Grown

At the pack's anniversary dinner party, the Alpha, Matt White, told us to write down the gifts we wanted. He would make sure every request was fulfilled. When it was my turn, the newly arrived intern suddenly snatched the paper and pen out of my hands. "Mr. White works so hard managing the pack. We can't let him spend money on us! You shouldn't write down your dream gift," she said. I ignored her, grabbed the list back, and calmly wrote down one item: a washing machine. Peyton immediately flew into a rage and splashed the champagne on the table straight onto me. "I told you not to write anything down! As a Beta, how can you be so inconsiderate of Mr. White?" My coat was completely soaked, and I looked utterly disheveled. I couldn't hold back my anger anymore. I flung the list straight at her face without mercy. She instantly covered her face and screamed, "How dare you hit me! Do you know who my father is? He's the Alpha King! Even Mr. White has to be polite to him. I'll have you kicked out of the pack for laying a hand on me!" I froze. I was the Alpha King's biological niece. My uncle didn't even have a partner, so how would he have a grown daughter?

After I am diagnosed with stomach cancer, I ask for some money to buy medicine. I don't want to be in excruciating pain when I die. My three elder brothers rush into the ICU. Andy Lewis—my eldest brother—slaps me hard across my face. He scolds me for ruining his beloved younger sister, Summer Lewis' coming-of-age party. My second brother, Sherman Lewis, calls me a liar. He accuses me of pretending to be sick to swindle money from them. Jimmy Lewis, who is my third brother, calls me useless. He tells me that I deserve to die. My parents, Kenneth Lewis and Autumn Farrow, don't believe that I'm sick. They pin me with looks of contempt and ridicule. "You still haven't stopped that lying habit of yours even though you're all grown up. You even learned how to blackmail us with your death. "If you want to die, do it sooner. It'll spare us from being disgusted when we're forced to look at you day in and day out." I end up dying on the first day of the New Year. Before I breathe my last breath, I send a message to the family group chat. My entire family goes crazy after reading it.

I was the Alpha's fated mate but my rejection was worse than one thousand needles pierced to my skin. "I, Weston Bruce Furrow, Alpha of the shadow Moon park reject you, Zara Liam Adolf of the Night Moon park. A pathetic runt weakling like you is no match for me." I could feel my heart breaking, Tuna was howling inside me, and I could feel her pain. "I, Zara Liam Adolf of the Night moon pack, accept your rejection" ________ Ugly, good for nothing, useless and disgusting are the kind of words that Zara hears on daily basis and yet she has grown accustomed to them that she doesn't even flinch anymore. Being the Alpha's daughter doesn't protect her from the harsh bullying of the pack, not when her own father is her worst tormentor. Years later, the man she hated the most is back, and she isn’t sure why the man who had rejected and humiliated her is back. She is being forced to negotiate with him. Zara want to forget how he rejected and humiliated her but her pack needs protection and that means putting the pack above her feelings since he is the Alpha who could offer them such protection. They say that whatever you deny s he was hurting her with his ice cold tongue and his cruel raw touch.

My mom is 71 years old. Thanks to her arthritis acting up, she's in so much pain that she can't descend the stairs at all. She tentatively calls me and asks if she can rent an apartment that comes with an elevator of its own. But my wife, Lucy Glaser, brings out the household ledger and points at the red numbers on the pages. "Last month, you bought yourself a tie, which is 300 dollars beyond our monthly budget. Yet now you're planning on adding another impulsive expense?" Only then do I realize that I don't even have the freedom to buy myself a tie despite earning an annual salary of tens of millions of dollars. My mom is still trying to explain herself in a humble tone over the phone. "Oh, please don't feel troubled about it, Caleb. I was just asking on a whim. I've already grown used to my old home anyway…" After I end the call, I feel rather stuffy in my chest. What's there for me to feel troubled about? After all, I'm a partner of a top-tier law firm who earns tens of millions of dollars every year. The one who keeps standing in my way is Lucy, who's only a mid-level lawyer yet insists on controlling my finances. She also calls herself the best candidate for the household asset allocation.

"You're never going to see my worth, are you?" Layla mumbled as tears streamed down her cheeks. "There's hardly any," her husband, Donald pouted mockingly and bursted into laughter, his mistress beside him joined in the jest. "Why not divorce me then?" She blurted. "Because you can't survive without me, you're a charity case, I'm taking pity on you by keeping you here,don't jeopardize that." "What if I can survive without you Donald?" "I'm sure you can't." He laughed. "Should we get a divorce and see then?" The words left Layla's mouth before she could hold it back. ** Layla thought she’d built a forever, despite being aware of her husband's infidelity, she had high hopes for their marriage... until the night of their anniversary, her husband came home late with his mistress and demanded that she slept in the guest room while him and his mistress stayed in their room. That was the moment her world broke, and she finally walked away, returning back to her family's home in London. But fate had other plans for her. Her brother’s best friend, Liam, once a boy she barely noticed, had grown into an insanely attractive young man that she couldn't ignore.

He broke her world to build his empire. Now, he’s buying her silence with a wedding ring. Lena Carter was supposed to be a bride, until she walked in on her fiancé, Daniel, in a betrayal that shattered her life and her dignity. Left with nothing but the crushing weight of her father’s mysterious debts and the wolves of the Silvers Syndicate at her door, Lena has one choice: sink or sell her soul. Adrian Wolfe, the 30-year-old "Ice King of Manhattan," is the monster who offers her a lifeline. He is the man who turned her father’s legacy into dust, and now he wants Lena to play a role in his most dangerous game yet. The Contract: One year of marriage. Total submission to his rules. A public performance of a love that doesn't exist. In exchange, every debt is wiped clean, and Lena gets the power to watch Daniel and his new lover crawl in the dirt. But as the "fake" marriage turns into a war of white-hot passion and whispered secrets, Lena discovers the Black Ledger—a document proving Adrian didn't just find her by chance. He’s been waiting for her. She isn't just his wife; she’s the final payment on a debt signed in blood. With a vengeful ex-fiancé, a lethal criminal syndicate, and Adrian’s own mother, Martha Wolfe, circling like sharks, Lena must decide: Will she destroy the man she’s grown to love, or will she become the Queen of the very empire that broke her?

On New Year’s Eve, a poolside party was held at the hospital. There, my fiancee Valerie Charlton’s medical prodigy junior colleague, Cyrus Zeigler, drew the wildcard in a party game. His task was to select a woman from the attendees and enact an explicit scene in front of everyone. He scanned the crowd, and his gaze landed on Valerie. “Valerie, you’re about to get married. I know I can’t have you. So let me have this one time. Okay?” Valerie’s eyes welled up, and she was about to nod. I scoffed and tossed the unsigned medical equipment purchase contract onto the table. “You’d better think carefully. Either he gets lost, or your family’s hospital shuts down for good. Your choice.” Cyrus glared at me angrily when he saw that Valerie was torn with indecision. “Is it that Mr. Everest can’t take a joke? He’s already controlling everything you do before the wedding. After you get married, he’ll probably keep you in a cage.” Valerie calmed down. Then, she turned to me and said scornfully, “You are a grown man. Have some grace. What era are we living in? Do you have to flaunt your masculinity all the time?” I watched calmly as they walked toward the pool. Then, I turned and made a phone call. “Since she doesn’t care about this marriage, she can watch the Charlton family crumble.”

After two years abroad in seclusion as I recovered, I received a selfie from my daughter, Lila Ashford. She was sitting on a bike, dressed in a work uniform. "Mom, you’ll be home soon, right? I miss you so much." My heart softened as I thought about how my girl had grown up. She understood that she needed to start from the bottom and work her way up. I was about to praise her when I noticed her skin seemed tanner, and her fitted shirt was the same one I’d bought her three years ago. It was frayed and worn thin, yet she still hadn’t thrown it away. As a child of the wealthiest family, Lila shouldn’t have to live like this, not even for "life experience". I zoomed in on the picture again. Her shoes were falling apart, the front gaping wide open. The more I looked, the more uneasy I became. The next second, I stumbled across Serena Ashford, my adopted daughter’s posts on social media. She was showing off male models, luxury cars, and on her wrist, the global limited-edition diamond bracelet I had given Lila. What shocked me most was the car that appeared in nearly every photo, the very one I had gifted Lila for her college graduation. How the hell had it ended up with her instead?!

She lost her mate. She swore she’d never love again. She never expected him. Gamma Riley Winters has built her life around two things: her son and survival. Love and second chances are for other people—not widowed single mothers trying to keep their heads down in the pack. Until Logan Reynolds shatters every rule she’s set for herself. He’s utterly off-limits. Her son’s best friend. The Alpha’s son. Too young. Too dangerously attractive. And thinking of him as anything but a kid could cost her everything—her position, her reputation, even her place in the pack. But Riley isn’t the only one who’s noticed Logan is all grown up. And when jealousy flares, so does something she’s desperate to ignore. Logan, however, has only ever had eyes for one woman. Now that he’s nearly eighteen, he’s done waiting. What begins as stolen glances and whispered confessions ignites into a bond neither can deny—no matter how forbidden. But in a pack built on hierarchy and tradition, their passion comes with a brutal price. One wrong move, one whispered secret, one more lie, and everything could come crashing down around them. Will Riley risk it all for a love that could destroy her? Or will she choose safety over the one man who makes her feel alive again?

Having grown up together, Selena Campbell and Frederick Lancaster were childhood sweethearts known as the perfect golden couple. To support him, she planned every step with painstaking care and calculated each move to perfection. She eliminated every obstacle in his path and paved the way for him to become the only Warbringer in Aurensia. Selena thought their love would eventually lead to marriage. But one day, a plain-looking young woman suddenly walked into Frederick’s life. At first, he said, "A mountain girl like her? She's beneath you, hardly even worth a second glance." Later, he said, "She's simple-minded and naive. Don't bother with her, Lena." But Selena slowly came to realise that the way Frederick looked at her was growing colder by the day. And when he looked at that young woman, there was a spark in his eyes—like he'd come alive again, full of the passion and recklessness of youth. One day, Frederick turned to her with a weary look and said, "Selena, how's our picture-perfect life treating you? Because honestly... I think I'm getting a little tired of it." That very night, Selena tore up the betrothal contract and left without a backward glance. "You won't survive without me!" Frederick roared furiously. But Selena smiled softly. "No. You're nothing without me, Your Highness."