Q Bungo Stray Dogs

I was his one weakness. Don Alex, the king of New York. And I was his queen. But days before our child was due, I was thrown into the Dockside Deathmatch—a cruel game broadcast for the underground world’s entertainment. The bullets flew, hidden traps lay in wait, and my every terrified, pathetic attempt to survive was broadcast live on giant screens. Then, I heard his second-in-command on the loudspeaker. "Boss, your wife's about to pop. You sure you wanna be here?" I froze. Alex was here? A moment later, a woman’s sugary voice dripped through the speakers. "Forget that bitch. Alex told me the only thing that mattered today was being here with me. Right, honey?" It was Scarlett. The Chicago Outfit's princess. Alex's childhood sweetheart from Chicago, a woman he had always pampered and shown a distinct bias towards. He had turned down her advances for years, but he never refused her whims. Today, she was in a bad mood and insisted on watching the deathmatch, so he was here to keep her company. I screamed for Alex, begged him for help, but he was convinced I was an assassin in disguise. Because Scarlett laughed and said the game needed to be more exciting. So he pressed the button. Vicious patrol dogs hunted me. My water broke, mixing with blood on the ground. I was in agony. The game hit its climax as more dogs and gunmen closed in from all sides. Everyone was betting on who would be the next to die. Alex smiled, his voice a low, careless drawl, "I’ll bet on that filthy pregnant woman to die." He didn't know the truth until I bled out on an operating table, our child dead with me. They say the ruthless Godfather shattered. Broke completely.

I spiked the drink of Daniel Falkner, Belcaster's big shot, three years ago. After that night of madness, he doesn't punish me. Instead, he takes my waist in his hands and drives into me until my legs go weak, calling me "princess", again and again. But just as I'm about to confess, Serena Jarman, the woman he never gets over, returns. For her sake, he lets me get hit by a car, makes me watch Mom's keepsake get left to a stray, and even throws me into jail with his own hands. By the time I'm shattered and boarding a flight to Velport to marry someone else, Daniel is tearing Belcaster apart just to find me.

I love dogs! Ngunit lumaki ako na hindi man lang nagkaroon ng aso. My parents wouldn't let me. Magastos at mahirap daw mag-alaga. Ngayong hindi na ako nakatira sa poder ng mga magulang ko, pwede na akong mag-alaga! Parang nakikisama ang langit dahil isang araw, may natagpuan akong isang aso. Isang malaking aso! Nanghihina ito at may mga sugat rin. I brought it home to tend to its wounds. Pinakain ko rin ito and I decided to take care of it. But, one day, my dog started acting weird. Palagi itong nagpupumilit na sumama sa loob ng banyo kapag maliligo ako. He would always sit still and watch me while I take a bath. It's kinda creepy.

Aubrey Castile is the "stray" of the BloodMoon Beta family, living in the shadows of her cruel half sister, Eileen. After a devastating betrayal, Aubrey spends one wild, nameless night with a powerful stranger—only to wake up pregnant with a forbidden heir. She’s ready to run away to protect her pup, but her plans shatter at her sister's engagement party. The groom is Travis Thorne, the coldest Alpha in the north—and the man from her one-night stand. In front of the entire pack, Travis rejects Eileen and points to the girl in the shadows. "I’m not marrying her. I’m taking Aubrey, because she’s carrying my child." Now, the unwanted daughter is the Alpha’s Mate. But in a world of pack wars and family secrets, can she survive being the woman he chose?

My father lies on a hospital bed, barely breathing as he asks to see my husband once more. However, my husband's phone is turned off that day. I hurry to his company to look for him, but his secretary stops me and tells me there's a company policy that says they don't allow me and dogs to enter. I kneel before the building and beg for help, but someone records me and twists the truth. Later, I watch the video and see Eugene Fort carrying his true love, who's cut her finger, into the car. My father ultimately dies without seeing Eugene. I stay up all night to handle the wake and funeral. The following day, I finally receive a call from Eugene. He sounds impatient as he says, "Come to the hospital. Ivy needs help."

I didn’t marry him for love. I married him to pay my father’s debt. To save my brother’s life. To survive. Lucien Draven is a billionaire, a killer, and the man who made my father disappear. Or so I believed. Now, I wear his ring. Sleep under his roof. Live as his wife with no rights, no freedom, and one rule: *Never ask about the night my father died* But secrets don’t stay buried. And when I dig too deep, I find something that changes everything. Maybe Lucien didn’t kill my father. Maybe the real killer is closer than I think. And maybe… the devil I married is the only one who ever truly wanted to protect me.

I had just gotten home when a parent in my son’s class group chat erupted: [Ms. Zinn, what kind of place are you running? Do you let just any random stray off the street become a teacher?] [My daughter came home, grabbed two forks, and tried to jump off the balcony. She said it was Miss Never who told her to!] The homeroom teacher panicked and denied it at once, insisting there was no such person as Miss Never at the kindergarten. She even posted the official teaching schedule in the chat to prove it. On the security footage, there was not a single trace of this so-called Miss Never. However, later, my son whispered to me in secret, “Mom, Miss Never is an old lady with a cat’s face.” “She says only kids can see her.”

To help my "destitute" husband pay off his debts, I scavenged for scraps for five years. My son and I survived on expired canned food. That changed on my son's birthday. I saw him in a bespoke suit, spending millions to celebrate the birthday of the woman he truly loved. That was the moment I realized he was actually the most powerful billionaire on Wall Street. To please the love of his life, he let our child be injected with unknown drugs, leaving him on the brink of death. He even forced me to drain my own blood to save her son. Later, I became someone he could no longer reach. I linked arms with a man far more powerful than him and walked away. That once arrogant man ended up kneeling in the Arctic snow, clutching a photo I had burned, weeping like a stray dog.

Michael lost his job and everything else, losing his purpose for living and ready to blame the entire world for whatever may befall him afterward, but he picks up a stray and injured dog on his way home that day. Coincidentally, that dog happened to be a wolf as well as a shapeshifter, and thus, it became a man. An alpha. And one with no memories too. That was how they started living together. With no memories, Noah, the Alpha, has to depend on Micheal. During their time together, sparks fly and ‘things’ happen, leading to a chapter neither of them expected to open. What happens when Micheal discovers that he has feelings for this shapeshifter and other secrets are let out in the open? Will Noah reciprocate his feelings? Will Micheal ever really confess and make his feelings known? Will he be able to let Noah go from his heart, despite finding out a secret deceit was in play? Find out!

I'm playing hide-and-seek with my son when he locks me on the balcony. It's freezing outside, and my face turns blue from the cold. However, all he does is laugh at me while I call for help. He makes ugly faces at me through the glass. "You look like the stray dog downstairs, Mom! You're so ugly!" I die a frosty and terrible death. Before breathing my last breath, I see my son excitedly give my husband a video call. "Mom has frozen to death, Dad. Can you take Ms. Cole home to be my new mom now?" When I open my eyes again, I'm taken back to the moment my son wants me to play hide-and-seek with him.