Mark Twain Library Long Beach

"You're not my mate!" Beta Gavin Marino screams, his anger evident. "I can't accept you. No one will ever accept you after what you did." "I reject you, Gavin Marino!" The words stun me even as I say them. My heart aches, but it's what's best. He hates me. No one will ever love me. I cry silently, but I wipe my tears away. Crying doesn't change anything. I need to leave this pack before I lose myself completely. Gavin accepts my rejection, though he seems to be in pain, even though it's what he wanted. I turn and walk away, heading back to the packhouse where everyone treats me with disdain. A few days later, I feel relentless. I can't bear the pain any longer. On a rainy night, I make my escape. However, I'm brutally attacked on the border of the Sapphire Lycan Royal Pack. Falling in and out of consciousness, I hear a roar that shakes my core and the ground beneath me. "You touched my mate; you'll pay for this!" It can't be—it's the voice of the most powerful man in the realm, the Lycan King, Alpha Nicholas Lavista. I feel sparks and tingles on my arm. "I've got you now." Those words guide me into the darkness. Apphia's life has been brutally harsh. She has faced mistreatment from her pack members and suffered the pain of her mate's brutal rejection. Feeling completely alone, her circumstances take a dramatic turn on a fateful night when she encounters her second-chance mate—the powerful and dangerous lycan Alpha. Little does she know that she is in for the ride of her life. As things become increasingly complicated, Apphia discovers that she is no ordinary wolf. Tormented by threats to her life, she must confront her deepest fears.

“Say it,” Kael growled, his hand tightening around her throat—not enough to hurt, just enough to remind her who he was. “I’m yours,” Maya whispered, trembling. His lips hovered near hers, breath hot. “Even after I left you to die?” She swallowed. “Even now.” He kissed her like a curse—hungry, dangerous, and full of things he’d never say aloud. --- Maya never believed in fate—until the night her skin burned with the mark of the most feared Alpha in the realm. Weak, powerless, and exiled for a bond she never asked for, Maya finds herself hunted by the same man fate chose for her: Alpha Kael of Silverclaw. He claims she’s a mistake. A curse. But Maya is more than just a fragile girl. She’s the second chance of a woman long thought dead. Kael once loved Andrea, a powerful and noble wolf who descended into madness under a deadly curse. Her death shattered him. But when Maya bears the same mark and stirs the same soul-deep bond, Kael believes it’s the curse reborn—and rejects her violently to protect them all. Now on the run, Maya is saved by Rowan—Kael’s former Beta and best friend turned outcast. As truths unravel and passions ignite, Maya becomes the center of a dark prophecy that could destroy everything. But fate doesn’t care who you love. And true mates never stay strangers for long.

After the mystery missing of her father, Natalie Garcia had to back to their pack and learn how to be an Alpha.

During the height of the plague, Elizabeth is known for touching the dying without fear and for surviving longer than anyone should. The village calls her witch. Death calls her interesting. Malachor is a demon bound to plague and passing souls, ancient and cruel, intrigued by a healer who refuses to beg. When Elizabeth is condemned, thrown into a plague pit, and left to die, she calls out, not to God, but to the darkness watching her. He answers. Bound to a demon of death, Elizabeth survives… and is slowly claimed. Desire becomes devotion. Mercy becomes sin. A dark historical fantasy romance of plague, power, and forbidden surrender where love corrupts, salvation fails, and Hell is the only vow kept. TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNING: This story contains mature themes and content intended for adult audiences (18+) Reader discretion is advised. It includes moments of violence, coercion and domination themes, sexual content and dark erotic elements, emotional trauma and moral corruption, blasphemous themes involving demons, faith, and damnation

She bumped into him when she tried to escape from her abusiveboyfriend. The first met that caught his attention. Fate brought themtogether again for the second time and he became her life saver onceagain. Since that day, he declared to himself that he wanted to knowmore about her and more importantly he wanted to marked her as hisgirl.The abusive boyfriend ended up being an advantage to him. He forcedher to be with him with the excuse to keep her safe."Did you..did you tell them about Matt?" She stuttered as if she was scared to mentioned the name in house."Do you want me to?"No..""I won't tell them about him.""Promise?"I nodded my head, "Promise but with one condition." Now I killed her smile and replaced it with a curious look."What?""Marry me.""What?!""Be my wife."He loved. She hated.He approached. She escaped.He confessed. She rejected.Between persistency & stubbornness who will win?Read the love story of Dominic and Arabella to find out how he try to winher and marked her as his girl.

Blackmailed and caught in a very tight corner, James had no option but to do as Isaac had said– force the daughter to become his permanent mate else, he exposes James' secret. Lilith is a random not-so-weak member of the Blue Moon pack who has been overtaken by the love she had for her father that she had to agree to his impossible request so his life would be spared. What happens when Isaac finally knows who killed his father, will he be able to punish whoever this person was even if it was the person he trusted the most? " Who is my father ?" Isaac asked as he formed a fist with his hands. He didn't know how long he could control his wolf so it wouldn't cause havoc.

"Xavior, please... stop" a moan escapes my lips as I feel his hands make its way to my bottom region. "And what if I don't want to?" he replies, leaving me breathless. _______________________________________ When two people meet under the worst circumstances, fate decides it's best to keep them apart until the time is right. When Xavior meets Victoria for the first time, in five years, after that horrible incident, Xavior is determined to collect what is rightfully his. Let's see what life has install for the couple when secrets gets revealed, lives are at stake and when the past comes out of its grave.

She was sent to kill. Instead, she might be the one destined to end it all. Lea, a top-tier assassin for the secretive High Table, has never missed a mark—until now. What was supposed to be a routine mission turns into a long-term “quest” in the quiet town of Mystique Gore, assisting a cold, commanding man in a mansion older than memory. Strange? Yes. Dangerous? Definitely. But what’s worse? The mission wasn’t for a target... it was for *her*. Marked by a power she doesn’t understand and haunted by dreams that aren’t hers, Lea finds herself entangled in a world she never believed existed—one ruled by vampires, witches, and werewolves hiding in plain sight. And at the center of it all is Ivan, the enigmatic master of the house who knows more than he says... and watches her like she’s already his. As her assassin instincts clash with ancient prophecies, forbidden truths, and a mark that binds her fate to something much bigger, Lea must uncover why the High Table sent her here—and why the supernatural world is afraid of *her*. They say she’s the beginning. They say she’s the end. They say she must die to keep the peace. But Lea doesn’t take orders. She gives them.

What happens when love triumphs over vengeance? Audren had sworn to avenge his murdered mate, to kill and destroy the person who did this and everyone else in his family. He should have done that, he should have killed everyone, he shouldn't have spared her and taken her as his personal prisoner. Loving Iridessa was not part of the plan, and Iridessa falling in love with him too was not what she wanted to happen. They were both supposed to hate each other, she was daughter of the man who killed his mate and who he had sworn to kill and he was the person who killed her family, so how did this love happen?

In their fifth year of marriage,Jessica went to renew their marriage certificate. However, she was told that the certificate was fake, and her husband's legal wife was someone else. The love that had seemed inseparable for five years turned out to be a lie. When she returned home, she overheard Anthony, her husband, talking to his lawyer: "Linda is building her career abroad, and to establish herself in the business world, she needs the title of Mrs. Harris. I have to help her." "As for Jessica, she's completely devoted to me. She's already cut ties with her family for me, and she will never leave." Hearing that, Jessica's heart turned to stone. By the time Anthony brought back the real marriage certificate, Jessica had disappeared, and he was unable to find her again.