Dirty Thirty

The night I found out, I almost fixed it. Almost. My assignment had been changed to Everglades Academy. Two thousand miles south. Swamp territory. Three omegas died there last year. I'd asked Kael to file my school preference. Silver Peak Academy. Together. The way we'd planned since we were twelve, lying in the snow making promises to the stars. Now the screen said Everglades. I called him immediately. He picked up on the second ring, relaxed as always. "Hey." "My assignment," I said. "It says Everglades." "Oh." Not guilt. Recalibration. "Lil came by while I was filing yours. She wanted to play a prank—switched it to Everglades for a laugh." He laughed. Light. Careless. "Deadline's tomorrow night. Just override it yourself. It takes thirty seconds." "If I hadn't checked—" "But you did check." That patience. "Fen. You always check everything. That's why she knew you'd catch it. It was just a joke." Just a joke. So my future was a punchline. My life, someone else's entertainment. I said nothing. I packed my gear. I left for the transport hub on departure day. Kael found me at the platform. His smile was gone. "I told you to override it. You didn't change it back?" "No."

To scrape together my mother's surgery money, I worked myself to the bone at this company for three straight years. My performance was always number one. By myself, I supported half the sales department. Then, a newly hired HR director decided every desk needed an AI camera, claiming it was to optimize efficiency. Every blink, every breath I took was measured and calculated by the system. "Warning. Employee Nathan Gray blinked more than twenty times within one minute. Mental distraction detected. Fine: 50." "Warning. Employee Nathan Gray took 3.5 seconds to drink water, exceeding the standard by 1.5 seconds. Slacking detected. Fine: 100." "Warning. Employee Nathan Gray's mouth corners drooped for over thirty seconds. Suspected spread of negative emotion. Fine: 200." The most ridiculous part was the way he stood in front of the entire department, pointing proudly at my data on the giant screen. "See that?" he said smugly. "This is the power of technology. In front of AI, you lazy freeloaders have nowhere to hide. Nathan, your bonus for this month has already been wiped out by the system. If you don't like it, get lost. Plenty of people are lining up to take your place." What he didn't know was that the AI system he trusted so blindly had its core code written by me. Tonight, I was going to show him what happened when he angered the one who built the machine.

I took a poisoned silver arrow for my Alpha, Kaiden, during an assassination attempt. In doing so, I lost my wolf forever, falling from a proud warrior to a disgrace to my pack. Driven by guilt and duty, he kept me as his mate for thirty years, but our relationship was built on polite distance. On my deathbed, I discovered that the 199 memory crystals I had filled with a lifetime of love for him had been tossed into a dusty corner of a storage room. All the while, he kept another she-wolf's crystals locked away in a magically sealed safe, treasuring them above all else. As I lay dying, all I felt through our bond was his chilling indifference. Kaiden arrived late. The last words he whispered in my ear were, "Next time, don't take the silver arrow for me." I finally understood. He would rather have died than be shackled to me by a life debt. When I opened my eyes again, I was back before the tragedy. The Moon Goddess had granted me a second chance. This time, I would sever our fated bond before he could mark me. But when the silver arrow flew toward me this time, he was the one who threw himself into its path. "This time, let me protect you."

My mother and I pushed ourselves, slaving away to pay for my girlfriend’s debt. The work was too hard on her, and she was soon diagnosed with lung cancer. By the time I arrived at the hospital with money for her treatment, my mother had taken her own life and left behind a note. “I can’t go on, Gab. The money is best put toward settling the debts. Noelle is a good kid. She loves you. She’s just lost her way. That’s all. You two should settle down once the debts are cleared.” I held my mother’s ashes and gave Noelle the thirty thousand dollars she had left behind. Back in the office, I overheard Noelle talking to several creditors. “Ms. Strom, Mr. Lamb has passed your test. What’s next on the agenda for him?” Noelle’s childhood friend, Charles, jumped into the conversation. “Gabriel has proven that he’s willing to be there for you through thick and thin, but will he stick around in wealth? Noelle pursed her lips. “I need to know if he genuinely loves me. If he isn’t blinded by greed when learning about who I am, I’ll marry him.” I stared at my mother’s ashes, tears rolling down my face. “Noelle, my mother was wrong about you, and so was I. I don’t want to marry you anymore.” I thought to myself.

BOOK SIX (MATE SERIES) Previous books mentioned inside: He was silent; a brooding stranger basking in the darkness as if it were an old friend. The logical part of me wanted to run away screaming and some other part of me that I never knew existed wanted to learn more about him. He looked deadly but his touch was a gentle caress. He looked rude but he was the most easy-going guy I had ever met. We clicked the moment our eyes met and that was when my world turned from all things logic and science related to something mythical and supernatural. I thought it was magic but he laughed, the only sound I'd ever hear leave his perfect lips, and called it a mate bond. ____________________ Dea Kelly is as human as it gets. She doesn't believe in the divine and she most certainly doesn't believe in the supernatural. What she does believe in is science because everything must have a logical explanation. At the age of thirty, she had her entire future planned out. Marry Jason Yates, a fellow scientist who believed in everything she did. Have children ASAP. And live till a hundred (at least she would try to.) But then something happens that she suddenly can't explain. A handsome yet silent stranger that bumped into her while walking on the side walk and the moment their eyes connected, electricity passed between them. It was in that very moment that Dea's life turned inside out.

Right after finishing a meeting, I opened a forum and saw a warning post. The location tag was our company. The title read: “Red flag! What a cheap company. Anyone who joins is a total sucker. They can’t even afford a decent coffee break.” The photo attached showed the expensive coffee and five-star desserts I had just asked my assistant to distribute to everyone. I frowned and tagged the entire group chat, asking if anyone had suggestions about the afternoon tea. A Gen-Z intern who had just joined, Julian Hayes, instantly replied with a voice message: “Boss, no offense, but these assembly-line desserts are full of trans fats. Nobody would eat them.” “A truly humane company hires a Michelin chef to cook and slice everything fresh on site. That’s what real respect for employees looks like.” I laughed in disbelief. Our company’s daily coffee break budget was thirty dollars per person—already considered top-tier in the industry. So I replied, “Since it’s impossible to satisfy everyone’s taste, we’ll cancel afternoon tea from now on and convert the budget into cash for everyone instead.” Less than five minutes later, that post was updated: “Guys, can you believe this? I made a perfectly reasonable suggestion and the lame boss immediately canceled the whole coffee break perk! This is the true face of corporate greed—can’t handle even a little bit of honesty!”

Xenia has always tried to be the perfect daughter. All her life, she's been good, non rebellious, obedient. Even when her parents kept treating her like an outcast over her sister because she was born wolfless. Never for once did she deviate from being the good little daughter. UNTIL her own parents sold her off to an Alpha who was crippled. That was when she realized that being good surely wouldn't pay her and she's ready to do anything she can - to get out of this stupid arrangement. Even if it means paying a stranger she met in a dirty bar to take her virginity. Isn't it a taboo for the Alpha to marry a non virgin? For all it's worth, she taught she definitely won. But then her father introduces the Alpha in a wheel chair and when she turns ready to blurt out that she's no virgin - SHOCK FROZE HER FEET TO THE FLOOR. Because sitting in that wheel chair was the same man who she had spent the night before with.

Kai writes the truth no one wants to hear. Especially not about Jax—the untouchable alpha captain who owns the rink and everyone’s attention. Kai’s articles tear Jax apart, call out the ego, the dirty hits, the way he plays like the world owes him. Jax should hate him. Instead, he watches. Remember. Because four years ago, one drunken night at a party locked them in a room, and Kai walked away pretending it never happened. Jax never forgot. Now the pull is back—violent, quiet, impossible to shake. Jax corners him, crowds him, makes him feel it all over again. But Milo’s there too—the steady defenseman who’s loved Kai silently since freshman year, who knows exactly what happened that night and did nothing. One secret could burn the team down. One choice could burn Kai down. In a world where the ice is thin and loyalty fractures, love isn’t clean—it’s a blade. And someone’s going to bleed.

Sophia Wilson walks in on her husband, Bryan cheating with his best friend's wife, Claire and in a bid to stop their scandalous affair from going viral, they kill her. Sophia finds herself reincarnated in the body of Annabelle Graham, the pretentious and scheming bride of billionaire, Ace Hartford who is romantically involved with Ace's brother, Carter. Annabelle and Carter already had a plan in motion to kill Ace but luckily for him Sophia saves the day sparking Ace's interest in her and ultimately uniting them in an alliance. Sophia desires to seek revenge, find her loved ones and find answers as to why she was reborn. But will these answers be that easy to find? Can she fight off the hateful Hartford clan especially when she is thrown head first into their dirty game of sinful passion, dark history, power tussle within the Hartford family and a young blossoming love. And not forgetting the despicable husband who also poses as a threat to her in the present in the most shocking form. Join Sophia on this roller-coaster ride and bitter-sweet romance tale….with a devilishly sexy twist.

I don't inform Hunter Nabb when I'm bitten by a rabid dog in the late stages of my pregnancy. Instead, I call the police. Why? Because he got into an accident when he hurried to me in my past life. It killed his junior. He was depressed for a day but quickly bounced back. He cared for me until I recovered. I thought the rumors of amorosity between him and his junior was just a figment of my imagination. However, the day I gave birth, he locked me in a cage, allowing a rabid dog to attack me and the baby. He looked down at me imperiously, his tone cold and ruthless. "You can trick everyone, but not me. Would a dog have bitten you if you hadn't provoked it? Do you know you killed Willow with your dirty tricks? She was pregnant with my child when she died!" When I open my eyes again, I'm taken back to when the rabid dog bites me.