Ruskin Bond

My sister-in-law, Hannah Martinez, was eight months pregnant when someone shoved her to the ground. Due to the heavy bleeding, she was rushed to the hospital. I happened to drive past, but I rolled up my window and pretended I saw nothing, pressing down on the gas pedal. In my previous life, I had immediately taken Hannah to the hospital when I saw her pass out from the blood loss. However, the situation was critical. After the severe bleeding, she developed an amniotic fluid embolism. My wife, Lauren Martinez, was the best obstetrician in the city. I called her, begging her to hurry to the hospital. Yet, she thought I was throwing a tantrum out of jealousy because she was having dinner with her first love, Isaac Poole, and his family. She believed I was using Hannah's emergency to force her to come back. By the time her family finally arrived, Hannah had already died from the failed treatment of the amniotic fluid embolism. Her entire family blamed me for Hannah's death, convinced that I had deliberately caused Lauren to misunderstand and let Hannah die. My brother-in-law, Jacob Turner, who rushed back from out of town, believed their lies. In his overwhelming grief, he hacked me to death with a knife at Hannah's funeral. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Hannah was pushed and started bleeding out.

When my brother Beau Campbell and I drowned together at the age of four, I was the only one who survived. From that day on, my mother came to loathe me. She would often creep into my room at night with colorful "candies" in her hand, trying to pry open my mouth. However, Dad always stopped her just in time. Later, I cut off my long hair and threw away all my dresses, desperately trying to become Beau's shadow. Only then would Mom spare me a glance. Three years passed, and Mom got pregnant again. She said it was Beau coming back to us. I was happy for her and told myself it was good that Beau was back. After all, it also meant this family no longer needed the stand-in who had lived in his place. So, I found the same "candies" Mom once tried to force into my mouth, and I quietly swallowed them.

On my way home from picking wild berries in the woods, I see my mate, Ethan Volkov, feeding our pups roast chicken. His childhood sweetheart, Zoe Hathaway, is snuggling next to them. While chatting with Ethan about her experiences studying on the northern grasslands, she entertains the children. My five-year-old daughter is happily swinging her legs as she holds out a piece of roast chicken to Zoe, while My son carefully wipes the grease off Zoe's hands. Ethan never once looks away from Zoe. It is as if he only has eyes for her. Seeing my beloved mate and the pups I've tirelessly raised so attached to another she-wolf leaves me devastated. I draft a Bond Breaking Agreement, give up custody of the children, and leave. Pursue the herbal research career that I gave up for my family Yet later, the always calm and composed Ethan loses his composure. My daughter Katrina and my son James search everywhere for me, openly expressing their love and begging me to come home.

The Crown’s Bargain Emilia Valoria has spent her life in the shadows of her royal lineage, content to be overlooked as the second princess of the Kingdom of Avariel. But when her elder sister defies tradition and elopes, Emilia is thrust into the spotlight, forced to fulfill the royal obligation her sister abandoned: an arranged marriage to the stoic and enigmatic Prince Kael of Arindale. Determined to protect her kingdom from the fragile alliance's collapse, Emilia reluctantly agrees to the union. However, her first encounter with Kael proves more tumultuous than she expected—his cold demeanor hides a kingdom scarred by betrayal, and his heart, she suspects, is locked away behind impenetrable walls. As Emilia navigates the intrigue of a foreign court, political machinations threaten to tear the kingdoms apart. Bound by duty but drawn together by fleeting moments of vulnerability, Emilia and Kael must decide whether their marriage will remain a mere contract or evolve into something neither of them dared to hope for: love. Caught between loyalty to her kingdom and the desires of her heart, Emilia must find her voice in a world that demands silence, proving that even in an arranged marriage, she has the power to rewrite her own destiny.

Giselle had to protect her dreams. For years, Giselle Sidney had been in love with Alpha Caden Einsworth, whom she knew would never fall for her. As she came of age, she found out that he was her mate. But he was in love with her older sister, Gretta, who was already engaged to another man. On the night of Gretta’s engagement, Giselle found Caden so drunk that she decided to help him get back to his condo. Caden and Giselle were so heartbroken and accidentally shared one passionate night, and that changed Giselle’s life forever. To hide the huge scandal from her family, Giselle decided to leave the Greyfur pack. But after a month of his disappearance, Alpha Caden came back to take full responsibility for the child. Giselle never wanted to force him into a situation when she knew he was still in love with her sister. She couldn’t bear to be with a cold-hearted werewolf whose heart belonged to another girl. Will fate find a way to make their bond stronger? Or will she run away like she always does?

My cousin, Isabelle Cox, dies of cancer. However, my adoptive parents, who have always loved her the most, don't shed a single tear. Instead, they go on an overseas trip with my adoptive brother, Cedric Cox. After they return, they give me an exquisite doll and ask me to put it right next to my bed every night. My adoptive mother, Vivian Mason, looks at my swollen eyes and smiles tenderly. "Why, you're such a grateful and sentimental kid. This is such a pretty doll. Let it stay by your side and accompany you like it's your sister, alright?" I agree. Later, my body becomes increasingly weak, and I sleep all day. One day, when I wake up, I am horrified to find that I am trapped inside the doll and can't move at all. My deceased cousin, Isabelle, became "me"! Beaming widely, she cuts my hair and also my limbs one by one. Then, she throws my mutilated body into the fire. As the flames engulf me, I see my adoptive family standing behind her. On their faces, they show happy and relieved expressions. When I open my eyes again, I am back to the day when they give me the doll.

Ethan Cole is nobody special. He warms the bench on the university swim team, eats lunch with the same two friends every day, and goes home to his sister Lina every holiday without a single trophy to show for himself. Then he walks into the wrong locker room at the wrong time and sees something that should not exist. Now Karl Voss, the golden campus captain with burning eyes and teeth built for claiming, says Ethan smells like everything he has ever wanted. And Lucas — cold, powerful, frighteningly fast — says Ethan needs protecting. From Karl. From the truth. From what Ethan actually is. He is a Lure. One in several million. Born with a scent so powerful it drives supernatural beings out of control. And something dangerous has been hunting him for years. Two Alphas. One impossible secret. And a bond so deep that both men will burn everything down before they share it. He just wanted his earphones back. Now he is caught between a beast who wants to claim him and a predator who refuses to let anyone else try. The only question is which one will Ethan choose? And whether he will survive long enough to decide.

The buzzing of my phone in the middle of the night jolted me awake. On the other end of the line came a voice I could never forget. It was my daughter! However, she died three years ago!

She was taught to track down monsters and not become one of them. Selene Virell is one of the feared vampire hunters until a job goes terribly wrong and she ends up wounded at the feet of the very creature she wanted to kill. But by finishing her off the old vampire Cassian Vale does something that changes everything she thought she knew, he saves her by making her one of the undead. Now that she is part of the world she used to hunt Selene is stuck between two groups that want her dead. The hunters want to get rid of her, the vampires want to destroy her and the man who changed her will not tell her why he saved her life. As she gets hungrier and her powers start to grow in ways that should not be possible Selene finds out a truth she is not a mistake, she is something and that's something bad; she is like a line that divides two worlds that're at war. She is pulled into a bond with Cassian that is full of tension, desire and mistrust and she has to decide what she is willing to become. Because stopping the war may mean she loses everything… …and becoming what she was born to be might mean the end of the world

To cheer up their depressed adopted daughter, Ashley Reid, my parents don't dare to treat me nicely. They've even locked me in a pitch-black room more than 700 times, just to put a smile on her face. At first, they feel guilty toward me. But eventually, even my older brother, Liam Reid, who used to care for me the most, treats it like it's all perfectly reasonable. When Ashley's depression finally starts to ease, I work up the courage to kneel and beg them to seal off that room for good. But at her birthday party, simply because I'm wearing the only T-shirt I own, she starts tearing up and asks my parents if I don't like her. My parents and Liam rush to comfort her and, yet again, lock me away in that dark, endless room. "Summer, you're her elder sister. You have to be more considerate of her feelings." "If you hadn't insisted on wearing something so tacky for her birthday party, she wouldn't have gotten so upset." "You've gotten used to it after all these years, right? One more time won't matter to you." I curl up in the corner, gripping my hair, unable to say a word. Three days later, they finally let me out. They remind me not to upset Ashley again. But I just stare at them blankly. "Sorry, who are you?"