Next To Never Novels & Stories

I gave Caius everything—my loyalty, my body, my devotion. I was his substitute Luna, but when his true Luna returned, I was discarded like a mistake. I told him I was carrying his child. He called me a liar. What followed was not rejection—it was brutality. Left broken, abused, and murdered by the woman I replaced, I thought death was the end. I was wrong. Azrael—Caius’s half-brother, a feared hybrid who bends black magic to his will—offered me a second chance. In return, I must free his wolf. Desperate to make everyone who wronged me pay, I struck a deal with the hybrid who wields forbidden sorcery…a darkness that will either consume me or forge me into someone feared.

My fated mate shut me out of our bond for the ninety-ninth time just as the last spark of dragonfire inside me began to die. I walked into the Oath Hall of Obsidian Keep alone. Black stone stretched beneath my feet, cold enough to bite through my slippers, and every step made the cracked channels around my dragon core grind deeper into my chest. “I’m here to renounce the Obsidian Court and dissolve my life-bond with the Dragon Lord.” The clerk took in my bloodless face and lowered his voice. “Lady Ashton, once I set the seal, the Court will no longer be required to protect you. Are you certain?” My dragonfire had been unstable since birth, leaving me weaker than most dragonkin. When I was ten, my father adopted Cecilia. She had a gift for explaining every disaster in the gentlest possible voice until everyone believed I was the jealous sister who couldn’t stand to share. My parents hadn’t always been unloving. They had simply forgotten how to tell the difference between the daughter who was crying and the daughter who was lying. Cassian and I had been fated for years, yet he had never crowned me his Dragon Queen. He rarely took me to Court gatherings. Most of Obsidian Keep didn’t even know I was his mate. “That’s all right.” I swallowed the taste of blood and kept my voice steady. “I’ll be dead in three days.”

I’d been in love with Cassian Cross—my brother’s best friend, the one and only mafia boss in the NYC—for as long as I could remember. On the night of my twentieth birthday, my brother promised me a surprise. I didn’t expect that surprise to be a very drunk, very kissable Cassian. One reckless night. One baby boy. Cassian agreed to marry me after giving birth. But the day I gave birth to Leo, Cassian said nothing. He just packed up and vanished to France for nearly five years. Then he returned with Alessia. His first love. And when she saw Leo and me, she ran away and disappeared. After that, Cassian never left my side. Like he was trying to be the man I needed all along, that we were finally going to have our chance. But fairytales are lies wrapped in pretty paper. On Leo’s sixth birthday, we were driving to dinner. The brakes failed. The car spun onto the highway, flames licking at the engine. Cassian got out. And then he locked the door. “If it weren’t for you, Alessia would still be by my side. Now? It’s your turn to suffer.” It wasn’t until that moment I understood—Cassian had never loved me. When I opened my eyes again, I was back at my twenties birthday. Cassian was in my bed, exactly where I’d left him in the past. This time, I didn’t hesitate. I ran. And on my way out, I made the call I should’ve made the first time. To Alessia.

How could I be married for almost three years and knew nothing about it?  I had wanted to confront him and call him an asshole for marrying someone who didn't even know he existed. But here I was, under him; engulfed by his lips and moaning uncontrollably. But could you blame me? He was hot as hell and knew way too much about pleasuring a woman. “What do you want?” I heard him ask with a deep baritone voice. It was so sexy my mind went blank for a second… “Do it. Fuck me! Please… I need you to suck my tits!” I didn't care about my dignity anymore, I just needed him so badly. “Very well” he said and that was it.  It was him. The one my body has been waiting for… my husband. *** Under a three year marriage contract, Aurelia Thompson was married without her knowledge to Alfred Vicker, a heartless business tycoon and sexy hunk. After a mix up that led to the couple having sex and Alfred disvirgining her, their lives were turned upside down in the mix of lust and sinful intoxicating romance. Their differences were great and conflict arising from every corner but despite that, their bodies still called out for each other. How long will they be able to resist it? Join the ride of this dark romance where the line between love, lust and obsession are non-existent, only two people with palpable sexual tension mixed with hate… or was it love?

After the ball is over, Prince Adrian Valmont delivers a glass slipper to my family. Whoever fits into the slipper will become the future princess. In the first life, my oldest sister, Mira Carrington, steels her heart and chops off her toes so that she can wear the slipper. She successfully becomes the princess afterward. On their wedding night, Adrian spots Mira's bleeding foot. He's quick to unsheathe his sword and cut her into pieces. "This is what you get for impersonating the princess!" In the second life, my second sister, Bianca Carrington, dices off her sole in order to fit her foot into the slipper. But Adrian still discovers her injury on the day after their wedding, resulting in him hanging her from the castle wall. "How dare you impersonate her? You definitely have a death wish!" In the third life, my foot slips into the glass slipper very easily. But Adrian still gouges out my heart on our wedding night. His features are contorted heavily. "You don't love me at all, so why are you impersonating my princess?" In the fourth time loop, Adrian comes knocking on our door with the glass slipper once again. This time, neither of us has the guts to approach him. This leaves Adrian enraged. "The owner of the glass slipper is in your house! If I don't see her in three days, all of you shall die!"

Selene Quinn Six years ago, I walked away from Lucien Ashbourne. No goodbyes. No confrontation. Just silence… and two unborn children he never knew about. They said I was lucky to marry into power — even though he was half-dead man. They didn’t see the contract, the coma, or the cold man who treated me like a threat. Even after I saved him. Now I’m back. Different name. Bigger title. And the first face I see on a Manhattan billboard? His. He doesn’t know I’m here. He doesn’t know we’re about to become competitors. And he has no idea what I’ve built while he was busy forgetting me. Lucien Ashbourne She left without a word. Good. She was a mistake forced into my life while I was too broken to stop it. But I never signed those divorce papers. And now… she’s back. New name. Same eyes. Running the company threatening my biggest deal. She’s hiding something. She always was. But this time, I won’t let her vanish. Not until I know why she left. Not until I remember what we did that night. Not until she realizes... she was mine all along.

"Ms. Hall, these are the details of the feigned death service you booked with us. The date of death is set for the wedding, half a month from now. The cause of death will be suicide by drowning, and the deceased is yourself. Please confirm and sign here." Wendy Hall nodded. Without hesitation, she signed her name at the bottom of the document. The bustling street was alive with chatter and movement. As Wendy walked home alone, she glanced up, and there it was—the giant screen on a nearby building, looping a video of Grayson Bryce proposing to her.

“I’m pregnant too.” Sonia, my husband’s girlfriend said to me with a voice lifts with theatrical innocence. “Chase doesn’t know yet,” she continues casually. “I wanted to wait till the divorce is finalized. That way everyone will know I didn’t need to trap him with a baby… like you did.” There it is. The knife twist. Her eyes glitter with triumph as she walks out. I open my tote bag. The divorce agreement slides out easily. A thick stack of paper demanding my complete surrender of any claim to the Warren empire. In exchange for freedom. The woman who fractured herself trying to build a family out of dust is gone. I slide the signed documents into the top drawer of Chase’s desk. Let him find it. Let him choke on it.

When Dr. Ella Harper uncovers her billionaire husband Marcus’s affair with a glamorous model, the perfect marriage she believed in shatters. Betrayed by the man who vowed eternal love, Ella is forced to confront the ghosts of her past—her mother’s heartbreak and her own vow to never forgive a cheater. Determined to reclaim her strength, she seizes a life-changing opportunity to study abroad and secretly signs divorce papers, leaving Marcus a parting gift he’ll never forget: the truth, delivered when she’s already halfway across the world. “You’ll only know I’m gone when it’s too late, Marcus. Then you’ll see I’m not a woman to be played with.” Devastated by his mistake, Marcus spirals into desperation, chasing after Ella and pleading for forgiveness. But Ella, now thriving in her new life, has moved on—her heart guarded, her future bright, and a new suitor vying for her affection. Years later, Marcus is still haunted by his betrayal, refusing to give up on the woman he loves. Yet a shocking secret—a hidden child born from their fractured love—threatens to unravel everything. Will Ella ever open her heart to Marcus again, or will the pain of his betrayal and the weight of their shared secret keep them apart forever?

At the Thanksgiving dinner, Raphael's assistant Daphne was sitting in my seat. I frowned at Raphael. “Why is she in the Donna's seat? Doesn’t she know, and don’t you?” Raphael clicked his tongue, impatient. “You're the one who showed up late. People sit where they want. If it bothers you, leave.” I opened my mouth to argue, and his thoughts reached me before I could. [Scarlett, get angry. Fight back.] [Tell me you're my wife, the Donna of the Sterling family, that no one else has the right to sit at my side.] [Prove you love me. It's the only thing that makes me feel safe.] This time, I didn't give his thoughts what they were begging for. I slid the wedding ring off my finger instead. “That's the Donna's seat. If you've decided she belongs in it, I won't argue.” “Let's get divorced.”