Maki Zenin Burned

Liam Dunlap, my girlfriend's junior apprentice, bragged that he could defuse a bomb with one hand. Then he slipped. The timer began to race. Terrified, he dropped his tools and ran. I stepped in at great risk and saved the hostage. For that, I was commended. Liam, on the other hand, was condemned across the internet and faced severe disciplinary action. My girlfriend tried to speak up for him, but I stopped her. "If you defend him now, not only will your promotion be revoked—people online will come after you too." Later, unable to bear the pressure, Liam jumped to his death. Every line of his suicide note blamed my girlfriend for not standing by him. She said nothing. She simply burned the letter in silence. After that, she rose step by step from a frontline officer to a model figure in the police force. On the day I was kidnapped by criminals, she came in person to defuse the bomb strapped to me—using only one hand. She looked coldly at the device on my chest and said, "See? It can be done with one hand. Why did you all have to drive Liam to his death back then? If I had protected him at the time, the one in my position today… should have been him." The bomb detonated. I died on the spot. After I opened my eyes again, I saw her running around desperately for Liam. She didn't know—the hostage was the mayor's son.

Katherine I thought he loved me. I truly believed no one could love me more than my king, the ruler of witches, Acan. I believed my marriage was full of love, that nothing could tear us apart. But I was wrong. On the night of the festival of elements, he didn’t just break my heart… he burned me alive! He believed he was rid of me, free to continue his affair with the woman he truly wanted. How wrong he was. I’m back, and this time, I’m out for blood. Darius I stayed in the shadows, loving her from afar because who could ever love someone like me? I’m nothing but a bastard, and worse, I’m one of the dark ones, born with powers that bring nothing but pain. And yet… I can’t hurt her. Maybe that’s why she isn’t afraid of me, why she smiles at me in a way that steals my heart. But strange things are happening around her—accidents whenever she looks away. I must protect her, especially after I learned the truth about why it has all happened. So I change our world. I change our reality. But while my dreams come true—Katherine in my arms—she is far from satisfied.

The contractions were ripping me in two. My vision was going dark. My husband, Don Vittorio, the man who ruled Chicago, squeezed my hand. His dark eyes burned with love. "Just a little longer, mia cara. You'll meet our baby soon." Sweat poured down my face. I still found the strength to smile for him. Then a nurse walked in. She held a syringe. I thought it was to stop the pain. But Vittorio’s hand fell away. He took a single step back. The needle sank into my arm. I heard Vittorio’s voice. It was cold steel. "Dose her carefully. She holds on until midnight. Not a minute sooner. Not until after Ornella delivers." And then I knew. He thought I married him for the money. He was stopping my labor. All for a sick Falcone family rule: the first son born is the next heir. Pain tore through me. I reached for him. Tears streamed down my face. I begged him to stop. He bit his lip. His voice was pure ice. "My brother is dead. Ornella carries his only heir. You will do as you are told. You and your child will not steal his birthright." The drug hit my veins. The violent squeeze in my belly, like some invisible hand, just… stopped.

I never thought one broken promise could shatter my world twice. His name was Marcus. He swore he’d stay in touch when he left for that “year-long business trip.” Three months later, silence. No calls, no texts, nothing. On my birthday, drunk and done with heartbreak, I went home with a stranger. One reckless night. I slipped out before dawn, leaving a fake name. No more men. No more drama. Then the perfect job fell into my lap: personal assistant to Victoria Langford, a young, filthy-rich heiress. Live-in position, great pay, exactly what my sick little sister and I needed. I moved in, ready for a fresh start. Until I walked into her mansion and saw him. Marcus. In her arms. My fiancé was her boyfriend. Rage burned through me, but I swallowed it. I needed this job. He begged forgiveness, fed me lies about a big contract, how he never stopped loving me. Weak, stupid, lonely. I fell back into him. Secret touches, stolen nights, right under her nose. Then everything exploded. I came home to blood and sirens. Marcus swore he didn’t know what happened. But when the police started digging, he pointed the finger at me. How do I escape this? Who's the father of the child growing inside of me?

The company had just taken off when a project my wife, Lenora Peterson, was in charge of ran into trouble. To ease her mind during her pregnancy, I went overseas in her stead, spending ten perilous years abroad before finally returning home, barely alive. Instead of the joyful reunion I had imagined, she greeted me with cold detachment and thinly veiled disgust. "Why are you back?" Lenora asked. "Today is Nathan’s housewarming party," she added. "Let’s head there first—we’ll talk later." We rode in silence the entire way. When we arrived, a ten-year-old girl came dashing over and clung to Lenora affectionately. “Mommy, why did you take so long? Daddy’s been waiting for you forever!” Daddy? My eyes burned with rage—until I saw my old friend Nathan Grant stepping out to greet us with a smile. "Lily, come to Daddy. Mommy’s tired—don’t bother her now." When I met Lenora’s eyes, the guilt I saw there told me everything I needed to know. I turned away and texted my assistant, Morgan Williamson, to begin acquiring the company that, by right, had always belonged to me. He soon reported back. "Mr. Brooke, the acquisition process will be completed in three days."

All because I opened a window to air out the room, my husband’s childhood sweetheart, Celine Ashcroft, caught a cold. In a fit of rage, my husband, Ronan Blackwood, had his men bind me and drag me down to the ice cellar despite my being five months pregnant. "Don’t think that just because you’re carrying my child, you can bully Celine. If even a single hair on her head is harmed, I’ll make you repay it a hundredfold!" Shivering violently from the cold, I knelt through tears, begging for forgiveness. I promised that from now on I would serve his precious sweetheart well to atone, that I would never again let her suffer even the slightest harm. He only gave a cold order to seal the cellar, saying I needed to be taught a lesson so it would be burned into my memory. A week later, when Celine finally recovered from her cold, he finally remembered me in the cellar. "Vesper, have you truly realized your mistake? As long as you agree to kneel and apologize to Celine immediately, I’ll spare you." What he didn’t know was that by then, I had already frozen stiff in that ice cellar. And the child he had treasured so dearly no longer showed even the faintest sign of life.

She came back carrying secrets that could ruin them both. He swore he’d never forgive the girl who once held his heart in her hands. Elena Voss needed one thing: keep her head down and finish her degree while covering the elite Ridgewood Ravens basketball team for her project in the student media but that shattered when she crashed straight into Noah Hale — team captain, campus badboy, her brother’s best friend, and the boy who once bared every broken piece of himself to her in the dark before hating her for it. To him, she’s the girl who betrayed his deepest vulnerability. To her, he’s the only person who ever made her feel truly alive and the one who shattered her without a second glance. Now he blocks every media interview with a glacial stare. Watches her from across the court like he can’t decide whether to throw her out or pull her closer. Hate has never felt this addictive and proximity has never burned this hot. If Noah ever learns what Elena really sacrificed to protect him, he won’t just push her away. He’ll destroy the last fragile piece of her heart that still beats only for the boy he used to be.

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.

On the night the family manor was set on fire, my husband Don Luciano Cacciola whisked Loretta Peri away. "Be a good girl and wait for me here, Tati. I'll send my men over to pick you up soon." As soon as he left, the explosions buried around the villa were set off instantly. That's when I sent Luciano one last text. "Luciano, we're even now." Rumors had it that Luciano had gone mad after that incident. As he gripped the burned ring, he purged the entire mafia family on his own. After that, he kneeled before my grave for three long days. When Luciano found out that there was a possibility of my surviving the explosion, he decided to give away half of his family fortune just so he could track me down. Three years later, Luciano stares at the woman, who's toying with a pistol, with red-rimmed eyes at the family's negotiation table. "Tati… Is that you?" I pull the trigger in response, causing a bullet to ricochet past Luciano's ear. "You got the wrong person, Mr. Cacciola. I'm here to take your life." As I watch Luciano kneel by my feet and press a kiss onto the tip of my high heel, I can't help but laugh. This time, it's my turn to choose.

"Will Elsie be your Luna one day?" "You're asking a lot of questions," Rory stated "But if you must know, no. Elsie will never be my Luna, she is just a hole for me, an obedient toy who is at my beck and call," "If Elsie is not fit to be your Luna, then why is she good enough to bear your children?" the woman lying under him questioned further.Rory grunted once more, "I killed Elsie's parents to become Alpha, why would I want Elsie to be the Luna of the Autumn Pack? Do I look like an idiot? I'll use her for what I need, and then toss her away."After Elsie found out that Rory, the man she loved had murdered her parents in cold blood to claim the Alpha status, she was left heartbroken. 'It hurts, the man I loved, who I trusted and wanted to become his Luna,' I paused, speaking to my wolf 'He murdered my parents for his own selfish needs,' As I said these words, bile rose in my throat and burned my insides.Deceived and upset, she vowed to seek revenge on the Alpha of the Autumn Pack to become a Warrior for Rory's biggest rivals, the Summer Pack.Little did Elsie know the Summer Pack came with three arrogant Alpha Brothers, who she had to prove herself to first before seeking her revenge.