The Seventh Novels & Stories

I was prepping the ceremonial cloak for our seventh mating anniversary. The front door suddenly banged open. My son rushed inside, tears streaming down his face. "The teacher yelled at me," he sobbed. He shoved the wrinkled drawing into my hands before burying his face in my shirt. I smoothed out the paper to see what the drama was about. It was a sketch of a faceless woman titled: The Substitute Mom. My heart stopped as I read the scribbles underneath. "Daddy said she is the backup." "She does the chores but gets no wages." "The Real Mom is responsible for being beautiful and guarding the treasury." My fingertips turned ice-cold against the paper. My mate, Ethan, had just returned from a patrol. He kissed my forehead. "What did our pup draw?" The next second, his smile froze when he saw the content. His voice tightened, and he reached out to snatch the book. "He watches too many cartoons! He's writing nonsense!" I stared at the man I had shared a den with for seven years. He looked like a stranger now. If I was the substitute. Who was this beautiful real mother? And where had my true son been all these years?

In the seventh year of my relationship with Ruby Carrington, she picks me up from work in the heavy downpour one evening. When I open the door to the front passenger seat, I notice a puddle of water on the seat. A strand of short hair is there as well. Ruby grips the steering wheel without even looking at me. "I just dropped off an intern from the project department at his home. He didn't bring an umbrella with him, so he was drenched." As I sit on the damp seat, I feel my heart slowly going cold as well. "Ruby, you knew very well that I'm severely germaphobic." Ruby just chortles in response. Her tone is filled with impatience and exhaustion. "It's just a seat, isn't it? He's younger and funnier than you, not to mention he's also more handsome than you even when he's drenched in the rain. "I tried having a relationship with him. Being with him is definitely a lot more interesting than with you. But I'll still marry you, though. As long as you pretend not to know anything about my affair, we can keep this relationship going." Rain continues streaking down the window outside, and yet, I find the air inside the car even more suffocating than the rain itself.

I came into this world like a queen ascending her throne, flanked by three fierce guardians sworn to defend my reign. My husband is the best lawyer in Ardenfield. Though he's unbeatable in court, he doesn't dare stand up to me when I scold him at home. My childhood sweetheart leads the criminal investigation team and is a genius at solving cases. He even vows to eliminate any threat that surrounds me. Meanwhile, my adoptive brother is a rising star in the business world. Having inherited the Joplin family's business empire at an early age, he spends money on me without hesitation. Today marks both my seventh wedding anniversary and my birthday. I spend the entire day waiting for them at a rooftop restaurant, clutching a pregnancy test report in my hands. But instead of basking in celebration, I receive the heartbreaking news that my five-year-old daughter has drowned. To make matters worse, my husband decides to defend the culprit in court. When I cry out in agony, my childhood sweetheart puts me in handcuffs. My adoptive brother even goes to the extreme of reclaiming everything he has ever given me. "Louise, it was just an unfortunate accident between two children. Will you let Violet's son go now?"

Rakar Adiyatama is known as a cold and mysterious CEO, but beneath his expensive suits lies a dark secret—he is the legendary Alpha of the Velkan Clan, a line of werewolves thought to be extinct. For love, he abandoned his throne and married Revira Ardelia, an ordinary human woman completely unaware that the man sleeping beside her is a monster. Their perfect life shatters when their only son, Ardan, falls mysteriously ill on his seventh birthday. Doctors find nothing, yet the birthmark on Ardan's back begins to glow like blood. Rakar knows this is no ordinary sickness; it is the awakening of the *Blood Moon*, an ancient and dangerous power that a half-human child should not possess. When a mad scientist kidnaps Ardan for a gruesome experiment, Rakar is forced to unleash the beast he has buried for eight years. His secret is brutally exposed, shattering Revira's trust. Now, Rakar must fight on three fronts: win back the heart of his terrified wife, protect his son from the rival Lunaris Clan who has come to claim the Blood Moon's power, and face his own clan who brands him a traitor. Caught between two worlds, Rakar must prove that a father's love is deadlier than any Alpha's fangs.

In the seventh year of my engagement with Nathan Galloway, he has inherited everything from his dead older brother, including his newly widowed sister-in-law, Catherine Wilkins. Whenever Nathan is done sleeping with Catherine, he'll hug me and comfort me gently. "Just wait for a little longer, Jojo. Once Cathy gets pregnant, we'll have our own wedding." This is the Galloways' only condition for Nathan to inherit the family's assets. In the six months following his return to Ravelton, Nathan has visited Catherine's room 52 times. He initially started off with just one visit per month. But slowly, the visits have been increasing to the point that he now visits her once every two days. Finally, when I spend my 52nd sleepless night sitting in my room and waiting for Nathan's return, I receive the news of Catherine's pregnancy. But at the same time, the news of Nathan and Catherine's upcoming marriage breaks out as well. "Mommy, is someone getting married in this household?" As I stare at the wedding decorations in the villa, I just pull my son, Theo Huber, into a hug with a blank expression. "Yeah. Your daddy is about to marry the woman he loves. That's why it's time for us to move out." What Nathan doesn't know is that we Melshes couldn't care less about marriage.

Prince Aldridge Camionare, the seventh prince of the Holy Land, found out that he was a prince later than he should. With a mother who died, a father who doesn’t care for him and siblings who will never accept him is left to do his duties. Aldridge minded his ways until he met the Duke's son who he had fallen in love with. The two of them had their fun together until rumours spread about an affair which the Duke apparent immediately put an end leaving Aldridge distraught and helpless. During this time he uncovered a plot that threatened the crown and was granted three gifts, one of them allowing everyone who wanted to be with the same sex immunity from death. With this new law, Aldridge could do whatever he wanted as long as it was not against the crown and with daddy blessing, he went in search of someone who would never leave him. Shawn Seghatchian was found in the dungeon by Prince Aldridge to stand as his personal bodyguard. Being released and following the prince's orders, Shawn later realised that something unexpected was developing between the two of them but as things develop, the nobles cause troubles, so many troubles for the prince and his prisoner. But does this really affect the bond between the Prince who has a personality disorder and the prisoner who is as loyal as a dog? AND while they saved the kingdom one body at a time? Cover art by: Pen Guevarra

“I didn’t just save your sister’s life, Elara. I bought yours. And I’m a man who expects a return on his investment.” Elara didn’t have options. Her sister was dying, the doctors had given up, and the only thing left in the house was an old grimoire and a ritual she was never supposed to touch. So she touched it. Now she belongs to Vane ,demon, Duke of the Seventh Circle, and the most terrifying man she has ever stood in front of. He doesn’t look like what she expected. He looks like someone who buys companies before breakfast and ruins people for sport. Cold, beautiful, and completely unbothered by the fact that he now owns her life. The deal was simple. Her sister lives. Elara obeys. Except the mark he burned into her skin doesn’t say owned. It says sacrifice. And the more time she spends inside his world , his rules, his house, his dangerous, suffocating presence ,the more she realises that Vane didn’t just answer her call that night. He’d been expecting it. She just doesn’t know why yet. And maybe that’s the most terrifying thing about him not the power, not the contract, not the way he looks at her like she’s something he’s been waiting centuries for. It’s that she’s starting to look back.

My fiancé leaves me jilted on our wedding day and marries my sister. As I stand there, feeling humiliated, William Sterling gets on one knee before me and asks me to marry him. Everyone in my city knows of him—he's an elite bachelor and every woman's dream. Yet now, he slips a wedding band onto my ring finger and confesses his love for me. "I've always loved you, and I thank the heavens for giving me the chance to spend my life with you." We get married, and he treats me well. Everyone knows that he won't fall for anyone other than me. Everything changes when I accidentally enter his studio in the seventh year of our marriage. I see that he's painted thousands of portraits of my sister, Ivy Winslow. Each one is a tender confession of his love for her. The man I love with all my heart earnestly prays to the heavens and utters his wish. He's willing to sacrifice anything for Ivy to be happy, including his life. It turns out what I thought was seven years of love was nothing but a lie. Ivy is the one he's loved all along. If that's the case, I'll back out. I'll leave in three days, and I hope he and Ivy can be happy together.

When Cole Harrington ran away from our wedding for the seventh time because of his childhood sweetheart, the Harrington family personally came to apologize. "We'll add another five kilos of gold to the bride price. Three buildings in the Southwest. And nine prime-location storefronts in the city center. Consider it the Harrington family's compensation." Before the words had fully settled, a careless laugh from Cole came through the phone. "Grandpa, do you really think she's worth that much? Believe it or not, I could pick up a random rock off the street and still coax her into being completely obedient. "Instead of wasting all those assets on her, why not give them to me so I can invest them in Liv's gallery?" Henry Harrington hurriedly hung up the phone, then looked at me with an awkward expression. Soft snickers rippled through the crowd. Everyone was waiting for me to swallow the humiliation in silence, just as I had before. But this time— I had already received this kind of "compensation" six times. The novelty had long since worn off. The same was true for Cole himself. After a moment of thought, I raised an eyebrow and glanced toward the crowd—at the illegitimate younger brother whom Cole had always despised the most. A smile slowly curved across my lips. "The man that I marry becomes the heir to the Harrington family. That was our deal, right?"

It was our seventh anniversary. Christopher Quinton proposed to me with nothing but a ring pull. He got his true love a house. When I said no, he rebuked me like I was some sort of gold digger. "I thought my love for you was worth more than anything money could buy. I only got Rachel that house to pay her back for all she did for me. I can't believe you thought I still loved her. You disappoint me." I broke up with him and tossed the ring pull into the bin. Then, I walked off. The next day, Christopher took away my position as VP and told everyone he was getting engaged to Rachel. … Five years later, we ran into each other at a charity horserace. He was a successful businessman, and the woman beside him was Rachel, all dressed in custom-made clothes. I was dressed in janitor attire and stuffing plastic bottles into my woven bag. He mocked, "Look at you, Queenie Dean. Scavenging for a living. Bet you didn't see this coming when you ditched me, did you?" I ignored him. My son had run off, and I had to look for him. The boy noticed the plastic bottles that were strewn across the ground, and he insisted that we stay back to finish his social practice activity here.