The Specials Much Too Young

While my husband, Gerald Brown, was abroad negotiating a business deal, he was drugged and spent the night with a female secretary from a rival company. The drug’s side effects scrambled his memory so badly that he forgot who I was. He kicked me out of the master bedroom and let the secretary smash my grandmother’s heirloom. I told myself he was sick and stayed silently by his side. But when I suggested taking him for a medical checkup, he hit me for the first time. “Who do you think you are? Only Ailey is allowed to touch me. If she gets jealous, you’ll regret it.” When the secretary framed me, he pushed me down the stairs, and I suffered a miscarriage. Late one night, when my heart condition flared up, I went to his study for medicine but overheard him talking to his friend outside the door. “Faking amnesia to bring Ailey home is one thing, but why replace your wife’s heart medication? Now, she’ll never return to the hospital for surgery.” Gerald just chuckled. “If I don’t keep her weak, she’ll go to the hospital and check the hospital records and find out I was never drugged. Ailey’s been timid since childhood and even went undercover for me in a rival company. I can’t betray her.”

My mom made me pretend to be a boy since I was a child, all in hopes of winning my father’s love. As I was about to graduate from college, I decided to leave the country for good. However, I never expected my secret crush to tie me up.

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.

When the power meter in the house trips, Mom's foster daughter, Juniper Hawthorne, is trapped in the dark for five minutes. Even though I have claustrophobia, Mom locks me in an empty, pitch-black room. "You knew Juniper was terrified of the dark, yet you intentionally shut off the power just to frighten her! I'll teach you how to behave today!" I cry and beg her not to, but all I receive in return is a harsh slap. "Claustrophobia? That's just what happens when a kid grows up too spoiled." Late that night, I sense someone breaking into the house. The first thing I do is to call Mom, a renowned criminal psychologist, for help, only to be yelled at. "You're still really getting into this role just to fight Juniper for attention, aren't you? "Kidnappers, huh? Well, go ahead and die so you'll stop bothering me!" As she wishes, I'm brutally tortured and killed. My body is buried beneath Mom's favorite flowerbed. After I die, my soul is trapped in the body of a cat. All I can do is helplessly circle Mom until five days have passed. The police arrive with a mangled body and request her help in creating a portrait of the killer.

After graduation, I spend a year interning with my mentor, a healer, out in the neutral lands—no packs, no laws, and no one to protect me. My brother, the Lycan Chairman of all werewolves, nearly loses his mind over it. He's terrified I'll fall for some Rogue and impulsively form a reckless mate bond. As such, he handpicks an arranged mate for me—Falcon Sterling, the Alpha of the strongest pack in Northmere. He's handsome and dangerous, a legendary figure. My brother orders me to come home for the mating ceremony, so I have no choice but to go pick out a Luna crown. At the jewelry shop, my eyes snap straight to a crown made of pure silver and covered in diamonds. Just as I reach out to take it, a sharp female voice cuts in. "I like the one she's holding. I'll take it. Hand it over." Before I can react, the clerk snatches the crown right out of my hands, nearly scraping my skin. I straighten up, forcing myself to stay calm. "Ever heard of 'first come, first served?' I saw it first. Is this how you do things here?" The she-wolf slowly turns toward me, casting me a long, mocking look. "This crown costs 300 thousand dollars. You sure you can afford it, peasant? I grew up with the Alpha of the Silvermoon pack, Falcon Sterling. Around here, I make the rules." I stare at her, almost laughing. Isn't that funny? Falcon just happens to be my arranged mate. I pull out my phone and press the call button. "Hey, Falcon. Your adorable childhood sweetheart just stole the Luna crown I'm supposed to wear for the mating ceremony. What do you think I should do about that?"

Andrew was the youngest Alpha the Northern packs had ever seen.   On his twenty-eighth birthday, he accepted a she-wolf as a gift — right in front of everyone.   For the first time, I dropped the obedient act. I smashed the champagne tower, threw my ring at him, and called off our engagement.   Then I packed my bags and left the pack I'd called home for seven years.   Everyone said I was a rogue with no one to turn to — that I'd come crawling back within three days.   Andrew didn't even care. "She's a rogue I took in. Without the North, where else would she go?"   But three days came and went. Then dozens more. I never went back.   The first time Andrew reached out through our mind-link, he found nothing.   I'd already severed the connection.   Later, when news broke that I had mated with Austin, Alpha of the South, it sent shockwaves through the werewolf world.   Andrew showed up at my door, desperate, begging me to come home.   Austin smiled warmly, his arm curling around my waist. "Andrew, what exactly are you discussing with my Luna?"

Olivia Carter once believed that love could grow after marriage. For three years, she stayed beside the cold and powerful CEO, Sebastian Knight, enduring his indifference and the humiliation from his family. But everything shattered the night Sebastian chose another woman and threw divorce papers in front of her. Heartbroken and betrayed, Olivia disappeared from his life without a word. What Sebastian never knew was that she carried a secret that would change everything. Five years later, Olivia returns—but she is no longer the weak woman everyone once mocked. She has become a fearless and powerful woman with her own empire, and by her side stands a brilliant little boy who shares the same cold eyes as Sebastian Knight. When their paths cross again, the ruthless CEO who once abandoned her begins to realize the truth he ignored for years. But this time, Olivia Carter is no longer the woman who begged for love. Now the powerful CEO must chase the wife he lost, face dangerous enemies, and prove that his regret isn’t too late. Because some mistakes cost more than a broken heart… They cost the family you never knew you had.

Elara thought her life was perfect. Betrothed to a prince, raised by the Alpha and Luna, and days away from unlocking her wolf. But on her 18th birthday, everything shattered. Branded a liar, stripped of her name, and cast into slavery, she watched another girl steal her place as the Alpha’s daughter. Betrayed, banished, and broken, Elara was dragged into the darkness of the unknown… only to discover a deeper fate that ties her to a cursed Alpha, a buried truth, and a power she never knew she had. Her fall was only the beginning of her journey.

No matter how hard she tried, Darius always met her with nothing but cold indifference. He forgot her birthday. Dismissed her achievements. Even their daughter turned her back on her, choosing Emma—the woman with a sweet smile and a heart full of lies. One glance from Emma mattered more to Darius than all the years she stood by his side. One whimper from Emma was enough to make him drop everything and rush to her like she was the only woman that ever existed. She waited. She gave her all. And in return, she was left behind—again and again. Even her own daughter stood with Emma now. So she finally made her choice. She left. She was once a blazing star in the AI world—a prodigy feared and admired. And now, she was done playing the quiet, obedient Luna. She stepped back into the battlefield, into the world that once bowed at her feet. The she-wolf doesn’t stay silent forever. Silence was never her nature. Fighting was.

We shouldn’t be doing this,” Nate said like he meant it. But he didn’t move away. All I wanted was a fresh start. New city. New apartment. New version of me. So when my best friend, Olivia, offered me a place in her brother’s building, I didn’t hesitate. What I didn’t expect was Nate. Her older brother, my landlord, and a man who already belonged to someone else. The kind of man who looks at you once and makes you forget every reason you shouldn’t want him. I knew the rules. I knew the risks. I broke them anyway. But desire has a price. And mine came with a friendship on the line, a past that refused to stay buried, and pressure closing in from every direction. The smartest thing I could’ve done was walk away. The problem? Nate had already made me forget how. The moment we crossed the line, everything I came here to rebuild was suddenly at risk.