Creswell Qualitative Research Novels & Stories

On our sixth wedding anniversary, my cheeks burn as I dodge my husband, Ethan Grant, leaning in for a hungry kiss. I push him toward the nightstand for a rubber. What he doesn't know is that I've tucked a surprise in there, a positive pregnancy test. I can already see it, the way his whole face will light up the second he finds it. But the moment his hand goes for the drawer, his phone goes off. His best friend, Henry Miller, comes on the line in Danish. "Mr. Grant, how was last night? That new love couch our company rolled out is treating you okay?" Ethan lets out a low laugh and answers in Danish, "The massage feature's great. Saves me from having to rub Sandy's back myself." He still has me pulled tight against him, but his eyes look straight through me, like he's seeing someone else. "This stays between us. If my wife ever finds out I slept with her sister, I'm done." It feels like someone just put a knife through my chest. What they don't know is that I minored in Danish in college, so I catch every single word. I force myself to stay calm, but the arms I have looped around Ethan's neck won't stop shaking. At that moment, I stop hesitating and decide I'll take the offer from that international research project. Three days from now, I'll be gone from Ethan's world for good.

On the anniversary of our Mating, my legs were wrapped around my Alpha, Adrian, as we shared a deep kiss. My fingertips brushed against the hidden pocket of my silk dress, my hand tightening around the pregnancy test I had concealed there. I felt the faint flutter of a new life inside me, planning to give him this surprise as the perfect end to our evening. Just then, Adrian's Beta, Ethan, spoke in a low, teasing tone, using the Old Tongue. "Alpha, that little sister-in-law of yours… the newly matured she-wolf, Zoe. How did she taste?" Adrian's low, suggestive chuckle reached my ears, quiet yet piercingly clear. He replied in the same ancient language. "You know a freshly ripened pepper? Hot, with a real kick." His palm was still caressing my waist, yet his gaze had drifted elsewhere. "Just keep it quiet. If my Luna finds out, it's all over." The other Betas let out knowing chuckles, raising their glasses in a silent promise to keep his secret. But a chill washed over me, and my inner wolf went still, as if it had died. He didn't know I had studied the Old Tongue for my research on werewolf trauma. I understood every word. I held back my tears, forcing myself to appear unfazed, maintaining the composure expected of a Luna. Instead of confronting him, I sent a magically shielded message to Elder Slone of the Werewolf Healers' Association, accepting the invitation she had extended to me. In three days, I would join a secure werewolf rehabilitation program as their new Lead Therapist and disappear from Adrian's world forever.

In a world ravaged by global nuclear fallout, I struggled to survive alongside my fragile, sweet-faced best friend, dodging one radiation storm after another. The route to the Central Safety Zone was blocked—we had no choice but to use two detonators to blast open the tunnel. Otherwise, we would be caught in the storm, our bodies rotting away until we either dissolved into blood sludge or turned into zombies. … In my previous life, I had risked everything to secure those detonators, only for my best friend to hand them over to a complete stranger without hesitation. "They have elderly people and children on their side too," she said earnestly. "One detonator can save many lives. Iris, you can't be selfish." I was so furious my blood pressure nearly exploded, but with no other option, I went straight into a horde of zombies to steal backup detonators. I lost an arm in the process, drenched in blood and barely standing. Yet, she complained that I was covered in gore and had frightened the children. After finally regrouping with the main convoy, I rushed to deliver the formula for anti-radiation medicine to the research institute so that more people could be saved. But she accused me of stealing supplies and trying to flee, which led to my expulsion from the base, and death, my body rotting away under the radiation. When I opened my eyes again, there was still one hour left before the radiation storm hit. I looked down at the two detonators in my hand, then at my pitiful, tear-brimmed best friend—and I smiled. Since she loved being a good person so much, this time, I would let her be one to her heart's content.

Wendy Hill is an up-and-coming technological wizard. Her research to gain information for her brother Yorick and his mate, Cyra, led to the arrest of Cyra’s father, earning her early admission to the elite Warrior Academy. She was assigned to the tech team to learn and train until her admission to the Academy. Wendy’s code name is Sphinx. Jude Matthews, code name Hacker, has been a student at the Warrior Academy for three years. Most students remain in the Academy for one year and then are recruited by other companies for their specific skills. Only the elite of the elite remain at the Academy to continue their training and work directly for The Council. Hacker, and the other members of his team, Tracker and Hijack, have taken Sphinx under their wing to teach her everything she needs to know to become an IT elite. However, now things are becoming personal for Wendy. Stellan has escaped from prison and is after Cyra and her Gamma female, Lila. Patrick, Peter, and Justine are missing, and they want revenge on Henry and Piper. Through it all, Wendy has felt a budding relationship with Jude. She’s hoping he’s her mate, but she won’t know until her eighteenth birthday. Can Wendy and Jude work together to find Stellan before he hurts Cyra and Lila? Can they find the missing trio who want to destroy everything that Henry and Piper have worked so hard to achieve? Can she face the ugly reality of the job when it means giving someone painful or difficult information? And on her eighteenth birthday, will she finally confirm that Jude is her mate, the one that she desperately wants in her life forever? Find out in Book Five of The Pack Series, The Pack’s Hacker.

As the full moon hangs above the masquerade, Apollo Cadwell shows up with Bella Lohart. One is my Beta mate, the other his childhood sweetheart. Since she doesn't have a gown for the ball, he gives her my dress instead. It's a one-of-a-kind piece I've handmade myself—priceless, even—that I'm supposed to wear for our mating ceremony. "Bella has never been to a masquerade before," he says. "A beautiful dress will help her feel more confident." I calmly hand the dress over and watch Bella slip into the gown I've designed stitch by stitch. She clings to Apollo's arm, acting sweet. "You're the best, Apollo. Can I borrow the ring on your hand as well? That moonstone is too dazzling to miss." One of our friends can no longer stand it and speaks up. "Nora spent an entire month making that ring by hand. Are you just going to give it away like that? Have you even considered Nora's feelings?" He patiently slides the ring onto Bella's finger, then replies casually, "I'm just letting her wear it for a night. Nora won't mind. I'll just soothe her afterward, and she'll be fine." He's right about one thing. I will be fine. Slowly, I began erasing myself from his world. Before leaving, I keep my promise to the Elder that I'll personally travel to The Spine of the World on the Faron Continent to continue my research on the Moonshadow Herb Alchemy Research. From that night on, Apollo and I might never cross paths again.

I used to be the beloved little princess of the Colobo family. Then, on my eighteenth birthday, my father brought home Sophia. She was the daughter of the old friend who had once saved his life. Out of guilt, he gave her a place in our home. Then he gave her my place too. My brother began protecting her and hating me. My childhood friend, Luca Rizzo, fell for her and left me behind. Even my father said Sophia deserved the Colobo name more than I did, though I was his biological daughter. On the day I graduated from college, they broke their promise to me for the ninety-ninth time because of her. I finally lost control. “Am I not your own daughter?” My father pulled Sophia behind him as if I were the danger, then slapped me across the face. “You jealous little thing. I should have given everything to her instead.” My brother looked at me like I was something dirty. “You don’t deserve a place in the Colobo family. Get out.” So I left. They thought I was only throwing another tantrum. They took Sophia to Switzerland to see the snow-covered mountains, certain that silence would teach me to behave. They thought I would calm down, come home, and beg for my place again. But this time, I called the research institute in Australia whose offer I had once turned down for them. “I accept,” I said. By the time the Colobo family realized I was truly gone, my phone number no longer existed. And so did Isabella Colobo.

When twenty-five-year-old Solyn Fairchild survives a brutal attack outside her apartment, the police call it a random mugging. Solyn knows better. The man who tried to strangle her whispered her full name, as if he had been waiting for her. Terrified and running out of places to hide, she reluctantly agrees to move into the safest home her father can think of. The home of Dr. Calian Winslow. Her father’s most trusted friend. A man Solyn barely remembers, yet cannot forget. Calian is everything her father swears by: brilliant, elegant, composed to the point of being unreadable. But behind the calm exterior lies a darkness Solyn senses before she even steps through his door. Calian feels nothing and fears nothing. A rare condition has kept his emotions frozen since childhood. Until Solyn moves in. She is the one thing his careful control cannot contain, the only person who makes his pulse rise and his cold veneer crack. As the stalker escalates, leaving messages that echo Calian’s own research, Solyn is pulled deeper into the shadows of his past. Every step she takes toward safety draws her closer to Calian’s dangerous orbit. Every stolen glance, every forbidden moment, every slip in his voice makes it harder to remember the rules that should keep them apart. Her father trusts him. Her attacker fears him. And Solyn is falling for the one man who could ruin everything. Because loving Calian Winslow might save her life or cost her everything she has left.

Astrid Olsen was not your typical heiress since her mind was more on the scientific side of things. She did not want to be tied down and when her father claimed that she will be marrying someone that was his business partner's son, Astrid did the only thing that she knew ever since she was a little girl. She pursued higher education and never turn her back on it. She had gained 6 Ph.D. scrolls, so what's one more, right? Well, it all changed when she was short on funds for her research and she had to make a deal with a devil. Even when he was a fair hair specimen with cobalt blue eyes that would sure to make any woman weak in their knees, including Astrid herself. Eliot Park, a brilliant scientist and inventor as well as a notorious billionaire, wanted more than anything to be the best of the best. And he managed to do it until one person was determined to see him fail in the newest pharmaceutical discovery. He knew that he had to do something drastic if he has to maintain at the top. Even sacrifice his bachelor's life to be tie down to the one scientist that will be making a ground breaking discovery to the world. And he did marry her for financial gain in his life. But, the more time Eliot spends his time in the company of Astrid, the more he felt something that he never did before. Was this just lust between them or something more? What will Eliot do when he realized something has shifted between him and his contractual wife? What will Astrid do? Will she run away again like she did before or will she be brave enough to convey her feelings?

Everyone knew that the Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack loved his mate more than anything. I once thought I would be the luckiest Luna in the world. That was until six months ago, when my father’s illegitimate daughter, Ivy, returned from rogue territory. Caleb recognized her as the she-wolf who had taken a lethal blow to save him during a rogue ambush years ago. Everything changed after that. During every date, Ivy would have a "relapse" right on cue. Caleb would always offer a strained explanation about how he owed her his life. I endured it countless times, lying to myself that it was just a debt of gratitude. But at our mating ceremony, Ivy collapsed, knocking over the champagne tower. "Caleb... it hurts... my heart..." The usually composed Caleb panicked and stopped the ceremony. He looked at me with guilt. "Evelyn, Ivy’s wolf was severely injured saving me. She’s still so fragile. It’s an emergency. You’ve always been understanding—can you just let this go for now?" "Go ahead," I said calmly. "Take her to the Healer." Caleb froze, then promised hurriedly, "Once she's stable, I’ll make it up to you with an even bigger ceremony." He didn't even wait for my reply before rushing off with Ivy in his arms. I watched him leave and dialed a number I hadn't touched in years. "Alpha King Silas, I accept the five-year classified Silver Poisoning research project." When I finally disappeared, Caleb regretted everything, searching the entire world for a trace of me.

My roommate had a peculiar knack for pestering everyone into liking her posts on social media, all so she could collect enough likes to claim some prize or another. It was her way of life—nagging, nudging, and guilting us into clicking that little thumbs-up. One time, the campus beauty queen liked my roommate's ad for a facial mask. Not long after, she was in a horrific car accident. The vehicle caught fire, and her face suffered severe burns, leaving her disfigured beyond recognition. Meanwhile, my roommate seemed to undergo a miraculous transformation, her complexion turning porcelain fair and flawless as though she'd been kissed by the heavens. Then there was the academic prodigy, a shoe-in for graduate school, who liked her tutoring service post. Shortly after, he was exposed for academic fraud, and his once-brilliant reputation was reduced to ashes. Strangely enough, my roommate's research paper suddenly won an award, catapulting her to fame and fortune. And me? I fell into her trap too. I liked her rental agency ad, and before I knew it, my world crumbled. A scandal erupted, revealing that I was the result of a mix-up at birth. It turned out she was the long-lost child of wealth and privilege—a hidden gem cast into the rough, now reclaimed by her rightful family. As for me, I was packed off to the countryside village she had escaped from and forced into a brutal marriage with an old man. My life became a living hell, and eventually, I died there, broken and forgotten. But fate wasn't done with me yet. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back on the day my roommate begged me to like her post in exchange for yet another prize.