Novels by Winner Charles

Hermosa "Then prepare to be hunted." "Runnnnn!" I scream as we scamper out of the forest, my hands firmly holding my best friends' hands, as the branches and thorns tear our skin. Both werewolves chase us down. I hear a loud scream. Eleanor is clutching her legs, with blood dripping. I try to help her. Too late. I had let my guard down. Both Cammy and Eleanor are pinned down by both werewolves, and bloodlust smells in the air. "Stop." "Stop!" I scream, but they aren't listening. Cammy's clothes are already turned to bits. Eleanor looks like her magic is failing her. "Pick the knife, or we all die." "No." "No." Tears stream down my eyes. One of the werewolves uses his teeth to bite my friend. I pick the knife, and without thinking, I strike blindly. The werewolf lays on the floor, fully transformed. It was Ragal. "I am sorry." I whisper. He holds my face, spitting blood. "It's okay. I was prepared for this. Kill me and let this plague be over." He is

Two months later Hermosa I stare at the empty dining table. The chirping of the birds tells me that I am far from civilization. I try to shift my leg forward, at least to relax a bit, until he brings food. I don't know how many days I am in here, because everywhere looks pretty dark, apart from the steady burning of the candle, which tells me where I am. Rapheal had kidnapped me from the Shadow Moon Pack. For days he had forced me to bathe with strange herbs. When I asked him why, he deliberately refused to answer. He takes me out for quiet walks, but in a blindfold, while he holds my hands. I can hear the steady chirping of the birds and the hooting of owls, and I conclude somehow we might be in the bush. Wildflowers stick close to my clothes. "I prepared your best meal. Pasta and steak." "It's not." I mutter underneath my breath, scared. I wonder if Ragal is looking for me. "I am sorry." I hear Rapheal say from the head of the table. "Sorry for what exactly?

Hermosa The tall, bushy trees and grass were everywhere. I remember running down here as soon as I heard news about Cammy.I had rushed down here, almost killing the doctors in charge when they told me the truth."Three bulky men were sent to murder the patient you kept here, but when they removed her from life support, she strangely woke up from a coma. She had this lost look on her face, that they concluded that it was the wrong person."The doctors told me.I had run down here with Morgan's news, but instead of a dead body, I had seen an innocent lady with no memories of what happened between her and the people that were sent.She had no memories from a year. Even what happened to her was wiped off.From that day onward, I had looked into Morgan and what I found almost killed me. But I decided to play the mournful and angry lover to Hermosa.To draw out Raphael. Now it's backfired.I ran through the empty halls, screaming down her name, but there was no response.I slam the doors

HermosaOur boot crunched them and I wonder why she was staying in a place that looks deserted.He points the torchlight to show us the way. There were no signs of a house or sign of life nearby.Everywhere was too quiet.I stop dead in my track. "This place is awfully quiet. Why did you take her there?"He doesn't respond. "It's the best place I could think of. This place looks strange for a patient in coma.""She needs rest and I thought it's the best place for her to find one."My body kicks with joy at what he had said. Cammy was finally awake and I wonder why he never told me.I stare down at the tomb's headstone. Cammy Beckett. Survived by none. 2000-2026.A fresh bouquet of flowers on her tombstone. I laugh out loud, staring at Ragal who kept his gaze down."Tell me, what is this? We buried her remains here. She died at the hospital.""No. No, no. What is this?""Her grave," he adds."If you don't take me to my friend, I warn you. I promise this will be the last time you ever s

After the meal, he hadn't talked to me throughout the trip downstairs or in the car. I thought he was still mad at me for packing my bags. I made a mental note to tell him about his Beta, Morgan, and how he had on many occasions threatened to kill my best friend if I hadn't given my blood in exchange. The drive on the road was really quiet, and his hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. He didn't even turn to look at me. It was almost as if I wasn't there. The silence in the car was suffocating, but even I could do it. I stuck my face outside the window. "Stop." He pushed me back inside, rolling up the windows. "I just need fresh air." "The last time you did that, elite werewolves attacked us." "You don't have to remind me of that." I folded my arms inside the car stubbornly. "Good." He frowned slightly. "Let's focus on getting to Cammy in one piece." --- *Ragal* I had prepared a meal to calm her nerves. I don't know if it did that. I saw her talking to Morga

Hermosa "No blood." I say confidently. He pulled me close enough to smell his scent. "You have grown… balls." "I can say that about you, coming in broad daylight asking for my blood." Whatever I said irked him. I could see his nostrils flaring. Then he gripped my arm tightly. "Amazing, Hermosa. So damn good." "What happened to crawling spaces?" I spat, sure that I was getting to him. A flash of anger in his eyes told me I had hit a sensitive spot. "I respect the king a lot, but not you." I rolled my eyes at him. "Coward." "Don't drag my buttons, lil Omega." I smiled, pushing his hands away. "No. Cammy. No blood." He looked around before responding. "I hate you… Omega, but then I still need you." My heart thudded between my chest. Of course, they all needed me hale and hearty. I was a living, breathing cure. My blood was the key to everything. "I will get you to Cammy tomorrow morning." He grinned. "Don't be late." I added. "Of course not. He doesn't like to

Lavanda PovI am on a bed covered up with linen sheets—the type used in a hotel room. My body is all covered up.My neck and arms are completely bare; I wasn't wearing any clothes. My hair looks awful, scattered everywhere, and red lipstick is smudged on the pillow.I don't wear red at all. That night, I had made absolute sure not to put it on.My notification lit up my screen with a text from Desmond: Think I am still lying?How could he even do this? How could he look at this and pretend I did it to myself? I was drugged. I could barely remember a single fragment after that night. The only solid memory I had was Desmond’s text luring me out under the guise of an apology.He had done this. It had to be him. First, he forged my signature; now, he was using a manufactured scandal to weaponize my past against me.With trembling fingers, I zoomed in on the man lying in the bed beside me. He looked completely knocked out, too. A digital sticker had been deliberately plastered over his fac

Ainsworth She leaned against the car, spinning her car keys. One more word and the truth comes out about me, about Red. I can't bear it if she hated me; I don't want to tell her."I wasn't a good man to you," I repeated the words once more to make sure they stuck."Don't compare yourself to my ex-husband. He's doing this on purpose," she responded. "You hid the truth from me for a reason. I don't think that's an attribute of a bad person."I kept my mouth shut and refused to say anything. It's better this way; the truth is better left unsaid."Stay. Don't go, then," I told her. "He's not worth your energy.""You won't tell me how to fight my demons, Ainsworth," her voice rose over the top. "He's tarnishing my image online, and it needs to stop, or else people will think it's true.""Let them think. I know the real you," I placed my hands on my chest. "I have seen the woman behind that mask.""No," she shook her head. "It's different. I have a company that depends on that image." She

The court session had been long, stretching hours past what my frayed nerves could comfortably endure, and by the time the heavy doors finally swung open to release us, I was completely exhausted. At the end of it all, nothing concrete had been concluded. We were merely there to present our arguments, lay our cards on the table, and let the magistrates deliberate while the judges continued going through mountains of legal briefs and testimonies. I let out a breath, wrapping my arms around myself against the chill of the courthouse hallway, when a familiar shadow fell over me. "I got you water," Ainsworth said, his voice cutting through the murmur of reporters and lawyers. He was slightly out of breath, having jogged back from the vending machine. Without a word, I snatched the cold plastic bottle from his outstretched hand, unscrewed the cap with trembling fingers, and gulped the water down greedily, letting the cool liquid soothe my parched throat. His eyes were all over me, track

"No... you are leaving," I choked out, the words catching painfully in my dry throat as tears welled in my eyes once more. "And I don't know what to say to keep you from going."He reached up with a gentle, agonizingly slow motion and touched my cheeks, his thumb wiping away a stray teardrop that had escaped down my skin. "There's nothing you or anyone else can do to stop me, Lavanda," he whispered, his voice thick with an emotion he could no longer hide. "I love you, Mama Bear. I always have, and I always will."Before I could process the depth of his confession, he stepped in close and pulled me into his arms. My slender body was pressed firmly against the solid weight of his chest, surrounded by his heat, his familiar cologne, and the heavy, rhythmic thud of his heart against my cheek. It felt like an anchor in the middle of a raging storm, but I could feel the invisible sands slipping through my fingers.I stood there in his embrace, paralyzed, utterly helpless. I didn't know what

let my spoon drop back down against the porcelain surface of my plate with a sharp, heavy clatter that made the silverware shudder. "Lisa, I... I just can't right now." Her bright, perceptive eyes narrowed slightly with childlike suspicion. "Why not? Are you two fighting again? Did you have an argument while you were out?" I didn't want to say anything to burden her—not yet, not while her entire world was still so fragile. So, avoiding her searching gaze, I reached out with a trembling hand, picked up my phone from the tabletop, and dialed his number. It rang just once before he picked up on the other end. "Mama bear." His rich, familiar voice filled the tiny speaker of the phone, and for a few breathless seconds, my throat tightened so much I couldn't even speak. Hearing him like that made me realize just how profoundly I already missed his warm presence filling the empty corners of the house. "Come back home," I managed to say, my voice softening despite my best efforts. "W

Lavanda Pov "He is twice the man you will ever be, Desmond," I replied, my voice slicing through the tense, air of the cafe with absolute, unyielding conviction. I looked straight into his deceitful eyes, refusing to flinch or show a single ounce of weakness. "Ainsworth is the only real father Lisa has ever known, and no piece of paper, threat, or courtroom stunt is ever going to change that immutable fact.""Did you ever think for a second that I never loved my own daughter?" Desmond screamed at me, his face twisting into an ugly, mask of wounded pride and sudden, fake outrage that made my stomach churn with instant sickness.Ainsworth immediately stood up from the wooden chair where he had been quietly sitting, his tall muscles tensed and coiled like steel springs, ready to step in and launch into a violent confrontation. But I reached out, my hand flying to his chest to stop him."Don't," I murmured, shaking my head. "Don't try to waste your precious time or energy on him, Ainswo