Nouvelles Reborn & Romans Bias Regret

Brandon Fenton, a scholarship student my father had been supporting, was drugged one night. After some consideration, I chose to lie beneath him. I had loved him for ten years. Giving myself to him felt like something I had long decided, something I owed to that love. But everything fell apart the moment Melissa Giles, his childhood sweetheart, walked in on us. Before she could even process what she saw, she ran out in a panic and was struck by a passing car, killing her on the spot. Brandon held me afterward, telling me it wasn't my fault. He even proposed to me. Because of that, Dad placed the entire company into his hands. But the day before our wedding, he set his plans in motion. He deliberately caused a car accident that took Dad's life. When I was at my lowest, drowning in grief, Brandon took me deep into the woods. There, he drove his car over my body, crushing me repeatedly just so I could feel the same agony Melissa had suffered before she died. "If you hadn't drugged me, why would I have ever touched you? If not for you, Melissa would still be alive! I hate you. All of you deserve to die!" And then, after the pain reached its unbearable peak... I opened my eyes and found myself back on the very day Brandon was drugged.

On the day of my mating ceremony with the Alpha, everyone said the only reason I got to marry Adrian Hawthorne and become Luna was because my face looked so much like my sister's. At the ceremony, the ring engraved with her name and the slip when Adrian instinctively spoke her name during his vows. Every detail was a reminder that I was nothing more than a stand-in. But I had loved Adrian in secret for seven years. Even being his stand-in was enough for me. I told myself that was enough. Twenty years later, I happened to see him standing beneath the Moonlight Tree, praying to the Moon Goddess. "If only Vanessa hadn't died back then." His voice trailed off. A sharp pain shot through my chest. The world went black. When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the beginning. Back to when I had just met Adrian for the first time. This had to be a gift from the Moon Goddess. A second chance. This time, I swore I'd never love Adrian Hawthorne again.

On the night I was supposed to mate with Alpha Lucien, the memories of my previous life came flooding back. In that life, I sat on the edge of the bed and waited for him all night. He was with his adoptive sister in another room, fucking her until dawn. He never wanted me. He just wanted Crimson Moon Pack's territory, and the hundreds of warriors my father left behind. The second year of our mating, I started coughing up blood every day. The pack healer told me I was weak, that my wolf was struggling, and I believed him. I drank the bitter herbal teas they brought me until I couldn't stand up anymore. That was when I finally understood. There was wolfsbane in those teas, the kind specifically used to poison an Alpha's blood. By the third year, my grandmother's emerald necklace, the modern art original that had been in my family for three generations had all ended up, one by one, in Vivienne's room. When I asked, Lucien said they were just borrowed. I let it go. After I died, every item on my mating gift inventory had been transferred to Vivienne. This time, on the same mating night, I tore the Luna crown off my head and threw it on the floor. In front of every guest in the hall, I said it clearly. "I reject you, Lucien Ashworth." Then I pointed at the adoptive sister cowering in the corner. "You wanted to be Luna? Take it. It's yours." I walked out of the pack house and held out my hand to the captive Alpha heir from the enemy pack. "Come with me. I'll help you take back Shadowfang Pack. You help me get my revenge."

I am dying alone in a dark and damp mental asylum. At the same time, my parents are putting on a grand art exhibition for Jane Chamberlain, my sister, in a brilliant exhibition hall. Chase Lister, my boyfriend, is standing right next to her, applauding in celebration. It is supposed to be my achievement, as every piece within this exhibition hall is the product of my painstaking labor, but they now belong exclusively to Jane. I spend my whole life competing with Jane, only to end up with nothing. I open my eyes again and decide not to fight for anything anymore. I just want to live well on my own terms and take good care of myself.

After my partner, Kael Arden, and I decided to hold our mating ceremony, his childhood sweetheart, Mira Frost, suddenly left on her own, heading to the dangerous border overrun with rogue wolves. On the very day our mating ceremony was to take place, news came that she had died in an accident. Kael showed no reaction. He still followed the steps of the ceremony and completed the mutual marking with me. However, on the day I was heavily pregnant and about to give birth, he forced an entire bottle of silver water down my throat and locked me in the basement. As I died in agony, I still heard his cold voice beside my ear. "Mira’s death was all because of you! You couldn’t stand her, so you deliberately forced her to the border! You have to pay the price!" When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to seven days before the mating ceremony... Since he loved Mira that much, I would choose to make them whole in this life.

By a cruel twist of fate, I ended up sleeping with Evan Prescott, the man engaged to my adopted sister, Sienna Hartwell. The next morning, Evan looked at me with cold disgust. "What's done is done. I'll marry you. I'll take responsibility for what happened. "But Maren Hartwell, don't ever think you can compare to Sienna. That promise we made as kids stopped mattering a long time ago." Dad tore into me, calling me shameless. Mom only sighed. "Maren was abducted and spent eight years in the middle of nowhere. It's no surprise she came back with some bad habits. "Maren and Evan were originally the ones promised to each other anyway. We might as well set things back the way they were. I just feel sorry for Sienna." Then, on my wedding day, Sienna couldn't take it and jumped from a building. My whole family blamed me for her death. Evan went even further. When I was close to giving birth, he shoved me off a rooftop himself, killing my unborn twins and me. Then I opened my eyes again. I was back on the night we had been drugged. This time, I summoned all my strength and kicked him out of bed. Then, as I dialed a mysterious number, I walked over and knocked on Sienna's door...

After getting a second chance at life, I immediately cut all ties with Natalie Duvall and Cody Hudson. In my previous life, Natalie blindsides me with a divorce eight years into our marriage after falling for a race car driver. She looks down on me, complaining that I'm just a boring homebody who does nothing but cook and clean. Even Cody piles on, telling me, "Mr. Maddox is going to be a world champion one day, Dad. Stop being so pathetic and petty!" The two of them pack their bags and walk out on me. I can't let them go, but my desperate search for them that night ends in a fatal car crash. As my life bleeds out on the asphalt, regret consumes me. Natalie forgets that I used to be a world-class driver myself, only to give up my career and step out of the spotlight to focus on our marriage and raise our kid. So, with a clean slate in this life, I sign the divorce papers without a moment's hesitation and vanish without a trace. Five years later, at the Elandorian Championship, Natalie and Cody push their way through the crowd like madmen, cutting off my path. With bloodshot eyes, Natalie corners me and demands, "We spent five years looking for you. Did you seriously ditch your family just to go back to racing?" Her audacity takes me aback. Before I can even muster a response, my daughter, Daphne Hudson, grabs my hand. "Daddy, Mommy and the others are waiting to celebrate your big win. Who are these people?"

Silverclaw and Blackstone had been bound by a sacred blood alliance for three generations. I was the rightful heir to the Silverclaw pack, and Elara was my cousin, of lesser blood and no rank. On my bonding ceremony, Elara spiked my wine. While I was unconscious, she donned a counterfeit of my Moon-Blessed Robes and slept with Elias that night. I found them together at dawn. Though he offered me anything to appease my fury, I forced a sterility potion down Elara’s throat, paid her off with a hundred thousand dollars, and banished her from Silverclaw territory. For ten years, I waded through blood to secure Elias’s rise to the Alpha throne. Yet at his coronation, he claimed the Luna’s Crown and Sacred Robes meant for me. He led pack warriors to a southern cabin where, upon confirming Elara’s death, he seized my throat. His claws tore into my flesh as he raged over her corpse. He threw me and my unborn child off the cliff. He held the marker stone at her cairn and whispered of revenge for his true love. I woke up on my bonding ceremony. Elias had been reborn too, expecting me to grovel at his paws. He was wrong. This time, I would never be his Luna. The throne, the pack, and the bond. Every last scrap of it would return to its rightful owner.

Eleanor Sutton was in love with Harrison Luther since she was 20 years old. She married him when she turned 22. Five years into their marriage, they had yet to have a child together. Harrison kept protecting Eleanor from his family while enduring the pressure they kept inflicting on him. At that time, everyone claimed that Eleanor was Harrison's weak spot. But everything changed once news of Harrison having an illegitimate child was leaked. He kneeled in the downpour for the whole day afterward as a form of punishment. Then, he explained to Eleanor that it was just an accident, and that he vowed to love her and her only. So, Eleanor accepted the outcome of the illegitimate child being kept in the family, while the mistress was exiled far, far away. But despite Harrison's promise, his mistress, Winona Birch, still ended up moving into Eleanor's home, where she'd be cared for during her pregnancy. Harrison began skipping meetings for her sake, and he'd also ditch Eleanor just so he could go on strolls with Winona. In fact, he'd even abandon Eleanor halfway during their dates in order to be with Winona. The first time Eleanor brought up divorce, Harrison slit his wrists in the bathroom. He left a suicide note, claiming that he'd rather die than not being able to grow old with Eleanor. When divorce was brought up the second time, Harrison hurriedly pleaded to Eleanor to not leave him. But after multiple conflicts, his attitude toward her became wishy-washy. After their 100th argument, Eleanor ran away from their home. Harrison no longer went after her, thinking that she'd eventually return to his side. But she died in that rainy night. When Eleanor opens her eyes again, she finds out that she has returned to the day Harrison's illegitimate child is exposed. This time, she dials a number. "I shall accept the offer of becoming a war correspondent." Her editor reminds her that she won't be able to get in touch with the outside world once she embarks on this journey, and that she needs Harrison's permission in order to accept the offer. Eleanor merely replies, "I'll divorce Harrison soon. I'll depart on time in a week." She wants to make sure that Harrison will never be able to find her anymore.

My girlfriend, Camille Chaney, gets pregnant right before the college entrance exam starts. In my previous life, I gave up on my college entrance exam and married Camille. We had a son together. Life might be nitty-gritty, but it was still rather fulfilling for me. When I was on my deathbed, Camille and her first love, Howard Salter, dropped by to visit me. "Thank you for raising our son for more than 20 years. Now, you may die in peace." Camille pulled the plug on my life support at that moment. She watched as I slowly suffocated to death. When I open my eyes again, I find out that I've returned to the timeframe when the college entrance exam is about to take place. This time, I slam the door shut in Camille's face when I hear her asking me to take responsibility for her pregnancy. "Go find someone else to play house with you. I'm not interested in becoming a father at all."

I've loved Joe Turner for ten years, but he hates me to my core. He hates me for taking the spot as his wife, leaving his cherished first love with nothing but heartbreak. It isn't until ALS takes my body and my final moments arrive that he sits by my bed, feeding me my favorite fruit. With bloodshot eyes, he whispers, "Layla, let's never meet again in the next life." Yet, after I die, he kneels before my tombstone and puts a bullet through his head. When I open my eyes again, I'm back at the moment when my family goes bankrupt, and someone needs to take the fall and go to prison. In my past life, my frail sister, Rebecca Clarke, had gone to jail in Dad's place and died a miserable death behind bars. That was why Joe hated me for a lifetime. This time, I step forward on my own. "Dad, I'll go to prison. Let Joe marry Rebecca." I take the fall for everything, wishing him and his childhood sweetheart a happy life together.

After the Covenant Gala, Mother handed me a list. The names of every vampire at the banquet. I was to choose a blood-bound mate. This time, I didn't choose Damon Blackwood. I didn't choose anyone on her list. I chose Caspian Blackwood. Damon’s ancestor. The true Monarch of the Blackwood clan, slumbering for centuries. Mother’s jaw dropped. Everyone knew I’d spent centuries chasing Damon. But they didn't know the truth of my last life. After our blood bond, he refused my touch, my bed, my very existence. I told myself he was consumed by Covenant affairs. When no heir came, I blamed myself. Then I found it. The truth. It had always been her. From the very beginning. My sister, Delia. He never came home because the sight of me repulsed him. But this time, as Caspian and I stood at the altar, our hands clasped to seal our bond… Damon snapped.

The Blood Moon Feast was over. I was delivering the synthetic blood supplement I'd developed for the vampire lord, Evander, when he suddenly threw me to the ground. "Give it to me... I want you..." His crimson eyes burned with desperate hunger. My face flushed. I thought he finally understood the love I held for him. So I let him sink his fangs into my neck. I let him form a blood bond with me—a human. I wanted eternity with him. But when I woke up, Evander's eyes were filled with shock and regret. It wasn't love. Just an uncontrollable frenzy from his once-a-century bloodlust curse. And now it was too late. A human bonded to an ancient vampire suffers excruciating, soul-tearing pain. To forcibly break the bond? A death sentence. Evander chose to honor it. He owed me—I'd saved his life once in the human world. But everything changed when Odette died. His true love, waiting centuries to bond with him. When she learned of our union, she shattered—left the City of Eternal Night alone and walked into an ambush by rogue hunters. They burned her to ash. When his family brought back the only thing left—a moonstone pendant—Evander's hands closed around my throat. "This was your plan all along, wasn't it? You trapped me in this bond. Then you conspired with hunters to kill Odette. Go to hell and apologize to her yourself!" He ripped the bond from me, tearing away the very blood that kept me alive. A day and a night of agony as my organs ruptured. Then I died. When I opened my eyes again, I was back. Back to the night his curse erupted.

My parents made Dana and me settle it with rock-paper-scissors. Loser had to marry the Baillieu heir—the so-called "freak." I won. Then flipped the script. "Cool. I'll take Blake. Dana can have the empire." Last time? I was dumb in love with Michael—Dad's adopted golden boy. Chose the company, stayed behind, and handed Dana off to Blake Baillieu. Big mistake. Six months in, Dana was gone—wrecked by that marriage. Right before she croaked, she texted Michael blaming me. Said I lost the game and ditched the deal, dumping Blake on her. Michael? Snapped. Dude went full psycho. Turns out, he and Dana had been sneaking around for years. He dragged me behind the Baillieu estate and forced a dozen intellectually disabled men to assault me. "If it weren't for your cruelty, Dana would still be alive! You'll pay for everything she suffered!" I was over eight months pregnant—almost due. Begged him to stop. Begged for my baby's life. He didn't care. Kept ordering them to take turns. Even when my water broke, he just watched. Both my baby and I died that night. Now? I'm back. And this time, I rewrote the story. Step one: marry Blake.

When I was 14, my brother, Cole Maxwell, brought home an orphan girl, Jennifer Burke, to repay a debt of gratitude. From that moment on, my life had always taken a backseat to hers. After Jennifer falsely accused me of intending to ruin her reputation and forcing her to commit suicide, Cole slapped me hard across the face before driving me out of the house. "Get out! I don't have a sister like you!" He even gave her the job that was supposed to be mine and the only heirloom our parents left me, just to make her smile. The more I argued with him, the colder he became towards me. When Cole took Jennifer to visit the city without telling me, I chose to say nothing this time, leaving quietly with nothing but a suitcase. When he learned I'd been accepted into Brightmoor Aeronautical University and would never return, he fell apart.

In my previous life, I took three bullets for Conrad Kincaid, the guardian who raised me, and lost any chance of becoming a mother. Only then did he agree to marry me. When I was ten, my parents were killed in an attack by their enemies. Conrad saved me, took me home, protected me, and doted on me. I fell hopelessly in love with him. I was sure that if I stayed by his side and was good to him, I'd win his heart someday. But on our wedding day, Alice Brooks, who had loved him all along, left for Antarctica and died in an accident. From then on, every time he looked at me, he saw a murderer. In ten years of marriage, he never treated me badly, but he never once shared my bed. He was always cold and distant. Then a fire broke out. He gave me the only chance to escape and died in the flames. Before he died, he said, "In the next life, don't take a bullet for me. I don't want to be forced to marry you again." His words cut so deep that I passed out. When I opened my eyes, I was back at the moment before I took those bullets for him... Looking at the familiar face across from me, I made up my mind. This time, I'd let them have each other.

I fall in love with my father's friend, an Alpha 20 years my senior. I'm only eight when I first meet him. It happens at a banquet for the upper echelons of the werewolf pack. My father brings me with him. Layson Romanov instantly catches my eye. He stands tall at six feet and two inches, and his toned figure shows through his black suit. He exudes a natural dominance. My father introduces me to him, and he caresses my hair with a smile. Then, he gives me a pink dress adorned with pearls and pink diamonds. "You'll look beautiful when you're old enough to wear this." Back then, I didn't understand what he meant. … Ten years later, I put on that dress and enter his room. He's drugged after falling into someone's trap, and his wolf is out of control. His usually calm eyes are filled with mania. I know that he'll go insane—even lose his life—if he doesn't have an antidote. So, I give him my pure, untainted body. I become his antidote. We later marry, and he loves me as my father would've done. However, when I'm four months pregnant, I discover that his personal secretary, Grace Parker, is also pregnant. "I'm sorry to have put you through this, Grace. Everyone knows I only married Charlotte out of duty. I'll make sure our child is my only heir," he says. It all makes sense now—no wonder Layson refused to mark me despite us being married. Grace is the one he loves. I'm heartbroken. I ingest a large amount of wolfsbane, leading to a miscarriage. I ultimately die of blood loss. Intense regret washes over me as I breathe my last breath. When I open my eyes again, I find that I've been reborn. I'm taken back to the day Layson is drugged…

I was given a second chance on the day my mate chose another she-wolf over me. In my last life, I fought to keep him. I begged, argued, and stood in his way, only to watch him blame me for everything he lost. On the day of our bonding ceremony, he made me pay for loving him. This time, I didn’t cry. I didn’t beg. When he wanted to take her to the Frost Territory, I packed his bag myself. When she smiled behind his back and called me replaceable, I let her. If he loved her so much, I would step aside. But the day he finally realized I was no longer waiting at the altar, I had already walked into another ceremony, in another pack, beside a man who had never once made me feel second best. My old mate thought I was teaching him a lesson. He was wrong. I was setting myself free.

"Two families are here today hoping to adopt. You can choose which one you'd like to go with." In my previous life, I chose the Parkers, who owned a small neighborhood store. Life wasn't particularly comfortable, but they cherished me like their own. They fully supported my writing and helped me become a moderately successful novelist. Meanwhile, Sean Lowe chose the affluent Bennett family. Their home was comfortable, but cold and detached. He spent more than a decade trying to earn their affection, but never truly became part of the family. Now that I'd been given a second chance, the moment I saw the Parkers again, I nearly called them Mom and Dad. But Sean beat me to it. He threw himself forward and said, "Mrs. Harper, I want to go with the family that owns the store! I love snacks the most. I'll be good and listen to everything they say!" He buried himself in Claire Parker's arms like a kitten that had finally found its way home. I stopped behind him and didn't move. If my guess was right, he had been reborn too.

The day the campus queen got caught shoplifting at the convenience store, I was reborn. This time, instead of pulling her into the back room for a private talk, I called the cops without a second thought. The cops locked up my childhood sweetheart, the campus goddess Samantha Creighton, for fifteen days. During those fifteen days, I cut every tie between us. After that, I dodged her completely. Whenever she organized a class gathering, I fell deathly ill. Whenever she traveled to the southern coast, I flew to the far northwest. When she went to a reunion, I got sick. When she went home, I went abroad. When she returned to school, I dropped out. I avoided every situation that might bring me near her. In my past life, I loved her for twenty years. But in all that time, she never once treated me with any real kindness. I finally found out why during a fire at our house. I held her and our daughter outside the window, shielding them until rescue came. They got out without a scratch. But my entire body was burned beyond recognition. Then my own daughter—the one I raised with everything I had—pulled her mother's one true love close and said, "He deserves this. Back then, he tore you and Mom apart. He should die for it." My wife stood beside them and sobbed uncontrollably. "I almost thought I'd never see you again." I died full of hatred. Now that I'd been given a second chance… since she loved her first love that much, I'd make sure they could stay together.