Defending Jacob Did He Do It

On the day my mate's dying first love went into labor, his parents posted ten warriors at my door. They did it only to stop me from storming the delivery room and ruining the birth of Alpha Kaelen's heir. However, I never showed up, not even after the cries of a newborn filled the air. His mother, the former Luna, held the other she-wolf's hand with a sigh of relief. "Liana, with us here, that barren Elara will never harm you or the pup!" Kaelen dabbed the sweat from Liana's brow, his eyes filled with adoration. "Don't worry, my father has men guarding the pack borders. If Elara dares to cause trouble, we will exile her forever!" He finally relaxed when he was sure I wasn't coming. He couldn't understand. All he wanted was to give his dying first love a child, a legacy. Why couldn't I be more understanding? Looking at the sleeping pup, a satisfied smile crossed his face. He thought that if I would just show up and apologize to Liana, he would forgive all our previous fights. He'd even be willing to comfort me after the birth, maybe even let me be the pup's mother in name, so I could keep my title as Luna. But he didn't know. I had just submitted my application to the High Council. In one week, I would relinquish my pack status, leave with the babies in my belly, and never see him again.

I'm seven months along with my second pregnancy when a truck almost hits me. My husband threatens the doctor like a maniac. "I'll make all of you retire prematurely if anything goes wrong with my wife!" Before I enter the operating theater, I can't help thinking he's being too anxious. The truck merely brushed past me and made me fall. He doesn't need to be so panicked. However, when I open my eyes again, I find that my belly is flat. I crawl out of bed in a panic and head to the door, where I overhear Lucian Jacobe talking to the doctor. "Mrs. Jacobe wasn't in a major accident, sir. The child could've been saved. Why did you insist on aborting it? It was a baby boy, too." "Jenny will cry if she finds out about me having children with another woman. How can I bear to see her upset? It's not my first time doing something like this, anyway."

No quinto ano do meu amor por Gabriel, ele herdou do irmão falecido o título de Senhor dos Vampiros — e também a viúva dele: Chloe, a antiga Rainha de Sangue. Por sangue e por lei, ela era minha parente por aliança dentro do clã. Sempre que voltava dos aposentos dela, Gabriel me abraçava com ternura e sussurrava: — Isabella, Chloe é apenas minha Consorte Escolhida. Assim que ela gerar e der à luz o Herdeiro do Clã Blazetooth, eu me unirei a você por meio de um Vínculo de Sangue. Ele dizia que aquela era a única condição exigida pela família para que pudesse ascender como Senhor dos Vampiros. Durante os seis meses depois que retornamos ao Clã Blazetooth, ele atendeu ao chamado dela cem vezes. No começo, uma vez por mês. Depois, uma vez por semana. E, por fim, todas as noites. Na centésima noite em que fiquei acordada esperando por ele, Chloe finalmente concebeu. A notícia chegou acompanhada de outro anúncio: Gabriel e Chloe em breve seriam unidos por Sangue. Meu filho olhou para mim, confuso e inocente. — Mãe… eles não disseram que o papai faria um Vínculo de Sangue com a Rainha de Sangue que ele ama? Por que ele ainda não veio nos levar para casa? — Porque — respondi baixinho, passando a mão em seus cabelos — a Rainha de Sangue que ele ama nunca foi a sua mãe aqui. — Mas tudo bem. — Acrescentei. — Eu vou te levar para casa. Para a nossa própria casa. O que Gabriel jamais percebeu foi isto: como única filha de um Rei Vampiro no reinado, eu nunca me importei nem um pouco com o título de Rainha de Sangue do Clã Blazetooth.

To save the vampire clan, I slept with my crush, Stefan Ferrano. Stefan had always been cold and distant, but that night, his response was fiery. He ignored the fact that I was inexperienced and took me with wild, unrestrained passion. Everything unraveled when my blood servant, Stella Luciado, brought me fresh blood and Stefan found out. Like a man possessed, he tore off all my clothes and dragged me into the sunlight. “So even the vampire queen is afraid of sunlight? Do you know what sort of torture your kind are enduring right now? But no pain compares to what I felt losing my sister because of you and your kind.” For five years, he held my clan’s safety over my head. He locked me in a sunroom and found new ways every day to torment me in bed. The day I gave birth to his child, he married Stella. Stefan called my child a bastard and forced me to watch him and Stella sleep together. When Stella was unhappy, he bled me so she could bathe in my blood. He even painted with my blood and made me dance undressed in the sun. He tortured me but never let me die, using specially made drugs to keep me alive. A vampire who had offered their ancestral blood but didn't turn a human into a vampire within five years would end up dead. I had five days left to live. Finally, I didn't have to keep my secret anymore.

"You can't walk away," he whispered, his breath hot against my ear. "Not now." I never should've followed him. I knew it the second I saw his dark, predatory eyes lock onto mine across the bar. But I couldn't stop myself. I was drawn to him, to the danger simmering beneath his cool, controlled exterior. "One night," I told myself, "just one night." But it wasn't just a night. It was a raw, thrilling ride into darkness, where he took control in ways l'd never imagined. "Do you like it when I make you beg?" he growled, and I did. God, I did. By morning, I was tangled in his sheets, marked by his touch, my body still aching from the things he'd done to me. But when I opened my eyes and saw his face in the cold light of day, reality hit like a punch to the gut. The man l'd spent the night with, the one who made me surrender in every way possible, wasn't just a sexy stranger. He was a mafia kingpin-one of the most feared men in the city. And me? I'm the future district attorney, the one assigned to take him down. "You belong to me now," he said, his voice a deadly promise. And as much as I wanted to deny it, I knew he was right. But what happens when the lines between law and lust blur beyond recognition?

Quando a data do meu parto estava se aproximando, descobriram uma grande inconsistência nos registros de armas da família Galante. Então, a liderança tomou uma rápida decisão: Eles decidiram enviar a mim, Sophia Vitale, a esposa do Don, a mulher que eles diziam não ter nada melhor para fazer, para inspecionar pessoalmente o arsenal e verificar o inventário. Eu pensei que fosse só uma checagem de rotina e jamais imaginei que a irmã de criação do meu marido, Monica Leone, fosse aproveitar a oportunidade para explodir todo o arsenal comigo dentro. A explosão foi ensurdecedora. O fogo rasgou o céu. O concreto desabou ao meu redor, esmagando meu corpo enquanto uma dor alucinante rasgava meu abdômen. Mas eu não liguei para o meu marido em sua linha privada de segurança máxima. Em vez disso, enviei um sinal de socorro ao meu pai. Na minha vida passada, no instante da explosão, eu resolvi ligar para a linha de prioridade e chamar o meu marido. Meu filho sobreviveu, mas Monica acabou sendo obliterada na explosão. Meu marido disse que não era minha culpa. Ele falou que Monica era alguém de fora e que seu herdeiro era mais importante. Não poupou despesas e contratou especialistas obstétricos para me monitorar dia e noite. Disse que eu deveria manter a calma e esperar pelo parto. Então, no dia em que entrei em trabalho de parto, ele pessoalmente nos trancou, eu e meu bebê, dentro de um galpão abandonado, encharcado de gasolina, e nos queimou vivos. — Se você não tivesse se atrasado de propósito, ela ainda estaria viva. Você realmente pensou que bancar a inocente iria me enganar? Nem sonhando — ele disse — Você gosta tanto de brincar com fogo, né? Muito bem. Vou deixar você sentir na pele o desespero que ela sentiu naquele dia. Quando abri meus olhos novamente, estava de volta ao arsenal, no exato momento da explosão.

She took her twin’s place to survive. But falling in love with the man meant to ruin her was never part of the plan. When Layla Ross steps into the shoes of her missing twin, she’s thrust into a marriage with Dominic Foster the dangerously powerful man who married her sister for revenge. But nothing is as it seems. Unknowingly poisoned by Layla herself under her father’s manipulation, Dominic’s life ticks on a secret clock. Layla, a woman with fifteen elite identities and a heart she swore to keep frozen, must find the cure she couldn’t create herself. Love wasn’t supposed to bloom. Secrets weren’t supposed to unravel. But in a city of lies, identity swaps, and deadly desires, one truth could shatter everything. How do you love the man you were sent to destroy… and who might destroy you first?

He rejected me for the woman he once loved. Now, the Moon Goddess has given us another chance— but this time, I’m the one walking away. He was my mate. The Alpha every she-wolf dreamed of—strong, cold, perfect. But on the night of our union, he whispered the words that broke me completely: “You were never meant to be mine. She was.” His “her.” The woman who once owned his heart... and came back to claim it again. That night, I left the pack—bleeding, but proud. I carried the pain of rejection in silence, because to him, I was just the Luna chosen by fate. But to me, he was everything I’d ever wanted to love. Years passed, and I built myself back up, piece by piece. Then, under a blood moon, the Moon Goddess bound our souls again. I never expected to see him kneeling before me— the once-feared Alpha, now begging the same woman he once threw away. Only this time... the Luna he hunted has learned how to bite back.

I spend a decade as the woman behind Corey Larson. I help him save his company from the brink of bankruptcy and turn it into a public-listed company. He's on the cusp of success, and I'm about to propose to him. That's when he brings his childhood sweetheart into the picture to take my place. He thanks me for my decade of hard work. Then, he tells me I'm no longer a good fit for the company as it's about to embark on a new journey. I stare at him. I've loved him for ten years and given him my everything, but he brushes me off with a bank card. My blood turns to ice. The decade I've spent with him has ultimately gone down the drain. He doesn't seem to realize the consequences, though. Once I quit and leave, his company will cease to exist… just like my love for him.

While they slice me apart, I desperately call my brother, Nathan Slade. He finally picks up as my consciousness starts to slip and answers in an annoyed voice, "What now?" "Nathan, help—" I don't get to finish before he cuts me off. "Can't you ever go a day without drama? Gemma's graduation is at the end of the month. Miss it, and I swear I'll kill you!" Then, he hangs up without a second thought. The agonizing pain swallows me whole, and my eyes close for good, tears still trailing down my cheeks. Well, good news, Nathan… You won't have to kill me because I'm already dead.