The Road Not Taken

Albert Roosevelt was the crush I was never meant to have. Like an idiot, I believed loving someone meant giving them everything, even if they didn't care about you. So, I trailed after him like a desperate puppy, bending over backward to meet his every whim. When he couldn't afford tuition, I begged Dad to fund him, sending him to the best schools. When his worn-out clothes made him a laughingstock, I pitied him and showered him with designer labels. And what did he do? He used what I gave him to chase after a gold-digging campus belle. To keep up appearances, he blew through money like it grew on trees. He even spread rumors that he was the real heir to the Roosevelts. To him, I was just an ATM. "Your family's loaded. It's not like you'll miss a few hundred grand. If you're gonna be stingy, maybe you should stop following me around," he said when his wallet ran dry. And like a fool, I believed that if I kept paying, someday, he'd love me back. After graduation, I funded his startup. The second it took off, he married the campus belle. He had the nerve to claim he earned everything through nothing but hard work. So, I crashed his wedding, and he buried a knife in my chest. "Only when you're dead, Eve Roosevelt. Only then will my pathetic past stay buried." When I opened my eyes again, I was face-to-face with a scowling Albert. "You can't scrape together a few hundred thousand dollars? It's Bianca's birthday. Are you trying to humiliate me?" I looked around the room and rolled my eyes. "Sure, I'll pay. But first? Kneel. You look pretty enough. Consider it charity, peasant."

Xavia was Gilbert long awaited mate. When he found out she was a weak human, he was disappointed. He had waited so long for her only to find out she was a human and a weak one. She was also a captive that was brought to him. Angry and disappointed, he sold her off to the Lycan king, during his visit to the Ice pack. He doesn't know why the Lycan King wanted her and he doesn't care about it either. Even after she returned a few weeks after she left, he hid the fact that she was his mate, not only from her but also from others. He also treated her badly until she ran away. Gilbert did not care that she left, despite knowing she was sick. But never did he think for once that when they meet again, she will no longer be the weak human he used to know. He also did not think that he will begin to desire her and when he wants her back as his mate, she will no longer be a mate for sale.

Gen Williams, a smart, usually confident, and beautiful girl, perfect in the eyes of college admissions personnel, parents, and teachers, gets her reputation tarnished because of one night. This night, seemingly harmless, filled with teenagers being teenagers, ended terribly once a rumor about Gen spread throughout her home of Clarenton county, New York. Her friends and acquaintances distance themselves because of the controversy, and she's left with one companion, whom she met on Tinder. Can she trust him, or will this end in betrayal, too?

Before my boyfriend, August Cadwell, marked me, we went to register our mate bond at the Pack Affairs Department. Without a word of explanation, he unexpectedly had someone throw me out of the office. Then he walked in with his childhood sweetheart. He didn’t even blink when he saw me sitting there on the ground, shaking with disbelief. "Hailey's pup needs to be part of the Aurelis pack. The best and quickest method is for her to register a mate bond with a werewolf from the Aurelis pack. As soon as we sever the mate bond, I'll form a mate bond with you." Everyone assumed the lovesick version of me would wait just one more month for him. After all, I'd already waited seven long years. But that night, I did something unexpected too. I accepted my parents' arranged mate bond and quietly left for the Lymerian pack, disappearing from his life entirely. Three years later, I returned to my original pack to visit my family. My mate, Ryder Weyland, was now the lycan chairman. Because of an urgent council meeting, he arranged for someone to collect me from the airport. I never imagined that “someone” would be August. The moment he spotted me, his eyes immediately landed on the sparkling bracelet on my wrist. "Isn't this a knockoff of the bracelet Ryder Weyland, the lycan chairman, spent two million dollars on for his mate? Didn't expect you to turn this vain after just a few years. "You've caused enough chaos, haven't you? It's time to return. Hailey's pup is now of school age. You can take on the responsibility of pick-ups and drop-offs." I gently ran my fingers over the bracelet on my wrist. Little did he know that this was the cheapest one Ryder had ever given me.

One accident led to An Xin waking up in the body of her best friend. The once domineering Miss An was now suddenly the gentle Madam Ye, but this does not mean that she is without thorns. The first thing to solve, is this cold and unapproachable husband of hers that makes her pity her best friend. At the same time, perhaps squeeze a pretty penny off some hustle, and save up so she can travel. Perhaps she will find a few hunks on the way and her newfound life would not be boring at all. But wait, why is the once unapproachable husband suddenly so clingy? Good sir, I am not your wife, and marrying me is impossible. Unless...you promise to spoil me for the rest of my life, love me like nothing else, and to and over all your wealth and influence, and to be content coming home to do the chores and cook for me everyday. Perhaps then, I would sit on the couch and cheer you on!

On the day we were supposed to get our marriage license, Michael Robertson ghosted. I sat outside the County Clerk's Office for hours. Instead of him, I got a pic from his secretary, Kallie Clunt. She was in his lap, arms wrapped around him, making out like it was the hottest scene in a drama. [Sorry, Elsa. Michael said he had to comfort my broken heart. You don't mind, do you?] When I asked him about it, he just looked annoyed. "She gave me blood once. What's the big deal if I hang out with her? Can't you be a little more understanding?" My stomach dropped. I turned away and called his older brother. "Leon, do you still want to marry me?"

When nineteen-year-old engineering student Sky is scouted by Dream Entertainment, he thinks it’s a scam—until life throws him into financial uncertainty and he decides to take the leap. What starts as a desperate attempt to help his family quickly evolves into something far more complicated: a chance to star in a reality show where contestants pair up and compete for a coveted lead role in a new Boys’ Love (BL) series. Night, a successful but emotionally guarded model, isn’t the type to sign on for flashy reality shows—until he sees Sky’s casting photo and feels something he can’t explain. Against his manager’s advice and his own better judgment, he joins the project, drawn to the boy with the shy smile and uncertain eyes. Thrown into a house with six striking and wildly different contestants, Sky and Night are assigned roommates—others, not each other—and must navigate awkward first impressions, lip-sync battles, late-night conversations, and the growing tension between competition and connection. As the cameras roll and emotions blur, the question that hanging in the air: Is this just a path to fame in the entertainment industry—or is it something real? Is it all just for show?

Kylie Cooper was Jonathan Sinclair's lover for three years. After they broke up, she became his executive assistant. Jonathan treated her coldly and mocked her with sarcasm. Kylie said, "You used me as a stand-in before. Now that she's back, please let me go." However, Jonathan was confused. "A stand-in? I've only ever loved you..."

I was reborn. Right back to the day I adopted Peter. The wind cut sharp, baby cries slicing through the cold. That's when it hit me—this was the day Stuart Pete, my oh-so-loving husband, dumped his illegitimate child right in my path after work. He knew me too well. The second I picked the kid up, he'd spin it into an adoption, making the boy ours. Last time, I fell for it. This time? I walked away without a second thought. Later, I heard the kid got pneumonia from being left out in the freezing cold—fever so bad, it wrecked him for life. I laughed until my stomach hurt. What I didn't see coming? Peter was reborn too—about to experience the life he was meant to have.

My daughter was born with silver poisoning in her blood—passed down from me—which made it hard for her to sense her wolf, and even harder for her to shift. I worked tirelessly, taking on every job I could, to earn enough money to find a cure for her. One night during a late shift, I saw her. My daughter, dressed like a princess in an elegant, Silverlight-woven gown, sat at a table in a high-end restaurant. With her was my mate—supposedly bedridden and paralyzed—wearing a tailored haute couture suit. Across the table sat the famous she-wolf of our pack, the daughter of a respected elder. They had ordered a lavish dinner, the bill totaling over $500,000. After the meal, I overheard my mate ask our daughter, “You remember how to tell the story, right?” She nodded and replied, “Yes. I’ll tell Mom we were working as werewolf junk collectors all night, collecting waste paper crates, and in the end, we only earned enough to buy half a loaf of bread.” My mate smiled, pleased with the answer. The she-wolf then gifted my daughter an entire collection of newly released moonstone jewelry. Before they left, my mate tipped each waitress $5,000. I stood frozen, tears falling as the truth shattered my heart: my mate—and even my beloved daughter—had been lying to me. Even in dormancy, my wolf mourned. A colleague saw me crying and asked what was wrong. I forced a smile and said, “I’m just happy. I got $5,000 tonight. It would’ve been even better… if it hadn’t come from my mate, the one who’s supposed to be paralyzed and lying in bed.” No one knew what I had sacrificed to be his mate. I waited for an apology. But it never came. So I made my decision. I called my father—the one who had been waiting all these years for me to return as his heir. When I disappeared from their lives, just as they had always secretly wished... That’s when they finally began searching for me across the world.