Drowning Sorrows

On the day of the Sacred Forest Rite, my Alpha father and Luna mother were mysteriously murdered. Soon after, my fiancé Jem abruptly broke off our engagement and held a bonding ceremony with his childhood friend, Sarah. While I was still drowning in grief, Jem's elder brother, Nom, came to me with a proposal. He swore he would uncover the truth and bring my parents' murderer to justice. So I married him—and brought what was left of my pack into his. Seven years passed. No killer was found. No justice delivered. Then today, I overheard a conversation between Nom and his Beta outside the study. I learned the truth. Someone had seen Sarah at the scene of my parents' deaths during the Sacred Forest Rite. However, Nom silenced that witness. He shut down the investigation, convinced Sarah was innocent—that her presence was nothing more than a coincidence. However, my mother died with Sarah's earring clenched in her hand. It was never justice. It was a cover-up. Seven years of marriage, built on a lie—his way of protecting the one truly responsible. This time, I will take vengeance into my own hands. Alone.

Ayana Rivers had spent the last three years working as the secretary to the CEO and cofounder of Sterling conglomerate the most powerful tech force in Los Angeles. Working schedules, running after and clearing Ruan’s public messes was not new to her but what Ayana doesn’t know is that Ruan Sterling’s life doesn’t end in boardrooms, fancy newsletters and red carpets. By day he is the CEO of Sterling Conglomerate. By night he is an Alpha, one bound by ancient pack laws that threatens to strip his entire lineage and him of the throne and alpha title if he does not take a wife. When Ayana’s family is drowning in debt and every door closes on her, Ruan offers Ayana instead of help, a marriage, Ruan has no interest in Ayana beyond the contract. She is human, harmless, ordinary, and perfect for protecting his secret. A wife on paper. Nothing more. When Ruan’s dark world creeps into Ayana’s carefully controlled life. Desires beyond control and heat amidst silence grow between them. Except secrets have a way of unraveling especially when she discovers that the man she married is not the most dangerous secret in the house. She is.

He demoted me. Humiliated me. Made my life a living hell. And now, he's claimed me as his. When ruthless billionaire Nathan Bryant bought the company I worked for, I became his favorite target. One day I had a promotion waiting—the next, I was nothing but a data entry clerk beneath his cold, piercing gaze. I should have quit. I should have run away and never looked back. But I couldn't afford to. So I stayed, enduring his cruelty, surviving his games... until the night everything changed. The night he saved me. The night he kissed me like I was the only thing keeping him alive. Now I'm trapped between his arms and his secrets, drowning in a love I never saw coming. There was just one tiny problem: He's the stepbrother of my best friend—the girl who was betrayed by his family. Loving him means losing her forever. And when the war for control turns deadly, I'm caught in the crossfire. But will our love be enough to survive the wreckage? Or will we both burn in the flames of forbidden desire?

The night I have my bonding ceremony with the Alpha, Walter Zimmer, he gets drunk even though he usually never touches any alcohol. Just as I'm at a loss for what to do, my best friend, Rose Larson, sends me a message detailing how to take care of a drunken werewolf. Despite feeling doubtful, I do as she suggests, and Walter truly does fall asleep peacefully. Just as I'm about to thank Rose, Walter suddenly hugs me from behind. His hot breath brushes against my neck as he murmurs a sentence that utterly breaks my heart. "Rose, you're the one I wanted to mark…" My world crumbles around me, but that's not all. His shirt slips down his shoulder when he moves, revealing the rose tattooed right over his heart. My mind goes blank, and all I can do is stare at the tattoo. I refuse to believe what I'm seeing. I've known Rose for 20 years, and she's my closest friend. As it turns out, Walter didn't get drunk because he was overjoyed about becoming my mate. He simply used the alcohol to drown his sorrows over not being able to take the she-wolf he wanted as his Luna. In that moment, our newly formed mate bond seems like nothing but a joke. Since that's the case, I decide to give up my position as the Luna and let them be together. However, after I leave, Walter loses control and shifts into his wolf. He then claws the rose tattoo to shreds. "Lily, I was mistaken. You're the Luna I truly love. Please, give me another chance to love you again…"

“Why are you like this, Axel?” she asked in a low voice, her tone slightly breaking. “Why won't you just leave me alone?” For a moment, something inside me stirred. I reached out slowly and placed my fingers under her chin, lifting her face. She tried to look away, but I wouldn’t let her. Tears pooled in her eyes, but she bit her lower lip stubbornly, trying to keep them from falling. But that tiny act of defiance… God, it did something to me. I wanted to pull her closer, to claim her, to make her mine and never let anyone else touch her. “One year,” I said finally. She frowned. “What?” “I want you,” I said clearly. “For one year, you’ll be my woman. In exchange, I’ll take care of you, your needs, your family’s protection, your brother’s freedom. Everything.” *** After catching her scumbag boyfriend in bed with her coworker, Olivia Brooks did what any heartbroken woman might… she drowned her sorrows at a club. One too many drinks later, she ended up in the arms of a dangerously handsome stranger. What she didn’t know was that the man she mistook for a gigolo was Axel Reynolds, a ruthless billionaire with a taste for control. Olivia tried to move on and bury the memory of that reckless night… until fate delivered a cruel twist. Axel Reynolds wasn’t just anyone—he was her step sister’s soon-to-be husband. Now, trapped between guilt and desire, Olivia wants to hide the truth. But Axel has already found her, and the devil never lets go of what he claims.

Olivia’s POV The moment Armando left, the dam broke. I sobbed into the silence, my chest heaving with the weight of everything I’d pushed down for so long. I wanted to hold him tight. To kiss him and to tell him how much I loved him and how much I wanted his protection but I just couldn’t because I didn’t trust anyone else and because I never wanted anything to do with love after James. I hated myself for pushing him away. But more than that, I hated that I felt anything for him at all. I sat there, drowning in the storm of my own heart, knowing that love was a battlefield I might never cross again, and yet, for the first time, I wished I had the courage to try. Armando’s POV Back in my study, I poured myself a glass of whiskey, my hand trembling as I lit a cigarette. The tears came slowly at first, hot and unfamiliar against my skin. I hadn’t cried since I was ten years old. But tonight, I wept. For her. For me. For everything we could never be.

"It wouldn't be the first nor the last time any one of you Titan Gods had affairs with ‘Greek Gods’ you know," Thaelia twisted her lips. Lukas face hardened and he tried to keep it like that, but one look at her face and a smile broke out of him and he's laughing hard. She accompanied him and chuckled softly, adorably, and it drove the son of Helios crazy. "Didn't know moon princesses could contain that much spite." "What can I say?" She lowered her voice, licking her lips. Her beauty was much more obvious, with her eyes the color of the sea, lined with gold, and lips rose. It was enough to make him realise he's drowning again, only this time it's on the color of her eyes. "You... inspire me." "Inspire you?" "Yes," She smiled sweetly *** There's two things that strikes Talia as she starts reading the book of her past—Lukas was a reckless son of Helios, Ajaxson was the son of Ajax who's head over heels in love with her while she was a moon princess desired by both of them. To add a Greek Goddess Hera made it impossible for her to stay happy with Lukas. It was just not written in the stars. ***

He straddled me, his hips swirling in slow, maddening circles. His body was right there, pressing into mine, and I couldn’t escape it; I didn’t want to. His hands found mine and guided them to his chest, and when my palms touched his warm skin, I was gone. My pulse was a blur of frantic beats pounding in my ears, drowning out the crowd's cheers and whistles. With his face inches from mine, Alec leaned in. His breath ghosted over my lips, his smile, cocky, knowing, playful, and somehow tender all at once. “You okay there?” he asked with an amused tone, and I opened my mouth, desperate to say something—anything—but nothing came out. My throat was dry, my skin was on fire and my mind was completely blank. All I could do was stare at him, completely mesmerized by how his body moved against mine and that wicked smirk on his lips. Before I knew it, heat pooled low in my belly, spreading downward, and I instinctively clenched my thighs together to stop the throbbing that ignited between my legs, but it was too late as I dampened the soft leather.

Somewhere between staying silent and screaming for help… she existed. Seventeen-year-old Maren has mastered the art of disappearing in plain sight. Haunted by past trauma, locked in a toxic relationship she can't escape, and drowning under the pressure of school and a world that never cared to understand her, she begins to wonder if life is even worth staying for. No one sees her pain—until he does. The new boy, Kade, has his own shadows. He’s blunt, observant, and completely unafraid to call her out—making him an instant enemy. But when he overhears a moment no one was meant to witness, he realizes the truth: the girl everyone overlooks is barely holding on. As Kade steps deeper into her shattered world, their connection becomes a lifeline. But secrets run deeper than he imagined, and when Maren goes missing, no one believes she’s worth finding—except him. Fighting time, silence, and the lies that built her cage, Kade refuses to give up. Because sometimes, saving someone means proving they were never invisible at all. A heartbreaking, haunting, and ultimately hopeful story about survival, truth, and what it really means to be seen.

To pay for the sins committed by Luisa Duarte against his family, Edmund Stark approaches her sister, Isabella, with a hidden agenda. He traps her into a forced marriage contract, but things don’t quite go as he planned. Will they be able to fix their differences and enjoy their marriage or would they end up getting a divorce? ~ “I told you before, you’re mine! You’ll marry me and bear my children and you’ll be my property until the day one of us dies!” He growled, running out of patience. “Am I to be your possession, your prisoner?” She glared at him with all her might. “Call it as you wish! You have nowhere to escape to!” He declared before pulling her into his lap, holding her tightly in his arms. He crashed his lips against hers, forcing his tongue in her mouth. Against her will, her body loosened in response, she lost the ability to breathe. She could not hear, she could not see, she could not feel anything else, except Edmund taking her mouth like a drowning man in need of oxygen. ‘Isabella is fucking mine! My woman! Nothing is going to change that!’