Stabbing Pain Under Left Shoulder Blade When Breathing

To help my "destitute" husband pay off his debts, I scavenged for scraps for five years. My son and I survived on expired canned food. That changed on my son's birthday. I saw him in a bespoke suit, spending millions to celebrate the birthday of the woman he truly loved. That was the moment I realized he was actually the most powerful billionaire on Wall Street. To please the love of his life, he let our child be injected with unknown drugs, leaving him on the brink of death. He even forced me to drain my own blood to save her son. Later, I became someone he could no longer reach. I linked arms with a man far more powerful than him and walked away. That once arrogant man ended up kneeling in the Arctic snow, clutching a photo I had burned, weeping like a stray dog.

On the day of the wedding, my best friend, Elena Hartman, can't bear to part with me, so she threads my wedding shoes with a string and ties them snugly around her slim waist. The groomsmen turn the whole place upside down, and we end up late for the ceremony. She eventually cracks up and tugs at her billowy bridesmaid dress, revealing the outline of the shoes at her waist. "I dare you to come take them. As long as I'm here, she's not getting married!" My fiancé, Miles Lawson, shakes his head and chuckles. "You just love tormenting us, don't you?" Miles exchanges a look with the groomsmen, and they charge at her at the same time. She squeals as she falls back onto the bed, squirming under her layers of tulle. "Don't be so rough! I'm ticklish…" The groomsmen flush bright red. Miles' ears turn scarlet as he feels around her waist. She giggles even louder. "How are you going to undo it through all these layers? Use your head!" Then, she gasped. "That tickles!" Her theatrics make my temper flare. I spring to my feet, lift her skirt, and rip the wedding shoes right off her. "If you're that ticklish, smack yourself with a slipper. Drop the act, or I'll yank out the nerves that make you ticklish!"

My boyfriend of three years had a secret true love: my vicious best friend. For her, he swallowed my family business whole, froze every cent I had, and crushed my dignity into the dirt. When my father lay dying from a brain hemorrhage, I begged him for $50,000 to save his life. He refused cold-heartedly. At the exact moment my father died on the operating table, he was busy spending millions on rare jewelry for her. I didn't show up to our engagement party. Instead, I sent a "gift" that played on the big screen. That arrogant man went completely insane in front of the whole world.

My mother and sister never liked me. The only son they ever truly cared about was my older brother, Lucian Vieri. Before she married me, Serafina Valcieri, the only daughter of one of the most feared syndicates in the country, was always the one who stepped in when I was cornered, mocked, or blamed for things that were never mine to carry. She never said much. She just made people back off. Then she married me. Then, not long ago, Lucian shoved me off a ski slope. I said he meant to kill me. My mother called it an accident. My sister said he had only been trying to save me. Only Serafina believed me. When I woke up in the hospital, I heard voices outside the door. “Who told you to do it like that?” Serafina said, her voice low and cold. My mother answered in a panic. “Lucian’s leukemia can’t wait. If Cassian learns the baby isn’t his, everything falls apart.” Then Serafina said the words I still can’t forget. “I chose him, and I married him for my own reasons. But Lucian still needs this child. If anything had happened to Cassian, none of you would have walked away from it.” I stood there in silence, listening to every word. The child my wife was carrying was never mine. It had been conceived through IVF to save my brother. And the marriage I had trusted from the beginning had never belonged to me alone. I had spent my whole life coming second to Lucian. I just never thought Serafina would be the one to prove it. If no one truly wanted me, then I would leave.

Amara is the lowest-ranking omega in the Silver Ridge Pack. Orphaned at twelve, she survived by making herself useful — cooking, cleaning, tending wounds nobody else had patience for. She never expected the Moon Goddess to pair her with Alpha Kael, the most powerful wolf in the region. But on the night of the mating ceremony, in front of the entire pack, Kael looks her in the eyes and says three words that shatter her world: I reject you. He chooses Vanessa, the strong, beautiful daughter of a neighboring alpha. A political match. A power move. Amara is nothing to him. But instead of crumbling, Amara does what no rejected omega has ever done. She walks out of the pack. Alone. With nothing. In the wild, she discovers a group of rogues — wolves cast out from their packs for being different. A blind warrior. A mother with a scarred face. Twin pups with no parents. And leading them all, a scarred, silent alpha named Ronan who trusts no one and speaks even less. Amara also discovers something inside herself she never knew existed. Her hands can heal. Not just wounds but broken bonds, fractured spirits, even cursed wolves. She carries a gift so rare the Moon Goddess herself has not granted it in three hundred years. As Amara builds a new pack from broken pieces, word of the Healing Wolf spreads across the region. Packs that once ignored her now seek her help. Alphas who never knew her name now bow their heads. And Kael, the alpha who threw her away, realizes that the quiet omega he rejected was the most powerful wolf he will ever meet. He comes looking for her. But Amara is no longer his. She is no longer anyone's. She is her own.

My world fell apart on the day of my Luna ceremony. My mother and older brother approached me with bad news. My younger sister, Lilith, was cursed and did not have long to live. They wanted me to fulfill her only wish before death. She wanted to replace me as my Alpha, Fenris', mate. That included giving her my Luna ceremony. I was shocked and angry. I looked at Fenris as I expected him to reject this ridiculous suggestion as well. However, he nodded. "Don't worry, Selene," he said to me. He sounded so sincere. "This is only temporary. Once we've fulfilled Lilith's last wish, you'll be my mate forever." I was adamant about rejecting that suggestion. It was too crazy! However, my 'beloved' brother, Damian, forcefully dragged me off into the Dark Forest, where it was rampant with wild beasts. That was also when I realized I was pregnant with Fenris' child. My pregnancy weakened my strength tremendously, and I was mauled by the wild beasts while still alive. By the time everyone remembered me, all that was left of me was a rotting corpse lying in the forest.

The casino my husband and I ran was about to go through a chaotic police raid. Anyone who got caught would likely end up arrested. We had the time to leave. But we couldn’t all leave. One of us had to stay behind, or the cops would keep chasing us. Elias, my charming husband, didn’t even hesitate. He grabbed Mireille and left me to handle the cops, tossing over his shoulder, “I’ll send a lawyer to you.” Lucky for me, I managed to walk away without any consequences. And then, I saw, Elias, the man who was supposed to have my back, not only did escape without me, he also whisked Mireille away to some fancy resort, like they were on vacation. He looked so carefree, so unbothered. Not a hint of concern for the wife he’d just abandoned. “Think Seraphina’s gonna be mad that we left without her?” Mireille asked, all innocence. Elias laughed, that cold, detached laugh that sent a shiver down my spine. “Please. As if she’d ever get mad at me. She can handle herself.” He didn’t care. But you know what? Neither do I. Not anymore.

He left her at the altar. She survived it. Then she walked into his office." She stood at the altar in her wedding dress and waited. He never came. Daven did not just leave Sofia Wren on their wedding day. He left her with no home, no job, and a secret that could destroy everything her father had ever built. And the worst part? Her best friend Elena was right there beside him the whole time. Just when Sofia has nothing left, she walks into the office of Ethan Voss — cold, powerful, and completely unavoidable. He offers her a deal. Appear at his side for three months and he will protect her family and expose everyone who used her. It is just a contract. Nothing real. Except the more time Sofia spends in Ethan’s world, the harder it becomes to remember that. And when Daven finally sees what he threw away, it is already too late. Some men leave. Others show you exactly what you were worth all along.

Over the years, Julia had grown accustomed to being her husband Andrew’s substitute wife. Every time he looked at her face, she knew he was really seeing his late first love. But after so many years, her stepsister Charlotte returned to the country and shamelessly tried to take her place. Charlotte cozied up to her husband and won over her son. When her son said he’d rather live with Auntie Charlotte than with his own mother, Julia felt utterly heartbroken. She resolved to get a divorce and never be a substitute wife.

Saphira is a beautiful woman with long, light blonde hair and blue-gray eyes, only 25 years old. She is simple and shy, but she is strong and decisive when it comes to work. A harassment situation at her company leads her to move from a small town in Texas to New York. She takes her little savings and CV and tries to get a job. Christopher is the CEO of a large advertising company. When Saphira starts working for him, he maintains his professionalism and detachment, but he can't help but appreciate the girl's beauty. He is always jumping from woman to woman, and his playboy fame is well known, so when he confesses his interest in her on a business trip, Saphira doesn't take him seriously and sets the professional barrier between them very high. Her coldness towards him stirs up the feeling that is born in his chest even more, but Saphira doesn't allow any approach, despite Christopher sometimes seeing in her eyes that the feeling is reciprocal. What would he have to do to conquer the girl who looked like "the girl next door" he's been looking for all his life? And why doesn't Saphira want to give him a chance? What dark secret keeps her away?