Faintly Unscramble

I started calling my brother "Mr. Quinn" and my childhood friend "Mr. Webb". They frown and ask why I'm being so formal with them. I smile faintly in response. "Because I think you would rather be associated with Vanessa Quinn." They scold me for being unreasonable. "Vanessa is about to marry a man in a coma for you, and her whole life will be ruined. The only reason we treat her so well is because you owe her." But what they don't know is that the one marrying a man in a coma this time isn't Vanessa. It's me—Willow Quinn.

It was six years since I started dating Duke when I asked, "Shouldn't we prepare for the marking ceremony? It's almost July." Duke stiffened, lowering his eyes to avert his gaze. "You know I'm the Alpha of the Forest Pack, Fiona. And things have been busy with the pack, so I really don't have the time to think about it." "Okay." I smiled faintly—he really had forgotten about the promise. While I had been preparing for the ceremony for days, I had also anticipated disappointment. If he could forget about something so important, that only meant I didn't mean much in his heart. In that case, I should just leave.

My husband drives me out so I can meet my best friend for an afternoon tea session. That's when I discover a used condom and a stray earring wedged between the door and the front passenger seat. I'm distraught as I head to the restaurant. My best friend hugs me warmly, but the lone earring she wears pierces my heart. I don't expose them for their betrayal. Instead, I fall into bed with my husband's best friend that very night. Later, James Fullman roars and asks why I've done this to him. I smile faintly and lean into the embrace of the man beside me. "You're not the only one who can get hot and heavy in the front passenger seat, you know."

When Aria Summersault got banished from her pack for making a grievous offense— her life turned upside down. Going rogue with an uncertain future, she engages in a battle and encounters Nicholas Sainthood, the Alpha of the Red Moon Pack, who happens to be her mate. Despite being spared from her ill-fated existence, another dilemma arises. A shadow from her parents' past hunts her, as do a series of secrets. What if the bond she shares with Nicholas is rooted in revenge? Will love be able to bridge the past into a bright future, or will it bring further ruins? *** "You have fooled me from the very beginning, Nicholas. Is everything you showed me a lie?" I faintly asked, my heart breaking into million pieces, and it doubled when he nodded his head, agreeing. "Yes, Aria."

On the day a dispute broke out between my students, I saw Samantha again—the girl I had broken up with ten years ago; the girl who had been fighting wiped away her tears and cried out for her mother. Samantha froze when she saw me. After a long moment, she seemed to remember herself and quickly apologized. "Mr. Brooke, I'm sorry for causing you trouble." I handled the compensation matter strictly by the book. When everything was settled, she lingered behind the others, clearly wanting to speak but hesitating. "I remember you didn't want to be a teacher back then," she said. I smiled faintly and walked her to the office door. "People change. So do their thoughts." Just like my feelings for her—those had been turned over long ago.

The woman my husband never got over and I were rushed to the hospital after the same car accident. The hospital's plasma supply was dangerously low. To get her into surgery as quickly as possible, my husband, Maxwell Gallagher, chose to draw my blood. What he did not know was that I had hemophilia. That single decision drained the life from me. My body failed first. My heart followed, quietly and completely. "Once Josie is stable, I'll make it up to you," he said, forcing the promise through clenched resolve. I smiled faintly as I listened. By then, everything inside me was already dead. Just as my existence was about to be erased, the Neural Outcome Determination Engine took my place and returned to my body. I thought Maxwell would never realize the truth. But the moment he looked into "my" eyes, he broke down completely.

“You wear my mark,” the Alpha King growled, fingers tightening around Nyra’s wrist as the bond flared painfully between them. “But you are not my mate.” Across the hall, the woman beside his throne smiled, her borrowed bite glowing faintly against her skin, while Nyra’s shadow burned beneath her clothes, answering a call no lie could silence. Nyra Vale was cast out as a wolfless omega, betrayed by her lover, erased by her pack, and condemned for a mark she never meant to wear. But the bite on her shoulder belongs to Rhaegon Ashmoor, the Alpha King who claimed her in darkness… and was deceived into crowning another. As a false Luna ascends the throne, the real mate awakens something ancient and forbidden within Nyra, an inheritance powerful enough to shatter kingdoms and drive an Alpha mad with hunger. A stolen mark. A hollow bond. And a mate who refuses to kneel.

"You must regret calling off our engagement, right?!" I smiled faintly as my ex-fiancé lifted his chin proudly. "I don't regret it one bit for throwing out trash like you." Ethan was stunned. He couldn't accept that I had the courage to confront him. His pride had also been trampled upon when I called him 'trash.' Ethan raised one hand, about to slap me. However, his hand was caught by a large, muscular hand. "Uncle Nathaniel?" Ethan was shocked. His knees suddenly went weak at his uncle's sharp, cold gaze. "Be polite to your aunt." Ethan's eyes widened. He was even more shocked when Nathaniel's hand moved from my waist and embraced me affectionately. Ethan couldn't believe it. The ex-fiancée he'd left was now his aunt?!

Everyone in the city knows Lena Moore award-winning investigative journalist, fearless, sharp-tongued, and impossible to intimidate. She’s built a career exposing powerful men and tearing down corrupt empires. What she doesn’t know is that the quiet man she keeps running into at her neighborhood café Eli Carter, the one who listens more than he talks, who fixes broken chairs for free and always smells faintly of ink and rain is one of those men. Eli isn’t just rich. He’s the silent owner of multiple companies, operating behind shell boards and faceless executives after his family was destroyed by public attention years ago. He chose anonymity over dominance. Their connection grows slowly. Conversations about ethics, loneliness, and truth. Late-night walks. Shared silences. Real intimacy. Then Lena is assigned a career-defining investigation. She’s hunting a mysterious billionaire whose companies are quietly reshaping the country. She’s hunting him.

Three years into marriage, he treated her badly, while treating Charlotte like a treasure. He neglected her, their marriage feeling like a prison. Ella endured it all because she deeply loved George! Until she received a photo from Charlotte, when everything became clear to her. With a heavy heart, Ella coolly signed the papers... She then took off the apron of a virtuous housewife, and put on the crown of a queen, ruling the world. Returning once more to her rightful place as a billionaire heiress and a skilled doctor, she was no longer George's wife, but a powerful woman in her own right. Her ex-husband insisted, "Mrs. Wickham, I haven't signed yet! You can't be with anyone else!" Ella smiled faintly, "Mr. Wickham, we have no relationship anymore!" His eyes slightly red, the man trembled as he spoke the vows from their wedding day, "I will never divorce you!" The Divorced Female Billionaire Heiress is created by Eva TaleSmith, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.