I Need A Pick-me-up

My mate Fenris and my brother Caspian are the two most powerful Alphas in the Southern Territory. They used to spoil me rotten, and I was once the most cherished princess of the pack. But then I was thrown into prison and tortured for two long years. Three years ago, I was attacked by rogues and nearly died of silver poisoning. Selene stepped forward and claimed she was willing to undergo a full blood transfusion to save me. I survived, but Selene lost her wolf in the process and became a mere Omega. From that day on, Fenris and Caspian brought Selene home, swearing to treat her like their own sister. At first, I was grateful to her. But slowly, she started "accidentally" falling whenever we were alone. When Fenris and Caspian would come running, she’d cry and tell them it must have been an accident, begging them not to blame me. I tried to explain myself, but Fenris and Caspian never believed me.

The day I win a brand-new BMW, I suddenly receive a call from myself, ten years in the future. "Kieran will ask to borrow your car in a bit. And whatever you do, do not lend it to him. He intends to use it to pay off his gambling debt." Even with such an impossibility happening to me, I do not doubt a thing. When Kieran asks for my keys, I shut him down at once. That very night, he drives his old beater car to visit our parents. Along the way, he loses control of the car and collides with another vehicle. Just like that, he slips into a coma. The guilt hit me so hard that I eventually pass out. Mom and Dad stay by my side day and night until I can stand on my own two feet again. But the future version of me sounds cold when she calls again. "They only want to push you onto an operating table. They want your heart to save him!" Growing suspicious, I check their bags and find a donor report. Rage burns through me. I immediately block them on all platforms and throw them out of my home. When news that Kieran dies from blood loss arrives, I learn that they only ever needed my blood—not my heart. I try to find them to tell them the truth and apologize for my mistake. But the mysterious phone rings again. "They hate you because Kieran died. If you go to them now, they will drag you into a suicide pact." I freeze at the revelation, then tell my future myself that I will wait until they calm down. Later, I learn that a thief breaks into their home and kills them. I try to rush over and see them one last time, but a truck hits me and kills me on the spot. I die without ever understanding why the version of me from ten years in the future wanted me dead. When I open my eyes again, I am back on the day I won the prize.

On my 30th birthday, my boyfriend of seven years asked to meet at the City Hall. He even told me to bring my ID and wear a wedding dress. But when I showed up just as he asked, he was laughing and looked really excited. “Pay up, pay up! I told you all. No matter how embarrassing it is, Wrenna will always do what I say!” I just looked at him wordlessly. Matthew Young raised his eyebrows at me. “Come on, it was just a joke. You’re not mad, are you?” When I stayed quiet, he got annoyed. “Alright, alright. I said I’d marry you, and I will. Just not right now.” His good-for-nothing friends started laughing and making fun of me. They said I was his simp and would never get angry. And they were right. I was not angry. I did not come here today for him anyway. After everyone left, I walked into the City Hall. “Sorry I’m late. Let’s go get married.”

I died on the day I was supposed to receive the Pack’s Distinguished Service Award. Three hours after I died, my parents, my brother, and my mate were just wrapping up the graduation party they’d thrown for my sister. While my sister, Ella, was posting a cozy family photo on Instagram, I was locked in our basement, using my tongue to swipe on my phone and call for help. The only person who answered was my mate, Ryan. All he said was, "Sophie, cut the drama. Ella's graduation party is important. Enough with the tantrums!" This was the ninety-ninth time they had let me down. And the last. I lay in a pool of my own blood, my lungs still. They thought I was just throwing a fit, hiding somewhere. That if they taught me a lesson, I’d come crawling back. But they didn't know. I was home the whole time. I was already dead.

In order to avenge Lily Bauer, an orphan staying with the Frostfang pack, Ethan Hawkins doesn't show up at the agreed time on the day of our betrothal party. He only sends his Beta to my door with a message. "Last time, you injured Lily with wolfsbane pollen, humiliating her at the pack gathering. Today is just a lesson. Apologize to Lily and send over the necklace she likes, and then we'll get betrothed." Overnight, I become the laughingstock of the entire pack. My brother, Ryan Fuller, says, "Lily just lost her parents. Let her vent her anger. Ethan is meant to be your mate anyway. Delaying your betrothal by a few days is no big deal." Really? It isn't a big deal? The Frostfang pack's ancestral token isn't something just anyone can covet. I turn around and grip the wolf-shaped crest offered by the Blackwood pack. "I accept the Blackwood pack's proposal for a mate alliance."

Grace is forced into marriage with Damon Croft, the Rival Alpha who swore to destroy her father’s bloodline by entering what looked like a revenge marriage arrangement only to for it to become a curse-bound marriage. Where neither could leave. In a world ruled by Lycans, fated mates are rare…and even cruelly binding and what escalates things is that Damon doesn’t hide his hate for her. He doesn’t love her and he only wished to make her pay for her fathers sins, one day at a time but the moon goddess mark upon them complicates things and Damon swears he’ll never accept it. Grace, born mute and treated as a ghost in her own home refuses to beg for his mercy. Every time he tries to break her, she finds another way to defy him and every act of defiance blurs the line between hatred and obsession. Until everything is at stake and what they think they know is not what they know. Their whole lives have been someone’s needlework of manipulation and greed. She can’t stand him but he can't get enough of her.

For our college graduation trip, I spent a whole week glued to various travel apps, finally snagging a half-price couples' train package. I was just about to share the good news with my boyfriend and call it a night when his message came through. "Anna's going through a breakup. She needs to get away and clear her head. We're gonna use those tickets." "See if you can grab yourself another single ticket. It's not that much anyway - like five or six hundred bucks." For a moment, I was speechless. Before he received the scholarship my dad’s pack had specifically established for him, five or six hundred dollars used to be his entire monthly allowance. After a moment of silence, I picked up my phone: “Dad, prepare a private jet for me. I want to take a trip alone before graduation.”

"Are you sure you want this?" The witch slid the vial across the table. "Once I cast the unbinding spell, your Fated Mate connection will dissolve over ten days. On the tenth day, it's permanent. No reversals." I didn't hesitate. "Your name?" She picked up her pen. "Mara Voss." Her hand froze. Everyone in New York's vampire community knew that name. Conrad Levin — the Prince of the New York Dominion, an eight-hundred-year-old monster who had never shown a flicker of attachment to anything — had three years ago announced to the entire supernatural world that he'd found his Fated Mate. A human girl carrying the rarest blood type in existence. Golden blood. Her name was Mara Voss. I held out my wrist. The witch began her work. I opened my phone and booked a one-way ticket to Prague. Departing in exactly ten days. This time, Conrad would never find me.

I'm a nationally certified animal trainer running the Lion King, Caesar's final assessment. I've barely stepped into the enclosure corridor when the steel guillotine door slams down behind me. My wife's laughter crackles over the loudspeaker. "Everyone, we're doing the ultimate challenge today! We're locking the so-called number-one animal trainer in the Lion King's enclosure and taking bets on whether he wets himself in ten minutes!" Caesar crouches low and rumbles a warning. I reach for my tranquilizer gun but stop cold. The liquid isn't the right color. In a phony sing-song voice, the veterinarian, Hugh Archer, says, "Lucian, I forgot to mention, I swapped your tranquilizer darts for pepper spray so you won't hurt Caesar by mistake. "You two are so close. Just win him over with love!" I look at Caesar, his eyes bloodshot from the stimulant, and it clicks. Hugh still resents that I stopped him from touching a tiger with his bare hands a few days ago. I tune out the trash blaring over the loudspeaker, pull a remote from my pocket, and hit the button. It's the master switch for the electric fence gates around every predator enclosure in the zoo. If I don't make it out, no one does.

He asked for her body. Her loyalty. Her womb. And in return, he gave her a betrayal so cruel it broke something sacred. Nadia was never Greg’s love, just a placeholder for the woman he truly wanted. Used, discarded, and left bleeding in the woods like a broken toy. But fate wasn’t done with her yet. Varic, the cold-blooded Alpha with a vendetta of his own, finds her at her lowest and offers her everything: power, protection and revenge. In exchange, she becomes his Queen. What started as a fake alliance turns into something savage. Something possessive. Because Nadia isn’t just a forgotten omega anymore. She’s the spark of a bloodline long buried. She’s the mate he never wanted.