Shelter Mountain

During a company team-building event, I collapse from a seafood allergy. Yet my fiance, Frederick Scott, rushes Beatrice Sutton, who only twisted her ankle, to the hospital. I come close to dying because I don't get treatment in time. Later, Frederick explains, "Beatrice is my best friend's sister. He's seriously ill now, and I promised him I'd take care of his sister. I swear I'll keep my distance from her from now on." This isn't the first time I've heard an excuse like that. On our fifth anniversary, Beatrice accidentally deleted a work file and burst into tears out of worry. When Frederick heard about it, he left me stranded on a mountain and drove back to the office himself. I spent a whole day and night walking home through the rain. On Christmas, Beatrice's house lost power. Frederick was worried that she might be scared of being alone, and he rushed over to her place without even telling me, leaving me out in the snow waiting for him until dawn. These kinds of things have happened countless times. Afterward, he always brushes them off with the same excuse. I've long since lost all faith in him and no longer believe a single word he says. I pick up my phone and call the company that keeps reaching out to me. "I've decided to accept your offer from last time. I'll bring the core technology with me."

Just as the Silverwolf Pack was about to fall into ruin, Blaise Larkin approached me and asked me to be his mate. I'd had a crush on Blaise for as long as I could remember. Now that my wildest dreams were about to come true, I was happy to form a mate bond with him. As I was the sole daughter of the Eastern Pack's Alpha, I was able to provide him with a mountain of resources by becoming Blaise's mate. One month after our bonding ceremony, I was expecting a pup. I was ecstatic, but before I could share the news with Blaise, I overheard something soul-shattering. "I wonder who fathered the pup of our pregnant Luna." "She probably got involved with some filthy Rogue. There's no way Alpha Blaise will let her give birth to that mutt, right?" If it weren't for those werewolves, I wouldn't know that Blaise was pretending we never mated. When I demanded answers in a deranged manner, he threw me into the underground prison and forced me to atone for the death of his first love. "If you didn't insist on becoming my mate, Susie wouldn't have left the pack—she also wouldn't have gotten slaughtered by Rogues!" Eight months later, I lost my pup in the cell I was imprisoned in and died, soaking in my own blood. When I opened my eyes once again, I found myself back on the day Blaise asked me to be his mate.

“You shouldn't be here…” Naila felt like her whole world was crumbling down as she stared at the man towering over her. “Funny,” his voice was hoarse. “Neither should you. I guess Santa has a funny way of playing for the season, don't you think?” ******** Naila Cole escapes to a snowbound mountain cabin days before Christmas, desperate to outrun a life that’s falling apart. She expects silence, isolation and healing. She doesn’t expect Remy Sterling. Her ex-boyfriend. The man she walked away from years ago. One booking mistake. A brutal blizzard. One night they swear will mean nothing. But weeks later, Naila is hiding a secret that could destroy them both. When a new job offer drags her into the city, she’s ready to rebuild—until she walks into the boardroom and comes face to face with her new boss. Remy Sterling. CEO. Ruthless negotiator. And the father of the child she hasn’t told him about. As Christmas approaches and a dangerous corporate merger tightens its grip, Naila is forced into close quarters with Remy once again—while rumours ignite, rivals circle, and someone begins leaking secrets meant to ruin her. With her career in flames, her body changing, and the truth ticking like a time bomb between them, Naila must decide how long she can keep the secret that could cost Remy his empire… or her heart. Because some mistakes can't be hidden. Especially not the ones conceived on Christmas night.

“Name your price,” he said, that arrogant smirk still intact. “Do you want your job back?” I didn’t hesitate. “Make me a director. Only then will I pretend to be your loving girlfriend.” I thought he’d laugh. I didn’t expect him to say yes. “Deal,” he replied, his gaze locking on mine. “Just remember, Amaris Kennerly once you sign that contract, you belong to me.” ***** I’ve always wondered if I was cursed from birth because the kind of bad luck that haunts me feels almost supernatural. People call me a computer genius, but my real talent is something no one sees. They say I’m beautiful, yet I bury that behind oversized clothes and a mountain of insecurities. After dumping my cheating boyfriend, the only steady thing left in my life was my soul-sucking job until I lost that too. And the man responsible? Theron Lockhart.——My high school bully didn’t just return, he returned as the new CEO of my company. And his first executive move? Firing me and my entire department, like history repeating itself in the cruelest way. He didn’t recognize me, which should’ve felt like relief. But fate clearly wasn’t done toying with me. One moment, he was rescuing me from a run-in with my ex. The next, a rumor had spread: I was his girlfriend. And then the tables turned because Theron needed to avoid a scandal, and I was his best option.

For twenty-four years, Alpha Draegon longed for a son, but the Moon Goddess had other plans. When his wife bore a daughter, he defied fate and raised her as a boy, hiding her true identity from the world. On Valen’s eighteenth birthday, the feared Lycanis warriors descend upon their kingdom, demanding a male from every family—or war will follow. To protect her secret, Draegon prepares to offer himself in her place. But before dawn breaks, Valen is gone. She has surrendered herself to the Lycanis. Taken to the High Dark Mountain—a cursed land where no man has ever survived—Valen learns the terrifying truth. The Lycanis are on the brink of extinction, and the men taken captive are meant for one thing: to breed. The strongest among them will become warriors, the weakest will become slaves. To her horror, Valen is both strong and dangerously beautiful, making her the most desired among the Lycanis females. But one man’s attention is deadlier than all their King. A monstrous warrior feared by all, he chooses Valen as his personal guard, unwittingly drawn to the one person who holds his fate in her hands. Valen struggles to conceal the truth because he is bound by duty, tormented by forbidden dreams, and forced to endure his darkest indulgences. Yet, secrets have a way of unraveling. And when war erupts, a single spear thrust reveals the one truth that could change everything—Valen is no man. Now, the King must decide: will he cast her aside as a traitor, or will he claim the only soul that can soothe his madness?

My name is Evelyn Brown. I represent the company in the IPO bidding process. Halfway through my presentation, I notice everyone in the room staring at me with puzzled expressions. In that instant, I realize my PowerPoint slides have been swapped for a "Paid Surrogate" advertisement. The wording is utterly humiliating. "I've lived the first 20 years of my life in a poor mountain village. I'm healthy and can promise a son. My price is negotiable." I rush backstage, only to see the impoverished student my father, Eric Brown, has sponsored for years laughing uncontrollably. Leaning against my fiance, Dwayne Woodruff, Katherine Cadwell says, "Oh, Ms. Brown, don't be upset! I was just teasing you to lighten the mood. You just got back home. Don't stress yourself out so much." I grab her arm, insisting she come out and explain herself. But out of nowhere, Dwayne shoves me to the floor. "You've just returned," he says. "We only pulled a little prank on you because we didn't want you to be too tense. If you can't handle even this amount of pressure, how can you be expected to take over the company?" I can't help but scoff. Right in front of them, I send the live recording straight to my father, the CEO. Without a second thought, I dial his number. "Dad, look at what your 'star scholarship student' just pulled. Can we have her and Dwayne kicked out of the company?"

My husband died in a fire trying to save me, leaving behind a mountain of debt and a newborn child. I worked hard to pay off the debt while raising the child, only to unintentionally discover that my husband hadn’t died at all. Instead, he was sleeping with my cousin. “Honey, you’re so clever. You transferred all the company funds and faked your death, leaving that stupid wife of yours to shoulder all the debt. “She’s so clueless that she doesn’t even realize the son she’s raising isn’t hers, that I swapped him out. Once she’s done paying off the debts, the three of us can live a great life together.” I silently sneered, pretending I knew nothing, and continued to raise the child. Twenty years later, my son returned home after studying abroad. The company went public in New York. On the day of the IPO, my cousin appeared arm in arm with my husband, holding a paternity test. “Claire, your husband never died. We’ve been together all these years. Alex is my son. Now that you’ve been his mother for so long, isn’t it time to return him to me?” My husband also presented a divorce agreement. “I built this company from scratch. It’s premarital property. Sign the divorce papers, walk away with nothing, and you can leave now.” I smiled and told him, “I’ve prepared a special gift for you too. I wonder if you’ll like it."

My younger sister Avery Denning's fiance, Timothy Lane, is injured by a raging bull on the eve of their wedding. Timothy ends up impotent because of the incident. Refusing to marry an impotent man, Avery flees from the wedding. I gaze at Timothy, abandoned, along with my humiliated parents. My parents then beg me to marry Timothy instead, to which I agree. Since marrying Timothy, I've shouldered the burden of juggling household chores and outside work, working tirelessly from morning till night. He miraculously recovers from his impotence and even becomes the wealthiest man in town. But Avery suddenly returns on the day Timothy is officially announced as the wealthiest man in Greenwood Vale. She sobs as she explains that she didn't flee the wedding of her own will. Instead, Avery claims that I had tricked her into going into the mountains to search for a miraculous berry that could cure Timothy's impotence. She also claims that I had struck her unconscious on said mountain range. Timothy immediately believes Avery's lies. He angrily slaps me and even tosses me into a river to drown. My words fall on deaf ears, and I swiftly pull Timothy and Avery down into the river with me. When I next wake up, I am back to the day of my wedding to Timothy. This time, Avery shows up, too. But what they don't know is that without me, Timothy will never recover from his impotence nor become the wealthiest man in Greenwood Vale.

"Help me tighten this?" Her voice trembles as she turns her bare back to the doorway. Calloused fingers brush her spine – but it’s not her stepmother. It’s Asher Voss, SU’s star quarterback and her new stepbrother, smirking in the mirror， "Next time you mistake me for Mom..." His breath scorches her ear. "...I’ll leave a real mark." To survive the sweltering New York summer before college, Wendy Wu makes a deal with Asher: Act like strangers once school starts. He’ll remain the untouchable quarterback; she’ll be just another exchange student. No eye contact. No acknowledgement. Ever. But when her father’s long hauls and her stepmother’s busy schedule force Asher into babysitting duty, the lines blur: In the kitchen, he catches her weeping over a shelter documentary and lifts her against his sweat-drenched chest. Garage doors rattle open – his grip tightens: "Hold on. Unless you want them to see you like this." At a party, her friend spots a cherry hair tie on his wrist before he drags her into a dark hallway: "You didn’t want to see me?" His whiskey-laced kiss brands her lips. "Yet your eyes undressed me all night." In a restaurant, a rival girl glares through the window. He traps Wendy’s thigh under the table， "Call me ‘brother’ and I’ll save you."  Their secret collapses. Wendy ends it, and he freezes her out in public， "Do I know you?" Until a rain-lashed night when Ahser, drenched and desperate, pins her to the wall， "Don’t tell me you do not regret the breakup" His teeth find her collarbone. "I have to admit it-- I miss you." Can a love forged in stolen touches survive the spotlight? Or will their step-sibling bond shatter them both?

I'm the Alpha King's daughter. When I was 16, my father chose four werewolves as my future mate candidates. They are from the affiliate packs and have Alpha blood running through them. When Dad was gravely injured, he asked me who among them I wanted to be my mate. After giving it much thought, I chose Leo Martinez, the werewolf with whom I was the closest, to be my lifelong mate. However, three months into our bonding, strange wounds would emerge on my body. On the other hand, my cousin, Sylvia Campbell, who sought shelter at my house, became prettier. Thereafter, I encountered various hurdles. I even failed my pack trial, for which I prepared with so much effort. But Sylvia, with skills below par, managed to join the elite Silvermoon Strike Force alongside Leo. I stayed back in the Dark Hunters pack, licking my wound. Half a year later, I encountered an ambush while on a hunt and died on the spot. After I died, my soul refused to disperse. I saw Sylvia and Leo pull out a Moon Goddess statue wrapped with thorny vines from under my bed. They laughed wickedly at my dead body. "Sylvia, thanks to your trick, we managed to cancel the Moon's blessing with the witch's curse and switched your and Elena's fates. Now, no one stands in our way. The pack is in our hands." Never would I have thought my gentle, obedient cousin and my mate whom I grew up with, would team up to harm me. When I reopen my eyes, I've returned to the day Dad asks me to choose my mate. I dig out the statue beneath my bed and thrust it into the beast enclosure. Since Sylvia loves controlling others' fate, she shall face the consequences for doing so.