1496 Book(s) Related to her plus one

Layla Kellen was hated and spurned from birth.

She is the daughter of the most powerful and well known Alpha of the Shadow Pack, but then she was termed a demon.

Why?

Her birth caused the death of her mother through the most painful labour ever recorded.

Also, she was born with differently coloured eyes; Red and blue.

Everyone, including her father spurned her and she was treated like a slave. It all got worse when her father got a new Luna who gave him a son and daughter. It became worse when she found out her mate was the son of her father's greatest enemy.

Would he kill her or reject her instantly?

Layla was left in the realm of pain. No one knew the kind of hybrid she was.

All that was not known till the day her pack was almost entirely wiped out by the demon clan, shockingly headed by the new Luna, a demon I disguise.

“I chose you before I even knew I was allowed to choose.”

Alina Sterling has always been the perfect heiress…until the day she decided she’d rather be bad.

Enter Kai Rivera…the scholarship bad boy with calloused hands, a wicked smirk, and zero respect for her world of velvet chains and billion-dollar expectations. He’s everything they warned her about… and the only one who makes her feel alive.

But in a campus ruled by old money, a jealous cousin, a malicious fiancé, and a father’s ironclad will, loving Kai comes with a price.

One that could cost her everything.
Everything she may not be willing to pay.

She wanted freedom.
She wanted him.

But the question is, will she be willing to fight to keep them both?

Flourishing star from the Entertainment Industry, Kiera Stevens was a 18 year old promising figure from the modeling world. Coming from a prominent family, she had everything in her life until one night stand changed her life. On the heat of alcohol, she lost her virginity with a stranger that changed her whole life.
Azrael De Luca, the Mafia King from the underworld was desperate to find the girl whom he fucked mistakingly. Afraid that his opponents would use her against him, Azrael kept searching for years until he met her accidentally. Things changed when he met her furious eyes, the fire that she held between her green robs. Azrael was supposed to take away his sole heir from her but what if he wanted the mother and child both! Rejection came repeatedly and the whole world was shocked to see the Mafia King at a girl's mercy. The game of seduction started but a world of darkness is never blessed with love.

The night he took my innocence, he branded me his.
I never imagined he’d return years later as the enemy…
Demanding my loyalty.
My silence.
And the daughter he never knew he left behind.

I thought what we had was fate.
But loving Santino Romano was forbidden.
He was my brother’s best friend—
And the heir to the Famiglia Romano that ruined my bloodline.
A ruthless prince in a kingdom of crime,
And the only man who ever tasted the softness I kept hidden from the world.

Then came the fire.
The blood.
The betrayal that tore everything apart.

Now he’s back—colder, harder, more dangerous than ever.
He doesn’t ask. He takes.
Locks me in his penthouse cage and tells me I belong to him.
Body, heart, soul.

He punishes me for running.
He worships me like a sinner at the altar.
He kisses like a threat and touches like war.
And despite the fury in his eyes, I see it…
The man who once made my heart race still burns beneath the scars.

But he doesn’t know the truth I’ve hidden.
Our secret.

Our daughter.

And if my family discovers he has me, they’ll spill blood to bring me home.

What they don’t understand is this:
My captor is now my protector.
And Santino Romano will paint the streets red before he lets anyone take me or our child away.

Synopsis:
Camilla was only 19years old when she discovered she was pregnant. It was a one night stand. She knew neither his name nor his background. All she knew was his face.
Three years later,she returned to the city to start anew. She got a job at Frostbite company only to discover that the CEO, Kelvin, was the face of a man she knew. He was the father of her baby. Just as she thought she knew the father, unexpected events make her question the paternity of her child. She must navigate through it all to find out the father. Will she be strong till the end?

"Turn on the livestream, let everyone see how wet and slutty my wife's pussy gets when she's ruined." My husband sneered, ruthlessly spreading my trembling legs on the tattoo bed.

I sobbed and thrashed, but his strong hands pinned my wrists. The buzzing needle pierced the sensitive flesh of my private area, vibrating against my clitoris as he forced a succubus mark onto me. I let out a sharp, pathetic moan, my body involuntarily slicking with a mix of blood and arousal under the agonizing pain.

By the time the needle carved the eighteenth humiliating word into my bare, heaving breasts, my mind was completely broken. He just wiped the blood from my nipples and left to fuck his pregnant mistress.

He thought I was just a toy. At his wedding banquet, he threw me to a pack of hungry men. "Do whatever you want with her holes. Even if it's a gangbang, I take no responsibility." Disgusting hands immediately groped my bare thighs, brutally ripping my dress apart to expose my tattooed chest. Rough fingers pinched my nipples and shoved into my dripping core, making me scream in despair.

But I didn't die there. I tanked his company and fell into the arms of his biggest rival.

When my ex-husband finally realized the mistress's baby wasn't his, he called me, sobbing and begging. I just pressed the phone to my ear, gasping loudly as Tristan's thick, hard cock thrust deep into my tight, wet pussy.

"Ah... fuck, Tristan, deeper..." I moaned shamelessly into the receiver, hearing my ex-husband's breathless silence on the other end. "Henry," I panted, riding my new lover hard, "Your empire is dead, and so are we."

36 weeks pregnant, I was thrown into the dungeon by my own husband.

When my water broke, I desperately reached out through the mate bond, calling for him—only to discover that he had severed it with his own hands.

They lashed my swollen belly with leather whips. They injected wolfsbane into my veins. And when my baby's head began to crown, they shoved her back inside me.

All because his sister-in-law Genevieve was also in labor today—and her child had to be born as the pack's heir.

I crawled out of that dungeon, drenched in my own blood, only to find him blocking the doorway.

I knelt at his feet, clutching at his trousers, begging. "The baby is innocent. Please... just let me deliver her..."

He kicked me away in disgust. "Wait until Genevieve is done."

Later, fireworks lit up the sky. The entire pack celebrated the birth of Genevieve's heir.

I was dumped in a water cell, watching my blood slowly turn the ice-cold water crimson, feeling my daughter grow still inside me.

Only after he'd gazed adoringly at the newborn in Genevieve's arms did he finally remember me. He sent someone to fetch me from the dungeon.

But his servant returned white-faced, voice trembling:

"Alpha! The Luna... she and the baby... they're both dead!"

Seven days before the apocalypse, my vampire parents forced me to hand over three million to buy a house for my baby brother in full.

As an actuary, I knew that order would collapse in seven days and the money would become worthless. So I not only readily agreed, but also used their family's records as collateral to raise millions in high-interest loans, building an impregnable, top-secret fortress.

Seven days later, an unexpected change occurred.

The debt-collecting gangs and the endless horde of zombies drove them to the brink of despair. Meanwhile, I sat in a temperature-controlled safe house, sipping freshly ground coffee, calmly watching the cannibalistic karmic retribution unfold on the security camera.

In the apocalypse, there is no family affection, only the probability of survival.

My brother and my fiancée forged evidence of my crimes. They claimed I was guilty of corruption, bribery, and betraying the family—that I was a traitor to the nation. If not for their "mercy," they said, I would have already been sentenced to death.

But that wasn't enough. Three years later, when Father lay dying, my brother and fiancée threw me into the Gulf of Mexico, all to eliminate any chance I might have of competing for the family inheritance.

When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to three years ago—to the moment they framed me for treason...

In their eyes, I’m a limping janitor who can’t even hold a cup of hot coffee steady.
The head of security can grind his polished boot on my fingers whenever he wants. The gorgeous CEO looks at me with pure disgust for a coward. Even the front desk girl can yell at me as she pleases.
I sprawl on the carpet like an old dog—stuttering, shrinking, obedient.
But they don’t know that if I wanted to, snapping their necks would take only 0.6 seconds.
Three years ago, I was the Seventh Fleet’s sharpest one-man operator. To uncover a cross-border money-laundering network worth tens of billions, I faked my death and lay low inside this filthy corporate empire, mopping floors for three years.
Until today—when that arrogant European mafia titan dropped to his knees in front of my dirty mop bucket, in full view of the entire company.
That’s when I knew.
Three years of disguise were finally about to be torn apart.

In the enchanted world of Netherland, fairies and elves live peacefully, protected from their enemies by their pure hearts and magical powers. But when the jealous and scheming Eliza falls into the trap of the black witch, the fragile peace is threatened. The witch escapes to Earth, where she plans to carry out her evil schemes.

The God of Fairy sends three powerful student fairies, Charlie, Roman, and Brielle, to capture the witch and bring her back to Netherland. But their mission is complicated by the rule that they must not fall in love on Earth and avoid getting distracted.

Charlie, the most gifted and respected fairy in Netherland, falls into a LAFS (Love At First Sight) with a popular band leader in the school where the witch is hiding. As Charlie tries to balance her feelings for her newfound love and her duty to stop the witch, she also attracts unknown enemies who threaten her and her mission.

Meanwhile, Eliza continues to scheme and manipulate, putting herself and her fellow fairies in danger. Will the three fairies be able to capture the witch and save their world? Can Charlie resist the pull of love and focus on her mission? And what consequences will Eliza's actions have on the fragile peace of Netherland?

Once Upon A Magical Saga is a captivating tale of love, magic, and adventure that will transport readers to a world of wonder and danger.

Criminal profiler in training (and newlywed) Jessie Hunt, 29, discovers that dark secrets lurk in her new suburban town; when a body turns up dead, she finds herself caught in the crosshairs of her newfound friends, her husband’s secrets, her serial killer caseload—and the secrets of her own dark past.In THE PERFECT WIFE (A Jessie Hunt Psychological Suspense Thriller—Book One), Criminal profiler-in-training Jessie Hunt is sure she's finally put the darkness of her childhood behind her. She and her husband, Kyle, just moved from a cramped downtown Los Angeles apartment into a Westport Beach mansion. Kyle's promotion has them swimming in money. And Jessie is on the verge of getting her Master's degree in forensic psychology, the last step in her dream of becoming a criminal profiler. But soon after their arrival, Jessie begins to notice a series of strange developments. The neighbors—and their au pairs—all seem to be hiding secrets. The mysterious yacht club Kyle is desperate to join is rife with cheating spouses, and with troubling rules of its own. And the notorious serial killer being held at the psychiatric hospital where Jessie is completing her degree seems to know more about her life than is normal—or safe. As her world starts to unravel, Jessie begins to question everything around her—including her own sanity. Has she truly uncovered a disturbing conspiracy buried within a sunny, wealthy Southern California beach town? Does the mass murderer she's studying really somehow know the origin of her private nightmares? Or has her tortured past finally come back to claim her?A fast-paced psychological suspense thriller with unforgettable characters and heart-pounding suspense, THE PERFECT WIFE is book #1 in a riveting new series that will leave you turning pages late into the night.

Ethan Ashworth had nothing — no money, no family, no future. Just a rundown room, a handsome face that brought him nothing but pain, and the daily beatings from rich bullies who saw him as trash.

Then came the brutal ambush behind the school building. Left bleeding and alone as the weekend began, Ethan finally gave up on life.

That was when the voice spoke.

[Bloodline Legacy Contract activated.]

Suddenly, the frail orphan from the slums was thrust into another world — a realm of magic, kings, and monsters. With a mysterious system at his side and a sword in his hand, Ethan must complete deadly missions to grow stronger.

Because back home, the rich still rule… and he has a score to settle.

Layla Byrne arrives at Blackwater Hall with one letter in her bag and one ugly truth in her chest. Someone is dead, someone is definitely lying.

The school welcomes gifted students, bloodline heirs, and the children of old magical families. It also hides a forest full of sealed power, missing students, and a history everyone has been trained to forget.

Layla is the outsider from the coast, the scholarship girl with the wrong surname, the wrong accent, and a magic she cannot control. The moment she steps onto Blackwater Hall grounds, she feels eyes on her. Notes appear where they should not. Doors open behind her when nobody is there. Someone knows where she sleeps before she does.

The worst part is that the boy who keeps appearing whenever danger comes near her looks like the one who is doing it. Callum Reid is the academy’s golden enforcer, the respected heir with sharp hands, colder manners, and a habit of being too close for comfort. Layla decides he is the stalker. Callum decides she is a threat to the school and to herself. Neither of them is completely wrong.

As Layla digs deeper, she learns that Blackwater Hall does not merely educate students. It ranks them, watches them, marks them, and uses them. Students with the right bloodlines are pushed toward the hidden forest seal beneath the school. Records vanish. Names are being erased. People disappear.

The woman running the academy smiles through all of it. The archivist who keeps the records knows exactly how the old power works.

And the first boy Layla ever trusted in the academy turns out to be the real predator, the one who has been stalking her from the shadows long before she understood she was being hunted.

I never believed in fate, but that is the only way the four of us could have ever found each other. Adam Westmont, Adrian Volkov, and Anthony Davis were the golden boys of high society in our city. They were born with everything they could ever want at their finger tips, while I was not. Life wasn't as easy for me as it was for them, and maybe that was how is meant to be. Until fate brought them into my life one by one. Then tragedy hit us all. In the span of one week we all lost our family in suspicious deaths. When we are nearly taken out by someone trying to silence me for good, the guys basically kidnap me to find out what I know. The more we talk the more we start to realize that the deaths of our parents might have more in common than it seems.
The police are too scared to go near this case, so it's up to us to find out the truth. But the truth could either bring us together once and for all or destroy everything we have built.
Fate may have brought us together but it won't save us when the truth comes out. Nothing can stop the storm that's coming.

“A powerful opener to a series [that] will produce a combination of feisty protagonists and challenging circumstances to thoroughly involve not just young adults, but adult fantasy fans who seek epic stories fueled by powerful friendships and adversaries.”--Midwest Book Review (Diane Donovan) (re A Throne for Sisters)“Morgan Rice's imagination is limitless!”--Books and Movie Reviews (re A Throne for Sisters)From #1 Bestselling fantasy author Morgan Rice comes a new series for middle grade readers—and adults, too! Fans of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson—look no further!THE MAGIC FACTORY: OLIVER BLUE AND THE SCHOOL FOR SEERS (BOOK ONE) tells the story of 11 year old Oliver Blue, a boy unloved by his hateful family. Oliver knows he is different, and senses that he holds powers that others do not. Obsessed with inventions, Oliver is determined to escape his horrible life and make his mark on the world.When Oliver is moved to yet another awful house he is put into in a new sixth grade, one even more terrifying than the last. He is bullied and excluded, and sees no way out. But when he stumbles across an abandoned invention factory, he wonders if his dreams might be about to come true.Who is the mysterious old inventor hiding in the factory? What is his secret invention?And will Oliver end up transported back in time, to 1944, to a magical school for kids with powers to rival his own?An uplifting fantasy, THE MAGIC FACTORY is book #1 in a riveting new series filled with magic, love, humor, heartbreak, tragedy, destiny, and a series of shocking twists. It will make you fall in love with Oliver Blue, and keep you turning pages late into the night.Book #2 in the series (THE ORB OF KANDRA) and Book #3 (THE OBSIDIANS) are now also available! “The beginnings of something remarkable are there.” --San Francisco Book Review (re A Quest of Heroes)

In a world where the magic of the ocean and the secrets of the moon intertwine, Mia, a dazzling golden mermaid, dreams of true love. During a festive night on the beach, her life takes an unexpected turn when she meets Andrew, a charismatic scientist who hides a dark secret: he is a werewolf. The connection between them is instantaneous, but happiness is short-lived, as the evil mermaids who stalk the werewolves are quick to show their cruelty..
When these evil mermaids kidnap Mia, her life is extinguished in a tragic twist of fate. Heartbroken, Andrew defied the laws of nature in a desperate attempt to revive her.
Thus, using Mia's organs and heart, he creates a new creature: a reborn mermaid, powerful and passionate, endowed with extraordinary abilities and, most importantly, a deep connection to him.

Now, this new mermaid awakens in a world where love and revenge intertwine. Though her essence is that of Mia, the reborn mermaid, whom Andrés has named Selene, carries with her fragments of memories that emerge in flashes, leaving her conflicted between her new identity and the love that binds her to Andrés.

Selene discovers that her resurrection has not been without consequences. The sciencie Andrés used to bring her back has upset the balance between sea creatures and werewolves, unleashing the wrath of the evil mermaids who now seek revenge for Mia's death.

"I look better in the wedding dress. Your ugly fiancée can't compare to me, right?" "Of course, you do. You look way better."
Standing right outside the bridal fitting room, I watched my fiancé, Alexander Blackwell, hold his mistress in his arms.
The very wedding dress the woman wore was the custom-made designer gown meant for my own wedding next month.
For seven long years, I gave up my youth and poured everything into Alexander, turning him from a nobody into a tech billionaire.
He always thought I was just a helpless orphan who had nowhere else to go, blindly confident that I would never dare to leave him.
He had no idea that I was actually one of the heirs to the top-tier Sterling family in London.
When he finally realized what he had lost and desperately tried to beg for my return, I didn't look back.
Because I ran into Theodore Morrow—the city's most powerful, ruthless billionaire CEO, and the childhood fiancé whose heart I had broken when I called off our engagement years ago.

"She was MINE before. How could I have known she would find another man so quickly?"
Dresden Wade was pretty sure the goddess was punishing him. Married for half a decade to his childhood sweetheart without a child, he is desperate for a chance to fight his wrongs when he sees her again.
His TRUE mate. The woman he scorned and humiliated all those years ago.
Except that now, she is standing holding hands with another Alpha.
Mara Reid wants nothing to do with the surly, arrogant Alpha that used to be her mate. He had made the earlier parts of her adulthood traumatic to say the least.
So why did meeting him again feel like coming home?
Why did her traitorous heart skip whenever he called her name?

She lost her mother to him. Then her father. Then her crown.

Then the night came when she lost everything else.

Valdris is not a man who waits. He has fought the same war for three hundred years, buried generals, toppled kingdoms, and never once blinked. He takes what he needs and he does not apologise for it.

He needed a witch queen.

He did not expect her

But something far older than their war is moving through the south, and it is not stopping. It does not negotiate. It does not retreat. It has been feeding on the earth itself for centuries — slowly, quietly, the way a fire feeds on a house before anyone smells the smoke.

Malachar the Demon Monarch has been patient for three hundred years.

He isn't anymore.

Dragon fire won't touch him. Armies won't slow him. Every wall between him and what he wants has already begun to crack — and he knows it. The only question left is whether the two people who can stop him will destroy each other first.

A prisoner who has every reason to let the world fall.

A king who has never once asked for help.

And a demon lord who is already inside the walls.

Some enemies you can fight.

Some you were always meant to face together.

The hard part is surviving long enough to figure out which is which.

To fulfill a dying comrade's final request, I spent twelve years living in the shadows to protect his daughter. I took bullets for her, laundered her black-market assets, and eventually handed over my entire stake in the security empire. In her eyes, I am her father’s murderer; in mine, she is a mission—the only flicker of light left in my life. Until that fateful banquet, when she personally shoved me into the sights of mercenaries. Watching my blood bloom across her dress, she hooked her arm around my nemesis and ordered coldly, "Clean it up." In that moment, twelve years of devotion collapsed, and a heart that beat only for her finally learned to freeze. This time, I’ve decided to personally destroy the monster I raised.

"Mommy's just a housewife! I don't want Mommy anymore—I want Aunt Jessica!"

Those words from my eight-year-old son, Jimmy, hit harder than any physical blow. I stood frozen in our living room, surrounded by the shards of the vase I’d just smashed. My husband, Robert, didn't even flinch. He just pulled Jessica closer, his hand resting possessively on her waist.

"Stop being dramatic, Scarlett," Robert sneered, his eyes cold. "Jessica is my soulmate. She understands my work. You? You just clean."

Eight years of devotion. Eight years of sacrificing my career to build this home. And now, my husband and son were looking at a stranger with the love that belonged to me.

I tried to reach for Jimmy, but he pushed me away with his small, angry fists. "Bad Mommy! Aunt Jessica buys me candy! You're just an ugly hag!"

My heart twisted until it snapped. I watched them leave for Jessica's award party—an award for a paper I practically wrote but couldn't claim. I was left alone in the silence of the house I paid for, bleeding from the glass cuts on my hands.

Later that night, at the hospital, after I’d been injured by Robert’s own hand, the nurse asked Jimmy who I was. He looked me dead in the eye and said, "I don't know her. Jessica is my mom."

That was the moment the old Scarlett died. I wiped the blood from my face, picked up my phone, and dialed my lawyer.

"Mr. Owens," I whispered, my voice trembling but resolute. "Let's redraft the agreement. I don't want custody. They can have each other."

"You will keep teleported back if you choose to want to be with him, remember it!" The kindest man turned into a villain.

"I won't lose you to him again!" The ruthless man turned into soft.

In between them, Choi was bewildered to choose her right future partner.

While she was anxious between them, her family members tried to kill her for the property that was going to be her.

Who will she choose? And the teleportation will keep turn the table again and again to make her life worse?

Let's see in the chapters!

Cecilia never imagined that her childhood sweetheart would betray her for her Stepsister. She aims to fulfill her and her mother's dream of becoming a famous actress. However her Stepmother and stepsister is still out to get her and she had to avoid all her malicious Schemes.

One day, During her birthday which is also thesame day as her Stepsister's, she fell into one of her schemes, she meets a cute but rude little girl and save her. His father offers to repay her with his body. "Marry me!"

Cecilia: (........)!!?

Little Girl: (......)!

That same day, her Stepmother came with a proposal for her to marry someone from an influential family for their family business .Thus Cecilia accepted the offer due to her suffering. Cue lots of Comedy, sweet moments between Cecilia and the Little Devil probably Big devil too.

My wife never knew what I really did. She only knew I was gone most of the year and money hit our account every month.

The day she cheated, she rummaged through my drawer, found an eagle-shaped brooch, and gifted it to her lover like a flashy accessory. “It’s worthless,” she said. “Perfect with a suit.” I warned her again and again to bring it back. She called me annoying, powered off her phone, and blocked me everywhere.

She didn’t know I’m a cleaner—the kind who handles quiet jobs—and that brooch isn’t jewelry. It’s an organization badge, a mark that turns you into a target the moment it appears in public.

That night, the killers came. The ballroom was sealed. She trembled under a table while her lover shoved her out to take the bullets.

When a cold gun barrel pressed to her temple and someone asked, “Who does the brooch belong to?”

I am the top algorithm genius on Wall Street.
When my wife's first love got into serious trouble, she didn't hesitate to cut off my daughter's medical expenses and force me to go to jail for that scumbag.
But she didn't know that without me, her multi-billion dollar empire was just an empty shell that could explode at any moment.
She could never have known that the little girl she cursed as a "bastard" and who was driven to her death by her own hands was actually her own flesh and blood, whom she thought had died at birth.
When, a few days later, I, who should have been dying in prison, suddenly arrived with short-selling capital and a top-secret paternity test... I wonder if this high and mighty queen will still be able to laugh.

I was the undefeated queen of the underground octagon—a body held together by broken bones and spilled blood, all to build Dorian's fighting empire from the ground up.
But when he'd made it to the top in his tailored suits and polished shoes, suddenly my scars made me too crude, too ugly to stand beside him.
He ordered me to throw my title defense—told me to take a dive for some rich girl whose daddy bought her a spot in the cage. And when that woman shattered both my legs with an illegal knee strike, he just stood there and watched.
I clawed my way out of that wreckage—barely breathing. Left him a blood-stained divorce decree and vanished.
While he mourned over what he thought were my ashes, I was already training alongside the legendary king of the octagon, rebuilding myself from the ground up.
Now I'm back—stronger than ever.
This time, I'm going to break that princess's pretty face and crush his pathetic ego underfoot.

My younger sister, Freya, was preparing for her advanced training in New York the following week, so she dragged me to the dance studio to help her correct her movements. I put on my dance shoes as usual and stood in the center of the floor, ready to demonstrate a turn.

The moment my foot slipped, I didn't even have time to react.

My body hit the ground hard, and the sharp pain from the back of my head nearly made me lose consciousness. I lay on the cold floor, my throat tight, unable to even cry out for help.

When Mother rushed in, she didn't spare me a glance.

She immediately helped Freya up and took her to the hospital. I missed the critical window for treatment and died on the way to the hospital.

In the seventh year of being a stay-at-home husband, I discovered the son I cherished as the most precious treasure in my life was actually the illegitimate child of my wife and her male best friend.
To conceal the scandal of her infidelity, my CEO wife, worth millions, joined forces with her male best friend in a grand deception. They single-handedly destroyed my artistic career, transforming me into a free nanny raising their illegitimate child.
Upon learning the truth, I didn't lose my composure.
I calmly presented the divorce papers and the paternity test report proving no biological relation, then turned and walked away without looking back.
Later, that ever-lofty wife, the one who had once publicly doused me with ice water for her male best friend, was utterly consumed by regret and fury.
She kicked the scoundrel to the curb. In front of a crowd, she pressed a switchblade to her own throat, casting aside all dignity to kneel on the ground, crying and begging me to look at her just once more.
I didn't even blink. My voice was as cold as ice. "If you want to die, do it outside. Don't ruin my mood for coffee."

EXCERPT:

"Rayne stood looking at her reflection in the mirror. Her a pale green ballgown clung to her curves and left little to the imagination. Her jet-black curls are swept up and pinned to her head, leaving her neck exposed. Tonight was the night that most of the unmated wolves in all the North American packs would hopefully find their mates. She was sure all of them were just oozing with excitement.

She was not.

She didn’t want a mate. She didn’t need a mate...."

“...but the sudden scent of jasmine and vanilla hit her nose from somewhere close. That meant only one thing. Her mate was near..."


Rayne met her mate at the Moonlight Ball when she was eighteen, her mate that she never wanted to find, that she never wanted in her life. He showed up out of nowhere. His actions that night unknowingly set her free. She took the freedom he gave her, ran away, and never once looked back.

Now five years later he shows back up in her life after rejecting her five years ago, demanding that she take up her rightful place by his side. He walked away from her after calling her weak. No way was she going to just let him back into her life as if he belonged there. Rayne never wanted a mate, would he being here now change that? Her body and soul beg for him to claim her, yet her heart belongs to another.

Can her mate convince her to give him a chance? Will her lover convince her to stay with him? The Moon Goddess paired her with someone not of her choice, all Rayne has ever wanted was the chance to choose for herself. Who will win? Rayne or the fate that the moon set for her?

For mature readers 18+
Warning for abusive past trauma
Her Returned Mate is Book 1 in the Gathering Shadows Series. Book 2 His Redemption is also available for reading now on Anystories.

Alina Rojas married Bucky Ethelred, eloped, and gave up her inheritance, but was considered greedy, bullied by her mother-in-law, abandoned by her husband, and threatened many times by her husband's first love.
For love, she lowered her status, helped her husband, but then her bastard husband revealed his true face as a narrow-minded, selfish, stingy, and heartless person.
One day, Bucky threw a divorce paper at her face.
Although heartbroken, she still had to sign the divorce papers.
After the divorce, Alina became a beauty loved by everyone, inherited a huge fortune, established her business empire, took up bad guys, and lived a life of luxury and enjoyment.

Isabella believes that her boyfriend can change is way again and be the man she fell in love with. But when she get kidnapped because of him, and he is to busy with another lady instead of saving her. She understands she is better off without him. She gets saved by her boyfriend cousin who has loved Isabella for years. Just stayed in the shadows. Will Alexander help her heal from the broken heart his ignorant cousin leaves her with, and then win her heart?

In my last life, the heatwave collapse began with me turning an abandoned warehouse into a safe zone. I stocked it, fortified it, and brought my girlfriend inside. That same night, she slid the bolts open from within and let an armed crew storm the place. They threw me out to die.

I survived the heat, only to learn too late that it was just the warning. The real purge came next, when brutal cold hit overnight and froze me to death in the snow.

Then I opened my eyes and found myself back one month before disaster.

While everyone else rushed to buy water and fans, I was the only one who knew the heat was just the beginning. The deep freeze was what would really wipe people out.

This time, I explained nothing. I poured everything I had into diesel, insulation, winter stoves, generators, and turned that warehouse into a fortress built for the cold.

She came again, just like before. This time, I never let her through the door. So she ran straight to the armed gang and had them surround my warehouse for three full days.

She thought trapping me inside meant she’d already won.

What she didn’t know was that in just a few more days, the freeze would arrive.

And the people outside had no fuel, no winter gear, no way to stay warm.

They weren’t waiting for me to break.

They were waiting for their own deaths.

For my fiancée’s career, I was willing to be the ghost designer behind her for five years.

Until the day of the key bid, she stole the blueprint I had spent two sleepless years perfecting and signed it with the name of her useless first love.

The drawings are gone You can draw them again He needs this project to survive Be sensible she said, impatient when I confronted her

I did not argue My heart went cold I calmly left my engagement ring and my resignation letter and went to Europe

In just three months, without me, she became disgraced and buried in debt While I won Europe’s highest architectural gold award

I watched the once proud her soak in icy water for five hours just to earn a trace of my sympathy

I handed her a basic junior interview form with indifference Want to start over Report to the front desk Start with errands and work your way up

I was reborn.
In my past life, for the sake of my childhood sweetheart Chiara, I rushed into a sea of fire to save her lover, but I was disfigured by strong acid. In return, I was rejected and abandoned by her, and ultimately died tragically on the street.
Reborn before the narcotics factory explosion, I coldly turned away from Chiara's pleas for help: "If it's true love, go in and die with her."
This time, I'm not a sycophant anymore; I'm going to make all those who betrayed me pay a bloody price.

My husband is an angel on an earthly trial. Every time he feels something for me, he endures divine punishment — like his chest is being ripped open from the inside.

But he told me he'd take that pain gladly, as long as it was for me.

He left a mark on my collarbone. Activate it when you're in danger, he said, and I'll rip through anything to get to you.

I believed him.

Then came a mission where I got grabbed by an armed fugitive gang and held in an abandoned warehouse for three straight days of torture and abuse.

No water. No sleep. The tendons in my hands and feet cut one by one.

Half-dead, I used the last of my strength to activate the mark.

And I heard him talking to his angel companion.

"Beckett, why did you give those people Demi's location? You know what they'll do to her."

He didn't even flinch. "She'll be fine. She's the Chosen One — she can't die. They were going after Macie. I didn't have a choice. Once this mission's over, I can petition to stay on earth. I'll make it up to Demi. She gets it."

So that's the price of being understanding. Dying inside a trap he built for me.

My heart just shatters. And I stop fighting.

"You should get ready. Our wedding is tomorrow." He whispered and left the room without another word. Leaving Emily standing there.

What could have been the best reaction to this horrifying moment? Waking up one morning and a stranger that is so good-looking and tempting comes into your peaceful home to take you with him and then announce his marriage to you?

Emily hoped that this was a dream, a dream that she was going to wake up from soon enough. She was determined to hate him till the very last day.

But for how long will the hatred last after seeing the bad and good sides of him?

I was six years old when Mom took my brother and me by the hand, leading us into a mansion that looked like a palace. She told us this was our new beginning, after all the hardships we'd been through. But no one warned me that this so-called better life would mean giving up everything I had.

My scholarships, my prom dress, even my Stanford acceptance letter—they all turned into bargaining chips just to keep my stepfather and his daughter Sienna happy. Then, the night before my wedding, they even asked my fiancé to "temporarily" give himself to her as well.

I've always been the one giving everything, pouring myself out until there's nothing left, yet I've never heard the words, "You're enough." If love means endless sacrifice, why am I never the one on the receiving end?

Maybe only when I vanish completely will they remember my name—for the first and last time.

"You were like a starved beast last night," I complained, spreading jam on my toast.
Gideon's hands froze mid-knot on his tie. He turned to me, his eyes filled with utter bewilderment.
"Nadia, are you out of your mind? I was in the study finishing up that proposal last night. I crashed on the couch at three in the morning. I never even went into the bedroom."
The knife dropped from my hand onto the table.
If the man I made love to all night wasn't my husband.
Then... who was it?

"You were meant to be my death. Instead, you've become my damnation."
Aria Thornwell has spent three years as a healer in her town, attempting to forget the night her former fiancé publically humiliated her by selecting her affluent stepsister instead—taking Aria's family fortune with him. Now, she lives quietly, utilizing her skill to aid the underprivileged while her stepfamily flaunts their stolen fortune.

But on the winter solstice, everything changes. She's chosen as the ceremonial bride for the vampires' holy Winter Feast—a "honor" that guarantees death at daybreak following the Christmas Eve rite. Dragged to the Crimson Vale with five other human tributes, Aria is prepared to meet her fate with dignity.

Until she meets him.

Lord Sebastian Thorne, the ancient vampire who has presided over the Winter Feast for eight centuries, is meant to drain her at dawn following the binding ritual. It's tradition. It's law. It's survival—the ceremonial blood maintains the vampire realm for another year.

But as Sebastian's lips brush her throat in the ceremonial hall, something unbelievable happens. Her blood doesn't simply sustain him—it wakes something in him that's been dead for generations. And in a move that shocks the whole vampire court, he refuses to complete the rite.
"This one is mine," he proclaims, his old strength sweeping the hall. "Anyone who touches her answers to me."

Trapped in the Obsidian Palace as Sebastian's "protected bride," Aria discovers three frightening truths: Sebastian isn't protecting her out of mercy—he's dying from an ancient curse, and her blood is the only thing keeping him alive past Christmas; the vampire court will do anything to kill her and reinstate the ritual; and her "ordinary" healer's gift is actually a rare and dangerous power that vampire nobility has been hunting for generations.

Loyalties will be tested. Hearts will be broken. Desire will be their downfall.

Middlesbrough's underworld is a dangerous game, and Matthew Smith finds himself right in the middle of it. A once-feared gang leader, he is now forced to be a pawn in a deadly cat-and-mouse game. Matthew's only shot at freedom is helping the police bring down Mr. K, the elusive mafia boss of the city. The only problem is that the detective he is forced to work with is the same man who arrested him years ago.
Masahiro Payne is everything Matthew hates: cold, calculating, and relentless. But their only hope for survival is by pretending to be a happy couple, blending in amidst dangerous crime, deceit, and power struggles. The closer they find themselves to taking down Mr. K's empire, the more they are attracted to one another, an affair too potent to turn from.
As their undercover mission spirals into a web of lies and hidden desires, they face a growing threat from all sides. But the greatest risk is the one they can't control-their own feelings. With every touch, every stolen kiss, the line between their fake relationship and real emotions blurs.
In a world of betrayal, trust is a luxury, and falling for each other may be the deadliest mistake of all. Can they survive the deadly mafia games or will their passion be their demise?

In the heart of Texas, Brittany Redman thought she knew what pain was until she walked into her bedroom to find her "dead" twin sister in her husband’s arms—and a photo of their secret marriage on the nightstand. Robbed of her career, her home, and her dignity, Brittany is cast out into the dirt with nothing but a secret pregnancy and a dying grandmother to care for. Her only hope? A marriage of convenience to David J. Blackwell, a billionaire tycoon rumored to be old, cold, and impotent.
With a hacker cousin at her back and a billionaire’s protection, Brittany is done hiding. She’s coming for her stolen designs, her stolen life, and the crown they told her she’d never wear. The weak girl is gone; the Queen of Texas is just getting started.

Nineteen-year-old Mila has no room for dreams. She only has room for survival.

In a cramped Brooklyn apartment, Mila plays a dangerous game of pretend. She pretends to her younger sisters that they aren't three days away from the lights going out. She pretends to her exhausted parents that she doesn’t mind being the "third parent." And she pretends to herself that the scholarship to the city's most elite university will be her ticket out of the gutter.

But the elite world doesn't welcome outsiders; it devours them.

Enter Nathaniel Salvatore. Cold, untouchable, and heir to a shipping empire that owns half the city. To Nate, Mila is a "fixture"—a charity case whose presence at his university is an insult to his legacy. He sets out to make her regret every step she takes on his campus.

But when a devastating accident binds their lives together, Nate's cruelty turns into something much more dangerous: obsession.

As Mila’s parents descend into a world of gambling debts and disappearances, leaving her to protect her sisters alone, Nate makes an offer she can't refuse. He will pay for their safety. He will pay for the lights to stay on. But the price is Mila herself.

From the gritty streets of Brooklyn to the mahogany-lined libraries of the elite, Mila finds herself trapped between two worlds. One man wants to save her, another wants to own her, and Mila is just trying to survive the man who wants both.

In a world where everything has a price, what happens when the Heir decides to claim the only thing he can't buy?

"Is that my son?" His voice wasn't loud, but it sliced through the busy office lobby like a blade, freezing me in place.

I stepped in front of Noah, shielding him with my body. "No," I lied, my voice trembling. "He's not."
But Alexander Kane, the billionaire CEO, didn't blink. He walked towards us, ignoring the gasps of his employees. "Don't lie to me. He has my eyes."

Before I could protest, he grabbed my wrist—his grip firm and possessive—and dragged us into his office. The lock clicked shut. I was trapped.
"You kidnapped us!" I yelled, clutching Noah.
"You stole three years of my life!" he roared back, backing me against his desk. "You had my child and erased me from his life."

"You were a one-night stand!" I snapped. "A stranger!"
His jaw tightened, his gaze darkening dangerously. "I am his father. And you don't get to make decisions alone anymore." He leaned closer, his presence suffocating and intoxicating. "You're going to regret keeping him from me, Talia."