Parting Gift

On our fifth anniversary, Alpha Liam gave me nothing more than a simple pack mark of protection. That same night, he held a bonding ceremony with his first love, the she-wolf Seraphina. I refused to accept it. He accused me of being irrational. “My bonding with Seraphina is for the future of the pack, not because I still have feelings for her.” “You’re only human. Shouldn’t my pack’s mark be enough? This was your final test, Elena, and you’ve failed.” I walked away. And he turned around and proposed to Seraphina. Five years later, we met again at an exclusive hotel designated by the Alpha Council. His pack was on the verge of becoming a major power, and he had Seraphina, draped in a moonlight silk gown, on his arm. When he saw me, covered in sand and standing ankle-deep in the hotel’s ornamental fountain, he frowned. “Elena,” he scoffed. “You looked down on my protection back then. Look at you now. I bet you can’t find a single pack in this city willing to take in a human.” “And don’t think this pathetic display will make me take you back.” I ignored him. My cub’s treasured moonstone, a gift he’d found while combing the beach, had slipped into the fountain. The little guy was beside himself, and I had to find his precious amulet.

Princess Henrietta discovers that she has a mate despite being the only royalty in the realm without a special gift. Despite not having powers, fate brings her path with Prince Richard, an Alpha, her mate as he tells her but her father King Kenneth after being persuaded by Henriettas' twin, Princess Gwendolyn, plans a union between Prince Richard and Princess Gwendolyn without Richards' consent. Her father being scared by a prophecy which tells that his kingdom, Odyssey, would be destroyed by his own child, is eager to see that he hands it over to best. Gwendolyn being a born vampire is eager and uses her powers as an advantage over Henrietta, as she does her best to threaten Henrietta away from it. The throne is Henriettas' birthright but might be taken away by Gwendolyn who has her eyes on the throne. Richard manages to use a crime committed by Gwendolyn to blackmail her into calling off the wedding which takes the throne miles away from her. Henrietta knows she'd be in trouble if Gwendolyn ascends the throne and plans ahead. Would she be able to get it? How long would it take? What if Gwendolyn gets married to Richard? Would Henrietta ever get a gift? What would be the fate of Odyssey if Gwendolyn becomes Queen? Who between Henrietta and Gwendolyn would destroy the kingdom? The powerful vampire princess or the Human princess.

Eight years into marriage, and Fabian's mom finally gave me and my son her stamp of approval. Invited us to spend Christmas in his hometown. My son—Luca--and I were hyped. We picked out a gift for her and hit the road with Fabian. Right as we pulled into the village, Fabian's old friend called—crying, claiming she'd crashed her car. Fabian panicked. Left me and Luca in some random snowy mountain town and sped off. It was pitch black. Snow dumping down. Then Luca screamed. He'd stepped on a trap and dropped into a pit. Blood everywhere. I called Fabian, totally panicked. He goes, "Stella, Roxana's in a wreck. I need to be with her. Stop making everything a competition." Then he hung up. Blocked me. No time to fall apart. I wiped my face, called an ambulance. Too far out. By the time they got there, Luca was already gone. Cold. Broken. Gone. I held him and screamed until my lungs gave out. Meanwhile, Roxana's posting in the social media. All smiles in Fabian's arms. His face soft. Loving. [Highway jam turned into truth or dare. One word—"accident"—and he came flying. So happy.] I exhaled. Tagged Fabian. [Let's get a divorce.] This joke of a marriage should've ended forever ago.

The night before our wedding, Edward Fowler's friends gather for a celebration. A full set of sex toys lies in the gift box from his tomboy bestie, Winnie Spencer. I freeze, and Winnie shouts boisterously, "Don't you dare go easy on him, Sarah. That pup might look like someone who's abstaining, but he's actually pretty wild in the sheets. "During the start of the year, he only used three of these, yet he landed me straight in the hospital with injuries that took me half a month to heal!" She then hooks an arm around Edward's neck. "Let me give you a piece of advice as your buddy—you need to learn how to be gentle once you're married. "Sarah looks so delicate, so you'd better not pull the same stunt as last time. I was just recovering, yet you dragged me into it for two whole days. I almost died in bed!" My face darkens. Winnie covers her mouth in exaggerated shock. "It's just us buddies messing around. You're not mad, are you, Sarah?" Everyone is anticipating for me to snap. But instead, I let out a soft chuckle before replying, "Why would I be? I should be thanking you for being a free tutor instead. After all, someone who's in your line of work would charge at least three hundred dollars per night just for the same lesson."

The world is full of corruption, tragedy, and disaster. Rape, murder, embezzlement, human trafficking. You name it. There is nothing humans won’t do for money, power or self-gratification. More than that it always seems that the downtrodden and the good-natured always suffer the most. The cherry on top? All this suffering is supposed to be rewarded in heaven when you die…if you make it there that is. Sounds ridiculous, right? Don’t worry you aren’t alone. My name is Jasmine Peters and I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired as the world around me crumbles while Sky Daddy watches from his ivory tower. I was cursed with the ability to read minds and now I’m owning this curse on my own terms and saving whoever I can with it. If God won’t help us… I will.Gabriel: I’ll never understand The Almighty’s infatuation with these creatures. Humans demand so much, but yet they give so little and whatever they are given they destroy. The audacity of this human especially leaves me particularly annoyed. She dares to defy divinity and scoffs in the face of The Almighty when it was divinity that has gifted her with the ability to do so in the first place. Only a creature as lost as a human would be given a gift and label it a curse. Nonetheless, as the hand of The Almighty, I will do as I am asked by tending the flock and heard this lost sheep back to pasture. As troublesome as she may be, I fear there is something much more sinister at play and she appears to be at the epicenter of this chaos.

“Answer me…how many fucking men have taken pleasure from this body…” I shake as I feel his fingers skating down my chest… Br*ast, N*pple, Torso, Then…then…my v*lva. I moan, staring into his orb with lust... He locks eyes with me while he feathers a touch over my clit. “Speak up. How many…have touched this cl*t, make it swell…make it h*rny…speak?” He commands and I moan... *** Since my eighteenth birthday everything I felt for my foster father turned into lust. I wanted him to ruin me for other men but he kept rejecting me. Breaking my heart. I'm not about to stop. I'll tempt him until he caves. Until he fucks me. Because David Truman is mine. **** David started having lustful feelings for Vera since her eighteenth birthday. He tried to make it stop but it couldn't. He knows involving in this naughty relationship with his foster daughter will implicate her life yet he can't help it. He wants to devour her. He want to own her. To ruin her for men. But after giving her himself as a gift on the night of her graduation, he wanted more. Will he still be able protect Vera from the mafia brothers searching everywhere for her?

She was a miracle baby. The result of a forbidden love. Her parents weren't supposed to fall in love and she wasn't supposed to be born. Yet it all happened and everything went down. Her presence wasn't something that the world expected or was ready to welcome. But her parents didn't care and the love she received didn't lack anything either. She was the greatest gift her parents received, and the harbinger of their joy. And it should have lasted forever. But to their unfortunate, breaking an eons old law wasn't something that would go unnoticed or unpunished. They had to pay the price and she had to bear the cost. He was a ruthless beast. The outcome of a tortures past. He should have had a happy and peaceful life under the wings of his loving mother and all powerful father. He should have grown up to be the most beloved alpha ever lived in this world. Yet, it all burned down the moment his parents got killed and he fell into his uncle's care. At first glance, they were so different from each other like the sky and the earth. But even the sky and the earth meet at the horizon. So did they...  However, their happily ever after didn't come that easily as they both had their past demons coming after to hunt them down. It was a mess and a leisurely play for the celestials. So, they have to be careful with everything that goes on in their lives. If not, the cost... Their lives, at the best. The worst? Their love.

During the exchange of tokens in the Marking Ceremony, I presented the wolf tooth ring I had carved myself, as a witness to our marking. But my Alpha mate, Frendo, remained completely indifferent, not releasing any marking aura, as though he had entirely forgotten that today was the day of our spiritual bonding ceremony. At that moment, Lily updated her Instagram, saying she would be returning to the Sliver Lake Pack in an hour. The air immediately filled with the restless scent of wolves, and before I could react, my Beta brother, George, stepped onto the ceremony stage and emotionlessly announced, "The Marking Ceremony is canceled." Frendo and George, in perfect synchronization, turned and left the altar together, leaving me standing alone, under the watchful eyes of all the Pack members. They wanted to see how a one-person marking ceremony would proceed. It wasn’t until I held back my inner frustration and awkwardly finished the ceremony with some semblance of dignity that I opened Lily’s Instagram. In her latest photo, George and Frendo were both surrounding her, releasing intimate signals. One was holding a silver moon festival gift box, while the other offered her a moonlight rose, her favorite. I bitterly smiled and wiped away the tears from my eyes before calling the one family that truly mattered, my flesh and blood. "Dad, Mom. I want to go home."

Samuel Blanton gave me a rare antique every time he asked me to do something or abandoned me. In just two months, I'd collected 94 antiques. Then, the 95th package arrived from the auction house, and with it, a message from his true love, Zara Hill. [Hey, should the invitations for my and Samuel's wedding have patterns or just a solid color? [By the way, the wedding's next month. I really hope you can make it.] I didn't argue or make a scene. I just got a wedding gift ready and sent it to Zara myself. That night, Samuel came into my room. He said he wanted to reward me for not making a scene by giving me a child. On the wedding day, when Zara found out I was pregnant, she ran to the cliff, screaming she was going to jump. The usually cold and proud Samuel groveled before me for the first time, begging me to terminate the pregnancy. Everyone around us was waiting to see my reaction. But I obeyed. That very day, I went to the hospital. Samuel held me tightly, saying, "Ophelia, I'm only marrying Zara out of obligation. Once we divorce in a few months, I promise I'll give you a child again, okay?" But he didn't know… I had decided to leave him.

Grace’s life was perfect: a simple job, a loving adoptive mother, Sarah, and a future planned with her boyfriend, Ryan. But her world shatters when two things collide: First, the shocking appearance of her biological parents, who reveal she was a twin, (Isabella) separated at birth. They welcome her into a life of unimaginable wealth, offering her everything her simple life lacked. Second, the brutal collapse of her old life. At a desperate lunch, Grace is betrayed by Ryan, only to have the heartbreak immediately overshadowed by a terrifying call: her adoptive mother, Sarah, has been arrested for a crime dating back twenty-two years. Suddenly, Grace realizes the truth: her biological family's wealth is not a gift—it's a weapon. They are using Sarah’s arrest as blackmail, forcing Grace to take her twin sister's place and marry Sebastian, a powerful, arrogant billionaire her family desperately needs to keep happy. Caught between the woman who raised her and the family who owns her fate, Grace has an impossible choice. But when she agrees, she discovers the deceit runs deeper than she ever imagined. The man she is forced to marry is not just an arrogant stranger; he is part of a complex, dangerous web that connects every betrayal in her life. Will Grace survive this contract marriage, or will the secrets she has to keep claim the only people she has ever truly loved?