Hand To Myself

"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?!

My boyfriend didn’t just cheat. He did it with my twin sister. In my apartment. On our anniversary. And the worst part? They planned it. He dated me to destroy me. She gave him every secret I ever trusted her with. Just because she wants to ruin my future and my career. So I walked into a bar, ready to drink myself unconscious. But no one would serve me. Because of him. The hot, sexy stranger in the VIP lounge with cold eyes, a sharp voice, and a presence that made everyone move back without a word. In my delirious state, I confronted him. He didn’t care. Instead, he said: “If you want to forget everything, I’ll give you something worth remembering.” One night became two. Two became three. When I escaped his bed, I promised myself I would never see him again. But fate has a cruel sense of humor. On Monday, I was reported to the CEO’s office—my ex’s final attempt to destroy my job. I walked in trembling. And there he was.

"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…

For five years, I let my husband’s mistress take whatever she wanted. My birthday. His time. His attention. The tenderness that used to belong to me. I even told myself I could survive watching my own son choose her over me, because a damaged family still had to be better than none at all. It wasn’t. This year, my husband took his mistress away for their birthday trip, and my son ran straight into her arms and called her Mom. That was the moment I finally understood something I should have learned five years ago: no matter how much of myself I gave to that family, I would never be the one they chose. So I filed for divorce. None of them believed I could really walk away. My husband thought I was bluffing. His mistress thought she had won. My son did not even look back. None of them believed I could really walk away. Then a call came from overseas: Matteo Bellandi’s wife was dead. This time, I left them with nothing but my ashes.

I was touching myself in front of the teddy bear on my bed, because I knew a man was watching behind its eyes. He had sneaked into my home, lay on the bed where I slept, and left traces of himself on my clothes. When I noticed, he watched as I hid in a corner, trembling… not knowing that I had been waiting for him for a long time.

On my 28th birthday, I announced that I was pregnant. But my husband told everyone that he was sterile. Together with my best friend, they said that this was proof that I cheated on him. I tried defending myself, but in the end, I, along with my baby, died while burning with hate. When I reopened my eyes, I returned to the moment three hours before my death.

My health was not good, but I had always wanted a child. My husband, citing concern for my health, avoided intimacy with me for a year. Then I stumbled across his private messages with another woman. [You'll spend Valentine's Day with me, right? You're not going to touch her tonight, are you?] [You know I don't like doing it just to make babies. Got you some lingerie. Wear it for me tomorrow.] That ill-fitting lace lingerie he was talking about was on my body. I'd slipped it on while he was in the shower, thinking it was a Valentine's Day surprise from him. Turned out, he hadn't bought the wrong size. He had just sent it to the wrong address. I clicked on the woman's profile. Her latest video showed her at the beach, hand in hand with the person filming. I recognized her hand instantly. It belonged to my best friend.

After being reborn, I deliberately avoid every possible connection with Zachary Lawson. When he enrolls at Prestwick University, I choose to study abroad in Norell instead. When he comes all the way to Norell looking for me, I travel even farther, moving from place to place as a war correspondent. Years later, I return home hand in hand with the person I love to have our wedding. Zachary is stopped outside the venue, his eyes red-rimmed. "Why don't you love me anymore?"

R-18 (contains mature content) Verena Layton: He is an irresistible good-looking vampire, a newcomer to our university. So I thought. Well, he actually is a human, as stated by the world. Whatever he is, he is a hundred percent my type. However, he got a damn cocky attitude that really puts me off. I try to keep myself away from him after he knocked the image of harsh reality into my head. But why do I feel such a strong pull toward him? I feel like a moth flying into the fire. This fire might change my life and everything Lorcan Judson: I despise humans - creatures with no morals. Yet, she is one of them: An annoyingly clingy, vampire-enthusiastic human. Astonishingly, her presence shakes me to the core tempting me to abandon my important mission and go after her. I try to keep my distance, but I am so pulled toward her. Her scent entices me to the verge of losing my sanity. I find myself questioning what my next move should be - chase after her or focus on my mission. It makes me wonder if she is truly a human or maybe one of us.

In Evergreen Pack, turning 18 means awakening, shifting into wolf form, and being marked by your mate. But on the day of my coming-of-age ceremony, my older brothers and my fiance bring back a gravely injured Omega from the border. They place her in my room, and my eldest brother, Corey Newman, personally put the moonstone pendant my parents left me around her neck. My fiance, Zachary Russell, who's supposed to mark me, instead takes the Omega, Nora Gates, by the hand. He looks at me coldly and hisses, "I refuse to be your mate." The pain is too much for my wolf and me. Yet, my other brother, Wesley Newman, only says, "Stop making a scene or get out." I realize then that they were no longer my family. So, I decide to exile myself and throw myself into ten years of closed research in Central City. They think I'm just throwing a tantrum, and they even take Nora to see the aurora in Everfrost, something I've always longed to do. When they finally realize that I'm never coming back, they fall to their knees at my feet, begging me like lunatics to return.