Cherry Picked

Alyssa never expected her life to get this bad. A sudden rogue attack wiped off her pack, turning her into a mute and wolfless orphan. She once believed that being mated with her crush Ezekiel was compensation for her miserable life. However, it just made her life worse. What could be more suffering than your fated mate unwanting you and even your child? Ezekiel already picked himself a perfect Luna but fate gave her a mute mate. And owing to his father's last words, he had to marry Alyssa to get his rightful Alpha position. He married her yet kept their relationship unpublized. He hated her but wasn't ready to let her go. Everyone believed Alyssa would bear and wait like she always did until Ezekiel finally could make a decision. He's her husband, her mate, and her Alpha, and taking in everything he wanted without complaining was her duty. No one expected she would be the one who asked for a divorce and even dared to run away carrying his heir. Ezekiel swore to make this little omega pay but why did his heart break when she returned smiling at some other guy?

My mom always said, "I've never played favorites. "You and your brother mean exactly the same to me." She said it so often I almost believed it. Growing up, anything my brother had, I had too. If he got a new pair of sneakers, so did I. If he signed up for coding classes, I was enrolled in the same ones. Even this year, when we came home for the holidays, my mom smiled as she handed each of us a neatly-packaged designer shopping bag. "I picked these out for you two at the store. One for each of you, exactly the same. "These outdoor brands are expensive, you know. A single jacket costs thousands. I'd never buy one for myself, but I don't mind splurging on you two." I took the jacket. It was well-cut, structured, and looked high-quality. A small warmth stirred in my chest. However, when I tried it on, the collar felt oddly irritating against my skin. Frowning, I pulled back the lining to check. There was a ring of yellowed sweat stains around the label, and tiny flakes of dandruff were caught in the Velcro. A faint musty smell lingered on the cloth, mixed with the stale odor of cheap tobacco. It was sour and impossible to ignore.

Missing the last bus home shouldn’t have mattered. For Daniel Rogers, however, it’s about to matter a lot more. When Daniel is picked up by a stranger, Adrian Williams, while walking home one rainy night, he doesn’t think much of it. Polite, observant, and uncomfortably familiar, Adrian is a man Daniel can’t quite place. It’s supposed to end there, of course. But then Daniel meets Adrian again. And then again. Until Daniel realizes that these meetings aren’t quite so coincidental. Adrian doesn’t just see Daniel, Adrian understands Daniel. Too well, if you ask Daniel. As if Adrian knows Daniel’s deepest, darkest secrets, the ones Daniel keeps locked safely away from prying eyes. Caught up despite himself, Daniel finds himself opening up to Adrian, feeling something he hasn’t felt in years: seen, understood, desired. But Daniel can’t shake off the feeling that something is terribly wrong, that Adrian Williams, while not quite a stranger, is definitely not quite a friend. Is Daniel to walk away from something he doesn’t fully understand, or risk everything for someone who makes him feel like he’s found home? Some people don’t just show up by accident. They show up to stay.

WARNING!!! 18+ ONLY His to Tame, Hers to Protect How do you feel… when you are asked to k!ll the only man you have come to love in this cold, wicked world? They call her Queen Mafia— a name feared across the entire mafia world. She earned it. She lived it. She is mafia. Orphaned. Abandoned. Broken. Used. Left to rot on the streets, until Lord Lucario, ruthless boss of The Mambas Organisation, picked her up, molded her, trained her, made her lethal. She never knew what love was. Never felt it. Never wanted it. Love was weakness. And weakness could get you k!lled. She became untamable. Impossible to love. Impossible to be loved. Until… he came along. The multi-billionaire. The dominating CEO of Petersons Kiddies World. He wasn't supposed to mean anything. But fate had its own twisted plans. And she fell, fell so hard. Now, with a gun in her hand and a choice on her shoulders, she is faced with the unthinkable: Pull the trigger… and walk free. Or spare him… and sign her death sentence. Can she do it? Or will love… be her ultimate undoing? Read on for the deadly, intoxicating tale of Queen Mafia. A story where power collides with passion. And only one can survive.

Emily has never known the warmth of a real family. Abandoned before she was born and orphaned young, she was taken in by her best friend’s mother—fed, clothed, and educated, but never truly loved. To them, she was just the charity case they picked up from the streets, tolerated but never chosen. Still, Emily believed in love, she trusted her boyfriend, she trusted her best friend. Until the night she walked in on them together… in his bed. Shattered and drunk, she spent one reckless night with a mysterious stranger, desperate to forget the betrayal. By morning, he was gone, leaving only a name behind. Mr. Harrison Grey. She never expected to see him again, until she returned home and watched her best friend run into the arms of the same man. “Daddy! I missed you!” In that moment, Emily’s world collapsed all over again, because the stranger she spent the night with was her best friend’s father. Now, a dangerous secret is growing inside her, one that could destroy what little stability she has left. As forbidden feelings, jealousy, and buried family secrets surface, Emily must confront a truth she never saw coming. What happens when the man who gave you one night of comfort becomes your forbidden baby daddy?

The day I found out I was pregnant, they threw me in the cold room. Ninety-nine calls later, Sandro Vaitti finally picked up. "The Family made that call," he said. "It was Genny's birthday. She got a fever because of you. This is your punishment. Just wait—once you're out, I'll marry you." Sandro's favorite line? 'Just wait.' His mafia family hated me. He swore once he gave them their precious heir, he'd cut ties and choose me. I bought it. Waited two years. Waited while he hooked up with Helga Cicili and had a kid—Genny. Then came the kicker: A daughter can't carry the Family name. He had to have a son with Helga. And yeah, I believed him. Again. Waited another year—until Helga got pregnant with his golden boy. I thought, 'Finally. Done waiting.' Then plot twist—I was pregnant too. Day before the wedding. Felt like fate. Didn't even get to tell him. They locked me up. Cold room. I curled up, shaking, barely breathing. When the door creaked open, I knew— I was done. Done waiting. Done begging. I'd leave. And I'd take my baby with me.

I was a violin prodigy. But to pay my mother’s debts, I was forced to give up everything. That’s when I met the man who would own me: Dante Moretti. He was the king of New York's underworld. The Don of the Moretti family. With a single phone call, fortunes were made. With a single glance, blood was spilled. The world didn't just bend to his will—it broke. And on that day… what he wanted was me. He gave me a five-year contract. A penthouse in a skyscraper overlooking all of New York. More jewels and gowns than I could count. Every night he needed me, I’d put on whatever lacy thing he picked out. We’d have sex. Five years. 999 times. There were moments—his sweat dripping on my forehead, his soft breaths inside me, the way he’d look at me—when I let myself dream he loved me. Then the video dropped. Him. On the street. Kissing another woman. I knew the truth. He was my keeper, not my lover. Everyone laughed. They couldn't wait to see me lose my mind, begging him to keep me. Instead, I turned my back on him. And married another man.

Tempting. It was tempting for she-wolf, Lara Zane, to pick up the small flyer that fell out of her bully’s bag. The paper felt rough in her hands when she picked it up, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw who was on it: Ashton Martins, Alpha of the Blue River pack. It was an announcement of his 18th birthday party, but also a reminder that she could never attend such an elite party. She was a nobody; an omega low-class nobody.But fate had a plan of its own. She manages to get invited to this party miraculously and meets her crush for the first time in person. Ashton is a gentleman, of course, and takes her breath away when he tells her that she’s his mate. But everything changes for Lara in a blink of an eye when her supposed mate rejects her later in front of hundreds of people. The very night she had her heart stomped on by the Alpha of the Blue River pack was the same night that fate pushed her into the arms of a powerful, mysterious, and compassionate man: the demon king, Zayn Meyer.With love between their species forbidden, Zayn tries his hardest not to fall for innocent Lara Zane, but with each look into her eyes; each smile from her, and each flip of her hair, he found himself drowning. Drowning in a love that he was forbidden to have.

My younger sister was crazy about novels and always envied the way ordinary heroines pick up penniless heroes and climb the social ladder. So, she started picking up men wherever she could. Until one day, a man with a face covered in sores collapsed at our doorstep. I instantly recognized the signs of syphilis and warned my sister repeatedly, and only then did she give up the idea. However, fate had other plans: my sister's best friend "picked him up" instead and married into a wealthy family. My sister held a grudge. On my birthday, she locked me in my room and set it on fire. No matter how desperately I begged, she refused to open the door. Outside, she sneered: "I know you're just scared I'll live better than you, so you want to drag me down into misery with you. People like you don't even deserve to be a sister!" I burned alive, my body reduced to nothing but ashes. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the very day my sister insisted on "picking up that man." This time, I quietly stepped back, letting her have her way—of course, I chose to let her succeed.

The mate bond ceremony had barely ended when Simon Thompson, Alpha of the Moonshade Pack, suddenly shoved me aside. "I picked up a human girl at the border. There's a storm tonight. I need to go stay with her." My head buzzed. "If you've already decided I'm your fated mate, why are you seeing her now?" He stood up and pulled on his clothes. The bite mark I had left was still visible on the side of his neck. "Tanya, I love you. But life is long. I need something fragile like that once in a while to feel something new." My throat tightened. "So on our mate bond night, you're dumping your Luna to sleep with a human?" "Well, technically, the ceremony is already over," he corrected me, then bent down and pinched my cheek. "You're the pack's Luna now. You should be more generous." "And if I can't be?" It was as if he had been waiting for that. He smiled. "Then we sever the bond. Just know you might end up exiled as a lone wolf. Think it through, yeah?" I collapsed onto the messy bed. Simon's scent still lingered in the air. Outside the window, the full moon that had witnessed our vows looked unbearably ironic.