Penelope Ward Novels & Stories

Eliza Ward does not fall through time. Time bends toward her. Pulled from the present into Revolutionary America, Eliza becomes trapped in a landscape where history repeats unevenly, battles restart with variations, and memory functions as both anchor and weapon. She is not a chosen heroine, but a constant: a woman whose awareness destabilizes the moment itself. She meets Mercy Hale, a midwife and witch who understands time as a negotiation rather than a force to command. Mercy aids Eliza’s survival while refusing the role of savior, having already learned the cost of standing too close to history’s center. During a looping battle, Eliza saves Thomas Reed, a Continental soldier who does not shift when time does. Thomas is an anchor: steady, observant, unchanged across iterations. Their bond deepens in an almost-normal village where time briefly behaves. Eliza’s intervention triggers time’s response. Rather than immediate destruction, time collects interest. Mercy bargains to spare Eliza and Thomas, sacrificing her own future to stabilize the present. Time extracts payment from Eliza as well, stripping away her voice, the very tool she uses to name and hold moments in place. Silenced and unmoored, Eliza is violently displaced back into the original battle. Unable to anchor the moment, she watches Thomas die in the version of history that was always waiting beneath her defiance. Told in rotating perspectives between Eliza, Thomas, and Mercy, The Hours That Refused to Behave is a lyrical time-travel novel about revolution, restraint, and consequence, asking not whether history can be changed, but who pays when it is.

My father, Benjamin Ward, was bedridden, paralyzed, and unable to move. The AI model he spent his entire life developing—a model powerful enough to cure terminal diseases—had been stolen and published under someone else's name. Humiliated beyond endurance, he suffered a stroke and collapsed. He couldn't speak. He couldn't even write. I swore I'd find the thief who destroyed him. My girlfriend, Maris Dawn, wept and promised to help me uncover the truth. But at a dinner party, when her first love proudly announced that he'd been specially recruited by a national research lab thanks to that very model, she immediately grabbed my arm, whispering, "Don't make a scene. Grayson just wants a good future. Don't ruin his life." Grayson Vale smirked with disdain. "The old man was about to retire anyway. Think of it as recycling waste." My vision went red. I charged at him, ready to make him pay for what he'd done to my father. Maris tripped me before I could reach him. She threw a check for ten million in my face. "Here's for your dad's medical care. Don't be shameless, alright? Grayson is a rising star. You're just a broke grad student. You should learn your place." I tore the check apart, piece by piece. That check could never buy the Dawn family a future in the world of science.

In the third year of being locked up in a psychiatric hospital by Jonathan Fowler, I had already lost all of my vibrance and vitality. During a particularly harsh winter, Jonathan's new girlfriend, Charlotte Stewart, visits me in the hospital. She caresses my sunken cheek lovingly with one hand. "You must be Jon's legally-wedded wife, right?" I just stare at her in alert without saying anything. The next thing I know, Charlotte shoves me down the stairs. Her expression is already twisted into one of malice. "Everyone tells me that I'll get to marry Jonathan once you're dead, so just hurry up and die already!" I don't have any energy to fight back. After crashing onto the floor, I'm left bleeding and broken. After struggling in the operating theater for one full day, I managed to survive the ordeal. With red-rimmed eyes, Jonathan rushes into the ward and grasps my hand. "Mallory, I promise that if you agree to stay alive and not pin the crime of manslaughter on Charlotte, I can let bygones be bygones! In fact, I won't disturb you anymore for the rest of your life!" I don't have the strength to respond to Jonathan. That's when the System, which has stayed silent for a very long time, suddenly speaks in my mind. [Congratulations. You've maxed out the male lead's guilt. You may now leave this world.] I secretly let out a sigh of relief. Finally, I can go home.

“Your groom isn’t coming.” Those four words destroy Clarissa Ward’s world. After four years together, Luca Richard abandons her on their wedding day, leaving her humiliated in front of hundreds of guests. She expects the wedding to be canceled. Instead, the impossible happens. Luca’s older brother steps forward. Powerful. Ruthless. Untouchable. Charles Richard looks at the stunned crowd and says, “Continue the ceremony.” The next thing Clarissa knows, she is standing at the altar with a different man. A man she never truly understood. A man who has watched her for far longer than she realizes. A man who whispers in her ear after their vows: “You were never meant to be his.” Now trapped inside the powerful Richard family, Clarissa must navigate a mansion filled with secrets, hidden agendas, and enemies hiding behind polite smiles. A god-sister who believes she should have been Charles’s wife. A cousin who betrayed her in the worst possible way. A family determined to test whether she belongs among them. And a husband whose feelings are far more dangerous than his cold reputation. Because the biggest secret isn’t why Luca left. It’s why Charles stayed. And when the truth finally comes out, Clarissa will have to decide whether the man who saved her at the altar is also the man who has been quietly stealing her heart all along. “Tell me the truth, Charles.” He holds her gaze. “I’ve been trying not to love you for years.”

The supernatural creatures of the world have long been governed by The Council, made of representatives of each faction: werewolves, vampires, witches, and fae. The Council’s main goals were to keep the existence of magic from humans and keep any one group from becoming too powerful. Legends of a creature, a hybrid capable of being more than one supernatural creature, have existed as long as the beings themselves. A hybrid would be able to topple The Council, and whichever faction they were loyal to would rule with ease. As such, the purposeful creation of such a creature was forbidden. In 2012, ancient vampire Elias Elhassan found Claire Luna. After years of living in and out of the oncology ward, the 26-year-old was ready for death. Until he approached her and offered her a way to live without the constant pain she had become so accustomed to. 24-year-old Colin Lucin, the youngest, bastard son of the Alpha of the Half-Moon pack, did not want much from life. After a childhood filled with loss and pain, he was more than satisfied to be the pack’s nurse and stay out of the way of his father and eldest brothers. But in order to maintain a long-held pact with a local coven, once every generation, a witch is destined to mate with a wolf of the Alpha line. Thrown into a political battle that neither knows anything about, Claire and Colin are forced to navigate a centuries-old web of lies, torture, and manipulation. Though they are fated to be together, can they trust each other’s words? Can they even survive long enough to find out? Trigger warnings: Depictions of: violence, blood, language, sexual content (to what degree is yet to be decided) Implied: abuse, sexual content

One night of rebellion. A lifetime of consequences. I was the princess of the High Pack, destined for a life of luxury and a bonded mate. Then the fire happened. My father was imprisoned, our lands were seized, and my name became a curse. Now, I’m just Ivy Mercer, a struggling medical intern fighting to keep my mother alive in a sterile ward I can’t afford. When my fiancé, Blake Ryder, publicly discards me for a cruel opportunist, I do the unthinkable. I walk into SkyDeck 71, drown my sorrows in moon-essence, and surrender my virtue to a lethal, golden-eyed stranger. I didn't know he was Cole Ryder. The "Ice King" of the West Coast. The Alpha of Alphas. And my ex-fiancé’s uncle. Now, I’m caught in a dangerous game of territory and temptation. Cole is cold, controlling, and far too powerful to cross, yet he’s the only one standing between me and the vipers who want to see me crawl. He offers me a contract to save my family, but his touch demands a much steeper price: my absolute submission. As the pack secrets unravel and my heart begins to heal under his unexpected tenderness, I have to wonder—is he protecting me from the wolves at my door, or is he the most dangerous predator of them all? He’s the Alpha I should fear. He’s the protector I crave. And in the dark of the moon, he’s the only one who can make me feel whole again.

My boyfriend is trapped in the mountains, and I head there alone to search for him. However, I don't find him despite a night of searching. Instead, I end up falling off a cliff and passing out due to severe blood loss. When I open my eyes again, I hear laughter coming from outside my hospital ward. "Sonya's such a fool! She fell for it again!" "This is our 99th time tricking her, right?" "When you pretended to fall into the water, she jumped into an icy lake to save you in the middle of winter. When you pretended to be poisoned, she went to dig up the herbs that you'd need for the antidote… "This time, you pretended to be trapped in the mountains, and she ran there without a care for her life! She's truly head over heels for you!" I struggle to sit up. That's when I see my boyfriend, Austin Miller, standing at the ward's door. He stands out among the crowd and has a bright smile on his face. He doesn't look like he's lost his way at all. His friends continue talking. "It's her fault for abandoning Austin when he was down on his luck!" "She deserves to get played like this! When this is all over, we can throw the invitation to Austin and Dion's engagement party in her face!" It turns out Austin is already engaged. Yet, to this day, he has no idea why I broke up with him in the first place.

Just before her husband and son have her locked in a psychiatric ward, Nora Yates wakes up—reborn, wide awake, and done playing nice. Two men who never truly loved her? Who used and discarded her? Fine. She’s cutting them out for good. When she signs the divorce papers and walks away, the world cheers—including the internet. Oddly, the only one upset is her adoptive sister, the mistress. “Come on, Nora,” she pouts. “I only borrowed your husband and son for my birthday. Was that really worth all this drama?” “You’re lucky to have a husband and son like that. You should count your blessings.” Nora lets out a sharp laugh. “Then consider this ‘blessing’ my personal gift to you. After all, trash belongs in the dumpster.” She walks off without a second glance—glowing, untouchable, and ready to run the world. Soon, her business is booming. Suitors line up. The woman they tried to destroy becomes the woman everyone wants to be. Years later, now a titan in her field, she sits down for a high-profile interview. “Ms. Yates,” the reporter asks, “it’s rumored that Mr. Luther, CEO of Luther Corp, is your ex-husband. Do you still keep in touch?” Nora smiles politely. “Sorry. I’m a widow with no children.” Then she turns to the camera, smiles straight through the lens—at the ex-husband and son losing their minds behind the scenes—and adds, “Just remarried. Baby girl on the way.”

WARNING: RATED 18+| NO RAPE!!! Excerpt; "Was I a good girl?" she hiccupped, her bare skin flushed and glowed as she rolled across the sheets like she owned the bed—and him. Six weeks without his touch had scraped her raw. She was slowly losing touch of her sanity. "You did good, Penguin," Alanis said, his voice low and rough as he reached for his tie. And just like that, the spell cracked. He was leaving...again. It wasn't fair, she had to remain in the shadows, while her perfect half-sister was rubbing his chest in public. Poppy slammed the door shut, while she arranged her robe, her eyes wet and wild. "Can you… stay… just one more night?" He hesitated. And she saw it, the guilt and pull. "You know how this—" Something made him stop mid-sentence. His gaze dropped. One sharp breath, and he was staring at her peaked nipple like it was a commandment. "Please?" she breathed, arching toward him. With a low growl, he tossed her back on the bed because he had been starved, and he was ready to devour his Penguin. ... Poppy never had a chance to be the golden girl. Not with a cruel stepmother, and a father who forgot she even existed. Penelope was given everything that belonged to Poppy. Now Penny's prize? A diamond ring—a wedding to Alanis Caelum, Velmora's most powerful billionaire. Cold, brilliant, and devastatingly magnetic. To everyone but Poppy. Because before he became Penny’s perfect fiancé, he belonged to Poppy—in the dark, in secret, in sin. He knows her body like a weapon. He calls her Penguin with a growl that makes her knees buckle. And when he’s inside her, he forgets who he's supposed to love. She had him wrapped so tight, he forgot the world.

On the night of our engagement, the ward my family sponsored left without a word. She went alone to the Mexican border, a lawless land crawling with cartels, to become a combat medic. From then on, Dante and I tortured each other for ten years. He hated me for trapping him with my birthright as the heir, stealing the spot of the woman he loved. I hated him for humiliating me while still craving the power and wealth the Moretti family provided. In countless fights, we spewed the most vicious curses at each other. Until that raid on the underwater sanctuary. The base was rigged to blow and sinking fast. Dante didn't hesitate. He strapped the only oxygen mask onto my face and turned to jump into the swarm of sharks. He slit his own wrist, using his blood to lure the predators away. Moments before the sea swallowed him, he roared at me: “I don't owe you anything anymore, Sophia!” “If there's a next life, please, let me go!” After I was rescued, the family only recovered his mangled remains. Clutched in his palm was that charity case's cross necklace. That was when I learned Elena had died from a stray bullet years ago. And he, in the end, chose this brutal suicide to join her. Dante's death shook the entire Underworld. The family Elders took their anger out on me. I was accused of being a "Black Widow" who sent her husband to his death to save herself. I was beaten to death by a mob of angry thugs on the street. When I opened my eyes again, I stopped my father. This time, I’ll let them have their epic love story.