Barely Survived

"Touch her, and I'll rip your throat out with my bare hands." For centuries, King Valerian Goremane has ruled the Shadowpeak Territories with brutal efficiency, his heart as frozen as the northern wastelands he conquered. The most powerful Lycan in existence, he's never bowed to anyone, until the night he catches her scent. Aria Thorne isn't supposed to exist. Born human in a world ruled by wolves, marked with a strange silver birthmark she's hidden her entire life, she's survived by staying invisible. But when she accidentally crosses into Shadowpeak during a desperate escape from her abusive stepfather, everything changes. Valerian knows instantly, she's his. His fated mate. The one weakness he swore never to have. But there's a problem. An ancient prophecy declares that the king's true mate will either be his salvation or his complete destruction. The same prophecy that caused Valerian to reject and exile his first mate twenty years ago, a decision that cursed him with a beast he can barely control. Now, with Aria's life hanging in the balance, enemies closing in from every direction, and his own pack questioning his sanity, Valerian faces an impossible choice: claim the woman fate has given him and risk everything he's built, or let her go and lose the only person who's ever made him feel human. Aria refuses to be owned. Valerian refuses to be denied. And the prophecy? It's only just beginning to unfold. In a kingdom ruled by blood and power, can love survive the beast within... or will it awaken something far more dangerous than either of them could imagine?

The day my birth parents found me, the reunion banquet they threw turned into their funeral. My parents and their adopted daughter, Leila, died of food poisoning that night. The only one who survived was my older brother, Alpha Kian. He didn’t like sweets, so he never touched the cake. The cake that I handed to them myself. “So you want to take Leila’s place. “You’re just jealous because she got all our love! “She was the only one who ever accepted you, and you still killed her!” Those were Kian’s exact words as he shouted at me right outside the hospital room. From that day on, I became a sinner. To make up for it, I barely slept four hours a night and worked five jobs just to buy back the villa the rival pack seized during the chaos. However, the day I finally saved up enough, I saw my dead parents throwing a birthday party for Leila in that very villa. Kian stood among them, looking at her with a warmth I didn’t recognize. My mother said, “Isn’t today also Lily’s birthday? It’s been eight years. Maybe it’s time to forgive her.” However, Kian didn’t hesitate to refuse. “No. Even though Leila sniffed out the wolfsbane and saved you, we agreed that Lily gets ten years. “We can’t risk her ever trying to poison Leila again. Not even a day less.” I clutched the diagnosis paper from the clinic tightly and laughed through my tears. I knew I wouldn’t get to ten years. I was already dying.

Alpha Zayn was cursed at birth for his father’s sins. He is powerful but lonely, beautiful yet unloved. A dark shadow follows him everywhere. His inner beast is always hungry, demanding a blood sacrifice every full moon. For years, young women were sent to him, but none ever survived the night until Ariana Whitestone.

“I already have a mate. I don’t need another.” That’s what Nikolai told fate when Keira showed up. But fate doesn’t give a damn—and neither does she. Zaqriel can barely look at the girl without tasting betrayal. Keira can barely breathe watching the bond they share. And Nikolai? He’s trying not to want both. Jealousy burns. Anger festers. Desire ruins. And between a hybrid, a prince, and a girl with nothing to lose— someone is bound to break.

They say I trapped Adrian Cole. That I drugged him. Seduced him. Forced him into a marriage to save my failing family. They’re half right. I did marry him. I am carrying his name. But the trap? That was never mine. For 365 days, I’ve lived with a husband who despises me. Who looks at me with nothing but contempt. Who whispers sweet words to another woman while I’m pregnant with his child. I’ve survived his cruelty. His mother’s disdain. His lover’s mockery. I’ve survived everything except the truth—that I’m in love with a man who will never believe I’m innocent. Now he wants a divorce. And I’m ready to give it to him. But Adrian Cole doesn’t know what he wants. One moment he’s throwing me away. The next, he’s protecting me from the very people who destroyed us both. I can’t speak. But my silence is about to say everything.

Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror and just barely recognizing yourself in the reflection? Well that is me, I have loved and lost. Survived and thrived, screamed and cried into my pillow tears nobody else got to see. But I never gave up hope, never lied down and never let them see me cry. Until him, he could see past the facade and see the real me. He wanted to love me, concole me and protect me. But I have lost hope in humanity, men, true love because life just arent a fairytale right? Its hard work and nothing comes easy even if you would like to believe it does it just doesnt. He is my mothers new husbands son and 10 years older than me. His blue eyes keep staring at me, it should warm me to the core right. Make me feel something anything. But it doesn't he makes women run after him and beg on their knees. But me, I have been down this road before. The charming smile, arrogant cocky attitude. It always ends the same, me covered in bruises crying on the bathroom floor. Thinking its all my fault, all me. But he just wouldn't let go. He wouldn't give up. And the more I turn him down the more it turns him on. I am only that strong before I give in,and even though I know how this is about to end. If he keeps staring at me with desire in his eyes as if I am the reason he is breathing. I know I am about to take the leap this can go down to damn ways. But the question is do I or dont I. Because fear can be your anchor or it can be your wings

**They wanted to choose my husband. So I bought one instead.** --- "You'll be meeting your soon-to-be husband at the next family dinner." Aunt Melissa's words hit like poison. I choked, shock stealing my breath. Family dinners at my grandparents' estate were already hell—arguments shattering crystal, curses wrapped in concern, smiles hiding knives. But this? This crossed every line. Who the hell did they think they were, choosing my husband like I was some pawn in their twisted game? *That's never happening.* I built Phias Empire from the wreckage of my inheritance, clawed my way up from the car crash that killed my parents twenty years ago. I survived being trapped underwater, survived my family's hatred, survived my cousin Sophie's lifetime of cruelty—always my shadow, desperate to eclipse me. I didn't survive all that to let them control who I marry. Then I saw him. David Kane. Six-foot-three of devastating perfection, commanding my manufacturing floor like he was born for it. Dark hair, ice-blue eyes, a body that made me forget how to breathe. A contractor. The branch manager's son. Nobody important. *Perfect.* My family wanted to force a husband on me? Fine. I'd bring them one—on my terms. A contract so airtight no one could question it. And God, I wanted him. I couldn't wait to see Sophie's face. Couldn't wait to watch their plans crumble. They forgot who I am. I'm Sophia Ashford. I don't play by their rules. And I'm about to make the most dangerous deal of my life.

In my past life, my mate Marcus ran off to the forest to make love with my best friend Scarlett, who was eight-month pregnant. That’s when they'd be surrounded by a pack of rogue wolves. Scarlett, heavy with child, started bleeding heavily. Both of them desperately called for the Border Guard. As the Chief Warrior, I had risked everything to fight those rogue wolves. But Scarlett still died along with her unborn pup. My mate Marcus led others to accuse me of using my position for personal revenge. He personally severed both my hands with a silver blade. "A warrior without morals like you deserves to burn in hell!" he snarled. But I remembered clearly—when I drove off the rogues and got the pack healer to Scarlett, she barely had a scratch on her. Finally, Scarlett's parents arrived. I begged them to examine her body and investigate the truth. Instead, they reported to Alpha that I had neglected my duties. They claimed I was high on wolfsbane while guarding the border. Alpha exiled me for fifteen years. With both hands severed, I had no way to fight or shift properly. I survived by begging scraps from neighboring territories. Fifteen years later, I returned to the pack. I saw my mate Marcus walked through the airport's first-class terminal with Scarlett and their son. They were using my inheritance to fund their luxury vacation to the Maldives. They spotted me. Without hesitation, they pushed me into a silver pit to destroy all evidence. When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day Scarlett faked her death. This time, I took one look at the scene and declared them beyond saving. I told my assistant to send them to bury them directly.

Sera knew she wasn’t expected when she was born. Having spent most of her life with her adoptive parents, who couldn't care less if she survived, she was finally ready to escape with her boyfriend of three years on her 22nd birthday until her world came crashing down when she met Asher. Will she throw herself into utter chaos or choose the world she knows?

Freya Blackwood is a rouge witch. Her birth parents were killed by vampires and she was abandoned by her adoptive parents when her powers began to manifest. She has survived by bounty hunting vampires, werewolves, and other creatures of the night. Freya was the best in the business and no one got away. Until she met Kieran, a handsome and dangerous vampire who just so happens to be her next victim.