Market Cycle

My name becomes the sensational topic on the trending list thanks to my company's employees, who have cyberbullied me relentlessly. It all started when an intern named Cecily Plinkton posted a complaint on her social media feed, claiming that the seafood thermidor, a new food item that had just gotten released in the company's cafeteria, was sold for 14 dollars, which was four dollars more expensive than before. "What a scum company! Are the higher-ups that crazy over money? They're just leeching from us white-collar peeps repeatedly!" The entire Internet doesn't hesitate to curse me out. They claim that I'm a cold-blooded capitalist who's greedy enough to charge her own employees for lunch. No one cares about the fact that I've been shelling out my own money in order to upgrade the cafeteria's food choices just so I could make the employees happier. Every day, they get to eat over hundreds of dishes to their fill for free. Every week, the expensive dishes, such as lobsters and crabs, are charged at the net price. Thanks to these free benefits, the administrative department has been suffering from almost a one-million-dollar loss every year. So, I announce that the food prices in the cafeteria will be changed to reflect the current market's prices. At the same time, I've fired the head chef and the kitchen staff and left the meal preparation to another company that produces instant meals. As soon as the announcement is made, the entire company goes into a frenzy. The employees all crowd outside my office while begging me to bring back the benefits with tears streaking down their cheeks.

My adopted sister, Rita Lawson, and I get ambushed by a rival family at the same time. But she pushes me away at the most critical juncture, leading to me getting kidnapped. After my kidnappers feed me poison, they leave me to rot in the wild. When I finally get home, I find out that Rita pretends to be poisoned, so my dad has already given her the only antidote. With tears streaking down her cheeks, Rita tells my parents that she's chosen to ingest poison for me, and yet I abandoned her and fled on my own. Of course, everyone believes her. My parents tell me, "Rita got poisoned just to protect you. You must transfer your businesses to her." My husband, Enrico Fulci, says to me, "Someone needs to take care of Rita. Let's get a divorce, Elisa." Even my own daughter, Ivana Fulci, asks me, "Mamma, when are you going to be as gentle and understanding as Zia Rita?" Faced with everyone's accusations, I drink a serum that I've bought from the black market in order to suppress the poison in my system. It can allow me to live like a regular person. But in return, the poison within me will erupt three days later, causing my instant death. Using the three days I have left, I hand my businesses, my husband, and my daughter over to Rita. Everyone is pleased, thinking that I've finally learned my place. But what they don't know is that Death will come for me after 72 hours.

Never has it been known for there to be a mistake when it comes to the mating process, Never. Every wolf finds a mate, falls in love, has kids, and the cycle continues… But when James, a twenty-four year old beta, spends years without a mate, one can only imagine otherwise. Eventually coming to the conclusion that he might not have been given one. Until he meets Adria. A bold, determined and dominant twenty-one year old girl in his pack, who also hasn't had luck finding her mate. After meeting Adria, the idea of a mate seems unimportant, as if Adrias existence soothes the longing for the mate he never got. Nevertheless, James tries hard to stay away from her, feeling vulnerable by the possibility that he can fall for her. Something about Adria though seems to always be luring him in; her voice, her face...her body. As if made by the same creator, Adria also doesn't seem to get enough of the hot beta that always seems to be sparking up a blazing passion within her. Confused by these strange feelings they soon come to find lies, secrets, and betrayal hidden by the closest people in their life. What happens when they come to the conclusion that they're not mates, just a nice distraction, before their mates come along. If they ever show… And what if they show? Can they leave everything they fought so hard to keep? Both thought they had their whole life figured out, in the end it was all an illusion. This is not your average Wolf story!

“Sin dumme-maranii. Maran dumme-Sinia.” All Sins are humans; all humans are Sins. The king’s curse made it impossible to detect a Sin’s existence. One cannot be born as a Sin and a Sin cannot give birth to a Sin. It cannot be controlled by anyone nor anything. Only fate will determine. The moment all Sins turned to ash, stories and theories about them spread like wild fire. Through the mist of misleading plots and opinions, only a few people truthfully know what really happed at that moment. Twenty years after the king passed, a young man was able to find out that he was a Sin. He claims to be the reincarnation of the late king as he had visions of the past. Relying on his instincts and trusting his visions, he travelled the world in search of Sins like him to resurrect the wrecked honor of the fallen angels. He was able to find some and that’s when the new era of reborn Sins began. The young man became the new king of Sins. Together, they searched for Sins all over the world and began to form a new union that will protect and guide Sins to be able to live alongside humans. The cycle went on until another tragedy occurred which disintegrated the foundations of the union. Twenty years from the present, the king was rumored to be killed by an alliance that were in charge of capturing Sins for experimentation. To this day, Sins are in hiding. Sins try hard to live unnoticed by anyone. My name is Rayne Martin and I am one of them. I am a Sin. .. 

Everyone who lives will die, and nothing they do can stop it. That's the way things are. The circle of life. And a single undeniable truth. The minute we are born we start our journey of that cycle and we will continue down that path until we take our very last breath. However, not all life spans are the same. Some people live to an old age. Others die young. Some die of natural causes, and others die of accidents, murder, or disease. It's the sad truth of being human and death doesn’t discriminate. But what if someone could see their death coming? Would they do everything in their power to stop it from happening, or would they live their lives to the fullest since they knew it was coming to an end? Would they fight tooth and nail to be able to stay earthside for even a minute longer or would they succumb to the inevitable? This is the universal question and the only ones who can answer it are the people who saw their deaths, people like me. My name is Remi Woods. I'm eighteen years old, and for as long as I can remember, I've been able to see how a person will die with a single touch. At first, I wasn't quite sure what was happening and I was terrified that maybe I was going crazy, but after my visions kept coming to fruition no matter what I did, I knew I was different, and not in a good way.

In the city of Veylor, the town was divided by fear and power. On one side stood the hunters, led by Garrick Liason, the man whose name was whispered with deep respect and fear. He had built his life on the blood of wolves, his weapons, and the strong belief that werewolves were monsters to be eradicated. His daughter, Irvine, had always walked at his side, she was outwardly obedient but inwardly she was restless. She hated the violence, the endless cycle of chase and kill, yet she bore the weight of his legacy because she knew nothing else except this life. And to her, she was fully human, fragile, breakable, and destined only to hunt. What she did not know was that half of her blood told a different story. Her mother had been a werewolf, carrying a secret that even Garrick had not known. But the truth could not be hidden forever. Far beyond the city walls, Jeweled Golin carried wounds of his own. He was supposed to be a proud Alpha, but he had been rejected by his pack, stripped of his birthright, and cast into the forest. He was scarred but unbroken, he roamed as a lone wolf, dangerous, untamed, yet strangely powerful. His presence woke something primal in all those who crossed his path, and when Irvine met his eyes for the first time, she felt her world shift. The lies of her life began to unravel when she started getting hints of her power. And that she, daughter of the hunter, was also the daughter of the hunted.

"Little bunny, little bunny. Wolf is HUNGRY!" The voice taunted me, followed by an evil cackle. * "Run, rabbit. RUN!" A monstrous bellow boomed through the night sky and crashed into my soul like a sledgehammer. I could feel a chill sweeping across my body and my heart pounding in my chest. The echoes of howls and laughter followed me from behind as I ran for my life. ** Elisabeth's life had been harder than most since she was a child--a distant and often cruel mother and her never-ending cycle of addiction that had taken over her life. But on this fateful night, something far more sinister was lurking in the darkness, ready to take her away from it all. Massive figures appeared out of nowhere, growling and taunting her. She tried to scream, but nothing would come out; before she knew it, she was waking up in a world where Viking werewolves ruled with mysterious faeries at their side. Every five years, they traveled to the human realm, collecting ten girls for their mate run--and tonight, Elisabeth was one of them. With only a white dress and her bare feet, Elisabeth stood beside the other nine girls as the beasts prowled around them menacingly. A silver dagger pierced each of our wrists, signaling the start of the hunt! “We honor the moon goddess; let your blood lead your mate to you!”

"A slave like you shouldn't call my name. Now, address me properly." "Opo, m-master.” Tatlong taon na ang lumipas magmula nang iwan ni Serena Laurel-De Silva ang kaniyang asawa dahil nasaksihan niyang nakikipagtalik ito sa ex-fiance nito. Kahit na contractual marriage lamang iyon, minahal niya si Ezekiel De Silva at labis siyang nasaktan. Kaya naman napagdesisyunan niyang sumama sa ibang lalaki habang dala-dala sa sinapupunan ang kanilang anak. Ngunit hindi niya aakalaing mahuhulog lamang siya sa patalim sa piling ng bago niyang kinakasama at mapunta sa black market para sana’y ibenta sa kung sino-sinong lalaki. At ang pinaka-masama pang pangyayari sa kaniyang buhay ay malaman na ang bumili sa kaniya ay walang iba kundi ang dati niyang asawa na si Ezekiel. "Why did you leave me three years ago? Did you know what hell I've been living all this time without you?! How could you have a child with him?!" He drunkenly yelled at her, crying in pain. Matapos nitong saktan ang puso niya ng paulit-ulit noon at alipinin siya ngayon, bakit ito umaasta na parang mahal siya nito? Bakit umaakto si Ezekiel na parang siya pa ang may malaking kasalanan kung bakit niya ito iniwan noon? Subalit hindi niya lubos akalain na unti-unting mabubunyag ang mga lihim at sikreto, maging ang mga taong nasa likod ng kanilang nasirang pag-iibigan.

Anya Who would have thought turning 21 would change my life and send me into the depths of hell and into the arms of a bad man. A very bad man who has a vendetta against my father. He can never know who I am or my life is over before it even begins. I'm kidnapped during my birthday celebration and tossed into the underground of a hotel to be auctioned off, then bought by the very same man who would love to watch me bleed. I do the only thing I can - fake it, if only to survive one more night. I tell him my name is Anika and he seems to buy my excuses. But how long can I hide behind a mask and how long before he learns of my true identity and brutalizes me for revenge? I'll pay for my father's sins. Maybe even with my life. *** Bastien I've never claimed to be a good man. I trade in the dark; anything, save for humans, can be up for sale to the highest bidder. The king of the black market, this city is my playground. All until tonight... All until her… The auction is held at my hotel once every four months with one iron clad rule in place: no trafficking. So to say that I'm shocked to find her on my stage amongst the goods like a precious lamb to the slaughter is putting it lightly. I had to buy her to appease one of my biggest clients, but the more I look at her, the more I realise… That I want her to be mine alone. But who is this little doll truly and why did she end up on my stage, ready to be sold to the highest bidder?

After our eighty-eighth canceled wedding, I called my business partner. "I'm taking the Haviana market project." There was a beat of stunned silence. "Seriously? That's ten years overseas. You just got married—well, weren't you? Does your husband even know? What about your parents? You always said staying close to them was everything." I glanced around the empty church and let out a sharp laugh. "There was no wedding. No husband. And my parents? They've got Cindy. That's all they need." Another pause. "Alright. Pack your bags. You leave tomorrow." After the call, I ran a hand down my wedding dress. One last tear slipped out, quiet and pointless. Cindy had another "episode" today. Claimed she'd off herself. Andrew canceled—again. I'd looked at him, drained. "It's the eighty-eighth time." He dropped his head, guilt all over him. "Just a little more time, Viv. She's been off since the accident. I'm scared she'll actually do it. I swear, I'll talk to her. For real this time. Then we'll get married. Promise." My parents didn't hesitate. "Vivian, let Andrew go. If Cindy hadn't gotten kidnapped trying to save you, she wouldn't have these breakdowns. Are you really putting a wedding over your sister's life?" "How could you be so selfish?" I'd heard it all before. Used to fight it. Not this time. If neither my fiancé nor my parents wanted me around, then fine. I'd leave.