Like Wind On A Dry Branch Novels & Stories

“You’re mine, Isabella. My untouched little girl. I will burn this whole world before I let another man get close to you.” Isabella Monroe lost everything. Even her parents. A fire took them when she was just a child, dark and sudden, leaving her alone in a cold, unforgiving world. But Sebastian Hawthorne, her father’s closest friend and the father of her only friend, never walked away. He stayed. He became her shadow. Her shield. The man standing between her and the edge. But Isabella is not the fragile girl everyone thinks she is. She is wild. Strong. She rides her motorcycle like she owns the road, wind in her hair, danger in her smile. She works as a waitress, earning every dollar with pride, refusing to beg, refusing to break. Sebastian tries to control her fire. To tame her reckless soul. But he soon learns something far worse. Controlling his own heart is the real war. He is forbidden in every way. Older. Married, even if the marriage is already dying. And he already has a mistress warming his bed. Every time they meet, the line starts to blur. Care turns into hunger. Protection twists into obsession. One touch from him is enough. Enough to spark something dark and hungry, something that aches low in her body and burns through his control. A need that should not exist. A desire that can ruin them both. Will Isabella give in to the man who once protected her, and now scares her the most… and calls to her in the darkest way?

“Strip.” He ordered simply, his eyes boring tentatively, “I'll not give you the liberty of picking up your clothes if you will not do as you're told.” “You married me to get revenge on me!” I spat, angrily. “You are not supposed to have any carnal knowledge of me, I won't let it happen.” He smiled. The same smile that cuts across his lips yet doesn't reach his face. “You want me to have sex with you?” “Isn't that what you mean by stripping?” I asked, confusion boldly written on my face. A loud, dry mocking laugh from him almost made me wish for death. “No wife.” He whispered, standing up from the bed towards me. “I don't want to see any of my properties on you in my house, I want you tattered and extremely void, I want to see what you will do when you're all bare before me.” I stumbled backwards at the hatred in his voice. “I want to see you at your lowest, Now strip!”

Abhorred and burned to death, a nameless female takes on the identity of another to infiltrate the most prosperous pack in the Northwest. Her plan? Inherit the pack with the protection of her soulmate. Because she has zero faith in the resilience of a chosen mate bond, she never dated a man up to this date. On her 22nd birthday, the pressure on her increases as new foes emerge and old enemies resurface. So when Einas Raed, the Lycan Commander of the Pacific Sea, regrets his choice and asks for a second chance, she grasps the golden branch she believes would be the end to her demons. Not exactly who she claims to be, what will happen when her secret is exposed to the world? ... I am not who I say I am. I copied her face and took her name, then impersonated her to enter the Evergreen Pack. I replaced her in her family and stole her place in her pack. Neither the right to be the Alpha King's Heir nor the privileges of Alpha Malivik's daughter belong to me. Yes, I know. I am a terrible person. I am a thief. An Imposter. This is why the shame of my guilt burdens my heart, and it's eating me from the inside out. The fear of my dirty secret getting exposed has me ardently praying to the Moon Goddess. Because I copied her face, it's only a matter of time before everyone finds out I stole her identity. ... ----------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Ali thought she would finally get her revenge against her father and those who offended her in the past, while also digging back on her mother's supposed 'suicide' death. And all this by marrying into the Laverock family. However, she is unaware that, even though she sought revenge, she was an instrument of revenge and a lone prey in the Laverock family. She has a secret that Harriet wanted, one that could topple the country... Ali is a worker at Laverock Mega Food Chains and a competent marketing manager. But she is struggling to cater for her sick brother. Her father and stepmother are hellbent on marrying her off to regain their wealth and status, even going as far as using her brother's illness to threaten her. However, in her desperate moments, the matriarch of the Laverock family extends an olive branch to her after she saved the old woman from an accident. In exchange for sponsoring her brother's treatment, she is asked to marry the second young master of the family. But Martin elopes on the wedding day. Under the pressure of Harriet, Gerald steps in and marries Ali, but will it be an easy marriage? Their lives take a turn when Ali discovers a truth that shatters her. She is forced to leave and return six years later for revenge. Her heart is made up, and it was payback for the biggest scumbag of her life. VOLUME 1: Fortune or Luck. VOLUME 2: Love and Scheme; Who Beats the Game? VOLUME 3: Victory and Defeat; Who is fighting a losing battle? Get ready for a spin...

I was reborn. Right back to the day I adopted Peter. The wind cut sharp, baby cries slicing through the cold. That's when it hit me—this was the day Stuart Pete, my oh-so-loving husband, dumped his illegitimate child right in my path after work. He knew me too well. The second I picked the kid up, he'd spin it into an adoption, making the boy ours. Last time, I fell for it. This time? I walked away without a second thought. Later, I heard the kid got pneumonia from being left out in the freezing cold—fever so bad, it wrecked him for life. I laughed until my stomach hurt. What I didn't see coming? Peter was reborn too—about to experience the life he was meant to have.

Sephina never wanted much—just a quiet life, a warm oven, and a place to belong. But the night she’s thrown out of her home with nothing but the clothes on her back, all that disappears. Desperate and alone, she takes the only job she can find... serving food to the monsters she was raised to fear. The werewolves. Fierce, beautiful, deadly. Everything her world told her to avoid. Especially him. Lucien, their king, is colder than the northern wind and twice as dangerous. When their eyes meet, something stirs—something neither of them understands. It’s not love. It’s not hate. It’s a pull. A bond. And it’s wrong. Because Sephina is only human. Isn’t she? As secrets start to rise, she’ll have to face a truth buried deep in her blood—one that could tear her apart... or change everything.

Layne needs to pay off the hunter who is threatening to sell her dad off to the highest bidder. One year, one million dollars. How does she plan to do it? By working as a for-hire mate at her auntie's high-end mate (escort) service. Easy enough to spend a little less than one month each with a man who she doesn't have to sleep with if she doesn't want to, right? With never-ending love for her dad and writing off love with anyone else, this beautiful bombshell plans to throw caution to the wind and sign up for the ride of a lifetime for the next year. Get in, make money to save dad, get out. Keep her head in the game and her heart out of it. That's the game plan. How hard can it be to stick to it?

In the final seven days after I decided to depart for good, I transformed into the daughter my family had always dreamed of. I conceded to Remy's every whim, never to fight or deny her. When she wanted to use my work for a contest, I deferred. When she wanted me out in the frost and howling wind, I did just that. My quiet compliance led my family to think that I had learned the error of my ways. "You've finally accepted that you owe Remy so much, and that you have to compensate her!" Even until the end, they never understood why I couldn't care less. "Fiona, why aren't you saying anything?" To that, I could only smile. "Isn't this what you've always wanted?"

All it took was a single exchange between my sister and Giselle’s lover, and my daughter accused her of stealing a gold bracelet. As a result, my sister was left to die in a warehouse for three whole days. With my sister’s life hanging by a thread, I got on my knees and pleaded before my wife and daughter. “Please, let Lucy go. She won’t speak to Theo again.” Faced with my pleas, my daughter simply let out a cruel smile. “I can release her, but only if she returns the bracelet.” Lucy never took the bracelet in the first place. There was no way she could return something that was never in her possession. Agony ripped through me as I crawled toward Giselle. “Please, Giselle. I’m begging you. Please let her go. She’s going to die at this rate!” Giselle took one cold, hard look at me before uttering, “So she’s been hung to dry for three days. She won’t die. If you really want her release, you should hand over your mother’s keepsake to Theo.”

I stopped fighting. The moment I came back, I stepped out of the family spotlight on purpose— no arguments, no expectations, no awkward “let’s bond” moments. And somehow… that’s when my parents lost their minds. They made my little sister the heir? I congratulated them and filed my transfer to the Vegas branch the same afternoon. They threw her a massive coming-of-age gala? I smiled, booked a flight, and left before the invitations were printed. They bought her a limited-edition luxury car? I claimed my “old wrist injury” made driving impossible and insisted she take it. I thought they’d be relieved. I thought they’d finally get their perfect family without me messing up the picture. But instead—my cold, distant parents started calling nonstop. Showing up at my door. Pleading with me to come home. Asking what they did wrong. Why now? Why only when I stopped trying? Because in my last life, I spent decades clawing for their love— only to die bitter, resented, and humiliated. Even my grown son told me I was embarrassing. This time, I came back different. I refused to fight for a place in their world again. I refused to compete with my sister. I refused to beg. But the moment I stepped away… the entire family empire began to crack. And now they’re terrified. Not because I left— but because they finally realized what they lost.