Held

I feel his eyes on me, staring through the darkness—darkness as black as his soul. As the fiancée of a rich state senator, I should be living the easy life, but that’s not how it is for me. My mother’s sick with cancer, my fiancé smells like women’s perfume, and I’m not sure he even loves me. When I start to sense someone watching me, I should be terrified. Instead, I’m electrified. Kidnapped, held in a small room, but not tortured, I’m given a chance to study this man behind the mask. He’s intriguing in ways he shouldn’t be. He excites me in places I’ve never felt before. Should I give into the enticement and taste his sin? Or try to return to my regular life with a man I cannot trust who probably doesn’t care about me at all? It’s tempting—that’s for damn sure. Tempted by Sin is a steamy dark stalker romance that might be triggering to some. You won’t want to miss the shocking twist at the end!

While my husband was chatting with his friend at the dining table, his friend suddenly spoke in Italian. “You married Lyra to write a pardon letter for River. You’ve been showing more concern toward Lyra, but you’re still lying to her and saying that the contraceptives are antidepressants. Don’t you think Lyra will break down if she learns the truth?” My husband wore a complicated expression as he chuckled bitterly and said, “Why let a child be born if I don’t want it? As for Lyra, so long as she doesn’t interfere with River’s happiness, I’ll keep my promise and protect her for life.” No one knew that I had already learned Italian to keep up with my husband. I stood in the living room with fresh hickeys on my neck. In my hand, I held the “antidepressants” and felt a chill run down my spine. So, my husband’s love for me had been fake? My salvation had actually been a meticulously planned lie? In that case, I would help them fulfill their wishes.

She was born into gold but buried in lies. Twice married. Twice betrayed. And yet, in her final breath, Eleanor Valemont discovers the cruel truth: neither of her powerful husbands ever loved her. They loved Jane, the butler’s daughter—charming, sweet-faced, and cunning enough to steal everything Eleanor held dear. Poisoned by the man she once called her second chance, Eleanor dies with nothing but a broken heart and a burning vow: “If I get another chance, I’ll change everything.” But fate listens. Thrown back in time to the moment she must choose her husband, Eleanor defies expectations. She ignores the two brothers who betrayed her in her first life, and instead, shocks high society by choosing Lucian, the illegitimate third son. The same man who once rejected her with cruel words after a steamy night. He doesn’t love her. She doesn’t want love. This time, Eleanor only wants one thing… Power to change her faith and protect what’s rightfully hers.

“Strip,” Lior said. Kael’s breath caught. He stood there, frozen, fear curling in his chest. Is this what my life is going to be now? he wondered. Ever since he met Lior, everything had gone wrong. They were fated—he had felt it the first time they locked eyes. That changed when Lior found out the truth. Kael’s brother was his ex. The one who had walked away. The one who chose his own fated mate and left Lior behind. After that, Lior hardened. He became ruthless. Instead of rejecting the bond, he held onto it like a weapon. He kept Kael close, punished him for someone else’s betrayal, and denied the pull that hit them both whenever they were together. Kael felt it every time Lior looked at him. Lior felt it too—but he refused to give in. The question was no longer why Lior hated him. It was whether the alpha would ever stop hurting his fated mate… or if revenge mattered more than the bond tying them together.

Once I get reborn, the first thing I will do is swap mates with my cousin, Clara Evonfall. In my previous life, Clara and I had held our mate-bonding ceremonies on the same day. Clara, a docile and gentle she-wolf, was forced to become the mate of Gilbert Vargas, the cold and aloof Alpha of the Bloodthorn pack. On their bonding anniversary, Gilbert abandoned Clara just so he could be with his childhood sweetheart, Joanna Penning. Because of that incident, Clara and Gilbert gave each other the cold shoulder for the next 50 years. As for me, I've dreamed of becoming a Gamma warrior since I was a pup. But I ended up forming a mate bond with Oliver Stanton, a Beta playboy. Oliver disliked me for not being romantic enough, saying that I didn't know how to doll myself up for him. We argued with each other every day to the point that he rarely came home. When I open my eyes again, I realize that Clara and I have returned to the timeframe of two days before our bonding ceremonies.

"Take off your clothes," he ordered in his cool, baritone voice.My robe slid off my shoulders and I stood in front of him naked and ashamed.But when his wet lips worked their way down my neck, I found myself trembling in fear and desire.***I was 20 years old, a maid.I was given to the bloodthirsty Alpha, the cold and cruel demon that all had feared.Knowing my love for him was hopeless, I made a contract with him: he would take down my enemy in exchange for my life.On the day I got my revenge, I was ready to die, until I found out...***“Amber, do NOT run away from me again," he commanded as he took a step forward."Don't come any closer," I held a dagger up to my throat with one hand, and covered my abdomen with the other, my voice calm. “Or you will never meet your child.”Hybrid Alpha's Contract Bride is created by Reina Bellevue, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

After I become pregnant, Mason Clarke suddenly becomes incredibly attentive to me. He cancels all his social engagements and personally cooks for me every day. Everyone envies me for finding such a devoted and caring husband. Until one day in his study, I accidentally discover a document titled "Prenatal Blood Donation and Cord Blood Donation Agreement". My name and social security number are clearly written on it! In the beneficiary column is Chloe Reid, his first love, whom he has been supporting abroad for seven years. From outside the door comes his gentle, doting voice. "Chloe, don't worry. I'm personally monitoring her. Her nutrition and daily routine are held to the highest standards to ensure the baby is born perfectly healthy. Your life-saving treatment is absolutely guaranteed!" So all those pregnancy meals he carefully prepares for me, the mountains of expensive supplements, none of it is ever out of love. It's all to fatten me into nothing more than a walking blood bank!

My three-year-old daughter was playing in the room, and she suddenly fell from the window of the room and died. In my past life, I held her lifeless body after learning the news, crying so hard I thought I would never stop. But when my husband rushed back, he slapped me across the face without a second thought. "How could you be so cruel? You actually threw her out of the window—she was only three!" I was too stunned to react. Later, my husband and my best friend teamed up and testified that I had thrown my daughter from the window because I had an argument with my husband. I was cyberbullied and labeled the "evil mom". Amid the public hatred and the pain of losing my daughter, I jumped to prove my innocence. Even in death, I still didn't understand. My daughter had been fine playing in the room—how did she fall out of the window? When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day she fell.

Evan Moore is the perfect husband in everyone's eyes. He gives me a grand wedding and fully supports my career dreams. When I faced a difficult labor, he stayed by my side, kneeling for a full day and night until he nearly passed out from exhaustion. Afterward, he held me in his arms, sobbing until his eyes were red and swollen, his voice trembling with fear. "Honey, let’s not have any more kids… It's just too much." From then on, he spends his days and nights at the monastery, praying devoutly for me and our son, earning the title of the city’s most pious CEO. But one day, by pure chance, I glimpse the handwritten scriptures he keeps so carefully copied. And that's when I realize every word, every stroke, is a confession of his undying love… for his first love. All his tenderness, all his care—it was never truly for me. It was learned for her. I was nothing more than practice—a stand-in for his so-called true love.

“Why did you take me?” “Because you’re valuable to me,” he replied, his dark and dangerous voice brushing against my skin in ways that made my heart race and my core ache.“I don’t belong to you or any man,” I replied, trembling as I held my ground.“Who said I was a man?”*****Princess Evie Stanton lived a life of luxury she detested with a passion. Nothing was ever pretty when it came to high society and when her father tried to force her to marry a man twice her age, she knew she had to get out. Little did she know Captain Thane, a dragon prince seeking revenge, had his eye on her. Love often finds us in the most mysterious of ways, and these two enemies are brought together to navigate a way to earn their freedom. Will they be able to put aside their differences for love?Or is the tragedy of Thane’s past too much to forget?Lust of a Dragon is created by Claire Wilkins, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.