Echo Of Distant Water

After surviving heartbreak, war, and loss, Catriona thought peace had finally found her. She and Alpha Jayden are bonded mates, raising their son Abriel after the tragic loss of their twins. But the happiness is short-lived. As Abriel turns four, Jayden grows cold and distant again—emotionally shut off from both his mate and child. Catriona holds their family together alone, aching for the man who once protected her heart with fire. Then Abriel speaks for the first time… and calls another man “Daddy.” With that one word, the past Catriona buried comes roaring back. Gabriel—the man whose blood may run through Abriel’s veins—returns. And so do the old spirits, haunting dreams, and ancestral forces that once nearly tore them all apart. As Jayden spirals and Abriel’s dormant powers awaken, Catriona is forced into an impossible position. Protect her mate and the fragile love they’ve rebuilt? Or uncover the truth that could destroy it all? When the pack faces a new threat tied to Abriel’s powers, only one thing is certain: this time, love alone may not be enough.

Exiled. Marked for death. Forgotten by her own blood. Michelle Morripin spent years living like a beast—until a cruel offer gives her the chance to reclaim what was stolen from her: her name, her place in the world… her revenge. All she has to do is bear the Supreme Alpha’s child. But there’s one problem: Matthew Dawolf doesn’t touch women. Legendary, untouchable, and feared, he keeps his distance from any female. No one has ever seen him falter. No one has ever seen him burn with desire. Until now. Disguised as a mere servant, Michelle infiltrates the castle, ready to complete her mission. But when she crosses paths with him, she realizes that the distant, indifferent Alpha everyone describes can’t take his eyes off her. He watches her. He hunts her. He wants her. And Michelle? She was supposed to seduce him. Complete her plan and walk away. But how do you escape the deadliest wolf in the kingdom when the real game has already begun—and the prize might be her own life?

The day the Porter family went bankrupt, my elder sister, who had been engaged to Calvin Porter, claimed she was in love with someone else and cut ties with him without a second thought. I was the one who stepped forward to take her place, becoming the laughingstock of our social circle. I smoothed away all the hardness in him, tried to shape myself into the woman he liked, and swallowed countless moments of bitterness, hoping only to warm his distant heart. Until our wedding day. A car accident happened, and Calvin's first instinct was to shield my sister with his whole body. "Rebecca, don't be scared. Where are you hurt? We'll get you to the hospital right away!" He carried her into the ambulance without so much as glancing back at me. I looked down at the iron rod piercing my chest and felt warm blood gush out. It was only then I understood. He was not indifferent by nature, he was simply indifferent to me. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Calvin came to our house carrying the engagement gift.

At Sullivan Group's annual banquet, a female university student approaches Peter Sullivan and offers herself to him. The usually cold and distant Peter suddenly freezes because this young woman looks exactly like his deceased first love. He can't help but tease, "You're asking to be my mistress in front of my wife. Are you so sure you won't be thrown out?" The young lady lifts her chin, and her stubborn expression is identical to that of his lost love. "You two got married for business reasons and mutual benefits. Does she have any say over what you do? Peter, only you can save my mom. Will you do it or not?" She's right. I'm just a pawn in a marriage of convenience. How could I possibly influence Peter's choices? But then, I catch a glint of tenderness in his eyes that I've never seen before, and a self-deprecating smile forms on my lips. Maybe, instead of clinging on and being thrown out like trash, it's better if I give up my place willingly.

The day before Henry Baker and I are supposed to marry, my mother sedates me. She makes my twin sister marry Henry instead. A few years later, the company Henry established turns into a thriving empire. My sister, Diana Halliwell, flourishes with him. While I was at the lowest point in my life, my childhood friend, Jorge Ward, proposed. It's only after marriage that I realize he's worthless. Diana and Henry attend various parties. They enjoy delicious food and wear expensive clothes. Meanwhile, I end up exhausted after having to cook and clean for my family. One night, Mom speaks softly to Jorge when she thinks I've fallen asleep. "I was worried she would find out the truth about what happened back then, but it seems she's too dumb to notice anything." Jorge laughs. "You're a genius, Erica. You laced Laura's water with sleeping pills so Diana could marry Henry on her behalf. I'm glad to see how happy Diana is now." Mom sighs. "I just feel bad for you. You've always liked Diana, yet you're forced to live with a wash-out like Laura…"

When I was six, I spilled hot water, slipped, and burned my face. My face was ruined. My parents learned their lesson and never let my younger sister do housework. To everyone they met, they praised her beauty, her charm. They turned to me with nothing but disdain. When I was ten, I had a high fever. They didn't think much of it and let it drag on until my brain was damaged, leaving me slow and dull. They learned their lesson again. From then on, if my sister so much as coughed, they would rush her to the hospital in the dead of night, showering her with care. I was like a failed experiment. Every mistake they made with me, they corrected for her. I was ugly, silent, dim-witted, unwanted. She was beautiful, sweet-talking, clever, adored by all. When I was diagnosed with depression, I gathered what little courage I had and told them. Mom lashed out, called me sick in the head, and accused me of being petty. If I was so capable, she said, I might as well die. It wasn't until my sister pushed me off a high-rise that they found out, by sheer accident, that she wasn't their child at all. I was their one and only biological child.

My girlfriend called me frantically out of the blue, saying her mother's water had broken. She begged me to take them to the hospital. But I lazily hung up the phone and turned away, buying myself an ice cream bar instead. In my previous life, her mother had also gone into labor late in life. I had risked everything to rush her to the hospital, running twelve red lights, pushing my car to the limit until the fuel gauge nearly burst. Yet, despite all that, her mother had lost the baby. Worse still, she turned around and accused me of killing the baby. My girlfriend had hated me for it, blaming me for her mother's inability to have children again. That very night, she and her shameless relatives took over my family's house, forcing my parents into such anger and despair that they ended up in the hospital. My company went bankrupt, and as if that weren't enough, I was beaten so severely that both my legs were broken. In the end, I fell into a deep depression and took my own life. But when I opened my eyes again, I found myself reborn. This time, I uncovered the secret her mother had been hiding.

When a wife cheats on their husband and gets pregnant with another man's child, the husband will usually chase her out of the home and ask for a divorce. However, Leon Wolf's situation is a little different. He is 26 years old this year, and he has been married for three years. He lives with his wife and her family who treat him like a slave most of the time. One day, his wife told him that she got pregnant, and he was chased out of the home. Filled with resentment and humiliation over how he had been treated, he found himself wandering all the way to the cemetery, where he saw two men attempting to assassinate a beautiful woman. In his bid to save her, Leon received a fatal stab wound on his chest and dragged one of the men with him into a nearby river…Leon did not resurface even though the woman had waited for a long time, so she believed that Leon had probably drowned. Before she left, she called out optimistically to the river, "My name is Iris Young. If you're still alive, come and see me sometime…"Beneath the water's surface, a soft voice said, "Iris… What a beautiful name…"

For three years, Laurie Rayne lived as the perfect wife. She was silent, devoted, and invisible in the shadow of the Voss empire. Every bestselling creation credited to the Voss name bore her fingerprints, but none bore her name. And Zane Voss, her cold, distant husband, never once gave her his heart. Now his first love is back, and Laurie is nothing more than a forgotten pawn; discarded, humiliated, and blamed for everything that went wrong. But when her younger brother's life is on the line, Laurie begs Zane for help… only to be spat on and called a leech. Cornered by desperation, Laurie does the unthinkable… She auctions herself off to the highest bidder. Theron Blackmoor: ruthless billionaire, feared businessman, and the man who buys her at a price that shocks the world. He makes her his possession, but promises her power in return. Anything she wants: except her freedom. As Laurie experiences the dark, seductive world of Theron, she uncovers secrets that were never meant to surface. Zane is not done with her. And the past she thought she left behind may be the key to taking everything back. Love was never part of the deal. But is it? Revenge? That was always the plan. ♠

Sylvie was willing to risk everything. She knew that the craziest thing she had done was to love Lucas Wright, the man who deceived her and disappeared from her life after his pack attacked her pack and killed her father. Years passed and Sylvie had learned to close her heart to any men. But then Ray Howard came into the picture and captured her cold and distant heart. As she investigated the incident seventeen years ago, Ray extended a hand to her and promised he would help her bring justice to what happened to her former pack. Would his patience, presence, and kindness become a way to thaw her frozen heart? What would happen if Lucas Wright returned to her life and found out he had a son with Sylvie and She hid the child from him for several years? Would Lucas help Sylvie get the justice she had been seeking for the innocent lives lost in that incident? And who would Sylvie choose? Ray, who had been by her side almost lost everything after he chose her, defying his parent’s orders. Or Lucas, who came back to redeem himself after he betrayed Sylvie and their child?