Pressure Expendable Novels & Stories

Two individuals with different stories, different emotions and different problems... They meet in a high school, one as a student, the other as an intern... How can they balance their views?

I am a firefighter. A beam crashes onto me in the middle of a burning building. At the same time, my oxygen is about to run out. I writhe and struggle as much as I can to reach for my backup oxygen canister, only to feel my fingers brushing over a bottle of water instead. When I turn around, I see my wife, Leah Sawyer, giving the last backup oxygen canister to her new mentee, Roderick Wyndham. I begin calling out to her via a walkie-talkie. "Leah, I'm being pinned down right now, and my oxygen's running out! Where is the oxygen canister?" As Leah shields Roderick behind her, she replies impatiently, "I've already given it to Roderick. It's his first time inside a burning building, so he's frightened. Having an extra canister on him gives him a sense of security. "You're already a veteran firefighter, so you can just think up a way to resolve your situation. Don't go around wasting precious resources." I can feel thick smoke infiltrating my lungs at that moment. Feelings of asphyxiation soon overwhelm me. "My leg is broken, so I can't move at all! Without oxygen, I won't be able to hold out till I get rescued!" But Leah merely chortles in response. "Stop playing the pity card! Every time we're out on a mission, you're always the cowardly one who's terrified of dying! You have zero sense of dedication at all! I shouldn't have let you join the firefighting squad, to begin with! "What's the use of you clinging to the equipment? Giving it to the newbies is the best way of maximizing its value!" I can only smile bitterly in response. Using what's left of my strength, I switch to a public channel and begin reporting to the command center. "For the record, Captain Leah Sawyer deliberately tampered with the essential rescue equipment in order to protect Roderick Wyndham, causing me, a fellow firefighter, to be trapped in a deadly situation. "I hereby request the immediate activation of the Firefighter Emergency Evacuation Act. Also, I formally charge Leah with gross negligence and attempted homicide."

I rented a house with a bloody history because it was cheap. On the first night after moving in, the faucet turned on by itself. I yelled into thin air, “Are you paying the water bill?!” The water instantly stopped flowing. I thought that was just the beginning of the ghost not bothering me. Unexpectedly, the next day, I saw a main course with two side dishes prepared on the dining table.

*Blurb* When the Vale Corporation collapses overnight, Elena Cross is handed to billionaire CEO Damien Wolfe like a debt payment. Her parents tell everyone it’s her sister Sophia getting married. Sophia is “too young,” “too fragile.” Elena is just the expendable one. On the wedding night, drunk and cold, Damien drags her to bed calling her “Sophia.” When he sobers up and realizes he married the wrong sister, he declares war. He won’t annul it. That would ruin the family. Instead, he traps her in his mansion as an invisible wife. Ignored, mocked, erased. For Elena lives like a ghost in her own marriage. Then she leaves. Alone. With nothing. And she comes back with a new name, and a company worth more than his. He thought she was replaceable. He’s about to learn she’s irreplaceable.

I think Micah Walker is the love of my life. I fight hard within my family to secure a grand wedding with him. My parents plan to launch a multi-million-dollar jewelry line called "True Love" on our wedding day. But seven days before the wedding, Micah tells me he has to marry his first love first to honor her late mother's last wish—then marry me afterward. He says impatiently, "For Ariana's filial duty, everything else can be sacrificed. If you can't let go of that money, then go marry someone else right now!" Turns out, in his world, I and everything I have built were always expendable—just some obstacles standing between him and his precious first love. I turn away and call my brother. "Kyle, keep the wedding as planned. Just find me a new groom."

“I, Derek Foster, claim Austin Gray as my mate.” The words rang through the clearing. At twenty-three, I thought the Moon Goddess had finally seen me. An Omega of the feared Blood Moon Pack, invisible and expendable, I discovered my fated mate was Adrian Foster the Alpha’s younger brother. But there was one problem. He was male. Just like me. In the Blood Kingdom, same-sex mates are forbidden. Cursed. Punishable by death. Adrian rejected me without hesitation… and ordered my execution before the bond could be exposed. I ran. But fate wasn’t done with me. As I tried to escape the pack’s borders, I collided with the one man more dangerous than Adrian — Alpha Derek Foster. The ruthless ruler of Blood Moon. The strongest Alpha in the Kingdom. Adrian’s older brother. He looked into my eyes… and claimed me as his second chance mate before the entire pack. Now the kingdom is in chaos. Packs are forming secret alliances. Enemies are rising. And the mission is clear: Kill the Omega. Break the Alpha. Destroy the Blood Moon Pack. But they forgot one thing. When an Alpha goes to war for his mate… He doesn’t lose.

My parents suddenly told me that we were living in a novel. I was the frail and favored younger brother destined to get into college, marry my childhood sweetheart, and live an easy life. My older brother, Daniel Luther, on the other hand, was the expendable one. He was destined to fail his SAT and be beaten to death. My parents said that if they wanted to save him, they had to make sure he got into college. They did everything they could to help him, but he still failed his SAT. Meanwhile, I got into the same college as my childhood sweetheart, Priscilla Grimmie, through my own hard work. That night, my parents snatched my college acceptance letter and locked me in a cellar under the backyard. "Let your brother take your place and go to college first. You can retake your exams next year." My foot slipped, and I hit my head hard against a canning jar. Warm blood trickled down my neck. I shouted, "Mom, it hurts!" She didn't even turn around. "Caleb, stop it! Your brother is one step away from his dreams!" Their footsteps gradually faded. I slowly closed my eyes. The next time I opened my eyes, I was already floating in midair.

Sarah had lived a normal life since she was adopted at 9 months old, that is until her 18th birthday arrived. Discovering that she was born a werewolf has everything in her life changing. After finding her mate and finding out about the prophecy made before her birth the pressure to fulfil he destiny starts to weigh on her. Can she survive what is coming or will she fold under the pressure of her destiny?

Marina had spent her life clawing against poverty, illness, and desperation. With her mother and brother gravely unwell and her family barely surviving, she makes a dangerous choice. To become a royal consort. Trading her body and freedom for the power to save the people she loves. It is not romance she seeks, but leverage. King Xanthanius was murdered by betrayal and brought back from the dead by a single, fatal error made during his killing. Immortal but incomplete, half of his life force was stolen, leaving his resurrection imperfect and his existence unstable. Determined to reclaim what was taken, he rules with calculated cruelty and a singular obsession. Restoring his immortality at any cost. When Marina enters his court as a consort, Xanthanius initially sees her as nothing more than a crowd to his space then a disposable pawn, useful for navigating political traps and accomplishing delicate tasks beneath a King’s notice. But Marina is not as expendable as he assumes. Her presence is an untold key to the missing half of his immortality. She is tied to the very power Xanthanius needs to survive. Bound by mutual exploitation, desire, and distrust, Marina and Xanthanius use each other to pursue their own ends until ambition blurs into intimacy and manipulation gives way to something far more dangerous. Because falling in love with Marina may cost Xanthanius the immortality he’s willing to kill for and Marina must decide whether saving her family is worth destroying the man she’s come to care for. #romantasy #darkromance #mistress #ruthlessking #steamy

When her hot, overbearing, but charming boss gets a hold of her diary, and offers to grant her greatest wish for a child, Twenty-two-year-old Felicity Graham is furious, and hesitant. For one, he's her employer. Two, she wonders if he truly loves her, or if his offer is just based on his father's pressure on him to produce a heir. — Cold, reclusive Shawn Colby has hit a dead end. Undeniably New York's most eligible bachelor and a well-known business tycoon, he could have anything his heart desired. Women, cars, numerous houses if he wanted. When his overbearing father demands that he settle down and produce an heir, Shawn can't think of anyone else but Felicity — his calm, sweet personal assistant. When he gets hold of Felicity's diary, and finds out that her greatest dream is to have a child of her own, he propositions her. But Felicity is furious, and hesitant. Besides being Shawn's assistant, she's close to his family as well, and is aware of the pressure he's under to bring forth a heir. What happens when a business trip up-turns their lives? Can Shawn prove that he truly loves her for her, pressure aside?