Old Fashioned Last Names

I should have been walking down the aisle. Instead, I was running through the woods in my wedding dress. The white fabric caught on every branch, tearing apart like my life. My name is Camela Siegel. My father is the Mayor, and he sold me to save himself. Vincent Castellano was supposed to be my husband. They call him the Mad Prince, but I learned he’s so much worse than that. His hands trembled when he touched me—sometimes gentle, like I might break, and sometimes rough, like he wanted to overpower me. “You’re mine now,” he’d whisper in the dark corners of that house. “No one else gets to touch you. No one else gets to hurt you but me.” I tried the door handle every day for three months. It only turned from the outside. When help finally came, I thought it was over. I thought I could go home and pretend none of it ever happened. I was wrong. Vincent found my journal—the one where I wrote about him, about what he did to me, and about who he truly is. Now he’s not just keeping me locked up. He’s hunting me. They call him “The Fox” for a reason. He’s patient and waits. When he catches what he’s after, he never lets it go. I can feel him watching me even now—through my bedroom window, from across the street, in the shadows where I can’t see him but I know he’s there. My father thinks making that deal saved his life. He doesn’t realize it destroyed mine. Vincent said he’d keep me until the last day of my life. I’m starting to think that day is coming soon.

Alphas from different packs flocked towards Onel, a man who was said to be more beautiful than any woman. He was the last surviving omega who could give birth to a strong alpha son which made him the perfect mate. Out of those who desired him, Onel chose Alpha Blue, his mate, and the alpha of their pack whom he had always loved since he was a child and who loved him in return. But after giving birth to Blue's child, he found out his betrayal and his dirty secrets which led him to escape from his claws along with their child. But Alpha Blue caught him and killed him. Desperate to seek revenge, during his final moment, he begged the moon goddess for another chance. When he opened his eyes again, he was back to the past. And this time, he would make sure that justice would be served on a sizzling platter. No one will be spared from his wrath. Anyone who will try to block his path will pay a heavy price… even if it’s Giovanni Del Fierro, his second chance mate and the Alpha King himself.

Her life is a mess. Her father died from a car accident and her mother went away with another man. She was left in her exploitative and abusive relatives, her aunt and cousin. She is very poor and carries the world. They looked at her like a rag not until she was rescued by the forty-five years old Zillionaire. But little did she know, a rollercoaster twist of a life is waiting for her after she was rescued.

As panic sweeps through the city and everyday streets collapse into chaos, Ciprian is driven by one unshakable instinct: protect Adam at all costs. When an unexplained catastrophe turns the urban landscape into a pressure cooker of fear and survival, nothing matters more than keeping his best friend alive. In this fast-paced short story, a sudden crisis forces two friends to confront more than danger. As tension rises and the city descends into disorder, buried emotions, unspoken attraction, and complicated feelings come to the surface. What begins as survival quickly becomes something deeper, binding their fates together in ways neither of them expected. Set against a backdrop of urban collapse, panic, and uncertainty, this emotional short fiction explores friendship, loyalty, and love under pressure. Perfect for readers who enjoy character-driven stories, disaster scenarios, slow-burn emotion, LGBTQ+ themes, and intimate moments set during world-altering events. A gripping short story about connection, courage, and the fragile line between friendship and something more—meant to be read in one sitting, but felt long after.

By my third month on the job, I discovered that my coworkers had been calling me "the old crow" behind my back. The nickname came from none other than Jace's condescending secretary—because at 32, I was still clutching onto an eight-year relationship that hadn't ended in marriage. I confronted Jace. "Do you know your employees have been calling me the old crow?" He didn't even bother to look up. "That's just Sadie—she speaks her mind and means no harm. You're 32; why get so worked up over what a young girl says?" Then he gave me a faint, mocking smile. "Though honestly, it's a pretty fitting nickname." It felt like a cold hand had wrapped around my heart. So that was it—eight years of my youth, nothing more than a joke to him. I turned and walked away, handed in my resignation, and blocked every way he could reach me. But for the first time, the man who had always seemed so calm and untouchable finally panicked. "Elara," he pleaded, "please come back."

I'm finally pregnant after five years of marriage. I initially want Morgan Holt to accompany me to the hospital so I can surprise him, but he stoically tells me that he hates hospitals. I can understand and accommodate that. Then, he surprises me—he accompanies his new junior to the hospital for a medical checkup. At that moment, I know our relationship is over. When I bid him farewell, I say, "She's your true love's younger sister, right? I can understand why you've transferred your love to her. I wish you two well." His eyes redden. "I can't live without you."

Cane Lorenzo, a Mafia boss in Francisco City, entered into a contract marriage with Rachael, an enemy's daughter, for a truce. He manipulated Rachael into falling in love and made her easy to access information. When he divorced her, he felt empty and unintentionally grew fond of her. Rachael, determined to find a new heart, refused to accept Cane back into her life. Cane is on a mission to stabilize his mafia business and get his woman back.

In the year 2028, the government decides to destroy the world sparing only one million people to restart the next generation. Of those one million people is Christopher Woodsen, a 16 year old tasked with upholding the law of the bunker they were forced into.

Everyone in Oceanton knew that mob boss Jared Pierce was deeply in love with me. No one feared my disappearance more than he did. Even if bullets were raining down on him, he'd still find a way to contact me, just to make sure I felt safe. But on the night before our wedding, he didn't come home. When he finally returned, he dropped to his knees, a bruised and weakened woman cradled in his arms. "Rosalia! Melody took the drug just to save me! I can't just watch her die! So I had no choice but to sleep with her." Terrified that I wouldn't forgive him, Jared drew six wounds into his arm. Blood soaked through his shirt in an instant. As soon as the wedding banquet ended, I heard his men chuckling and teasing. "The boss didn't even take off his wedding outfit before rushing to see Melody. Just how seductive is his lover?" Jared’s low, sultry voice followed. "Last time I stayed with her, I didn’t come back for three days and nights. Take a guess." In shock and despair, I called out the system. "I want to leave this world!" The system's cold voice replied, "After your exit, this world will erase all traces of your existence. Counting down… Seven days."

Mercedes Underwood is a lost girl. Lost from her world and herself. She grew up with abusive parents and had a really shitty childhood. Sometimes she believed that they were not her parents much less rassemblements between her and them. When she turned 18 years old, her parents attempt to sell her off to some bad people to pay off their debt. That did not come as a surprise that they would do such a thing and there was no love lost there. But what came as a surprise was when she woke up naked the next morning, walls splattered with blood and four people ripped to shreds. Life went from bad to bloody worse for Mercedes. It was like waking up in a horror scene. She was petrified and confused, nothing made sense but what did make sense was for her to pick up what she can and run. Felix Ransom is the Alpha of the White Claw pack. He leads his pack with an iron fist and ensures everyone's safety and makes sure the pack thrives. But something is missing. The gentle touch of a Luna. Felix is already 25 years old and has not found the one the Moon Goddess chose for him. His other half and mate. Each day without the one for him made his hope of ever finding her wither away. At a point, he even thought that she might have died. It never occurred to him that his made would come right to him much less be a human who is a fugitive for murdering 4 people. Or was she a human being after all?