Barking Up The Wrong Tree

Four months pregnant. I was alone when a rival family came for me.. A searing pain tore through my stomach. I couldn't reach my husband, Don Lorenzo. His phone was off. I woke up in a sterile hospital bed. Three days had passed. And the baby... was gone. That’s when I heard the nurses gossiping. “Heard Don Lorenzo cleared out a block of Fifth Avenue for his mistress three days ago. Had his phone off so they wouldn't be disturbed.” Tears rolled down my cheeks, but my heart was empty. I gave up my career, my whole life, for him. The Don who promised me forever… he shattered that promise just days before our fifth anniversary. Back home, I dug out an old phone and made a call. A number I hadn't touched in five years. "The European tour you mentioned…" I said, my voice hollow. "I'm in. I can be ready in a week."

To defuse the bomb strapped to the hostage, I had no choice—I cut off all her clothes. My clueless new wife, Dana Poole, blasted it online. She cried as she faced me. "Why not at least leave her underwear on? You were saving her, I get it—but did you have to take everything? Doesn't a girl's dignity matter? With cameras everywhere, how is she supposed to live after this? You couldn't even cover her up?" The backlash exploded. The unit benched me to calm things down. So I stopped caring. I followed procedure, no improvising, no extra effort. Then one day, at the busiest mall in the city, Dana's mom got strapped into a brand-new linked bomb. This time, the whole unit panicked.

My ex-fiancé made me do a blood test the night before our wedding. The next day, he threw the genetic report on my face and dumped me over defective genes. The reason was that the Zimmer family only wanted perfect heirs, and he said that I was not worthy. He broke off the engagement, and instantly married the girl-next-door with perfect genes. Five years later, he reappeared in the hospital, clutching his ill son. He saw my daughter who had similar rashes, and he thought I had given birth to his daughter in secrecy. Little did he know that my daughter had nothing to do with him and only had a mild seafood allergy. I would not be defined by the so-called defective genes again, while me and my daughter live happily and healthily, it was their turn to be destroyed.

On the eve of his 26th birthday, Luca Virelli, heir to a multi billion dollar empire is set to announce his engagement to a woman he barely knows. It’s a merger of dynasties, a flawless public image, and a life scripted to perfection. There's only one problem: Luca is gay, and no one knows, least of all his ruthless, image obsessed father. Drowning in guilt, silence, and a future he never chose, Luca does the unthinkable: he gets drunk, kisses a stranger in a crowded club, and spends one unforgettable night in a hotel room with him. No names. No faces. No future. Just escape. But fate has other plans. The next day, as Luca meets his fiancée at their engagement party, that same stranger appears, standing calmly at her side. He’s her brother. Asher Hartwell. And he’s supposed to be straight. As worlds collide, desire smolders in the shadows. But love this dangerous can’t stay secret for long. When lies unravel and the cost of freedom means losing everything, family, power, legacy, Luca and Asher must decide: is the wrong kind of love worth everything it will destroy?

While I was driving my bus, I spotted my boyfriend's car ahead. He was kissing the woman he had always been hung up on. I could not help tapping the horn. That was all it took. He and his dream girl stepped out and blocked my bus in the middle of the road. I glanced at the passengers behind me. I could not afford to delay everyone, so I swallowed my pride and asked him to move his car. She lifted her chin, her voice dripping with arrogance. “Not happening. Unless you get off that bus and apologize to me right here, you're not going anywhere.” Traffic was completely jammed. There was no way forward and no way back. My face went pale, but I had no choice except to lower my head and prepare to apologize. My boyfriend grew impatient. "Why are you still standing there? Get down and apologize to Sally. Right now." Humiliated, I inched my way towards the door. However, the doors unexpectedly swung open and the passengers rushed out of the bus. “Do you think we have time for this? I'm already late for school. Are you going to take responsibility?” “My perfect attendance this month is ruined because of you. You two are unbelievable!” “If you shameless idiots want to act like this, don't blame us for getting physical!”

Louisa Forge didn’t choose this. She was handed over like a bargaining chip — marked by an Alpha she despises, installed in a pack house that doesn’t want her, bound to a man who locks her in her room and calls it mercy. Kaelen is everything a wolf shouldn’t be: cruel, reckless, and hungry for a power he hasn’t earned. But the pack house has another occupant. Julian — former Alpha, widower, a man who has been quietly starving himself to death since the loss of his mate — is supposed to be irrelevant. A ghost in the east wing. Instead he’s the one who checks on her in the night, who brings her sedatives for the pain, who laughs with her over terrible soup until the whole dining room forgets to be miserable. He’s also the one who tells her, very clearly, that what happened between them during her heat meant nothing. He’s lying. They both know it. Caught between a mate bond she never consented to and a connection she can’t name, Louisa is doing what she does best — surviving. She’s building alliances in quiet corners, winning loyalty one small kindness at a time, and carrying a secret that could burn everything to the ground. Because the heir Kaelen is so desperate to claim? It isn’t his.

My boyfriend, Dallas Clarke, had a pick-me girl constantly hanging around him named Olivia Phillips. She knew perfectly well that I had diabetes and could not eat high-sugar foods. Yet, during our hiking trip, she still managed to trick me into eating a high-sugar energy bar, which caused my blood sugar to spike. When I pulled out my insulin pen to inject myself, I discovered with horror that my medication had been replaced with saline solution. Seeing me collapsed on the ground, dry heaving uncontrollably, Olivia smirked in disdain. "You are always so dramatic. It's just sugar, you don't need to act like you're dying. That's why I told Dallas to switch your meds, because you needed to toughen up and build some stamina." I looked toward Dallas, my breathing already becoming labored. "Dallas, give me my medication. If I don't inject insulin soon, I'm going to die..." Dallas frowned slightly. "Don't you think you're being a little overdramatic? I've never heard of anyone dying from a bit of sugar. Olivia's right... You're such an attention seeker. We barely get together as a group, and here you are causing a scene." My heart sank, and I called Dad immediately. "Dad, I'm getting bullied, and I might die! Are you going to do something about it or not?"

If I die, will you miss me? At the last minute of her life, she still craves for him,however,he just replied coldly,you do not deserve it.Why? Loving you is more painful than death.

After claiming another pack, Kyler Vaughn of the Frostfang Pack was now the most powerful Alpha in the western region. But in all that glory, he seemed to have forgotten someone. Me, his destined mate, Elsa Thorne. Seven years ago, I took a poisoned strike meant for him. Because of that, I never awakened my wolf and was left a weak Omega. A year ago, he promised that once he became the strongest Alpha in the west, we would hold our bonding ceremony. Now that he had achieved it, my heart leapt as I ran to his study, full of hope. The door was slightly open, and I heard his voice. "We'll move forward with the plan tomorrow. Split into two teams, one for the Ember Pack and the other for the Shadow Pack." Another voice hesitated. "But Ms. Thorne..." "Why mention that useless Omega? She'll only slow us down. Enough of her." I froze outside the door, my excitement twisting into a bitter ache. I remembered the times he went on missions, while I could only wait in our territory for his return. So, this was how he actually saw me. A stubborn fire rose in me. I would go to the new territories and prove I wasn't useless. The next day, I disguised myself as a Warrior and stood at the rally point. When asked which team I wanted, the names Shadow Pack and Ember Pack spun in my mind. His disdainful gaze leaving me flustered, I blurted out, "The Ember Pack! I want to go to the Ember Pack!" I didn't know that my rushed choice would throw me headfirst into an unknown whirlpool...

"I want three things..." He whimpered softly. "To see you...to touch you and to kiss you...Red" "Red?" I mumbled softly, staring into his sapphire eyes. "It fits you, just like the color of your hair," his lips curved into a smirk. "And you are mine from now on... Red" ~~~~~~~~ All Ava wanted wanted was to get revenge on the man that had ruined her entire life. To slip into his life, break down his walls and get rid of him but never would she have thought it would come with a price. She wanted revenge but instead... she was tempted and trapped by the wrong Alpha.