choices they make? Derek saves Casey’s life, but will another steal her heart?

In Thou Shalt Not Kill, some will live, some will die ... all choose to fight. When all hell breaks loose, which path will you choose?

Thou Shalt Not Kill

"Wake up, Casey," a male voice said, lightly shaking my shoulders. My eyes slowly opened. I realized the voice belonged to Derek.


"What's wrong?" I woke with alarm in my voice. Immediately, I sat up straight, alert and looking around for danger.


"Nothing's wrong," Derek replied in a low voice. "It's time to go."


I looked around, my eyes barely opened to see Derek, Jada, and Trevor dressed in insurgent uniforms. Jada had her hair pulled up neatly into a bun and around all three of their heads were red bandanas. "No, I don't think so! If you go, then I go, too!"


"Don't worry, you're coming with us," Derek quickly responded. "You'll stay with Brolin and Scott in the shadows."


"What, no argument?" I asked, but as he looked at me, I realized that he couldn't be away from me just like I couldn't be away from him. Who knew how long we had?


"There's no time," Derek replied, giving me his half smile, but offered no other explanation. "It's time to go."


Chapter 27: Fighting Back, Part 1