Nouvelles Awakening & Romans

On the eve of my wedding, my friends threw a joint bachelor and bachelorette party for Natalie Cole and me at a bar. After a few rounds of drinks, someone suggested a game of Truth or Dare. The bottle landed on me first. My younger brother, Kayden Wilson, grinned. "I dare you to take off your pants. Let's see what you've got." The whole table immediately erupted in cheers. I glanced at Natalie, but she kept her head down and continued scrolling through her phone without a word. Hence, I took off my pants and stood there in nothing but my underwear. In the second round, the bottle landed on me again. My sister, Hannah Wilson, raised her glass and asked half-jokingly, "Logan, I dare you to admit you're pathetic enough that you can't live without a woman." My face burned, but everyone was staring at me, waiting to see if I'd ruin the mood. I closed my eyes and said hoarsely, "I admit it." Eventually, the bottle landed on Natalie. Her friend, Veronica Reed, grinned. "I dare you to tell your soon-to-be hubby what you were doing behind everyone's back last night." Natalie paused for two seconds before she looked at Benjamin Henderson beside her, her eyes full of affection. "He got drunk and insisted I take him back to his hotel. Then he threw up all over himself, so I helped him shower and changed him into his pajamas. He said he didn't want to sleep alone, so I held him until morning," she revealed. The private room fell silent for a moment before suggestive laughter erupted around the table. Benjamin playfully tickled her and scolded her for embarrassing him by revealing his secrets. But I stood there frozen, unable to say a word. Finally, Veronica pointed toward the little quickie wedding chapel attached to the bar. "Then I dare you to take Benjamin over there, get married, and have it annulled afterward." Benjamin's eyes lit up as he looked at Natalie. I looked at her too. Natalie gave an exasperated smile, took his hand, and walked toward the chapel as the crowd cheered them on. At that moment, I suddenly felt there was no point in going through with our wedding the day after tomorrow.

I was the Alpha's personal Tarot diviner. On the eve of my coming-of-age ceremony, he asked me to choose one of his two sons as my mate. "Seraphina, whoever you choose will inherit everything I have — including the title of Alpha." In my previous life, I was hopelessly in love with his younger son, Theodore. I chose him without a second thought. But on our wedding day, he locked me in the basement and drove a wolfsbane-laced dagger through my heart. "If you hadn't rigged the Tarot reading to force me into marrying you, Sophia wouldn't have run from the pack in heartbreak — and the hunters wouldn't have torn her apart." "Now I'm sending you to hell to beg for her forgiveness!" The venom spread through my veins. I let out an agonized howl and died in despair. But the Moon Goddess granted me another chance. I was back — standing right where I'd been the day the Alpha asked me to draw a Tarot card. My fingers hovered over the same card I'd chosen in my last life. The Alpha looked at me. "This one?" Without hesitation, I picked up the very same card. "Yes."

A few days before my postpartum period ended, I found two plane tickets to Mirelia tucked inside Daryl’s wallet. I was secretly delighted. I thought he had planned a surprise for me. But on the very day I was supposed to recover, he told me that his company had suddenly sent him on a business trip. I tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep—only to see his first love post on social media. [Finally fulfilled our promise to kiss at Saint Vyron Cathedral. Thank you, God. After all this time, it’s still you.] The photo showed the two of them holding hands and kissing. I didn’t confront him right away. Instead, I turned to look at my sleeping daughter beside me, then picked up my phone. [Dad, I've made up my mind. I'll take over the family business.]

Three days before our engagement, Zach Jefferson called me. “We’ll need to postpone the engagement party by a month. That day is Sienna’s first concert since she returned, and I need to be there. “It’s just a postponement. It’s no big deal.” He had postponed our engagement three times that year. The first time was because Sienna Lynch had been hospitalized with appendicitis. He said he had to take care of her and rushed over. The second time, Sienna said she was feeling down. He was worried she might get depressed and immediately booked a flight to see her. It was the third time. I simply said, “Okay.” After hanging up, I turned to the good-looking and refined man beside me. “Are you interested in marrying me?” Later, during Sienna’s concert, Zach left her without hesitation. With red, teary eyes, he rushed to my engagement ceremony. “Yulia, are you really getting engaged to this man?”

I had been dating Sean Barnes for three years, and during all that time, I never once asked him to dine at a fancy restaurant. He kept a strictly balanced ledger for all our romantic spendings. If a meal crossed the budget, he would go out of his way to earn back the extra amount. Before heading off to work, he would always plant a kiss on me. “Gotta save up for that wedding, baby.” While away on those business trips, he never failed to report every detail of his itinerary, so I never once doubted him. One night before Thanksgiving, Sean claimed the cost of the gifts he got for my parents had gone way over budget, prompting yet another trip out of town. “You wouldn’t want our wedding date to keep getting pushed back time and again, would you? I’ll be back on Thanksgiving. You have my word.” Gazing at the exhaustion in his eyes, my heart softened, and I yielded. Came Thanksgiving Day, and my parents and I waited in vain late into the night, while Sean’s phone rang on without being picked up. Faced with the worried looks in my parents’ eyes, I forced a smile, then drove through the night to the place where Sean was supposed to be working out of town. When I arrived at the hotel, however, I found him holding a wedding ceremony with my best friend, Michelle Hudson. They were kissing amidst the loud cheers of the crowd. At that exact moment, a message popped up on my phone from Sean. “Sorry babe, just wrapped up with the emergency surgery.” Watching Sean put away his phone on stage with a face full of tenderness, I dialed the number of my friend, the CEO of an entertainment agency. “How much for a trending hashtag? I want the whole world to know about a certain wedding.”

My CEO fiancee, Lexi Wyndham, had no patience for incompetence, yet she repeatedly made excuses for her incompetent assistant, Lachlan Hayes. During the hiring process, she noticed that his profile looked remarkably similar to mine. Worried that our rivals might target me, she kept him on as my double, someone who could take my place whenever I was in danger. She bought him designer clothes, took him to exclusive events, and even put my projects under his name to build up his reputation. As time went on, she grew increasingly protective of him, insisting it was all so he would be willing to take my place when the time came. Then tensions with our rival company escalated. Lexi would rather send the bodyguards assigned to protect her to me than let Lachlan stand in for me. In the end, our rivals kidnapped me and locked me in a basement, where they tortured me for ten straight days. By the time I was rescued, there was not a part of me that was not badly injured. I had nearly died down there. The next day, Lachlan was diagnosed with liver disease. Lexi drugged me and forced me into the operating room to donate my liver to him. Her voice was gentle. "Lachlan has to be saved for the moment we truly need him to stand in for you. We can't use him too soon, or they'll get suspicious and everything we've done will be for nothing. "He has to stay alive until the day we need him. I'm making you donate your liver for your own good. Don't overthink it. Once you're discharged, I'll marry you." But she did not know how badly I had been injured. The liver donation only made my condition worse, and I was already dying. I would not live long enough to see the wedding she had promised me.

On the night of the Moonlight Festival, my sister Bella called me in tears. “Mom’s been poisoned with wolfsbane! The healer says she might not make it through the night!” Still bleeding from a rogue wolf attack, I drove halfway across town to the clinic without even stopping to clean my wounds. Then I spotted my family raising their glasses in the tavern next door. Bella was doubled over laughing. “Thirty-six minutes! I won! Pay up!” Mom waved me over with a fond little sigh. “Come here, honey. You look scared to death. You really will believe anything Bella tells you, won’t you?” Dad laughed and tossed Bella a hundred-dollar bill. “Should’ve known better. She always comes running.” I stood frozen, staring at my Alpha mate, Declan. He was pouring Bella a glass of wine. “I picked a clinic that far away and bet you’d take over forty minutes. Still lost.” They clinked glasses to celebrate. I tipped my head back and blinked away the tears. For once, I didn’t ask why. Last year, they’d told me a rogue had attacked Dad. I missed my qualifying exam to become a certified potion maker. Last month, they’d claimed Grandma’s wolf was fading. I gave up a place in an advanced training program in the north. Every time I came running, someone won a bet. And I lost another chance to build a life of my own. I opened the job offer from the Silver Moon Pack and accepted the ten-year post as their resident potion maker. I was done calling these people my family.

I was pregnant with Alpha Jaxon's heir. His childhood friend, Hattie, volunteered to drive me to the Pack Medical Center for a checkup. On the bridge over Wolf’s Hollow River, she didn't hesitate. She yanked the steering wheel right into the rusty guardrail. I didn't fight her for the wheel like I did in my past life. Because in my last life, I stopped the crash, but she was thrown from the car into the rapids. They never found her body. My Alpha claimed he didn't blame me. He even ground evening primrose by hand every day to soothe the pup, his eyes full of tender anticipation for our baby. But on the day I gave birth to his heir, he forced me and our newborn pup into his car, slammed his foot on the gas, and drove us straight into the raging sea. "She wouldn't have died if you hadn't gone insane with jealousy and grabbed the wheel! Did you think playing the victim would fool me? " "You like staging 'accidents', don't you? Then let's see how you like the freezing depths of the river!" When I opened my eyes again, I was back in Hattie's out-of-control sports car.

Introduction My Alpha mate Ethan hated me for twelve years after his childhood sweetheart Ivy died. I tried everything to win him over but he would just sneer at me coldly. "I wish it had been you who died that day instead of her." When the rogue wolves attacked our territory, Ethan still threw himself in front of me. The silver blade meant for my heart pierced his chest instead. As his life slipped away, he stared at me with those piercing blue eyes, his voice barely a whisper. "If only... I had never met you." At the funeral, Ethan's parents—the former Alpha and his mate—wept uncontrollably. "I should have honored Ethan's choice to be with Ivy," his mother sobbed. "I never should have forced the mate bond between you and him!" The pack members surrounded me with accusing eyes and bitter words. "Alpha saved you three times! Three times!" one warrior snarled. "He was the best of us. Why couldn't it have been you who died?" Everyone regretted that Ethan had been bound to me as his mate. Even I regretted it. They drove me away from the funeral like a diseased animal. For three years, I howled my prayers to the Moon Goddess every night. Finally, the great Moon Goddess granted me something impossible—a second chance. I was back in the past. This time, I would cut every tie that bound Ethan and me together.

Damon Westbrook was kidnapped and held in the mountains for three months, subjected to every kind of humiliation. Three hellish months ground away every bit of fight he had. After his rescue, he developed severe PTSD. He hurt himself. He tried to end his life. Nightmares came every night. Through it all, Eleanor Carrington never left his side, holding him and comforting him again and again. "Damon, I'll always be here. When you're better, we'll get married." To help him heal, Eleanor brought back Marcus Keane, a former upperclassman of hers in college, who was finishing his doctorate in psychology overseas. The first time Damon met Marcus, he seemed calm and gentle, considerate in every way. "Don't be afraid. Eleanor and I will make sure you recover completely." Damon was deeply grateful. He cooperated with every treatment. Even when the sessions left him wishing he were dead, he gritted his teeth and endured. He believed everyone was doing everything they could to save him. Until tonight. The sliding glass door to the balcony hadn't closed all the way, and two low voices carried clearly to him. Eleanor and Marcus. Marcus took out a cigarette, his tone light. "When my research hit a dead end, I had no choice but to come to you for help. I never expected—" Eleanor turned her back to the wind and lit it for him. "Once the experiment is done, your dissertation is guaranteed to win the top international award." Marcus exhaled a stream of smoke and chuckled. "I only said in passing that a real case would be nice. I never thought you'd arrange a kidnapping yourself—let alone the kidnapping of the man you're about to marry."

Conan Hamilton's true love secretly wears my wedding gown. She's pregnant, and she slips and falls when we argue. After being taken to the hospital, she's told that she'll never have another child. Conan is furious. He banishes me abroad to be a nun. A year later, he comes to the nunnery to take me home. However, all he finds is that I've long since broken free. I even have a child in my arms. His eyes are red as he snarls, "Are you trying to use the child to force me to marry you? Or do you just want to mock Queenie for not being able to bear children anymore?" He has no idea that the child isn't his. He also doesn't know that I'm about to marry someone else.

This year marked the sixth Unclaimed Moon Damian and I had shared together. As the future Alpha of Moonridge Pack, Damian always believed this tradition would make our bond stronger. Every year, for one month after our anniversary, we suppressed our mate bond through an old pack ritual, stayed out of each other's lives, and gave each other complete freedom. If either of us found someone better, we were supposed to wish them happiness. If not, he would reclaim me when the month ended. Champagne sprayed through the hall as wolves laughed and cheered around the betting table. "Here's to our Alpha being unclaimed again. Another year of freedom." "The betting is open. Put your chips on the left if you think he'll reclaim her. Put them on the right if you think this is finally over." Through the haze of cigar smoke, I sat alone on a leather sofa, watching everything unfold as if none of it had anything to do with me. Damian slipped an arm around Vivian's waist. As he passed me, he lowered his voice and said, "Don't overthink it. You'll always be my only Luna." "When Unclaimed Moon ends, I'll come back to you." I rested a cold hand against the slight curve of my stomach, my expression unchanged. Damian, this year, I placed my bet on the end. I would disappear from your world completely. The claim you were always so sure I would never reject would be the one thing I walked away from tonight.

My sister and I married into the Phoenix Clan at the same time and, coincidentally, gave birth at the same time. After my sister birthed a purebred golden phoenix, the eldest prince she married was immediately crowned the next leader of the Phoenix Clan. Meanwhile, I gave birth to a mixed-bred pheasant and was condemned to death along with my husband, who was the second prince. It was only after my death that I found out the pheasant was my sister’s child! It was a ploy concocted by her and the eldest prince. The goal was to hide the bastard bloodline of the eldest prince and steal the throne of the Phoenix Clan. When I opened my eyes again, I realized I had been reborn. I didn't give birth, and my sister was visiting me with a haul of supplements…

I gave up the chance to take over my family's business and spent ten whole years acting as a sports agent for my swimmer boyfriend, Nate. I stayed by his side from his early days to his rise to fame. He promised he would propose to me the day he won the world championship gold. The night of his victory dinner, I eagerly put on a wedding dress. I even invited all our close friends and family to the venue so they could witness the moment together. But as he stood under the spotlight, he looked right past me and his gaze landed on his younger teammate, Lexi, who was smiling brightly and clapping for him nearby. A reporter pushed through the crowd with a microphone and asked on the spot if he and Lexi were dating. Nate just smiled at the cameras and didn't deny a thing. Hearing the crowd around us cheering and swooning over them, I ripped off my veil, turned around, and walked out. I sent a text to my father asking him to send a car to take me home. I suddenly remembered that before he left, Nate had hugged me tightly. He said he wasn't in top form and was afraid of losing. He begged me not to go to the competition because he didn't want me to see him fail. In the end, he kept me away just so he could bring someone else. Whoever wants a man like this can have him. I am done.

Lucius Nightshade, the Original Vampire Progenitor, was ambushed. A rogue hunter on a suicide mission. But my mate, Julian Thorne, and his elite guards weren't there. They were at a midnight masquerade, playing bodyguard for his childhood sweetheart, Lilah. I didn't invoke the mate bond to summon Julian. Instead, heavy with an eight-month pregnancy, I threw myself at Lucius. I traded my life to shield him from the fatal silver shrapnel. Because in my past life, I did invoke the emergency bond. Julian ditched Lilah, teleported to the scene, and saved Lucius. For that, he got a seat on the High Council. He became the Lord of his clan. But Lilah threw a fit because he left her behind. She ran off the territory in a tantrum and got ripped apart by our clan's worst enemies. Julian didn't say a word. But on the day I was due to give birth, he forcibly dragged me into the Sunlight Cell. His fangs grazed my ear, dangerous and cold. His hands shook violently on my shoulders, fueled by pure grief and manic rage. "The Progenitor had so many elite guards! Why did you have to force-summon me? Am I just a stepping stone to you? You don't love me. You just wanted the vanity of being a Lord's wife, didn't you?" "Lilah wouldn't be dead if it wasn't for your damn jealousy! You are going to suffer a thousand times worse than she did!" Then, without a shred of mercy, he shoved me and my newborn into the blazing daylight. I watched in horror as my baby burned to ashes right beside me. When I opened my eyes again, the harsh stench of silver powder filled the air. I was back on the day Progenitor Lucius was ambushed.

Wendy and James had been married for eight years. One day, Wendy told James that she wanted to have a child with another man, and she wanted to hold a wedding with that man as well. Faced with James's questioning, Wendy didn't beat around the bush. "You're infertile and he's willing to give me a child. We're only having a child and holding a wedding. That's all. We won't be getting a marriage certificate, so he has no effect on your status." James's heart turned cold. He arranged the best wedding for Wendy and the man named "Sean." Wendy was very happy with how obedient James was. When they were saying their vow, James was lying on the operating table all alone and was erasing all his memories of Wendy from his mind.

Every time Austin Cole cheats on me, I'm quick to show up. I take photos, record videos, call the police on the mistress, and sometimes even make a public spectacle of her humiliation. On the 13th time he cheats on me, I'm rushing to the hotel when a message from my boss suddenly pops up, saying he needs me in Ardendale immediately to handle an urgent project. I've been working on that project for over a year. My entire career is practically betting on it. I stare at the screen. The next second, I turn the car around. After a month of nonstop work, when I finally drag my exhausted body home, Austin is lounging on the couch, casually watching TV. The moment he sees me walk in, a smile tugs at his lips. "Why didn't you come catch me last time? Ellie and I waited for you at the hotel for ages." I'm so tired that I can barely keep my eyes open. "My boss urgently needed me. I was working overtime in Ardendale all month, so I couldn't make it." A flicker of disbelief crosses his face. I turn to look at him and suddenly realize I don't have any energy left to keep acting in this ridiculous love-hate drama with him. "Austin, I want a divorce."

After four years of marriage, I was finally pregnant. I was so excited that I called my mom right away to tell her. Her voice came through the phone ice-cold. "You can't keep this baby! Go get rid of it tomorrow!" I thought I had heard her wrong. "What?" She stayed perfectly calm. "Your brother is still in college. This isn't the time for you to get pregnant. If you have a baby, how are you supposed to support your brother? "Your career is going great right now. Work and save up for a few more years. Once your brother graduates, gets a job, and buys a house, it won't be too late to have a kid then." I was stunned, and the words flew out before I could stop them. "I'm not getting rid of it!" Mom exploded. "That baby is a Garrison! Your brother is the one who carries on the Abbott name! Had you sacrificed his future for some Garrison kid? Don't you forget whose name you were born with!" When my brother was in elementary school, I helped him with his homework. When he was in middle school, I worked a part-time job to buy him designer sneakers. When he went to college, I gave him 1,000 dollars a month for living expenses. Now, I was pregnant with a child of my own, and I was still expected to step aside for my brother's future? I was so furious that I actually laughed. Fine. If that was how it was going to be, I would cut them off for good. I hung up and took them off every shared account and authorized user card in my name.

My CEO wife insists on taking a young, fresh intern under her wing. She wants to train him personally. She says to me, "Don't overthink this. I just value his potential." She's always been stern and stoic, but she starts dressing in pink and pulling her hair back in high ponytails. On our third wedding anniversary, she and the intern even willfully disappear for 48 hours. When others are searching for her like mad, she shares photos of her riding a carousel and holding cotton candy. She captions them, "I found the purest of joys in the most joyful of places—all because of you!" Our company loses a huge project because of this, and I lose my wife. I slip a divorce agreement between the pages of the intern's application to become a permanent staff member. My wife signs it without even looking and says, "Knowing what Elliot can do, he's more than capable of carrying out the role of a vice president." I calmly hand her my resignation. "You're right. That's why I'll make way for him."

My fiancée, Joanna Stiles, cheats on me again, this time with Ashton Barker, the man who's supposed to be my body double. She even compliments me on choosing such a fitting body double. Desperate to win her back, I get a tattoo in the style she likes, yet Joanna has it removed herself. "Be good. That look doesn't suit you." She even promises me, "The rest of them are just temporary distractions. You're the only man I'll ever marry." With Joanna's permission, Ashton takes the stage to accept an award that rightfully belongs to me. He also attends family gatherings at her side. Even during our wedding rehearsal, Joanna is listening to the playlist she created with Ashton. When she notices me standing there with a frown, she snaps impatiently, "I canceled a board meeting to be here for this rehearsal, and you can't even stay focused? If you're that unhappy, I might as well have Ashton take your place." This time, I don't fight back; I just agree. Just then, my phone lights up with a message from Serena Cahill, my longtime rival who now lives abroad. "Gabriel, why didn't you choose me when our families tried to arrange our marriage all those years ago?"