The Particular Sadness Of Lemon Cake

The day my birth parents found me, the reunion banquet they threw turned into their funeral. My parents and their adopted daughter, Leila, died of food poisoning that night. The only one who survived was my older brother, Alpha Kian. He didn’t like sweets, so he never touched the cake. The cake that I handed to them myself. “So you want to take Leila’s place. “You’re just jealous because she got all our love! “She was the only one who ever accepted you, and you still killed her!” Those were Kian’s exact words as he shouted at me right outside the hospital room. From that day on, I became a sinner. To make up for it, I barely slept four hours a night and worked five jobs just to buy back the villa the rival pack seized during the chaos. However, the day I finally saved up enough, I saw my dead parents throwing a birthday party for Leila in that very villa. Kian stood among them, looking at her with a warmth I didn’t recognize. My mother said, “Isn’t today also Lily’s birthday? It’s been eight years. Maybe it’s time to forgive her.” However, Kian didn’t hesitate to refuse. “No. Even though Leila sniffed out the wolfsbane and saved you, we agreed that Lily gets ten years. “We can’t risk her ever trying to poison Leila again. Not even a day less.” I clutched the diagnosis paper from the clinic tightly and laughed through my tears. I knew I wouldn’t get to ten years. I was already dying.

“He rejected me in front of the entire pack… because she stole my scent.” Nobody wants a rejected Omega. Ayla Riverwinddoesn’t care anymore. She's done waiting for fate. As Northmoon Pack’s healer, she’s content in the shadows—until the day her world burns. Her best friend, ‘Cassia’, uses forbidden scentbinding magic to steal Ayla’s identity and claim her mate—high-ranking Alpha ‘Darius’—as her own. Publicly rejected, shackled in silver, and tortured with wolfsbane, Ayla is cast into a dungeon and marked feral. The rejection was meant to break her. Instead, it awakens something ancient inside her. When she escapes into the Outlands, Ayla meets ‘Rylan Stormblade’—a rogue healer with secrets carved into his skin and knowledge of a lost ritual that may restore her scent... or kill her. But Ayla’s scent is no longer just hers. It burns through the bond realm, ripping through the senses of one wolf in particular—’Kael Valerius’, the Alpha King. His wolf goes feral when her scent touches the wind, but he already has a Luna. Now hunted by Alphas who want her dead, claimed by a King she doesn’t trust, and stalked by a prophecy that says “the next Luna will break the throne or bless it”, Ayla must rise—not as someone’s mate…but as the Luna they tried to erase.

Imagine you are given two choices. Choice #1 gives you a stable life with little to no uncertainties. You can have a comfortable existence but you may never experience the thrill of falling in love or the satisfaction of taking that leap into the unknown. Choice #2 gives you all the thrills and all the satisfaction but you also have the possibility of heartbreak and failures along the way. Which would you choose? For Aurora Butler, this is the exact crossroads she has come to as she starts her Senior Year at a new school. Her head is telling her one thing but after meeting Owen Marshall, her heart is telling her something entirely different. Choices are made even more difficult as responsibilities take a toll on her and she realizes some choices requires sacrifices she just isn't able to make. Just when she thinks she has it all figured out, bodies of young women who look eerily similar to her start showing up as the town realizes there is a serial killer walking among them, one who has particular tastes when it comes to his next victim. Will Aurora's instincts lead to the right choices or will her choices have deadly consequences? Can she survive to have it all or will she lose everything in the end?

Una semana antes de nuestra Ceremonia de Marcaje, en la fiesta de un amigo de Ethan Stormwind, le dije que quería romper con él. Al escucharme, todos se rieron, pues sabían que durante los últimos seis años, mi objetivo en la vida había sido convertirme en su Luna. ¿Por qué querría romper con él si solo faltaba una semana para la ceremonia? Incluso Ethan pensó que estaba siendo irrazonable, y me cuestionó: —¿Solo porque el día de nuestra ceremonia tengo que llevar a Selene al curandero para que le hagan una revisión, estás haciendo un berrinche y quieres romper conmigo? Después de una breve pausa añadió: —Los dos somos adultos, ¿puedes comportarte de manera más madura? Podrías reprogramar la ceremonia. ¿Por qué insistes en ese día en particular? No tengo tiempo para tus escenas de celos. Asentí en silencio. Sí, algo tenía que cambiar, pero no era la fecha de la ceremonia, sino él. Yo iba a aceptar ser marcada por alguien más.

Plain. Normal-looking, to say the least. Pessimistic with a job she despised. And most importantly, she was dumped by her long-term boyfriend, Ryan. Iyon si Ashley. She didn't just enroll in graduate school to earn a promotion; she also wanted to forget about the breakup. Then, she met Nathaniel. Her initial impression of him: a Womanizer! She saw how ladies flocked to him, which made her cringe. Ngunit isang araw ay ipinatawag siya ng kaniyang mga magulang upang ipaalam na ipinagkasundo siya ng mga ito sa isang kasal. Worst, ang kaniyang mapapangasawa ay walang iba kundi ang babaerong si Nathaniel! Sa kabila ng pagtutol ay naikasal sila. What she didn't imagine is Nathan would notice everything she'd been hiding; her worries, sadness, and the things she genuinely wanted to do. Because of him, she discovered a side of herself she hadn't previously known existed. Ayos na sana ang lahat. Ang problema na lang ay siya. Hindi niya kayang pagtiwalaan si Nathan. Will she be able to resist his charm? Is it worth it for her to put her heart and soul at risk once more? And most of all, will she be able to set aside her insecurities in the face of Jenny, the only woman who has ever broken Nathan's heart?

Timothy Ruiz, the cold-hearted billionaire has a mission. He has to take Idalia Flo Costaños to the heir of their secret organization as part of his mission. What could go wrong? He'd been through storms of bullets. He already once escaped death. Kidnapping a girl would be a piece of cake to him. Iyon ang akala niya. Timothy did not expect Idalia to be such a temptress. He did not expect her to be so good in seducing him and making him painstakingly hard by just glancing at her. Hindi niya inakalang maaakit siya sa mapupulang labi nito at nangungusap na mga mata. Above all, he did not expect that Idalia could unleash the monster he hid inside of him, the monster he thought was not existing, making him feral whenever a man touches her. Making him completely lose his mind whenever he sees her talking with someone else. Even though Timothy tried so hard and all means to escape from Idalia's enchantment, his efforts were useless. He could not resist her charms. He knows it within himself that he lost it but he refuse to let it show. He refuse to let any man know about the feelings he is harboring for the girl who is meant to be with someone else. Now, he's caught in a battle between his raging desire for her and his commitment to the mission. He's caught in a battle between himself for wanting to take her as his. When words could destroy a heart like a bullet, would Timothy let himself break her heart along with his own? Would he let the world they built crumble down into pieces? Or would he let his heart decide and completely own her despite knowing it would mean going through flames?

Fate. What is fate? According to my research, it is to be destined to happen, turn out, or act in a particular way. Iyon na ang dapat na mangyari e—nangyari na e. May magagawa pa ba? It is what it is kaya tatanggapin na lang? Para bang kahit anong mangyari sa buhay mo, wala ka nang magagawa. Iyon ang nakatadhana, iyon ang dapat na mangyari, iyon ang nakasulat sa libro ng buhay mo kaya wala na. Tanggapin mo na lang. I was born rich. Nakukuha ko ang lahat ng gusto ko—kailangan ko man o hindi. My attitude and personality was already rotten that nobody can tame me except for the man who introduced himself as my fiancee. If my parents were both heartless for me, he isn't. Ako lagi. Ako muna bago ang iba—bago siya. But, the story of my life isn't favor of me. From being proud and arrogant to pathetic life. Good thing that I have him. He is always the shoulder that I always have to lean on. He is like my guardian angel for taking care of me. Siya lang talaga ang may kayang umunawa sa akin. Siya lang talaga ang nag-iisang umiintindi sa akin. That's why I kept on asking him, why — why does he love me so much?

Book 1 Saints and Sinners She was the light to my dark. The saint to my sinner. with her innocent eyes and devilish curves. A Madonna that was meant to be admired but never touched. Until someone took that innocence from her. She left. The darkness in my heart was finally complete. I avenged her, I killed for her, but she never came back. Until I saw her again. An angel dancing around a pole for money. She didn’t know I owned that club. She didn’t know I was watching. This time I won’t let her escape. I will make her back into the girl I knew. Whether she likes it or not. Book 2 Judge and Jury I can’t stop watching her. I’m not even sure I want to. Taylor Lawson, blonde, beautiful, and totally oblivious to how much dangers she’s in. She’s also the one juror in my upcoming murder trial that hasn’t been bought. The one who can put me behind bars for a very long time. I know I should execute her. After all that’s what I do. I am the Judge. I eliminate threats to The Family. And Taylor is a threat. But I don’t want to kill her. Possessing her, making her love me seems like a much better plan for this particular Juror.

It was my birthday. I thought he would take me to see the fireworks by the sea, but he showed up with another woman and her child. “Vera has a kid with her, and it’s inconvenient for them. Be a little understanding. She doesn’t know her way around here, and she has a lot of luggage. I’ll just drop them at the hotel.” He said it so casually, as if he were just explaining some trivial, everyday chore. It was that very gentleness of his that made me feel like I was so unreasonable getting angry over it. He helped them into the car. He leaned down to buckle the seatbelt on the child. Then, he turned to me with a smile. “I’ll be right back. Don’t overthink things.” I stood by the roadside and watched them drive away like a picture-perfect little family. As night fell, the sea breeze turned sharp and biting. Still, I waited until a notification of Vera Cannon’s social feed update lit up my screen. He was holding her daughter in his arms. They were watching the fireworks by the beach. It was a surprise I had planned for my own birthday. The comments poured in. [What a perfect match. What a beautiful little family!] Someone asked him why he was not picking me up. He just smiled and said, “Indy is very patient. She won’t be mad.” At that moment, my birthday cake melted into a puddle of frosting. I finally realized that he had not done that to be cruel to me. He was certain that I would always wait for him. However, even the warmest heart grew cold when neglected too many times. The waves crashed against the shore, over and over. With each crash, another shred of my hope washed away. This time, I was not going to wait for him to come back.

On Emily's birthday, her father, Mr. Albert, didn't celebrate with her and her mother. Instead he went to celebrate his ex-girlfriend's son's birthday. He bought expensive gifts for them, but her daughter got nothing but heartbreak. Emily was suffering from the worst brain tumor. She has been on drugs since she turned two. When Albert's ex-girlfriend showed up with a boy, he felt happy and proud to have a living child. Because to him, Emily is just a waste of space. A disturbance to his life and finances. Deep down, he wanted her to die quickly so he would stop spending his money on drugs. He accused his wife, Jennifer, of cheating on him. That his sperm can never produce a problem child—a living dead child. One fateful morning, a day Jennifer went to deliver a cake to the CEO of a bankrupting company. There, right in his office, she made a prediction that turned the man into a multibillionaire. "Marry me, Jennifer, and I will make you the richest woman in the world." The man said with one knee on the ground while presenting a diamond ring before her. "I'm sorry to disappoint you. I'm married with a child, and I love my husband," she said and got home only to receive a divorce paper. "Sign this paper and leave with your sick daughter if you don't want me to marry a second wife." "Wow, you just made it easy for me. I don't even need you anymore." She signed it and left with reckless abandon. Will Albert regret his actions? Was he actually the father of his ex-girlfriend's son? Most importantly, will Emily survive? Join me and find out for yourself.