1 Second After Novels & Stories

Tessa takes a chance with her career path and learns the joys and horrors of our adoption system. She learns her heart has to be open and ready for love or heartbreak, she must take chances. Along the way her triumphs are tested, her beliefs are destroyed and her desires grow strong.

The last thing Valentina Serra sees before she dies is the crack in the ceiling above her bed. She is 45 years old. She is not unhappy. That, she realizes in the last seconds of her first life, is the most devastating thing she could say about it. She opens her eyes in a university lecture hall in Barcelona. She is 20 years old. Her notebook is open, her pen is in her hand, and she can feel — with the precision of someone who has lived an entire life — exactly how much she is about to waste if she does nothing. She does something. Armed with 25 years of memory, Valentina sets out to close every loop she left open: the military commission she dismissed, the marketing career she let others architect for her, the relationship she stayed in long past its expiry date, and the mother she visited but never truly knew. One by one, she reaches for the life she talked herself out of the first time around. But the two people closest to her — the friends who have always been there, always supportive, always first to suggest the safer, smaller option — are watching. And when Valentina begins exceeding the quiet ceiling that they built for her, Isabel and David begin to coordinate. Then there is Ethan Cole. Washington D.C. Investment sector. Five years younger, which bothered her the first time. He will walk into her life again in Barcelona, and this time Valentina already knows what the long dinner and the careful conversation and the late-night walk along the Passeig de Gràcia will mean — if she doesn't talk herself out of it. She is not going to talk herself out of it.

My childhood sweetheart hated me for tearing him away from the Beta's daughter, and he hated that my father was the pack's Alpha. My father not only sent the woman my childhood sweetheart loved off to another pack to be their Luna, he even refused to let him reject the mate bond that tied us together. For seven years after the marking, he wept every single night. "The North is bitter and brutal. How will Gianna ever survive there?" But to me, the woman he lived beside every day, he had only this to say. "Why did the Moon Goddess bind us together? I don't care about Alpha blood at all..." "If I could, I'd wish I had never met you!" Every night we shared one bed, yet our hearts felt miles apart. For Gianna's sake, he fought against the pull of fate itself. But the day the vampires attacked the pack, he shielded me behind him. Claws tore through fur, fangs sank into his forearm, and a cold silver dagger buried itself in his heart. His scalding blood splashed across me. I tried to drag him to the statue of the Moon Goddess, but he shoved me away without a moment's hesitation. "I've already failed the woman I love in this life. I won't fail the pack too." "Matilda, the bond between us is finally broken. In the next life, may we each get what we truly want..." With that, his wolf faded into nothing. The pack was destroyed, and I would not go on living in a world without it. That day I cut out my own heart with a silver blade, and as the Alpha's daughter, I shielded the pack's people with my last breath. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day they chose who would be sent north to marry. "Father, I'm willing to go to the North and become the Luna of its Alpha." This time, I'll let them have their happiness, and I'll claim my own!

The love that I knew wasn't like the ones written in a book. It wasn't beautiful and magical. It doesn't bring butterflies in my stomach and it doesn't make me feel special. It doesn't feel like home, I do not feel secure. It does not make me feel safe and worthy. The love that I experience doesn't feel like love. I'm not really sure if it is love because it made me doubt, insecure and made me feel unloved. And all I experienced was pain. No it was torture. To see him love someone else when all I could do is to love him and let him love her. Now I don't know if I could ever love someone else, after him.

Dakota Stelter and I tumbled down that steep ravine together. I lay there bleeding and broken, only to watch my boyfriend scoop her into his arms and walk away without a backward glance. He left me. In that moment, in every way that mattered. While everyone fussed over Dakota's scratches, no one even checked if I was still breathing. When I was finally rescued and recovering at the hospital, my boyfriend didn't even visit. I was hurt. So I moved on. Piece by piece, I rebuilt myself without him. But then he became distraught. Suddenly, he was sobbing, telling me he had always loved me.

Ashton didn't know how she would move on. How she would keeping putting one foot in front of another, until Z came along and changed everything. Would his darker world save her or destroy her?

Maya had been searching the busy streets of Hungary in hunt for jobs under the scorching sun. After so many turn downs. She finally gave up her dream of becoming an accountant. She was wandering the streets after the last turn down when she saw a billboard with a job ad. The job was totally different from what she wanted to do but she had to survive. By hunting down predators. They called it. 'What kind of predators? Dangerous ones?'. She thought. She frowned at the ad as she read the tiny inked letters, her mind was running faster than her brain. A pain jolted through her fragile body due to overstressing herself She shook her head then retraced into the crowd after taking note of the address. 'they won't make us do things that'd hurt us'. If only she knew that wishes don't come true.

Cress height, A town where nightmares lurk in the dark waiting to consume their prey. Maeve Spelman a young witch who abandoned her past in cress heights after the horrible deaths of her family, to start a new life as an actress in LA. Fate has other plans for her as she finds herself back in cress heights. What happens when she finds out she is not only a vampire but also the soul mate of Xavier; The dark emperor of everything unholy who was raised from hell?

By day, Maeve Briggs is just a regular, quiet high school senior. She tries to blend in, takes care of her younger brother, and deals with her mom cleaning the huge, fancy Dovewood mansion—a mansion owned by the very rich and very dangerous Caden Dovewood. But at night, Maeve becomes someone totally different: Eve. She puts on a black wig and high heels, dancing for strangers in a secret club. No one there knows who she really is. It's her secret way to escape her tough life and earn money to pay the bills. Then, Caden Dovewood walks into the club. He sees her, recognizes her, but Maeve remains unaware he's witnessed her secret life. It's only later, likely at his mansion, that Caden reveals his knowledge. He's loaded with money, he's dangerous, and he's the last person Maeve ever wanted to know her secret. Now that he does, he won't let it go. He's always a step ahead, pulling her closer with words that make her heart race and eyes that seem to see right through her. He doesn't just want to know her secrets; he wants her. And he doesn't feel one bit guilty about going after her, making their whole situation a dangerous and twisted game.

Olivia’s heart was shattered by her boyfriend Luke's betrayal. She witnessed him cheating with another woman in his apartment and was devastated. To numb the pain, she drowned herself in alcohol, seeking solace in the bottom of a bottle. It was during this haze that she met Antonio. Despite barely knowing him, Olivia felt a powerful pull towards him, a connection she couldn't explain. That night, she surrendered to the stranger, and despite the circumstances, she didn't regret it. The night held a strange, bittersweet memory for her. Olivia was determined to forget that night, to escape the pain and the man who had taken her innocence. But fate had other plans. They met again in their hometown, and despite trying to deny it, Olivia found herself falling for Antonio. He pursued her relentlessly, and she couldn't fight the feelings that were blossoming within her. She accepted his kisses, his embraces, and his promise to marry her. But fate seemed to be playing a cruel game. Olivia discovered that Anton was involved with Sandra Cervantes, the woman who had brought them together. She also learned that Anton was planning to buy a large portion of land in their province, a move that would displace many workers. Despite her own heartbreak, Olivia, driven by her love and trust in Antonio, convinced him to abandon his plan. He agreed, but only on the condition that she marry him, which she couldn't refuse. Their relationship blossomed, and they eventually married, with the majestic Mayon Volcano as a witness to their love.