Ray Bradbury Zero Hour Novels & Stories

Since I was a kid, my parents drilled it in—you're gonna be a Corleone girl, Giovanni Corleone's property. "This is just an alliance. Don't expect anything more." That's what he said on our wedding night. So I played the part—quiet, polished, dutiful. Then year three hit, and suddenly Giovanni couldn't keep his hands off me. Every night, something new. I thought maybe—finally—he felt the same way I had all along. Then I caught him kissing his stepmom. Funny. Just the night before, he told me kissing me made him sick. "I've been practicing with her—for your sake." So yeah. All that heat? Just rehearsal for her. So I ran. Took back my life—and our unborn daughter. The Don lost his mind looking for me. Begged me to come back—with the kid. But I would not stop for him anymore. I turned and walked straight toward the stage that was always mine.

While my sister was protecting me from the vampires hunting us, a blade coated with poison slit her throat. I hid in the bushes and watched the whole thing in silence. I even took the antidote from Sophia. Because of that, the poison had spread through her entire body. With her self-healing ability suppressed, she was going to die in agony. My parents found me and begged me, disregarding their dignity as leaders of the pack. "Anna! Please! Give the antidote back to Sophia!" "She needs the antidote to flush out the poison and live!" Even with my parents begging and swallowing their pride, I just held onto the antidote in my pocket tighter. "I didn't see any antidote."

After confessing 101 times to my childhood sweetheart, Morgan Lambert, he marries his first love, Cassandra White. With my heart in ruins, I leave him behind and marry his younger brother, James Lambert, who has pursued me relentlessly from the start. After marriage, James dotes on me to an extreme. His love is bold and intense. Everyone says I am unbelievably lucky to have married such a devoted man. As Cassandra and I sink into the water together, I can only watch as James dives in recklessly. He struggles through the water toward her, giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. I thrash and struggle in desperation, begging him to look at me even once. He never does. His entire focus is on getting her to shore, leaving me behind to be swallowed by the sea. While I am unconscious, I hear him and Morgan fighting violently in the hospital, arguing over who gets to stay by Cassandra's bedside. He roars in anguish, "I sacrificed myself by marrying Elsa so she wouldn't stand in the way of you and Cassie's happiness. Can you at least let me see Cassie once?" That is when I finally understand that none of them has ever loved me. I immediately arrange to fake my death, preparing to vanish from their lives completely. Yet after hearing the news of my so-called death, James—who's always calm—loses control. He pushes Cassandra aside, bends over, and coughs up blood. Overnight, he seems to age decades.

Atticus has been on the run almost his whole life, forced to leave his home so young and thrown into a world of the unknown, never allowed to let anyone see his other half. He hides that side of him, the beast that wants to come out and stretch his limbs. Everyone he knows is gone, dead. Life has been hard, the world has hardened his heart. That is until one day he runs into a small pack with no home and no Alpha, desperate for someone to lead them. This little pack quickly finds their way into his heart, melting that cold heart, and giving him a reason to live again. Atticus hopes one day he will be able to find a place for this little pack to call home, and not have to be on the run any longer. .... Alpha Harris, after 5 years of his pack being merged with another, waiting for Harris to become of age and graduate Alpha training, Alpha Harris finally returns home to claim his title and move his pack home. Alpha Harris falls into his role as Alpha, and in no time has his pack up and running again. The thought of finding his Luna doesn't cross his mind as he dives into the busy life of the Alpha of a bustling pack. Finding a luna is the furthest thing from his mind as he works on rebuilding his father's pack. Which is why he was surprised when he finally finds him, and is shocked by his rank. Unable to deny his mate, Alpha Harris quickly falls deep in love with his mate and everything seems perfect, until it's not. A mate would never betray their mate, would they? They would never betray the bond, a blessing from the Moon Goddess, would they?

I thought I had finally escaped. Walking away from my toxic marriage should have been the end of my suffering. Instead, it was only the beginning. Betrayed by my husband, deceived by my best friend, and used by my own mother—I was nothing more than a pawn in their game. But when the truth about my family’s legacy came to light, I seized the chance to take back control. With Justin, a man whose intentions I still can’t fully trust, I begin rebuilding my life. But just when I think I’m free, the threats start. Bloodstained baby clothes. Anonymous messages. A shadow that refuses to let me go. And when we finally uncover the person behind it all, the truth is far more horrifying than I ever imagined. Because some betrayals cut deeper than others. And some ghosts refuse to stay buried.

“I, Alpha Harden Silius, reject you, Sylvia Browne! You are a traitor, a murderer, and a disgrace to this pack!” Tonight was supposed to be the happiest night of my life. After ten years of waiting for our betrothal, I was finally going to be mated to the man I loved. But instead of a mating kiss, I got a glass of poisoned juice from my best friend and a set of silver chains from my future husband. Framed for a crime I didn’t commit, I watched in horror as my "beloved" Harden claimed my best friend, Cassidy, as his Luna right over my bleeding heart. Thrown into the Rogue Lands to die, they thought I was finished. They were wrong. I didn’t die. I shifted. I didn’t turn into a weak omega; I turned into the legendary White Wolf, the rightful heir to a throne stolen in blood. Five years later, I am no longer the "nerd" they bullied. I am a queen with a pack of my own and a heart made of ice. When Harden’s pack begins to crumble, he throws a ball to beg for help from the mysterious "Shadow Queen." He doesn't recognize the woman in the diamond mask. He doesn't know the warrior who just brought him to his knees is the mate he threw away. The hunt has begun. And this time, the Alpha is the prey.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Claire Black was betrayed in the worst possible way by her husband Liam and best friend Diana. She died pregnant and miserable at their hands just because her husband wanted to gain the Alpha position of her pack. Her only wish while taking her last breath was to get a second chance. What will happen when the universe grants her dying wish and Claire is reborn into the past? Would she get revenge successfully? Would she find the love she deserves this time round with Sebastian, her real mate who had always been there for her in her last life? Follow Claire's journey and find out what happens in her second chance at life…

After giving up her home to be with her mate, Alpha Ralph, what Aurora never expected was to be betrayed by him. Broken and dejected, Aurora leaves to find refuge under the protection of Alpha Brian, her mate's sworn enemy, with one thing in mind, Revenge. She would do anything to get back at her mate for hurting her. What happens when she finds out that she is still tied to her mate, even after rejecting him? She is pregnant with his child!

As Cain Knight's mate, I watched him lead Elias Sinclair, his childhood sweetheart, onto the stage at the Black Moon Pack's annual charity gala. "In recognition of Miss Sinclair's outstanding contributions to our community," Cain announced, his voice a glacial shard as his eyes found me, "I have decided to grant her the title of this year's 'Charity Ambassador.'" An honor that had, for years, been bestowed upon the Luna by her Alpha. He shattered tradition just to humiliate me. Under the pitying gazes of the entire pack, I did not cry. I did not question him. I simply straightened my spine, set down my champagne flute, and silently turned to leave. "Let her go," I heard Cain sneer behind me. "She won't last half the night. She'll come crawling back like a beaten dog, begging for my forgiveness." A wave of derisive laughter erupted behind me. "After all these years, Lupita still uses the same tired tricks to get Alpha Cain's attention!" "I bet she'll be on her knees, pleading for Alpha Cain's forgiveness before sunrise!" But they didn't know. The person waiting to spirit me away was already at the door. This time, I would vanish from this gilded cage forever.

All her life, Ava Malcolm has given her all to her dead beat husband, Carson. She spent years trying. Smiling. Grinning at cameras just for him. Raised as the brilliant marketing prodigy of the Malcolm family and an heiress, everyone says he's after her wealth. Ava turns a deaf ear to their words. She loved him even if he cancels all anniversary plans, berate and neglect her. His family doesn't like her. On his 34th birthday, she decided to give him her inheritance hoping it'd light up the spark in their marriage and throws a big surprise party for him with high hopes that when he finally comes back from the 6 month business trip he went on, he'd see all the efforts she'd put into making his day special. He doesn't. Carson sweeps her aside like a pound of dust while grinning at cameras and heads up the stairs with a lady. She follows. Just as she gets to the room, she catches him with his first love, Giselle. Turned out he'd been cheating all the while. When she wakes up in an hospital, she realizes he's found the papers and had signed them. He pays the hospital to lie she was mentally unstable and leaves her there to build a life with his new lover. When Ava gets out, she's bent on getting just one thing: revenge. When she storms his party, he lies to the world that she cheated with an photoshopped image. No one believes her. Only he did. Jaxton Steel, heir to the steel conglomerates. He offers Ava a deal. A marriage with him in exchange for revenge against everyone that had ever wronged her. And Ava? She's no longer the damsel in distress. She's the storm he didn't see coming.