LOGINLauraI stared at the unfinished portrait on the page, suddenly feeling like my thoughts were kinda ridiculous and absurd. I snapped the sketchbook shut, my fingers brushing over the clasp as I locked it. This secret? It's staying right here, tucked away in a corner nobody knows about.As I blew out the candle and curled up in bed, sleep wouldn't come. His face haunted me—the way he stood up for me in the snow, that faint smile when he showed me his overlook."Get a grip," I muttered to myself. But the more I tried to push him away, the more his image clung to my mind.Maybe this crush was doomed to stay locked in that sketchbook, just like I'd always be watching him from a distance.The next day, a pack hunt came out of nowhere. Sam stood in the morning light, his hair edged in gold. He glanced at me, his black eyes catching the rising sun. "Laura, you're with me today."My heart pounded so hard I could barely nod.The hunting party tore through the forest, wind roaring in my ears,
Violet"I-I didn't mean to kill her. I just wanted to scare her, make her agree to let you leave Derek. But-but she said she would never let you suffer, and I got so angry that I just..." Liriel's voice was full of pain and regret."So all these years, you let me carry the pain of losing my mother? You let me think it was an accident?" My voice was shaking."I was scared. I didn't dare admit it." Liriel started crying. "Violet, I know nothing I say will help now, but I really regret it. All these years, I've lived in nightmares every day, repenting every day.""Repenting?" I laughed coldly. "If you really regretted it, why did you kidnap my children later? Why did you hurt Derek?""Because I lost it!" Liriel broke down, crying."Seeing you two happy, I couldn't control the jealousy in my heart. I know I was sick, I know I was beyond saving. But Violet, I really regret it."Tears came to my eyes too—not for Liriel, but for my mother who passed away. Finally, my mother could rest in pea
Violet A month later, Derek was discharged.We went home, back to warmth and our life. He was still recovering—no heavy stuff—but he was living. Breathing. With us.That night, finally alone, he pulled me tight."Violet, I thought I'd never see you again." His breath brushed my ear. "When I was under, I heard you. Every day. Heard the kids sing. Your voices dragged me back.""We promised," I murmured into his chest, soaking in his heat. "I'm not letting you break it.""I love you, Violet." His fingers slid through my hair. "This life, the next—I love you.""I love you too, Derek." I looked up into him. "Always."We held each other and cried—for the miracle, the scars, the fact we were whole at last.A few months later, my dessert business took off. With his backing and the Ward Family's resources, I opened more than a dozen shops around the city. But I kept prices friendly. I wanted ordinary people to taste joy.He started sketching my dream flagship store, tossing out wild ideas I
VioletDisinfectant hung in the hall like a cold fog. I sat on the bench outside the ICU, fingers locked tight, eyes on the closed door. Two weeks had crawled by. I barely left, only slipping out when the kids needed me.Derek was still out.That night on the cliff, he bled so much saving us he almost didn't make it. The doctors said it was bad—knife wound to the chest, a jaw dislocated from clamping the rope too long, systems thrown off by massive blood loss.They pulled him back from the edge. Even with an Alpha's healing, with injuries like these, no one could say when he'd wake.I touched the mark at my throat. It had settled into a little flower. Even with him deep under, I could feel that fated mate pull—thin but stubborn, like a thread tying our souls together."Mom, we came to see Dad."Leon and Theodora's voices floated down the corridor. I blinked, saw them coming hand in hand, Edmond behind them. He'd been helping me with the kids so I could keep vigil here."Will Dad wake
Derek "The family's interests don't justify hurting innocent children," Elder Ward said, firm now. "Liriel, release them. It ends here.""I won't!" she shrieked. "If you won't help me, I'll do it myself! If I can't have Derek's love, I'll burn everything he loves!"She swung the knife, eyes blazing, and hacked at Violet's rope. She was gone—hate ate her whole.The rope sawed halfway through.My opening.While they were split between arguing and gloating, I moved. Now or never."Drop it!" I bolted for Liriel, going for her knife.She was quick. Instinct jerked her arm up as I crashed into her. White fire exploded in my chest.Steel buried deep. Blood bloomed hot."Derek!" Violet screamed, voice breaking."No! Why did you rush me?" Liriel screamed too.The pain blurred my vision. I couldn't fall. I would not.I gritted through it, wrenched the knife from her hand, and hurled her aside. Warm blood poured down my ribs, soaking my white shirt. I didn't look."You ran into me! I did
Derek When Violet and I reached the spot Liriel named,sight before me turned my blood to ice.An abandoned pier. A cliff. Moonlight on jagged rock. And at the edge—the worst thing I ever saw—my kids, bound and dangling over the abyss.Leon and Theodora shivered in the wind, small and helpless. Their cries ripped the night open—and my heart with it."Mom!" Theodora saw us and broke down, wailing."Mom, help us!" Leon thrashed, the ropes biting into him. No give.Violet staggered, nearly fainted, then lunged for them."Babies!" she sobbed. "Please—let them go! They're just kids!"I yanked her back. We couldn't rush. Black-clad men already spotted us, eyes hard and hungry.My fists knotted. My wolf howled for blood. The urge to tear them apart clawed at my control, but I held the line. Our kids hung on Liriel's whim. One wrong move and I would lose everything."Liriel!" I roared, my voice ricocheting off stone. "Let them go! They're innocent!""Innocent?" A laugh slithered out of the
JaxonAdjusting my cufflinks in the hallway outside the media conference room, trying to get this interview over with as quickly as possible, I watch as my assistant Liza approaches.She’s clutching her tablet with that look she gets when she thinks she needs to sell me on something.“I really thin
Jaxon The afternoon air is thick with the metallic scent of sweat and cut grass.I run through the practice drill, my arm snapping forward and launching a tight spiral thirty yards down the field.The ball rockets through the air, landing right in the corner of the end zone, where my receiver wou
Natalie “You are gonna poke a hole in his face if you keep staring at him like that.” Freda’s voice slams me from behind, and I turn around, hand on my heart.“Jesus Christ, you scared me.”Standing in the doorway, my best-friend-slash-roommate holds grocery bags in one hand and a gym bag slung ov
NatalieDominant in the field. A fiend with the spirals. Unstoppable.The words glow on my laptop screen, stark against a high-resolution photo of Jaxon Wolfgang. I should be focusing on the next article, the one hyping him as the greatest comeback story in the league at the age of nineteen, but my







