Scatter Antonym

"You want to know what I am?" his voice is barely controlled. "I'm possessive. You're mine, Summer. Not his. Not anyone else's. Mine." "Possessive isn't love, Luxian...." I said gasping. "Who said anything about love?" His hand wraps around my throat, not squeezing, just holding. "Did you let him touch you like this?" his other hand finds my blouse, ripping it open with one sharp pull. Buttons scatter across the floor. "Did you shake for him the way you shake for me? Did you wet the way your cunt wet for me?" *** Things can't seem to get any worse for Summer, branded as a lunatic, barren, and stabbed in the back by her husband, Rhys Glomarian, and stepsister, Virginia Paraguz. She loses it all in one day. *** It was Rhys' birthday, and he announced to everyone that Virginia was his fated mate and was expecting Rhys' pups. Three years of a nightmare marriage was enough for her. Summer decided to rescue herself from that hellhole, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. None of the guests that night were moved to save her despite her disheveled and scarred condition. They even looked at her with disgust and mockery. But just when she was beginning to lose hope, an unexpected savior appeared – a cursed Alpha, dreaded by all for his ruthlessness. Still, he is the wealthiest and the most powerful of all, Alpha Luxian Alderon. That night, he arrived to rescue Summer from Rhys' grasp and claim her as his fate mate. But her joy in escaping Rhys is cut short when she learns that Luxian comes with a deadly curse for anyone who becomes his mate.

Richard Franklin has left his Midwestern roots behind to live on the coast of Maine with his family. But in the autumn of the year 2000, he must return to his Illinois birthplace on a sorrowful journey. His wife Michelle has been killed in New England by a hit-and-run driver who is never found, so back home he comes with her cremated remains, to fulfill a final wish and on her birthday scatter her ashes in the park along the river in Blackwater Valley—simply Blackwater Val to locals—the small town where they both grew up and fell in love. With him he brings his six-year-old daughter Katie who still grieves for her lost mother: Katie, who can sometimes guess who’s going to be on the phone before it rings. Who can stop all the clocks in the house, and break up clouds in the sky with her mind, and heal sicknesses, and who sometimes sees things that aren’t there...people who are no longer alive. All gifts she inherited from her mother. Only something isn’t quite right in the Val. Sinkholes are opening up, revealing the plague pits the sleepy hamlet was built over in the 1830s, when malaria and cholera outbreaks ran riot. Mysterious bird and fish die-offs begin to occur, and Katie can see ghosts of the dead gathering all around. But what she can’t see is the charred, centuries-old malevolence which has been waiting for her, and wants her for its very own. Or the pale Sallow Man who haunts the town’s nighttime streets...or the river witch—another Blackwater Val, of sorts—each of whom will be drawn one by one into the nightmarish bloodletting about to take place. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

I fell in love with a man I should never have touched—my brother-in-law, Lucas Zahn. The first time he came to our home with my sister, Quincy, they looked like the perfect couple. He smiled at me, held out a peace talisman bracelet, and said it would keep me safe. I wore it like it was the most precious thing in the world. When the old injury in my ankle flared up, he would scoop me into his arms and rush me to the hospital without a second thought. When thugs tried to harass me, he made them scatter with a single look, then spoke to me in a voice so gentle it made my heart tremble. I told myself I understood—that everything he did was only because I was Quincy’s younger sister. Even so, I clung to those rare moments when I could be near him. Until the night Lucas was drugged by an enemy, his life teetering on the edge. If no one acted, he would die. So, I acted. On that reckless, desperate night, my sister walked in. The sight struck her like a lightning bolt, and she collapsed, her weak heart seizing on the spot. What came next was madness. In a frenzy of rage and panic, Lucas tied me to an operating table. His hands—those hands I once longed to hold—cut open my chest and tore my heart out for her. “When the avalanche hit, Quincy nearly died saving me. I swore I’d treat her well for the rest of my life. That means loving her family, too. I never thought you’d be so shameless. “This is what you owe her!” He never knew that I was the one who saved him in that avalanche. So, I died in agony, my love carved out of me—literally. When my eyes opened again, I found myself back on the night he was drunk.

My stepfather arranged my marriage to a man twice my age. It's his way of making me pay for the sin of sending his son to prison. Two years ago,I made a mistake. One scream. One phone call. And I became an outcast,a traitor for people who called my stepbrother their lord. Now the man I once crushed over, Dante Morelli,my stepbrother is back.And he wants nothing but cold vengeance. He used to look at me with disdain,now he looks at me like he wants to break me into pieces and scatter it around. Older. Colder. Ruthless. He's a nightmare that once was my dream. And he isn’t here to forgive.He’s here for revenge. He doesn’t know what his father has planned for me.He doesn’t know that I’m already promised to another man.All Dante wants is my submission... my body, my soul, my very being, piece by piece, until nothing of me is left untouched. And he isn’t alone.His best friends now circle me like hungry sharks. Oliver and Allister are playing their own games, because my sin affected them too. Three men who not only rule the town, now rule me. I should hate them. I should fight. But before my arranged fiancé could claim me,Dante already had. Now, I’m his. Trapped in a twisted game of power and punishment. And the most dangerous part? A part of me wants to lose. This isn’t a love story. It’s a tale made of vengeance, obsession, and ruin. And when Dante decides my heart is what he wants next… he’ll take it too. Because the Lords always get what they want. And this time, they want me. Wrong Marriage, Right Love.

My name is Melanie Sutton. The moment I'm reborn, the first thing I do is scatter the "ashes" of my best friend, Helen Doyle. In my last life, she got pregnant before marriage and was abandoned by both her boyfriend and her family. She struggled alone all the way through childbirth, only to suffer massive bleeding in the delivery room. With her last breath, she begged me to adopt her son. I agreed out of pity. To raise the child, I fell behind in my studies and was forced to drop out of school. With no choice, I took my adopted son, Aidan Sutton, with me to work, enduring endless humiliation and cold stares. Finally, when he turned 18, a talent scout discovered him. One movie later, he became an overnight sensation and won Best Actor. At the awards ceremony, Helen, whom I watched die 18 years ago, entered arm in arm with my ex-boyfriend, Joe Shepherd. Stunned, I rushed forward to confront her. She only smiled at me. "Congratulations, you passed the test." I stood there in shock as Joe explained proudly, "Helen is the daughter of the richest man. Who knows if you got close to her for her money? "Since you've raised our son well, you can be her ordinary friend. If you raise him until he gets married and has kids, then you can become Helen's best friend." My mind exploded. As if I wanted to be her friend. That was 18 years of my life! Overwhelmed by fury and hurt, I lunged at the two of them with bloodshot eyes. But Aidan suddenly rushed down from the stage and shoved me hard. "Are you crazy? How dare you hurt my parents?" Anger rushed to my head, and I passed out right then and there. When I open my eyes again, I'm back to the day Helen goes into labor.