Novel & Cerita Blank Featureless Mask

Tessa and Raymond’s marriage was never about love, it was convenience, appearances, and expectations. Raymond, with his conventional charm and striking handsomeness, was admired by everyone, but his heart was never fully hers. He had always been drawn to Danielle Green. He claimed she was just a friend, but Tessa knew better. Every secret outing, every hidden smile all carved wounds into Tessa’s heart, leaving her feeling invisible in her own marriage. The tipping point comes when Tessa stumbles upon a post online, a wave of public scolding aimed at her for supposedly breaking the home, for being the obstacle to Danielle. In a blaze of frustration and humiliation, she serves Raymond divorce papers. But instead of freeing her, Raymond refuses. He offers her silly, manipulative terms to meet him, seduces, and taunts her, proving he will never let her go easily. Fueled by a mix of rage and determination, Tessa begins to reclaim her power. She finds herself drawn into a complicated dynamic with Derek, Raymond’s best friend, a man with his own history of tension with Raymond and secret feelings for Tessa. The attention stirs something in her: attraction, validation, a hint of revenge. It ignites a spark Raymond cannot ignore. For Raymond, it is only the beginning. The thought of losing her shook him to the core. He begins to fight for her in ways he never has, even as his love twists into jealousy and obsession. When Raymond finally drops the mask, revealing the man beneath the arrogance, the man terrified of losing her, Tessa is forced to ask herself the question she swore she’d buried: Can love truly be reborn in the depth of hate, or is his devotion just another chain designed to keep her bound?

After three years of renting, the landlord kept raising the rent, so I decided not to renew the lease. I hired cleaners to thoroughly clean the entire place, inside and out. There was not a single scratch on the furniture or appliances. I figured the landlord would not return the deposit easily, but I never imagined she would come out swinging with such outrageous demands. “This dining table cost me 25,000 dollars! You got it dirty, and we can’t clean it. You owe me 25,000! “How did this living room lamp get so dusty? Don’t you know how to clean as a girl? We’ll have to deduct 1,500 from your deposit! “There are hooks on the wall. You damaged my walls! 2,000 for that! “This mattress... Hmph. You live-streamers probably brought home who knows how many men. This one’s ruined anyway. There goes 15,000! “Why are there strands of hair in the bathroom? How am I supposed to rent this out to the next tenant? Five hundred for cleaning fees!” She tapped away at her calculator, then thrust it in my face. “You’ve lived here for three years. I’ll give you a friend’s discount. I won’t charge extra for the other damages. Pay me 50,000 dollars, and we’ll call it even! “Otherwise, I’ll expose you online and make you lose followers!” I glanced at the live stream that had 50,000 viewers at the time. When I looked up again, my face was only a mask of smiles. “Ms. Lane, let me think about it. I’ll give you an answer in two days.”

.“You should not look at me like that.”Kate turns, slow, heat sliding under her skin. “Like what.” “Like you already know how this ends.” Her breath stutters. “Then stop standing so close.” “I cannot,” Nathan says. “And you should walk away.” Neither of them moves. Kate Brown lives by rules her mother carved into her bones. Be polite. Be careful. Never want what you cannot have. So when she visits her best friend for the holidays, she expects noise, comfort, safety. She does not expect Nathan Reid. Her best friend’s father. Older. Calm. Watching her like he sees straight through the good girl mask she wears so well. Their first meeting lingers long after the night ends. It steals her sleep. It coils in her thoughts. The more she tries to forget him, the louder her body answers. Something inside her wakes up. Something hungry. Something reckless.Her mind screams no while her body leans closer. Stolen glances turn heavy. Accidental touches last too long. Silence becomes loaded. Want becomes dangerous. Every moment with him feels like standing at the edge of a fall she might enjoy too much. Nathan knows better. He knows the line. Single or not, he is forbidden. And yet Kate is everything he should not crave and everything he cannot stop wanting. Caught between control and desire, Kate must choose what to obey. The rules that shaped her. Or the man who makes her feel alive for the first time.

The Day I Was Reborn, I Rejected the Alpha In my previous life, on my third year as Luna, I took an arrow tipped with wolfsbane meant for my Alpha mate Julian. My wolf was nearly killed, and I lay comatose for three full years. When I finally woke, Julian held my sister Lyra's hand and told me they were in love. He wanted me to step aside. My adoptive mother, Eleanor, pressured me to accept it. I refused. When the three of them closed in on me, I appealed to the Council of Elders. In the end, the Council ruled that Lyra be exiled. She couldn't bear the humiliation, and took her own life. Julian let me keep my title as Luna, but he hated me for the rest of his life. He would look at me with cold, dead eyes. "You should never have woken up. Then I wouldn't have lost Lyra." My adoptive mother blamed me too — for killing my sister, for destroying our family. Seven years later, grief and alcohol had hollowed Julian out completely. On his deathbed, the cold mask slipped. He gripped my hand. "In the next life... will you let me have Lyra?" Something in me went numb. After Julian was gone, the pack fell apart without an Alpha. Every one of them cursed me for being the one still alive. In the fighting that came after, my own pack handed me over to a rival pack. They put a dozen arrows through me. I died alone in the wilderness. When I opened my eyes, I was back — back to the day I first woke up.

Ever since I lost my Alpha, Kael, in a brutal fight with some nasty rogues, I've been raising our young son, Finn, all by myself. My old pack has been pushing me to take a new Alpha, you know, so Finn and I would have protection. But I truly believed my Mate Bond with Kael was unbreakable. Then, on the Blood Moon ceremony, the fifth anniversary of Kael's “sacrifice,” I overheard Kael's father, old Alpha Marcus, tearing into Kael's quiet twin brother, Ronan: “Kael! You damn wolf! It was Ronan who went down on Blood Moon Cliff five years ago! He was the cursed one! You faked your death, lived as Ronan, all to protect Alina? You lied to the whole pack, to your sacred mate, and your own flesh and blood! Was it worth it?!” “For five years, Elara has raised Finn from a tiny pup all alone. You gave your so-called 'niece' a fake 'father,' but did you ever think? The day you put on Ronan's mask, Finn lost his real father for good!” I felt like I'd been struck by lightning. After Kael “died,” Ronan had been the dutiful uncle, “looking after” Finn and me. I never dreamed he was Kael in disguise. And he did all this just to protect Alina, Ronan's destined mate, who was already pregnant?! That night, under the bright moon, I snuck away and sent a message to my cousin, the Head Beta of the Silver-Moon Pack: “Tell your Alpha Lucian that I, Elara, accept his courtship offer.”

On the eve of the National Robotics Championship, I smashed my carefully designed bot to pieces and announced my withdrawal. Everyone said I was a fraud who was quitting out of fear of being exposed. Online, the netizens mocked me relentlessly. Only one person, Adrian Cross, the so-called genius of the century, spoke up in my defense, his voice dripping with false sincerity, "I believe in River Lowell’s skills. Only he deserves to be my opponent. No matter what setbacks he’s facing, I hope he comes back to the arena and proves himself." In my previous life, the robot I built was identical to his. No matter how I tried to prove he had copied me, Adrian stood before the cameras, wearing his benevolent mask, and said, "It’s fine. This robot can go to River. I can always build something even better." His fans swarmed me, tearing me apart online, and no one believed in my talent. I swallowed the humiliation and vowed to rebuild my robot from scratch. However, when I was assembling it, the Power Core in my kit exploded, shattering my skull. That same night, I was rushed into the ICU. Netizens clapped and cheered, saying I got exactly what I deserved. That night, my girlfriend, Lila Hart, signed the hospital’s DNR consent form without hesitation. Until the day I died, I never understood how Adrian had gotten my robot’s data or why Lila had joined forces with him. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the very day of the competition.

Cassia’s life has been hell since the day she was born—a cursed daughter, a traitor’s spawn, and a slave to her own pack. Cast out and despised, she exists only to serve the cruel whims of those around her. And at the top of this pitiless hierarchy is Alpha Rhett, her supposed mate. Cold, calculating, and merciless, Rhett rejects her, branding her as nothing but a stain on his honor. Yet his rejection binds her to him in ways she can't escape. Rhett’s obsession with Cassia is a twisted, possessive hunger, a brutal reminder that while he may reject her, he will never let her truly go. When Cassia crosses paths with Lucian, a beta hides his cruel secrets behind a mask of kindness, she dares to hope that someone, anyone, might rescue her from Rhett’s shadow. Lucian is everything Rhett isn’t—charming, attentive, and understanding. Yet behind his smoldering gaze lies a dark intent, a loathing for Cassia that she is oblivious to. Blinded by her need for an escape, Cassia is drawn to Lucian, mistaking his carefully veiled malice for genuine love. But Rhett’s hold on her is absolute, and as his possessive jealousy flares, his twisted need to control her deepens. Cassia finds herself torn between two dangerous men—one who would destroy her in his hunger to dominate and another whose lies could lead her into ruin. Amidst a landscape of dark obsession, forbidden desires, and brutal love, Cassia must decide if she can claw her way out or fall prey to the ruthless games of those who would claim her body and soul.

"How do you want me to eat your corpse? Boiled and properly spiced, or grilled, just like barbecue?" Rex asked coldly, his face a mask of cruelty as he approached Arianna, the fearless little bitch who came to steal drugs from him. ***** Arianna Fraser escaped to Las Vegas after killing her step father accidentally, to escape prison time. She began to work at starlight, the biggest hotel resort in Las Vegas boulevard, which belongs to the devil, Rex Santorini, the dreaded crime lord of Las Vegas. Her grandma soon fell sick and she had no money to save her only surviving relative. So she took the most stupid decision. STEAL MEAT FROM THE DEVIL'S MOUTH! She began to steal from Rex till her luck ran out. Few minutes before her execution, he thought of a better use for her. A sex slave! Arianna joined an assassin group in her desperation to get easy money. Her first mission soon arrived, KILL REX SANTORINI. Filled with hesitation as he has begun to treat her well, Arianna kept declining till she found out that Rex was the culprit that killed her mother. Blinded by rage, she became a deranged weapon which Rex's enemy can use against him, worse she had become his biggest weakness. She gets caught in a web of lies and deceit, travelling deeper into the darkness while loosing everything dear to her. When the result of her folly rebounded on her, she had been trapped. However, will Rex find it in himself to save her?. After she had mercilessly tried to kill him on several occasion.

I had just walked out of the Pack Healer's cabin, clutching the crumpled paper of my official pregnancy report, when I refreshed my social media feed. An anonymous post on the local pack forum caught my eye. "I've been sleeping with the Alpha for a while now, and I just found out I'm pregnant. But his Luna is knocked up too, and she's months ahead of me. I hate the idea of him having a pup with someone else. I want to carry his firstborn. How can I make him force his mate to get rid of it?" The comments section was flooded with curses and insults calling the poster a home-wrecker. But the original poster had liked one particularly vicious comment. "That's easy. Tell the Alpha that his Luna is too weak and that she is carrying an abomination corrupted by wolfsbane. Tell him it will be a stillborn anyway." I usually just lurked in these threads, but my wolf, Selene, growled within me. My fingers flew across the screen as I replied. "Aren't you afraid of the Moon Goddess's wrath for defying Her will like this?" The moment I hit send, my mate Kael, the Alpha of the Starlight Pack, walked up to me. He was holding a forged diagnosis report from the Healer, his face a mask of pained hesitation. "Seraphina," he said, his voice trembling. " The Healer says our pup's soul is fragmented. It has been judged as a stillborn. For your safety, we have to terminate the pregnancy immediately." He took a breath, looking deep into my eyes. "I have already made the arrangements. Tomorrow, before the Moon Goddess's altar, I will supervise the surgery personally to ensure your absolute safety."

In a world where only he-wolves were allowed to be Alphas, Seleste Rivas, the only daughter of the Alpha of the Lighttail Banes Pack, couldn't sit still. She knew she had what it took to be a powerful Alpha and would do anything to achieve her goal, including disguising herself as a he-wolf and sneaking into The Ravenwood Academy, where all the next Alpha-in-lines needed to be trained before settling into their roles. But nothing went according to her plans. On her first day, she caught the scents of her mates, the twin brothers of one of the strongest packs, the Wintercrown Shadows Pack. As Seleste navigated the treacherous world of dominance battles, academic rivalries, and the ever-present danger of exposure, especially when she found out her dorm mate was also her mate, she found herself caught in a whirlwind of emotions. She had come for a task, a goal, one she knew she couldn't deviate from. But their matebonds drew her closer, their touches sent her skin ablaze. Every heartbeat risked betrayal, every glance was a gamble. Every slip of her mask could shatter not only her dream, but also her life and those she held dear. And the worst part? She even had a bigger secret than being a she-wolf in a place full of he-wolves. When she uncovered conspiracies within the Ravenwood Academy, would her mates shun her? Or helped her? Would she show her true power and self to save everyone else? In a world where power was everything, Seleste must choose whether to follow tradition or carve a new path for every other she-wolf, even if it meant tearing down the very walls built to keep her kind out, even if it meant sacrificing herself for it. Coverart by @Rainygraphic