Dead Stars Setting

Four years ago, Alpha Matteo Donovan was drugged. On that crazy night, I became his cure. From that moment on, I was his most trusted Beta by day and his lover by night, tangled up in his sheets until dawn. Just when I started drowning in the heat of his gaze, his first love, Sabrina Monroe, came back. To please her, Matteo threw me to the pack’s borderlands, where it was rogue-infested. He even tore up Mom's keepsakes right in front of me. When I finally gave up and applied to leave the pack, Matteo suddenly began to look for me like he had gone mad.

Le troisième mois après la disparition mystérieuse de mon compagnon Alpha lors d'une patrouille, je l'ai retrouvé, par hasard, dans un bar à la frontière. Il éclatait de rire, son bras enlacé autour de son premier amour : « J'ai toujours voulu me débarrasser de l'emprise de Béatrice. Merci pour ton idée, enfin, je respire la liberté ! » Mélodie se blottissait contre lui, lui tendant un verre avec des gestes doucereux. « Quand comptes-tu rentrer ? » a-t-elle murmuré. Il a haussé les épaules, indifférent : « Encore une semaine. Je laisserai Béatrice devenir folle d'inquiétude avant de réapparaître. Une bonne leçon pour qu'elle arrête de se mêler de ma vie. » Ses amis l'ont approuvé avec admiration : « Génial ! Après ça, Béatrice t'obéira au doigt et à l'œil. » « La potion de métamorphose est vraiment efficace. Personne ne t'a reconnu depuis tout ce temps. » Mais ils ignoraient une chose : cachée dans l'ombre, je venais de voir son petit jeu. Sans hésiter, j'ai sorti mon téléphone et ai appelé le Conseil des affaires de notre meute. En tant que leur Luna, j'ai déclaré officiellement la mort de l'Alpha… et ai annoncé l'élection de son successeur !

An accident leaves Preston Brown unable to have children. The fight over his family's fortune is heating up. Desperate for an heir, Preston arranges for me to sleep with his best friend, Rowan Kerr. I quietly dump the sleeping pills Preston gave me and pretend to be clueless. Then, I lose myself in a night of passion with Rowan. … The next morning, right in front of Preston, I smile sweetly and say, "Honey, you were incredible last night. I've never felt so good." His expression darkens. "Do you prefer the man I am by day, or the one who takes you at night?" I act bashful, tugging on his sleeve. "Both. But I especially love the one who knows how to satisfy me at night."

Sé que no me queda mucho tiempo después de haber sido envenenada con acónito. No quiero tener remordimientos, así que viajo al lago de Sacred Crystal, un lugar que siempre había querido visitar. No le digo a nadie que planeo terminar mi vida allí. No esperaba encontrarme con mi ex-compañero en ese lugar. No nos hemos visto en diez años. Él se ha convertido en el Alfa que siempre quiso ser, y lleva un anillo que tiene grabado el nombre de otra loba. En cuanto a mí, ya he tirado nuestra muestra de amor y lo he borrado de mi corazón. Estamos intercambiando palabras cuando, de repente me pregunta: —¿Todavía me odias, Giselle? Sacudo la cabeza. Mi vida está a punto de terminar, después de todo. Ya no necesito aferrarme a nada. En los últimos momentos de mi vida, solo quiero ver el mar de lirios que la Diosa de la Luna ha bendecido.

Dean Russo's gaming mate breaks up with him. In his foul mood, he forces everyone to work overtime. "Hey Kylie, you're his Beta, right? Go talk to Alpha Dean. We all want to get out of here on time." "Are you serious? Just seeing his gloomy face freaks me out." Everyone keeps urging me to go and calm Dean down, but what no one realizes is that the gaming mate he can't move on from is actually me. Just when everything seems fine in our online relationship, he unexpectedly asks to meet face-to-face. But if he ever learns that his beloved gaming mate is none other than his Beta, he's bound to be furious. For my own safety, I decide to end things before they can spiral out of control. But who would expect the breakup to hit him so hard? Yet, if I want to avoid working overtime, it seems like I have no choice but to get back together with him.

No meu aniversário, meu noivo usou os pontos do supermercado para me dar um par de luvas de lavar louça. Mas num leilão, ele comprou uma joia de cinco milhões de dólares para o primeiro amor dele. Fiquei furiosa e o confrontei, mas ele me chamou de interesseira. — Eu sempre te dei dinheiro pra gastar. Não é mais que justo você cuidar de mim? Isso era pra ser meu teste final pra você. Se passasse, a gente ia casar. Você me decepcionou demais. Terminei com ele. Ele se virou e pediu a ex em casamento. Cinco anos depois, a gente se esbarrou numa ilha privada de férias. Alex Thompson me viu de uniforme de funcionária catando lixo na praia. Na mesma hora, ele zombou de mim. — Você torceu o nariz pras luvas que eu te dei, e agora tá aqui catando lixo. Hoje em dia, mesmo se você implorasse, eu não te daria a mínima. Ignorei ele. O projeto de estudos sociais do meu filho era limpar o quintal com um dos pais. O pai dele tinha expandido o quintal até chegar na praia. Limpar aquilo era de matar.

I had a perception disorder that messed with how I saw and felt stuff. So when I got dropped into a horror game, everyone else freaked out trying to survive— Me? I thought I was in a dating sim. I raised a young fae like she was my kid, fell for the vampire count, and treated the undead like my in-laws. The first time I saw the vampire—face torn up, soaked in blood—I straight-up blushed. "You're really handsome." He froze. Then, low and uncertain: "Am I... really handsome?"

After my financial reports were replaced with blank pages, the company was thrown into a legal and financial crisis. As the accountant, I was accused of falsifying records. I was charged, convicted, and sent to prison. Three years later, I was finally released. My CEO husband and our son came to pick me up in person. Just when I was touched by their loyalty, believing they had stood by me through it all, I overheard their conversation. "Dad, Winona wanted that villa in the suburbs, so you used company funds to buy it. But Mom was the one who got blamed for the falsified accounts. She spent three years behind bars, shunned by everyone. Even I got teased by my friends because of her." Hank took our son's hand, his tone grave. "We agreed never to bring this up again. Back then, Winona needed a place to live. I had no choice but to use the company's money, and your mom had to take the fall." That was the moment I realized—my years in prison, the public disgrace, the humiliation… had all been part of a plan. A plan crafted by the very man I trusted with my life.

My husband, Matthew Glover, fabricates a scandal to help his childhood sweetheart, reporter Melanie Reed, boost her numbers. "Mrs. Glover Sleeps Around—Multiple Affairs Lead to Repeated Miscarriages." He uses it as a gimmick to grab attention. Next thing I know, my name's in the mud and the internet's tearing me to pieces. When I bring up divorce, Matthew says I'm blowing things out of proportion. "Melanie just started at the TV station. If she doesn't deliver, her coworkers will laugh at her. You're just doing her a favor. It's not like you're actually losing anything." I don't even bother arguing with him. I simply push the divorce agreement toward him. "If you want to help her, go ahead. But we're getting divorced!"

A week before my bonding ceremony, my younger sister traveled from a distant pack to be my maid of honor. While she was trying on her dress, the phone she had left outside suddenly rang. “Florence, can you answer that for me? I can’t get it right now.” I picked it up, and a male werewolf’s voice came through the line. “Baby, I bought you a gorgeous lingerie set. Tonight is going to be amazing.” I didn’t make a sound. A cold chill sliced straight through me. That voice belonged to none other than my mate-to-be, Dylan Conner.