Autumn If He Had Been With Me

On my fifteenth birthday, I begged my mom to teach me how to make a cream cake from scratch. We only had cream at home. No flour. So we went out to buy some. When we came back, we didn't walk into a birthday surprise. We walked in on my father pressing a strange she-wolf down onto the dining table. Cream was smeared all over her bare body. That night ended with my parents signing the Mating Dissolution Agreement. From that day on, cake became my nightmare, a taboo I could never touch. The night I mated with Alpha Kaelen of the Shadow Pack, amidst the pain and pleasure of his marking bite, I whispered in his ear. "Honey, if you ever want to end our mating, just bring me a cake." He frowned, his eyes burning with possessiveness, and kissed the words away. "Don't talk nonsense, Seraphina. You are my fated mate. How could I ever let you go?" Later, on his birthday, his intern secretary Elena ordered a three-tier luxury cake. Kaelen went into a rage, throwing both the cake and the intern out the front door. Back then, I was moved, even telling him not to be so harsh on a low-ranking wolf for my sake. But six months later, Elena had been promoted to Kaelen's personal assistant. On my birthday, she walked into my laboratory, swinging her hips, holding a burnt, homemade cake. I called Kaelen, asking him to remove the provocative item. On the other end of the line,his tone was casual. "Elena put her heart into making that for you. It would be cruel to throw it away. Be a good girl, don't be so sensitive. Have the grace of a Luna." The phone slipped from my hand. It turned out my mother wasn't wrong. Cake really is best served with a side of rejection papers.

I used to be the beloved little princess of the Colobo family. Then, on my eighteenth birthday, my father brought home Sophia. She was the daughter of the old friend who had once saved his life. Out of guilt, he gave her a place in our home. Then he gave her my place too. My brother began protecting her and hating me. My childhood friend, Luca Rizzo, fell for her and left me behind. Even my father said Sophia deserved the Colobo name more than I did, though I was his biological daughter. On the day I graduated from college, they broke their promise to me for the ninety-ninth time because of her. I finally lost control. “Am I not your own daughter?” My father pulled Sophia behind him as if I were the danger, then slapped me across the face. “You jealous little thing. I should have given everything to her instead.” My brother looked at me like I was something dirty. “You don’t deserve a place in the Colobo family. Get out.” So I left. They thought I was only throwing another tantrum. They took Sophia to Switzerland to see the snow-covered mountains, certain that silence would teach me to behave. They thought I would calm down, come home, and beg for my place again. But this time, I called the research institute in Australia whose offer I had once turned down for them. “I accept,” I said. By the time the Colobo family realized I was truly gone, my phone number no longer existed. And so did Isabella Colobo.

Eliot Hale had it all: grades, charm, and an enviable future. The whole campus admired his girlfriend. His life was picturesque...Until an anonymous message snatched it all away. One party. One betrayal. One moment that saw the shattering of his glass-laden golden world. Eliot, now the joke of the university, has been stripped of any last semblance of support, in whispers mocking him, asking his name, and wondering in his moment of awe, "Who do I trust when those I loved the most were the first to destroy me?" And just as Eliot spirals into isolated boredom, a stranger people would wish they had in their lives, begins texting him. What starts off as cautious curiosity soon evolves into an intimate, heartfelt bond- the anonymous presence sees into him, all the pain he hides beneath the surface; making him feel something for the very first time in his life. But upon finding out who actually was behind the screen… everything was changed forever. The boy who ruined him might be the only one who really understands him. The one he was raised to hate might be the one to really love him. And that forbidden love? That just might be the one thing that could save them both.

Please,  help me just this once." Jasmine panted with lust filled eyes. "Jazz, you're not thinking straight." Aaron replied even though he was fighting hard not to lose control. "Take a cold shower or something,  it'll help you feel better,  I promise." "No!"Jasmine argued, grabbing a fistful of his shirt in her hand. "It won't help,  trust me I've tried." "Yeah but..." "Aaron please! I need you, can't you see that? Or do you really hate me that much that you can't stand the thought of touching me?" They hated each other alright, that much was certain. But seeing Jasmine trapped in the heat of her own passion had Aaron's body reacting in ways that he could neither explain nor control, and also in ways that had him wondering if it was alright to suspend their feud for just one night. "You know what? Fuck it!" Aaron declared at last, tugging his shirt over his head and tossing it aside. "We can go back to hating each other tomorrow, but tonight, I'm going to make love to you like no one ever has."

Adelina, having just completed her shift for the first time, is summoned to Aspen after mysterious documents prove she is the fated mate of Daxon Reyes, the powerful Alpha billionaire. Though terrified and unprepared, she travels to Colorado. When their eyes meet during a pack gathering, the mate bond snaps into place. Electricity, heat, possession but also terror. Dax seems distant. He vanishes shortly after. A week later, she’s summoned again only to be rejected in front of the pack council, humiliated by the very wolf meant to protect her. Her world crumbles. RISING ACTION 1. Adelina’s Escape Broken and alone, Adelina flees Aspen with the help of Caleb, Dax’s Beta, who believes Dax was coerced. She hides in the Appalachian Mountains, where her late mother once lived. There, she discovers she is pregnant. 2. The Bloodline Truth An ancient Seer from a rogue Appalachian pack reveals the truth: Adelina is the last living descendant of the Moon Matron line ancient, powerful female wolves who were once equal in power to Alphas. Her child may carry an evolved form of werewolf power. 3. Back in Aspen Dax, haunted by visions and physical pain (side effects of rejecting a true mate), begins to question everything. He investigates Adelina’s past and discovers documents that Sylvia manipulated Adelina’s lineage was true. The Council had lied to maintain their power. 4. The Child Threat Sylvia learns of Adelina’s pregnancy and sees the child as a threat to her legacy. She sends hunters after Adelina to ensure the child never sees the moonlight. 5. Adelina Builds a New Pack Isolated but not defeated, Adelina begins forming bonds with rogues, lone wolves, and rejected females. Her strength grows. She becomes an Alpha in her own right, a Luna by force of will.

When she married Harry Slate, she was 22 years old while he was 32. During their three years of marriage, he showered her with endless tenderness and would give her anything she wanted. He said he could pick the stars for her if she wanted, even the moon if she so wished. He spoiled her like she was a precious treasure. The only thing was that he had insatiable demands every night. He would chuckle and refuse to let her go, even when she cried and begged for mercy. She knew Harry had a lot of money and a lot of love—and all of it belonged to her. The day her father passed away, she called him 99 times, yet he declined every single one. The next second, she received a photo taken by her best friend. [Celine, is this your man? I saw him hugging a woman on the streets of Palto.] After tapping the photo and seeing the man and the woman, Celine Quest felt as though she had fallen into an icy abyss. The man was Harry, and the woman was her aunt.

On the heavy traffic road rushing my father to the hospital due to a cerebral hemorrhage, we ran into my husband, who was directing traffic as a police officer. My mother was about to wind the window down and beg him for help, but I immediately stopped her and decisively turned the steering wheel, taking a narrow side road instead. In my previous life, at this exact situation, after a brief moment of hesitation, my husband had chosen to clear a path for us and personally escorted my father to the hospital. That very night, his childhood sweetheart, out of spite because he hadn't answered her calls, turned on the gas and killed herself. He seemed utterly unaffected by her death. He even organized a welcome-home party for my father when he was discharged from the hospital. But on the day of the party, he poisoned every dish on the table. "It's because of you and your damn father! If it weren't for you, Rosalin wouldn't have killed herself! You're the ones who drove her to death! You should pay for her life!" When I opened my eyes once more, I had returned to the day my father collapsed. This time, my husband answered the phone. Without a second thought, he ran to his childhood sweetheart. Yet, why had he still come to regret it?

The day she found out about the tumor, Noemi Rosales made one wild choice—she'd give her corneas to her blind husband, Daniel Gomez. Quietly. No spotlight, no drama. Too bad Daniel only cared about Ivanna Lopez. He ate up every lie she fed him and iced Noemi out like she was nothing. "I want you out of my life." Cool. Noemi could do that. "Ms. Rosales, are you certain you want Mr. Gomez listed as the cornea recipient?" "Yeah. Give them to him. Once I'm gone, the hospital can use the rest of me for science or whatever." She scrawled her signature. "Don't tell him."

He looked right through me. Alpha Damon, my fated mate, saw only a cursed, scentless servant unworthy of his notice. His rejection was a cold blade to the heart. Then, blood and chaos shattered everything. A rogue attack broke the curse binding my true Alpha power, revealing the wolf he’d scorned. Now, he sees me. Now, he wants me. The pursuit has begun – fierce, desperate, possessive. He tries apologies, demands, even force, driven by the bond he denied. But I am not the broken girl he remembers. He will learn that earning forgiveness from the Luna he brutalized means bowing before the power he dismissed. The chase is on, but this time, I set the rules.

Daniel was young and in love, just not with the girl he was set to marry. Unfortunately for him and his would be bride, he was from a very rich and powerful family who owed a favor to someone else. His father made a private deal with the man to repay the debt by allowing his daughter to marry Daniel. The deal was made long ago, when the two were just children, but that didn't matter now. All that mattered to his father was keeping his promise and repaying his debt to the other man. He considered it a blemish on his family's good name and flat refused to die with that promise still unkept. Daniel had no choice but to take matters into his own hands.