The Collected

"Why would you try to hurt her?" Victor shouted back. His voice was cold towards me, as he held onto Lily's hand. "So you're just going to believe her over your own wife?!" I fired back. Victor ignored my words and drew his attention to Lily and the broken glass. I watched as he carefully collected the pieces and threw them away. "Are you hurt anywhere? Did the glass get you?" Victor asked softly, giving her hand a light squeeze. "No, no. I'm okay now that you're here." Lily's smile was small. "Please don't leave me alone with her again..." **** I, Emelia Russo, once thought I was a woman who had it all—a successful career, and a loving husband. But when a "childhood friend" by the name of Lily Marino re-enters my husband's life, everything takes a turn for the worse. All of a sudden, my once faithful and loyal Victor was lying for her, favoring her, and trusting her word over mine. I became the outsider in my own marriage. When I finally had enough of his secrets and mistreatment of me and called for a divorce, he begged me to stay. "Please, let's go back to how the way things used to be! I'm begging you! Don't leave me!" Victor pleaded. But what happens when I tell him "It's too late."?

Rain was my mate's childhood sweetheart. When she found out I'd been exposed to wolfsbane as a child, she slipped a trace amount into my mushroom soup. The moment I swallowed it, a searing pain ripped through my chest. My powers drained away. My wolf howled inside me, thrashing in agony. Panicked, I grabbed my flask — years ago, my father had collected sacred spring water that could neutralize wolfsbane, just in case. But she had swapped that too. The flask was full of the same poisoned soup. The blood drained from my face. Every ounce of strength left my body. I collapsed, clinging to the leg of my mate, Liam. "Please — I've been poisoned. Wolfsbane. You have to help me — " Liam hesitated. But Rain crossed her arms and laughed. "Liam, your fiancée really is quite the actress. It's just mushroom soup. I've been a healer for years, and I've never seen anyone get poisoned from soup." The other werewolves piled on. "Cut the act! Nobody gets poisoned from mushroom soup." "She's just jealous that Rain became a healer. She wants to ruin the celebration." Liam's face went cold again. "Rain's a healer. If there was anything wrong with the soup, she'd know. You'll be fine." I stopped begging. I spent the last shred of my energy reaching through the mind-link to my father — Alpha Hale of the Granite Pack.

Back when we were still in love, I heard from someone else that Charlie Grant had been getting unusually close to his secretary. He never offered an explanation. He let me dig for the truth on my own. Over the past five years, I quietly collected countless photos of them together—having lunch, leaving late-night meetings, even traveling for business—but none of them offered conclusive proof of cheating. Until the day he proposed to me. There was a giant screen set up. It was supposed to play a romantic video Charlie had prepared just for the proposal, but the screen suddenly cut to something else. A video of Charlie at a hospital, standing beside his secretary as she underwent a pregnancy check-up. In the video, the doctor clearly referred to Charlie as her husband… and the father of her child. His secretary burst into tears on the spot and apologized to me repeatedly. She sobbed as though she were the victim. Charlie, however, stood there with a cold expression and said flatly, "She's an unwed mother. She was helpless. I was just accompanying her for the checkup. The doctor must've misunderstood." Everyone braced for a dramatic scene. However, I didn’t scream. I didn’t cry. I only reached up and slowly removed the delicate flower hairpiece from my head. I set the hairpiece down. Then I looked Charlie in the eyes and spoke calmly. "You're right. It is sad that she’s pregnant and all alone. "This marriage proposal was meant for her. Not me." I gave a faint smile. "May you enjoy a blissful life. And… congratulations on the baby."

Even knowing that wailing at an Eravalen aristocratic funeral was considered disrespectful to the deceased, I let my husband's adopted sister make a scene anyway. In my previous life, my husband, Robert Baker, had a distant relative among the Eravalen aristocracy who passed away. A lawyer informed him that he stood to inherit the estate and invited him to attend the funeral. His adopted sister, Mia Carter, insisted on tagging along to see how the privileged few in another country lived. She wanted to rub shoulders with nobles and make herself look important, even planning to wail dramatically in front of everyone. I rushed to stop her. "Public mourning is taboo among Eravalen nobility. Forget inheriting anything. We'll all be thrown out!" Yet she burst into tears, accusing me of looking down on her and thinking she was not good enough to mingle with aristocrats. She stormed out and was killed by street thugs in a random attack. I thought Robert would fall apart, but he stayed silent through the entire funeral and collected his inheritance without a hitch. Six months later, on our wedding anniversary, he took me to the snowy mountains for a photoshoot. The moment we reached the peak, he shoved me into a sleeping bag and tied it shut. "If you hadn't blown everything out of proportion, Mia never would've run off and gotten herself shot." He buried me alive in the snow. I froze to death, and he used that aristocratic fortune to become the CEO of a publicly traded company. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Mia insisted on wailing at the funeral.

“Gosh! You're delicious, "he whined as he placed my hands above my head lightly. I bit his lips softly. Without missing a beat, Lucian pulled my nipple into his mouth, and his lips were so soft as he sucked on it. The warmth from his mouth caused me to close my eyes, and at the same time, he used his fingers to caress my pussy. I was unable to think straight any more. “Harder!” I groaned. It felt like he was fucking me with his hand. I wasn't sure of anything any more. I could only feel the blood rush into my heart as desire threatened to get the best of me. Lucian suddenly pulled away from me, and I spread my legs giving him the view. “Damn it woman!” He growled. I giggled as I caressed my nipple. His saliva was literally matted to my skin. Lucian pulled impatiently at his clothes until he was as naked as I was. “It gets me every time,” I mumbled as I pointed at his dick. **** Andrea Vuk is an Omega... All she ever wanted was to meet her fated mate. She dreamed of becoming a Luna and bonding with a powerful Alpha. On the night of her 18th birthday and the Full Moon Festival, Andrea attended the festival for the first time. There, she encountered the Alpha Triplets; Raul, Nikolai and Lucian Dragan. When the brothers selected her as their mate, Andrea finds herself in a triangle dilemma. Who will claim Andrea's heart? Will it be the cold-hearted First Alpha - Lucian, the loud mouthed Second Alpha - Raul, the calm and collected Third Alpha - Nikolai or will it be all three of them? And, how will she cope when she learns about the ulterior motives? Find out in this intricate story!

Kira is an adopted daughter of a well-known heartless billionaire (Gerald Cranwell) who was sold by him into a contractually agreed marriage to the wealthiest family in the entire country to escape bankruptcy. Clueless Kira calm and collected could only just watch her life being handed over to a new home and her new world, tackling people from the highest society and struggling to look presentable before a husband she had never set her eyes on before. He never showed up at their wedding and she didn't know what he looked like in person. Trapped in a supposed marriage meant for two yet leaving alone, she grew tired of waiting and accepted her fate, living like a nobody and sleeping in her lonely world, not until a certain stranger crawled into her bed under the moonlight. Excerpts #1 She was dressed in her night attire, looking like a carved doll. Her eyes were shut and her brown hair which was as soft as a Pima cotton was spread wide on the soft pillows, her skin glowed underneath the light of the moon, which was the only light visible in the room, and her long lashes accompanied her pointy nose that laid beautifully above her rose pink lips. She enticed him. She made the beast in him growl out in desire. He craved her, he wanted her. Kira was in deep sleep when her nose caught a whiff of an unfamiliar scent. She didn't know what it was but her body craved it. She felt a certain presence but she was far too gone to wake up from her slumber. Unconsciously, her nipples hardened and her insides were on fire. She rotated on the bed as if she was been controlled and moaned and groaned as if she was being drugged.

Zara Storme was the ghost in the machine at Sterling Global. For three years, she wasn’t just Mark Sterling’s fiancée she was The Architect. The unseen force who patched his weaknesses, outplayed his rivals, and quietly engineered a billion-dollar empire while he collected the applause. Then, over an elegant dinner, Mark slid a severance check across the table instead of a ring. To him, Zara was indispensable but temporary. Brilliant, yes. Loyal, certainly. But she lacked the pedigree required for his permanent throne. So he chose optics over love, trading her for a strategic merger and a well-bred socialite. Mark expected tears. Begging. A woman unraveling. What he didn’t know was that abandonment had trained Zara long before him. Her father had taught her the art of leaving without looking back. Fueled by a quiet rage, Zara committed one final act of treason which was leaking Mark’s most valuable upcoming deals to his greatest rival, Asher Vane. It was meant to be her clean exit. Then fate intervened. She was pregnant. Five years later, Zara returns to the city reborn as the formidable CEO of Lucent Capital. No longer the woman behind the throne, she is the throne. A venture-capital titan whose influence eclipses every man who once dismissed her. At her side is Luca her five-year-old masterpiece. Disciplined. Brilliant. And unmistakably the son of the man who walked away. When Mark Sterling’s empire begins to collapse under the weight of its own lies, desperation drives him to seek salvation from a firm powerful enough to save him. He comes to the boardroom expecting mercy. Instead, he finds Zara Storme seated at the head of the table untouchable, and finally holding his fate in her hands. This time, she’s here to watch it burn.

Maria Inna Esperanza is an architecture student studying in their country home, the Philippines, despite her parents' best effort to urge her into studying abroad. Naiisip rin niya ang kagandahan abroad pero mas gusto niyang makapagtapos sa lupang sinilangan, mag disenyo ng istraktura kung saan mas makapagbibigay serbisyo sa kababayan niya at higit sa lahat may pakiramdam siyang di niya maintindihan, na parang may humihila sakaniya na manatili dito. Things changed weeks before her 20th birthday, she began having weird detailed dreams that made her anxiety grew more and it did not help when her cousin Kyle made a bet she thinks is stupid but ended up doing it in exchange for Kyle to stop pestering her. Dito niya unang nakita si Kyran, nagkakilala at naging magkaibigan. Sa pag pasok ni Kyran sa buhay niya aminado siyang umiba ang ikot ng mundo niya. However, the weird detailed dreams did not stop and it seems that it's a story that bounds to continue, she began lucid dreaming. May panahon na pakiramdam niya may napupuntahan siya pero wala naman. Habang gumaganda ang samahan nila ni Kyran ay ganun din ang pagbabago ng mga gawi niya. Nagsimula siyang mahulog kay Kyran. Kasabay ng nararamdaman niya para kay Kyran ay ang pagtindi ng di niya maipaliwanag na deja Vu lalo pa ng malaman niyang nagpaplanong maghiwalay ang kaniyang mga magulang. Before she finally decided to admit her feelings for Kyran and after she has collected a good amount of courage to face him if he rejects, she uncovers the truth about the story she has been dreaming of all along. A story that ends tragically. She knew she wants to fix the ending, she did her best to gather information and find the man from 1780.

During the two months that I was away for a competition, my neighbors insulted me in the neighborhood’s common group chat. [The girl living on the ninth floor, you look like a decent girl. Why are you bringing so many men back home every day?] [Can you moan a little softer? I don’t care if you’re a sex worker, but if you keep making loud noises until midnight, don’t blame me for calling the police!] [Don’t call the police yet. I haven’t had my turn. How much are you charging, Charlene?] My heart sank. Before I left for my competition, I had asked my boyfriend, Jacob Smith, to take care of my luxury river-view apartment. That way, he could keep an eye on my expensive paintings. What was happening? I rushed home in confusion, but when I opened the door, I was further dumbfounded. My 3,000-square-foot apartment had been partitioned into 30 rooms. Meanwhile, Jacob’s childhood friend, Prissy Black, was holding a string of keys as she collected rent money. When they saw me, everyone started laughing. “What? Are you here to rent from Prissy after learning that she’s providing cheap rooms in such a pristine location? “Too bad everyone knows that you’re eyeing her boyfriend. You won’t be able to benefit from doing such a thing!” I was extremely furious as I approached Jacob to talk about it. However, he told me that it was Prissy’s dream to be a landlady. He asked me not to pay it any mind and to treat it as doing a good deed. “You’re rich anyway. Don’t be so calculative. Everyone’s happy now, so what’s wrong with that?” The keys tinkled in Prissy’s hand as if they were taunting me. “This house doesn’t welcome stray animals like you. You have yourself to blame for not having such a nice boyfriend.” The two of them acted all lovey-dovey in front of me, and I immediately called the police. “Someone’s trespassing on my property, and my painting that’s worth 15 million dollars has gone missing. What type of punishment would this entail?”