Stepped Unscramble

"Your punishment. Shall we?," Matteo asked, this time moving towards me. He stepped closer and ripped open my half-buttoned shirt. "If other men can have you," he added quietly, "Why can't I?" I froze. "You—" "You have two choices," Matteo said, undoing his cufflinks and pushing me back toward the bed. “Choose wisely.” "One: take your pants off. Let me see what you used on my brother." "Two: I call Alessandro and have him come watch what I do to you." "You're insane," I snapped. "Does your brother know you're a fucking pervert?" "He doesn't need to," Matteo said, his hand settling on my belt. "He only needs to know you betrayed him." He said as my buckle clicked open. "And now, La mia bambola ( My Doll).” Matteo continued softly, "You're about to learn what consequences really mean." Betrayed by his fiancee two days to their wedding, Alessandro spirals and falls into the hands of a play boy--Luca Mariani. Matteo Rossi, Alessandro's brother looks into Luca and finds a full file of his promiscuous nature, seven men in two months. He warns Luca to flee from his brother but Luca has no intention of doing so. What happens when luca finds out that the so called overprotective brother is the feared head of the Italian mafia. And worst still finds him in bed with another man. Let's find out!!

Sybil is unique, gifted with a certain type of magic. One she is going to use to save not hurt. She'll do what she must, even if that means crossing some lines to get what she needs. What she doesn't realize is that her stubborn determination puts her right in the path of Alpha Prime Aries. He's intimidating and clearly used to being obeyed. Who in their right mind would actually disobey him though? He's the leader of the strongest wolf shifters there are. Aries knew the moment he laid eyes on Sybil she is his mate. Even if she doesn't know this. What he does know is that his mate has a will of iron and a fire in her soul that she hides behind a polite mask. He's not fooled, and her stubbornness will make it hard for him to protect her. Sybil has no idea the dangerous world she just stepped into. Werewolves are not the only type of creature out there. Aries knows he needs to get Sybil to understand just how dangerous things are. Especially since she is the mate of the Alpha Prime and that puts a steep price on her life. __ “If I said no?” Sybil asked. At her words it looked like Aries's gaze went solid black. “Do you want to learn what bonding is by force or choice?” He asked her in a growl. “In this I will be an animal before a man.” Sybil saw the truth in his gaze and it made her heart slam against her ribs.

Blurb I thought I married him for love. That wide-eyed, naive girl who jumped into the arms of the first man with eyes that shone ever in the dark, and with curly dark hair that made her fingers itch….didn’t know the truth. He didn’t marry me for forever. Ares Brooker – ruthless, untouchable, and devastatingly sexy- only made me his wife to get back at my father. And for a while, I thought the worst thing he could do was ignore me, bring other women into our home, and treat me like I was a prisoner in his glass mansion. I was wrong. The worst thing was overhearing my father tell him on the phone that he could "Kill me for all he cared." That I meant nothing to him, it was walking in on him with my best friend, and watching him let me believe it. I walked out, building walls around my heart and telling myself that I would never be that naïve and pushover girl again. But one night changed everything, where a fight, one kiss, and too much heat brought about a mistake. And a child, I swore he would never know about. I thought I was free, starting a new job and a new life, until I realized that Ares Brooker signs my paycheck. And just when he decided he wanted me back, someone else stepped in, willing to burn the world too. His rival, Cole Elrod. And the most dangerous choice is the one I can’t stop wanting.

At the annual company raffle, I had barely stepped onto the stage when my supervisor, Lily Smith, pressed a crumpled slip of paper into my palm. "A special reward for our top salesperson," she chirped. "Go ahead, open it. Let everyone see." Under the eager gaze of the crowd, I unfolded the note. Written in messy handwriting were the words: Clean the company toilets for three days. The room erupted in laughter. Lily folded her arms, cocked her head, and smirked at me. "Nice, right?" she said. "Everyone knows those sales of yours came from sleeping with old men. Dirty money. To keep things fair, the others get a break, and you pick up a little extra work. You don't have a problem with that, do you?" The laughter surged again, nearly lifting the roof. From the side of the room, my boyfriend, Seth Hoffman, the company's CEO, watched everything unfold. As usual, he said nothing in my defense. They all thought I would fall apart, cry, or make a scene. Instead, I simply gave a calm nod. The very next day, the company was hit with over three hundred property cancellations. Its cash flow collapsed overnight. That was when Lily and Seth rushed to me, demanding I go plead with the buyers. I smiled and said, "No thanks. I wouldn't want to help the company recover and end up with strong numbers again. That might make everyone even more uncomfortable."

I had been Joey Jensen's mate for six years when I was kidnapped by rogues while trying to protect him. After finally making my way back to the pack, I discovered he already had another she-wolf, Courtney Ogley, by his side. Worse, he even made my son, whom I had almost died giving birth to, call her "Mom". Heartbroken, I went to the Werewolf Council and demanded an explanation from Joey. Under pressure from the entire pack, Joey reluctantly exiled Courtney. But from that moment on, he blamed me for everything. He said it was my fault he lost his beloved, and that I had robbed our son of his mother. Even my own mother resented me, saying I had torn the family apart. Surrounded by coldness and endless accusations, I slowly slipped into despair. Later, when the pack declined and was overrun, I was captured and sentenced to be beheaded. Just as I prepared to face death calmly, Joey stepped forward and fought the wolves alone. I carried him on my back and escaped, but his injuries were too severe. He was already dying. With his last breath, he said, "Consider my life a repayment to you. If there's another life, please don't stand in the way of my happiness with Courtney." I agreed through tears. But in the end, I was beheaded anyway. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the very day I returned to the pack.

Before our wedding, my fiancée, Sarah Hargrave—a professor of medieval history—held a private ceremony in a secluded chapel in the countryside. But not with me. Under the glow of candlelight, she cradled Benjamin Wheeler—her first love, his face gaunt from the cancer consuming him—in her arms. Her smile was soft, almost reverent, as she murmured, "In the eyes of God, vows made before the altar are the only ones that matter. Even if the law says I belong to Daniel, my soul was never his." And so, to the faint echo of hymns and the scent of old incense, they drank from the same silver cup, exchanged rings, and stepped together into the dimly lit sacristy—their makeshift bridal chamber. I watched. Silent. Motionless. No outbursts, no demands for explanation. Just the quiet dialing of a clinic to undo the vasectomy I'd gotten for our future. From fifteen to thirty, I had loved Sarah for fifteen long years. But in all that time, there'd never been room for me. That space had always belonged to Benjamin, my stepbrother. So I let her go. Afterward, I joined a geological research team bound for the isolation of Antarctica—a land cut off from the world, quiet and clean. Before I left, I handed Sarah a divorce agreement…and a final gift to mark the end. I never anticipated that Sarah, who'd always met my devotion with frosty detachment, who'd never once glanced back as I walked away, would look ten years older overnight.

I only wanted to survive senior year. Keep my head down, graduate, and leave Blackthorne Academy behind. But the moment I stepped through its iron gates, I became prey. The Academy is wrong in every way—no mirrors in the dorms, wolves howling during study hall, and strict orders to never leave your room on red moon nights. And then there are the four Alphas who have marked me with their eyes, their obsession, and their danger. Ronan Veyr, the storm-eyed heir destined for the crown, who recoils at my touch yet can’t seem to stay away. Cassian Drax, the golden boy trickster whose dangerous smile hides a ruthless streak. Malachai Frost, the untouchable prodigy who shadows me like a silent warden. And Professor Adrian Vale, the man who looks at me as if I’m a memory he can’t bury. They shouldn’t want me. I have no wolf, no pack, no power. But whispers of a legacy trail me through Blackthorne’s haunted corridors—a bloodline strong enough to crown kings… and dangerous enough to kill for. Strange visions tear through my body whenever one of them is near. My strength is rising, my secret unraveling, and I’m beginning to understand why my mother died to protect it. Because I am not wolf. I am something older. Something every Alpha was born to obey. And if I want to leave Blackthorne alive, I must decide: Will I let one of them claim me— or will I rise to command them all?

“You're nothing different from a rotten corpse if you don't have anything to prove." Origin Laurier is a young girl who was once an ally of an underground criminal organization called the Westside Dragons. She is hailed as the mafia’s killing machine, the Scarlet Beast, who only knew how to live as a tool for the mafia boss. Because of her deadly talisman ability, she never fails all of her missions. But the tables started to turn when she suddenly lost her ability and was kicked out of the mafia believing that she is not useful anymore. Origin is left homeless and scattered as she wonders how to regain her power and approval of the mafia boss she admires the most. On her path back to power, she stumbled upon a good-looking, yet emotionless guy who knew everything about her past, and stepped on her pride as a legendary assassin. He is W, the Student Council President of Greendale University, a school founded to protect the new generation of talisman users from being hunted down by scientists and evil organizations. W offered to help get Origin’s abilities back in exchange for forging an alliance with the Student Council who turns out to be members of a military agency called FEAR, Westside Dragon’s sworn enemy, secretly protecting and recruiting talisman users to Greendale. Upon joining the Student Council affairs, Origin will learn that there is more to humanity than she thinks. As her fate interconnects with the Student Council President who has a hobby of stalking her, how can she handle this new everyday life and her future that is uncertain of her relationship with the Mafia she grew up into?

When I was 18 years old, I stepped between Eric Ludlow and a silver arrow loosed by another contender so I could help him win the Alpha Trials. The silver sank deep into my wolf. Ever since then, I've lived as a broken werewolf without a mind-link and unable to conceive. Drowning in guilt, Eric decided to mark me. He pulled me close and vowed, "I'll love you for the rest of my life, Evelyn. I'll never see you as less." I really did believe him back then. At 25, he wins the pack war again and emerges as the strongest Alpha. But he turns our mate bond into a joke. At the celebration dinner, during a thoughtless game of Truth or Dare with his secretary, Mia Sadler, he speaks across the mind-link to everyone. "Evelyn, you're painfully dull. You're not the least bit appealing, your scent is thin, and you can't even bear a pup. You're just dead weight. I wish you'd never been saved back then. I wish you'd died." I clutch the medical report that says my wolf is about to be gone for good, staying silent. He assumes I can't hear anything since I don't have a mind-link. I beg the pack healer for a brutal, life-draining potion, just to know what a mate bond with him feels like. It's fine. I'll be dead soon, just the way Eric wants.

Natalie Evans was the perfect wife—loyal, elegant, and devoted to her husband, Adrian Sinclair, the cold and untouchable CEO of Sinclair Enterprises. Everyone believed she was out of her league, merely a trophy wife, tolerated but never truly loved. When he paraded another woman into their home once more, she had enough. Without a scene, without a tear, she signed the divorce papers. The world assumed she was just playing hard to get, that she would come crawling back in days. Adrian believed it too. But when Natalie vanished from the social circles of the elite, only to return months later as a force to be reckoned with—brilliant, ruthless, and untouchable—she shattered every expectation. With an empire of her own, the once-mocked woman became a sensation. Those who belittled her scrambled for her favor, and her enemies found themselves falling one by one. When news spread that she was considering a new father for her daughter—something she had kept secret from the world—a storm of influential men stepped up. A genius scientist, a financial tycoon, and even a world-renowned actor vied for her attention. But Adrian wasn’t ready to let go. Cornering her at a gala, his voice was dark with suspicion. “Your child is mine, isn't it?” Natalie’s cold smile sent chills through him. “That’s none of your business. Ex-husband, step aside.” Now, Adrian would do whatever it took to reclaim what he lost, even if it meant bringing the world to its knees.