The Joy Of Life

"I bet you still feel me," I whispered, tracing a lazy finger down her spine, just to make her shudder. "Still stretched from how deep I was inside you." She sucked in a sharp breath, but I caught the way her thighs pressed together, the way she burned with the memory she was so desperately trying to bury. "Shut up," she bit out, her voice shaking. I chuckled, dark and low, brushing my knuckles against her jaw. "Why? Does it drive you insane knowing you let the villain ruin you first?" Camilla He used to make my life hell. Stefano Madden, the golden boy with ice in his veins and a filthy mouth that cut deeper than knives. I was the fat, invisible girl he loved to humiliate. Now, I’m curvy, successful… and unfortunately, his personal assistant. I swore I’d never fall for him again. But the way he looks at me now? Like he wants to ruin me all over again, only slower, dirtier, deeper. And I would let him. Stefano I broke her once. I should’ve walked away. But Camilla Whitlock grew into every man’s fantasy and I hate that she makes me feel. So I push her. Tease her. Own her. Until the line between cruelty and desire snaps. I take her, claim her, and when I put a baby in her, my obsession turns lethal. But when she’s stolen from me, all bets are off. I’ll burn the world to bring her back… even if she never forgives me.

When I was seven years old, my younger brother went into anaphylactic shock after sneaking a handful of peanuts. Outside the emergency room, my mother slammed my head against the wall over and over, her face twisted with rage. "If you had been watching him like you were supposed to be, this never would have happened! You should be the one with a ruptured stomach, not him!" After that, whenever my brother so much as caught a cold, my mother forced me to eat spoiled leftovers as punishment. I once prepared an elaborate feast. She flipped the entire table and made me crawl on the floor to lick it clean. When I said I wanted to study culinary arts, she poured hot oil over my hands. My father wanted to send me to vocational school to learn a trade, but my mother clutched my brother to her chest and wailed. "She destroyed her brother's health! She owes him a lifetime of service!" When I was fifteen, my brother's gluttony cost my father an important business deal. I took the blame without even being asked, and the furious client forced me to drink more than half a gallon of hard liquor. By the time I was sent home with a bleeding stomach, my father had already scolded my brother. My mother took out her anger on me instead, slapping me so hard my ears rang and my vision went dark at the edges. "You useless thing! You should’ve choked to death at that table! I get sick just looking at you!" I coughed up black blood. From my pocket, I pulled out a piece of sour candy that had gone soft and sticky. It was the only treat my mother had ever given me with a smile, back before my brother's allergic reaction. I put the candy in my mouth and swallowed it down with the taste of stomach acid. The candy was so sour it made my throat burn. Whatever came next, I just hoped I would not have to be my family’s garbage disposal again.

On the night of her Moon Ceremony, the day she eagerly awaited, Aria Hemlock believed she was finally about to receive the life every she-wolf wanted, love, honor and bond to the Alpha's son. For years she trained non-stop to be the perfect Luna for him...soft-spoken and obedient. But fate had other plans. When Kael, the bloodthirsty and cold rogue alpha, storms into the sacred grounds and interrupts the ceremony, everything stops. Gasps of shock echo through the night as he steps into the moonlight and declares the unthinkable: "She is mine". Before Aria could protest, run or even breathe, she feels the strong unmistakable pull of the bond. Her wolf recognizes him, craves him, Submits to him. Before she could think, she's marked Kidnapped And claimed Thrown into the world of rogue who lives by his own rules Kael is feared across every pack, an exile who has a bloody past and a strong heart encased in ice. But the more time aria spends in his presence, the cracks begin to show. Beneath the scars of pain and fury is a man bound by duty, secrets, and something much deeper than hate. And he didn't just claim her out of his lust. He did it to protect her from a truth that could get her killed Because Aria isn't who she thinks she is, and her pack isn't what they claim to be. As forbidden attraction threatens to commit the both of them, and long-buried secrets start surfacing, Aria must make a choice...fight for her fate...or burn the world down to be with the one wolf she should have never loved. But some bonds can't be broken no matter what. Enemies will rise Loyalties will shatter And in the end, only one true bond will stand

As Don Julian Vitale's woman, I've accompanied him every step of the way, from the streets all the way to the peak. It all starts because I don't like the way Julian's god-sister, Milena Santoro, uses so much force in dressing my wounds that I've dismissed her in favor of other people. The next day, my explicit photos are plastered all over the underground casino's chips. I clutch my abdomen, which still sports the stab wound I've blocked for Julian. As I search for him, I end up overhearing his subordinates' lewd laughter outside a private room. "Winona sure is hot, Don Vitale! Now that her body's printed all over the chips, our luck has tremendously increased as well!" "That's not it! Previously, Don Vitale rewarded me by letting me grope Winona's chest! Because of that, I was able to seal a business deal that's worth tens of millions of dollars!" "Then again, Don Vitale, won't Winona get into a fight with you for spreading her explicit photos like this?" Julian puffs out some smoke while toying with a casino chip with my crotch printed on it. "She's just a plaything whom Lady Luck favors. Without my protection, she's even lower than a mutt. Besides, she's nothing compared to Milena, and yet she has the gall to complain about how much force Milena uses in dressing her wounds?" As the crotch-imprinted chip is flung onto the table carelessly, I feel my heart dying once and for all.

My husband, Steve Malone, thinks of himself as a highly-educated person. Not only that, but he's also very uninterested in physical intimacy. When we go to bed every night, we have to sleep with a bowl of water between us. In fact, Steve refuses to let me touch him at all. But on the day he returns from the volunteer teaching program in the countryside, I discover a pair of pantyhose all tangled up in his clothes. Upon hearing my question, Steve maintains his cool facade as he explains, "This is contraband that I've confiscated from a student." I never respond to Steve. Instead, I get in contact with the female teacher, Rebecca Cramer, who has gone teaching with Steve earlier. From the other end of the line, Rebecca's sarcastic voice drifts over. "Your husband sure is unstoppable, Audrey. He couldn't resist kneeling in the pig sty while licking the dead skin off that Paige widow's feet. No one could stop him at all. "I heard that Paige even intends to give birth to a child for him. They went at it once per day, you know. I think you should head over here and witness everything for yourself." As soon as I end the call, I contact my lawyer right away and prepare to file for a divorce. This time, I'm hell-bent on ending things with Steve.

“You disgust me.” I blinked back the tears that wanted to fall and forced myself to move forward. This was just another challenge I had to face, another hurdle in my mission. I couldn’t let Hunter break me, no matter how much he seemed to enjoy tormenting me. I would survive this. I had to. Even if it meant swallowing my pride and scrubbing floors until my hands bled. *** As an Omega from a rival pack, Faelen Earhart’s mission is clear: infiltrate the ruthless Howle Wulf Pack and pose as a servant. But blending in proves harder than expected, especially when she catches the eye of Alpha Hunter Blackethorn—a notorious who loathes weakness and makes Faelen’s life a living nightmare. Despite his cruelty, Faelen finds herself drawn to him, sparking a dangerous attraction that’s as thrilling as it is confusing. When Faelen uncovers an imminent attack from her own pack, she faces an impossible choice: remain loyal to her pack or protect the man she’s come to care for. Her warning changes everything, forcing Hunter to confront his own feelings. In the battle that follows, Faelen’s courage will redefine her loyalty, Hunter’s heart, and the future of both packs.

It was in the Era of Harmony, trillions of years ago, when Chaos first arrived. To stop all existence from growing rampantly and exhausting all sustenance, the Creator of the universe took on Chaos as its body, the void as its vigor, and black holes as its jaw—a combination to create a world-ending coffin, devouring the seas and setting lands aflame, reducing all to ashes! Later, millions of years ago, the gods waged wars against each other when the same coffin appeared out of nowhere, massacring their ranks and decimating the divine realm. Since then, it had gone missing, but its name continued to echo throughout the universe, leaving both gods and demons in fear! Millions of years later, a youth was buried alive and fused with the coffin where he was kept, and he became an undertaker whose name was heard throughout all worlds. "I'm really bad at saving lives, but I'm quite good with ending them," he said quietly with a cool visage. "I possess the Coffin of the Gods, and I can send anything and anyone to their deaths: humans, worlds… or even the gods themselves!"

My college roommate, Miranda White, adored romance novels. She would always fantasize about being the protagonist of such novels. She dreamed of being loved by a rich, handsome man and eventually marrying rich. Although her allowance only came to a hundred a month, she insisted on buying a wool coat worth a thousand. She would put on the most dazzling makeup and put on a fake persona. She vowed to make every man around her love her. "I will only marry a rich hottie. My Prince Charming will find me," she proudly proclaimed. I was kind enough to caution her, warning her to protect herself and work hard to improve her life. Instead, she thought I was just jealous. "You're the kind of person who wants everyone else to be as miserable as you, aren't you? What rotten luck to have you as a roommate." Fine, then! It wasn't as if I'd be the one who'd become bankrupt by her online boyfriend!

Emily has never known the warmth of a real family. Abandoned before she was born and orphaned young, she was taken in by her best friend’s mother—fed, clothed, and educated, but never truly loved. To them, she was just the charity case they picked up from the streets, tolerated but never chosen. Still, Emily believed in love, she trusted her boyfriend, she trusted her best friend. Until the night she walked in on them together… in his bed. Shattered and drunk, she spent one reckless night with a mysterious stranger, desperate to forget the betrayal. By morning, he was gone, leaving only a name behind. Mr. Harrison Grey. She never expected to see him again, until she returned home and watched her best friend run into the arms of the same man. “Daddy! I missed you!” In that moment, Emily’s world collapsed all over again, because the stranger she spent the night with was her best friend’s father. Now, a dangerous secret is growing inside her, one that could destroy what little stability she has left. As forbidden feelings, jealousy, and buried family secrets surface, Emily must confront a truth she never saw coming. What happens when the man who gave you one night of comfort becomes your forbidden baby daddy?

Year Malkame returns to her hometown after ten years of exile. She came back following pieces of a puzzle she really needed to find in order to meet her Secret santa, the man or woman who had been gifting her lonely childhood Christmases with joy and music. Being sent away from her home at the age of fourteen, she had lost the trail of the person she was looking for. But now, she wants to finally find him. But in her journey, she finds her childhood best friend Justin. A misfortune leaves her under the same roof with this man. What happens when long-time friends come together after ten years? What happens when she realizes who her secret santa is? And what the hell happens when a billionaire decides he suddenly wants her to not only work for him but also be his woman?