Synonym Lifted

My heart felt like it had been ripped from my chest, my world shattered into a million and one pieces. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. All I could do was stare, my eyes fixed on the unreasonable scene before me. “L...Lucia...” my father stuttered, his face flushed with embarrassment and guilt as he immediately lifted his underwear. “It’s not what it seems...” But I didn’t want to hear it. I didn’t want to hear their excuses. “Lucia!” Beta Mario called out, his heart pounding heavily as he swallowed a heavy lump. “Mate?” I said and a pained chuckle escaped my lips. Goddess! How could you let this realisation come to me now— my cheating asshole boyfriend is— my mate. My lifelong wish had come to pass… I found my mate. And he happened to be my childhood lover, same guy who had been my boyfriend for two years. It should have been fun, this should have been a happy moment. But there was a painful twist. My dad and my mate were secret lovers, or would I rather say ‘fuck buddies’. What could be worse than this? I turned, ready to run off. My heart was already split and I knew that any more second there could make me even more furious, but there was still one thing I was yet to do. “One more thing...” “No, please Lucia... you can’t take decisions in haste. I swear I really like you...” “I Lucia Herod of Crescent land pack reject you Beta Mario of Crescent land pack.” I'm glad I rejected him— that cheating asshole. But then, the goddess wasn't done with her surprises. "I want you to become my wife!" The Lycan King said, causing everyone's jaw to drop.

MATURE CONTENT: This book is strictly R18+ BLURB: Excerpt: Before I could turn toward him, the ground vanished beneath my feet. Again, a startled gasp tore from my throat as he lifted me with sudden force, and in the next breath, my legs were wrapped around his waist, his hands firm on my ass like I paid him to own it too. Before words could leave my mouth he kissed me deliberately. Like he needed to stir the moment. Stir something in me. My pupils flared at the shock of his movement, my heart pounding so violently it felt as though it might break free from my chest. "I wouldn't mind helping you strip if you aren't going to do it yourself?" His voice dripped demand that felt more like a command instead of a request. Too much of an aura for a one-night stand who I never knew was the husband I feared. ~~~ How will you feel when you wake up only to discover you had been set up for an arranged marriage with a man whose stories about him made ears that heard it tingle? Afraid, devastated, angry, right? Then what will be your reaction when you find out that a one-night stand whom you had paid to stir a scandal and stop the marriage turned out to be the arranged husband you're running away from? Now I believe words can't describe your feelings. However, that was my story. He wanted me, made rules for me. Made me fight to know who he was and now even my restraint can't subdue him rather he consumed every bit of me. What will become my fate when I find out what made me afraid of him, afraid of the city was actually who I was?

"Do you really think someone like you is worthy of love?" he whispered in Eleanor's ear, making her body shudder in fear. "I... I don't know," she stuttered, her voice trembling, eyes fixed on the ground to avoid his piercing gaze. "I would never love a weak wolf like you, an aberration," he spat with disdain, his words filled with anger. "You shame our kind, Eleanor!" She slowly lifted her eyes to meet his intense gaze. "Do you hate me for this?" she asked, her voice faltering. "Hate?" He tilted his head, a cruel smile forming on his lower lip. "Hate is too soft a word. I feel repulsion towards you, disgust at being tied to such an insignificant being." Eleanor fought back tears as she heard his next words. "I, Asher Bennett, future Alpha of the Bloody Moon Pack, reject Eleanor Parker as my mate!" he growled angrily, turning away with contempt. "Never dare to say you're my mate again, You have a choice, Eleanor. You can bow down and accept your miserable fate... or you can fight, like the fool you are, thinking you have any chance." "A miserable fate for a wretched girl, what more could Eleanor Parker expect? After being brutally rejected by her mate and betrayed by her stepsister, sold like an animal by those who wished her dead, she rises from the ashes beside the great and supreme Alpha King Lynca, the cruelest of all werewolves capable of killing anyone who dares to disobey him. "I thought I signed my death sentence with the bloodthirsty Alpha King, responsible for hundreds of deaths. Yet, he became my rebirth, making me feel alive. Love drew me toward the abyss between us, where I could easily lose myself." Eleanor sighed, meeting his mesmerizing arctic blue eyes.

After a vicious family power struggle, I fled to a small border town in the south. I took on a new identity and found work in a flower shop. Everyone believed I was dead. Then one day, someone from the family came to the shop to order flowers for the birthday party for Roman Jackson, the head of the Jackson family. The person who arrived was my former Underboss. She stared at me in shock and demanded to know why I had not returned to the Jackson family if I was still alive. She told me that Roman had kept watch over my grave for two years and that he had attempted suicide three times in the cemetery, each time stopped by someone else. Roman was my ex-husband. He had an adopted sister, Liliana. Fifteen years ago, her parents were gunned down while covering Roman's father's escape from a rival family. After that, Liliana became Roman's most cherished sister. She tampered with my armored car. The brakes failed, and the vehicle plunged off a cliff. I broke three ribs. Roman mobilized every resource the family had and pulled me back from the brink of death. She bribed my bodyguard and laced my red wine with a neurotoxin. I lay unconscious in the villa for three days and nights. Roman sealed off the entire city, hunted down everyone involved, and made them pay in blood. She tried to kill me, and he saved me. This absurd cycle went on for three years. Until the last time. She detonated a bomb at an arms deal I was overseeing, burning seventy percent of my body. As I was lifted onto the ambulance stretcher, I clutched Roman's suit and, with the last of my strength, begged him. "Kill her, Roman. She sabotaged the deal. Those are the family rules." He crouched down, his fingers brushing my bloodstained face. His voice was calm, almost cruel. "Liliana didn't mean to. Let it go. For the sake of what her parents sacrificed for the family." In that moment, my heart to him died completely.

A month before the SATs, I, Jenny Reid, could see my score. Literally. It was just floating right above my head. But there was a catch. Every time I cracked open a prep book, my score would drop by ten points. But if I skipped a day of school? It jumped right back up by ten. So, I played the system. For a whole month, I barely lifted a finger. And on the day of the test, the number glowing over my head was a solid 1560. When the scores finally dropped online… I'd scored a 500. And the 1560? That was my little sister Patricia's score. My parents lost it. As punishment, they got me a grueling night-shift job at a local electronics factory. That first night, a bunch of guys I'd never seen before cornered me in the parking lot and beat me half to death. Fading in and out of consciousness, I heard my sister's voice right by my ear. "You just had to one-up me, didn't you? Thought you were so smart… but you never figured out I was the one controlling that number over your head." The truth hit me like a physical blow. The score had been her trick all along. I opened my eyes—and I was back. One month before the SATs. The number above my head read exactly 1300. "Hey," my sister said, all fake sweetness. "Want to study together tonight? We can go over the practice tests." I looked at the stack of papers in my own hands. Without a word, I pulled out my lighter and set them on fire right there in the driveway. "Exams are coming," I said, watching the flames. "I'm not studying." My score ticked up to 1310. My sister's face was this perfect mask of disappointment, but the second I turned away, I caught the sly smile she couldn't quite hide. She had no idea… the real performance, the one I'd been rehearsing just for her, was finally about to begin.

In his bid for perpetual life, the first Don of the Bryant family annihilates the witch clan and violently takes possession of their most sacred relic. In the moments before her death, the head of the witch clan places a curse on every descendant of the Bryant family. Every descendant will suffer a sudden mutation at the age of 23, where their bodies would be covered in thick, black hair, and fangs would sprout from their mouths, turning them into monsters. They can only lift the curse if they marry a descendant of the witches. Ella Crawford—my sister—and I are the last remaining descendants of the witch clan in the human realm. In my past life, Oliver's lottery selection fell on the attractive Ella. I was aware that Ella lacked the power to lift the curse, so I secretly swapped the lots, and Oliver ended up married to me. In the end, during our wedding night, Ella set herself alight, proclaiming that she had lost her eternal love and didn't want to face life without him. As a result, Mom and Dad drove me out. Oliver, however, took me in and showered me with affection. It wasn't long before I conceived his child, and he successfully survived his 23rd birthday. Yet, barely a day later, Oliver pushed me into the fire pit. I pleaded with tears streaming down my face, "I freed you from the curse and am currently carrying your baby, Oliver, so please don't treat me like this!" Oliver merely responded with a malicious grin as he tossed the torch aside. "If it weren't for your interference, Ella would have lifted the curse for me! I would have been able to spend the rest of my life with her, Cynthia!" In the end, I was completely consumed by the flames. I suddenly open my eyes and find myself returning to the day Oliver chooses his bride by lot. I immediately snap the tampered lot, as I'm eager to find out how Ella will save Oliver without any witch powers in this life.

Lily Evan is a 23 years old ambitious girl who did her graduation in mass media and communication works in Scotland's top news agency. Young Mark Scott is from a Royal Devil family of Scotland. The identities of devils are hidden and now they live in this modern world to maintain balance along with the heavenly angels. Destiny plays a game and makes these two souls meet. Mark who never felt any kind of emotions in his life, started feeling them when he met Lily. But there are some dark secrets behind this man's identity which started revealing as Lily got closer to him. ~~~~~ "Lily, do you love me?" Mark asked which startled Lily. "I do," Lily accepted. "Why do you love me?" Mark asked from her. "I think love doesn't need reasons," Lily replied. "I don't love you," Mark asserted. "Will you still love me if I go away from your life or will you move on?" Mark asked. "What do you mean?" Lily queried Mark worriedly. "Just answer," Mark told Lily. "I don't think I will ever forget you especially your eyes," Lily answered. "I am not going anywhere," Mark stated and averted his gaze from Lily. "Are you saying the truth?" Lily questioned him. "Why do you think I am lying?" Mark asked. "Because I don't want you to go away. I found you after 6 years and if you will again go away then, I might feel sad," Lily truthfully replied. Mark's eyes grew big as this thing he never heard once from anyone. Everyone told him to fulfill his duties but no one said to him that they would feel bad if he would go away. Mark lifted his hand and cupped Lily's face and the next second she was shocked by Mark's move.

"You're saying?" "I'm saying, I know you're avoiding me." She froze. "I see the way you look at me Tarah." Their eyes met. But she quickly looked away. "Look at me darling." He said huskily. He lifted her chin. She finally looked at him in his soul sucking eyes. "Are you attracted to me?" "No." She lied. TARAH What do you do when you feel things you never felt before? Feelings you never thought you would feel, towards someone you shouldn't feel that to. Feelings you should never feel towards your husband's brother. And what if it happens, he feels the same. What do you do? What do I do? How could I keep myself away from him, when we live under one roof. How can I not get attached to him, when he's all I am into. He showed me my darkest desires I never thought I had. He awakened my deepest feelings. He opened the door to my heart, and my damn legs as well. He was the greatest temptation that I failed to resist. I never thought of getting married through a contract. More so of falling in love with my husband's brother. EZEKIEL The marriage contract wasn't entirely legal, but still, a grooms valid name was needed. There was no second bastard son at all, and I couldn't come up with a name. So, I put my name on it. Making Tarah married to me. Yes. To me. She's married to me. Which she didn't know. And wouldn't know. I know she's just adopted, but I'll still mess around her, as planned. And what could I do? She's undeniably very pretty. So pretty. I wanted her attention on me. I want her. I want my wife. I want what's mine. I'll do everything to get her.

Dante and I have been married for three years. But he never knew my real name. We’d had countless arguments over the past three years—over the petty details of everyday life. I can no longer tolerate such a ridiculous life like a puppet today. Calliope, that’s what he called me, but it was actually my twin sister’s name. My husband may never know that the woman who married him three years ago was a substitute bride. Three years ago, my sister abandoned us and left before the wedding with her lover. To prevent the anger of the Laurent’s, my family had no choice but to let me marry Dante instead of my sister. My phone rang again and again, I finally picked it up. "Throwing another tantrum, are you? Calliope, tell me what you are capable to do if you can not even be merely a housewife?" I knew Calliope could always get her way through her sweet voice and innocent smiles. She can be an obedient and perfect wife—something I could never manage. "Dante. I’m not joking.” I didn't know if my voice sounded a little sad. "You can’t be serious—" For the first time, I heard a tremor in the man's words. He doesn't love me. He likes to be in control. When he realized that his puppet was losing control, he began to panic. It's time for this farce to end. I clenched my phone and spoke to the man on the other end in the calmest voice of my life. "Dante, let's get a divorce." But what shocked me more than hearing Dante's answer was the person who suddenly appeared in front of me. Calliope, my twin sister, who disappeared for the whole three years. “Are you crazy? Why on earth would you want a divorce? That's Dante Laurent, a billionaire heir, every woman's dream！” “Calliope? Our parents and I all thought you would never show up again. I entered this wrong marriage because of your escape. Dante... he’s not that a husband out of your dreams.” “Seraphina, put away your ridiculous niceness and compassion. I have returned this time to take back what is MINE and my place.” She lifted my hand with a sneer and removed the wedding ring from my finger.