Nine Minutes

"My professor gave me my first D. Now my next assignment is due...in nine months. You know when you meet your new professor, and he ends up being the same man you had a one-night stand with three months ago? Okay, maybe not. Let me explain. I hadn’t intended to sleep with my professor. I might be known as the impulsive, prankster daughter in my family, but I’m not insane. I just wanted to have some fun in Ireland at my sister’s wedding, and maybe lose my virginity, too. When I met Lochlann Gallagher at a pub one night, I couldn’t resist him. He was hot, Irish, and entirely set on seducing me. One unforgettable night under the sheets with him, and my V-card went up in smoke. Well, that night had one itty bitty consequence because Lochlann totally made my eggo preggo. And if this story isn’t crazy enough, Lochlann is not just my baby daddy: he’s now my professor and my advisor for grad school. Somehow we have to figure out a way not to reveal this rapidly gestating secret while resisting the explosive attraction between us. Except there’s just one more complication to this story: I think I’m totally falling for my baby daddy. Oopsie daisy."

Giselle Beckett, also known as Aiden trains herself to be a hacker and all her life, she has terrorized the Alpha Brothers by hacking into their systems despite them having the best hacking team ever. She not only hacks the Alpha Brothers systems for information, she also hacks into their banking systems and swindles them a whole lot of money, something that pulls them back and down financially. However, both Giselle and the Alpha Brothers have one thing in common; they are yet to meet their mates despite them being way past the mate searching age, twenty nine years and thirty years respectfully. Tired of being mateless and single, Giselle Beckett seeks the services of a witch who summons the moon goddess for her. She meets the moon goddess in the temple and upon stating her wishes, the moon goddess promises to grant them but not without her own conditions; Giselle has to accept her mate no matter what! She's not supposed to reject him at all costs. Well, she has also stated her unimaginable conditions for a mate and the moon goddess does nothing but grant her her innermost heart desires. Shock on her, the Alpha Brothers are her fated mates. Will they accept each other or they'll end up rejecting each other? Will the Alpha brothers discover that Giselle is the hacker they've been looking for so as to execute her for being their worst nightmare?

When Cole Harrington ran away from our wedding for the seventh time because of his childhood sweetheart, the Harrington family personally came to apologize. "We'll add another five kilos of gold to the bride price. Three buildings in the Southwest. And nine prime-location storefronts in the city center. Consider it the Harrington family's compensation." Before the words had fully settled, a careless laugh from Cole came through the phone. "Grandpa, do you really think she's worth that much? Believe it or not, I could pick up a random rock off the street and still coax her into being completely obedient. "Instead of wasting all those assets on her, why not give them to me so I can invest them in Liv's gallery?" Henry Harrington hurriedly hung up the phone, then looked at me with an awkward expression. Soft snickers rippled through the crowd. Everyone was waiting for me to swallow the humiliation in silence, just as I had before. But this time— I had already received this kind of "compensation" six times. The novelty had long since worn off. The same was true for Cole himself. After a moment of thought, I raised an eyebrow and glanced toward the crowd—at the illegitimate younger brother whom Cole had always despised the most. A smile slowly curved across my lips. "The man that I marry becomes the heir to the Harrington family. That was our deal, right?"

"At seventeen, Lizzie Thornton left her hometown of Fair Haven to pursue her musical dreams—and to run from Trent Younger, the boy who broke her heart. Now a successful singer, Lizzie returns to Fair Haven nine years later. When she runs into Trent at her brother’s wedding, she discovers he’s no longer the shy boy she left behind. He’s a sexy, confident man who knows what he wants—and what he wants is her. When a night of passion results in unexpected consequences, Lizzie must grapple with prior heartbreak and with accepting that she still loves the one man she could never forget. Trent Younger grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, and he fought tooth and nail to establish himself as one of the most successful restaurateurs in Fair Haven. Yet he’s never forgotten Lizzie Thornton, the girl he adored, the same girl who left him to pick up the pieces of his life after tragedy struck them both. As Trent uncovers the layers of Lizzie’s guarded heart, he realizes that he doesn’t just want her in his bed. He wants her in his life—forever. Yet even as love rekindles, their pasts threaten to drive them apart. Unless they confront their demons, Lizzie and Trent may jeopardize a love that has already withstood the test of time."

On the day my twin sister, Alexia Cavanaugh, and I turn 22, I collapse and find out that I have late-stage cancer. Ignoring the doctor's advice to be admitted, I walk out of the hospital. All I want is to spend one final birthday with my family without a single worry. But when I arrive at the party, a server stops me at the door and tells me the venue has been reserved exclusively for Alexia. Outsiders aren't allowed in. Through the glass, I watch as my brother holds a cake and my father places a birthday hat on Alexia's head. Even my boyfriend is there, smiling as Alexia makes a wish. I stand there for half an hour, gripping my phone, before my boyfriend finally answers my call. "I was just at the hospital. I—" He cuts me off. "Ophelia, you've always been healthy. It's Lexi's birthday today. We should talk later." Isn't today my birthday too? My mother died giving birth to me. The doctor later explained that I deprived Alexia of nutrients before birth, which left her frail from the start. And just like that, everyone decided I should always step aside for my twin, who was born five minutes before me. I ball up the report with my cancer diagnosis and toss it in the trash. I'm done letting their favoritism hurt me. I've never received their love anyway, so I choose to leave for good.

Casantha Maximill went on a vacation after she graduated from college and it was the first time she journeyed alone. When she was in Palawan, she tried to use a famous writing and reading app for the first time in her life. Upon exploring the app, she happened to find a writer known as ‘Blueguy’. She started reading his novels and she was amazed until she decided to send him a message expressing her admiration. After a few minutes, the writer unexpectedly replied to her and she couldn’t believe it at first. The writer wanted to meet her in the resort where she was staying. She was hesitant, but she agreed. She thought that it could be the only chance for her to meet the writer she admired. They agreed to meet near the shore in front of the resort. Before meeting the writer, Casantha told her best friend she called ‘Benedicto’ about the meet up. ‘Benny’ was his nickname and he was a gay. Benedicto warned her that she must take care. She said that she would send him the screenshots of their conversation in case something bad might happen after the meet up. After promising that she would be extra careful, the call ended. The time came when a fine man approached Casantha and introduced himself as ‘Blueguy’. She wasn’t surprised that he looked handsome because she had seen a lot of handsome men before. She was also curious about how he found out that she was in that resort, but the time didn’t permit her question to be answered because someone suddenly called him. Little did she know that her life was in danger because of him.

Everyone’s turning she had witnessed came with its surprise; Camila had passed out, and Gideon had released a howl that made the pack deaf for some minutes, but finding out she was a bastard on the night of her turning was the least surprise she was expecting. Asides from the humiliation that came with it, it meant she wasn't going to be alpha, not in Craw Pack at least. Then the surprises didn't stop as she watched the man she called Father slay her mum like she wasn't Luna, she looked him straight into his eyes while he sentenced her to a lifetime of bondage. The Wells family were fighters, and so she fought for her freedom but ended up as a slave in another pack, hiding her identity to save her life. The white wolves to whom she belonged were thought to be weak, but Isha was ready to change that narrative, even if it meant getting her white dirty. From betraying the one who learned to love her, to taking the lives of the closest persons to her, she avenged her mum's death, built an army, and got everything she wanted, except the trust of the Alpha who meant the world to her. They say you can't just have anything you want, but Isha was convinced she was born to break rules, but she underestimated who was standing on the other end of the line; Holly Smearson was not the girl to cross, not with an Alpha-in-line by her side. Isha would soon understand why the love of her life had wanted Holly by his side in the beginning. Too many lies, too many ties, a white wolf, insides too dirty.

She stripped herself naked before him, baring not just her body but whatever it was left of her dignity. "Isn't this what you wanted, like all the other Alphas?" She asked him, her voice trembling with pain and contempt. He stood frozen as he beheld the figure before him. And after a few minutes, picked up her robe and wrapped it gently around her. Then he walked away. She wasn't just a woman and her body which he had just seen was a sin - the kind that made time pause and had men under it's hypnotic influence. And for the first time in his life, he had felt something stir within him. His body had betrayed him, rising with a hunger that terrified him. It wasn’t just lust. It was raw and ferocious. For her and only her… his desire finally woke up. --- They say the Bloodmoon brings out the worst in beasts. For him, it made him Alpha. For me, it made me hunted. When I was chosen as a tribute to the Bloodmoon Hunt, I expected to finally have a mate. After being rejected five times by my previous ones. But what I didn't expect... was it to be him. Alpha Denzel: brutal, cold and cursed by the moon itself. Everyone fears him. They say he's unlovable and untamable. Because of his tyranny. But I’m not everyone. And I’ve got a beast of my own. That beast of an Alpha is mine to tame. Or destroy. Whichever comes first.

“Noo!!! This can't be happening!!” I screamed silently, my eyes shut tight, praying that the nightmare would dissipate when I opened them. But the cruel reality remained. Asher, my husband, held Theresa, my best friend, in his arms, his hands tenderly caressing her swollen belly. I felt my world shattering, my mind reeling in shock. Minutes ticked by like an eternity as I lay there, unconscious, but Asher's concern wasn't for me – it was for his unborn child. The word "barren" still echoed in my mind, a painful reminder of how he saw me. I had been blind to his desperation for a child, oblivious to the fact that I was just a means to an end. As I struggled to stand, my body felt weak, my mind racing with the betrayal. The memories of our three-year relationship, the two and a half years of supposed love, and the six months of deceit flooded my mind. It was too cruel to be true. * Alexandra's perfect life crumbles when she catches her husband, Asher, cheating on her with her best friend, Theresa. Labeled as barren and discarded, she later discovers she's pregnant – but Asher refuses to believe her. Seeking refuge with her parents, she faces heartbreak when her baby dies. Years later, Alexandra rebuilds her life, unknowingly falling for Asher's rival, Ethan Blackwood. But just as things start to look up, dark secrets begin to surface, threatening to destroy her newfound happiness.

During the holiday break, my wife, Jayda Glover—the hospital's star surgeon and Chief of Cardiac Surgery—suddenly "had to work overtime." Our third-anniversary hot springs trip? Canceled. That night, I was scrolling social media when a post from her intern, Dillon Tripp, popped up. My ice-queen wife always said her "golden hands" were only for patients. Apparently, they cook now too. She was in a cartoon apron, calmly chopping vegetables. The caption read: [Thank you, Dr. Glover, for personally cooking to comfort me after I was bullied by a patient's family!] I tapped like and left a comment. [White coat to apron. Very domestic.] Ten minutes later, the whole hospital knew Cardiac Surgery's untouchable beauty had broken her rule—just to cook for a younger guy. Jayda called. Dishes clattered in the background. "You really had to embarrass me in public? He got hot water thrown on him by a patient's family today. I was just doing my duty as his mentor! "A pampered professor's kid like you wouldn't know the first thing about how hard broke med students have it. "Apologize to Dillon right now. Otherwise, no matter how much you beg later, I'm not going on that trip with you!" Beg her? I looked at the divorce papers that had just arrived on the coffee table and let out a quiet laugh. I wasn't begging anymore. From this moment on, we were strangers.