Hercules 10th Labor

After 99 bloodline fusion rituals, I finally conceived Alpha Garrick Whitefang's pup. As a mixed-blood Omega without a wolf, I understood the cost of that miracle better than anyone. The rituals burned away my lifespan. I brought this child with my blood. When I returned with the pregnancy report, ready to share the news, Garrick was waiting for me. A 4-year-old girl stood at his side, her small hand clasped in his. "Rowena, this is my surprise for you. Our pup," he said gently. Then he added, as if it meant nothing, "You will not have to endure bloodline fusion anymore. Her mother, Lyralei North, is pregnant with a male pup. Once she gives birth, I will bring him back for you to raise." His mother smiled with open relief. "No labor, no pain, and you gain two pups for free. How wonderful. The Snowclaw Pack finally has heirs." Unstoppable tears spilled down my face. For seven years as Garrick's Luna, bloodline rejection had made natural conception impossible. For five of those years, I had begged the pack elders to perform bloodline fusion rituals on me. I traded away my lifespan 99 times in total for the chance to carry his child. Only then did I understand. Garrick never wanted my pup. As long as heirs existed, it did not matter who gave birth to them. I returned to my room without a word and made one call. "Steven, does your research project still need people? I want to rejoin the team," I said quietly. "And I am leaving the Snowclaw Pack."

I had been married to Derek for six years, and we had a three-year-old son. He was poor, earning only $2,000 a month, but I had no complaints; I took care of everything at home for him. After getting dinner on the table for the whole family, I finally had a minute to check my phone. A video popped up on my feed: a twenty-two-year-old girl from a rural area whose hands, roughened by years of hard labor, looked like they belonged to a sixty-two-year-old woman. I looked down at my own hands, just as worn and scarred, and stared at them blankly before tapping into the comments. I expected people to feel bad for her. However, to my surprise, the comments section was flooded with a single sentiment: "Why would anyone marry a penniless loser?" One of the top-liked comments came from a couple; in their photo, they were pictured holding hands—fingers tightly intertwined—with the girl sporting a massive diamond ring. The accompanying caption read: "A man who truly loves you would never bear to let you suffer." I felt a pang of envy. Given the choice, who wouldn't want a glamorous life? As I was about to close the app, I accidentally tapped on the couple's photo, enlarging it. In the background, previously too blurry to make out, was a face I recognized. It looked exactly like my husband, Derek Sterling. I froze, and almost against my will, I tapped into the account's profile. Post after post of lavish photos of them together flooded my screen. And then I saw him clearly. The scar above his brow, the one he got when a shelf fell on him while protecting me, was still plainly visible. It was my husband. It was Derek.

My bestie Kenna and I were the fated mates of the two most powerful Alpha brothers in the Dark Moon pack. I was mated to the Head Alpha, Cade. Kenna was mated to his brother, Rhys. On our mating anniversary, a bloody package reeking of Rogues arrived. It was from Cade’s childhood friend, Lilah. The feral scent shocked my body into premature labor. Kenna rushed me to the pack’s private medical center. But the labor triggered a fatal condition: “Moon Eclipse Sickness.” My life force was draining away. With my last bit of strength, I used our mind-link to beg my Alpha for help. His furious voice was my only answer. “You’re faking this just because I missed our anniversary? Lilah’s rare silver hound is giving birth, and it’s dangerous. Don’t cause trouble for me now!” In the end, it was Kenna who drained her own wolf’s spirit to save me. I barely survived. But the pup I delivered was rushed to emergency care, too weak from my fading life force. Her eyes bloodshot, Kenna contacted her mate, Rhys. She begged him for "Moonflower Dew"—a serum from his own company that could save our baby. "Lilah's hound is weak after giving birth. I’m busy making a special formula for it. You and Evelyn are two of a kind. Always stirring up trouble. First her drama, now yours." My pup died. And my heart shattered with him. “Kenna, I’m rejecting my mate bond with Cade.” “If you reject him, I reject mine. Traitors don’t deserve mates.” But when we told the Alpha brothers we were rejecting them, they felt a panic they had never known.

When my husband, Lucius Croft, and I were on a flight that was heading toward our honeymoon destination, his childhood friend, Belinda Todd, suddenly appeared before us while pregnant. She claimed that she had bought an economy-class ticket and that she wanted to go on a vacation with us. Not only did Lucius not reject Belinda, but he also wanted me to give my first-class ticket away to her. I turned his suggestion down. So, he helped Belinda occupy the first-class seat next to us. When I realized that an old lady was the owner of that particular seat, I did everything I could to convince Lucius to return the seat to her. Unexpectedly, Belinda was so mad that she got off the plane right away. On her way home, she got into an accident, which killed her and her unborn baby. Lucius attended her funeral calmly. But on the day I was supposed to go into labor, he tied me up in the car and staged a car accident on purpose. "This is all your fault! If it wasn't for you, Belinda never would've died! You deserve to make it up to her with your life!" I could only watch the car drive into the tree in total despair. All I saw was a huge explosion and tongues of flame around me before I completely lost consciousness. When I open my eyes again, I see Belinda standing before me with her belly jutting out. This time, I no longer stop them. What they don't know is that the inconspicuous-looking old lady is actually a member of the esteemed Howard family, also known as the global business powerhouse. She's also the grandmother of the richest man in the world, Ethan Howard.

On the first day of my rebirth, I turn straight into the bedroom of Don Raffaele Caruso and begin undoing my clothes. In my previous life, I was in a marriage of convenience with his son, Matteo Caruso, but there was no love between us. We were notorious in Liberty City's mafia circle. Matteo believed I was the reason he lost his first love. He thought I had deliberately gone into his room the night he was drugged with an aphrodisiac, trapping him in a marriage. Hence, for eight years after our wedding, he stayed out drunk every night and refused to come home. Even when I went into obstructed labor and was on the brink of death, he never asked about me even once. Then, the hurricane came. A storm surge swallowed Liberty City. The harbor collapsed under the waves, and there was only one seat left on the evacuation boat. Everyone thought Matteo would keep it for himself. Instead, he shoved me hard onto the boat. "Go! I'm giving you my chance to live, Chiara. If there's a next life, don't come saving me again. I just want to be with Lucia." The next second, his body was dragged into the pitch-black sea. I survived, only to be hacked to death by a rival family afterward. What Matteo never knew was that he wasn't the only one who was drugged that night. His father was too. This time around, I step into the room just as the effects of the aphrodisiac take hold. Raffaele is currently forcing himself to endure it, his control stretched to the limit. I walk over and say softly, "Let me be your antidote, Don Caruso."

Seraphine Vale is betrayed on her twentieth birthday, not celebrated. Drugged and abandoned by the family that despises her, she awakens in a luxury hotel suite beside Lucian Ardent, a powerful and untouchable billionaire feared across elite society. Their meeting is accidental and the result of a conspiracy, but by dawn, her life is already falling apart. When Seraphine gets back to her house, judgment takes the place of protection. Weeks later, her pregnancy is exposed at the family dinner table. She is locked up, forced into premature labor, and deceived into thinking her newborn child has died in the aftermath of calculated cruelty. She is exiled out of the country and pursued, narrowly avoiding being killed, and she then vanishes outside of its borders. She is ignored by everyone. She will never be seen again by her foes. She returns six years later. Seraphine re-enters high society transformed, no longer fragile but elegant, powerful, and emotionally untouchable. With mastery in medicine, a rising fashion empire, and alliances among the elite, she begins reclaiming what was stolen from her. Her presence disrupts the carefully constructed life of Lydia, the stepsister who stole her place, her identity, and her child. Lucian Ardent continues to look for the mysterious woman from that night despite the fact that he is unaware that she now appears before him under a different name and with different powers. Rivalry, suspicion, and an inexplicable pull that neither can ignore cross their paths. A brilliant young boy stands in the middle of them, drawn to the woman who thinks her child is dead. As deception unravels and buried truths surface, love and revenge converge in a world where reputation is power and identity is a weapon. Seraphine did not return for forgiveness but for the truth and revenge.

I suffered a bloodline rejection. On the day I was forcibly pushed into labor, Serena Cole happened to be giving birth as well. She was the mate of Adrian Cole’s late older brother, Marcus Cole. As the contractions rose and fell like lunar tides, crashing over my body again and again, I begged Adrian to find a midwife for me. What I received instead was his furious scolding. "Stop pretending. Your due date is in a month. Today is Serena’s due date, yet you insist on choosing this moment to compete with her for attention." Clenching his clothes and enduring the searing contractions, I pleaded through the pain, "The pup is coming now. Please, I’m in agony. I’m going to die from the pain. Just find a midwife. Anyone will do…" The pup inside me was too strong. It tore relentlessly through my mixed-blood body. Adrian, however, coldly pried my fingers away. "Stop lying to me. Your body is very strong. How could pregnancy possibly cause you this much pain? "Before Marcus died, he made me swear to take good care of Serena. The pup she is carrying is his only bloodline. Nothing can go wrong." He locked me inside the room and reassigned every single midwife away. The servants tied me to the bed and force-fed me labor-delaying agents. My lower abdomen was crushed repeatedly with wooden rods. Edgar Hawkins, the butler, looked at me without a trace of emotion and said flatly, "The Alpha has given his order. Only the first pup of the family may become the pack’s heir. You are not allowed to give birth before Serena and steal the heir’s position."

Nada’s life shatters the day her husband, Harvey, walks out on her with his best friend turned mistress. She is in labor with their triplets after four years of a childless marriage, but he leaves her side to donate sperm to his best friend, Alisa. Broken and humiliated, Nada gives birth to her triplets alone. She refuses to be a victim. In court, she takes everything—Harvey’s money, his name, his dignity. The once-proud police officer is left with nothing but shame. Harvey turns to Alisa, but she is no savior. He finds out the new wife he adores is secretly engaged to Matteo Morelli, a ruthless mafia Don. She had been a bait to lure Harvey into Matteo’s secret black-market fertility scheme. Harvey’s aristocratic bloodline makes him valuable, and he is forced into an eight-year contract. His life is no longer his own. As years pass, Harvey begins to regret abandoning Nada. But regret cannot save him. The mafia controls his every move. When Interpol finally crushes Matteo’s empire, Harvey is dragged down too, accused as an accomplice. Prison looms, and he has only one hope—Nada. But Nada is now a billionaire and a feared judge in Brooklyn. Her price for saving Harvey is: he must return to her as her submissive pet, living by her strict, sexual rules in her bedroom. Harvey agrees. But inside Nada’s home, he’s tortured not only as a submissive pet of his ex-wife but by jealousy as well. Lucas, the loyal nanny who raised the triplets, has everything Harvey lost—Nada’s trust, the children’s love, and a quiet place in her heart. Will Nada choose Harvey, the father of her triplets who betrayed her, or Lucas, the man who took his place and watched her kids grow?

As my due date approached, a massive discrepancy surfaced in the Galante family's arms accounts. The leadership made a swift decision. They sent me, Sophia Vitale, the Don's wife, the woman everyone claimed had nothing better to do, to personally inspect the armory and verify the inventory. I believed it was a routine check. I never imagined my husband's godsister, Monica Leone, would use it as cover to blow up the entire armory. The explosion was deafening. Fire ripped through the sky. Concrete collapsed around me, crushing my body as a searing pain tore through my abdomen. I did not call my husband on his highest-priority private line. Instead, I sent a distress signal to my father. In my previous life, the moment the explosion occurred, I had used that same priority channel to call my husband. The child had survived. Monica had been obliterated in the blast. My husband had claimed he did not blame me. He had said Monica was an outsider and that an heir mattered more. He had spared no expense, hiring elite obstetric specialists to monitor me day and night. He had told me to stay calm and wait for delivery. Then, on the day I went into labor, he personally locked me and the baby inside an abandoned warehouse drenched in gasoline and burned us alive. "If you hadn't deliberately delayed, she wouldn't have died. Do you really think playing the innocent victim could fool me? Dream on," he said. "You like playing with fire so much? Fine. I'll let you experience her despair yourself." When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the armory, at the exact moment of the explosion.

A gorgeous new lawyer named Charlotte Lowell joins our law firm and claims she has been reborn. One day, a publicly listed company offers us a massive ten-million-dollar case. Charlotte warns our boss, Levi Howard, that the company has major issues. If we accept the case, we'll lose in court and be hit with a huge payout. Levi isn't sure if she's bluffing, but in the end, he listens and passes. The next day, that very company collapses. And the rival firm that took the case is hit with a compensation claim worth tens of millions of dollars. To celebrate dodging the bullet, Levi asks me to book a restaurant. But Charlotte immediately tells him not to go to that restaurant because that place is about to have a gas explosion. Hours later, the restaurant blows up just as she mentioned. News of it hits the trending list. After those two incidents, Levi is all-in on believing Charlotte's claim of having been reborn. In order to keep Charlotte, he gives her the executive position that was initially promised to me. When I hand in my resignation, Charlotte urges Levi to stop me. "If Yelena jumps to another firm, she'll use the resources she gained here to crush us. A year from now, we won't even have a firm left." Upon hearing Charlotte's words, my boyfriend and colleague, Finley Smith, steps forward to back her up. "Charlotte's right. I saw a job offer from Vera Legal in Yelena's email. She's really petty. If she joins Vera Legal, we'll surely face her revenge." Levi believes them and rejects my resignation. I file for labor arbitration, but it's no use. In the end, I'm demoted to a janitor at the firm. Driven by resentment, I fall into depression and end up hanging myself at the entrance of the firm. When I open my eyes again, I've gone back to the day Charlotte claims she has been reborn.