After Hardin

That night, Liam served me my usual evening tea. I trusted him completely—he was my mate, after all, and a respected healer of Thornpack. I shouldn't have. When I woke up the next morning, my head was spinning. The special safe where I kept the morphing inhibitor—the one I'd spent my entire savings to import from Europe for our daughter Isla—was empty. Racing to the healing center, I found Liam celebrating. He was handing out moon-blessed wine, beaming with pride as Natalie's daughter Anna showed off her perfect transformation. My inhibitor had been used on his first love's pup instead of our own daughter. The shock triggered something in my brain. When I collapsed, they diagnosed me with the rare tumor that plagued our kind. Without inhibitors, I couldn't stop Isla's transformation that came early, her six year old body couldn't handle the massive wolf form and the force ripped through her young body. And I, for one, don't even have enough money to keep her in a treatment center. She died in my arms three days later, her little claws drawing blood as the pain overwhelmed her. Until her last breath, she kept asking why Papa hadn't come. Now, in my cold, empty home, with the white porcelain urn containing her ashes on the table, I touch her and decide to sever our partnership.

Franchetti Xerene Covry - maangas, palaban, astig, at walang inuurungan. She's careless and reckless, lahat na ata ng kalokohan ay alam na niya. Aakalain mong tomboy ito dahil sa paraan ng kaniyang pananamit. But don't underestimate this small thing because she's insanely strong and terrible. Dress her up and she's actually a bad-ass chic. She may live in an apartment but trust me, she can afford to buy islands, perhaps, an entire country. SHE'S THAT WEALTHY. But it was not hers, she said. All those wealth and everything, it was not hers. It was for DEATH.

On the day of the company’s annual meeting, Victoria Quinn brought a man onstage and publicly announced that he was the newly appointed vice president. All eyes in the room instantly turned to me. Mr. Lane looked at me with undisguised mockery. “Ms. Quinn, Mr. Cabell has been with the company for so many years. How did this promotion skip over him?” Victoria smiled casually. “Mr. Cabell is a pillar of the company. He’s most effective staying at the grassroots level.” I knew she was certain I would not object and that I would not leave her. When I glanced at the new vice president, I understood why. He looked exactly like her first love from college, the one who had died in an accident. Suddenly, I felt exhausted. I ripped off my ID badge, tossed it in front of Victoria, and said, “Ms. Quinn, I quit.”

On the day of my mating ceremony with my Alpha mate, Derek, his childhood sweetheart Victoria returned. Victoria, using her supposed silver poisoning as an excuse for needing care, crashed our ceremony. She snatched my mate away, turning me into a laughingstock for the entire pack. Derek, seemingly unconcerned, said, "She's silver-poisoned. Her body's weak. Don't overthink it." He carried her to the pack healer, leaving me alone and humiliated. I yanked off the silver pendant he'd given me when he chose me as his mate. As I tossed it aside, it sliced my palm. To my horror, the small cut didn't heal. Instead, blood flowed freely. Because I was the one truly poisoned by silver. Derek didn't know. Months ago, during a rogue wolf attack, I'd taken a silver bullet meant for him. I survived, but my wolf lost her healing ability forever. Later, I overheard the usually strong and calm Alpha yelling at the pack healer, "How did you miss this? If anything happens to my Luna, none of you will survive!"

I was just the mate of the Alpha fated mate and the nanny to my child, not his Luna. I dedicated my life to him, but he never loved me—this was all because I was just a wolfless omega. Until his ex returned, everyone, including my mate and even my child, looked down on me. Everyone believed she should be the Luna. I turned and walked out of the house, choosing to live for myself. Three months later, I became the world’s most renowned white wolf healer, appearing on television. Son (shocked): "Dad, is that... my mom on TV?"

On the twelfth anniversary of our mating ceremony, my Alpha mate gave me a ten-million-dollar Moonlight herb. Fresh from the healing clinic after my miscarriage, I calmly dialed his number to request the severing of our mate bond. On the other end of the line, his secretary—also his childhood sweetheart—apologized through tears: "Sage, Moonlight herb is a sacred healing herb for most werewolves. I didn't know your mother died from Moonlight herb poisoning. I didn't know you despised it most. It's all my fault for making the decision myself. Please don't be angry with the Alpha." Marcus spent a long time gently comforting her, only saying to me: "If you want to sever it, then sever it. Don't regret it later." But when I really cut off the mate bond, the powerful Alpha went crazy.

I fell in love with my wife the moment I met her, and we eventually got married. She got pregnant not too long after that. Blessed me, but barely a week later, she suffered from excessive bleeding and was taken to the hospital. We lost the baby. The doctor yelled at me because he thought I didn't hold back my urges. That was why we lost the baby. I was flabbergasted. I had never slept with my wife ever since she got pregnant.

"Sign the papers, Damien. Set us both free." For six years, Elara Blackwood endured a gilded cage—playing the perfect wife to a billionaire who married her out of duty, his heart forever claimed by another. Their daughter Lily was the only light in her lonely world. But that light was snuffed out by the cruelest betrayal. When their dying daughter needed him most, Damien was embracing his past love. Lily cried, "Mommy, does Daddy not love me?" Elara couldn’t bear to tell her: it wasn’t that Daddy didn’t love her—he just didn’t love Mommy, and by extension, couldn’t bring himself to care for her. After Lily’s death, Elara confronted him: "You chose her over our dying daughter—how could you?" Her decision to leave followed, but Damien dismissed her departure and accusations as a dramatic—even laughable—ploy for attention, refusing to believe their daughter could truly be gone. Yet when the truth dawns, everything shifts: Lily’s death, Elara’s broken smile, and her departure with their newborn. Drowned in regret, Damien finally confronts the love he’d long denied. The billionaire tycoon scoured the city, proclaiming her his one true love—all for a second chance.

It's been five years since I started trying to win over Zachary Pierce. I even went so far as to have a child through IVF, hoping it would finally make him care. But no matter what I do, I can never reach 100 percent affection from him. It always stays at 99 percent. Sometimes it even drops lower. One day, exhausted and aching, I go looking for him. As I reach his room, I hear laughter coming from inside. "She still hasn't figured out the egg wasn't even hers. The moment the baby was born, Zach's affection score for her dropped to zero." "So what if she finds out? She should be grateful that her face looks so much like Yvonne's. Honestly, I'm done entertaining her. It's exhausting." At that moment, everything clicks. All the hope I've held onto, every sacrifice I've made, they were all just a joke. I turn away and say to the system, "End this for me. Send me to another world."

The daughter of my father's first love suffered from heatstroke because she was left in the car, so he tied me up in a fit of anger and locked me in the car boot. He looked at me with utter disgust and said, "I don't have a vicious daughter like you. Stay here and reflect on yourself." I begged him, apologized to him, and pleaded for him to let me out, but all I got in return was his ruthless order. "Unless she dies, no one is allowed to let her out." The car was parked in the garage. No one could hear me no matter how much I screamed for help. Seven days later, he finally remembered me and decided to let me out. However, he had no idea that I had already died in that trunk and could never wake up again.