Another Time Books Novels & Stories

In the fifth year of being exiled to a deserted island in the international waters by Chelsea Herrera, I finally learn how to stay extremely humble. When Chelsea brings Derrick Carpenter, a university student she keeps, and a Doberman to the island just to pick me up, I get down on my knees as though it's the most natural thing to do in the world. Then, I wipe the sand off Derrick's shoes with my sleeve before bending over to use my back as their stepstool. "From now on, you're in charge of taking care of Ricky. He and Dobey are your family now." I nod with a small smile. After Chelsea has usurped my family's businesses and forced my parents to jump off a building, she chooses to abandon me on a deserted island so that I can learn to obey her commands. She has succeeded in everything she's done. By the time I finally get to return to the familiar villa, everything there has already changed. I wake up at 4:00 am every morning in order to prepare a nice breakfast for Dobey the Doberman. After that, I groom it properly. At 9:00 am, I've prepared the outfit Derrick will be wearing for the day. Then, I'll travel to a boxing gym so that I can serve as his human punching bag. At night, I prepare some alcohol and snacks while listening to Derrick and his friends laughing at me. They then proceed to discuss how to tame me, the formerly arrogant scion hailing from the ex-richest family in the elite society.

James Wesley has hated me for a decade after his childhood sweetheart passed away. He requests to be transferred to the frontier the day after we get married. I write him countless letters in those ten years to win back his favor, but his response is always the same. "If you truly regret it, why don't you hurry up and die?" However, after I am abducted, James storms the bandit's hideout by himself and saves me. He suffers multiple bullet wounds, but before he succumbs to his injuries, he uses the last of his strength to slap my hands away. "The thing I regret the most… in this life… is marrying you. If we get a second chance at life… please… don't bother me anymore." His mother, Felicia Axford, sounds regretful during the funeral. "It's all my fault, James. I shouldn't have forced you to marry her…" His father, Jeremiah Wesley, stares at me, his eyes burning with contempt. "You forced Emily to take her own life, and now you also caused my son's death. You're nothing but trouble, so you should just die!" Even Xavier Bowen, our troop commander, who was responsible for facilitating our marriage in the first place, shakes his head and sighs. "I shouldn't have played matchmaker. I let you down, Mr. Wesley." Everyone feels sympathetic toward James, including me. On the night I am discharged from the troop, I swallow some pesticide and die in the middle of an abandoned field. When I open my eyes again, I realize I have returned to the day before my marriage. This time, I am determined to fulfill everyone's wishes.

After the company's entire plane crashed and everyone on board died, we all found ourselves transported into a novel, tasked with winning the favor of a queen. The system's icy voice issued its prompt: [The queen's male consort possesses a voice as melodious as a lark's.] Our handsome secretary smiled with quiet confidence. That very day, he stationed himself along the queen's usual route and began to sing a modern pop song. The queen was thoroughly pleased. She summoned him onto her carriage. Our colleagues looked on with unconcealed envy. "Looks like the bonus is his." "How lucky. The queen is wealthy and beautiful. Not only does he get to spend the night with her, he'll make a fortune too." But the next day, we saw the secretary hanging from a tree in the royal garden. His body was completely naked, riddled with arrows, his eyes still wide open in death. The voice he had once cherished was now a vessel crammed with thick, crude bamboo spikes. At the same time, the system's cold notification sounded once more. [All challengers' lives have entered the countdown. Please complete your conquest as soon as possible.]

My dad died in a car crash. On the seventh day after his death, I hear him whisper in my ear, "Amara, save your brother. There are cracks in the old stone bridge at the village entrance... It will collapse... He will die." I immediately call my brother, Asher Langford, and he takes a different route out of the village. But that afternoon, the police report that a murder took place on that road. The victim is Asher. My sister-in-law, Delia Winslow, and I bury him in tears. On the seventh day after my brother's death, I hear my dad's voice again. "Amara, keep an eye on Jasper. Don't go to the back of the hill. The dead trees there attract lightning... There will be a thunderstorm in three days." That night, Delia locks my nephew, Jasper Langford, inside the house. But three days later, Jasper falls from a window on the 12th floor. Delia goes insane after losing her husband and son consecutively in such a short time. Holding back my grief, I leave my own son, Billy Calloway, with my husband, Felix Calloway, and help Delia lay Jasper to rest. On the seventh day after Jasper's death, I see my dad holding Billy's hand and looking back at me with a sorrowful expression. He says, "Amara... There are spirits looking for substitutes in the reed marsh in the village. Take care of Billy. Don't go..."

When I was three and a half, the system sent me back to my dad's high school days. The good news—the brooding villain destined to destroy the world was still just a blond guy. The bad news—there were way too many blond guys at that school, and I could not tell them apart. Hence, every time I saw one, I called him 'Dad'. By the time I got to the 101st, I was robbed. He grabbed me by the collar with a fierce look on his face, like he was about to hit me at any second. The long-dormant system suddenly spoke up, "Kiddo, the one walking out of the school right now is your dad!" I sniffled and shouted, "Hey, you'd better be careful! I'm telling you, my dad's almost an adult! Right, Dad? Elliot!" Elliot Smith froze for a second and pointed at himself. "Who, me?"

After five years in a world ruled by werewolves, I still haven't found a way back to the human world. So I did the only thing I could. I married my fated mate, Ryan Darcy, a devastatingly handsome Lycan Prince with a towering frame. The night we sealed our mate bond, we traded secrets. Leaning close, I whispered in his ear, "The truth is, I'm not from this world. Treat me wrong, and I'll disappear back to where I came from. You'll never find me again." Ryan immediately swears he'll love me more than life itself. He pulls me close, holding me so tight it's like he's afraid I'll disappear any second. But then Eleanor Darcy—his stepsister, sent away for a political marriage in another pack—returns. Bit by bit, I watch as Ryan's attention shifts to her. Devastated, I start looking for a way back to the human world. I throw myself at walls, try to hang myself, even jump into the lake, but nothing works. Ryan grows more distant with each passing day. "Susan, I expected better from you. Since when have you stooped to cheap attention-seeking stunts? 'Crossed over from another world?' You can't honestly expect me to buy that nonsense." That's when I realized he hadn't believed a single word I'd said.

"Hubby, kiss me. I miss you so much. When are you coming home?" Out of nowhere, I received a text. The sender was the cold, untouchable CEO who was currently scolding us in a meeting, Veronica Starling. What shocked me even more was the timestamp on the message. It was sent five years in the future.

Everyone is envious of me for having someone like Dominic Cruz, who's love-brained, as a husband-to-be. He's rich, handsome, and highly educated. I smile without saying anything, but I nod happily. However, on the day I'm misdiagnosed, he goes missing. He's so engrossed in his secret lover that he forgets all about me. So, I jilt him before he can do it to me. I turn him into the city's laughingstock. Later, I hear that he drinks the bar dry every night. He scours Marina City but fails to find his missing bride.

The year was 1934; I was twenty-two years old. I never thought of myself as anything special. I was barely making it through the Great Depression. There were many days I lived off of scraps. I was the king of odd jobs, just enough to get by. I had done it all, from being a field hand to a miner. It all changed one night when I stumbled across a traveling circus, Cirque du Lune. I had never seen such a sight. Instead of the usual menagerie, this circus was overrun with wolves. There was one performer who caught my eye; it was as if an angel had descended from heaven on a silk ribbon.

By the fifth year Dylan Crewe dropped me on a remote island, I finally learned submission. He brought his sugar baby, a college student, along with a Doberman to pick me up. I sank to my knees, wiped the sand off his leather shoes with my sleeve, and bent my back as a step for them. “Your duty from here on out is to take care of Tammy Bates. She and the Doberman are your family now.” I complied with his demand with a smile. Dylan took over my family’s empire, pushed my parents to the depths of despair until they jumped to their deaths, while I was abandoned in the middle of nowhere to break me. He succeeded in his venture. Back in the familiar manor, I couldn’t recognize the place I once called home. My alarm clock rang at 4 o’clock every morning, as my day would start with a special diet for Dobie and its grooming session. At nine o’clock, I would lay out Tammy’s outfit for the day and be her literal punching bag at the gym. I would have the drinks and food ready for Tammy’s friends in the evening, as she kidded around with her friends about how she tamed the once proud, notoriously spoiled heiress of Hedgewood’s high society.