Oh Darling My Only Artinya

A year ago, my life was simple. I was just Ariel Anthony…a regular college student, cheerleader with decent grades, daughter of a struggling baker, and recently appointed step-sister to a guy I barely knew. Nothing special. Then came the storm. Not just the thunderstorm that trapped me in Professor Grayson's apartment that night, but the storm that followed. The one that's still raging around me, that I created. They don't warn you about men like Luther Grayson in freshman orientation. They don't tell you how a single glance from the right person can make you question everything you thought you knew about yourself. About what you want. About what you'd risk to get it. They also don't warn you about guys like Ethan Cross, with his perfect smile hiding something dark. The kind of guy who's used to getting what he wants and doesn't understand the meaning of the word "no." And no one, absolutely no one…prepares you for what it feels like when the person who's supposed to be your brother looks at you with something else in his eyes. Mom once said I had a gift for making complicated situations worse. If she only knew. My phone buzzed beside me, and I glanced down to see Luther's name on the screen. My heart still jumps every time, even when I'm aware of what could happen if people learned about the two of us. I should ignore it. I should block his number, focus on my classes, help Mom with the bakery, and pretend none of this ever happened. But I'm already reaching for the phone. That's the thing about crossing lines… once you step over them, it's almost impossible to step back. And I've crossed so many lines now, I can't even see where I started.

My name is Freya, I'm 16 but will be turning 17 in a few weeks, I'm a Junior at Belleview High, I'm part of the art club along with the photography club, I have straight A's which has always made my dad proud of me. I am finally out of that awkward teenage stage where my head was to big for my body, plus I'm no longer built like a little boy. Andrew is 17, 6 foot at least, with dark chocolate brown hair, the most piercing blue eyes i have ever seen in my life, with a strong jaw and the most perfect tan pink lush lips that I would love to crash my own against, he's built like a God and just his eyes can send a shiver down my spine. Everything about him makes my insides tense. He pushes me against a wall, pinning me to it while holding my hands above my head, his deep voice vibrating through my chest as he speaks with our closeness. Does he want me the way I want him? Can we hide what happens between us from our parent? I will risk it all for him. Will he do the same for me?

She stole my wedding. I stole her future. On the morning of my wedding, I caught my fiancé Kellan tangled in the sheets with my stepsister. The betrayal should have shattered me. Instead, it lit a fire in my veins. So I did what any woman scorned would do. I pointed to the most dangerous man in the room—Drexon Moreaux, Kellan’s ruthless billionaire uncle—and declared, “Him. I’ll marry him instead.” Drexon could have laughed in my face. The Moreaux empire’s heir apparent, a man forged in boardroom battles and whispered about in elite circles, had no reason to entertain my reckless demand. But he said, “I do.” Now, my stepsister’s smug smile is crumbling. My ex-fiancé is forced to call me Auntie. And Drexon? He watches me with dark, calculating eyes, as if I’m a puzzle he’s determined to solve. This marriage was supposed to be my revenge. But with every lingering touch and midnight confession, Drexon is turning it into something far more dangerous—something that feels like love. Too bad the Moreaux family doesn’t believe in happy endings…

"This doesn't make sense," I whispered, my hand on the door knob. "We can't tell mom and dad," he whispered back into the darkness. "You can't be my mate!?" I hissed back, "You're my brother." "I'm not going to resist the sparks, April," he growled, "or the pull, and feeling of want... Do you hear me?" "W-what?" "I want you so bad it hurts," he whispered. It was like my lips moved and spoke for me. "Then take me." His warm lips smashed onto mine, finding them in the dark. Sparks lit the tiny closet up, and suddenly I knew where he was, almost as if we were in a room full of light. I could see every move he made, and I wanted him to make a move on me. I kissed him back with force and longing. My first kiss is with my brother. My mate

The day cancer spread through my whole body, my family took me to court for being heartless and cruel. All because I refused to donate my kidney to the fake daughter, even though I was a perfect match. When they saw me lying in the coffin, my sister, who never liked me, said, “What a drama queen! Even got yourself a coffin this time.” Even my parents despised me and said, “If you want to die, at least cut out your kidney first and go die somewhere else. Don’t die in front of us and make us sick.” But later, when the memory extractor cut into my brain, it revealed all the times I had been tortured by that fake daughter over the years. The family that despised me went insane at that moment.

My sister and I were mated with a pair of twin werewolves. She mated with the black wolf—strong, imposing, and the Alpha heir to the wolf pack. But he was cold and desireless by nature, with a violent temper that made her life after forming the mate bond unbearable. He often turned on her, leaving her battered and broken. I, on the other hand, mated with the frail white wolf, who was gentle, considerate, and seemingly weak. Yet with patience and intelligence, he eventually became the Alpha of the pack. Jealousy consumed my sister. She poisoned me, ending my life. When I opened my eyes again, we had returned to the day we were choosing our mates. My sister hurriedly reached for the white wolf. I smiled. Did she really think the white wolf was harmless?

I had just been discharged from surgery for a collapsed lung when my boyfriend took me to a childhood friend’s birthday party. At the party, he yanked off my ventilator and used it to inflate party balloons. My chest seized violently, as if my lung had been torn open. Justin Miller turned to Sophie Shaw proudly and said, “See? This is so much easier than blowing them up with your mouth.” I gripped the doorframe. I was gasping as my vision blurred. “Justin, I need that to survive! I can’t breathe!” His expression darkened. “Sophie was kind enough to invite you to her birthday party. Know your place! Besides, she put in a lot of effort for this day and spent hours preparing for it. Are you really going to ruin the celebration?” I struggled to speak through the pain. “Is her surprise more important than my life?” I extended a trembling hand toward the ventilator, but Justin waved it aside. He said impatiently, “I already checked. You won’t die from holding your breath for just a moment. Don’t be so selfish!” At that moment, pain stabbed me in the chest, and I used every ounce of my strength to press the emergency call button my brother had given me.

Most people say rejection is the worst thing that could happen to a person, especially when it involves your fated mate. You become a shell of person you once were. Alpha Xavier and I have known each other since we were kids, we were always there for each and slowly I fell in love with my best friend. I was there when he told me he loved my twin sister I stood by and let him be happy, until that one fateful night when we found out we were mates and he rejected me and choose my twin. From that day forward nothing was the same. I watched them be happy together while I was slowly breaking and then I finally choose myself and left without a word to anyone. Eight years later the unthinkable happened. I am found and I am required to return to my pack because my twin sister died, Alpha Xavier chosen mate.

I dumped Orion Gray when he was at his poorest. I even aborted the child we had together. In the blink of an eye, I got together with a rich man. After that, Orion went abroad in anger and sadness. Within two short years, he turned into the CEO of a publicly listed company. When he came back to the country, he swore that he would exact his revenge on me. However, my mother sent a disfigured corpse to his house and asked him to restore it to its original state. He did not know that it was the corpse of the person he hated the most—me.

My name is Ivanka Marie Harris. I am the black sheep of my family. I have had enough of their mistreatment of me for no reason. I am tired of begging for love and answers. I am fed up and I am not taking it anymore. I am tired of my sister and cousin trying to steal my identity and my life as well as use me to be their scapegoat. I just to get away from my toxic family before they cost me my freedom and my sanity. I have been lucky so far, but I know it won't last forever.