How Democracies Die

I struggle with all my might, but Dad restrains me, and Mom breaks my limbs. Then, my sister seals me into the concrete. "Concrete is only brought to life with an actual person sealed inside. It looks so much more defined! It's not like you'll die after being sealed in there for a few days. How can you be so insensible?" The pain of having my limbs broken and my oxygen being cut off leads to me dying within that block of concrete. My body rots and festers inside, but my soul sticks around to watch how my parents dote on their adoptive child. They seem to be happy without me. Finally, I lose all hope in them. But when the liquid from my body seeps out of the concrete, they all lose their minds.

To teach me to behave, my parents forged a paternity test and declared I was not their biological son. My sister ignored my pleas and had me committed to a psychiatric hospital. "You troublemaker, why don't you just die?" they sneered. Even the fiancée I loved most watched with icy eyes and used her connections to make sure I suffered inside. After five years, I finally knew how to keep my head down. So why did they suddenly demand I return to the arrogant heir I once was?

I died beneath the Ferris wheel. The killer took a photo of the Ferris wheel and sent it to my mother. 'Mom, I want to ride the Ferris wheel with you too,' wrote the killer. In my mother's voice message, her tone was filled with hatred as she replied, "How dare you ask to ride the Ferris wheel with me when you killed your own sister? Why won't you just die?!" As she wished, I was dead. However, what she didn't know was that the one who killed me was my so-called dead sister.

"I, Alpha Killan Raiden Leonidas, hereby reject you as my mate." When Ackerly Ciro Galeno heard these rejection from his mate because his sexual orientation, the man wanted to die and just vanished without traces. He became depressed and hurt, but he realized that he needed to move on because he was already used to being rejected by everyone. Alpha Killan then realized he needed his mate. It's his turn to go after his mate, but how can he prove his good intentions if Ackerly doesn't want anything to do with him?

When the dreams of 23 year old Precious Tatum die with her mother. She gains a responsibility of having to take care of her 11 year old brother and her father. While trying to navigate life and get back to doing what she always loved doing, dance, she makes a deep connection with someone online. The connection opens not only her heart to love, but also her eyes to see what she has been sight blinded off. While discovering herself, she has to battle with the people that she loves, her family and her allies. How will she survive with being rejected for who she is?

My mother is a hospital director. To give my brother, an intern doctor, more hands-on experience, she assigns him as the lead surgeon for my brain tumor operation. I beg her to let someone else do it and tell her it's my only chance at survival. But she slaps me hard across the face and screams, "How did I raise such a selfish, ungrateful child? Your brother has just started his internship—can't you help him improve his skills? Is that too much to ask?" Later, the surgery fails. I die on the operating table. And my mother seems to have aged decades overnight.

After years of living abroad without children, I decided to return home to handle my inheritance matters. However, before I could step into my house, I was stopped by a group of people at the entrance. The woman leading the group pointed at me and started screaming. "I can't believe someone as young as you is seducing a man old enough to be your father! How disgusting can you be?" I watched her, noticing how much she resembled my older brother, and I was shaking with rage. They pulled out my fingernails, broke my ribs, and slashed my face, dragging me around the neighborhood as I begged for mercy. Yet, they remained indifferent to my pleas. Just as I was on the verge of losing hope, my brother, Edward Grange rushed over.  Through a mouthful of blood, I managed to choke out, "Ed, I’d rather die than let her inherit my inheritance…”

Im siebten Jahr unserer Liebe erbte Leo die Alpha-Position seines verstorbenen Bruders. Und auch die Witwe seines Bruders, die vorherige Luna, seine Schwägerin im weiteren Sinne, Jasmin. Nach jeder intimen Stunde mit seiner Schwägerin tröstete mich Leo zärtlich: „Mia, du bist meine einzige wahre Gefährtin. Sobald Jasmin schwanger ist und dem Silberklauen-Rudel einen Erben schenkt, werden wir unser Bindungsritual vollziehen.“ Er sagte, dies sei die einzige Bedingung seiner Familie gewesen, damit er das Silberklauen-Rudel übernehmen könne. In dem halben Jahr seit unserer Rückkehr zum Silberklauen-Rudel schlief er hundertmal mit Jasmin. Anfangs nur einmal im Monat, jetzt übernachtet er täglich bei ihr. Nach der hundertsten durchgewachten Nacht, in der ich auf ihn wartete, wurde Jasmin endlich schwanger. Gleichzeitig erreichte mich die Nachricht, dass er und Jasmin das Bindungsritual vollziehen würden. Als unser Sohn davon hörte, fragte er mich verwirrt: „Mama, haben sie nicht gesagt, dass Papa das Bindungsritual mit der Luna vollziehen wird, die er liebt? Warum holt er uns noch nicht nach Hause?“ „Weil die Luna, die er liebt, nicht Mama ist.“ Ich strich meinem Sohn über den Kopf. „Aber das macht nichts, Mama bringt dich zu unserem eigenen Zuhause.“ Was Leo nicht weiß: Als einzige Tochter des Alphakönigs des Nordens war mir die Position der Luna im Silberklauen-Rudel noch nie wichtig.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride!” The moment I closed my eyes for that first kiss, I suddenly remembered how I fantasized about marrying Lucas Sandoval. I recalled when I aimed to have a complete and a happy family and how willing I am to spend a lifetime with him. I felt a tear fell from my eyes as I felt his lips against mine, as I have realized that I just rather want to die right now in front of everyone than to live with him. Before, I was dying just to be with him. Now, I am literally dying for being with him. I dreamt about walking down the aisle to be with my love. Now, I just want to run away from him and never come back. I once prayed to be part of his life. Now I am— his battered wife.

Milo was abused by a mateless alpha at the age of fifteen after his parents were brutally killed. He wants to avenge his parent's death and the innocence of his childhood that was taken away from him, but to do that he must find someone who knows how to kill a werewolf, that's the reason why he is on a quest for a werewolf hunter. Unfortunately for Milo, he was busy looking for a werewolf hunter that he runs into the one thing he was running away from. What will happen if another alpha became his mate? Will he reject him and let him die in agony and pain? Or the bond between them is strong enough to make their relationship work?