Brawn Drain

Happiness is the only emotion a broken soul can't seem to experience. They can only dream of it and hopefully find serenity to fill the void, with the hopes of one day being able to feel it in their being. Akaiia Bleau Stepanova, is she destined to feel this brokenness forever or does her initial definition even begin to cover what true brokenness feels like? Let the flames of life and death drain my essence. An evil thought that grinds in my brain since I heard of my sentence. A bitterness that made himself at home inside of me. Sometimes I just wish I could change my fate, but yes it is just wishful talk. My story is one full of emotion. Treason, hate, love and pretend. A wild combination, you might say. .... "I do." She says with the most beautiful smile, one that even reaches her eyes. One so rare and truly beautiful to witness. "Aiden River King, what is your answer? Do you take Akaiia Bleau Stepanova as your lawful wedded wife?" The priest questions. As soon as I'm about to answer a voice I remember to clearly ego's through the church walls. ... The tears staining her eyes are like daggers in my chest.

"I don't want a child." The color drains from Jodie’s face the moment those words leave her husband’s mouth. She thinks she misheard, until her sister Enid's words confirmed it. Her fated mate, Alpha Calden Ballard, the man she has loved for ten years and married for five, would do anything for Enid… and nothing for her. For years, Jodie has been forced to give her blood to the sickly sister everyone adores. Until life itself began to drain from her and weaken her Wolf. And in a marriage where she is barely acknowledged, she finally chooses the only thing she still has control over: Divorce. But on the very day she prepares to finalize it, she discovers she’s pregnant. Calden doesn’t care. He makes that clear. Enid’s well-being matters more to him than his own unborn pup. Jodie plans to leave the pack for good, but Calden refuses to let her go. Why would he? She’s the only match for Enid. The perfect tool her family wants. Jodie must escape before her life disappears entirely. But how do you outplay a powerful Alpha who has already decided your fate?

I've spent a huge sum of money on a custom-fitted gown just so I can go on a date with my fiance, Vincenzo Rossi, on New Year's Eve. He's also known as the rising star of the mafia underworld. But Vincenzo sounds very impatient on the other end of the line. "Can you stop being so clingy, Grazia? I have an important business gathering to get to on New Year's Eve!" His younger sister, Valentina Rossi, adds, "My brother's doing this for the sake of your shared future, Grazia. Stop causing trouble for him, okay?" I end the call, feeling disappointed. After that, I console myself, saying that Vincenzo is working very hard for the sake of our future. But that illusion only lasts till the moment my friend sends a video clip to me. Vincenzo can be seen hugging a gorgeous woman in the clubhouse. They are in the middle of making out with each other. Valentina, on the other hand, leads her friends on as they cheer for the couple. It turns out that Vincenzo's "important business" is to spend the night with another woman. I drain my glass of the strong alcohol. Scorching pain flares from my stomach immediately. Since Vincenzo can find himself a woman to toy with, then why can't I do the same? I swipe a finger across my phone and dial the number of the rival family's Don. "I want you to order the two most good-looking male escorts for me right now."

I dated my younger brother’s best friend, Dylan Lane, for three years. More than once, he told me how much he loathed arranged marriages and how he hated being chained by family interests. However, one night, after another bout of indulgence, he wrapped his arms around me and begged me sweetly to design a wedding ring for his fiancée—someone he had never even met. The smile froze on my face, yet he just said indifferently, “Aren’t people like us all destined to marry for our families' benefit?” Seeing the blood drain from my face, he even chuckled. “Vee, don’t you tell me you're still as naïve as a 20-year-old girl, thinking I would ever marry you? At most, we're just… pillow friends." Later, I agreed to the marriage my family had arranged for me. Dylan showed up on my wedding day, disheveled and red-eyed. He fell to his knees and begged me not to leave. I stood beside my new husband, hand in hand, and smiled faintly as I chuckled. “Didn’t you say people like us were born for arranged marriages? I’m simply doing what you always wanted me to do. Shouldn’t you be happy?”

Naomi spent her summer reading books and planning how she will stay invisible so she can finish off her last year of high school drama-free. But all those plans go down the drain when an unexpected Asian family of a widowed mother and her teenage son moves in across the street. Even though Naomi tries to keep her distance from Hero so he doesn't find out about her heart disease, he seems to have taken a liking to her. Naomi's cousin Riley had called dibs on Hero but his interest lies elsewhere so she often blames Naomi for trying to steal Hero. Most of the girls at school fawn over Hero because of his good looks and height which spell problems for Naomi since he keeps hanging around her. The more Naomi tries to stay away from Hero the larger her curiosity grows and even though Hero has secrets of his own to protect from Naomi's prying eyes he can't stop himself from wanting to know more about her. The two try to deny their feelings to try and protect their secrets but jealousy starts to show its face when Josh asks Naomi on a date and Hero hooks up with a random girl at a party in retaliation. Who will break first? And spill their secrets?

My name is Samantha Lane. I've forgotten to pay the taxes, and the company's accounts are now frozen. I'm not panicking, but my husband's foster sister, Zoey Quinn, is losing her mind. In my previous life, Zoey was the one who suggested using her summer bonus to take the entire company on a trip to Slarqia. What I didn't expect was that her supposed generosity would drain every cent from the company's account. As a result, the company's cash flow collapsed, and I was left buried under hundreds of millions in debt. When I went to her to ask for the money back, she leaned smugly against my husband's chest and said, "Samantha, I only spent a few tens of millions. How could that bankrupt the company? Don't be so dramatic!" My husband, Harry Jennings, glared at me with his face twisted in anger. "Samantha, the company's money is marital property. I agreed to let Zoey spend it. Back off, alright?" I wanted to report it to the police, but they abducted me and smuggled me out of the country. I ended up being tortured to death. When my coworkers heard the news, they actually cheered. They said I had it coming, like some heartless capitalist had finally gotten her karma. When I open my eyes again, I'm back on the day Zoey is inviting everyone on a trip to Slarqia.

Step into the town of Blackmoor, where common sense is a luxury and staying alive will cost you dearly. Get to know Kaelira Nyx Vale, a practical 19-year-old student who loves math, science, and solid evidence. She's always brushed off the spooky tales about Blackmoor Forest as just campfire stories. However, everything changes on a stormy night when she comes face-to-face with a huge black wolf with striking, wise golden eyes that seem to peer deep into her spirit. The wolf disappears, replaced by a mysterious man named Zayden Draven Thorne, radiating a primal and dangerous aura. He's the next in line to lead the Blackmoor Pack, a family of powerful werewolves burdened by a centuries-old secret known as the Alpha Curse. Tradition binds Zayden to find a mate as an Alpha, but the ancient laws warn that marking a human will lead to her demise. Rejecting her will drain his strength, making his pack vulnerable to his rival, Alpha Ronan Virex. Immersed in Zayden's world of ancient power struggles and instinctual behaviors driven by the moon, Kaelira uncovers a startling revelation: she's not just an onlooker caught in the middle. She's a Siphon, a rare genetic anomaly with the ability to enhance a True Alpha's powers. With the Blood Moon approaching and Ronan advancing to exploit her exceptional lineage, Kaelira and Zayden must choose if their destined connection is a blessing or a curse that may lead to their downfall. To protect the pack and the man she loves, Kaelira must let go of her reliance on logic and embrace a future that could either destroy her or elevate her as the first Human Alpha Queen.

In the final year of my bond with vampire lord Saul, the curse of our pact struck, and I was overwhelmed by agony, but my lord was nowhere to be found. He had gone out. He left me to suffer. Alone. When the door finally creaked open the next morning, I looked up through bloodshot eyes—hope flickering like a dying candle. But he wasn't alone. He carried an unconscious woman in his arms, her head resting against his chest like she belonged there. Ignoring me as I curled up on the floor in pain, he first carried the woman to his room and called the old butler anxiously. "Jacinda's passed out. Hurry! Check if she's all right!" The old butler cautiously pleaded on my behalf, hoping our lord could save me first, but Saul frowned and interrupted: "Jacinda is in danger, and I have no mind to drink her blood now. She just needs to pull through herself. Believe me, she won't die. Right now, the priority is to save Jacinda." A frown and a glance in my direction was his only response to the old butler's desperate plea. With my only hope shattered, I clenched my teeth and slashed several long wounds on my arms and hands to drain blood for self-rescue. After a long period of weak convulsions, the curse of the pact finally ended. I lay in a pool of blood, sending a message with my last faint consciousness. "I promise I will leave him."

They say the Moon Goddess doesn't make mistakes. They lied. Kira should have been happy. She had everything a wolf could want: a handsome Alpha mate, a powerful pack alliance, a baby on the way. The Oracle had confirmed it—Asher was her fated mate, chosen by the Moon Goddess herself. But mate bonds don't burn like brands. They don't make your wolf go silent. And they definitely don't fail when you're bleeding out from a miscarriage at five months pregnant. As Kira was dying on her bedroom floor, the truth finally broke through the magic that had blinded her: the bond was fake. A witch had cursed her father into silence, manipulated an Oracle, and crafted a false mate bond to drain Kira's life force—all for a ritual that required her death. And in her final moments, Kira felt it: the REAL bond. A pull she'd never felt with Asher, calling to her from across the territory. Too late to save her. Then she woke up. Two years earlier. The day before her mating ceremony. Now Kira has twenty-four hours to stop a wedding that will kill her, save a father who physically cannot warn her, and somehow find the mate she's actually bonded to—an Alpha who's supposed to be her pack's enemy. But the witch is watching. One wrong move and her father dies. The false ceremony happens tomorrow. And Asher? He's starting to suspect the bond isn't real either.

“You’re trembling, Zarelia,” he murmured, his breath fanning my face. I hate this—how my body reacted to this monster. “I’m not. I hate you!” “Hate?” He chuckled, his eyes caressing my body. “You say one thing and your body says another.” My breath hitched. “You’re crazy.” “For your body? Yes, Zarelia. I am.” ~ ~ ~ What's worse than being branded as an adulteress, rejected by your mate and stripped of your title as Luna? Death? Wrong answer. Worse is being offered as a tribute to HIM. Kaelric Ashvyr Greythorne III The King of Alphas. A monster feared by all and hated by many. No one dared cross his path. Many hadn't seen his face but there were rumors. Some said he was half-human, half-beast. Others say he was the devil himself, with horns, and fangs long enough to drain an elephant in seconds. He'd killed an army of rebels by himself. Captured the Orc King himself… They say his immense strength and dark powers comes from the heart of people he eats every fortnight. Others say it is from eating the virgin womb of young maidens. I want nothing to do with him. I'd rather die. But my life was no longer in my hands. I must submit to survive this demon king. Only… submitting isn't easy. Not when he HATES the very sight of me. The feeling is mutual. And yet, behind those cold, hateful eyes… is a secret I was never meant to find out.