Before We Drowned Novels & Stories

When the yacht was sinking, and only one spot was left on the lifeboat, Hendrix Zuckerman chose me. I was rescued, but Yana Bridgeton didn’t make it. She couldn’t wait for the second lifeboat and drowned in the ocean, her body lost forever. Hendrix pretended not to care and went through with our wedding as planned. For five years after our marriage, he trampled me into the dirt, blaming me for Yana's death. When I couldn't take it any longer and wanted a divorce, he decided to die with me. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day the yacht accident happened. This time, I’ve decided to give the chance to survive to the one he loves most.

THIS BOOK CONTAINS MATURE THEMES🔞 "Since the moment I saw you, my wolf has known no other. I am yours, heart and soul. I want you to be my mate, bound to me forever," I smiled. "Is that what you want, too?" "I’ve felt that pull too, even though I'm human," he answered. "I don't care about anything else. I just want to be where you are. Yes, I’ll be your mate, Ethan. A thousand yes for I am yours." "I know we've made love before, but this is different," I continued. "But I just turned eighteen, and my Alpha has awakened. This is a ritual that's performed in a wolf pack, Derek. I need the world to know you're mine, and I need to feel that we’re truly one. Let me seal this bond tonight. Let me mark you as my mate." Derek's other hand reached up, his hands steady as he cupped my face. "I want this, Ethan. I want to belong to you. But I want to feel the whole of you and not just the human body, but the wolf that chose me." He took a breath, his heart hammering against his ribs. "Shift for me. I want to seal our bond with your wolf. I want to feel the Alpha who claimed me, heart to heart, before we’re finished tonight. Can you do that for me? Can we mate like that?" My breath hitched, a low rumbled growl vibrating in my chest. The wolf beneath my skin was clawing to get out, desperate to acknowledge the human who wasn't afraid of his teeth or his strength. "Anything for you," I rasped, pressing my forehead against Derek’s. "If that's what you want... I’ll show you everything I am."

In my past life, right before sitting for the college entrance exams, my best friend, Lily Shaw, and I made a pact. We promised that once we got into college, we would study finance and make a fortune. But because my exam went smoothly and I was the first to leave the exam room, I ended up on camera for an interview. Somehow, I blew up overnight. Years later, I became a top celebrity, while Lily was sent to prison for financial fraud. When she got out, I gave her a million dollars to help her get back on her feet. She repaid me by quietly forging lies about me, whipping up a wave of online hate, and doing everything she could to destroy me. I traced the truth and confronted her, but she snapped back at me, "What gives you the right to stare down at me from your lofty throne and throw me scraps, Hannah Linden? I'm prettier than you, and my grades were better than yours. Why did you get the better life?" She laid out a plan to get back at me. She knocked me out and slashed my face. She also gouged out my eyes and cut out my tongue before stuffing me into a freezer, leaving me there to freeze to death. When I open my eyes again, I find myself reborn in my senior-year classroom. There's just over a month left for the college entrance exams. I look at Lily, who sits to my left and whispers to me. I smile at her, my eyes glinting with ice and venom.

For some , love that can't be is enough reason for them to fall apart but for others , it's a fight they are willing to endure . Their course of love never run smooth since the taboo tries to prevent them from being in a relationship openly . Opposed by the whole world due to cultural ,societal and religious norms because the condemned love trope consists of taboo in society ,class difference , feuding families , religious restrictions ,not forgetting the age difference hence it would be hard or even impossible for them to be together. As they say ,' there is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable ,'we always long for the proscribed things ,desire what is denied us and crave what we can't have .Therefore , they put their trust and faith into the love that is prohibited and vow to do their best to achieve that happily ever after ending we all want BUT the million dollar question is will their illicit love be enough reason for them to fall apart or it's a fight they are willing to endure no matter the matter ? With the fact that love we can't have is the one that last the longest , hurts the deepest and feels the strongest in mind ,will the power of love hold their relationship so it will last till only death do them apart or the deepest pain their love brings will result in them breaking up ? Will their banned love be enough to test everything that goes their way ? Why don't we find out the answers to all the unanswered questions in the illicit love {uthando olungeko emthethweni} story before curiosity kills the cat . . . *Love is love, even if it is illicit Like light remains light, even in the darkness*

My sister Emily and I were both given a Destiny System, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to change our futures. In our first life, Emily chose the Beauty System. She thought beauty would make every powerful man fall at her feet. Instead, it only made her a pretty toy for rich heirs to admire and discard. When she failed to earn genuine love before the deadline, the system took everything back. Her beauty vanished, her admirers disappeared, and she ended up broke, abandoned, and bitter. I chose the Elite Athlete System. I trained until my body nearly broke, became America’s youngest Olympic champion, shattered records, and built a legendary career. Fame, fortune, and success were all mine. Even Ethan Walker, the heir to one of the country’s most powerful old-money families, chased after me. Emily hated me for it. So she rammed her car into mine and killed me. When I opened my eyes again, we were both sixteen, standing before the Destiny System on the very day we first made our choices. This time, Emily shouted before I could speak. “I choose the Elite Athlete System!” She looked at me with a smug smile. “Olivia, this time I’ll be the one everyone admires.” I looked at the Beauty System now drifting toward me and smiled. Emily thought she had stolen my golden future. She had no idea that every gift fate offers comes with a price.

“I don’t want to marry Edge anymore.” This is what I said when I decided to free myself from a man that I had never even seen before in my life. The clock of my lifeline was nearing an end and I was not ready to waste it on an arrogant man like the Alpha King- Edgar Darkmoon. But the moment I said this, the universe changed its course. The more we tried to stay apart, the more our lives collided and burned. “Throw her out of here!” “She isn’t allowed to take one step inside my territory!” “Banish her!” The alpha’s roar shook the places I set foot in when he didn't know my identity. But the moment he became aware of who I was, his cold stares changed into absolute adoration so fast that I had to put up a wall between him and myself because I didn’t want to fall for him! Unbothered by it all, a bigger crisis is dawning upon us soon. Edge is the King of Alphas, but an ages-old, greedy and the most dangerous entity is hovering above our lives. How many pains must we endure before learning that the beginning of us was always just a game that was bound to end in our devastation?

As the heir to the North's most powerful pack, I must choose my mate from the three rival Alphas. My heart had already chosen. Alpha Ethan. He was my destiny. Our mate bond was a roaring fire, impossible to ignore. But just days before the Mating Ceremony, we were ambushed by rogues. Everything went black. When I woke up, a new wolf was howling in my soul. Nyx. She claimed to be from my past life. And she was screaming in my head, begging me not to choose Ethan. "He'll kill you! Him and that bitch Clara. They'll steal everything you have! Arthur is the one you have to choose!" Arthur? The cursed Alpha doomed to die before he turns twenty-five?

Lying and holding secrets comes to us naturally, as natural as breathing and looking on either side of the road before crossing. We all do it to protect ourselves because sometimes the truth can hurt us.Some are harmless little white lies, but some secrets hide horrible things. Those lies will always come haunting those who seek to keep their lips sealed. Follow Caroline, Charlotte, Chloe, and Caleb's journey, as their life is turned upside down as they fight to keep their lips sealed about the murder they accidentally committed.Everyone keeps secrets. Everyone lies. You better make sure no one saw what you've done before making up your lies because all it takes is one person with the truth on their lips for your life to be destroyed.

My fated mate, Riven, was the Alpha of a pathetic pack on the brink of collapse. For five years, I was his shadow, his strategist. I built his pack from nothing until the Alliance finally recognized us, and we were set to move to the fertile lands. Riven promised we'd have our mating ceremony once we settled in the new territory. But at the celebration feast, the night before the move, he threw me in a cell. He publicly announced that Jenna—the she-wolf carrying his pup—would be the pack's Luna. I couldn't believe it. I screamed at him, but he just sneered and pointed to a crystal pulsing with dark magic. "Jenna already has proof of your betrayal! Sleeping with Alphas for their support. You make me sick!" I begged him. But he just sliced my cheek with the silver-edged rejection letter, formally casting me aside. But he didn't know who I really was. I am the Alpha King's daughter. The strategies, the power, the alliances—they weren't his. They were mine. So I took it all back.

During the awards portion of the annual charity gala, the host suddenly walked onto the stage holding the hands of ten children. “Tonight, we have one more very special honoree.” “She passed away after an accident, but before she died, she donated every viable organ in her body and saved the children standing beside me right now.” In the front row below the stage, the eldest son of the Sanders family, dressed in an expensive suit, let out a scornful laugh. “I wonder what idiot did that. She was already dead, and she still had to chase fame.” Beside him, Mrs. Sanders looked deeply distressed. “Her body isn’t even whole anymore. How is she supposed to rest in peace? Her parents are so cruel. How could they not stop it?” Mr. Sanders gently comforted his wife, then turned and instructed his secretary. “Once we confirm which family she belonged to, cancel every partnership we have with them from now on.” The host’s voice rang out again. “Next, please welcome the honoree’s parents to the stage.” “Chairman Sanders and his wife.”