1945 Pulitzer Winning

At the New Year's party, my pineapple juice is swapped for beer. To make things worse, I've just taken cephalexin, which shouldn't be mixed with alcohol. After barely surviving the ordeal, I am shocked to see my husband, Harry Grant, defending Sally Lane, who was responsible for the mix-up. "Can we please just let it go? She didn't do it on purpose," Harry pleads. However, I'm not about to forgive Sally, especially given how sketchy her relationship with my husband has always been. But Harry cuts me off with a scowl, "Enough! She's just graduated and doesn't know any better. "What's the point of holding a grudge? Do you really want to ruin her life to feel better?" he asks, clearly trying to protect her. As I watch him stand by her, my heart sinks. "Fine then, go live with her."

During a class reunion, a few well-to-do classmates instantly recognize that my branded bag is fake. "How is that possible?" I cry. "This is a new release that my husband got me. Don't you guys know him? He's Tom Smith, Zora Group's CEO." I hand my classmates business cards. The company is one that Tom set up using my name. Naturally, I'm the major stockholder. My classmates look at the business cards doubtfully. One says, "I've never heard of this company." When I get home, I have someone check on Zora Group for me. However, the news I receive is that the company has never existed, much less have a stockholder like me. Tom has another company under his name, but I'm not the stockholder. I drive to the DMV and find out that the car isn't in my name. The company and car are under Tom's name, but someone else owns them with him—his true love, Lauren Rowse.

When I'm six months pregnant, my mate, Rylan Silverclaw, still forces me to fight. He says it's my duty as Luna, yet when the council presents the honor medal, he locks me up. He makes my stepsister accept the glory meant for me. When I finally arrive at the ceremony, I hear Rylan whisper to her, "The medal is just the beginning. Once Thalia gives birth to the heir, the Luna title will be yours too." Later, rogue wolves attack us. My father and Rylan risk their lives to protect my stepsister. I'm the one left behind. I'm buried under rubble with half my ribs shattered. I lost my pup. I hand our dead pup to Rylan and walk away from the pack forever. Now, he regrets everything.

When Bella, my mate's first love, begged for my help, claiming her mother was gravely injured, I didn't hesitate. As the pack's Luna, I grabbed my medical kit and ran. But I arrived to find her sobbing over a corpse. Bella pointed a trembling, accusing finger at me. "My mother is dead because you were too slow!" Before I could explain, she cried out to the dark woods. "Ethan, did you see? Your Luna just stood by and let my mother die!" My mate, Alpha Ethan, emerged from the shadows, his face a mask of cold fury. He snarled, declaring me unfit to be his Luna. Now, he's forcing me into a brutal trial to prove my worth. He's even broadcasting the trial, taking live bets from werewolves across the globe on whether I'll survive. But he doesn't know the truth: Bella has already rigged the trial. The moment I step inside, I'm walking into a deathtrap.

A car accident left my mother-in-law bleeding and desperate for help, but her plea was heartlessly rejected by her own daughter. Even on her deathbed, my mother-in-law's only wish was to see her one last time. However, she was busy staying by her first love's side, euthanizing his dog. "You better stay as far away from me as possible! My mom's perfectly fine!" she shouted before hanging up on me, only to spend the night tangled with her first love in a hotel room. It was not until after the cremation ceremony that she returned—carrying a birthday cake. What greeted her was not a celebration but her mother's funeral. She cried, sobbing uncontrollably, "Mom! You haven't even celebrated my birthday yet! Don't leave me!" I stared at her and pulled the divorce papers from my bag. How fitting. This time, I was leaving too.

"If you offend Alpha Carlen, Luna Irene might plead for you. But if you cross Luna Irene, there won't even be a scrap of you left." That's a widely circulated saying in the werewolf upper circles. I'm Irene Chandler. Because of one game, I've decided to dissolve the mate bond with Carlen Alvarado. During the game, he says drunkenly, "I love resting my head on the belly of an expecting she-wolf and listening to the pup's heartbeat." The room falls silent. Every werewolf turns to look at me. There's no surprise in their eyes. What I see is their pity for me, the rightful Luna, and a flicker of panic that their secret has been exposed. At that moment, I understood everything. They all know Carlen has a pup with another woman. They've been helping him hide it from me. That's because they know I'm Carlen's everything. I'll leave him if I ever find out. And if I leave, he'll lose his mind. I have to admit that they know me well. After learning the truth, I plan to do three things. First, I toss the wedding ring Carlen designed for me into the furnace. Second, I save the video of Lily Chalvez flaunting her pregnancy to provoke me onto a flash drive. Third, I submit documents to the Pack Affairs Department, applying to become a researcher on the isolated Icebound Island. The day I leave the pack happens to be our seventh wedding anniversary. I'll vanish from his life like a wisp of smoke.

The night before my due date, a pack of rogues kidnapped my Alpha mate, Louis Ross. To save him, I traded myself. The rogues swarm with excitement when they had me, tearing off my clothes and growling filthy words into my ears. Ripping open my belly, they tore my pup to pieces. I reach out to Louis through our mind-link, only for him not to answer. … When it was over, he held me in his arms, crying as he vowed to slaughter every last rogue for what they had done to me and our pup. I heard his Betta chatting with him before I lost consciousness. "Mr. Ross, you looked so impressive. I would have been fooled if I hadn't known it was all an act. Don't you think you're going too far by letting a pack of rogues violate your Luna just so you could marry Ms. Amanda? She was carrying your pup..." "Only Amanda will be my Luna. I had to ruin Jody's reputation to justify stripping her of that title. The pup? I never intended to let it be born." My wolf let out a cry so raw it felt like the sky shattered. The mate whom I loved and protected with everything? He loved my stepsister, Amanda Singleton. Even our pup was nothing more than a sacrifice for her.

On the day Luke Smith attended his dear friend's funeral with his child, the media swarmed around me, questioning if I was the child's biological mother.Luke Smith, the high-society sensation, adored by all.For seven years, I was his secret lover, and how he spoiled me was the talk of the town.But eventually, he said, "Hazel, she's just a minor celebrity. What makes her think she can marry into the Smiths?"Indeed, his later wife, hailing from a prestigious lineage, epitomized grace and charm. Her only flaw was her inability to bear children.Facing eager reporters, I smiled, "I hardly know Mr. Smith. With that said, I wish him and his wife a lifetime of happiness and a joyful family."The news quickly went viral online.That very night, Luke Smith, disheveled and troubled, embarked on a long journey to San Anglos with his child.

I throw myself into cryogenic research so I can keep my only family on this Earth. However, halfway through it, my fiancé embezzles all the funds to propose to Sophia Kensington, his true love. I panic when I see the ice in Mom's brain start to melt. I have no money to continue with the research. I'm in utter despair when Leonard Shaw, a rising star in the biomedical field, comes to me with millions of dollars in funding. The research can continue. Just three days later, something goes wrong with the experiment. Mom explodes in cryogenic chamber. I'm shattered by this, but Leonard stays by my side throughout it all. He helps me move past this and continue with my research. I think he's the light of my life until I overhear his conversation with his secretary. "Is it worth it marrying someone you don't love for Ms. Kensington's sake, Mr. Shaw?" "Sophia is my life. I'm willing to do anything as long as she's healthy and happy." "But will Mrs. Shaw still continue helping Ms. Kensington if she learns you tampered with the data and killed her mother?" "She'll never find out. Besides, I'm already using the rest of my life to make it up to her. That's more than enough…" It turns out Leonard's love is just a conspiracy. My heart turns to ashes in that moment. I sign an agreement to seal my body cryogenically. He'll never find me ever again.

I was a genius alchemist, but my mate, Alpha Clark, engineered my failure 99 times, shattering my reputation. He siphoned my very soul 99 times to gift it to another she-wolf, Layla, molding her into the Alchemy Master I was meant to be. He claimed Layla was his savior, that he owed her his life. It wasn't until I uncovered his betrayal and severed our bond that he learned the truth: I was the one who had saved him. Those scars on my back—the ones he scorned? They were the price I paid for his life. After I walked away, he knelt for 99 days, begging for me to return. But some betrayals can never be forgiven.