Novel & Cerita Snake Bite Lip Rings

“Who the hell changed the screw tolerance by 0.007 mm?” “I did. Is there a problem?” Kimmy Zabel, our department’s “good-luck charm” and full-time slacktivist, did not even look up from her compact mirror, where she was carefully applying lip gloss. “It just didn’t look right, so I tweaked it. Do you really have to yell at me?” The production line had been running on the wrong spec for twenty-four hours. I hit the emergency stop. Keeping my voice steady took some effort. “These parts no longer meet export standards. If we miss tomorrow’s shipment, even a month of overtime wouldn’t cover the penalties.” “It’s one tiny number. You’re being so dramatic!” Kimmy snapped her makeup case shut. “Anyway, it’s New Year’s Eve. I’ve got a date. I’m not staying here to suffer with you people.” Before she even reached the door, I gestured to the staff to pull the shutters down. “For precision components like these, one number translates into a million-dollar loss. You can take these defective units and explain them to the regulators.”

"We all consume each other in our way. I merely take a more literal route. You... Alpha." His lip curled. "You would swallow me whole as a part of your pack, and take me as your slave. It is an act of violence, of control. But I..." He stepped closer, and the Alpha tensed, skittering back. "To consume something, to take it into yourself, is an act of love." • ───────────────── • He is a lycanthrope of the first kin. Blood of the fallen gods flows in his veins. Darkness is his refuge, carnage is his mark. And his appetite is that of wolves. In a world where power is wealth, Alphas and Kings war against each other to claim him as their own: to wield his violent nature and bind him to their thrones as a beast of massacre until his last breath. Orphaned by a war in the past, Avian grew as a street urchin first, then apprentice to a high priest within the kingdom walls. With a mind forged from years of survival and an uncanny, rare ability, her small world had managed to remain in one piece through the years. But that is disrupted when a rogue kingdom begins to encroach with the sole desire of conquering all kingdoms beneath the Vellene empire. And at the center of that kingdom lies a Lycanthrope feared by all.

I confirmed Vincent Lowe was cheating on me on the day of our third wedding anniversary. The dining table was filled with dishes, yet he barely touched his fork before heading out the door. "Where are you going?" I asked. His answer was unnervingly straightforward. "A friend's treating me to dinner. Cassidy Mason—you know her, right? It's a free meal. It'd be a waste not to accept." An hour later, however, I received a voice message from Cassidy. In the message, Vincent's voice was lighter and livelier—so different from how he ever sounded with me. "They say you should marry someone you can truly enjoy a meal with. I really regret meeting you so late. If only I had known you earlier, I would've married you instead." I listened in silence. Then, alone at the table, I finished every last bite of the meal I had prepared. Afterward, I left a divorce agreement behind.

When Emily was young, she lost her mother to a werewolf bite, a traumatic event that stayed with her forever. Afterward, her father remarried, and her stepmother gave birth to a child. Emily was seen as weak, unable to assert herself, and decisions were often made for her. No one considered her a bold member of the family, nor did anyone expect her to defend herself, as her father blamed her for the death of his first wife. Despite remembering the event clearly, Emily remained composed and focused. One day, her father broke the news that she was to marry a man she had never met. Though she was initially unhappy, she gradually accepted the idea, hoping he would be kind and treat her well. She soon discovers her husband is a billionaire, the CEO of the wealthiest company in New York City, and an Alpha of a powerful werewolf clan—Alphas in search of their Lunas. When their paths cross, Emily must decide whether to face reality head-on or run away.

My fiancee gets drunk the day before our wedding. While I'm taking her home, she mistakes me for my best friend. "Jackson, don't bring our child to the wedding tomorrow. I don't want Samuel to know about us." I slam on the brakes, causing Madelyn Wilkinson to hit the seatback and come to her senses. When she realizes it's me, she freezes for a moment before slowly explaining, "Since you heard that, let's call off the wedding for now. You don't have to worry. Jackson doesn't plan on getting married again. But I'm still that child's mother no matter what, so I need to help out. "Jackson's your best friend. You feel sorry for him if he has to raise a child alone, don't you? I'll marry you after my son starts school." I can't help smiling bitterly. "Alright then… I don't have a problem with that." When we get home, she packs up a suitcase and leaves without another word. Feeling a sting in my eyes, I suppress my emotions as I sit on the couch, falling into a daze. That's when my phone rings at the worst possible moment. My childhood friend, Hazel Parsons, says in a hoarse voice, "Sam, don't marry her. Please." I fall silent for a beat. "Alright."

On the third day of attempting to conquer Blake Stone's heart, he confesses his feelings to me. But the thing is, the affection meter displayed above his head shows the number "0". After we start dating, Blake pampers me to no end. He even proposes to me in a grand fashion on our sixth year anniversary. With tears in my eyes, I'm about to nod when I see a range of comments floating across my vision. [Blake must be exhausted from all the acting, huh? He has to reel in his disgust and keep up the act with Joanna for six years in order to protect Keira from her.] [That idiotic replacement actually got so immersed in this act! I'm laughing my ass off right now!] It's as though my blood had transformed into ice. No wonder the number never changed throughout the years. At the same time, the system's icy voice rings out in my mind. "The final phase is now activated. The countdown to the time left to conquer your target's heart has started. You have ten days left. If you fail, you'll be wiped out from this world." I just smile as I draw back my hand that was about to wear his ring. Then, I wipe my tears away. "I'm sorry, but I'm sick and tired of this stupid strategy game."

Nyra Calder has spent three years building a life that does not require anyone to die for it. A quiet apartment. A kind man who loves her. A future that looks nothing like the compound she grew up in, where her father ran his empire on fear and she was trained to be its most precise instrument. She left all of it behind. She told herself she was done. Then her father turns up dead and the phone rings and the compound pulls her back like it never let go. She returns expecting grief. What she gets is a cellar, a drugged drink, and the man she planned to marry watching her fall with a face she has never seen before. Magnus was never who she thought he was. The life she built was constructed on top of something rotten. And the only person in her world who has never once lied to her is Raze Calder, the man she left, the man she has never stopped wanting, the man who looks at her like three years was nothing more than a delay. Nyra does not need saving. She never did. But she is about to find out what she actually needs, and it is nothing like what she chose.

I ended up with the person who used to bully me in school. As the morning sunlight seeped into the room, I barely moved my arm when the arm wrapped around my waist tightened, pulling me closer. Ethan Chambers lowered his head to kiss my neck, his deep voice tinged with a husky tone from just waking up. "Did you fall asleep last night?" I froze for a moment before nodding obediently. In the past, I might have resisted, but three weeks with him taught me a simple lesson to be compliant. He took my hand, which rested at my side, and interlaced his fingers with mine, playing with them as if amused. Leaning close to my hair, he let out a low chuckle full of interest. "This time, you didn’t throw away the ring I gave you?" He was referring to the diamond ring on my finger. There had been two others before this one—one I hid in the freezer, and the other I threw into the fountain in the garden downstairs. I didn’t want to think about the consequences of losing the first two rings for now, but the result of the third ring was clear: I was going to marry him, the person I once feared the most.

"I'm your husband now, Janice. Give me your hand, and don't do something stupid," Connor Hughes whispered those words that sent shivers down my spine, and I knew I was doomed for the rest of my life. I was supposed to get married to Carl Hughes, but his brother, the person I feared the most in life, showed up instead. Standing in front of the altar together, my heart pounded hard against my chest and the smirk that played on his lips made me regret ever playing a trick on this man. If only I could be given another chance to make things right, but it was too late. Just two weeks ago, I was happy, duping this man, thinking I was smart, little did I know that I would be tying the knot with him today as his wife. "You may exchange your rings now," My heart stopped beating as I watched him slid the diamond ring into my finger while having a deadly smirk playing at the corner of his lips. The ring felt like shackles of bondage, a promise of lifetime nightmares and miseries, something I wasn't sure I would ever be able to escape from. There were only two things involved. It was either I have a happy ending, or a sad one...

"Why do I have to be so lucky?" The stranger smirked, moving closer to Eve. Eve bit her bottom lip, breathing hard as she heard his deep and unmistakably sexy voice for the first time. He was not doing anything to her yet, but the mere sound of his voice and his brown eyes slowly traveling down to her body made her burn with desire. Suddenly, she realized she should have done something during those years of being alone because, at this point, she was like a walking volcano at its highest alert level, ready to erupt. "I..." She forgot her name, even her purpose of being there. Maybe that was because she had forgotten herself and put others first, thinking it would mean a happy life. She was a single mother and hoarded problems like they were collections. Her problems grew faster than her children. When the stranger crushed her mouth with his soft lips, she kissed him back. Eve thought of becoming selfish, wishing him to fill that emptiness in her life, even for a while. She was already unhappy. What else could go wrong?