Held

My fiancé, Owen Lockhart, came from old money. He kept a canary in a gilded cage, spoiling her rotten. Just as I was about to break off the engagement with him, a barrage of comments suddenly popped up in my mind. [What did Owen do wrong? He just wanted to get your attention.] [Don't break up with him. All you need to do is shed a few tears, and he'll give you everything.] I turned my head, and through the window, I saw the canary in her high-end jewelry, smiling brightly as she hooked her arm around Owen's. He lazily lowered his eyes, yet his expression held a hint of indifference mixed with a subtle affection. I smiled bitterly, replying to the lawyer's message: [Go on with drafting the engagement annulment agreement.]

Ava had long been accustomed to the role of outcast. Taken in by a Lycan pack when she was just an infant in her mother's arms, she had always been.. different. Smaller. Weaker. More fragile, though only ever in the physical sense. Her spirit, on the other hand, was known for its fiery ferocity. Untamed. Unyielding. And unbroken, just like the ancient, powerful bloodline that most thought long destroyed. And yet it stirred, as those few who returned from the northwest brought whispered rumours with them. They told of a battle. An unexpected power. So many lives lost, and a dark new threat. But all of that was far away, and her home now faced its own problems. A pack merger. A cruel, ruthless new Alpha, who bowed to no one. Long held secrets uncovered, that threatened to upheave everything. And two formidable Lycans, both claiming Ava as their own.

"You don't simply stop playing a game. Especially when it's mine; you either win. Or loose." Vasili had told her this eight years ago, and eight years later she'd said, "Wrong. Allow me to introduce you to the word 'draw'." *** Emily Moralez was certain the universe was determined to screw her over. She's been caught in a crossfire between two rivaling syndicates, her father's made arrangements for her to get married to a don twice her age--despite knowing she has a boyfriend. And said boyfriend cheated on her the day before their engagement. And it gets worse. Vasili Romanov. The name was feared, revered, respected: hated. Emily knew where she fell. In the percentage that hated him. Vasili Romanov was back for her family. Back to destroy it, her, and everything she held dear with a vengeance that burned as hot as the passion he ignited in her.

Julien Tedd was a married man man in his 30s, an actor and a billionaire CEO of PAXTON Trades which was in Delta. He was a fake husband with grey eyes and a vexed face. Who loves money than anything. "Our marriage was like a contract basis. We would act on his role. I found myself fond of his dominant side. His black hair was perfect with those thin glasses which read thousands of newspapers or faces of other ladies. Wait! Other ladies? His one of the hobbies was to impress other ladies while doing his job." Sighed Monica, his fake wife. Two enemies bonded with nothing but a piece of paper that held their fake aggreement. But wait, what was the need to have a fake marriage? My marriage was fake. Very fake. Made-up in my mind that we would somehow fit with each other nagging, fighting being disloyal and bad-mouthing for everything.

I had been with the company for eleven years. One day, the boss’ son was abruptly planted as my immediate superior. In order to establish his power, he started to humiliate me. He splashed coffee on my face in front of our client. “Why are you serving our most prestigious client this nasty drink? You’re embarrassing the company!” I was furious. However, I held my anger back for the sake of the company. During our townhall meeting, he threw my proposal to the floor. “We’re not an old folks’ home. We don’t take care of useless pieces of shit like you.” I did not leave the next day. Instead, I asked my personal assistant to publish a notice on the digital display at our office building. [Due to the tenant’s unstable emotions, the lease on the 17th floor of this office building will not be renewed when it expires next month.]

I merely brought up the wedding decorations, and my fiancé's first love ran out of the room in tears. Ian Murray slapped me so hard I fell to the ground. His face twisted in fury, teeth clenched with hatred. "Daphne, are you that desperate to get married? Afraid no one else will want you, so you're clinging to me, forcing me into it? Our wedding next week is postponed!" I held my face, but not even a ripple stirred in my heart. This made the eighth time he'd postponed it. I had been waiting for him since I was twenty-eight. Now, in my early thirties, I was still getting nowhere closer to being married. So this time, I quietly packed my things and chose to leave. Maybe this marriage didn't need to happen after all.

Harriet Wonder's life was far from wonderful. It was a never-ending nightmare controlled by her wicked family. Her father, desperate to save their failing business, sold her off to a wealthy old man. From a young age, her stepmother subjected her to constant abuse. And to make matters worse, her obsessive stepbrother held her captive, like a marionette with no control over her own life. Fed up with being a mere pawn, Harriet decided to take matters into her own hands and seek revenge. She took a bold step and went to a bar, where she paid a man to take her virginity. Little did she know, the man she chose was none other than Lucas, an Alpha werewolf! In his hands, she discovered a world of passion and love, like a wonderland. But could salvation truly be found in the clutches of a beast? Or was it just another cruel twist of fate?

The powerful Will Hudson, Bardou City's untouchable kingmaker, was set to marry my sister. Everyone said he was a monster, a man broken in body and mind, that marrying him was no different from stepping into hell itself. My sister, Carrie Wheaton, wept as if her heart would break. I pulled her aside and said, "I'll marry him for you. But in return, you'll stay in the countryside and guard the safe buried beneath Mom's grave. For three years, you mustn't open it." She thought it held a fortune—billions, perhaps—and joy lit up her face. She agreed without hesitation. I watched her greedy expression twist with excitement and couldn't help the cold smile that rose within me. 'Carrie, guard it well. Let's see if you can handle the kind of fortune that can destroy you.'

It was all supposed to be a one night stand between Alpha Leonardo and the hybrid omega, Cora. Alpha Leonardo is broken after having been rejected by his actual mate and it is only a one night fling as suggested by the white witch that'll help him to get over his first mate. What happens when Alpha Leonardo unknowingly has a stand with an omega, a hybrid at that and what happens when he finds out she is his second chance mate? "You're a hybrid, there's no way I'll accept you. Get out'" He yelled as he pushed her away. She held on to her injured arm as she got up. "I won't let you go so easily, Alpha. You're mine and I'll make sure I get you." She told him, determined.

“Tis better to have loved and lost…” is utter balderdash. Losing love is devastating.When a horror-movie nightmare became real, it turned everything in Teri Munroe’s life on end, costing her all the relationships she held dear in one fell swoop, including with the one man she truly loved, Jim Erickson. The only option left to the sensitive and reserved IT security specialist was to rewrite the code of her life. Abandoning her childhood home and Jim, she made a life of contract work to provide for their child, the daughter Jim doesn’t know he has. But when random chance leads Teri to a lucrative contract in Jim’s hometown, she finds herself face to face with him again and the love she thought was lost. Can they find a way to restore it? And when Teri's nightmare comes full circle again, can they survive it this time together?