Num Lock

“Elion,” Brielle’s voice was soft but charged with intent as she stepped closer, her eyes locking onto his. “You keep telling me to stay away, but I see the way you look at me when you think no one’s watching.” She brushed a stray lock of hair from her face, her fingers lingering just a moment longer than necessary. “Maybe it’s time we stop pretending. Maybe it’s time we risk everything—for us.” Elion’s breath hitched, torn between duty and desire. “Brielle, you’re so young… and I’m your Alpha, your guardian. Crossing this line could destroy everything.” She smiled, a mixture of challenge and invitation. “Sometimes the greatest risks lead to the most unforgettable rewards. Don’t you want to see where this could go?” ======= In the shadowed city of Silvercrest, eighteen-year-old Brielle Crest’s rare healing blood marks her as both a miracle and a target. Orphaned by a brutal attack that shattered her family, she is taken in by Elion Zaphiel, the formidable thirty-five-year-old Alpha of the powerful Zaphiel Pack—a man whose protection blurs the line between guardian and something dangerously more. As political alliances tighten and rival packs close in, Brielle and Elion must navigate a forbidden love complicated by their seventeen-year age gap, defying tradition and igniting fierce jealousy within their ranks. With dark magic, deadly enemies, and their own haunted pasts threatening to tear them apart, can their bond survive and change their fate?

They named me Rose, but they forgot one thing: every rose comes with thorns. And mine are finally sharp enough to draw blood. In my past life, I was the fool who mistook a snake for a husband and a vulture for a best friend. I let them poison my father, steal my inheritance, and lock me away in a damp basement to rot while I was six months pregnant. I died in the dark, hungry and broken, watching the two people I trusted most wear my jewels and laugh at my misery. But death gave me a gift I didn't deserve, a second chance. I woke up back in 2023, standing at my father’s funeral with the taste of betrayal still fresh on my tongue. The world thinks I am the same grieving, " soft rich girl they can drug into submission. They think I am weak. They think I am an easy target. But they are wrong. This time, I am not just defending my father’s legacy, I am burning their world to the ground. From the funeral podium to the high-stakes boardrooms, I am reclaiming my power piece by piece. But as I change my destiny, my enemies are evolving too. Richard's temper is getting more violent, and a new, psychotic player is turning my game of revenge into a bloodbath. With the mysterious and powerful Derek Hamilton watching from the shadows, I have to decide: how far am I willing to go for revenge? Can I truly win and find a happy life, or will the thorns I have grown to protect myself eventually pierce my own heart?

To cheer up their depressed adopted daughter, Ashley Reid, my parents don't dare to treat me nicely. They've even locked me in a pitch-black room more than 700 times, just to put a smile on her face. At first, they feel guilty toward me. But eventually, even my older brother, Liam Reid, who used to care for me the most, treats it like it's all perfectly reasonable. When Ashley's depression finally starts to ease, I work up the courage to kneel and beg them to seal off that room for good. But at her birthday party, simply because I'm wearing the only T-shirt I own, she starts tearing up and asks my parents if I don't like her. My parents and Liam rush to comfort her and, yet again, lock me away in that dark, endless room. "Summer, you're her elder sister. You have to be more considerate of her feelings." "If you hadn't insisted on wearing something so tacky for her birthday party, she wouldn't have gotten so upset." "You've gotten used to it after all these years, right? One more time won't matter to you." I curl up in the corner, gripping my hair, unable to say a word. Three days later, they finally let me out. They remind me not to upset Ashley again. But I just stare at them blankly. "Sorry, who are you?"

I shouldn't be doing this. But I can't help it, ever since that night I let him take control, I craved more. He grabbed my chin raising me from the position that had me on my fours. "You're being a very. Good girl."-- Dominic Castellano is a name that commands fear. Cold, ruthless, and untouchable, he has built an empire on blood and power, crushing anyone who dares to challenge him. He doesn’t tolerate mistakes. He doesn’t entertain weakness. And above all, he doesn’t trust anyone outside his tightly controlled circle. He has spent years expanding his reach, eliminating threats, and ensuring that no one—not the law, not his rivals—can touch him. But when he finally finds her—the woman he had a one night stand with but had disappeared by morning. She changes everything Elena Monroe—A captain. She obviously didn't’t belong in his world. Her constant actions to take him down kept reminding both of them of their growing connection. Elena believes if she can lock him up for good she'll be able to let go of her past and forget all about Domnic. She doesn't like the way he makes her feel completely helpless and submissive. Despite her attempts to hide it, he's everything she fantasizes. But with her father in the way and constant enemy attacks they are forced to make a tragic decision.

I fumbled with the lock, my pulse hammering. I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t want this. "Alaric," I breathed, but his name barely made it past my lips before his hands were on me—hot, demanding, unstoppable. "Tell me to stop," he murmured against my throat, his fingers sliding beneath my dress. "Tell me you don’t want this." I opened my mouth—to argue, to push him away—but all that came out was a soft, shuddering gasp as he found the one place that betrayed me. His dark chuckle sent a shiver down my spine. "That’s what I thought." __ Betrayed and humiliated at the altar. Isla never planned to ruin herself in the arms of another man. But heartbreak led her straight into the grasp of Alaric Voss—powerful, ruthless, and twice her age. One night. No names. No future. Or so she thought. Because when the sun rose, Isla came face-to-face with her new boss—the same man who had just claimed her in every sinful way possible. Now, resisting him is impossible. He’s everywhere—watching, teasing, owning her with every smirk, every touch. She swore it was a mistake. He swears it’s just the beginning. And the more she fights him, the more she realizes the truth: She was his from the moment he laid eyes on her. And Alaric Voss doesn’t let what’s his slip away.

It all started when Athena opened the back door of the coffee shop to a mysterious but handsome man in a wheelchair. Athena always thought that she was just an ordinary person. Little did she know that she will be saving one of the greatest Alpha in the world, who turned out to be her boss, Mr. Drake. Since then an invisible red string had already tied their fate. A wolfless Alpha and a Powerful Luna, two broken souls that belong to two different worlds, or so they thought. As secrets of their past chase them down, tearing them apart, making them deny what they feel for each other. But the moon goddess has other plans for them. And just like magnets, the invisible red thread always pulls them back together. *************"Athena, you know my wolf has not made a comeback. Aside from that, you have not shifted yet. But I want to mark you, I want to claim you, I want to make you mine.” Drake lay down beside me, I lay on my side so that I am facing him. He rested his head on his right hand as he looked down at me, eyes filled with so much affection. "I want you to be my Luna," my heart skipped a beat upon hearing him say these words. “But I know that it's not possible right now,” there was a hint of sadness in his voice but when his eyes lock into mine I see no sign of sadness, instead, it was filled with so much hope."That's why I want to make a proposal,” my breath hitches as I wait with so much anticipation as to what he has to say. "Let me claim you in a different way. Let me make love to you.”

Casei-me com o mesmo homem sete vezes, e ele se divorciou de mim sete vezes — sempre pela mesma mulher, só para poder passar as férias com seu primeiro amor como um homem livre e também para poupá-la das fofocas do mundo. Na primeira vez, cortei meus pulsos num ato desesperado para fazê-lo ficar; uma ambulância me levou às pressas ao hospital, mas ele nunca apareceu para me ver. Na segunda vez, rebaixei-me para me candidatar a um cargo de assistente em sua empresa, apenas para poder vê-lo novamente, mesmo que de longe. Na sexta vez, já havia aprendido a empacotar minhas coisas em silêncio e a sair sozinha da casa que um dia foi nossa. Minhas crises de histeria, minhas concessões repetidas, minha resignação entorpecida — tudo o que recebi em troca foram seus casamentos pontuais, sempre seguidos pelos mesmos truques e pelas mesmas mentiras. Até agora: ao saber que seu primeiro amor estava prestes a voltar ao país, entreguei pessoalmente os papéis do divórcio em suas mãos. Como sempre, ele marcou a data do próximo casamento, sem imaginar que, desta vez, eu partiria para nunca mais voltar.

"You can't walk away," he whispered, his breath hot against my ear. "Not now." I never should've followed him. I knew it the second I saw his dark, predatory eyes lock onto mine across the bar. But I couldn't stop myself. I was drawn to him, to the danger simmering beneath his cool, controlled exterior. "One night," I told myself, "just one night." But it wasn't just a night. It was a raw, thrilling ride into darkness, where he took control in ways l'd never imagined. "Do you like it when I make you beg?" he growled, and I did. God, I did. By morning, I was tangled in his sheets, marked by his touch, my body still aching from the things he'd done to me. But when I opened my eyes and saw his face in the cold light of day, reality hit like a punch to the gut. The man l'd spent the night with, the one who made me surrender in every way possible, wasn't just a sexy stranger. He was a mafia kingpin-one of the most feared men in the city. And me? I'm the future district attorney, the one assigned to take him down. "You belong to me now," he said, his voice a deadly promise. And as much as I wanted to deny it, I knew he was right. But what happens when the lines between law and lust blur beyond recognition?

The music made the speakers tremble, the floor vibrated with the rumble of the sound and the jumps of the crazy people. Each one in their own world, dancing together, dancing separately. Enjoying music, company and alcohol. I danced alone, with a drink in hand. Gliding, moving my hips to the rhythm of the music, not paying much attention to anything or anyone around me. Just enjoying that moment of inner peace that I was needing and he was giving it to me. It was a respite, a window that I opened myself in my own cage to let in air and I knew that as soon as I left the club the window would close and I would lock myself back in my world without fresh air. Therefore, he enjoyed everything he could. Alone. With eyes closed. Sweating the bad energy that others left me and breathing the good vibes that I had to give myself. They were approaching me. I drove them away. They invited me. I rejected them. they spoke to me I silenced them. I just wanted to dance and they were going to have to respect that. It was amazing how loud music could be my oxygen tank. It silenced my thoughts, freed me from tensions. There was nothing more relaxing in my life than dancing with my eyes closed and the volume turned up to a thousand. I twirled, I jumped, I wiggled, I hummed, and I sang. The brightly colored lights flickered making it difficult to see, but it was what I liked the most, going blind for an instant, forgetting that I had the ability to see the world, a false, disastrous and difficult world.

"Can you move back please?" I whispered but the wall of muscles invading my personal space didn't budge. Why did he look so hot doing nothing and everything? Lucian leaned down and pinched my chin up with his thumb stroking the soft flesh. His black orbs lock on my shimmering blue ones. "You kept looking, staring and eye-fucking me. I can give you what you want, again" His deep voice sent waves of shivers down my spine. I could feel his other hand trailing down my waist, thrumming me like I was s violin, my core dripped with wetness at the thought of what happened the last time we got so close. Feeling lust for my new stepbrother should be the last thing on my mind but I couldn't get him off my head. *** Violet hated her mother for changing husbands as she deemed fit. Begrudged, she parked up her bags and moved from one mansion to another. The new mansion was bigger than the last as usual but the new stepfather looked familiar. Violet couldn't believe her eyes when she saw Lucian, the school's most handsome and popular boy introducing himself as her stepbrother! Lucian found himself getting addicted to his new stepsister, a feeling he found strange. He was used to having a girl once and never going back but not Violet. He always slips back to her bed.