eight dates

Skylar Lindse finds herself contending with more than was in the job description when she accepted the temp position at Banscroft Empires after it's CEO, James Banscroft himself, offers her an exceptional bonus on top of her temp wage to stand in as his girlfriend to get his family off his back. Fending off his mother's setups at every turn, James hopes bringing Skylar in will put a more long-term stop to the awful blind dates, but he finds himself unprepared for how permanent he'd like this temp to be.

Two decades ago, the domain of courts waged battle on various types of enraged witches. Both groups lost a number of comrades during the five-year battle, but neither was willing to kneel to their feet. Until a sorcerer from one of the courts arrived with something that would put a stop to the never-ending power struggle. A stone-based octagonal crystal. It happened quickly but painfully: a light flashed in front of them, eight rays from various stones merged into one, and the crystal detonated like a bomb before they could comprehend what was going on. Their vision was being sucked out of them by the intolerable brightness, and it wasn’t only their sight that was being sucked out of them… their souls and the magic. They felt normal… and weak… when the light faded and the battlefield became dark once more, with shining dusts visibly dancing in the air. The enchantment has vanished. Both parties were defeated. The magic never came back.

"Jamie, I've decided. I'm ready to join you at Hillridge as your exclusive screenwriter. I'll be there by the end of this month!" Melanie huddled in a quiet corner on the set as she made the call, a pregnancy test report clutched in her hand. She tried to shake off the chill from the freezing weather, but her hands and feet still felt painfully cold. Jamie's voice at the end of the line was a deep and pleasant baritone. "Your talent has long deserved a bigger stage. For eight years, you've turned me down nearly a hundred times for Ken's sake. Are you ready to leave him this time?" "Yes. I'm leaving him for good!" She clenched the pregnancy test report, her lips a bitter smile.

When I was eight months pregnant, my Beta mate Derek's mistress offended the Alpha and was sentenced to three months in silver prison. Derek wanted me to serve her time. I stared at him in disbelief. "I'm carrying our child. How can I go to prison? What if something happens to the baby—" He roughly cut me off. "It's just three months, isn't it? Your wolf is so strong, but Sophia is just an Omega. Could you really bear to watch her die?" He forcibly threw me into prison to take punishment for his precious Sophia, where I was whipped with silver chains. Through this ordeal, my wolf nearly died. That day, I had a lot of bleeding during childbirth and almost went into shock. Meanwhile, the photos of him in bed with his mistress spread all over the pack. When Derek’s brother Ethan, who had a crush on me for many years, rushed to the hospital, my voice was eerily calm. "You are right. Derek is not worthy of being my mate. You promised me that once I gave birth to the child, you would help me leave. I want to break my mate bond with Derek."

Daphney Krenshaw, a working class lady who never believes in love found herself existing in a world full of love. Her parents had her wrapped around their fingers, she was ready to be committed to anything but marriage was not on her list. Richmond Hill, a young and rich billionaire whose eyes caught all ladies found it difficult to love. He sees ladies as an object he could just play with when he felt like. As fate would have it,their first meeting was quite unusual as a spark was created . Daphney found herself engaged to the person she hated the most and is now forced to live with a rich and spoilt billionaire's son. He was different from all the dates her younger sister had set her up with. How would she cope with something she had never dreamt of having? How would Richmond end this engagement which meant business to him when he starts falling for the angel in his home?

At eight months pregnant, I was hit by a car and gave birth early. But unexpectedly, I regained my hearing. Outside the operating room, my husband was talking to the doctor. “Mr. Griffin, the baby is fully developed and stable. A normal delivery should be possible—” Albert Griffin cut him off immediately, “No, induce the labor now! I promised Summer that I would let our child rightfully join the Griffin family. Paulina is almost a month old. If she gets any older, people will figure out the truth. “If this baby doesn’t make it, that’s fine. She can always have another one. But this is the only way she will truly believe that Paulina is her own child.” I closed my eyes tightly and forced myself to stay calm. He thought his lies were perfect, but he was wrong. I heard everything. And if he could lie and pretend, so could I.

I've spent my life in the lab, researching the cure for the disease that killed my mom. No late nights out, no dates, definitely no boyfriend. Then he breaks into my lab, steals my research, and kidnaps me. He's damaged. Crazy. And definitely not human. He and his friends are on a mission to stop the company that's been torturing shifters, and now I'm a part of it. He promises to protect me. And when he touches me, I feel reborn. But he's hellbent on revenge. He won't give it up. Not even for me. Or can he?

"The story of wedding proposals and unexpected rejections from each other influenced by their family members", is the one line narration of Persuasion, a romantic novel by Jane Austen. Frederick Wentworth, a Naval officer proposed to wed Annie, when she was 19 years old. Anne's family members felt that Frederick is not the right match for her as Frederick is poor and does not have a family back round. Influenced by her family members including father, sister and brother-in-law, Anne later decided not to marry Frederick. Russel, acting in place of her mother, breaks the engagement. Eight years later Frederick becomes wealthy and he is now a captain. Anne still unmarried now and meets Frederick who has not forgiven Anne's rejection. Being an eligible bachelor now, he publicly declares he would accept proposal from any one except Anne.

Nalina (Lina) Romirez wasn't your typical nineteen year old. She had a secret that only those closest to her knew about. For her parents, they knew things would be different when their only daughter was born with a missing hand. By the time she was eight she had already mastered the art of operating a mechanical hand. It was so well built that no one could ever tell that it was fake, not even the wolves that went to her school. They were ferocious creatures that no one ever dared to mess with. Their pack (BitterFang Pack) lived deep in the woods and setting foot on their territory was an instant death sentence. Lina has never seen the higher members of the pack nor the Alpha. She didn't care much for them as her only goal was finishing her academic studies and moving out of the town. She wanted a life of her own and she was set on achieving just that. But as they say, destiny brings people together and crossing paths with the reigning Alpha wasn't something Lina had planned for. Not only was he the depiction of strength and dominance, but he also had striking features that couldn't go unnoticed. He knew she was his other half. But Lina wasn't planning on entering their territory again nor crossing paths with the Alpha for a second time. Well, that's what she thought.

After eight years and countless pregnancy tests, I was finally pregnant. Zachary loved me to his core. With or without a child, his devotion never wavered—if anything, it only grew stronger. He was over the moon, practically bouncing off the walls, promising me the world and everything in it. His parents were relieved that the Williams family legacy would finally have an heir. They completely changed their tune, suddenly treating me like I was made of gold. But I had no plans to keep this baby.