Karma Grips Novels & Stories

My grandma and I were on a perfect beach in Golden Bay. The sun warmed my skin, the sand was soft beneath my feet, and she was resting peacefully nearby. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through my mind. A mind link. It was Brenda. Assistant to my mate, Gideon, the Alpha Heir. The image she sent was horrifying. An old woman in simple clothes, lying in a pool of her own blood. Deep gashes, down to the bone, from a silver-laced weapon. Brenda's voice echoed in my head, dripping with arrogance. “Cora, do you Omegas do anything but freeload?” “Gideon just bought this estate, and you’re already letting your pack-leeching relatives squat here? As the Alpha’s assistant, it's my duty to protect his land from trespassers.” “This is what happens when you trespass on an Alpha’s private property!” I froze. I looked over at the sun umbrella. My grandma, Maria, was napping peacefully. I replayed the image from the link. My blood ran cold. That face… bloody and broken, but I knew it. I would never mistake it. It wasn't my grandmother. It was Eleonora. Gideon’s grandmother. A rival pack had attacked her months ago. Her wolf was weakened. She was in a pack clinic. Her mind-link was damaged. She could only receive, not send. Today… she was supposed to come home. I pushed back against the link with all my strength. “Brenda, are you insane? Look who you hit! That's Eleonora! Gideon's grandmother!” Brenda cut the link. Her last words were cold and stupid. “Gideon made it clear. Your family is your problem. His family is his. He doesn’t claim trash like them.”

In the sixth year of my mating with Kael, his Alpha brother died in a rogue attack. Kael inherited his brother’s seat as Alpha. He also inherited his brother’s Luna, Vivienne. Every time he came back from her bed, he held me and said the same thing. “Baby, I only love you. Vivienne is the daughter of the Silverfang Alpha. Our pack is unstable and we need their support. This is a deal, nothing more. The moment she gives birth to an heir, I’ll declare you my one and only Luna.” Their room was right next to mine. Every night I lay there and listened to Vivienne’s pleasure and the low, satisfied growls he never made for me anymore. For half a year I went from feeling like my chest was being carved open to feeling nothing at all. At the end of that half year, Vivienne announced she was pregnant. The same day, Kael announced he would hold the mating ceremony with her. I stopped waiting. I closed my eyes and reached for the mind-link I had not used in six years. I called my father, the Alpha King. “Dad. You were right. I regret it. Come take me home.”

I had been secretly in love with my childhood friend for nine long years. When we finally got married, my family and friends thought I was the happiest person in the world. After I became pregnant, he used the excuse of "helping an old classmate" and invited the most beautiful girl from our class into our home. During the worst of my pregnancy, when nausea and exhaustion hit hardest, he took her to the hospital, made crafts with her, and watched sunsets with her. He even had the guts to accuse me of being small-minded and petty and acting like a bitter, jealous wife. Only then did I realize that it was just my foolish fantasy that I lived my dream of marrying my childhood sweetheart and had a happy life. I let go of the love I had for him and of the future I thought we would share. Now, however, he was the one who regretted it.

On the day of my wedding anniversary, I was cleaning my house when I found a picture album. As it turned out, my husband had been religiously taking pictures with the girl of his dreams every year on this precise date. He had been doing it since he was forty years old and he was now sixty years old. His hair had progressed from a jet black to a faded white and yet, he kept up the tradition. There was a written message in his handwriting at the back of the picture that read, “Eternal Love.” Since he doesn't love me, I will no longer bother washing his clothes and cooking for him. I will no longer care for his children and grandchildren. I may have foolishly wasted half of my life, but it was not too late to make a change.

Daddy brought me to Aunt Jenny’s party. As I was eating a piece of cake, I tasted a cherry between the layers and hurriedly spat it out. Once, I broke out in rashes after eating a cherry and nearly died, so I was deeply traumatized by that flavor even as a young child. However, Aunt Jenny looked heartbroken. “I hid a cherry in the cake as a little surprise, just like it’s good luck to get a bay leaf in a pie. How could you be so rude, Kenny?” Daddy did not even let me explain. He chased me out in the yard and made me stand there as punishment. Mommy said it had been more than a hundred degrees out lately, so she told me to stay home and not go out to play. Now I knew just how hot 104 degrees could be! My body was all itchy, too. I was finding it hard to breathe. I wanted to ask Daddy to forgive me, but he refused to open the door no matter how hard I knocked. He glanced at me coldly through the floor-to-ceiling window. He was not going to let me back in.

My best friend and I marry into the Xylander family at the same time. Everyone says we're lucky. My best friend's husband is a master negotiator, while my husband is a bomb disposal expert. Their enemy abduct us after we've just discovered we're pregnant. He ties bombs to our bellies. When our husbands negotiate with the abductors, they choose to save Melinda Sutton, a woman they grew up with. The bombs are detonated, and we're gravely injured. After surviving the explosion, we decide to get divorced together.

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.

My husband and his employees went on a camping trip, and his assistant posted on social media. [We drew lots for the tents, and guess who ended up with the handsome CEO!] The post showed a selfie she took. Behind her, my husband was taking his shirt off. Someone left a comment. [A man and a woman alone together? Sounds juicy.] The assistant quickly replied with a smirking emoji. [I like a little excitement!] After I liked the post, it was deleted right away. Soon, my husband called me on video. In front of his crying assistant and several employees, he scolded, “Why did you like the post?! It was just a game! Don’t be so close-minded!” As I watched him hold the assistant in arms and comforted her, I quietly hung up. After ten years of loving Caelan Sullivan, I decided then and there to let go.

Ethan West and I were together for seven years. Because of one promise, I gave up the thrill of being a gold-medal race car driver to become a housewife, tied to the mundane rhythm of pots and pans. Yet, Ethan never changed. His gentle care and thoughtfulness remained constant over the years, and I believed he loved me. Until the day I saw him, madly holding another woman, kissing her as if the world would end. It was then I learned the truth: I was Ethan's wife, but Tara was the unattainable princess he had always longed for.

The wife of the richest man in the Northston enjoys tormenting beautiful young girls. I, born without the ability of feeling pain, became her perfect target. So, during yet another instance of being bullied in the school bathroom , this billionaire couple found me. They brought a lot of reporters and claimed that I was their long-lost daughter. For a better life, I became the rich man's daughter and was envied by everyone. But beneath their loving facade, my new wounds concealed old ones. They said that this was the price of my protection and that I should repay them with my life. They were right. I should repay them. Only, it would be their lives, not mine.