I Knew Her Well

Rejected on the night of her mating ceremony, Valeria’s world shatters when the mate she waited for abandons her without mercy. Branded a disgrace by her own family, she is betrayed in the cruelest way—offered in place of her sister to the most ruthless Alpha known to the packs. Alpha Sebastian does not want her love. He does not want her loyalty. To the pack, she is Luna,To him, she is nothing but a slave. Humiliated, tortured, and stripped of her title, Valeria is framed for a crime she did not commit. Her sister steals her identity. Her parents turn their backs on her. And the Alpha who owns her sentences her to death—only to spare her life for a fate far worse. Broken and chained, Valeria loses all hope… until a mysterious Alpha saves her life. Alpha Xavier is powerful, dangerous, and impossible to read. When he touches her, something awakens—a bond stronger than fate. But Alpha Sebastian will not let go of what he claims belongs to him. Caught between two Alphas.Hunted by her own blood. And carrying a secret that could cost her life, Valeria must escape… or rise and take revenge on everyone who destroyed her. Will she remain a slave forever, or become the Luna they all feared?

[ ғʀɪᴇɴᴅs ᴛᴏ ʟᴏᴠᴇʀs - ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇᴅ ] Emily Willows longs for passion, but only with the man of her dreams: the brilliant, warm and dashing Edward Jones. If only her oblivious, dreaming neighbour can stop with all his gentlemanly-ness and just pin her into the nearest solid obstacle available. And then, perhaps encircle her whimpering body into the solid rippling confines of his warmth- But no, he would not. He could not. As they’ve been best friends for, well, ever. And that's why it becomes extremely challenging for her when he asks her the biggest favour he could ever ask. The one favour she was sure no friend would ever ask their own. The one she was sure to lose herself to. The one she knew she shouldn’t say yes to. But it would indeed be the one to make her crazy all the same. Oh, dammit, all to hell. ~ritikablush.Copyright StarryRitika 2020

On the day I was declared pregnant, I ran into my husband in the ob-gyn. He was with his long-lost love for a prenatal checkup. "I'm not going home tonight. As you can see, I have business to attend to," Lawrence said quietly as he left with an arm wrapped around Melissa. I fell silent and booked an abortion surgery. Everyone around us thought I was a simp for Lawrence. They thought I wouldn't leave, no matter how badly he mistreated me. He had the same thought. No one knew that I only married him to repay a debt. That debt was now repaid. Ten years was up, and I could finally end this abominable marriage.

At 4:30 in the morning, my husband answered a call from his ex-girlfriend and accidentally put it on speaker. "Jason, my daughter, Alison, has a fever—over 104. I can't get a ride..." The sudden sound of sobbing jolted me awake. Jason hurriedly turned off the speaker and lowered his voice. "Send me your location. I'll come right away." It seemed he had forgotten that today was my first prenatal checkup.

Fresh from a business trip, my husband swept me into his arms and pulled me toward the bathroom for a passionate shared bath. As our lips met in a dizzying kiss, I noticed something odd out of the corner of my eye: the toilet lid was down. Seven years ago, after reading an online article claiming that men urinating while standing could splash bacteria onto the seat, he insisted we always keep the lid up for hygiene's sake. In all our years of marriage, it had never been lowered until now. A chill ran through me. The bathroom was pristine, not a stray hair in sight. But then I noticed the shower's water temperature was set five degrees higher than the 98.6°F he always preferred. Men preferred cooler water, and women warmer. In an instant, I realized that Nick Doyle had betrayed me.

My sister, Bella, had a baby in a back-alley shithole. Then she disappeared. A midwife tracked me down using an address Bella left behind. She shoved the newborn at me like a sack of garbage. My parents fell to their knees. Crying. Begging me to take her bastard. Just like that, my future as a promising artist was gone. The neighbors, the priest, my landlord… they all called me a whore. A sinner who had disgraced God. They ran me out of the neighborhood . My life was over. Eighteen years later, Bella waltzed back into my life. A cheap thug with a fake Rolex dangled from her arm. She held my son, crocodile tears streaming down her face. She called me jealous. Accused me of stealing her flesh and blood. Of keeping a mother from her child. And my son? The one I bled myself dry for? The son I poured every last cent into, turning him into a brilliant painter? The son I starved for, so much that I ended up in a hospital bed? The moment he saw his "real" mother, he cast me aside without a second thought. "You pathetic, broke bitch!" he spat. "You stole everything from us! All the happiness that was supposed to be ours!" My parents threw me out like a dog. Bella's thug husband had his men corner me in the red-light district. They pinned me against a wall, their threats vile and clear: Never come back. I had no way out. I threw myself off the Brooklyn Bridge. Then, I opened my eyes. I was back. Eighteen years in the past. Then came the knock. Hell had found my door. I wasn’t going to be the fool who gave everything and got nothing. This time, I took control.

"Cool," she said, targeting my lips again but I dragged backward till I met a wall. The look of unreadiness and confusion dispersed around my gaze the more I tried to hide them. "umm...can we really do this here? I mean it's a classroom" I chuckled reluctantly. She stared into my eyes and her face told a lot. I didn't want to be that person just yet, I still wanted to spend more time with her. "fine, if you're not in the mood" she turned to go away. I couldn't stop my arm from holding her and dragging her close to me. I wish I could let her walk away. ********************************************** I met Zara first and she wasn't a twin wolf I picked up to have fun with. She was a human I wanted to have fun with. Even though she was a kind girl with a glistening beauty, I knew I would break her heart. No, that's what I thought until started to feel something deeper. I abandoned my task from the Luna and spent the weeks with her, playing football with humans in Mexico. The minute I thought to correct that, her twin sister, Clara showed up and worsen the scenario. Unlike Zara, Clara is a wolf and... my mate.

The moment I discover I'm pregnant, Courtney Smith, the leukemia patient I saved three years ago, turns up on my doorstep once again. She claims that her leukemia has relapsed again, so she wants me to abort my baby in order to save her life again. But I'm pregnant with my deceased police husband's baby. So, I tell her that I can only donate my bone marrow to her once I've given birth to my baby. After hearing my answer, not only do Courtney and her family not feel any gratitude toward me, but they also berate me for not helping them out till the end. "You can still have another baby once you lose this one! But if your pregnancy affects my illness in any way, will you be able to take responsibility over this?" Then, the Smiths abduct me to a shady hospital, where they forcibly put me through an abortion and remove my bone marrow. While their operation is a success, my baby and I end up dying on the surgical table. As they gaze at our corpses, the Smiths' faces are plastered with icy expressions. "Don't blame us for what we did. If you were the one with leukemia, we'd still make Court donate her bone marrow to you. One's life is determined by fate. If you can't survive, that just means you're fated to die." When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the timeframe three days before Courtney finds out about her leukemia relapse.

My CEO wife, Gianna Richmond, plans on finally publicly announcing our marriage after our company successfully secures funding. However, Shane Jagger, a junior colleague that she recently hired, suddenly takes the mic from her and bashfully says, "Ms. Richmond, I really didn't think that you would be making our relationship public so quickly. Aren't you spoiling me a little too much?" Gianna doesn't refute that. Instead, she arranges for him to work on a very important project to help him fast-track his growth. At once, all of her employees erupt in cheer and applause, praising them for being a match made in heaven. A long-time colleague, Henry Danson, notices that I'm not saying anything in response, so he whispers to me, "Hey, Brandon, aren't you usually really good at pleasantries and networking? Hurry up and show some support!" I decide not to make a fuss. Instead, I take off my project manager work badge and push it toward Shane instead, declaring, "I don't think just being part of the project is good enough for your status. You should be the project manager as well. Think of it as my gift to you for making your relationship public!"

It was my twentieth birthday. My father presented me with the photos of many rich heiresses across the nation. He wanted me to pick the one to have a political marriage with. I told him I wanted to leave that in the hands of fate. Why? In my previous life, I picked Rachel Osborne, an heiress from Shampton. And I did that without hesitation. After we got married, I found out her true love, Zacharias Newman, had gotten himself drunk at a bar. The reason? He was heartbroken that we got married. And while he was drunk, a robber mugged him and cut off his hand's tendons. He tried to kill himself three times, and who did my wife blame? Me. She extracted my family's assets and gave them all to her beloved. My family was left as an empty husk. And she let him cut our brake lines. Thanks to him, my family and I died in a horrifying car crash. This was my second life. This time, I chose Seraphina Oliviera, an heiress from Fortunopolis. She was someone who couldn't care less about worldly matters and was a God-fearing woman. Eventually, I showed up at the engagement with Seraphina, but that apparently drove Rachel mad.