Grizz We Bare Bears

Seventeen-year-old Elara Ward has spent her life being forgotten and shuffled between foster homes and small towns that never remembered her once she’s gone. But the dying town of Willowmere is different. The air hums with whispers, the lake no longer reflects the moon, and something ancient is stirring beneath the willows. When Elara follows a strange light into the woods one blood-red night, she crosses the veil and a boundary between the human world and the Lumenwild, a realm of living moonlight and haunted shadows. There, she’s marked by an ancient power known as Moonfire, a symbol burned into her skin that pulses with the rhythm of the twin moons above. Saved by four mysterious men who are named Cael, their golden-eyed Alpha; Kian, the lightning-tongued rogue; Auren, the silent watcher; and Nyx, the shadow who walks between worlds and Elara learns that her arrival has reignited a prophecy buried in legend. The Riftborn, creatures of bone and smoke, are returning, and the mark she bears is both a weapon and a curse. In the heart of the Lumenwild’s glowing forest lies the Sanctum, a stronghold where wolves walk in light and the Moon’s will is law. There, Elara begins to uncover the truth, her crossing was no accident. The veil didn’t just let her in but it had called her home. As the moons draw closer and the bond between Elara and the wolves deepens, she must choose whether to embrace the power that could heal a broken world… or unleash the one that could end it. Because the Moon is awake again and she remembers her chosen.

Most people say rejection is the worst thing that could happen to a person, especially when it involves your fated mate. You become a shell of person you once were. Alpha Xavier and I have known each other since we were kids, we were always there for each and slowly I fell in love with my best friend. I was there when he told me he loved my twin sister I stood by and let him be happy, until that one fateful night when we found out we were mates and he rejected me and choose my twin. From that day forward nothing was the same. I watched them be happy together while I was slowly breaking and then I finally choose myself and left without a word to anyone. Eight years later the unthinkable happened. I am found and I am required to return to my pack because my twin sister died, Alpha Xavier chosen mate.

I'm betrothed to Hylton Miller from the moment I'm born. For as long as I can remember, he protects and loves me like I'm already his wife. Even if I get a tiny splinter on my hand, he holds it carefully as he gently clips it away. That is, until the young woman his family sponsors offends a client and is about to be sent to Zubania. He drugs me with a glass of wine. When I wake up, I'm in a foreign country and trapped in an illegal factory. Here, I endure inhuman abuse, torment, even humiliation... At my lowest, when despair almost swallows me whole, that sponsored young woman appears before me in a pristine, custom-made white gown. She smiles sweetly and presses the play button on a voice recording. And from the speaker comes the voice I long for every day and night. "It's fine. Alina's the young lady of the Winslet family—they won't do anything to her. But Priscilla? She's different. Worst case, I'll make it up to Alina when she gets back…" In that moment, it feels like someone tears my heart open with their bare hands.

I was sold to the devil in a bespoke Italian suit. Andre Volkov. The Alpha of the Onyx Pack. A cold, tattooed sadist who views me as nothing more than a merger acquisition to secure his European borders. I hated him before I even met him. I hated the way his eyes stripped me bare, and I hated the shiver of fear that raced through me when he forced his ring onto my finger. I vowed to lock my heart in a cage of ice. I vowed never to let him break me. But on our wedding night, something changed. The man who came to me in the dark wasn’t the cold, loud tyrant who mocked me at the altar. He was silent. Intense. His touch wasn't just possessive; it was worshipful. Dangerous. When he sank his teeth into my neck, claiming me as his mate, I didn't push him away. I burned for him. I thought I was falling for my husband. I didn't know the Volkov bloodline carried a secret. I didn't know there were two of them. And now, I’ve been marked by the wrong brother.

My husband, James Zeller, and I have established a common-law marriage. We did not have a formal wedding ceremony, nor do we have a marriage license. We also live separately, our lives barely intertwining, because he has a special profession. Therefore, despite being married to him for seven years, we've never met each other's friends and relatives. As his wife, I'm proud of being married to him despite how it pains me. I'm willing to give up the opportunity to study at the National Academy of Sciences to take care of things at home while he works. One day, my son, Jasper Chalder, comes home from elementary school crying. He sobs about not being a bastard child and requests to see James. Greatly distressed, I decide to take him to visit the military base over the new year for a family reunion. However, I don't expect this trip to turn my life completely upside down.

After being reborn, the first thing my cousin and I did was switch grooms. In our previous lives, we had gotten married on the same day. She, gentle and composed by nature, became the wife of Blake Malcolm, the aloof naval commander. On their wedding anniversary, Blake skipped the occasion to celebrate his childhood friend's birthday. My cousin had only wanted an explanation, but Blake claimed his conscience was clear. They fell into a silence that lasted fifty years. And me? With my temper—quick to fight, never one for patience—I had married an accountant from the machinery plant's compound. The accountant was soft-spoken, forever complaining about how loud I was, and how little I cared about appearances. We fought every three days, major arguments every five. Eventually, he stopped coming home. Less than a year into the marriage, we divorced. Then one day, my cousin and I opened our eyes and found ourselves young again—and it was the day we were to marry. Again.

Tristan Moreno and I are asked when we're getting married when we attend a class reunion. "We're undecided." "1st of October." Our answers come simultaneously. His head shoots up, and he looks at me with anger and disbelief. I ignore him and explain to my classmates, "I'm getting married on the 1st of October. You're all invited." I know what Tristan wants to ask me. He and I have dated for eight years, but he's never discussed marriage with me. He drags me to a corner, looking furious. "Didn't we agree to put marriage on hold? Do you take pleasure in forcing me into this?" I pry his fingers off my wrist and say, "You can put it on hold for as long as you want. That doesn't stop me from getting married." He's long since gotten bored of me—he's found a younger woman but thinks he's done well in keeping it a secret. Fortunately, he's not the man I'm marrying.

The novel consists of several mini-stories about therapy sessions at a therapy clinic named "Soulmate", but the letters "m-a-t-e" were broken in a storm. Each mini-story is narrated by both the psychologists and the patients, describe the patients' worldview, why they do what seems "mentally ill" to us. We often say that the patients' head is abnormal, that their way of thinking is so weird. But is there any possibility that it's because they received different (whether right or wrong) information, so they react differently? Is that just because we "normal people" haven't got enough understanding about this world? Throughout the story, we could see that therapy sessions are a two-way arrow. While the experts are affecting the patient, the patient is also influencing them,“When you look deeply into the darkness, the deep darkness is also looking into you". The story does not make any conclusion about who is right or which world is real, maybe all of them are real, maybe they are all virtual, or maybe, it all doesn't matter. Isn't the world where we live? Wherever you live, that's your world.

After my beloved boyfriend dies in a fire, my sister marries a rich man. So, I marry her husband, Jason Grant's father. We go from being sisters to being mother and daughter-in-law. We're still a family, aren't we? Later, Jason pins me to a corner while breathing heavily. "Money is all you want, right? I can give you everything he can. Wouldn't it be much better for you to be with me than with a paralyzed old man?" Oh, he's got this all wrong. Money isn't what I want. His life is what I want.

Being a teenager who has all she wants except the love and caring she craves for, all that Freezia Zarie Harrison ever wanted to do was to live a normal and simple life. A small family of her own, a loving husband and to become a successful fashion designer but all her dreams goes crushing down with a single agreement which compels her life to make an opposite turn. Nonetheless,Zarie goes with the flow of fate, realizing the puzzle of fate does not always fix itself in the manner we expect it to, because sometimes our destinies are more complex than we actually think. - Join me on this journey as we dive into the life of the lone teenager.