St Joseph Sound Tides

For twins Ethel and Elise, the line between dream and nightmare was always thin—and on Paron Island, it has been completely erased. Their idyllic gap year, a sun-soaked mosaic of beach bonfires and reckless abandon, is shattered in an instant. A "project," as the panicked news reports cryptically call it, has gone horrifically wrong, releasing a pathogen that reanimates the dead with a singular, gruesome purpose: to feed. The sisters' bond, once defined by shared secrets and sibling rivalry, is now their only anchor in a world drowning in blood. Driven by a raw, primal instinct to protect each other, they join forces with a few other fortunate—or unfortunate—souls who survived the initial onslaught. Together, this makeshift family must navigate the ruins of their former paradise, where every shadow hides a potential threat and every human sound could be a lure. Ethel, the more cautious sister, finds a hidden strength in strategy, while Elise's impulsive nature becomes both a weapon and a liability. But their fight against the decaying hordes is only the surface of the terror. Whispers of a coordinated presence, of supplies that go missing too conveniently, and of strangers who seem to know too much, point to a more insidious truth: the island's collapse was not a random tragedy. They are being hunted by something that thinks, that plans, that wears a human face. As their hope for rescue dwindles, Ethel and Elise are forced to confront the ultimate horror—that in the midst of an apocalypse, the most monstrous creatures of all are still human.

On the road, I met a woman unlike anyone I had ever seen before. Her name was Janet Smith. She seemed slow and almost childlike, yet she had been wandering alone for two years without ever going home. Even with one leg crippled, she had forced herself to climb the Highveil Mountains. This time, however, she was caught in a blizzard. Injured and stranded, she could no longer make her way down. As her vision blurred and her strength slipped away, tears covered her face. She placed a pair of small handmade clay dolls in my hands. "I'm probably going to die here," she murmured. "Please give these to my adoptive brother, Chester Graham." She was clearly at death's door, yet her smile was soft and unexpectedly serene. "Tell him I've seen enough of the world. I don't love him anymore. And tell him he doesn't need to worry. I'm not so foolish now. I won't cause trouble for anyone again." Chester? At the sound of his name, I stood rooted to the spot. In Riverton City, everyone who worked at the harbor knew him, the so-called Ship King. Right before I left for the mountains, news of his engagement had been everywhere.

It was the third anniversary of my registration of a mate bond with Xavier Ashford, the alpha of Shadowcrest Pack. My gift to him was a positive pregnancy test, but his gift to me was a contract terminating our bond as mates. I froze, too distraught to reach out and take it from him. Xavier cleared his throat awkwardly. "A wolf tricked Talia into getting pregnant. A pup born out of mate bond can't get the rights to live in the pack. My plan is to terminate our bond as mates and become mates with Talia for the time being so that her pup can have a legal identity. After she gives birth to her pup, then you and I can become mates again. How does that sound?" He passed me a bond termination contract. It had clearly been prepared a long time ago. He noticed my hesitation and explained gently, "You're my one true love. I'm only helping her as a friend. Even after we split up, I can guarantee that you won't be mistreated." I looked up at him with a smile and stayed silent. Then, I reached into my pocket and felt the pregnancy test under my fingers. The two red lines on the screen were as clear as day.

How much of a chance is there for someone napping on a plane, woking up finding himself lying on a giant bird nest? Lei was on his way home from visiting his mom when the plane he was in, out of nowhere encountered a giant black hole. What's a black hole doing on Earth? The pilot himself wants to know. It swallowed the entire plane in an instant- crushing and obliterating everything inside. The passengers were not even given the time to react. Lei, who was sound asleep during the entirety of event, was completely oblivious to all of this. He was sleeping so soundly it made one's tooth ache. However, even among the hundreds of passengers and crews on the plane, he was actually the only person who survive. Was this the will of heaven at work? Or was it just him taking all the luck in the world? Either way, the most immediate matter for Lei who was finally awake at this moment to resolve was.. "Ah-why the hell does this bird keep on following me?!" The adorable 'little' bird was looking at Lei with its adorable, big, round eyes, following him on his track. "Also, where did that book I brought with me go?! I haven't finished reading it yet!" The pitiful book on the void with not even a speck of its dust left was sad: ..Master, I'm sorry! I already went ahead huhu

“I hate you.” His growl vibrates against my throat at my words. His mouth drags slowly along my skin, deliberate. Punishing. Claiming. My pulse betrays me. I want him to kiss me. Goddess— I need him to kiss me. I need him to do more than kiss me. But he doesn't. How he loves to toture me. He pulls back just enough to breathe against my lips. It takes every ounce of self control for me not to reach out and haul his face back unto my skin. It takes every ounce of self control for me not to start spouting out all the nasty things I need him to do to me. “Again,” he breathes against my lips. “Tell me how much you hate me.” “I hate you,” I rush out. “I hate you so fucking much.” “I hate you so much that sometimes I can't think of anything else.” A dark sound leaves him. I fall in love with that sound. Immediately And then he’s kissing me. Like hatred and hunger are the same thing. And this time, he isn't stopping. ***** In the Eastern pack, power is currency. And Mia just became The New Alpha's favorite investment.

Karen had invested her last penny in the business she had recently established and was eagerly awaiting the promised funds from her benefactor to take it to the next level. "Maybe he forgot. I should remind him," she thought, and promptly sent a text message: ‘I hate to sound desperate, but my finances are tight.’ After sending the message, she realized she had used the wrong number. She quickly started typing, ‘Please ignore the...’ when an alert popped up on her phone: ‘Five billion dollars transferred to you by Roger Dawson.’ Roger? The first name sent a chill down her spine, but the last name left her puzzled. "Roger? Could it be Tonia's bodyguard?" That was his number, but when did his name change? Her phone rang immediately, and the name she had feared for months echoed in her ears, his voice filled with emotion yet calm like a winter breeze. "Karen, stay put, I'm on my way to you." The call ended before she could process it. He was the reason she had fled, refusing to sign the divorce papers. Her love for him was unrequited, his heart belonging to her adopted sister, but what hurt more was the feeling of being traded between friends like a commodity. She would rather die than return.

In a daring game she never expected, Larissa Justice finds herself compelled to kiss the twentieth male she sees at school. Little did she know that this challenge would lead her straight into the arms of the one person she'd secretly admired for years. But as thrilling as it may sound, locking lips with the most enigmatic and callous guy in school comes with its own set of consequences. Terrified of the consequences of her actions, Larissa tried to hide her identity from him, hoping to avoid his wrath. It seemed like a foolproof plan until fate intervened when they were paired together for a crucial assignment. And just when she thought things couldn't get any worse, her math teacher appointed him as her personal tutor. Zayne Verlice, the youngest son of a wealthy family, thought he had closed off his heart forever. But when a mysterious girl unexpectedly kisses him and vanishes, his curiosity is ignited. Little does he know, this enigmatic beauty is none other than his first love, the one who shattered his world years ago. Determined to win her back, Zayne embarks on a quest to make her his own and once for all. Can he win her heart, or will their past consume them both?

For five years, Marco Falcone was the perfect man. Or so I thought. The illusion shattered on the night of our engagement party, when his mistress crashed it, a five-year-old boy in tow. The boy ran straight to Marco, crying, "Daddy! Daddy, I finally found you!" It had to be some kind of sick joke. But then Marco turned to me, his voice stripped of all warmth. "This is my son, Leo. A… mistake Sofia and I made five years ago." "Leo is the Falcone heir. I have to legitimize them. That means I'll be engaged to Sofia first." "But Lydia, believe me, I still love you. We can have our engagement party in six months. You're going to be the Donna of the Falcone family. I expect you to be generous and understanding. This is non-negotiable." I laughed, a cold, sharp sound, and slid the engagement ring off my finger. My eyes scanned the room and locked on the man in the corner—Lorenzo Moretti, the most powerful Don in New York. He held another title, one only I knew: the man who’d been trying to make me his. "Don Moretti," I called out, my voice clear and steady. "I find myself in need of a new fiancé. Are you interested?"

My roommate is the kind of person who has to get to the bottom of everything and doesn't stop asking questions until she's satisfied. One night, while I'm sound asleep, she suddenly stands by my bed and calls my name, "Melissa, are you asleep?" Having been awakened by her, I shoot her an annoyed glare, but she just says, "See? You weren't really asleep. Otherwise, how could you have answered me?" One day, she decides to skip class. Thinking that I could help by signing her in on my phone, I do just that. However, near the end of the lecture, she suddenly bursts into the room and asks the professor, "I wasn't here today, so why does it show I was marked present? Is the system down?" The professor traces it back to me, fails me on the spot, and makes me retake the class. Later on, I join a speech contest. My roommate stands up in front of everyone and asks why my speech sounded exactly like her ideas. I get disqualified, lose my scholarship, and am labeled a plagiarist. Devastated, I climb onto the rooftop late at night. When I open my eyes again, I'm back to the night when my roommate first asked if I was asleep.

When Lena Ardent, a once-renowned child psychologist who lost her voice after a tragic accident, receives a mysterious job offer sealed in red wax, she has nothing left to lose. The letter summons her to Veyne Estate, home of the enigmatic billionaire Damien Veyne a man who never speaks and lives under strange, nocturnal rules. Lena signs a contract that promises fortune but demands silence. At first, her role seems simple: be his interpreter, his voice in a world he refuses to face. Yet soon she notices things that defy reason claw marks on marble floors, whispers in the woods, and a wolf that watches her from the treeline. When Lena breaks his one rule and opens the forbidden red book, she discovers Damien’s secret: he is bound by an ancient curse that turns him into a wolf under the Blood Moon. Even more shocking Lena herself appears in a century-old portrait labeled “The Mute Oracle Bonded Mate.” As their bond deepens, the Blood Moon rises, forcing Lena to choose between saving the man she loves or freeing him by destroying herself. When she finally speaks his name for the first time in years, her voice breaks the curse and awakens a love older than time. In the end, silence becomes power, and love becomes the loudest sound of all.