Food Binding

Addy Walker once believed love was supposed to be loud—felt in bedtime stories, laughter in the kitchen, and the warmth of arms that made the world feel safe. That’s how it was before her mother died. Before her father changed. Grief hollowed him out. The man who once teased and protected became a shell—quiet, cold, unreachable. Then came the bottles. The slammed doors. The bruises. Addy, now eighteen, has learned to survive in silence—walking lightly, speaking carefully, hiding her pain beneath long sleeves and polite smiles. She works long hours to keep food on the table while her father sinks deeper into debt and addiction. One night, she comes home to a dark, freezing house—again. The electricity is off. Again. And she knows why. She confronts him, her voice sharper than it’s ever been. He denies it at first, but the truth is already spread across the kitchen counter in final notice bills and losing betting slips. He’d gambled away the electric bill money on a horse. The argument erupts. He screams, she stands her ground. When he slaps her, she doesn’t flinch. Something inside her shifts. She’s done waiting for the man he used to be. Addy packs a bag. She’s leaving—for real this time. No plan. No destination. Just freedom. But as she storms out into the rain, a long, black car pulls up to the curb. A man steps out—tall, broad-shouldered, older. His face is hard, almost frightening in the shadows, but he’s striking. Dangerous. And calm.

He's sugar. She's spice. Together, they will never work. She has done the impossible. Working for the country's most difficult boss for seven years. Rosaline Carter's work life is fueled by her love for spicy food, a fat paycheck, and dreams of sending her brother to Harvard. She's sworn off love completely. Until that fateful monday morning. "I need a fiancée, Miss Carter. And I need one who at least knows my favourite brand of coffee." A contract marriage to her boss, the impossible and difficult Alaric Sylvester? Rosaline never even saw him as a man to begin with. But for five billion dollars? She would propose to Mr Ice king and plan the wedding alone. Alaric Sylvester hates his assistant. With her sensible shoes, horn rimmed glasses, and perfectly polite way of speaking, she never fails to get on his nerves. She's the last person he wants for a wife, or even a romantic figure. Yet she's the best option. No one knows his schedule by heart, or his love for sweets. It's just three years. And he'll never see her again. With his inheritance on the line, the board of directors hounding him for being too antisocial, and rumours starting to stir...he will do anything to save his reputation. Including marrying his cold hearted assistant. And with her hatred for sweets, he's sure he'll never like her. It's only a marriage agreement. The terms were simple. But simple doesn't always equal easy. And the human heart is a traitorous beast.

After my husband, Trevor Penn, abuses me for the 98th time just to stand up for Callista Whitcombe, I've completely given up on him. That's when I accept his best friend, Maddox Harlow's confession. After spending the night with Maddox, he agrees to help me fake my death. That way, I'll be able to use a brand new identity to marry him overseas. I've taken the fake-death drug Maddox has given to me, only to wake up in a coffin earlier than expected. I can't move a single muscle in my body. But that's when I overhear Maddox's conversation with another person outside the coffin. "Mr. Harlow, you convinced Trevor to abuse Judith before pretending to save her from her abusive life. Now that you've obtained her full-fledged trust, why did you still arrange for her to be buried after faking her death?" "Only by doing this will the Whitcombes trust that Judith is truly dead. That way, Callie's position as the heiress will be unshakable. No one will ever bring up the fact that she's an illegitimate child ever again." The other person sounds hesitant. "Won't it be too long if we only dig the coffin out one week from now, after you've held the wedding with Callista?" "The fake-death drug's effects can last for five days. I've already had someone put enough water, food, and oxygen tanks in the coffin. There's no way Judith will die."

It was our wedding anniversary when my husband's high school sweetheart posted a sonogram picture on her social media, with her captioning a public thank-you to my husband: [Thank you to the man who's been there for me for ten years, and for giving me a son.] The room spun, and anger surged through me as I quickly commented: [So, you're proud of being a homewrecker?] Almost immediately, my husband called, his voice full of rage. "How can you think such disgusting things? All I did was help her with IVF, fulfilling her dream of becoming a single mom. "And by the way, Ruby only needed one try to get pregnant, while you’ve been through three rounds with nothing. Your body is useless!" Just three days ago, he told me he was going abroad for business—ignoring my calls and messages the entire time. I thought he was just busy. However, it turned out he was with her, attending her prenatal checkup. Half an hour later, Ruby posted again, showing off a table full of delicious food. [I got tired of French food, so Ash made me all my favorite dishes. He’s the best!] I stared at the pregnancy test in my hand, the joy I had felt earlier now completely gone. After eight years of love and six years of swallowing my pride just to keep the marriage alive, I’m finally ready to let go.

A blizzard erupted without warning, and the glacial mountains began to collapse. My instinct screamed at me to shift and run, to let my Inner Wolf take over and flee—but it was too late. The storm swept in, laced with a strange silver dust that hung heavy in the air. It was like an invisible chain, binding me tightly, locking away my wolf. Worse still, my strength was nearly gone. As captain of the Silvermoon Patrol, I had been out on the tundra all night. Hours ago, I had fought off a vicious ambush by Rogues, and my body still bore the wounds—deep, bleeding, and far from healed. I could feel it: my wolf energy had been pushed past its limit. Maxin, my Inner Wolf, was silent now, his strength depleted and unresponsive. My limbs were going numb, my body sinking into the snow as the roar of the wind drowned everything else out. But I wasn’t afraid. Because I knew he would come. My boyfriend—the head of the tribe's Search and Rescue Unit—had never failed a mission. I believed with all my heart that he would find me. And yet… he didn’t come himself. He sent a rookie instead, while he went after Daisy, whom he believed had been caught in an avalanche. But Daisy hadn’t been in danger at all. She merely wanted a dramatic way to confess her love to him. Three days later, Xander finally found me, buried deep beneath the frozen layers. He froze at the sight—my body, encased in ice, unmoving. He couldn’t believe it: the fierce, relentless warrior he knew, dead beneath the snow. He reached out to touch me… but the ice cracked. And before he could react, my body slipped into the depths of the glacier, vanishing into the abyss.

Rosie White, the only daughter of the whites who had fallen in love with her boyfriend since first grade, finally managed to date him and became his fiancé despite all the difficulties. But in the third year of their relationship, he cheated on her with an unknown woman, the truth chattering her will to love again, until she had a one-night stand with an unknown man, who pestered her to take responsibility. Rosie is the best surgeon doctor in eastern Georgia, popularly known as Miss Rose. She always appears cold-hearted and looks strong, but breaks on the inside. Being a twenty-eight-year-old spinster and having been pressured by her family to get married, the Whites were desperate to marry their daughter to someone of similar status. Mr. Logan, as Rosie calls him, is clingy as hell, and will pester her on a day-to-day basis, and finally decides to get married to him, on the premise of repaying him for rescuing her and according to the contract, divorce after after three years! But why is this man not planning to divorce at all? Who is Mr Logan? The most devilish and feared man in the United States! With so many secrets looming behind the scenes, her life is just like a Pandora's box, following the uncovering of so many truths. Excerpts “Wifey, you taste sweeter today, let me have some more.” James hugged Rosie possessively, unwilling to let the squirming woman underneath him go. “You wish! That’s what you said yesterday!” Rosie rolled her eyes and attempted to push him off her. “I’m hungry, wifey.” “There is food in the kitchen.” She stated, still typing vigorously on her laptop. “No... I want you...”

So… He was naked. And my back was a little bit sore? I couldn't freak out, I had to stay cool. There was no way he'd touch me, because he swore that he wouldn't… We didn't do anything… Correct, or… “Did we?” I muttered under my breath, breathing slowly yet unsteadily as my chest rose and fell. He scoffed. “Now don't play coy, after all…you were the one begging for it.” He said, as he leaned in... ---------- Erica is being asked by Denise, the daughter of the Elder she worked for as a maid, to sleep with Alpha Rowen, the Alpha of the Blood Moon Lycans Pack, in exchange for her mother's freedom trading her virginity in the process as Alpha Rowen only wanted a virgin mate…and giving Erica to him while under the influence of the drug she had prepared, Denise was sure to take her place on the red stained bedsheet. But the Alpha is not the kind that can be fooled by drugged food and drinks, though he still has to marry Denise for the sake of his reputation, he also goes ahead to make Erica his… But it doesn't end there…now that Denise is poisoned and Erica is accused of attempted murder, what would be the outcome of her fate after her execution? Being reborn in one Natasha's body, Erica is given a second chance to live again…she meets her new mates, the hot Triplet Alphas and is happy to live a new life of love, thinking the moon goddess had blessed her enough… What actually changed was her, and not the world, there was still Denise, and everyone that had betrayed her in her past life… Will she go ahead to live as Natasha? Or would the opposite be the case?

The day my birth parents found me, the reunion banquet they threw turned into their funeral. My parents and their adopted daughter, Leila, died of food poisoning that night. The only one who survived was my older brother, Alpha Kian. He didn’t like sweets, so he never touched the cake. The cake that I handed to them myself. “So you want to take Leila’s place. “You’re just jealous because she got all our love! “She was the only one who ever accepted you, and you still killed her!” Those were Kian’s exact words as he shouted at me right outside the hospital room. From that day on, I became a sinner. To make up for it, I barely slept four hours a night and worked five jobs just to buy back the villa the rival pack seized during the chaos. However, the day I finally saved up enough, I saw my dead parents throwing a birthday party for Leila in that very villa. Kian stood among them, looking at her with a warmth I didn’t recognize. My mother said, “Isn’t today also Lily’s birthday? It’s been eight years. Maybe it’s time to forgive her.” However, Kian didn’t hesitate to refuse. “No. Even though Leila sniffed out the wolfsbane and saved you, we agreed that Lily gets ten years. “We can’t risk her ever trying to poison Leila again. Not even a day less.” I clutched the diagnosis paper from the clinic tightly and laughed through my tears. I knew I wouldn’t get to ten years. I was already dying.

Kiami Lynn, remembers dying in a zombie horde after surviving 8 years of an apocalypse. Remembering how she spent her first life helping family who never truly cared, abandoning the few who genuinely loved her. Her final thoughts are filled with regret and betrayal as she succumbs to the horde, reflecting on how her misplaced loyalty led to her demise. But death is not the end, Kiami awakens ten days before the outbreak in her own past, alive, whole, and confused. She is greeted by the Ultimate Power System, a mysterious interface that grants her a Sanctuary — a space to train, store items, grow food, and prepare for survival. Within the Sanctuary, she is guided by Echo, a cryptic, riddle-speaking spirit who teaches her to cultivate new powers, master her skills, and make strategic choices. Reborn, Kiami is no longer the quiet, people-pleasing girl she once was. She is outspoken, calculating, and insightful, using the knowledge of her past life to anticipate the coming apocalypse. Over the course of ten days, she trains relentlessly, honing her reflexes, combat skills, and strategic thinking. Haunted by visions of her past mistakes, she learns the true cost of misplaced loyalty and the importance of foresight, strategy, and decisive action. Every decision carries risk, but every earned skill and reward brings her closer to becoming a survivor capable of not just enduring the apocalypse — but turning the tide of the human vs. zombie war. As the outbreak draws nearer, Kiami begins to manipulate the real world, testing her powers, setting traps, and preparing to rewrite her fate. With Echo’s riddles guiding her and the Ultimate Power System enhancing her body, mind, and strategy, she is determined that this time, nothing will stop her — no betrayal, no undead horde, no past mistakes.

What happens when a simple decision turns your life upside down? Blood, secrets, and ploys await. ------- It was challenging to pay attention to the meal while your husband was staring at you as if you were his next meal. “Stop looking at me like that, baby,” I whispered in his ear. He muttered, “Then kitten, stop licking the spoon with that sexy tongue.” “Am I not allowed to eat my food now?” I inquired, squandering my innocence. But we both knew I was teasing him, and the bulge in his pants was the obvious sign that I had succeeded. He whispered in his husky Italian accent, “Oh, you are not walking straight when I am done with you tonight, my lovely sweet wife.” Oh, God! ------- Anaya Regio is a naïve 22-year-old girl who is a gentle soul with a simple life, but her simple life takes a complicated turn when she discovers her parents are not her biological parents. Nicolas Ricci is a 27-year-old one of the most feared Mafia bosses in Italy. His only goal in life is to become the number one mafia boss in all history, regardless of the lengths to do so. He is ruthless and a cold-blooded killer. What happens when Anaya becomes a pawn in Nicolas's game and has to get involved in a world of hurt and greed? Will she understand his game and leave him or give in to the attraction she feels? Will Nicolas stay hidden behind the walls he built near his heart, or will he let her steal it? Join the roller coaster journey of Anaya and Nicolas. Where they find deceit, greed, and agony with love, lust, and trust. Warning: Mature content, abuse, blood, and fights.