Hand Holding Sword

Today was like the day I met him: Me, riding a bicycle and him, walking down the pavement. I grab the handle of the bicycle and watch him as he make his way towards me. I do not know why I feel nervous. A trickle of sweat drip on the side of my face, my heart beat fast and I could hardly breathe. He was meters away, until it grow shorter to a foot and then bam, he bumped into me and we fall down, him on top of me. This felt like a deja vù, like it was our very first encounter. We scurried to get up but ended up bumping our heads together. I glared at him as he got up, He didn't even offer me a hand. He didn’t even give me a second glance. He just passed by me. Not noticing me. Not even looking at me. I let go of the bicycle and turn to face him. I remove the helmet that I was wearing and grip it tightly before screaming, “YAH! My hands curled into a fist and before I know it, the helmet I was holding was already flying towards him.I raise my hand as if to save him but it collided on his head right before I could even react. It sounded a hollow thump and a pronounced groan. His hands made his way to the back of his head as he turn and face me. With those eyes that seem like it was murdering me, he chase me off and I hastily took my bicycle and ran. I couldn’t help but feel happy instead of guilty as he ran after me. This was like before. This was like that summer, that summer I met him.

Cara Wylder is the last female in the prestigious Wylder lineage, a family blessed with a rare and powerful she-wolf known as the Golden Luna. This ancient blessing grants her lineage immense power, as any Alpha bonded to her is destined to rule with unmatched strength. However, Cara’s legacy is threatened by a secret—she cannot shift into her wolf form. As rumors of her wolflessness begin to spread, her father, Alpha Roy Wylder, offers her hand in marriage to Darius Wrent, the powerful Lycan King, in an effort to preserve her reputation and the family's standing. On their wedding day, Darius, suspicious of her lack of a wolf’s presence, demands that Cara shift in front of the gathered wolves. When she fails to do so, he publicly rejects her, leaving her disgraced and humiliated. As the other powerful Alphas look on, uninterested in a wolfless bride, Darius mockingly asks if any would dare take her hand. To everyone’s surprise, Lucien Valen, a weakened Alpha who lost most of his power after the death of his fated mate, steps forward to claim her. Lucien, once a contender for Alpha King, has been ridiculed for years, holding onto his title solely due to the loyalty of his people. Ignoring the scorn of the other Alphas, Lucien marries Cara and takes her to his castle. Though she expects a life of shame, Cara soon discovers that Lucien is not cruel, neither is he weak Alpha the others believe him to be. His power remains but is locked under the grief from the loss that haunts him and his inability to enact revenge even after all this years. As they get closer, unsettling truths about Lucien's past and the mastermind behind the fall of the once legendary Alpha is exposed.

On the day of the wedding, Galen Shaw forces me to crack walnuts with my bare hands for his so-called female buddy. My expression goes cold, and I refuse outright. "My hands are for holding a scalpel, not cracking walnuts for her!" He only chuckles and orders someone to hold me down. Then, he glues the walnuts to my palms himself. One by one, he slams them against the ground. "You cheated while studying medicine. Now that you've married me, forget about ever being a doctor again!" I grit my teeth through the pain. My fingers are aching, but I try to explain. "I went abroad to study medicine for you!" His so-called female buddy sneers in a shrill voice. "All that talk about the Shaw family's hereditary disease is nonsense! Galen has been perfectly healthy for over 20 years. Don't tell me you just want another excuse to cozy up with your precious senior?" The moment those words leave her lips, the faint thought of having someone bandage my hand disappears. A shadow crosses Galen's face. "Looks like you haven't learned your lesson!" He throws me into the basement and locks me there for three days. By the time I crawl out, my hands are completely ruined. Later, when Galen's hereditary disease finally surfaces, the doctor tries to comfort him. "This disease may be terminal, but there is still a way. Dr. Robinson has just returned from overseas. She's the only one in the world who can perform this surgery. "I hear that she's your wife."

I've been married to the prince of the underworld for ten years and have endured countless life-or-death situations by his side. My hands, once trained to play the piano, are covered in calluses from holding guns and stained with blood. But at 28, my husband ends up falling for a young woman from the slums. She's as delicate and pure as a chamomile. She's his well-kept little secret—until I run into them at the woman's prenatal appointment one day. I storm up to him, demanding an explanation, only for him to nonchalantly hand me divorce papers. "Sonia is a devout follower of the church and can't have a child before marriage. I must make an honest woman out of her. Sign these, and you'll get 40% of the company's shares." I refuse to do as told, so he corners me. In the end, he has my crippled younger brother tied up and forced under a hydraulic compression machine. "Sign the papers, Maeve, or watch your brother become a human mince pie. The choice is yours." I fall on my knees and beg him to stop. As the machine turns on, my hands fly to my aching lower belly, and I scream as I lose consciousness. When I wake up again, I'm back in the hospital, in the same spot where I ran into my husband and his mistress at her prenatal appointment. This time, I don't confront him. Overnight, I make arrangements with a sanatorium abroad, get divorced, and run away from home. Yet the moment I truly disappear, my husband loses his mind.

"You need to remember this Maliyah. I will only get married once."- Aciel Lu. ***** Marriage is a sacred thing for Mapple. She keeps on telling that she only marries a person whom she truly loves but one day, she found herself in Lu Corporation, holding a pen while signing a marriage contract and the next thing she knew, she's married.

I suddenly got a call from the police, telling me I was involved in an abandoned baby case. My best buddy was holding me up as we rushed to the scene when Shirley Dunn, the girl who had asked me for directions last week, suddenly pointed straight at me. "That's her. I saw her this morning, holding her stomach, going into the restroom! Now the baby's been born, and her belly's flat!" I was completely stunned. Before I could react, she shoved the newborn straight into my arms. "This is your own flesh and blood! How could you abandon him?" The officer's expression was equally severe. "Miss, I understand that becoming a mother at 20 can be scary, but abandoning a baby is a crime. If you didn't want to raise a child, you shouldn't have had one." More and more college students gathered around, their stares stabbing into me like needles. Cold sweat soaked my back. My best friend suddenly burst out laughing. "Congrats, man! You're a dad now!"

Lily's been left holding the baby. Now her evil twin, Noona, who attempted to trap a wealthy playboy by getting pregnant has passed away. Chance wants his brother's child. But, he mistakes prim librarian Lily for her trampy twin. Lily poses as her sister to protect the baby she loves. She'll let Chance buy her as his bride.

Elena, a defiant and eccentric witch living in the Forbidden Forest, has witnessed the empire crumble under the reign of Kael, a once-promising disciple corrupted by darkness. Kael, once a bright-eyed orphan and a disciple of her very own enemy, was twisted into the empire's destroyer, abandoned and manipulated. In the face of the silver sword of her sworn enemy held by Kael, she makes a gamble against time and fate. Using forbidden magic, she strikes a deal with the timekeeper and plunges back into the past, 10 years before impending destruction. Faced with a chance to rewrite her destiny, she targets Kael and intends to make his master pay for neglecting his disciple. This time, she won't just stand by as the world crumbles; she will be his unlikely guardian, shaping him into a beacon of light instead of a harbinger of doom. Can Elena rewrite destiny? Or will the karma prove too strong for a witch to clash against the inevitable pull of fate?

Faeries are real. That was hard enough to stomach, but now, they’ve drafted Rhychard Bartlett into their way. At least they gave him a sword. A sword for crying out loud! Everyone else has guns and magic, and the Guardian only gave him a glowing sword. Some men strive to be heroes. Not Rhychard. Not even a little. Rhychard just wants t go home and propose Renny Saunders. However, a blood-curdling scream changes the course of his life forever. Surrounded by a two-and-a-half foot ellyll, a 300-pound coshey, and a street hooker, Rhychard squares off against the demon, Vargas, to keep him from building a Gateway to the Nether, still with nothing but a glowing sword. As if that wasn’t tragic enough, Renny thinks he cheated her on her and has kicked him out on his backside. Needless to say, Rhychard has had better days. Warrior of the Way is created by Robbie Cox, an eGlobal Creative Publishing Signed Author.

"Does riding a horse feel good?" The saddle jolted beneath us as the horse trotted along. I steadied myself by holding the slender waist of my friend's alluring wife. Her skirt fluttered constantly in the wind. My friend was in a nearby house, completely absorbed in a card game—while right in front of him, I was out riding a horse with his beautiful, delicate young wife…