Cure Egret

Owen Gray and I get into an accident. I'm seven months pregnant, but I save him anyway. I end up in a coma. I wake up after three years. Owen has amnesia, and he's now my sister's husband. My child also calls her his mother. I try everything, but Owen doesn't remember me. Instead, his love for my sister grows deeper. Even our son blames me for waking him and ruining their happy lives. When I finally decide to let go, I overhear a conversation between Owen and someone else. "Shannon was willing to give up her life for you, Owen. If she finds out your amnesia is an act…" "There's only a week to go before my three-year agreement with her sister is over. I'll give Vivian the wedding she wants. Then, I'll act like I've recovered from my amnesia. Luca and I will return to Shannon's side." I'm stunned. I never would've expected Owen to be pretending to be an amnesiac. I look at the diagnosis report in my hands. It's too bad I can't even wait for a week.

I was the son of the wealthiest man in Capital City, but I had never enjoyed the flattery and fake smiles that came with that title. All I had ever wanted was a normal life. Now that I was pushing twenty-eight and still single, my mom finally lost her patience. She gave me an ultimatum: go on a blind date or she’d disown me. On my way to the date, I passed by a luxury boutique and spotted a watch that immediately caught my eye. I was just about to pay for it when, out of nowhere, a man barged in from behind and slapped a black card down on the counter. “I’ll take this watch. Wrap it up for me,” he said. I stayed calm and said politely, “Sir, I saw this watch first.” However, he just scoffed and snapped back, full of arrogance, “A broke nobody like you can look but not afford it. Get lost. I’m the assistant to Ms. Jackson, the CEO of Jackson Group. In this city, if I want something, no one will fight me for it.” Ms. Jackson? Isn’t that the exact woman I was supposed to be meeting for the blind date? Without another word, I pulled out my phone and dialed her number. “Selena,” I said calmly, “do you know your assistant is out here throwing your name around to bully people?”

My fiancé fell in love with his secretarial intern and insisted on calling off our engagement. I tried to persuade him against it out of goodwill. “She doesn't come from a powerful family. She can’t help you become the Grant family’s heir. You should keep her aside for now." Humiliated, the secretary jumped to her death in public. Five years later, the first thing he did after becoming the heir was divorce me, destroying my family and leaving us ruined. “I'm clearing your debt with Nessa." When I opened my eyes again, it was my twenty-second birthday banquet. My fiancé’s grandfather asked what my birthday wish was. “I hope Harry and Miss White can share a lifetime of happiness and grow old together.” I bowed slightly. “Please, Old Master Grant, allow Harry and me to end our engagement.”

I booked a consultation with a renowned traditional medicine practitioner six months in advance to treat my surgeon wife's arousal disorder over the holidays. However, on the appointment date, Wendy did not show up. Just as I was about to call to question her, I noticed a photo her male friend had posted on social media. In the photo, my usually aloof wife was hugging the guy with a radiant smile. The caption read: [Only I can cure your problem.] But what caught my attention was my wife's flushed face in the photo, clearly displaying signs of arousal. With a cold smirk, I immediately liked and commented: [You must have magic fingers that work wonders!] The comment section exploded, with everyone speculating whether I would tear my wife's lover apart. What awaited my wife was our official divorce after the cooling-off period ended.

Juste avant la cérémonie d'accouplement, mon compagnon, Alpha Claude, m'a dit qu'il devait marquer temporairement une Oméga de notre meute, Fabienne. Il a prétendu qu'elle avait la maladie de la lune et qu'elle mourrait s'il ne la marquait pas. Je me suis disputée avec lui à ce sujet, mais le lendemain, il a installé Fabienne dans le penthouse de la Maison de la Meute. C'était la suite destinée à la future Luna. Ma suite. Pour me calmer, il s'est même mis à genoux, les yeux rougis, et m'a promis : « Quand elle sera en sécurité, j'enlèverai la marque. Tu resteras ma seule Luna. » Mais ensuite, Fabienne m'a retrouvée, un rapport médical à la main. Elle était enceinte de six semaines. Ils avaient déjà fait leur cérémonie de marquage bien avant que Claude ne vienne me voir. Mon cœur s'est brisé en cendres. Mon stylo a creusé le calendrier, gravant un X vicieux sur la date qui était censée être celle de notre cérémonie d'accouplement. Puis j'ai ouvert mon ordinateur portable et répondu à l'e-mail de la Guilde Européenne des Guérisseurs du Laurier. « J'accepte votre invitation, je pars le jour de la cérémonie d'accouplement. »

“He’s not yours,” I said, each word slicing through him like glass. Valentine stared at me, stunned, like I’d slapped him. Maybe I should’ve. That would’ve been easier than this. I thought I’d buried the past the day I ran—pregnant, heartbroken, and alone. Valentine Hale was the love of my life… until he shattered it. He never knew I was carrying his child. He never tried to find me. I raised our son alone. But fate doesn’t forget. Now I’m back in the one place I swore I’d never return to. And Valentine? He’s here. He’s looking at me like he still feels it. Valentine- She was human. Off-limits. But I touched her anyway. Loved her. Marked her. Then I walked away before the pack could find out. Before I destroyed us both. But now, Vivian’s back—with a kid who smells like me. But now I bear a secret, a curse from my father the previous alpha and I cannot risk their lives. I need to protect them. I need them. I feel it in my blood. He’s mine. She’s mine. They both always were.

For eight years, I lived as a wife no one knew existed, built my life in silence, loving a man who never truly saw me. I gave him everything and he gave me nothing but cold nights…and quiet tears I cried alone. Still, I stayed. Day after days. Years after years. Enduring. Hoping. And breaking…slowly. Not until she came back. His first love. And he didn’t just welcome her into his wife, he brought her into our matrimonial home, right on our matrimonial bed. And the little girl I raised in my arms…now calls her momma. Choosing her over me. He thought I would stay. He believed I would keep loving him the way I always had—quietly, and endlessly—no matter what he did to me. But he thought wrong. Because that day…something inside me shattered, and something far more dangerous took his place. So I left. No tears. No begging. No looking back. And when I returned… I made sure I wasn’t the woman he remembered. Now, I stand beside a man the world fears. A man who doesn’t hide me. A man who looks at me like I am everything. “Stay away from her. She’s my wife.” Clyde growled, his hand tightening into a fist. I almost laughed. Because for the first time in eight years…those words meant nothing to me. He broke me once. Now he wants me back. But I didn’t come back for love. I came back to take everything he ever chose over me.

I was the last one to find out that Rowan River was going to be a dad. When I arrived at the hospital, I saw him giving orders to his staff. "Don't let the news of the baby leak out. If Angela finds out, she'll definitely come back and cause a scene." I had liked him for ten years, and a year ago, I confessed my feelings to him. At the time, he said, "Wait until you finish school and come back, then we'll be together." I found it laughable. This time, though, I didn't react like before. I didn't yell at him or ask why he had lied to me. Instead, I boarded a plane and left the country, agreeing to marry the guy who had been pursuing me recently. From that moment on, I no longer loved Rowan.

My stepsister, Chloe, wanted to test the loyalty of my childhood sweetheart. So she drugged him with a lust potion. Then she threw him in my room. I couldn't watch him suffer. He was spiraling into a bloodlust. For a vampire, that's a death sentence. So I gave him the only cure. Myself. When Chloe found us, she fled in a jealous rage. She married a cursed, brutal king—the Lord of Eternal Night. And he killed her. Julian and I were blood-bound, but he began to hate me. He ignored me for a century. Then a rival clan ambushed us. He shielded me with his body. He burned to ash to save my life. Before he faded, he gave me one last look. "If I could do it all over again, Elena," he whispered, "I never would have needed saving." My world shattered. Darkness took me. I opened my eyes. I was back in Julian's room. On the night it all went wrong.

The new intern, Cynthia Joller, had posted about me online, claiming the company had made them use their leave for team building. No one wanted to fly all the way to an island to spend time with colleagues. However, what the internet did not know was that our company's team-building tradition involved booking a top-notch five-star resort every year: all-inclusive, family-friendly, with an extra three days of paid leave, and a $30,000 budget per person. The whole internet dubbed me a cold-blooded capitalist, so I decided to give in to their demands and issued a notice. [In response to employee feedback and to honor personal time, this year's team-building retreat has been canceled. Instead, a $500 allowance for personal travel will be provided.] The notice stirred up a commotion in the company. Long-time employees gathered at my office door, pleading for the return of the sunny Madiles retreat.