Croods Voices Novels & Stories

While enrolling my son in an elite school, the administrator suddenly tells me my marriage certificate is forged. "According to our records, your marital status is listed as single." "But I've been married to my husband, Chandler Leighton, for seven years!" Behind me, other parents waiting in line burst out laughing mockingly. "Did she just say Chandler Leighton? She must be dreaming." Amid their ridicule, I leave and head straight to the city hall for a confirmation. And as a wife of seven years, my marital status in the system is stated as "Single". A cold dread washes over me as I press. "Who is Chandler Leighton's legal wife?" The clerk flatly spats out a name, "Heather Hammington." It was that name again! I rush home, ready to confront Chandler, but pause just outside the door when I hear voices inside. "It's been seven years, Mr. Leighton. Do you still have no plans to grant Mrs. Leighton a legal status?" After a lengthy pause, Chandler finally answers, "Just wait a little longer. Heather lost both her parents… I'm the only one who can help her, so she needs this title." "What if Mrs. Leighton finds out?" "Danielle loves me too much to leave, even if she finds out. Once Heather has established her foothold in the business industry, I'll make it official with Danielle and give her a true marriage certificate." He sounds so certain, unaware that I'm standing just outside the door with tears streaming down my face. "You'll be disappointed, you liar." I take out my phone and dial a number I haven't called in years. "Mom, I accept the Atwoods' marriage arrangement."

Warning: This is a reverse harem series and contains explicit scenes throughout (including M/M). Book 1 Six years ago, I gave everything to the boy who set my world on fire… my heart, my body, my trust. The next day, he vanished without a word. Life hasn’t been kind since. I buried my parents the same week I brought my newborn son home. At eighteen, I became both a mother and a guardian to my teenage sister, and now I've discovered my husband is living a double life. My son, Jaxon, is angry and acting out so it's time for a fresh start. I never expected that fresh start to lead me to a sleepy mountain town hiding a secret… or back to him. Because this town borders a hidden pack of wolf shifters, and one of their alphas is the same boy who left me with more than just a broken heart. He left me with his son. Book 2 Poppy was never the quiet one. While her sister survived by holding everything together, Poppy survived by feeling everything out loud, until devastating truths and impossible revelations smothered the fire inside her with shadows she can’t explain. Whispers creep into her mind. Voices call her name in the dark. As Paige’s light rises, Poppy’s darkness answers. Thrown into a supernatural world she never asked for, Poppy finds herself surrounded by wolves who look at her like fate has already claimed her. Their pull is undeniable. Their attention suffocating, and the darkness inside her is growing harder to ignore. With threats closing in, Poppy must decide whether to keep running from what she’s becoming… or embrace the role destiny has given her. Light may have saved the world, but darkness decides how it ends.

After working for five years, I finally get to purchase my favorite penthouse in Rainville. Tessa Boston, my younger cousin who has just graduated from high school, tells me she wants to stay with me during her summer break. I want to reject her at first, but my mom claims that we're all relatives here, and that I shouldn't act all high and mighty just because I'm richer now. So, everyone drops Tessa off on my doorstep without even consulting me. But after Tessa starts living with me, she frequently sings loudly and makes a lot of noise in the middle of the night. I can't get a good night's sleep because of her. After that, she even invites her old high school classmates over to the penthouse and throws a party there. Tessa tells her classmates that this is the smallest residence she owns. Apparently, this is a gift she has received to celebrate her 18th birthday. Everyone is envious of her and calls her an actual heiress of a wealthy family. But these punks completely mess up my penthouse. My neighbors begin lodging noise complaints against me. Unable to take it anymore, I warn the youngsters to keep their voices down. But Tessa thinks I've humiliated her, so she begins harboring a grudge against me. When I'm watering my flowers on the balcony, she uses that opportunity to lock me outside. It's an insanely hot day. I'm stuck on the balcony from morning till night. By then, I've already died from the heat. When I wake up again, I've returned to the day Tessa tells me she wants to stay with me.

The night before the wedding, I'm about to share the news of my pregnancy with Chester Miller when I see Giselle Thorne sitting in his lap intimately. I'm about to storm in and confront them when I notice a man standing beside them. That man looks exactly like Chester, my boyfriend. I freeze, holding my breath as their voices carry clearly through the room. "Chester, this is ruthless. You actually proposed to her. From what I know, Miranda poured so much effort into this wedding," Giselle says. Chester snorts. "Giselle, she ruins your work and costs you the chance to win. I can't wait to see her, all dressed in her wedding gown and beaming with joy, only to watch me walk down the aisle holding your hand. Just thinking about it gives me a thrill." My eyes widen. It's clearly Giselle who has threatened me to hand over my work, and when she fails, she tears up her own painting in fear of losing the competition. Before I can react, the man who looks like Chester suddenly speaks. "Chester, who's walking down the aisle with her—you or me?" Chester chuckles. "Of course I am. Felix, have you forgotten? Miranda belongs to you only at night." In that instant, I finally understand why Chester Miller is cold by day and passionate by night. It turns out they aren't the same person at all. He and Felix are twin brothers. I clutch the pregnancy report tightly, pressing it against the doorframe as I glare at the three of them through the crack. "I won't let any of you get what you want," I vow silently.

He was the campus king. She was the only heart he couldn't steal. Jace Kingston is untouchable. Star hockey player. Campus legend. A walking trail of broken hearts and whispered warnings. Girls call him King. They say it like a prayer. I say it like a curse. He nearly ran me over with his sports car last semester. He throws money around like it means nothing. He smirks while girls cry over him. And now, thanks to my tutoring job, he's my assignment. One semester. One paper. Five hundred dollars that I desperately need to keep a roof over my head. The rules are simple. He shows up. He does the work. He doesn't flirt with me, charm me, or treat me like another conquest. But Jace Kingston doesn't follow rules. He shows up with bruises he won't explain. He looks at me like I'm something he wants to break. And when he accidentally lets his armor slip, I see something terrifying underneath. A boy afraid of becoming a monster. A boy who flinches at loud voices and keeps a photograph of his mother hidden in his drawer. A boy who might be just as broken as I am. I can't afford to fall for him. I have rent to pay. A future to build. A promise I made to myself when I watched my mother die with nothing but debt and a daughter who couldn't save her. I swore I'd never depend on anyone again. But Jace is everywhere now. In my study sessions. In my thoughts. In the way my pulse stutters when he says my name. And when his demons come hunting, I realize the worst truth of all. He's not just my enemy anymore. He's the one person I might destroy myself to save.

I had argued with Tiffany Jensen at the construction site over a 15-dollar BBQ plate, and the fight had spiraled out of control. Clutching my throbbing head, I watched as she stuffed the freshly cashed paycheck into her pocket. "Are you ever going to let this go? You just want me to pay for your meal, don't you? You're always complaining about headaches and dizziness. I think you're just lazy!" I wanted to tell her about the flashes of luxury that kept appearing in my mind, images I could not explain. However, the words stuck in my throat as another wave of vertigo hit me. By the time I steadied myself and caught up to her, she was already climbing into a black Rolls-Royce Cullinan. Their mocking voices drifted out through the car window. Someone said, "I thought your little 'real-life experience' would be fun, but this is it? You even argued over a meal." Another person laughed along. "Tiffany, Mr. Jensen's about to have a heart attack over this. Now that he's finally agreed to let you date Ethan Parker, just dump this loser already. Are you planning to support him for the rest of his life?" Tiffany replied without hesitation, "He's a nobody who doesn't even know who he is, and he thinks he deserves someone like me?" It turned out that after I lost my memory, I had become nothing more than a pawn in a wealthy heiress' rebellion game. I turned to leave, my heart sinking. Just then, an unknown number flashed across my phone screen. I answered without thinking. "Mr. Shaw, this is Alfred Wright, your family's butler. You've been missing for five years! Your grandfather is dying, and he wants to see you one last time." I glanced back at the car disappearing into the distance and said, "Alfred, come pick me up."

"Finders keepers," Deangelo growled, his voice all sharp edges. "I found her first, commoners, she belongs to me. The only reason she's still breathing is because I saved her from that fucking fire." Romano snorted, pushing his way further inside. "You think you can just claim her like that? She's not a damn trophy, Scorpion." Fernando gave a series of hand gestures in sign language. Deangelo translated, "You may have found her, but that does not make her yours. We have a stake here, Papi." Vincenzo's voice cut like a knife through the tension. "This isn't some playground game. She's a person, not a prize to be fought over?" As their voices rose, they suddenly fell silent, snapping their eyes to Rosita. She was rushing towards the door. DeAngelo's eyes narrowed as he took a step towards her. "Little peasant, don't even think about it." **** Rosita's life has been anything but ordinary. Homeschooled and sheltered by her overprotective father after a near-fatal stalking incident, she dreams of escaping to college and pursuing her passion for music. But her father's plans to enroll her in an online university leave her feeling trapped and desperate. On the day, she finally decides to away, a fire overtakes their home, trapping her in her room. Just when she thinks all hope is lost, her metal door is broken down—not by her father, but by Deangelo Luis Valladares, the most-feared mafia drug lord in the whole of Mexico. With an intriguing, sinister smile, he extends his hand to Rosita through the smoke-filled room. Will Rosita take his hand and let him save her, or will she be taken by force? Can a breathtaking beauty like Rosita survive in a world ruled by mafia dons who live like kings and control Mexico City?

For three years, Eleanor Newton believed she had found her happily ever after. When she rejected an arranged mating and abandoned her powerful birthright, she did it for love. She chose Alpha Owen Belmont over the future her family had planned for her. She believed love would be enough. She was wrong. As Luna of the Belmont Pack, Eleanor slowly finds herself becoming an outsider in her own marriage. Everywhere she turns stands Susana Howell—Owen's lifelong female best friend. Susana attends private meetings. Susana accompanies them on trips. Susana has access to Owen at all hours. Susana always seems to come first. Every time Eleanor voices her concerns, she is made to feel unreasonable. But unknown to Eleanor, Owen's devotion to Susana stems Years ago, Susana's mother died protecting him during a rogue attack. The guilt never left him. Since that day, Owen has dedicated himself to protecting Susana, believing it is a debt he can never repay. What begins as loyalty slowly evolves into a toxic dependency that neither Owen nor Susana is willing to acknowledge. Over the years, Eleanor becomes trapped in a marriage where she is constantly competing with a ghost and a promise. Then everything changes. After years of humiliation, she catches Owen and Susana in a compromising situation that destroys the last remnants of trust between them. For the first time, Eleanor stops fighting for her marriage. Instead, she walks away. She returns to the powerful family she once abandoned and accepts the arranged mating she fled years ago. On the night Eleanor had fled her ancestral home to escape the arranged mating, Thaneus Del Caspian, Alpha of the feared Del Caspian pack, had watched her with inscrutable eyes. "Ellie," he had promised, his voice low and dangerous, "someday you'll return to my side willingly."

In the third year of Ariel Slater's remarriage with Remi Callahan, she realizes that she's pregnant with his baby. As his wife, she does her utmost best to avoid getting into fights with him. Whenever Remi comes home late, Ariel no longer welcomes him home at the door. When Remi gets absolutely wasted at his business meetings, all Ariel does is command the household staff to prepare a hangover tonic for him. Remi is very busy with work, so it's rare for him to come home. Even so, Ariel doesn't use the landline in the family compound to call him. When she's eight months pregnant, Ariel discovers a tube of ointment in Remi's coat that's not hers. But she merely puts it back in his pocket without saying a word. One day, when Ariel visits the maternity hospital next to the family compound for a prenatal check-up, she comes across an incident that humiliates her to no end. Two nurses happen to walk out of a ward at that time. As they walk down the corridor, they chat among themselves. "Mr. Callahan cares about Ms. Reed a lot. The moment she gives birth to a son, he's quick to book her the best single-person ward in this hospital." "I heard that Ms. Reed is the widow of Mr. Callahan's dead mentor. He takes good care of Ms. Reed, that's for sure. Not only does he keep her company in the day, but he also refuses to go home at night. He really is a caring man." "But I heard that Mr. Callahan's wife is about to give birth. I wonder what will happen if she finds out about Mr. Callahan's antics…" Even though the nurses keep their voices low, Ariel still hears every word as clear as day. As she stares at Remi, who's speaking with his colleague, Ella Reed, while cradling her newborn, she feels her eyes reddening against her will. She decides to file for a divorce from him right there and then. This time, she will never remarry him, no matter what.

A priest has shown up at my first birthday party. He claims that I'm a cursed soul—that my presence will bring doom to those close to me, and my existence itself can snatch everyone's luck. The only way to counter this is to give me up to an orphanage and let me live a life of poverty and suffering. Without a family, I'll be able to overcome my fate as a cursed soul. Daddy has the priest cast out of our home immediately. Meanwhile, Mommy hugs me tightly. "My son is the luckiest boy in the whole wide world!" But everything has changed when my younger brother, Andy Lawson, has fallen off the 20th floor. His body is completely shattered from the fall. I can only stand by the window uneasily. Fear is evident in my eyes as I wave my hands with all my might. "It wasn't me! It really wasn't me!" The wind that day is very strong, but it can never drown out Mommy's cries. Daddy hoists me up and stuffs me into Andy's coffin. I keep latching onto the sides of the coffin to the point my fingers are all bloodied and trampled over. At the same time, I keep screaming for Mommy. Mommy stares at me blankly at first. But her hollow gaze is soon filled with hatred. "Why aren't you the one dead? That priest told us that you'll have to stay in the coffin for seven whole days and nights just to atone for your sins! Only then can Andy's soul rest in peace! "This is your fate and your sin, Adam!" The heavy lid slowly covers the coffin, soon sealing my hoarse cries and screams away. A long time later, a few voices ring out amid the sorrowful melody played by the organ. "Why is there a tiny gap in the coffin? Hurry up and nail it shut! We can't afford to have misfortune spread to us!" When the final nail is bolted onto the lid, I close my eyes. Mommy, Daddy, I'm no longer a cursed soul.