National Treasure Riley

After my parents died in a car crash, my cousin stole the compensation money and moved overseas to start a business. My aunt begged me on her knees not to call the police. Then, she locked me in a dark basement for three months. I was close to breaking down and ending my life when Julien Lawson, the neighbor’s son, broke down the basement door and saved me. “Joyce, what they did is unforgivable! They stole the compensation money for your parents’ deaths. You were going to use it to open your own studio! “Marry me. I’ll protect you.” He was the only person who cared about me after my parents died. I was so grateful that I married him and had his child. I worked three jobs during the day to help support the orphanage that Julien ran. At night, I took care of our child and created design sketches. But no matter how hard I tried, none of my work was ever accepted. Even though Julien told me to keep at it, I felt discouraged and thought of giving up on my design career to focus on our family. One day, our child was sick. I went to take over the shift from Julien when I overheard him talking to my aunt on the stairs. “Julien, it’s been ten years. Joyce’s designs are getting better and better. She even passed the first round of the national competition. Are you really not going to tell her about the next round?” my aunt asked. Her voice trembled. Julien said coldly, “For years, I’ve been sending Joyce’s design sketches to Mindy to copy and enter in the competitions or publish as her own. “To help Mindy’s career, I can’t let Joyce move on to the next round. “Joyce has talent. If people notice her, she’ll be a threat to Mindy’s career!”

Fate Fighters ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍Alexandria stood watching them both, 'interesting, vampire guy wants to stay in Hollandis when he can't even control his thirst for blood' Alex thought. Alexandria is a wolf kid, her parents suspected she might have been deprived of powers, which is a curse to the werewolf clan one that could attract even a death sentence to the victim. Her parents decide to send her off to the human world, where she has to survive, with her unusual beauty, she goes through a lot. She later joins the National security and intelligence Academy in Hollandis_the human land where she learns to fight according to her parent's wishes. There she comes in contact with Regal the vampire prince, who had to escape his home after his father_the king, sudden death, he runs to Ben a human who is his father's friend and Alexandria's guardian. Alexandria is then stuck in the position of taking responsibility for him after knowing he is a vampire and could be dangerous to humans or refusing and sending him back to fang city, where he would either die or survive and come back for her. But they have one thing in common, to survive, they must both fight their unacceptable fate! "Regal Raymond, what do you want me to do, what if you harm someone, I can't always be there, who would take responsibility?" Ben asked, "she!" Regal said pointing suddenly at Alex. Alex, eyes widened in surprise "what?" Ben asked. "She would take responsibility for me" Regal repeated. "What! Me?" Alexandria exclaimed while eyeing him. "Why would I take responsibility for you? Who do you think you are Mister 'I know am handsome' huh? Alex mimicked. "Ben, she is incredibly strong, I just had a short encounter with her a while ago..."

At the celebration, the pampered heiress in Crownridge, Aveline Sage, confessed her love for me in front of the entire school. I turned her down flat. I was one of the Sage family's candidates—handpicked top students from every state—to improve their next generation's genes. In a few days, when the exam results came out, whoever earned the highest national score would become her fiance. For three years straight, I had been ranked first in the country. In my previous life, I achieved that top score. I got engaged to Aveline and became the envy of everyone—the son-in-law of Crownridge's most powerful family. But on the day of our engagement, her first love, Caspian Lorne, jumped off the top of the Sage Group building. His body was shattered beyond recognition. Aveline hired the best mortician to restore his face and placed him in a crystal coffin, where she slept beside him every night. During our honeymoon, she brought Caspian's body along, then kissed and clung to him right in front of me. When I confronted her, she looked at me with disgust. "The Sage family sponsored your education for twelve years. You knew Caspian and I were in love. Couldn't you let him win just once? You've been in first place for twelve years. What would it have cost you to lose? You ruined his future, ruined our love. You deserve to die." She drugged me, turned me into a fool with the mind of a three-year-old. I couldn't recognize my parents. I lost control of my own body. And I died in agony. … Then, I opened my eyes again, back on the morning of the exam. Last time, I beat Caspian by a single point. This time, I left an answer blank. Let him be the top scorer. Let him marry her. I hoped they grew old together, with plenty of children to match their love.

My sister Emma and I were mated to the most powerful Alpha twins in the North—Evan and Lucas. After the marking ceremony, they spoiled us rotten. Every she-wolf in the Pack was jealous. But they didn't know that in my previous life, when I was five months pregnant and attacked by rogue wolves on my way to a prenatal checkup, my mate Evan was taking care of another sick she-wolf. I contacted Evan ten times through mind link, but he said impatiently: "Aria, how many more times are you going to play this trick? Sophia just had a premonition this morning that there would be no rogue wolf attack today! Sophia has already coughed up blood from overusing her precognitive abilities! As the Luna, you're not helping, and instead you're here being jealous?" Sophia was a she-wolf that he and Lucas rescued three months ago while patrolling the border. She was delicate and pitiful, claiming she could foresee the future. Soon, she successfully warned of several small-scale attacks. Evan and Lucas treated her like a treasure, doting on her. My sister Emma saw this scene on her way to pick up her three-year-old nephew Noah from school. She rushed forward without hesitation to save me. She and Noah begged Lucas for help, but Lucas was even colder: "You two sisters are really something. It's bad enough you conspired to put on a show to force us to come home, but you even taught a three-year-old child to lie!" Finally, the rogue wolf pack caught up with us. Three-year-old Noah was brutally bitten to death, and my child was ripped from my womb. When I opened my eyes again, Emma and I were back an hour before the rogue wolf attack. This time, Emma and I had only one thought: to sever the mate bond.

Aria's life was chillingly quiet until a True Mate came along in the form of Relaz. He was noisy, extremely talkative, and especially annoying. Once allowed, there was no end to his gabbling. But when Aria realizes that Relaz is more than he seems, much more than just a carefree, always smiling and talkative man, he is something much more ruthless, will their relationship be put in jeopardy or will they try to work together irrespective of their misunderstandings and solve a puzzle, when they realize that the people around them are planning their destruction? Teaser... " You aren't my Relaz. That's right. I should get lost? Then no problem. All this while, you've been seeing me as nothing more than baggage, an extra load, right?" "I-i" Relaz stuttered. But he still didn't end up saying anything nor did he turn to look back at her. Aria laughed mockingly, "You're right. I'm so stupid. How could I have blamed the mood goddess all this while when she had given me such a treasure like Relaz as my mate. Now that he is no longer here, nor can I see the ghost of him, I've realized, how much the moon goddess had loved me. But it's a pity, I'm so stupid. Stupid, stupid..." She raised her hands and started slapping her cheeks with each 'stupid' she said and backed away slowly with tears on her face, desperately hoping that she could see the trace of the mate who once held, and loved her like no other. It was a pity she left too early and didn't manage to capture the tear that had managed to escape his tightly closed eyes, nor did she see the cold expression he wore all along, cracking and revealing immense grief. For what is love? Pain. Sacrifice.

ALICE RILEY “I like you; you’re a wonderful girl. But your stubbornness? I can’t deal with that. Unless you change—” Before he could finish, I said goodbye and walked out. Just a week into dating, and all he could see was my so-called obstinance. Honestly, dating wasn’t my thing. Men admired my looks, sure, but my mind? That was a different story. A few dates were all it took for them to brand me as headstrong or argumentative. I was okay with that. I had no intention of changing myself to fit someone else’s expectations. Then came Vivian Scott, the enigmatic CEO of Scott Group. He was unlike anyone I’d met before. Why wasn’t he running for the hills like the rest? Did he actually think he could tame me, bend me to his will? VIVIAN SCOTT I had everything a man needed to make women swoon—looks, power, status, and wealth. Becoming the CEO of Scott Group at a young age had made me responsible, but it hadn’t dulled my appetite for fun. Whenever I encountered a beautiful woman, I knew exactly how she’d react. I never missed an opportunity to tease and charm my way into her good graces. It was all harmless fun—short-lived and never serious. That was until I met Alice Riley. Alice was gorgeous, no doubt, but it wasn’t just her beauty that intrigued me. Her sharp wit and unyielding attitude set her apart. She wasn’t like the women I’d known before. Unfortunately for her, she thought that throwing up walls and flaunting her defiance would keep me at bay. What’s more thrilling than conquering the impossible? I was determined to bring her to my track! __________ Cover Image Credit: Image by Freepik

When my four sons were finally old enough for preschool, I arrived at the school office with my marriage certificate and their birth certificates, ready to sign them up. But the lady at the counter frowned and said, "These documents don't check out. According to the system, your kids don't even exist." I felt as if the floor had dropped out from under me. I remembered when Sheldon Clem and I got married—he was the one who handled all the paperwork, the birth registrations, everything. I never imagined that when I tracked him down with our four boys, he'd be holding his childhood sweetheart in his arms, with her little girl snuggled against him. And then we heard him sweet-talking her right in front of us. "Don't be mad, babe. I've got everything set up for us overseas. Gigi is going to the most expensive private school, and you'll be living in the nicest penthouse downtown. "Sure, she gave me four sons, but all my love and money are with you. I only kept her around because I felt sorry for her. "What else do you need? My will's already signed. Everything goes to you and Gigi." Riley Anderson pouted, smug and satisfied. "If you don't love her, then she's the other woman, not me. She's got no right to fight me for anything!" So he never went bankrupt. When we got back home, Sheldon acted as if nothing had happened. "Honey, I've found this amazing project overseas, so I won't have time to come home much. I'll need you to hold down the fort at home." I smiled and nodded. "Sure, go ahead." If that was how he wanted to play this, then fine. I'd make sure he really went broke, and then I'd find my boys a new father.

I went skiing alone on Valentine’s Day to clear my head. I never expected that later that night, my younger brother, Mason Cases, would show up after running away from home following a fight with our family. The front desk stopped him and asked for additional registration. I explained, "He’s my brother. He ran out after an argument and didn’t bring his ID. He’s just staying one night. I’ll take him home tomorrow." After hearing that, the receptionist, Riley Rowe, gave us a suggestive once-over, winking at my brother with a look that said, "I get it." "Alright," she said with a flirty smile. "It’s Valentine’s Day. I understand. No need to be shy." Seeing how exhausted Mason looked, I forced myself to swallow the disgust and brought him upstairs. That night, I came across a local post online. "Girls these days have no shame. Bringing some random guy back to a hotel on Valentine’s Day. She got caught and still had the nerve to lie, saying he’s her brother. Like I can’t tell?" Some users questioned whether she might have mistaken them. "I’ve worked in this industry for over ten years. There’s no way I got it wrong! She didn’t dare register him. Obviously, she’s afraid her husband will find out she’s cheating! I’m going to go listen outside their door later and livestream how loud she gets!" I froze. It couldn’t be that much of a coincidence, right? Until I opened the photo she had secretly taken. My blood turned to ice. That was me. Wait. The "random guy" she was talking about… Did she mean the one lying on the floor? But he really was my biological younger brother.

Without my knowledge, Aileen—the daughter of Carlson Green’s first love—secretly lured my five-year-old daughter, Lena, deep into the Wolfsbane Forest. She told Lena there was treasure hidden in the forest. When a distress signal came from the forest, I rushed there with Carlson and the rescue team. The wolfsbane's poison spread silently, making it harder for Lena to breathe. She lay weak in the grass, her face pale, her heartbeat slowing down. Aileen, meanwhile, was sprawled on the path beside the wolfsbane. She only had a few scratches on her knees, but she was crying loudly. "Help me! It hurts so much!" I thought Carlson, the Alpha of the Moonshadow Pack and Lena’s father, would run into the forest to check on his own daughter. But he didn’t. Instead, he bent down, scooped Aileen into his arms, comforting her with care. His eyes were full of worry. "It’s okay now, Daddy’s here." I ran forward, my voice shaking. "Carlson! Lena is still in the wolfsbane grass! I can feel her breathing fading! Come with me to find her!" He only said calmly, "Lena is wearing my Moonstone Crystal. It protects her from wolfsbane. She will be fine. Aileen needs care and treatment more." The rescue vehicle left, taking Aileen and Carlson with it. I ran into the wolfsbane field and found Lena. She weakly tugged my hand. "Mom, don’t cry. It doesn’t hurt at all." "Daddy will come save me after he saves Aileen." Then she closed her eyes. And never breathed again. Even on the day of her funeral, Lena never got to see her father come to save her. Carlson Green, a life for a life. You, Aileen, and her mother will pay back everything you did to Lena—I’ll make you repay it a thousand times over.

The night before our Mating Ceremony, my fated mate, Alpha Ryker of the Howling Moon Pack, ordered me to give him the Moon Soul Crystal—the very thing that protected my pack, the Willow Creek Pack. He said he needed it to power up the Howling Moon Pack's Blood Moon Altar. He also promised he'd keep me and my people safe. But he didn't know that we, the healers of the Willow Creek Pack, can only create one Moon Soul Crystal in our entire lives. Making one takes a crazy amount of moon energy. It's the treasure that keeps our pack alive. My mother, worried about me using up my moon energy while I was pregnant, gave up her own Moon Soul Crystal instead. But just three months after Ryker and I were mated, she got sick, fast. She was dying. I knelt in front of Ryker, crying, begging him for the Silverleaf Herb from the Howling Moon's forbidden grounds. It was the only thing that could save my mom. But he just looked at me, his eyes full of disappointment, and kicked me away. "I asked for the Moon Soul Crystal to test you," he snarled. "And just as I thought, you married me for our pack's treasures! Your mother's not sick. You're making it all up!" "You don't deserve to be the Luna of the Howling Moon Pack!" It wasn't until after my mother died, when he was arguing with me, trying to kick me out of the pack, that my mother's things fell and scattered everywhere. Her Soul Stone, the symbol of a wolf's spirit, shattered. That's when he finally realized he was wrong. He fell to his knees, begging me not to leave, crying for me to forgive him.