Ignoring Synonyms

After catching her fiancé buried between her sister’s thighs, Maria ran. Straight into the arms of the last man she should’ve fallen for—his father. ~~~~ MARIA: The future I imagined went to shit the night before my wedding. Being betrayed by those closest to me nearly fucked me up, leaving me broken and in need of an escape. When I fled, I did it with zero plans—nothing but rage in my heart and my suitcase in hand. But then fate threw me into Declan: older, dangerously compelling, but also equally scarred. He took me in when I was stranded—no questions asked. It was the last thing I expected, but he continued to care for me, keep me safe and... warm me up. In more ways than one. As days pass, ignoring the heat, chemistry, and.. persistent feelings between us becomes... tough. I feel his eyes on me all the time, and my heart rate triples without permission whenever I bump into him in the house. He clearly wants me. I want him too, but I can't allow it to happen. Because he's the father of the man I now despise the most in the world. DECLAN: I took her in because I wanted to help. Who am I kidding, it's more than that. I couldn't help myself. From the moment I laid eyes on her, she had my heart in a choke hold. And as the days went by, resisting her became the sweetest torture. It became like hell to keep my hands to myself, or my mind from imagining obscene things whenever I see her. But we’re not free to give into this. She’s only 23, and I’m... nearly twice her age. And what's worse, I'm the father of the man who broke her heart.

A gasp escapes me as my back hits the wood, and hands grab mine, pinning them high above my head, forcing me to look straight into the face I’ve tried so hard to forget. Kai. His scent filled my senses, spicy and dangerous and so damn soothing. His gaze burned into my skin and the amount of fury in them almost made me shiver. “What the hell is wrong with you?” I snap. He leans in, voice low and venomous. “You like cuddling up in another man’s arms, Virelle?” “Excuse me?” I hissed. “Ric is my mate. I can do whatever the hell I want.” His jaw clenches as his nostrils flares. “You think he can please you?” I glare at him, ignoring the heat pooling low in my belly. “Yes, I do, because he’s my mate and I can do whatever I want, I don’t owe you anything.” “Bullshit,” he growls and before I could blink, his lips crash against mine…hard. His lips are rough and angry, his teeth grazing mine with his tongue forcing its way in, like he’s trying to claim what he threw away. My mind is screaming at me to shove him off, but my body is traitorous and trembling, and is already responding. I could feel Nyzarelle howling in delight, as I clutched to him for dear life. I'd never felt like this with Ric A moan slips from my mouth but is swallowed by his tongue as his hand grips my thigh, trailing up until I feel them on my folds. He massaged my folds roughly, before stuffing his hands into my panties and pooling a finger into me. My back aches as he finger fucks me angrily, not giving space to catch my breathe.

"Saffron, I asked you a question. What happened to your dress?" Atlas asked again like he cared. Why was he calling her name like they were pals? How did he even know her name? This was the first time in seven years that they talked. Atlas isn't one to care about mere workers in the mansion, let alone commit their names to memory. So why her? Ignoring Atlas was not an option, so she parted her lips. "I–" Saffron was about to lie her way through when she caught sight of Caspian walking over. "Talk to me! Did Caspian do this to you?!" Atlas frowned and grabbed her jaw, forcing her to look his way. "How did–" so this was it? Atlas orchestrated last night's incident? He set her up! Now Caspian would think she was involved with Atlas! There's no way for her to prove her innocence anymore... "Ahh!" Saffron cried out loud and moved back with her rear hitting the wall. She slid down slowly until she was sitting on the floor, bawling her eyes out. "I'm just an insignificant Chef who is only here to work, please I beg you, let me live… waaah… I want to live…!" She continued crying as she lamented sorrowfully like she was already having her last minute of life. Caspian walked past without acknowledging any of them with a mere glance. After he ambled out of the corridor, Atlas moved away and glared condescendingly at Saffron, "Don't think too highly of yourself. You've served your purpose. You were a mere pawn." ... Saffron, a Chef who wanted nothing but a simple life, ended up becoming a pawn in a life and death's game for three brothers. However, time will tell if she's a pawn, or the Queen on the chess board.

After my mom, Margaret Hale, dies of a heart attack, she starts appearing in my sister Claire Dawson's dreams. In a dream, Mom tells Claire to climb Mount Mistwood before sunrise and burn the entrance ticket for her, or the other ghosts will bully her. Claire doesn't tell me anything. She packs a bag in the middle of the night and forces herself to the summit. While she's gasping her way up that mountain, I'm asleep at home when I suddenly go into cardiac arrest. I wake up in the emergency room with doctors shouting over me. I barely survive before Mom appears in Claire's dreams again. This time, she says skydiving is her last wish. If Claire doesn't do it for her, she won't rest in peace. Claire signs up right away, ignoring everything I say. But then, her parachute refuses to open, and she plummets toward the ground. Luckily, she gets snagged in a tree and walks away without a scratch. Meanwhile, I miss a step going downstairs, tumble to the bottom, end up covered in bruises, and break five ribs. While I'm recovering in the hospital, Mom shows up in Claire's dreams again. Now, she wants Claire to go to the South Pole for her, saying she can finally move on and be reincarnated once Claire completes the trip. Claire doesn't hesitate and books a tour on the spot. While she's taking pictures with penguins, I freeze to death back home during a 104-degree heatwave. Only after I die does it finally hit me that Mom's missions for Claire always end with me on death's doorstep. What I don't understand is how Mom keeps shifting the danger meant for Claire onto me instead. The next time I open my eyes, I'm back on the morning after Mom first appeared in Claire's dream.

" You wish it was you screaming my name, don't you? " He asked while locking me in place with his gaze. “ I don’t know what you're talking about.” I defended. I clutched the wall behind me as he moved closer with his hand on the door above my head. Our bodies were inches apart and it was getting harder to concentrate because of his bare chest that was muscular and covered with ink. " Tell me principessa, do you think of me when you trail your fingers down your stomach and between your thighs? Do you think of me as you work yourself trying to reach the brick of euphoria? Do you imagine it's my fingers as you work faster to ease the ache between your thighs? Do you scream my name as your walls clench around your digits and your eyes roll to the back of your head when you ? " " you! " I screamed, ignoring the loud thumping of my heart against my chest. " You see, I know girls like you. You've been sheltered all your life and you crave some rebellion. Tattoos, muscular, bad boy, and an Italian accent are your undoing, right? That's all it takes to have you drooling and fawning. I'm I right, principessa? " “ You know nothing about me! " I screamed and he chuckled. “ Oh, but I do. I can smell your arousal begging me to pin you to this wall and show just how much I can make your weep for me. " He whispered in my ear. She's fire and he's ice. Sicily holds many secrets but is Brianna ready for the ones Nikolai has to offer? A life of crime, gunfire, and passion is not what she signed up for. Can she handle the enigma that is Nikolai?

Theda thinks her life is slowly turning warm after she's saved by the said-infamous alpha Tyler, but things rumble for her when he gets to know a bitter truth about her, and ignoring the fated signals, he turns cold and ill-treats her. What bitter truth led to his drastic change? What will be Theda's new faith after she runs away to save her unborn child and herself? ****** "Isn't it enough, Alpha Tyler? You've hurt me way more than I could ever imagine in the past few weeks. What have I done?" I couldn't stand his grayish-blue eyes piercing my soul. I tried the look away when I became confusingly lost in his eyes. He grabbed my chin and lifted it, he made me look back at him. "These eyes. I never once thought that I would dislike them so much, nor did I ever think that this face of yours is related to something behind my past miseries." His voice was cold and emotionless and I couldn't believe he was the same man who once treated me with love. "I. Hate. You." He spelt out his hatred without blinking an eye, causing my mouth to drop. "Just kill me then and maybe you'll be free from the haunts of your past miseries," I whispered hoarsely with so much bitterness bottled up inside me. "I will surely do that without regret." My eyes grew bigger in awe and a despicable smirk snarled up the face of his that once gave me sparkles. Sadly, it still did. "Every day…will be a living hell for you, Theda." His hot-cold whisper sent chills down my spine and I froze. I thought I'd seen the worst but for him..it was just the tip of an iceberg.

She froze, breath caught, facing the storm in his delinquent brown eyes. He leaned over her, hands gripping the rail, boxing her in. The air was thick, too heavy to breathe. Her gaze locked on his unwilling, yet unable, to look away. The closer he leaned, the harder her heart pounded. She bit her lip, nerves twitching. No matter how far she ran, he always found her. “Why do you keep chasing me?” she asked, barely above a whisper. Her voice trembled, as if volume might shatter her. He didn’t answer. Silence roared between them. His cold and expressionless never left her face. “Do you like me?” she pressed, ignoring the disinterest in his eyes. She needed something. He gave a soft tut, then brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, twirling it lazily. The touch was light, but his closeness made her pulse race. “‘Like’ is a bit heavy, Tinkerbell,” he murmured, voice low and indifferent. The nickname slipped out like smoke, mocking, yet oddly tender. He leaned in, close enough for her to feel his heat. Close enough to unravel her. But his eyes stayed dark. Empty. She swallowed hard, unsure what hid behind them. “It’s strange,” he added, voice softer now. “But you’re the first woman I’ve ever aknowledged as a lady, Snow White.” — She was the good girl. Quiet. Overlooked. Her life, a shadow. No warmth. No safety. For a moment, she thought she’d found love, someone who saw her. Someone worth clinging to. But he broke her. When he left, he took her love and her self-worth. She hated herself after that. Then she started to rebuild. And that’s when Zachary Gonzalez appeared. Mysterious. Magnetic. Dangerous. Everything she shouldn’t want.

“I, Castiel Vexthorn, hereby reject you…” His voice cut through the room like a blade, each word dripping with venom. “What is your name?” He didn’t even know my name. The humiliation hit harder than the rejection itself. I met his gaze—those cold, storm-gray eyes that seemed carved from granite. “Estelle Frost.” I kept my voice steady, refusing to let him see me falter. “I reject you, Estelle Frost!” His words thundered in the air, the weight of the mate bond snapping inside me like a brittle twig. **** They called him a cursed king. He called her a mistake. A weakness. When pack healer Estelle Frost accompanies her Alpha to a summit of Alphas, she expects nothing more than long hours tending to warriors and ignoring the sting of her fiancé’s betrayal. One night. One drink too many. One bed she should never have fallen into… and she wakes beside Castiel Alaric Vexthorn, the feared Alpha King who despises humans. The next morning, he discovers she is his fated mate and rejects her without mercy. But fate is not so easily severed. Because weeks later, Estelle learns she’s carrying the heirs of the very man who swore he’d never want her. And the cursed Alpha King will burn the world to claim what he’s just thrown away. *** “I should hate you, Dove. Heck, I want to but…” His storm gray eyes looked into mine and slowly, ever slowly, he leaned closer and captured my lips. I gasped, my hands flying to hold onto his broad chest. He seized the moment to slide his tongue through my lips and I let out a tiny moan. The kiss wasn't gentle. It was demanding. Possessive and filled with want.

My mother is the Royal duchy and I am her sole heir. My mother was once deceived by my father, which nearly bankrupted our family. That bastard father of mine disappeared without a trace, taking the fortune he'd stolen from my mother and running off with his mistress. To prevent me from falling for the same kind of man in the future—to keep me from being fooled and robbed blind—my mother adopted two war orphans. She planned to raise them as potential husband candidates for me. But mother never knew the truth. These two men appeared respectful and obedient to her arrangements on the surface. But privately, they were both infatuated with my maid Josie. They constantly neglected me and made my life difficult, all to win her favor. My favorite, Marcus Reed, even gave up his own last name. He changed it to Josie's—Marcus Thompson. The betrayal cut deeper than I'd expected. Before mother died, she asked me the question I'd been dreading. "Which one do you want to choose as your husband?" But I had heard something interesting lately. There was a mafia heir—Vincent Rossi—who was notorious for his violence. He'd killed innocent people. Years of brutal fighting had left him severely injured. The doctors said he had less than six months to live. The mafia Rossi family wanted to marry him to a noblewoman before he died. I didn't hesitate to reach out to him. I offered an alliance through marriage. To my surprise, the Rossi family agreed. But on my wedding day, Marcus and the other candidate burst into the ceremony. They begged me to reconsider. "Please, don't do this!" Marcus shouted, his face desperate. "You can't marry him!" I stood there in my wedding dress, looking at the two men who had spent years ignoring me for my maid. Now they wanted me back? How interesting.

I'd had a crush on my brother's best friend, Ethan—the most powerful Alpha of our Northern Territory—since I was twelve years old. When I was fifteen, I boldly confessed my feelings to him. He laughed and patted my head, casually promising, "When you turn eighteen and shift, if you're my mate, I'll mark you." That offhand promise became my greatest hope for three years. I spent every day waiting for my wolf to awaken, praying to the Moon Goddess that she would designate us as mates. But on the night of my eighteenth birthday, after my wolf first awakened, I was shocked to discover that Ethan truly was my mate! Ignoring the intense shifting pain coursing through my body, I immediately shifted into my wolf form and ran toward Ethan's training grounds. I clutched the gift I'd prepared long ago, but instead heard Ethan urgently confessing to his Omega assistant Victoria: "Who would be stupid enough to actually care about a true mate? The bond between her and me is just the Moon Goddess's mistake. I only love you. I'll only mark you as my Luna." The words hit me like silver bullets to the chest. My wolf whimpered in pain, the mate bond burning like acid in my veins. I stood frozen behind the trees, watching the man I'd loved for six years dismiss our sacred connection as if it meant nothing. Later, Ethan introduced Victoria as his "fiancée." When Victoria demanded that I publicly bless their marking ceremony, Ethan remained completely indifferent to my humiliation. "Sylvia should give us her blessing," Victoria announced at the pack meeting, her voice sweet as poison. "After all, she's been like a little sister to Ethan all these years." Every wolf in the room could smell my distress. But Ethan said nothing, refusing to even look at me. When rogue wolves attacked our territory and I was surrounded, Ethan didn't hesitate to scoop up Victoria—who had only a tiny scratch on her finger—and carry her away to find the pack healer. He left me bleeding and alone, silver claws ha