Across Five Aprils Full Text Novels & Stories

My sister-in-law, Cynthia Ziegler, has my name written on her cancer diagnosis report. As such, the entire Ziegler family assumes that I'm the one with cancer. Overnight, my husband, Leonard Ziegler, sends a text message to his mistress, Irene Ludlow. "Our time will soon come! That old bat is about to die at last, so I'll finally be able to marry you!" My grandmother, Amanda Powell, cries and clings onto my hand, begging me not to seek treatment. She is not only discussing with Leonard on how best to split my insurance money after my death but also employing various methods to hasten my death. However, they are all unaware that Cynthia used my medical insurance card when she went for her physical examination. I feign sadness and nod with tears in my eyes. "I won't seek treatment, Mom. Let's not seek treatment no matter who is diagnosed with cancer."

The night I find out I'm pregnant, my family's villa suddenly goes up in flames. I endure the suffocating smoke and run the risk of being disfigured as I run to my son's bedroom. However, it's empty. Just then, I hear his excited exclamations outside the window. "Monica, you look so cool when putting out fires! I bet you'll get first place in this upcoming Firefighter Challenge!" I'm about to head downstairs to lecture him when a wall collapses and crushes me. As I drift in and out of consciousness, I hear my stern, stoic husband praise Monica Sloan for her courage. If I'm guessing correctly, my husband and son have started this fire to please her. I stare at the door, which is so close and yet so far. I send out one final text before dying of asphyxiation.

My junior accidentally broke the most expensive piece of equipment in the lab and asked me to help fix it. I had just started touching the instrument when she suddenly stepped back, tears brimming, and said, "Michelle, I can't take responsibility for this. I really can't afford it." Before I could even process her words, Nicky Hardy—the unattainable crush I had chased for three years—rushed in and shielded her behind him. Then he turned to me with a glare that could freeze fire. "Michelle, don't go too far. You can't expect her to take the fall for you." I stared at him, dumbfounded. "You know full well I was shoved into this research group. I don't understand any of this stuff. How could I do the experiments on my own?" His eyes grew colder, dripping with disdain. "I've been saying it—what can a nepo baby actually accomplish? And now the equipment's ruined, and you still have the nerve to push the blame onto Elizabeth?" I opened my mouth to argue, but then I caught a flicker of triumph across Elizabeth Horwitz's face in Nicky's arms. That was when it clicked. They only knew I got in through connections—they had no idea I'd financed this very equipment myself. They wanted to play their petty power games over a piece of lab equipment worth over ten million? Interesting.

LUNA He came for my sister. The scarred, brutal Bratva king from Russia, the one whispered about in mafia circles like a ghost story, traveled halfway across the world to claim her. But my sister was too fragile for a man like him. I tried to protect her. I didn’t know I was the one he truly wanted. From the moment Misha Petrov saw me, I became his obsession. He struck a deal with my father and took me instead. Forced me into a sham marriage, dragged me into his icy empire, and made me pretend in public that I belonged to him. But behind closed doors, the lines began to blur. I hated him. I needed him. And then, I ran. MISHA She thinks she escaped. She thinks I’ll let her go. But Luna Rojas was never going to leave me, not truly. I burned everything that stood between us, including the man she thought she loved. The one I had to kill. And when she fled to attend his funeral, I followed with five hundred men and a vow carved in blood. I cleared the graveyard. Claimed her—body, soul, and screams, right there, over his bones. Because if I can’t have her love… I’ll take her fear. And I haven’t even started yet.

It was our seventh anniversary. Christopher Quinton proposed to me with nothing but a ring pull. He got his true love a house. When I said no, he rebuked me like I was some sort of gold digger. "I thought my love for you was worth more than anything money could buy. I only got Rachel that house to pay her back for all she did for me. I can't believe you thought I still loved her. You disappoint me." I broke up with him and tossed the ring pull into the bin. Then, I walked off. The next day, Christopher took away my position as VP and told everyone he was getting engaged to Rachel. … Five years later, we ran into each other at a charity horserace. He was a successful businessman, and the woman beside him was Rachel, all dressed in custom-made clothes. I was dressed in janitor attire and stuffing plastic bottles into my woven bag. He mocked, "Look at you, Queenie Dean. Scavenging for a living. Bet you didn't see this coming when you ditched me, did you?" I ignored him. My son had run off, and I had to look for him. The boy noticed the plastic bottles that were strewn across the ground, and he insisted that we stay back to finish his social practice activity here.

"Little bunny, little bunny. Wolf is HUNGRY!" The voice taunted me, followed by an evil cackle. * "Run, rabbit. RUN!" A monstrous bellow boomed through the night sky and crashed into my soul like a sledgehammer. I could feel a chill sweeping across my body and my heart pounding in my chest. The echoes of howls and laughter followed me from behind as I ran for my life. ** Elisabeth's life had been harder than most since she was a child--a distant and often cruel mother and her never-ending cycle of addiction that had taken over her life. But on this fateful night, something far more sinister was lurking in the darkness, ready to take her away from it all. Massive figures appeared out of nowhere, growling and taunting her. She tried to scream, but nothing would come out; before she knew it, she was waking up in a world where Viking werewolves ruled with mysterious faeries at their side. Every five years, they traveled to the human realm, collecting ten girls for their mate run--and tonight, Elisabeth was one of them. With only a white dress and her bare feet, Elisabeth stood beside the other nine girls as the beasts prowled around them menacingly. A silver dagger pierced each of our wrists, signaling the start of the hunt! “We honor the moon goddess; let your blood lead your mate to you!”

To pursue the goblin prince Cole Hutch, I devoted five years of my life. However, on the very day I'm about to marry him, dressed in a wedding gown, I overhear a conversation between Cole and his friend. "Cole, are you really going to marry Lilian?" his friend asks doubtfully. A shadow flickers across Cole's eyes. "Of course. The Heroic Alliance has been eyeing our kingdom for a long time, and now that Shia is pregnant with my child, the alliance elders are displeased with me. Marrying Lilian is the perfect way to appease them." "Aren't you afraid Lilian will find out you've been seeing someone else and go after Shia?" The friend asks again. Cole replied, "She won't. She's madly in love with me. She'll keep the secret for my sake. She's gentle and easy to control. As long as I marry her, we can at least delay a war against our kingdom, and Shia will be safe." My entire world shatters at that moment. In my daze, I get ambushed and gravely wounded. And when I finally wake up from my unconsciousness, I remember everyone, except Cole. So, when the leader of the Heroic Alliance contacts me to ask me to return for an arranged marriage, I immediately book a portal back seven days later.

Rhiannon Ashwood, a wolfless orphan in the Crescent Moon Pack, endures a secret six-month affair with future Alpha Darius Nightshade, filled with passionate promises of forever. But on her 18th birthday, when their mate bond snaps into place, Darius publicly rejects and humiliates her to protect his status, driving her into the deadly Forbidden Forest. Pregnant and broken, Rhiannon awakens her hidden Chimera heritage—an ancient, shape-shifting power that makes her far stronger than any wolf. Over five years, she builds the elite mercenary group Silver Claws, raises her son Soren (Darius's secret child), and becomes a legendary force feared across territories.When Darius's pack faces annihilation from a rogue-vampire army led by the Blood King, he desperately hires the Silver Claws—only to discover Rhiannon as their leader. As they clash in battles and alliances, old wounds reopen: Darius grapples with regret and fatherhood, while Rhiannon wrestles with lingering feelings amid jealousy from suitors like her second-in-command Cade. Twists reveal deeper conspiracies, including Rhiannon's prophetic role in an ancient war, family betrayals, and Soren's emerging hybrid powers. Through epic fights, forced proximities sparking heated reconciliations, and moral dilemmas, Rhiannon must decide if vengeance or forgiveness will define her future—culminating in a high-stakes climax where love, power, and redemption collide to unite or destroy the packs forever.

Late that night, I came across a post online. [I've been with my boyfriend for seven months. Out of nowhere, he dumped me, saying I got eliminated from the girlfriend selection. That's when I found out that in their rich social circle, it's normal to date a dozen girls at the same time, score them regularly, kick out the lowest, and pick the best one to marry.] It sounded so ridiculous. I couldn't help but jump into the comments and tear into the guy. Then I saw a reply from my boyfriend's secretary, Ayla Butler. [Well, considering his status, it's only fair. For high-value men like him, a selection process makes sense.] I rolled my eyes so hard that it almost hurt. I was just about to fire back when I heard the front door open. Fred Thompson and I had been together for five years. He had always been attentive, gentle, and endlessly patient. I had already made up my mind that the moment he proposed, I would tell him the truth about who I really was, the daughter of the richest man in the country. I never expected to catch a glimpse of his phone lighting up with a message. [You hooked up with Ayla again today? Gave her such a high score, too. Keep this up, and Hannah's gonna lose!]

She was too soft, too chubby, and too gentle for a brutal world. That’s what her Alpha told her the night he rejected her in front of the entire pack. “I need a Luna with teeth, not tits.” Moments later, Emara Dell lay dying in the snow...murdered by the same wolves she once healed. But death is only the beginning. Under the blood-red moon, the Goddess resurrects her as the Shadow Luna: powerful, untouchable, and burning with shadowfire. Her heartbeat awakens an ancient guardian across the sea....Fenric, the legendary Bone Wolf, a monstrous, devastatingly beautiful male who rises with one purpose: Find her. Claim her. Destroy anyone who ever hurt her. Bodies begin to appear beneath crescent moons. Wolves whisper of a feral god hunting in the dark. And when Emara and Fenric finally collide, their connection is explosive, forbidden, and dangerously addictive, and filled with heat that could burn a world to ash. But jealousy has consequences. Lyrina Veega, the Beta’s daughter and Corvin’s childhood favorite, performs a forbidden ritual to steal Emara’s power… and accidentally tears open a divine rift, awakening a forgotten god. Now war is coming. Desire is a weapon. And Emara must decide if she will rule the shadows...or let them consume her. A dark, high spice paranormal romance full of feral devotion, explosive chemistry, brutal revenge, and a heroine who rises from death as something no Alpha could ever control.