Sea Smoke

The story revolves around a ruthless mafioso who finds a woman buried on the ground as a sacrificial bride to the woman's townfolk's cult. He finds himself drawn to her and claims her from the grave just before she died and was instead wedded to him. Althea's fate was sealed when she became the mafioso's corpse bride. She was like a lifeless flower in a sea of blood and wrath. Men have been fawning over her ever since she remembered, and it was revealed that she was an actual human cursed by her own mother after the man who impregnated her left her to rot. She was like a human succubus, drawing men to her until they became crazy enough to kill her. And every time Althea is killed, a new Althea comes to life as though, the curse goes on and on. It is revealed later on that throughout the world, there have been more than thousands of Altheas enough to dominate the world in secret. At the end of the story, the mafioso due to the curse would kill his wife, only to be killed as well by another Althea who had been watching on the sidelines all this time. She goes back to visit her mother who had been brought to the mental asylum only to laugh hysterical at the term, 'monster'.

As the only daughter of a casino magnate, I have grown up surrounded by danger and betrayal. To keep me safe, my father has raised nine bodyguards from a young age. After I come of age, he asks me to choose one of them as my fiance. Everyone expects me to pick Harry Hunt, the man I have secretly loved for years. But I do not—not after what happened in my previous life. On the day of our engagement, I was kidnapped, and my hands were pierced with poison-tipped spikes. Tortured and desperate, I called Harry for help. His response still haunts me today. "Victoria, stop with these games. Your location shows you're still in the hotel suite. Trying to pull these pity stunts just to keep me to yourself? Pathetic." With another woman laughing in the background, I closed my eyes and gave up. As the iron cage sank beneath the waves and the sea filled my lungs, my life ended. Then, I open my eyes and find myself back on the day my father asked me to make a choice. This time, Harry's name is the first I cross off the list. But why is he crying and begging me to marry him at my engagement banquet with Jeffrey Reed?

That year, during the Sicilian arms trafficking conflict, my lover of three years, Silvio, deliberately betrayed my transport routes at a critical moment in a deal with the rival "DiMarco" family, causing me to lose all my territory. He immediately defected to the DiMarco family's leader Marina, becoming her lover. As he left, he didn't even bother to disguise his betrayal, coldly tossing out, "What we had was just business, nothing personal." While I was burdened with my family's blood debts and pushed to the edge of a cliff, Lorenzo, who had secretly harbored feelings for me since childhood, found me and offered his family's entire fortune. "Isabella, don't be afraid. In my eyes, you'll always be Sicily's most formidable Queen of the Arms Trade," he said. He took the Colt pistol from my hand, and his voice was gentle yet resolute. Five years later, my power resurged. I was about to completely crush Marina's smuggling network and reclaim everything I had lost. My caporegimes, the captains of my organization, were ready and waiting for my command. But on the night before the operation, my weapons warehouse suddenly exploded, turning priceless arms into worthless scrap metal. I barely escaped through the thick smoke, my body covered in burns. In a secluded monastery, I overheard Lorenzo and Silvio whispering outside my door. "You really had the guts to blow up the arsenal. Weren't you afraid of blasting her to pieces too?" Silvio's voice carried a mocking tone. "If she died, just died. I've always loved Marina. If it weren't for that unlucky family marriage lottery five years ago, I wouldn't have had to endure this ugly bitch for all this time." Lorenzo's voice was ice-cold and unfamiliar. I closed my eyes, feeling like a dagger had pierced my chest. Explosion. Arranged marriage. Ugly bitch. So those five years of shared hardship were just his unwilling choice after losing a high-stakes gamble. "I married her to keep watch. If it weren't for me paving

I am a firefighter. A beam crashes onto me in the middle of a burning building. At the same time, my oxygen is about to run out. I writhe and struggle as much as I can to reach for my backup oxygen canister, only to feel my fingers brushing over a bottle of water instead. When I turn around, I see my wife, Leah Sawyer, giving the last backup oxygen canister to her new mentee, Roderick Wyndham. I begin calling out to her via a walkie-talkie. "Leah, I'm being pinned down right now, and my oxygen's running out! Where is the oxygen canister?" As Leah shields Roderick behind her, she replies impatiently, "I've already given it to Roderick. It's his first time inside a burning building, so he's frightened. Having an extra canister on him gives him a sense of security. "You're already a veteran firefighter, so you can just think up a way to resolve your situation. Don't go around wasting precious resources." I can feel thick smoke infiltrating my lungs at that moment. Feelings of asphyxiation soon overwhelm me. "My leg is broken, so I can't move at all! Without oxygen, I won't be able to hold out till I get rescued!" But Leah merely chortles in response. "Stop playing the pity card! Every time we're out on a mission, you're always the cowardly one who's terrified of dying! You have zero sense of dedication at all! I shouldn't have let you join the firefighting squad, to begin with! "What's the use of you clinging to the equipment? Giving it to the newbies is the best way of maximizing its value!" I can only smile bitterly in response. Using what's left of my strength, I switch to a public channel and begin reporting to the command center. "For the record, Captain Leah Sawyer deliberately tampered with the essential rescue equipment in order to protect Roderick Wyndham, causing me, a fellow firefighter, to be trapped in a deadly situation. "I hereby request the immediate activation of the Firefighter Emergency Evacuation Act. Also, I formally charge Leah with gross negligence and attempted homicide."

Ariana se esfuerza al máximo por cumplir sus obligaciones como hija de un alfa. Pero su vida se desequilibra cuando conoce a su misteriosa pareja. Él es fuerte. Es feroz. Y, de hecho, puede que sea su enemigo. Ahora se siente dividida entre el deber y el amor… ***** "Por favor, no te vayas", susurré mientras empezaba a besar su cuello una vez más. Me acarició la cabeza, pero empezó a decir las razones por las que sabía que estaba mal. "No podemos hacerlo, Tritón", me dijo. "Nos está matando y está destruyendo a nuestras familias. Imagina cómo reaccionaría la manada si nos descubrieran aquí. ¿Si descubrieran que estás en el bosque conmigo, besándonos y acariciándonos? Por mucho que te quiera y por más que seamos pareja, también somos enemigos, Tritón". "¡No!", dije, con mi cara aún enterrada en su cuello."¡No me importa lo que piensen! ¡No me importa lo que pueda pasar! Todo lo que quiero eres tú". «Mi enemigo, mi pareja», es una obra de Emma Levy, autora de eGlobal Creative Publishing.

Evan Peretti and I had been together for five years, but he left me at the altar on the day we were supposed to get married and publicly announced that my bestie, Yvonne Quinto, was his true love. As I was about to become the laughingstock of the day, the heir and Don of the Linaris, Chris Linari, walked up the altar to profess his love for me. He claimed to have fallen in love with me at first sight when he first laid eyes on me years ago. I married Chris, and he showered me with love after we got married. Everyone was envious of the love we shared, and even the media would publicize our love story in high profile. However, I learned the truth when I found thousands of Yvonne's photos on his computer. His so-called love was a tactic he used to hold me back from destroying Yvonne's happiness. I thought I was saved by love when he saved me from that embarrassing situation back then, but it was just a deception in the name of love. For the past five years, he had me tied up in a web of lies he had woven by carefully creating an illusion of happiness. I decided to contact a private workshop that specialized in customizing and planning my 'disappearance'. I would fall into the sea three days later on our wedding anniversary, and my body would never be found. Chris Linari, we would never meet again.

Seeing nothing but the bare self of a girl in his kitchen, his thought suddenly went blank, even her grumbling stomach couldn’t get to him. A strange nude girl in his kitchen was something he hadn’t thought he would see in the next hundred years. She was weird, her long unraveled reddish brown hair was covering her face. Her body held, different old and new scars . And when she lift her eyes to look at him. The eyes was something he hasn’t seen before burning in flames. And a mixture of gold and blue. In a flash it swipe to deep sea blue eyes. The mop stick he held fell from his hands, leaving his mouth ajar. “Who are you?” He thought a thief had sneak in here, probably a food thief in his kitchen, but he ended up seeing something else. And she blinked her long and full lashes at him. Innocently. “Who the hell, are you?” He asked, his eyes running up and down her naked body again. He gulped down an invisible lump on his throat. What’s he gonna do? Her stomach growls. And she whined, giving him pleading eyes. He suddenly felt his knee went weak. “What are you doing here?” Was this some kind of nightmare, or what the hell was it?

Ditempah dalam kehidupan yang keras membuat Gale tumbuh jadi pemuda baja. Tidak ada sesuatu yang lebih berharga di dunia ini selain kebahagiaan sang ayah. Akan tetapi, rupanya semesta masih berbaik hati padanya. Karena ternyata hati sekeras baja itu tetap bisa luluh oleh seorang perempuan biasa seperti Sea. Seperti namanya, Sea datang dengan keindahan dan ketenangan yang biasa disuguhkan oleh sebuah lautan. Keduanya merencanakan pesta pernikahan yang luar biasa indah. Namun, kado pernikahan yang didapat juga tak kalah luar biasa, kematian ayahnya. Darah Gale langsung mendidih sampai ke ubun-ubun ketika tahu kalau ia sudah dikhianati. Orang yang paling ia percaya ternyata bisa menusuknya dari belakang. Dengan dendam tak berkesudahan, ia berikrar akan menukar nyawa dengan nyawa. Pertumpahan darah harus dibayar dengan darah. Tidak ada sedikitpun maaf yang akan ia berikan. Akankah dendam tersebut akan sampai pada alamat yang tepat? Siapa yang sudah berkhianat sebenarnya? Apakah lautan yang selama ini dipercaya sebagai sesuatu yang indah, benar seperti itu adanya? Atau malah menyimpan misteri jauh di kedalaman sana? Temukan jawabannya sampai baris terakhir cerita ini!

Going through hell for a year extra was never Ivy's plan and by hell she means high school. She knows she isn't that smart but she thought she is at least smart enough to graduate high school and get into a fairly decent college. Too bad she is disillusioned when she watches her mates receive their diploma while she has to repeat 12th grade. As if hell wasn't hot enough, it becomes hotter when a new, hot, mysterious 25 year old substitute teacher replaces their maths teacher that is missing. Not only does the teacher look like a walking sex god, he also has tattoos all over his arms…just the type of man she's crazy about. Everyone wonders how someone like him got a job as a teacher and deciding that she needs something exciting in her life other than the bullying she faces at school and the abuse she faces at home, she attempts to seduce him and find out everything she needs about him. She wasn't expecting him to respond to her pathetic attempt at seduction but shockingly, he does and he becomes madly obsessed with her. Suddenly, Ivy's life becomes much more complicated as she becomes entangled in a sea of dangerous mess. Can she pull herself out or will she helplessly drown?

**BOOK RE-EDIT ON ALL CHAPTERS** Welcome to Rockshore Bay, a charming coastal city nestled between rugged cliffs and the vast, untamed ocean. The salty tang of the sea hangs heavy in the air, mingling with the faint aroma of freshly baked bread wafting from the local bakery. But beneath this idyllic facade lies a world veiled in shadows—a world where ancient powers stir and the supernatural thrives. Here, danger lurks behind every corner, hidden in the flicker of streetlights and the whispers of the waves. It is in this city, where the mundane and the extraordinary collide, that the fates of two fractured souls are set to intertwine. Beneath the serene surface lies a world protected by ancient powers, where caramel-skinned Hugo Griffin, a black-haired, sea-green-eyed werewolf, navigates the complexities of his dual life. Unlike traditional Alphas born into leadership, Hugo is a bitten werewolf who fought his way to become the formidable leader of the Ocean Crest Pack—the most powerful on the East Coast. But even as he commands respect, Hugo battles the darkness within himself, a shadow that threatens to consume him entirely. Inland, Sarai Carter—a feisty, raven-haired young woman with sapphire-blue eyes—is rediscovering her strength after escaping the clutches of a toxic relationship. Longing for love but haunted by the fear of a curse that condemns her to loneliness, Sarai faces a crossroads. As Hugo’s burdens grow heavier and Sarai tries to heal, their paths collide in a whirlwind of passion and pain. Both are fighting their inner demons, but when they come together, will they find redemption or ruin?