113 Book(s) Related to piper powell

Beautiful, kind and loyal.
Who would have thought this would happen to her?
When Piper steps in to help a friend, she would never expect she would land in serious trouble. Abused, broken and used as a pawn in a conspiracy to bring down her best friend’s husband’s company, her life takes on a sudden somersault.
Will she ever walk out of this living hell or will she be drawn in by the temptation of the evil within?

On a rainy night outside Lumina City Hall, Chloe is abandoned by her fiancé of five years. Her grandfather is dying, her ten-year-old brother Noah may be taken by CPS, and a vicious inheritance battle is closing in. With no time to fall apart, she turns to Arthur, a stranger who has also just been left at the altar, and asks the impossible: “Will you marry me?”

One contract, one-dollar penalty, and one fake marriage later, Chloe only wants to protect Noah, fool the caseworker, and give her grandfather peace. But Arthur is not the broke freelance writer he claims to be. His expensive clothes, secret calls, and unsettling control hint at a far deeper secret.

He makes promises at her grandfather’s ICU bedside, plays the perfect husband during the CPS visit, and slowly earns Noah’s wary trust. Chloe knows this is supposed to be a deal—so why does his kindness feel dangerously real?

They survive the first home visit, only to learn CPS will return unannounced within thirty days. Arthur has to stay.

But as his true identity begins to surface, can their one-dollar marriage remain just a transaction?

Love is not part of why Kane Beaumont marries Emilia Taylor.
It was purely a contract deal to him and nothing more. Saving her family's business from the claws of evil loan sharks is Emilia's motive for marrying a man she barely knew.
However, she doesn't count on being hopelessly attracted to him even when he treats her like a worthless peasant.
Their relationship is chaotic, thanks to Kane's lover who is determined to ruin any opportunity of their romance ever blooming.
Even if it means putting Emilia's life in danger, setting her up, and turning the world against her.
When sparks begin to fly between Kane and Emilia after an unfortunate accident, their relationship goes through a tough test that destroys the tiny flames of love burning between them.
Will love eventually find a way in the end or will this marriage continue to be a high-stakes business deal with dangerous rewards?

Jason is the future Alpha King, he’s waiting to turn 18 so he can finally step on the throne. However a sudden attack at the castle makes him become the King of the Werewolf World a bit sooner than expected. Jason has now to deal with his own Kingdom and his recently found mate, the mysterious new girl at his school.
—
Castiel is a kind soul with gentle looks and a sweet pure heart. In Jason’s eyes, Castiel is the perfect mate with only one little problem…she’s human.
With threats and secrets being revealed he tries to protect his mate from the Supernatural world…little does he know that she’s way more into it than he thinks

A Werewolf Story Of Revenge

“I need just one more powerful man. It can be a dragon, a wolf, an elf or a panther.” Betla said to Aranya as she turned to look at her. She placed her hand on both her shoulders while she looked at her with fire dripping from her eyes, “Promise me, Aranya, that you’ll fulfil my only wish.”

“I will, mother. I promise to give you the power to avenge!” And a promise made to Betla must be fulfilled.

Will Aranya be able to fulfil the promise she made to her hungry mother? Looking for a way to avenge at all cost? What if the only powerful man available to fulfil her mother’s wish is the only mate she loved?

Who will she choose between the two of them? Will she sacrifice her love for her mother? Or she’ll hold onto her mate at the cost of sacrificing her life?

"Why are you here, Carly? What brings you all the way to Russia?" Landon inquired, a hint of concern in his voice.

"Tell me, are you working with those agents, perhaps, mingling in some thrilling covert operation?" he pressed further, his eyes welling up with tears, gripping Carly's arm.

"You're my girlfriend, Carly. You shouldn't be keeping secrets from me!" Landon shouted, his voice filled with frustration and hurt, his grip tightening.

"Pretended girlfriend, remember? But don't worry, love, our secret mission awaits!" Carly corrected gently, a mischievous smile playing on her lips.


Landon, a wealthy tech mogul plagued by a genetic disorder, uncovers a hidden past that connects him to a clandestine organization, yet his life lacks one vital element: true love.

When he hires Carly as his secretary, their paths unexpectedly intertwine, leading them on a thrilling journey.

However, their blossoming love is put to the test as Carly's past resurfaces, putting their lives in jeopardy. With unexpected twists lurking at every turn, Landon must confront his own secrets and make a heart-wrenching choice between love and his covert mission.

Will they find solace in each other amidst the chaotic circumstances, or will their concealed truths drive them apart?

They say some secrets are meant to stay buried.

I used to believe that too—until Roman Aldridge walked back into my life fifteen years later, no longer the broken thirteen-year-old boy I once held through his darkest nights, but a devastatingly handsome man who looked at me like I was his salvation and his damnation all at once.

"I've never stopped loving you, Vivian."

Those seven words shattered the carefully constructed walls I'd built around my heart. Because the truth? I'd never stopped loving him either.

Fifteen years ago, I was his dead mother's replacement—a twenty-three-year-old political advisor tasked with caring for a grieving child. I held him when he cried, watched him grow, and somewhere along the way, developed feelings that terrified me so much I fled Seattle like my life depended on it.

Now I'm back. Divorced, desperate, and apparently still weak enough to melt under those same dark eyes that once looked at me with innocent adoration but now burn with a man's desire.

The scandal writes itself: Governor Candidate's Son Seduces Former Caregiver. Or is it the other way around? Does it matter when the entire world thinks you're a predator who groomed the boy you were supposed to protect?

Roman doesn't care about the headlines. He doesn't care that loving me could destroy his political future, his relationship with his father, everything he's worked for. He says he'd rather burn the whole world down than live without me.

The problem is, I believe him.

And God help me, I think I might let him.

Because sometimes, the most forbidden love is the only one worth fighting for.

Even if it means that a woman falls in love with the child she once nurtured.

Alana is a beautiful girl, kind, cheerful, innocent and sociable. Due to a slander Quenza Alana was kicked out of the house by her parents. Even his family members no longer considered him and removed his name from the family register.

Alana decided to go abroad, namely Germany. While living there, Alana managed to build a company and found a new family who loved her very much.

There, Alana also met a handsome young man whom she had once helped. The young man’s name was Devan Alexander.

I closed my eyes as a dying, ugly servant, but I woke up in the bed of the Alpha King's son, pregnant with his heir!

The tropical storm raged outside, but inside this silk-draped room, I was safe. My scarred, pathetic body was gone, replaced by flawless skin and the voluptuous curves of Luna Rosie. I touched the protruding belly—I am carrying Alpha Gideon’s baby, the man I secretly loved for years! But the twist of fate is cruel. The real Luna Rosie didn't die; her soul is now trapped in my old, ugly body.

She stands in the corner as a maid, forced to serve me tea while I live the life she took for granted. She glares at me with hatred, but I don't care. I finally have everything I ever wanted.

But when Alpha Gideon returns and looks into my eyes, will he recognize the soul of the servant girl who used to wash his clothes?

A group of young teenage rich heiress which is led by Tessha Marie Gavelan, wanted to have a spooky Halloween vacation.
They are bored and want some adventure.
They wanted to make a Halloween documentary just for fun and uploaded it to their webpage.

They search for the most haunted and spooky hometown.
And found four places then raffled them.
Villa del Bungo wins!

A haunted villa in the City of Infierno...

A sudden wrong turn of events happened.
The moment they enter Villa del Bungo is the day that they are trapped and the game of life and death begins!

Unfolding the truth about herself that shocks her...

Who is the mastermind?
Is there any hope for them?
or will they be buried in the City of Infierno?

She is the only daughter of a notorious mafia boss, but she is forced by her father to marry a hateful bastard in a contract marriage. To avenge her father, she has a one-night stand with a charming man, but unexpectedly falls into the trap of another terrible man, who is her father's enemy and another mafia boss. His mission is to make her father disappear.
She regards him as her only salvation, but he regards her as a pawn for revenge. When two enemies dance on the sharp knife, what will be the final outcome?

She is an ordinary high schooler girl with an ordinary life, her daily activity is something that she always does and repeat everyday that makes she slowly feel bored with her life. She want to find something new in her life and her wish come true when someday she find an unique crystal near the big tree in the middle of creepy empty garden. Her life was completely change when the crystal lead her entering the other world, other planet in the other dimension, but she never knew that she has a big fate when she meets the prince with his knights. She never knew that her ordinary life will completely change from the start she decide to take the crystal. How could an ordinary high schooler play a role as a heroine to save a whole planet??

When Bella and Dylan meet in an unusual way, they immediately fall in love and experience a hot and intense romance. However, the powerful Alexander Kicher discovers that his son is involved with the daughter of his arch-rival Anthony Hahn and forces him to stay away at the risk of killing her. Dylan then, to protect his beloved, abruptly moves away, thus awakening anger and Bella's resentment, especially after she discovers her pregnancy and is forced to marry someone she doesn't love.
A few years later, by coincidence of fate the two meet again and Bella will have the chance to take revenge on her great love from the past who betrayed and abandoned her. But will she succeed or the love that was until then forgotten as a Will the sad and bitter memory have another chance or will the power struggle between their families prevail, defying all expectations?
Don't miss this Epic Journey! Thrill with passion, challenges and crucial choices. Embark now on this intense story that transcends time, a saga of love and power that will captivate you from start to finish!

To give my twelve-year-old daughter a peaceful and ordinary childhood, I sealed away the "Eagle" badge that represented the highest military authority in the Federation, willingly becoming a repairman with an oily phone in a remote town.
I suppressed my murderous intent, swallowed my humiliation, and even remained silent about the injustice of the referee.
But my concessions to the powerful and wealthy resulted in the richest man leading a group of professional thugs to smash my home to ruins.
to fight in front of my daughter , until his reckless son smashed my "Eagle Badge," hidden deep inside.
They had no idea that the instant the badge broke—
the SSS-level emergency beacon hidden at its core—had been triggered !

Kira Grey was supposed to be the "rejected mate," a disposable Omega meant to be broken by the cruel Alpha of Silverpine. She was never meant to survive the wedding night, let alone command the throne.
But when a mysterious pendant awakens a dormant power within her, the servant girl begins to fight back—not with brute strength, but with intellect, organizational strategy, and the uncovering of ancient, dangerous secrets.
As she dismantles the pack's hierarchy from within, she realizes she is the last heir of the legendary Moonridge line, possessing the rightful bloodline to claim the throne Ethan currently occupies. She craves not just survival, but total sovereignty.
Caught between a mate who wants to cage her and rivals who want to destroy her, Kira must embrace her hidden heritage. Will she succumb to the shackles of her past, or will she burn the throne to the ground to claim her true destiny as the Luna Queen?

On the eve of the apocalypse, I awakened a survival system: send me $5,000, and the sender can unlock a safehouse and awaken a life-saving ability.
The first person I told was Chloe, my girlfriend of three years. In return, she humiliated me in public and cheated on me without a shred of remorse.
That was the moment I finally gave up. The "nice guy" she had drained dry was dead for good.
One month later, the zombie horde arrived right on schedule. For old times' sake, I saved her one last time. And she repaid me by shoving me straight into the jaws of the mutated dead so she could save herself.
What she didn't know... was that I wasn't the only one who had awakened powers.

In his eyes, I had always been "understanding." Understanding enough not to fight, not to make scenes, not to ask for status.

He said we couldn't go public now, but it was for our future.

Only later did I realize that his "future" never included me.

He chose power, chose arranged marriage, chose to keep me hidden. When I finally left, he started having regrets, started saying he loved me.

But by then I understood—he wasn't regretting losing me. He panicked because I was no longer obedient, no longer his.

So I never gave him another chance. I turned and walked away.

But that was only the first step.

I chose to let the truth surface at his moment of greatest triumph, to let him taste what it feels like to lose everything.

My name is Ethan, and it wasn't until the apocalypse arrived that I realized just how cruel fate could be.

Ability awakening became the new normal. Most survivors gained some kind of supernatural power, ranging from F-rank to the legendary S-rank.

F-rank abilities were barely better than being ordinary, while S-rank ability users possessed the power to face a hundred enemies alone.

My childhood friend Davis awakened a B-rank ability [Thermal Perception], allowing him to sense the heat distribution of all living beings within a hundred-meter radius.

And me? I got the F-rank ability that everyone mocked—[Refresh].

"Hahaha! Refresh? What can that do? Refresh your life?" People at the camp always laughed at me like that.

But I didn't care. I only wanted to protect my sister Leia.

Leia is eighteen this year, one of the few ordinary people in this camp who haven't awakened an ability.

I swore to protect her, no matter the cost.

That evening at dusk, Davis came to find me, but he had already betrayed me and become a lackey of the Gray Mark Gang.

A zombie outbreak occurred, and my brother and I were both reborn ten minutes before the disaster struck.
This time, he seized the initiative, stealing the two high-level god-tier abilities, [Flame] and [Hardening], and casually pushed me out of the security door, locking me in the zombie-infested corridor.
Through the security door, he arrogantly declared, "In my past life, you always stood in front of me; in this life, I'll take the mark of survival."
In his eyes, the [Tracking] and [Preset] abilities the system assigned me were nothing but useless pieces of paper.
He thought I would die a horde of zombies.
But he didn't know that in the hands of a top hunter, seemingly useless skills could weave a hellish web that made life unbearable and death unthinkable.

In my past life, my brother-in-law predicted the coming of an extreme cold apocalypse and claimed he would awaken a spatial ability on the day it arrived.
I didn't believe him, but under pressure from my wife's family, I purchased supplies anyway. Then the frozen apocalypse actually came.
I thought we'd survive together as a family, but my brother-in-law had bragged about his spatial ability and massive supplies before awakening. When his ability manifested, the space was pitifully small, and everyone he'd told came to rob us.
When food ran out, my wife's family turned on me, killing and eating me.
Reborn, I've decided to take revenge on my wife's entire family. And it all starts with secretly building my own shelter.

In the wasteland era, the soil is dead. Whoever can grow food is king.
In my last life, my brother gave me the spore we had nearly died to get, and the two of us awakened plant-growing powers together.
But every grain he grew was full and perfect, and the leader placed him on a pedestal; everything I grew was poisonous, and I was mercilessly cast out as worthless.
It wasn't until I died that I learned the truth: his power was never plant-growing, but transfer.
As long as he had eaten the spore, he could transfer away all the crops I grew.
When I got a second chance, I returned to the very day my so-called brother tried to shove the spore into my mouth.
This time, I slammed into him, knocked the spore to the ground, and crushed it under my foot.

After being abused for most of her life, Emily turns to witchcraft for protection. However, she gets more than she bargains for when twin demon brothers show up. They protect her from everything while longing to fill her every need.


At that moment she found out she really liked being controlled in the bedroom. He had already given her a few orders, each one turning her on just a little bit more than the last. “Suck.” Sal ordered Emily, while placing a black toy in her mouth.

“Now I am going to watch while you pleasure my brother for a minute, then I will join in.” He said as he adjusted the toy to the lowest setting.

He came when he saw her lick every last drop of Manny and swallow not missing a drop. He put his hand around her throat pulling her towards him, and kissed her roughly. His other hand moved down her chest and started massaging and pinching her nipples.

He nipped, licked, and sucked on one side, while Manny was doing the same on the other, making her moan in both pleasure and pain.

Trigger Warnings: Animal cruelty, Anal sex, Bigotry, BDSM, Breath play, Bondage, Death, Double-penetration, Homophobia, Mental abuse, Mentions of child abuse, Mind manipulation, Non-consensual drug use, Non-consensual body modification, Orgasm denial, Oral sex, PTSD, Physical abuse, Pseudo-incest, Racial slurs, Rape, Racism, Sexual abuse, Strong language, Speciesism, Sex, Spanking, Self-cest, Torture, Trauma, Thoughts of suicide, Triple-penetration, Verbal abuse, Voyeurism

Adrianna always thought that everyone had that voice in their head that told them 'dont touch that', 'run' or 'dont go in there'. Most people called it intuition saying it was their subconscious keeping them from danger. The only difference with her 'subconscious' was that it was a mans voice that called himself Apollo, and he was NEVER wrong.


“Fuck, Adrianna, your mouth is heaven. But I need more. I need to be inside you.” He'd pulled me up roughly, crushing his lips to mine in a kiss of fire and possession. Tongue invaded, tasting of smoke and sin, hands yanking my lingerie off to expose my curvy form—breasts heaving, pussy slick. I'd melted into him, arms around his neck, kiss deepening as his cock ground against my belly.

Trigger Warnings included: Abusive Parents, Alcohol, Alcohol Consumption, Anal Sex, Assault, BDSM , Betrayal, Bigotry, Blood, Blood Magic, Bondage, Breath Play, Bullying, Captive Scenarios, Chaos, Cheating, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Consensual Dubious Consent, Cursing, Death, Degradation, Degradation Kink, Demons, Description Of A Violent Death, Discussion Of Mental Health, Double Penetration, Dubious Consent, Dubious Non-Consent, Emotional Abuse, Explicit Sexual Situations For 18+, Face Fucking, Fear Play, Gangbang, Gore, Graphic Murder, Graphic Rape, Graphic Violence, Home Invasion, Inappropriate Use Of Meds, Mental Abuse, Mention Of Drunkenness, Masturbation, Mentions Of Child Abuse, Murder, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Non-Consensual Bondage, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Non-Consensual Touching, Oral Sex, Orgasm Denial, Parental Neglect, Physical Abuse, Physical Harm, Primal Play, Profanity, Psychological Abuse, Rape, Rough Sexual Content, Sadomasochism, Satan/The Devil, Self Harm, Self Harm/Cutting For Magical Purposes, Serial Killer And Their Crimes, Severed Han, Sex, Sexual Abuse, Sexual Assault, Sexual Harassment, Sexually Explicit Scenes, Slut Shaming, Somnophilia, Spanking, Speciesism, Stalking, Strong Language, Suicidal Thoughts. Suicide, Suicide Ideation. Thoughts Of Suicide, Torture, Triple Penetration, Verbal Abuse, Violence, Voyeurism

At the dawn of human civilization, beings from another planet land on Earth. At first, they seem friendly enough, promoting peace and sharing their incredible magic with the habitants of their new world. While human in appearance, Dragonians have the ability to transform into the towering beasts we know today as dragons. Carving out a canyon, they create their capital and claim their own piece of land. After a terrible tragedy during the birth of the Dragonian king's son, they begin enslaving humanity, imposing despotic rule over their new home. As the dragons' hold on the land surrounding their black castle begins to tighten, the king's allies begin to question his motive, and his sanity. In the middle of a plot against the king and his rule is a young, untrained prince; a hero some don't believe exists. As he becomes more and more entwined with those plotting for change, he must open himself up to learn what he's missed his entire life. Soon, he will learn what it truly means to be free, and what it means to fight for those who cannot.

Jayde Roberts is an executive for Google and working on her Master's degree at Stanford. He sister, Amara, is a Hollywood star. Amara was toyed with and tortured by her boss, Maximous King, until she tried to kill her self. Jayde goes to L.A. to help her sister. She wants to get revenge for her. She meets Maximous and while waiting for Amara to wake up, Jayde gets closer to Max. Jayde gets confused by the feelings she developes for him.

A hybrid of werewolf and vampire could save the world


(Strix) I am a created vampire. After years of moving, my vampire family finally settle in a small town. New place, new school, really can't remember how many times I've been to school in my eternal life. Just when I was ready to go to my class, I notice a man in the corner.

The wind blew just then and I was distracted by the most amazing scent. I had never before smelled anything so … heavenly. It is enticing, pulling me toward its source, the man.

My brother grabbed my arm and started dragging me backwards. “We have to go, now!”
“Why?” I asked, concerned by whatever danger he saw at that moment. “Oh!” I gasped. I am the danger.

(Shawn) As the wind blew towards me, I realized it wasn’t Lycans in the woods, but vampires. And then I caught it, the most amazing scent. MATE! Was my mate being chased by vampires? Surely they would have caught her by now unless they are carrying her.

I jumped into a nearby tree and watched as three vampires ran through the woods. Three vampires, no humans, no lycans, just vampires. Wait… Does that mean my mate is a vampire?

When I died alone in the hospital in my past life, Nathaniel was in Paris getting engaged to Sophia.

Reborn on the day of Mom's funeral, I watched him announce his first love's return at the gala. Watched him smile at her the way he never smiled at me in three years.

So I threw wine in his face.

"The transaction is over, Nathaniel."

In front of all Boston high society, I dropped his million-dollar ring into the champagne tower.

Then I drove 12 hours to Port Haven. A shabby seaside cottage, teaching piano, falling for Liam, the gentle town doctor. I thought I was finally free.

Until three months later, Nathaniel showed up with lawyers.

"Clause 17, Emma. Early divorce means you owe $8 million."

I collapsed in the snow, hands shaking—this hidden trap is why I never ran in my past life.

But this time, will I let him win again?

When I woke up, there was a stranger beside me. He said his name was Kieran, took care of me gently, answered every question with patience. My wolf was dormant, but my heart raced every time I saw him.

"Are you my mate?" I asked.

He was silent for a long time. Finally: "Just rest for now."

The days that followed felt like a dream. He made breakfast, walked with me, kissed me under moonlight. We marked each other. I thought I'd found where I belonged.

Until I saw a black wolf emblem.

Memory struck like lightning—

Kieran Valens. My mortal enemy. Son of the man who killed my parents twenty years ago.

And I'd just spent three weeks in his bed.

Worse—when I pretended the amnesia continued and secretly fed intel to my pack...I found I couldn't betray him.

When he took a silver bullet on the battlefield, I ran to him faster than logic could stop me.

"Why save me?" he asked, eyes full of pain.

Because I love you. Because you're my fated wolf.

Because even though you're the one person I should hate most, my body moves toward you on instinct.

But this love was built on lies...

The Vane family has carried the vampire's curse for generations. Of every pair of twin sisters born into our bloodline, one will not live to see twenty-five.

Everyone assumed it was my sister — the one always coughing up blood.

Nobody knew that for twenty years, every full moon, the one gritting her teeth through the pain, never making a sound, was me.

The Divine took pity on me and gave me three chances. Win the genuine love of my parents, my brother, or my husband — any one of them — and the curse would lift.

Three chances. Three failures.

The only hope I had left was the baby inside me, seven months along. Bring him into this world, and I'd live.

Then my husband kicked open my hospital room door. My own brother pulled on a surgical gown and picked up a knife. My parents signed the forms outside.

They were going to cut me open, take the last thing keeping me alive, and use it to save my "cursed" sister.

After my life slipped away entirely, the truth came out.

So why is it that the people who sent me to my death are the ones who lost their minds?

I died once.

Spent seventy years as a housewife the first time around. Biggest regret? Never felt my heart race.

Met her in this life, and that's when I learned what being alive actually meant. In this world where assassins pay in gold coins and seek sanctuary at Continental hotels, we became a duo called "Swans," hunting down the man who destroyed her family. Every single day, dancing on a razor's edge.

Two years ago, the explosion killed Raven Hayes right in front of me.

To survive, I married a naive tech heir, slipped into silk dresses and started doing the charity gala circuit, tried to convince myself this was the peace I wanted.

Until that enemy became a High Table member and announced a hundred-million-dollar bounty on me to the world.

I used to be scared. Used to run. Used to ask why it had to be me.

But sitting at my vanity, staring at this stranger's face in the mirror, all done up like some socialite, I suddenly realized none of it mattered anymore.

I'm going to die eventually anyway. Might as well die looking like myself.

I died in the tenth year of our marriage. Not from illness, but from thirty-six hundred days of silent cruelty and penance.

Ten years ago, during that avalanche, he grabbed my hand at the last second. The girl he loved got buried under all that snow.

After that, even breathing felt like a crime.

He drank himself into oblivion, stayed out all night, and on the anniversary of her death, he'd wrap his hands around my throat and ask, "Why wasn't it you?"

I loved him for fifteen years, from childhood sweethearts to bitter strangers. I gave everything for even a hint of warmth from him. What I got instead was him shoving me down the stairs for her little sister.

When I open my eyes again, wind cuts through me and snow fills the air. I'm ten years in the past, back to that afternoon in the Alps.

This time, I'll give you what you want.

Everyone knows Adrian loves me more than life itself. When that car crashed, he threw himself over me and took the hit. First thing he said when he woke up in the hospital: "Where is she? Is she okay?"

Everyone says I married the best man in the city.

What they don't know is this man has married me ten times. And divorced me ten times. All for the woman he's never gotten over.

The first time, I got on my knees and begged him not to leave. He just looked at me with those cold eyes and said, "Don't embarrass yourself."

The fourth time, we were fighting in the car. Then we crashed, and I lost our baby.

By the seventh time, I stopped crying. Just signed the papers, packed my things, waited for him to come back like he always did.

My tears, my compromises, all those times I bent until I nearly broke. What did I get? Him coming back like clockwork, just to do it all over again.

This time, when he slides that tenth divorce agreement across the desk, I finally get it. Some people's hearts never had room for you in the first place.

So this time, I'm throwing him out. Him and this whole Mrs. Hayes charade. Straight into the trash where they belong.

I burn through eighty years of my life raising three dogs that turn around and tear into me.

My vampire husband, Damian, used to be an outcast covered in festering sores, cursed to fear the sun. I cut my wrist and gave up thirty years of my life so he could become the most powerful man among the bloodlines, in control of half the world's wealth. Cold and ruthless to everyone else, he only ever bares his fangs for me.

Knox, the werewolf boy I grew up with, was born with a genetic flaw that kept him from ever shifting. I gave up another twenty years so he could have the strongest bloodline of all. Wild and reckless, he used to swear he'd carry me on his back for the rest of his life.

Julian, my human brother, got burned beyond recognition saving me from a fire. I spent my last thirty years giving him back a face people would pay a fortune for. He used to send crates of his paintings to my room, the kind of work people would kill to own.

Then a woman named Daphne shows up, and all three of them lose their minds over her.

And somehow I become the jealous, vicious wife everyone wants gone.

She cries that I pushed her, so they drive blades of blood straight through my bones.

She says I'm cruel to the staff, so they break my legs in front of a crowd.

And when I'm dying, they drain my blood to keep her alive.

If you're all going to treat the life I gave you like trash, then I'm taking it back. The strength, the face, the life. All of it.

[God, I take it back. I want everything I gave them returned to me.]

This is a world where humans and fantasy races exist side by side. Werewolves move through city streets between glass towers, and every now and then, a pair of massive wings cuts through the clouds overhead. Twenty years ago, to secure the family's standing, the main house signed a contract with the Dragon Clan.

As the least favored daughter of a branch family, I was chosen to be the Dragon King's mate. The terms were spelled out plainly: if I couldn't get married within five years of coming of age, I'd have to go to Dragon territory and go through with the marriage.

For five years, every wedding I've planned has been blown up by my younger sister, Hannah.

This is year five. I'm finally in a wedding dress, about to marry Derek, the boy I grew up with.

What I didn't expect was that one hour before the ceremony, Hannah collapsed in the dressing room coughing up blood. She grabbed Derek's hand, crying, saying she wouldn't make it through the month.

And my parents are on either side of me, hands pressed down hard on my shoulders.

"Just let Hannah have the wedding. She's dying!"

What they don't know is that if I don't get married today, the Dragon envoys will come for me on the spot.

And I won't be coming back.

The day my sister and I came back to life, we made one call: swap fiancés.

Last time, Dad burned every favor he had to lock down two marriage deals for the family. One with a mafia family that runs the West Coast. The other with a corporate CEO.

My sister married the mafia leader. She was too gentle, too kind for a world that ran on blood and backstabbing. The man had a childhood friend who played soft and helpless but was vicious as hell underneath. That woman tormented my sister for decades before finally arranging an "accident" that killed her.

And me? I got the polished CEO.

Sounds good, right? Except we tortured each other from day one. He was all rules and manners, always talking like he was giving a speech. Me? I blow up fast and if I can throw a punch, I will. Every day was the same standoff. He'd pull back, I'd push forward, and nobody gave an inch.

We spent our whole lives being polite and miserable.

Then one day, my sister and I woke up on the afternoon they announced the engagements.

At twenty-nine, Dominic Brooks owns this city's underworld.

This year, I'm pregnant again. Finally.

But on our daughter's death anniversary, he doesn't show. Five hours. Nothing.

I find him at our casino with some girl draped all over him. The same girl I pulled out of a trafficking ring two years ago.

She's laughing loud enough for everyone to hear. "His wife won't stop crying about that dead kid. God, he's so over it."

He kisses her. Right in front of me.

Three days later, he tears up our daughter's grave. His mistress wants a swimming pool.

The shovel comes down. My unborn baby goes with it.

Years ago, Dominic taught me the rules of our world. How we handle traitors.

Time for a reminder.

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.

Blake's keeping me locked up in a villa outside the city, with a dozen bodyguards watching me around the clock. They won't let me step foot outside my room.

He once promised Vanessa, the woman he never got over, that he'd give her company shares and his estate. Now she's back after her divorce, pregnant, crying to Blake that I threatened her, told her to give up what he promised, and that I wanted to hurt her and her baby.

Blake believed her.

He's convinced I'm evil and gold-digging. He locked me up here while he stays at the hospital, never leaving Vanessa's side.

I'm going into sudden labor, crying and begging him to let me go to a hospital. I swear I never wanted those things, never hurt her.

Blake just sneers. "You're such a liar. I don't believe a single word from someone as vicious as you. After Vanessa delivers, I'll get you a doctor. Stop trying to fool me."

But when he finally sees my body, he completely falls apart.

My serpent mate has locked me in the castle, nine months pregnant. A dozen serpent guards watch me day and night. I can't even leave the room.

A month ago, his brother died in a hunting accident. He became the serpent clan leader. Then he brought back his brother's widow, the woman he grew up with. His first love.

He said he needed to take care of his brother's widow. He told me we'd all live together in the castle, nice and peaceful.

I said no.

I'm his mate. I'm a beastman. My pride won't let me accept that. And they grew up together, childhood sweethearts. How could I not think about it?

She came to him in tears, heavily pregnant. She said I poisoned her medicine, that I wanted to kill her and the baby.

He believed her.

He decided I was just some rogue beastman with no background, jealous and vicious, only after his title and money. So he locked me in this freezing castle while he camped outside her delivery room.

When labor hit, I screamed for a healer. I swore I never hurt her. I just couldn't live with her under the same roof. I only ever loved him.

He just laughed. "You're good at acting. I don't believe a word out of you. Once she delivers safely, I'll deal with you. Don't think you can trick me into coming back."

But when a trembling guard reported "Your mate and the child... they didn't make it," he lost it completely.

I've got a reputation on campus as a doormat with zero dignity. I bring Wyatt Langley food, do his homework, act as his emotional dumping ground. Been at it for a year.

His rich friends mock my cheap clothes and say I'm reaching way out of my league. He never stops them. Sometimes he even laughs along.

Finally, he announces in front of everyone that he's breaking up with me. His first love is coming back from Europe, so I need to get lost.

Everyone's waiting to see me cry.

I glance at the five million dollars that hit my account half an hour ago and say, with complete sincerity, "Okay. Congrats."

What nobody knows is that I put up with him, tolerated his rotten temper, for one simple reason. His mom pays way too well.

Now the money's here. Time to end this arrangement.

So why, the second I walk away, does he start tearing the city apart trying to find me?

I died. At my sister's eighteenth birthday party, the moment the champagne tower came crashing down.

While she stood under the crystal chandelier in her gown, soaking up congratulations from three hundred guests, I was tied up in an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town. The wound in my stomach was still bleeding.

I called my family. Only my brother picked up, sounding pissed off and disgusted. "What's your problem now? This is her big day. You better not ruin it."

I tried to explain. He hung up.

That was the ninety-ninth time they'd hung up on me.

Also the last.

They thought I was throwing a tantrum, deliberately skipping my sister's special moment. Called me ungrateful, said they regretted bringing me back from that backwater town two years ago.

Well, now they're off the hook.

Problem solved.

As the only mute player in this horror game, I thought I was screwed.

Turns out the boss knows sign language.

Thank God! Perfect!

Then he gets everything completely wrong.

I sign "help me," he reads it as "you're hot."

I sign "danger," he thinks I'm saying "I like you."

I sign "get lost," and he goes, "You want me to come closer? Okay."

The worst part? I curse him out in sign language, calling him a psycho pervert.

He just smiles and says, "Baby, you're so good at flirting. I can't even bring myself to kill you now."

Me: ...

My teammate whispers to me, "Please stop signing. Every time you do, he stares at you even more like a psycho."

My parents raised me for twenty-four years. Then they found out I wasn't their biological daughter.

Their real daughter came home. She'd only been back two years. That's all it took to erase twenty-four.

When kidnappers grabbed us, I used my body as a shield. They beat me until something inside me ruptured. I was dying from internal bleeding, but no one could tell.

My parents wouldn't even look at me. "This is your fault! None of this would've happened if it weren't for you!"

"Get downstairs and apologize to your sister. If you can't, pack your things and get out."

They threw her a party at a downtown hotel while I died alone in my room.

I thought they'd be relieved. Maybe even glad. I thought they'd just move on like I never existed.

But when they finally learned the truth, they fell apart.

Three years ago, a private plane crash took my father, my mother, my brother Carter, and Grayson, the man I'd loved for seven years and was about to marry.

To hold onto everything they left behind, I cried until my eyes were raw, destroyed my stomach, and fought my way through boardrooms and Wall Street vultures.

On countless nights, I held their photographs and cried until I passed out.

What I never understood was why Willow, the foster sister we'd taken in, vanished without a trace after the crash.

Until today, three years later, when I drive back to the family estate with a diagnosis in my bag telling me I have three months to live.

I push open the heavy door and hear laughter. I see my family—the family that's supposed to be dead—gathered around Willow and her three-year-old son, singing happy birthday.

Turns out no one in this world ever loved me at all.

Why do they all get to live while I'm the only one who have to die?

Everyone says I married an iceberg.

Three years of contract marriage. He's never touched me once.

On our wedding night, I tried to move into his bedroom. He refused. I stood in front of him wearing lingerie. He just said, calm as ever, "You should get some rest."

I'm a healthy woman with a normal sex drive. Every day I'm burning up with my own desire.

I thought he didn't love me. So for both our sakes, I signed the divorce papers. Today, I'm telling him.

Then that afternoon, I suddenly heard his thoughts.

When I walked up to him in just a towel, he looked calm, staring at his laptop. But his mind was screaming: Holy shit. She's not wearing anything under that. Look at that skin. Her tits are huge. I can't take this anymore... no, I'll scare her. Fuck. I'm hard again.

Turns out under the ice, there's a volcano that's been buried for just as long.

I slip the divorce papers back into hiding and pour him a coffee.

New plan: make that volcano blow.

I gave Arthur a thousand years. A thousand years to secure his throne as God-King.

And on the day of our engagement ceremony, he announced he was marrying someone else.

In my past life, I bled myself dry for him.

He told me Lilith needed Seraphim blood to live. I believed him. He bound me to the Divine Punishment Pillar and carved open my chest, one cut at a time.

He massacred my entire clan, calling it "treason."

I only learned the truth as I was dying. That pitiful "saint" was a demon from the Abyss all along.

Now that I'm reborn, watching him sit on that throne makes my skin crawl.

I destroy our engagement in front of everyone and take the entire Seraphim clan with me.

This time, I'm only here to watch him destroy himself.

I loved Damien for ten years. Ten years, right up until the moment he took the heart that was supposed to save our daughter and gave it to someone else's child.

Lily was only seven. She was terrified of the dark, terrified of pain. She never got that heart. She just faded, right there in that hospital bed.

And Damien was down the hall, celebrating someone else's miracle.

He had no idea what I was holding when he finally came home. He had no idea my stomach cancer had already hit the final stage.

There was nothing left in this world worth staying for.

So this time, I didn't yell. I didn't cry.

I just slid the divorce papers across the table.

He thought I was bluffing.

But this time, I had nothing left to lose.

In the dark underworld, Matthias Sterling is a feared mob boss and the only family I had left after my parents died. I used to be the girl he cherished, until I turned eighteen and confessed my feelings to him.

From that day on, the tenderness in his eyes turned to disgust. He brought home Rose Hartley and threw me away like trash.

In my past life, someone drugged him with a powerful aphrodisiac. I gave myself to him as the cure, only for him to call me a shameless whore. But when I got pregnant, he married me anyway.

On our wedding day, Rose ran to rival territory heartbroken and ended up dead. When he heard the news, he said nothing. Just finished the ceremony.

When I went into labor, he locked me in the house and said coldly, "If it weren't for you, I would've married her. She wouldn't have run to enemy territory and died."

He blamed everything on me. In the end, I died in childbirth. He wouldn't even let anyone call a doctor.

When I open my eyes again, I'm back on the night that changed everything.

One of my employees went online and dragged me, claiming I'm making them sacrifice their health for a paycheck and forcing everyone to work over Thanksgiving.

Here's what actually happened. My company gives nine days off for Thanksgiving. Volunteer to work overtime, get triple pay, with a $500 daily meal stipend and a $5,000 bonus. No one gets penalized for not working.

The whole internet's tearing into me for making employees sell their lives for cash. So I give her exactly what she wants and send out a company-wide notice:

To protect employee mental health, the building gets locked and the power gets cut over Thanksgiving. No one is allowed to work for any reason. Anyone who does gets fired.

The minute that email goes out, the employees who were counting on overtime to pay their mortgages lose it. Now they're all crowded outside the building, begging me to open the doors.