El Filibusterismo Kabanata 9

En nuestro séptimo aniversario de bodas, estaba montada sobre las piernas de mi esposo, Lucian, el Don de la mafia, besándolo con pasión. Mis dedos hurgaban con disimulo en el bolsillo de mi costoso vestido de seda, buscando la prueba de embarazo que había escondido ahí. Quería guardarme la noticia inesperada para el final de la noche. La mano derecha de Lucian, Marco, preguntó con una sonrisa sugerente en italiano: —Don… ¿qué tal su nuevo secretito? La risa burlona de Lucian vibró en mi pecho y sentí cómo se me revolvía el estómago. Respondió, también en italiano: —Como un durazno verde. Fresco y tierno. Su mano todavía acariciaba mi cintura, pero tenía la mirada perdida. —Que esto quede entre nosotros. Si mi Donna se entera, me mata. Sus hombres rieron con complicidad, alzando sus copas y jurando guardar el secreto. El calor que sentía en el cuerpo se me fue extinguiendo. Lo que ellos no sabían es que mi abuela era de Sicilia, así que entendí cada una de sus palabras. Me obligué a mantener la calma, con la sonrisa perfecta de una matriarca, pero la mano con la que sostenía la copa de champaña me temblaba. En lugar de hacer una escena, tomé el celular, busqué la invitación que había recibido hacía unos días para un proyecto privado de investigación médica internacional y acepté. En tres días, iba a desaparecer del mundo de Lucian.

Ryder, mi esposo y el Alfa de la manada, siempre ha odiado el llanto de los cachorros. Pero últimamente, empezó a cuidar al cachorro recién nacido de mi hermana adoptiva, quedándose a su lado en la guardería cada noche, hasta el amanecer. Cada vez que salía de nuestro hogar para ir a la guardería, un dolor fuerte e inexplicable me partía el corazón. Esta agonía duraba toda la noche, hasta que regresaba al amanecer. Pero llegué al límite. En el festival de la luna llena, anuncié frente a toda la manada que rompería nuestro vínculo. El enlace mental de la manada estalló en murmullos; todos pensaban que la batalla me había afectado el juicio. Una luz dorada se encendió en los ojos de Ryder mientras me miraba con incredulidad. —¿Solo porque estuve ocupado para ver cómo estabas después de que te hirieron, vas a romper nuestro vínculo? ¿Y todo por un cachorro de seis meses? Evité su mirada. En lugar de eso, mi vista se detuvo en la leve marca de labial corrida en el interior de su cuello. Aunque me temblaba la voz, me mantuve firme. —Ya que tanto quieres a su cachorro, en cuanto nuestro vínculo se rompa, podrás ser su padre sin tener que esconderte.

Mi hermana, María Sánchez, que siempre despreciaba la escuela, de pronto quiso presentar el examen para la universidad y les pidió a mis papás que me casaran con el hijo de un alto mando militar; a cambio, el general pondría el dinero para su carrera, un “apoyo” disfrazado de arreglo. Entonces supe que ella también había renacido. En la vida pasada, a María los libros le daban flojera: salió de la prepa y se casó con el hijo del comandante de zona, con un arreglo generoso de por medio. Luego a Bruno lo cambiaron a la frontera norte, a una Zona Militar pegada a nogales; a ella le repugnó el entorno y se negó a irse con la tropa. Yo, en cambio, terminé la universidad a puro trabajo y ahorro, entré a una dependencia pública con plaza base y me volví, por fin, capitalina de verdad. Ya metida en la vida castrense, María empezó a cobrar mordidas usando el nombre del suegro general. Lo metió en broncas con los de arriba; la Contraloría de la Militar lo bajó de puesto sin miramientos y, al final, la suegra la corrió de la casa. Tras el divorcio, la engancharon con una “asesoría” para invertir en la Bolsa de Valores; vino el desplome y quemó los ahorros de jubilación de mis papás. Sin salida, se me pegó y, cuchillo en mano, me obligó a entregarle mis ahorros y mi casa “para levantarse otra vez”. En el jaloneo me dio doce puñaladas. Me desangré. Cuando abrí los ojos otra vez, estaba de vuelta al principio: mi hermana les pedía a mis papás que me casaran con Bruno. Yo acepté encantada y me di de baja de la prepa de inmediato.

Does no one want him? Is he so undesirable his mate rejected him and chose someone else? Is he so despicable even his second chance mate doesn’t want to be with him? What’s more, he realized that members of his pack don’t actually like him. They fear him. They don’t like his methods. They prefer his younger brother to become the next Alpha of Blood Moon Pack. His father made the decision to strip him of his position after he made a number of unconscionable acts. Jared smirked, scoffing to himself as he drove off the territory. Where is he supposed to go? Would anyone still welcome him? He thought of Polly and how he hurt her many times. He would consider it a miracle if she still accepts him even after being marked against her will. ******* Each book in the Snow Mountain Pack Series can be read as a stand-alone. If you'd rather not have any spoiler, the sequence is as follows: Book 1 - Begging His Luna (completed) Book 2 - Found by Her (completed) Book 3 - His Unknown Mate (completed) Book 4 - Marked Against Her Will (ongoing) Book 5 - Alpha King's Mysterious Mate (completed) Book 6 - The Last Lycan's Fate (2024) Book 7 - Rejecting Her Rejection (2024) Book 8 - The First Alpha Queen (2025) Book 9 - The Vampire's Lone Wolf (2025) Update Schedule: Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday

Sonica Singh Sikarwar is not your ordinary protagonist and damsel in distress. She is bold. She is outrageous. She is confident and she knows 'it'! 'Life is an unstoppable flow and we must get along with it.' However, life isn't all roses and strawberries too. It has got thorns too, but Sony is ready to be pricked. An ordinary girl of the age of twenty-three, her life came to shatter when her engagement with Rudransh Shenoy, CEO of the Shenoy Group of Industries was called off. At the age of twenty and six, Rudransh is a heartthrob and a dream man of any young girl. He is sharp, cunning, intelligent, calm, and knows how to get his way into most things. After going through a bunch of disappointing relationships that led him to nowhere, Rudransh upon having Sonica for himself. The girl he really admires and looks forward to spending his whole life with. However, things don’t always go as planned. Just when one is sure of certainty and 'assured' win. Life smacks hardest at the face. One day before her engagement, Sonica drops by the office and catches Rudransh kissing his assistant. Shattered and heartbroken, she slapped him hard and did what any other woman in her sensible mind would do. Called off the engagement. But Rudransh isn't a brat to mess with. A year later, he was back with a keen persistence upon persuading her. “Where the words fail, action does the work.” Tired of constant rejections, Rudransh has decided to play dirty. As per section 9 of The Hindu Marriage Act: He demands restitution of his conjugal rights from a wedding that never took place. Will Sonica be able to escape her ex's well-planned trap? Or will she accept fate and give in?

SYNOPSIS: Nancy Coronel is a powerful girl, 5 feet 9 inches tall, of mixed Chinese ancestry, and has an athletic build as a result of her love of sports. She has an attractive, sensual, and modest Asian beauty, but she also has a split personality that suggests the ability to be a strong leader and manager of the family's hacienda. She develops into a valiant warrior willing to fight in the battle against rebellion as she accepts responsibility inspired by her passions as a woman with faith striving to acquire a law degree at the university. When confronted by rebels, Nancy Coronel assumes the person tough guy wisdom of a man to defend the hacienda and the lives and property of her people from torture and assault and her man came to be her partner. She learned that her hidden weakness was falling in love. Jason Steven Chang approaches as a partner and guides, a wealthy and well-known man who works as a covert spy for a significant international organization. He is familiar with the numerous conflicts caused by the opposition's uprising. Despite his knowledge about rebelling workers, he chose to live a life of peace, but they became lovers. Despite being 6 feet and 2 inches tall and stunning, he made her feel insecure about his love interest. She insisted on portraying herself as a tough guy, which he challenged and discredited. She secretly becomes pregnant as a result, and she chooses to leave him behind to begin a new life with her kid. Their paths cross oftentimes. As a single parent of their son, she disregards him. Nancy still displays a dual personality to test him but made her his legal counselor when he is allegedly confronted by his real mission. He still loves her and courts her again to propose marriage.

Lilly Riverwood, daughter of Alpha Mick and Luna Harmony, lives in the shadow of her brother Luka, the heir to the Riverwood werewolf pack. Unlike most Alpha offspring, Lilly isn't power-hungry or interested in pack politics. She's a talented violinist who has gained fame in both human and werewolf societies worldwide. Standing tall at 5'9", Lilly is unusually tall for a she-wolf. She finds herself constantly avoiding her brother's overprotective nature and the scheming she-wolves who try to befriend her solely to get closer to Luka. While her brother enjoys popularity as the Alpha heir and football team captain, Lilly prefers a quieter life focused on her violin, studies, and helping at the pack's preschool. Under her mother's guidance, Lilly has been training to become a future Luna, as her mother believes she's destined to mate with an Alpha from another pack. The only thing Lilly truly does for herself is playing the violin, having no genuine friends except Emma, Rachel, and Mia. Lilly's routine is disrupted when a mysterious new Alpha heir named Axel Blackthorn joins her Advanced Music Theory class. After she performs a violin piece that captivates the class, Axel approaches her and shows interest, kissing her hand in front of everyone. This unexpected gesture sends the school's rumor mill into overdrive. When confronted by Kendra, the self-proclaimed future Luna of the Riverwood Pack, and her posse about Axel's attention, Lilly finally snaps and declares that, unlike them, she doesn't aspire to be someone's Luna—she just wants to be left alone with her violin and her music.

午後6時、清水陽菜（しみず　ひな）は松原博斗（まつはら　ひろと）の好みに合わせて、6品の料理とスープを用意した。 午後7時、陽菜はお風呂の準備を整え、横に彼が好きなバラとアロマをセットした。 午後8時、陽菜は玄関に博斗のスリッパを用意した。 午後9時、博斗がドアを開けると、彼女はすぐに迎え、彼のスーツを受け取りながら、スリッパを彼の足元にそっと置いた。そして、スーツをクローゼットに掛けた後、食事にするか風呂にするかを優しく尋ねた。 彼はスマホを見ながら、何気なく答えた。 「風呂」

Siobhan Williams has always been a smart woman, graduated early from high school and excelled in her college career. She went into the FBI at an early age and is one of the youngest agents in her Unit. Working in the crimes against children division of the BAU, the FBI is brought in when the number of kidnappings reaches an alarming number; 13 children over the course of two months. These kidnappings are occurring in her home state of California, where she hasn't gone back to her home and pack for almost a decade, but now she and her partner volunteer to head the investigation for these disappearances. Along with a few other agents—another wolf shifter, a bear shifter, a Fae, and a vampire—they head straight into a battle between the Gods and Goddesses. With enough on her plate, the last thing she needs is a mate hovering around her and getting into her business. Tiernan Hathaway has been Alpha of his pack for the last 9 years, and has yet to meet his mate though he remembers having a pull to the old Beta's second eldest daughter, Siobhan. It's been almost a decade since he had last seen her and she only ever calls her family, never coming home. This will change when children have begun to go missing at alarming rates, most of them being children of the supernatural community. He is in for a surprise when the FBI comes knocking on his door, about the missing children. A battle is brewing between the God and Goddess of the Underworld: Arawn and Scàthach. It's classic good vs evil with a twist of the dead, undead, and the living. Are the missing children a part of a greater, but evil plan in this war? Or is it just coincidence?

As a daughter of Alpha, Amelia Cambell has a bright future. A wealthy family, a best friend in school, and a handsome boyfriend who is the dream of every girl - Ben Harwood. Though her parents didn't like Ben, Amelia was so in love with Ben, and she deeply believed that they were meant to be together. Even sometimes she feels like Ben has almost control over her life, but she ignores them like a girl in love. With her bestie Emily's influence, she decided to give her virginity to Ben at the night of Emily's. birthday party. However, what she didn't expect is that she accidentally slept with another man. Even worse, two months later, she found out she got pregnant by that stranger. At last, she got to know about Emily evil plan and her being ben mate. But Amelia got broke when her own father banished her from the pack. Six years later. Without anyone help, Amelia raises her twins Alec and Ethan by working as a service worker at a 5-star chain hotel. Today, the hotel manager informed her that there will be a Vip customer having business lunch at the hotel, so all service needs to stand by at 9 am. Due to being late for work, the manager ordered her to serve alcohol to the VIP room rather than prepare the dining room. When Amelia knocked on the door for room service, the Alpha had just finished a shower. They both found out they are mates. At the end, the Alpha marked her and then reject when he knows about her children. But what happen when he turns out to be same Alpha with whom Amelia lose her virginity year's ago.