A Thousand Splendid Suns

In the eighth year of helping Keith Hunter pay off his debts, I was diagnosed with stomach cancer. I tested the waters and asked him, half joking, "If I got cancer, would you save me?" He laughed, saying I was overthinking it. Then he added firmly, "If it ever came to that, I would sell my blood to pay for your treatment." I lay awake all night, tossing and turning, still feeling like I couldn't drag him down with me. Before taking a sleeping pill, a notification popped up on my phone about a social media post. [How do I dump an older woman who paid off my debts for eight years without too much drama?] The profile picture looked eerily like Keith's silhouette from behind. He wrote, [Eight years ago, my family went bankrupt. She stuck with me, living off dry toast and squeezing into a rented apartment. She helped me pay back over 600 thousand dollars in debt. [Back then, I thought she was innocent and cute. Now, I feel like she's just a materialistic woman putting on an act. [Last month, she even asked whether I would save her if she got cancer. How does someone even ask that? [Obviously, she was trying to get money out of me. Good thing I didn't tell her that my family recovered three years ago. [Now, my family has arranged a fiancée for me. She's the daughter of a publicly listed company. [I want to cut things off with my girlfriend, but I'm afraid she'll cling to me. After all, she wasted a lot of her youth on me.] By the time I finished reading, I had crushed the stomach cancer diagnosis in my hand into a wrinkled mess.

I used to be the one and only girl spoiled by my family. But everything changed on my 18th birthday, when my father adopted a she-wolf orphan named Sophia from the Werewolf Charity House. My elder brother, Alex, started to love her more and began to look down on me. My mate, John, who had grown up with me, liked her and ignored me. Even my father said that Sophia, an orphan, was ten thousand times better than his own birth daughter. It was my graduation day from Werewolf University. But instead of celebrating with me, they broke their promise because of Sophia.The 101st time. I counted. And it hurt worse than all the hundred before. I couldn't help crying out, "Am I really part of this family?" My father looked at Sophia—whose eyes turned red because of my words—with pity. Then he slapped me across the face. "You're still fighting for affection? I wish I had never given birth to you," he shouted. Alex snapped at me too. "You make me sick. I'm ashamed to have a sister like you. Get out of this den!" I didn't say a word. I simply packed up my things and left in silence. After I left, the den fell into a strange quiet. They took Sophia to the South Pole to see penguins, as if nothing had happened. No one contacted me or showed concern, because they assumed I would eventually come back—just like before. They never planned to do anything for me. They never had. But this time, they didn't know I was leaving for real. I called my mother, who lived in another pack far away, and told her I'd finally agreed to go live with her. Because this time, the family… Was no longer a place I needed.

Deck the halls with daddy issues and scream "yes, Santa" until the neighbors complain. She sold herself to save her mother. He bought her to settle a score. Neither expected twelve days of captivity to feel like coming home. Ten years ago, Evangeline Rose fled Willow Creek and the cruel boy who made her life hell. Now she’s back with a new name, a new body, and one desperate choice: enter the town’s secret Christmas auction where wealthy men bid on willing women. When the hammer falls at five hundred thousand dollars, Eva expects a stranger. Instead, she gets Grayson Holt—her former tormentor, now a devastatingly dangerous man in a half-open Santa jacket who just bought twelve uninterrupted nights with the virgin he once swore no one would ever want. She should be terrified. He's the reason she hid in bathroom stalls and cried herself to sleep. But the first time he kisses her, his hands shake. The first time she fights back, he groans her name like a prayer. And somewhere between the firelight and the snow and the silk ribbons around her wrists, they both realize the ugly truth: He didn't buy her to break her. He bought her because he's been broken without her. The boy who spray-painted "fat ugly bitch" on her locker is the same man who falls to his knees in the snow on the last morning and begs her not to leave. The girl who swore she'd never forgive him is the same woman who has to choose: walk away free, or stay with the monster who finally admitted he's been in love with her since the day he made her cry. Eva spent a decade learning to hate Grayson Holt. Turns out she's been loving him the whole damn time.

The train to Centraford was about to depart. That was the ride we'd spent our entire life savings—30 thousand bucks—to get a ticket for. I was gripping my mate, Byron Reynolds's, hand tightly, trying to pull him onto the last train to Centraford. This was the chance I'd waited three long years for. Once we entered Centraford, we could rise from being low-tier civilian werewolves to official Silvren Talons workers—registered, salaried, and numbered. If we missed this train, we'd be stuck forever in Sidersville, a chaotic melting pot, never able to enter the heart of the werewolf city-state. But Byron held us back, refusing to leave without Lisa Peters, who was still down by the river, washing her face. In the very last second before the train took off, I had our friends forcibly drag Byron aboard. We made it to Centraford and became Silvren Talons workers. But Lisa missed her chance. She was left behind in Sidersville and became a rogue, a plaything passed around by countless men. A few years later, she was tortured to death. Byron looked fine on the surface. But on the day of our marking ceremony, he drove a silver blade into my stomach, killing the pup growing inside me, and tore out my heart. His eyes burned red as he growled through clenched teeth, "This is all your fault. You're the reason Lisa never made it to Centraford. "She suffered so much before she died. Why do you get to be happy?" After killing me, he chopped my body up and fed it to the stray dogs. Then I opened my eyes—and found myself right back at the train station, before it departed. This time, I'd wait with him for the woman he loved so much. And I'd make him pay for everything he did to me and my pup.

She left cash on his pillow. He's been hunting her for eighteen years. Now they're neighbors—and she's carrying his baby. Evelyn Hart's revenge plan was simple: hire the hottest escort money could buy, have one night of mind-blowing sex, and finally forget her cheating ex-husband exists. What she got instead: Sebastian Creed. Six-foot-four of sinful perfection who made her body sing in ways she didn't know were possible. She left ten thousand dollars on the bed and ran before dawn, convinced she'd never see him again. Six weeks later, reality hits like a freight train. The "escort" is actually a billionaire. He owns the mansion next door. He's been obsessively searching for her since the night he saved her from a car crash when she was fourteen. Oh, and she's pregnant with twins the doctors said she could never have. Sebastian isn't just her neighbor—he's her stalker, her savior, and apparently, her fated mate. Because plot twist: he's a werewolf. And the supernatural bond between them is turning her inconvenient attraction into a soul-deep craving that's impossible to fight. Now he's breaking into her house at 3 a.m., showing up uninvited to her OB appointments, and making it very clear that the one night she paid for was just the beginning of forever. But their twisted love story is about to get deadlier. Sebastian's dying father wants him to claim a werewolf throne. His ex-husband wants her land for a billion-dollar deal. Werewolf royalty wants her dead for contaminating the bloodline. And Evelyn? She just wants to survive pregnancy, figure out how to be a queen in a world that thinks she's prey, and maybe—maybe—learn to trust the alpha who's been obsessed with her since she was a teenager.

I plan on ordering some food using my husband's phone, yet I've noticed a remark that's been saved on the delivery app. "The food is for a pregnant lady. Please make sure to be hygienic and use less oil and salt when making the dishes." I can feel my heart sink. I turn my gaze toward the bathroom, where my husband is. I can't figure out why my husband, who's been firm about not wanting a child, has been ordering meals for pregnant women. After a moment of hesitation, I scroll through the delivery app's order history with shaky hands. Numerous orders have been placed with the same restaurant, one that specializes in making exquisite dishes designed for pregnant women. Each of these food orders costs more than ten thousand dollars. My husband's company address has been chosen as the delivery address, and he's also the recipient. … After exiting the delivery app, I sit on the couch and stare into space. As I look at my husband's well-defined muscles, I recall how he, who's about to hit 40, is suddenly quite invested in getting in shape over the past year. I blurt out asking, "Have you been ordering food to your office often lately?" My husband freezes for a split second. Then, he fixes me with a gentle gaze. "I do that once in a while. Why are you suddenly asking about that? By the way, I haven't had the sweet and sour meatballs you make in a long while. Can you make some for me so that I can bring them to the office for my lunch tomorrow?" I smile at him and agree to his request. Still, I toss and turn in bed as the remark about the pregnant lady in his phone keeps gnawing at me that night.

Slamming her against the wall, he dug Hus fingers into hr shoulders, eliciting a pain in her, which caused her to welp. His eyes caging her to his, shutting her sexy mouth up, as he looked into hee eyes. "Hear me and hear me now, because I won't have to repeat my words the next time. You are not my mate, you don't deem to be my mate, I don't want someone like you as my mate, because, you are my slave, you are human, you are skinny, you are ugly, damn, you are short, fucking short, you are WEAK, you are fragile, you don't deem to be my Luna, because I don't want someone like you, never, would I want someone like you, especially not my pet" Alexia Ortega was just a normal girl growing up, all she wanted was a normal life, she grew up with her parents, they lived in the village land of Meduza, they were humans, living peacefully in human lands, not until they were attacked by the Granullas, they took her for slavery and afterwards sold her to her mate, the alpha king. Jaxon Cruz, the alpha king, he have been living a thousand years, hoping for his mate to free him from his misery, he believed he had been the cause of his mate's death, who had continued to torment him. He still wanted his mate, hoping one day, his mate would come back to him, even though she was dead. He was the alpha king, and what is a king without a mate, especially one that have a history of dead mate. After five hundred and twenty nine years, he found a mate. Now how were they able to overcome the forces of the unknown enemies, who had killed his former mate.

“Five years. Sixty months. One thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven nights! That’s what you owe me, Angela. Did you think I would let you slip away so easily when your debt still binds you to me?” His cold voice dripped with fury and desperation hit her core directly as she let out a tensed gasp but held his gaze with bravery. “You rejected me, remember? I am not that broken girl anymore, Gideon. I don’t belong to you. I’m engaged now.” A low dark chuckle rumbled through his chest. In a swift motion, He pinned her against the icy wall of the underground garage, his presence overwhelming. “Engaged? Your thick arousal is spreading around the cold walls of this underground garage like smoke, little human. Should I remind you whose name your body still whispers? I bet he is not even close to making your heart race the way I do let alone turning you on!” Gideon’s husky voice with his fingers brushing her bare thigh was making her insane. Dammit, why do I feel these tingling sensations from his touch? Born human, Angela Clampitt had endured a lifetime of cruelty before being offered as a substitute bride to the infamous Alpha, Gideon Woodbead, to bear his heir. Twisted lies and family conspiracies made him reject her without mercy. To escape the council’s punishment, she fled the pack to live a normal human life. But fate dragged her back after five years and this time her Alpha husband who wouldn’t let her go. Now secrets threaten to surface, including the child she hid and the truth of her identity. In betrayal, passion, vengeance and awakening power, a forsaken human bride will rise as a destined Queen. Dive into the spicy, intense fated love story.

Marabelle Daisy Graystone has spent twelve years in witness protection, living among humans as "Daisy Thompson" while hiding her true nature—she's a rare "diamond wolf," one of the Goddess's chosen born once per millennium. Working at her burger restaurant while secretly running a multi-billion-dollar empire as bestselling author Black Orchid and artist Silver Knight, she's built a perfect cover in human society. But when Kieran, her murdered father's former Beta, tracks her down seeking to claim her power, her carefully constructed life shatters. Rescued by Jackson Hunter, the brooding son of the powerful Moon Hunter Pack's Alpha, Marabelle discovers he's her fated mate—the very wolf she's been avoiding for years. She'd overheard Jackson tell his friends that if she turned out to be his mate, he would reject her, choosing duty over desire. When Jackson arrives to return a precious family heirloom, Marabelle braces for the rejection she believes is inevitable. Instead, he confesses his feelings have changed—that witnessing her courage made him realise duty and desire can align. As their mate bond awakens her suppressed abilities, Marabelle must reclaim her birthright as Alpha of the decimated Silvercrest Pack while navigating treacherous pack politics. When the Moon Goddess herself appears to bless their union, their relationship triggers supernatural consequences that reshape the werewolf world. But happiness attracts dangerous enemies. Alpha Thorne of the Western Reaches emerges from isolation, claiming that "untrained" diamond wolves pose a threat to all wolfkind. Together, they forge an unprecedented alliance of eleven packs, creating the first Wolf Council in three thousand years. Racing against ancient powers that would control or destroy her, Marabelle must demonstrate that her unconventional path represents the future of their kind, proving that strength comes not from isolation but from the courage to build bridges between worlds.

I was born broken. My Alpha mother was the one who branded me. She said emotion was a sin. A weakness. Especially for a werewolf. Especially for an Alpha’s heir. The day we were born, she clamped emotion-suppressing collars around our necks. Mine and my twin sister's. The slightest flicker of emotion, and the collar flashed red. My mother would then push the button, injecting me with a diluted "silver solution" to suppress my feelings. But my sister Cassia's collar? Always a calm, steady blue. Even when she shattered Mom's precious moonstone, it just pulsed gently. And me? I’d just whisper, "Mom, the thunder scares me," and my collar would erupt in a violent red. Then came the sting of silver poison burning through my blood.. I used to argue. But Mom always said the same thing. "The data doesn't lie. Pain is a teacher. This is for your own good." After thousands of these injections, I started to believe it, too. That I was born out of control. The night of the alliance's Moon Goddess Festival, Mom was taking my sister to the rooftop party. Something scared me during the day. The collar flashed red, and my mother started the punishment. But this time, the collar malfunctioned. It shot a dose a thousand times stronger into my neck. I collapsed on the carpet, begging, "Mother, the collar... it hurts so much... help me." My collar was flashing a frantic red. My mother just looked down at me, drenched in a cold sweat, and pressed the button for the maximum dose. "You'd lose control like this just for attention? You're a lost cause." She turned, took my sister, and slammed the door. I couldn't help but think, Mom must be right. The collar is red. It doesn't really hurt. I'm just being dramatic, looking for pity again. I'm sorry, Mom. In my next life, I'll be the perfect daughter you always wanted.