Echo Of Distant Water

On the day we were to choose our magical guardians, my sister laid claim to the griffin's egg, leaving the serpent's egg to me. She boasted that, as the trueborn daughter of the queen and the eldest princess, she was destined to become the chosen heir. However, her griffin egg never hatched, what stumbled out was nothing more than a pitiful turkey. My serpent egg, however, nurtured by the waters of the enchanted spring, awakened into a true white wyvern. When I was named heir to the throne, my sister raised a cup in celebration, only to poison me with the wine and end my life. I opened my eyes again at the moment of choosing. This time, my sister snatched away my serpent egg, shattered the griffin's before my eyes, and imprisoned me on a distant isle: determined that I would witness her glory as the chosen of the white wyvern and heir to the crown. Yet when the white wyvern cracked its shell, destiny shifted. I bound myself instead to the Titan Ape, a beast mighty enough to bring the wyvern to its knees.

Everyone in our social circle knew that my fiancée, Hazel Mullins, had a skin hunger condition toward me. Only touching me brought her excitement and satisfaction. But the self-proclaimed heartthrob and heir to the Newman family refused to believe it. He boldly declared that he would win her over within a month. After bombarding her with seductive photos for an entire month, Hazel finally reached her breaking point and auctioned them off. With his reputation ruined, Rory Newman was disowned by his family. In a fit of rage, he jumped off a bridge in an apparent suicide attempt. Hazel lost her mind and leaped after him. I became the biggest laughingstock in the circle. That was until I went skiing in the Alps and accidentally bumped into Hazel helping Rory select ski gear. She explained with a composed expression, "Rory's dealing with some serious emotional trauma. The doctor suggested more outdoor activities. Just please, don't throw another tantrum." I felt bewildered. I wasn't even involved with them anymore. Why would I get upset? Then it hit me that she was unaware of one fact. I had already married someone else on the same day she jumped into the water after Rory in that dramatic display of devotion. I was simply there for my honeymoon, with a bit of skiing on the side.

The beach was crowded as it was summer and many families tend to camp and have fun during this period. A young tanned skinned girl of about eight years, sat on the sand a little bit far from her family. She had a darkblue hoodie on and a headphone over her head. Her beautiful grey eyes seem to shimmer as she stared with keen interest at the water, while humming a song softly and enjoying the quiet. However, her little peace and privacy was shortlived as a lad of about ten years old, endowed with curly jet-black hair, ran along. He stopped however, on seeing her. She turned to see the one invading her quiet only to see the boy staring at her. She looked at him without saying a word, holding his gaze. Time seemed to fly by as they both continued their staring match which was eventually interrupted, when another lad of same age as the boy came by. "Jordan! There you are. Come, Mom calls for you." The blonde haired lad said, looking at the girl briefly before dragging the other along who continued to stare at the girl from his shoulders until she was out of eyesight. "Hey Elle!" A little girl of same age as the grey eyed, called as she ran towards her. "Come see the sand castle that Rosalie and I built." "Jordan," the grey-eyed girl whispered.

My mate and my brother hated me for twelve years. They believed I stole their precious Sarah's herbal research and bullied her for twelve years into silence. At my marking ceremony, they exposed my "crimes" to the entire supernatural world. "She's nothing but a bully who torments her packmates and a thief who stole the herb formula from Sarah!" But Sarah smiled through her tears: "The formula doesn't matter anymore." "As long as it saved our wolves from silver poisoning, what does it matter who created it?" "I've already forgiven her." She became the pack's angel of mercy. I was condemned by thousands, until the very wolf I'd saved with my medicine poured silver water over my head. In my despair, I dragged Sarah down with me into death. When I opened my eyes again, I was back in my second year of high school. Sarah was slicing her arm with a silver blade, smiling as she asked: "Have you thought about how you'll apologize to me?" Something in me snapped. My Alpha power surged forth, crushing her to her knees. I grabbed the blade: "Let me show you what real cuts look like."

Buried deep in the Aster estate was the Heartwood—ancient, sacred, mine. Told my husband, Julian Aster—back when he actually listened—that if it ever fell, I'd die with it. At first, he freaked out. Flew in glacier water, hired a whole squad of plant experts to nurture it 24/7. Then one day, just because his childhood friend—Isabella Duvall—got a scratch from the bark, Julian had the Heartwood ripped out. The second it crashed, I choked on glowing blood—ichor. My power? Gone. Barely standing, I grabbed his arm. "You knew. If the Heartwood dies, I—" He laughed. Straight-up mocked me. "Sera, come on. That fairy tale? Only Grandma still believes that crap. Is that mayo on your mouth? Relax—it's a tree. I'll buy you a forest if you want." Overnight, my hair turned gray. Skin cracked. Eyes dulled. Still, I dragged myself to his grandmother, Henrietta. "I kept your family safe for two hundred years. That's why the Asters thrived. But the Heartwood's gone. Debt's paid. One day left. Whatever happens next? Not my problem."

"You're a dangerous woman, Elena," He reached, turning on the shower beside her head. "I think your demons are making you see things wrong, Mr. Rossi," she murmured through the water spilling down her head. He laughed, "They are right; you're my trigger," his nose buried into the crook of her neck, he muttered, sending shivers down her spine. "And too bad a lot of people cross you..." ***** Her life came crashing down when she signed a contract marriage with the calm President Nikolai Rossi, who only had eyes on one woman who wasn't her. To make matters worse, she couldn't help but fall in love with him and his son, knowing he'd never reciprocate. After a terrible divorce, three years later, Elena Vero is a mother of one. She now has to return to Italy for business, unfortunately falling into the waiting palms of her ex-husband, who surprisingly wants her back. But being his wife has never been a bed of roses and never will it be, especially when she finds out he isn't all that he seems.

"You taste like warm sweet honey and I want more of you!" He growls as he presses his manhood into my hip. "Give yourself to me tesoro." [Treasure] His words are like fuel to my igniting fire. I want him, I crave him and when his lips start to suck on my heated skin I turn into a puddle of water when his hand dips into the top of my dress. He finds my breast and he kneads it, flicking my erect nipple has my panties moisten with arousal --- Vanessa Maddison: She is as gorgeous and flawless on the outside as she is scarred and tormented on the inside. Luca Venturi: Came storming into Vanessa's life like a raging blaze that burns everything it caresses. He's an Italian billionaire doctor who can have any woman he wants, but, he has his sights set on Vanessa. Intertwined by their secrets, they try to defy the odds. They make their own rules and quickly surrender to the exquisite power of possession. What began as a fling evolved into something far greater than either of them could have imagined. What will the Italian billionaire do to save Vanessa when they are thrown into a world they are both unfamiliar with time and time again?

My fiancé was drugged at a party and spent the night tangled up with Isabelle Parson, the housekeeper's daughter. Afterward, Isabelle turned up pregnant, and Adrian tore up our engagement right there at our engagement party. "Leah, Isabelle is carrying my child. I have to marry her. I know you still love me. After I marry Isabelle, you can keep being my lover." I agreed to break off the engagement on the spot, then turned around and married Gordon—the man I'd once refused in a family alliance. At my wedding, Adrian stood before the guests and mocked me with an icy smile. "So this is what you've sunk to without me—marrying a pauper on the verge of bankruptcy. I'm the richest man in Jeffolton City. All you have to do is beg, and I'll let you come back to me." I looked at him with a thin, distant smile. He still didn't know—whoever I marry would become the richest man in Jeffolton City.

Lucian Alastair, an actor by passion and successful in both looks and talent. He had inherited his father's Italian traits by looks and brain. A tragic past made himself distant from his family and the only way to gain them back is to take up the CEO position in his father's billion dollar empire despite him not being interested. And to marry a stranger. Especially when he knows all the females are Gold Diggers....**********Adelia Wentworth had just completed her degree in Business Administration and joined her dad's firm as a trainee. She is shocked to see the firm is currently facing problems and one possible way to solve the problem is getting the contract renewed with Alastair Enterprise. Even though her parents say that everything is alright, she knows it is not the case and decided to solve the problem by dealing with the new CEO Lucian Alastair. Adelia knows that she cannot get Lucian Alastair's appointment and decides to meet him with an element of Surprise. Little she know that the surprise is on her and that too a life changing one...

Ivana Blake never imagined that marrying into one of the wealthiest families in New York would feel like a sentence instead of salvation. Her new husband, Ethan D’Amelio, is charming in public but distant behind closed doors, quickly swept away by his corporate empire. Left alone in the cavernous D’Amelio estate, Ivana finds herself watched, haunted—not by ghosts, but by a man far more dangerous: Christopher D’Amelio. Her husband’s stepfather. Cold. Ruthless. Beautiful in a way that burns. He is the man no one dares challenge. The man she should avoid at all costs. But when glances turn into confessions, and silence turns into touches, Ivana begins to unravel a dangerous obsession neither of them can resist. What begins as curiosity turns into a tangled web of passion, betrayal, and secrets that threaten to destroy them both. As the walls close in and her marriage crumbles, Ivana must choose between the safety of a lie—or the fire of a love that should never exist. This is not a love story. It’s a descent into desire, power, and the darkest corners of the human heart.