Speaks The Nightbird

One week before our marking ceremony, my Alpha Mate, Corey Black, looks me straight in the eye and says something unbelievable, "I want to have a pup with my long-time friend Willow." At first, I assume it's a terrible joke, but I see determination in his serious expression. I suppress the churning feeling in my stomach and ask him why. He sighs, his gaze gentle as if he's soothing an unreasonable child. "Willow's old Beta father is dying. His only dying wish is to see Willow have a pup. We're doing it through IVF, so it won't hurt our relationship. "Her father devoted his entire life to the pack. You wouldn't refuse to fulfill even his dying wish, would you? You wouldn't be that cruel, right?" I don't know how to respond. He speaks as if not letting my fated mate have a pup with another woman is selfish. Later, when I go to visit the gravely ill old Beta, Corey is holding Willow Lester in his arms. His hand gently strokes her hair as he lets her sob against his chest. The moment our eyes meet, pain strikes my very soul. My wolf lets out a desperate howl of anguish. I stumble away, only to receive a text from him on the day of our marking ceremony. "Honey, Willow and I are undergoing the IVF procedure. Let's postpone the ceremony for now." I stare blankly at those words, my hand unconsciously moving to my still-flat stomach. Since he wants so badly to have a pup with another woman, I will grant his wish and disappear with my pup.

"You whore!" A masculine voice. "You philanderer!" A feminine voice. "I'll kill you in this house!" He bellowed as he charged straight to the woman and started beating her up. The little boy stood at the door and watched his parents go about their daily routine, tears spilled from his eyes. He stood in the shadows, just watching and crying. If he speaks out loud, they'll remember him and his father will beat him also. No one remembers him. Not unless they want to beat him too. Then he saw the blow, heard the awful sound. The blow that made a difference. The blow that made that day stand out from every other day. His mom stopped screaming, she laid there on the floor, staring into nothingness. Dead. "Gia." His dad paused mid-beating. No answer. "Gianna!" He patted her white arms turned red from being beaten. Terror filled the little boy's system, a sound escaped his mouth, drawing the man's attention. "Oops. I've forgotten about you." He said to the little boy. "Mom's dead..." The little boy said in a tiny voice. The man looked down at the lifeless white woman, "Seems like it." He looked at the boy with an eye filled with menace. "You'll pretend you didn't see a thing. You'll......" The siren rang outside. The police had arrived. A neighbour had alerted them when he heard the noise. He watched as the policemen pointed their guns at his father. He watched as they took his father away. He remained hidden, his blue eyes returning to the woman who laid on the floor, with eyes as blue as his. She was staring right at him. Finally, she sees him. Only in death, did she really see him. Something died in that little boy that day. Replaced with bitterness.

In a world where werewolves rule from the shadows and humans live in carefully crafted ignorance 17 YrAria Blackwood receives an invitation that will shatter everything she believes to be true. Selected for the prestigious Crimson Moon Academy—a place where the "fortunate few" humans are groomed to become mates for powerful werewolf alphas-Aria thinks she's escaping her cursed life as the town outcast. Born with strange silver eyes and raised by a grandmother who speaks in riddles, she's spent years hiding abilities she doesn't understand. But Crimson Moon Academy isn't the paradise promised in the glossy brochures. It's a hunting ground where humans are prey, alphas are predators, and survival means playing a game with rules written in blood. Worse still, Aria catches the attention of the Shadow Princes—four ruthless alpha heirs who rule the academy with iron claws Kaine, the Northern Prince, whose icy demeanor hides a dangerous obsession. Zephyr, the Southern Prince, whose charm is as lethal as his bite. Raven, the Eastern Prince, who sees through every lie and keeps darker secrets. Lysander,the Western Prince, the cruelest of them all, who views humans as toys to break. Each wants to claim her.Each wants to destroy her. And each holds a piece of the puzzle to her true identity—an identity that could either save their world or burn it to ash. As Aria uncovers the academy's bloody secrets and her own forbidden heritage, she realizes she's not just another human lamb led to slaughter. She's something far more dangerous. Something that was never meant to exist. The alphas wanted a prey to hunt.Instead, they awakened a predator But in a game where trusting anyone means death, and her own blood might be the deadliest betrayal of all, Aria must decide: Will she embrace the monster within.

My mom and I work our butts off in order to clear Gregory Hudson, my boyfriend's crippling debt. Because of that, Mom even contracts lung cancer. But when I rush to the hospital to pay off the hospital bills, I find out that she's already taken her life by hanging herself. All she leaves is a suicide note. "I can't hang on anymore, Hailey. You should use the money to pay off the debt. Gregory is a good man. I know he loves you; it's just that he's stepped down the wrong path. "Once the debt is cleared, both of you should stay together and live a good life." After collecting Mom's ashes in an urn, I entrust the 300 thousand dollars—the money that Mom has earned with her blood, sweat, and tears—to Gregory. When I return to the company, I accidentally overhear the conversation between Gregory and a few of his debtors. "Mr. Hudson, Ms. Jackman has already passed all of your trials so far. What other arrangements do you have for her?" Gregory's childhood friend, Sophia Wagner, suddenly speaks up. "Even though Hailey can endure all the suffering with you, we still need to test if she can still handle living a good life with you." Gregory purses his lips. "Next, I'd like to know if Hailey's love for me is pure and sincere. If she doesn't pine for my wealth and doesn't become materialistic after finding out about my identity, I will marry her." As I look down at Mom's ashes, I can't help sobbing like a lost child. Both my mom and I are wrong about Gregory. I don't want to marry him anymore.

Liliana Andrea Cabrera, preferably Lily or Andrea,the supposedly tough-skinned adopted daughter of the simple lovely Perkins family, struggles dealing with the trauma from her childhood; the fear of her biological mother and the curse against love bestowed as a gift, as well as the guilt of her father and brother's deaths. Antonio Robles, tge business tycoon, devoted to work only because "All others? Vanity!" Aside the lack of affection growing up, after parents'plane crash and death, he buttresses this view with the determination to find his undisclosed enemy, "The Godfather", orchestrator of the attempts to snatch his most priced company, using his ex-fiance, the infamous Rachel, to do so. Things take a wild turn upon an encounter at the airport. The unexpected and novel reaction of a woman to him, leaves Antonio stunned, intrigued, still, infuriated. Unmoved by the threatening aura of the young man followed by body guards, she speaks her mind with ease. "Do you have any idea who I am?" "I believe your question should be do I care who you are and my answer is a sure bloody no....what I do know is that you need to learn some manner, jerk," she said nonchalantly. Now, she finally has his full attention. Antonio vows to bring her to her knees, no matter what. Finally succeeding in trapping "Miss Manners" who believes him to be all bark and no bite, it turns out he was rather underestimated by everyone. Regardless, an undeniable heat trolls their journey together, defying all odds. Love; they both combat tooth and nail. A feisty self-righteous lady; an arrogant self-centered gentleman; wild but tender in mysterious ways; a relationship many cannot fathom. This love-hate affair, secrets, action, comedy, and romance is packed with great nerve-racking suspense and heartwarming emotions.

"What!" Ethan says in his all too familiar deep rude voice. "You hit me, which caused my coffee to spill all over me," I say, pointing out the obvious. "So, what do you want me to do about it," He speaks like he has done nothing wrong "You are supposed to say sorry," I say in a duh tone "And why should I." "Because that is what people with manners do." "I know that, but you don't deserve sorry from me." "Wow, really, and why is that." "Because black bitches like you don't deserve it." "I have told you times without number to stop calling me that," I say getting angry with his insults "Make me," Ethan says, taking a dangerous step closer to me. I don't say anything, but hiss and walk past him. I don't know why I even expected him to say anything better. It is Ethan, after all. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a story about two people who knew how to express the word hate more than anything else to one another. Ethan hates Adina more than anything in the world and would give anything to see her perish into thin air. While on the other hand Adina could careless about Ethan other than the fact that she won't let him walk all over her with his arrogant character. What happens when a big incident changes all that. How do these two different people deal with a feeling that is supposed to be forbidden to feel for the each other. Read to find out how the person you hate the most is the one person you can love the most.

I am about to book a room at a hotel owned by Luca Conti, a consigliere under my command, when a sharp voice suddenly cuts in from behind me. "Aspetta. That's not your price." I turn around. A woman wearing a manager's badge stands there with her arms crossed, scrutinizing me as if I am an unsightly stain she can't wait to wipe away. "We don't allow prostitution here," she says coolly. "If you're receiving clients, there will be a fine." As she speaks, she hands me a penalty notice. The charges are clearly listed on the paper. "Illegal guest reception fee: 350 thousand dollars. "Special soundproofing fee: 150 thousand dollars. "Special cleaning fee: 100 thousand dollars. "Total fee: 600 thousand dollars." Receiving clients? I have simply come straight from a Mafia cocktail party without changing clothes—that's all. What exactly does she take me for?" I lift my gaze and answer evenly, "You're mistaken. I am not that kind of person. You can contact the hotel owner, Luca Conti, and ask him who I am." A sneer flickers through Sofia Rossi's eyes. She spits to the side, full of contempt. "Still claiming you are not a puttana? Women like you come here every week. Every single one of them swears she knows him. "Our boss is the consigliere to the Russo family, the most powerful Mafia family in Seneriffe. Do you really think he needs someone cheap like you? "I suggest you pay up now, subito, before your client loses patience and drags you into the street and rapes you." I do not waste another word on her. I take out my phone and send a message directly to my secretary, Marco Bianchi. "Notify Luca. Either this manager, Sofia Rossi, disappears from this city, or he does."

After a brutal breakup and one too many whiskies, Arielle Lawson makes the mistake she swore she’d never repeat—she calls her ex. She never saved his number; she memorized it. Heart memory. Muscle memory. Bad-decision memory. But the man who answers isn’t Daniel. He’s calm. Controlled. Amused by the drunken stranger ranting about betrayal, wasted years, and ruined wedding plans. Arielle hangs up, mortified, convinced the mistake ends there. It doesn’t. Because the number she dialed belongs to Kael Virelli, the elusive leader of a multi-million-dollar anti-government underground syndicate known as The Black Ledger—a man feared by politicians, hunted by intelligence agencies, and obeyed without question. Kael should forget the call. He should erase the number. Instead, he calls back. What begins as anonymous late-night conversations becomes a dangerous ritual neither of them can break. Arielle finds comfort in the mysterious stranger who listens without judgment and understands her in ways no one ever has. Kael becomes addicted to the only person who speaks to him like he’s human—not a weapon, not a myth. Then fate intervenes. When Arielle unknowingly witnesses a violent operation tied to The Black Ledger, the voice she trusts becomes the name everyone fears. Overnight, she transforms from a stranger into a liability—a loose end that Kael’s world would normally erase without hesitation. But Arielle isn’t just anyone. She’s the woman who called him at his most human… and made him answer. Now Kael must choose between protecting the empire he built in shadows or protecting the girl who accidentally dialed her way into his life. Because in a world of secrets, betrayal, and blood money, the most dangerous mistake he ever made wasn’t answering the call. It was falling for the girl who made it.

They called him Father. She called him forbidden. Ayana Marcus thought coming home for Christmas would be simple—a few weeks of family dinners, church services, and small-town nostalgia before returning to her real life in Boston. She didn't expect him. Father Nelson has been her father's best friend for two decades. A priest. A pillar of their tight-knit community. A man who's supposed to be untouchable, unshakeable, holy. But when Ayana returns after four years away—no longer the sheltered girl who left, but a woman who knows her own mind—everything changes. One look across her family's dinner table, and she sees it: the way his dark eyes linger a second too long, the tension in his jaw when she speaks, the white-knuckled grip on his glass when she laughs. Father Nelson isn't just her father's friend anymore. He's a man on the edge of breaking. One stolen kiss beneath the mistletoe shatters two decades of self-control. What begins as a single moment of weakness spirals into a secret affair that threatens to destroy everything—his priesthood, her family, their souls. He tells himself he's corrupting her. She knows she's awakening him. In the cold December nights, between whispered prayers and desperate touches, they discover that some sins taste like salvation. That the line between worship and desire is thinner than either imagined. That love—even forbidden, impossible, unholy love—can be the most sacred thing of all. But in a town where secrets don't stay buried and the church sees everything, their passion will cost them more than they ever imagined. He's twice her age. Her father's best friend. A man of God. She's everything he's denied himself for twenty years. And this December, they'll learn that some gifts are too dangerous to unwrap… But impossible to resist.

“So, tell me about yourself Mr. Davenport?” she asks. I don’t look up from my computer, as I log in. “What do you want to know, Miss Harvey?” I ask her. "Are you perhaps dating anyone right now?" she asks. I look up at her surprised by her question. I shake my head. "No..." it’s true I’m not dating anyone right now. Her smile brightens. “That’s good.” She tells me. I frown, “Why would that be good exactly?” I ask, I look back at the screen and see Kendell hasn’t arrived at the sight yet, I’m about to tell her when she speaks again. “So Mr. Davenport, do you find little old me attractive?” she asks me. I look at her… “What are you getting at Miss Harvey?” I ask her. “Come humor me…” she tilts her head. I sigh. “I’d be a fool not to find you attractive, though I don’t know how that’s of any pertinence to right now." I tell her. She smiles. “So what do you say Mr. Davenport, or can I call you Blake?” I ask her. I have no idea what she’s up to. I choose to ignore her. She moves closer to me. “Come on now, don’t ignore me.” she says. I look at her, a little dress that leaves little to the imagination. She’s leaning onto the desk giving me a full view of her breasts. Is she hitting on me? She is hitting on me right? “So how sturdy is this desk exactly?” she asks. I take her in, it’s been four years since I’ve so much as touched a woman sexually. Hell I can’t even tell if she’s flirting with me.