Q Quiet Place

Warning: Mature themes. 18+ “Sorry, Aria. Serena is back.” That was the night Alpha Kael shattered our mate bond and chose the woman he believed had once saved his life. He never knew the truth. I was the one who dragged him out of the snow. And I was already carrying his heir. So I let him think I died. Five years later, I returned—not as the abandoned Luna— but as a Lycan Queen. Powerful. Untouchable. Ruthless. Kael fell to his knees the moment he saw me. But I didn’t come back for revenge. Because something ancient beneath our territory has begun to breathe. The mountain is waking. And my son—the heir Kael never knew existed—is at the center of it. He isn’t just an Alpha’s child. He is an anchor. A living regulator the ancient core is trying to claim. Now the pack that cast me out must face a choice: Protect the child they rejected— or watch their world collapse. I spent five years trying to keep my son small enough to survive. Tonight, the world will learn what it costs to underestimate a mother. And this time— I am not breaking. I am rewriting the rules.

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.

"Fine, I’ll do it, but only on the condition that my grandma gets proper treatment. If you don’t hold your end of the bargain,” Sandra said as her tone quieted down before adding, “even the stars won’t save you from me.” ******* He wanted a bride, and unknown to him, he’d married the wrong bride. Aztec Marshall was cruel, and toxic for a powerful alpha, but that was how he reigned. Many who knew him were too scared to even look in his direction. Women who loved his dangerous aura wanted him, but all he needed was for his pack to be strong. She was a simple human, with simple desires, though her greatest challenge was to finance her sickling grandma, the only family that truly cared about her. Adopted into a werewolf family, Sandra Franzel didn't know that she was just a contingency plan for them, until the dreaded day came, when she had to fit herself into a damn gown, thanks to her sister, Scarlet who had made a run for it on her wedding day. However, for the sake of her grandma, Sandra wasn't scared to be the devil’s wife. Bound by a marriage of convenience, they both have to learn to live with each other, even though the longer they stay married, the more secrets come to the surface.

"We'll exchange your blood with your sister's. From now on, Jenna will have your scent. She'll go to the Blood Shadow Pack in your place and become Lionel's Luna." Mom said. At this moment I was tightened in a surgery bed. My face filled with disbelief. That was ridiculous! Jenna would replace me to marry my mate?! "No! Lionel is MY MATE!" I screamed. "What about me? What will happen to me?!" "Your father has made his decision. There's no room for backing out now," Mom said, "You're too ordinary, too quiet, my dear, you can't be a good Luna. Lionel will eventually get bored of you and abandon you, and it will also break the relationship between our two Packs. But Jenna is different. She's born a rightful Luna." Mod touched my face but I couldn't feel any warmth from her hand. "No!!!" Tears welled up in my eyes. "No... mom, please..." Mom sighed. She turned around and told the doctor to start the operation. No matter how much I cried or begged, she never looked back at me again. I felt the thick, cold needle piercing my veins, my blood was also draining out ... From now on, I lost my scent, my mate, and even my name...

On day ten of our cold war, Barry posted a pic—him and Lyla, locked in a kiss. His 'one true love.' I sent in my study abroad application without a word. At our grad party, he strolled in with Lyla, fingers laced with hers, looking at her with all his affection. A friend hesitated. "But what about Amelia? She loves you. You guys are getting married." Barry smirked. "She was just a stand-in. Now that Lyla's back, my fiancée should change too." So I slipped off the ring, handed it over, and disappeared. And he lost it. Tore through everything trying to find me. Years later, he finally did. Saw me with my husband, picking out baby supplies. His eyes went red. "Amelia, come back with me. Please?"

As the Luna of the pack, I was replaced by a giant Plush Wolf Doll. Every night, Alpha Julian clutched it in his arms and fell asleep. Its voice—manipulated by Alpha pheromones—came out in breathy moans like a woman’s, keeping me awake all night. At our son’s first birthday banquet, I filed for divorce. “Maybe that Plush Wolf Doll is better suited to be your Luna. Let’s get divorced—I’m severing our mate bond.” “You’re jealous… of a stuffed toy? Chloe, have you lost your mind?” Everyone thought I was making a scene for no reason. Julian’s Beta assistant, Harper, was especially agitated. “The little wolf pup just turned one! Are you really going to let him grow up without a mother?” “I’m asking for a divorce, not dropping dead. How could he not have a mother? Or… are you getting so worked up because you want to replace me as my pup’s mother? Or maybe replace the plush toy?” Outside, my friend—and lawyer—Victor was already waiting. “I’ve sent someone to dig into it. The truth you want will be in our hands soon.” “Good. Three days from now, in court—you’ll be my lawyer.” I tapped open a strange video. The giant Plush Wolf Doll walked across the room, opened the fridge, and took a drink. But I remembered perfectly—this toy could only make sounds. It couldn’t move, let alone eat. Three days. That was all I needed to prepare. Then, before the eyes of the entire pack, the truth would have nowhere to hide.

After Jacob Locke brings up breaking up with me once again, I don't wait for him to say anything else. I pack up my things and move out on my own, then quietly cut ties with our past. On the first day, I cancel the wedding planner I booked three years ago but kept delaying. On the second day, I turn off the automatic payments for his mother's treatment. I also politely refuse his sister when she reaches out for money. On the third day, I accept my superior's transfer proposal and get ready to settle down in a southern city. The moment I board the plane, I suddenly get curious. Without me, the free housekeeper who hasn't taken a break in the past decade and the always-on ATM, how will Jacob fare? How will he care for his paralyzed mother, deal with his vain sister, and face his precious junior who's the apple of his eye?

As the adopted child of the Steward family, I was the glass child, the last child, the black sheep, the ignored. I wasn’t wanted, I was chosen. Chosen to become the one to uphold their ‘social standings’. They had no care for me, they picked me, they saw the quiet, bullied girl in the orphanage who was constantly picked on but couldn’t fight back. And they decided that I was the perfect choice, to be the poster child that cleaned their poorly received social standings. Now, I’ve been promised to the devil CEO in place of my runaway older sister who decided to run merely days before her engagement ceremony. Adrian was no sweetheart, he was cold and standoffish. Not a man of many words but a man with a commanding presence. I thought I would forever be miserable in the marriage but luck shined on me because my new husband wasn’t what the media and the rumor made him to be. He may very well be my fortune. But my happiness has never been guaranteed, just when I thought I could finally be happy, secrets, snakes and unfolded memories threaten to ruin it.

My wife, Wendy, faked her death and took her younger sister’s identity, and I pretended not to know. I removed her from the position of general manager at the company and went to the police station to cancel her identity registration. In my past life, Wendy’s younger sister, Stacy, died in a car accident. Wendy chose to live as her, only because she could not bear to let Eric, her sister’s husband, become a widower. I confronted Wendy and demanded to know why she was impersonating her sister, but she refused to admit anything. “I understand that losing Wendy hurts, but you cannot treat me as if I’m her just because she is gone.” After that, Wendy spread rumors everywhere, saying I had lost my mind. She claimed that my wife had just died and I was already harboring improper thoughts toward her younger sister. In a short time, I suffered an unprecedented wave of online harassment. In the end, an overzealous netizen stabbed me to death in an alley. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day Wendy was preparing to take her sister’s identity.

In the third year after my death, the one who remained faithfully by my wife's side was still the bionic robot I had painstakingly designed. It looked exactly like me and carried within it every detail of my mannerisms, speech, and habits. The only difference was that it never lost its temper with her. Because of that, my wife never sensed anything amiss. Yet each night, she brought home a different man, deliberately testing "me," desperate to see the wild jealousy and rage I once wore so vividly. Then, one day, her childhood sweetheart and first love, shoved "me" off the balcony. It was only then, in her horror, that my wife realized… "I" didn't bleed.