Thirty-four

Faith Thomas – Thirty-six-year-old accountant and closet romantic whose marriage implodes when she catches her husband of ten years cheating. Devastated, she moves home to Texas, determined to never let another man into her heart ever again. Rick Connor – The handsome thirty-nine-year-old retired Navy cryptologist making a new start for himself after a crushing loss four years earlier. He’s alone, and he's made peace with it – until Faith Thomas wanders into his bookstore and into his heart.

One night. No name. Just a gold bracelet. Four years later, my son is dying. Only his father can save him. But I never knew who he was... Until I find him again... Sebastian Blackwell. Cold. Rich. Dangerous. He says I'm a lair. Now he wants a deal. One year of marriage. One rule: Stay silent. But he doesn't know... I was never supposed to be in that room. And someone I loved planned it all.

Eva Miles committed a crime and got away with it because she was the only daughter of a billionaire. Her sins surfaced after six years to disrupt her dream wedding plans. She had wished to give her virginity to a man who waited four years for it. However, she was blackmailed into marriage with her enemy and later paid for her sins with her virginity. She later had her dream wedding. It was more romantic and elaborate than what she had dreamt.

One winter night at a strip club, their lives intertwine. Twenty four hours later, Jeanine, the girl from the strip club, was getting married to multi millionaire, Aiden. She signed the contract, agreeing to be his wife for only a year. She hated his cold demeanor, his aggressiveness and his nonchalance. She is not his type but she’s his because she’s married to him. All along, he doesn’t know that she's all he ever wanted, she was his.

For over thirty years, my wife Janet faked being broke—for her flimsy ex. When our son Asher landed in the hospital, I begged and borrowed from everyone I knew. Still came up fifty bucks short. Janet? Said she was tapped out. So my mom sold off her own meds to cover the bill—never told me. She died without treatment. I handled my mom's funeral alone. When I went to pick up Asher from the hospital, I found a stash of Janet's old shopping receipts. Custom suits. Million-dollar watches. A damn private jet. I grabbed them and stormed off to confront her. Asher cut me off. "Dad, Mr. Sackett's sick. Mom's just helping him out. Why are you freaking out?" I stared at the kid who only lived because my mom died. It felt like something cracked inside me. Janet barely looked up. "Connor's educated. He deserves the finer things. Unlike you—crying over fifty bucks like some househusband. See? I didn't give you the money, and Asher's fine." Fine. If that's how they see it, I'm done with this family.

Riley thought her mother’s new marriage would bring stability. Instead, it led her straight into danger. Her new stepbrother, Noah, is everything she should fear. He is tattooed, ruthless, involved with the mafia, and dangerous in ways she can’t resist. His grey eyes promise destruction. But Noah isn’t the only threat in the mansion. David, her mother’s husband and Noah’s guardian, is the most ruthless mafia boss of all. He married for one reason: revenge. And Riley is the perfect pawn. Now, trapped between a stepfather who wants to ruin her and a stepbrother who will kill to keep her, Riley’s heart is caught in a fight of loyalty, and forbidden desire. He’s her salvation. He’s her stepbrother. Loving him might cost her life. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• “Look at your phone, princess. You see the black Jeep across the street? I’m in it. You’ve got thirty seconds to walk out on your own, or Im going come in and carry you out over my shoulder in front of every single one of your little friends. And Ethan gets to learn what happens when he puts his mouth where it doesn’t belong. Clock’s ticking.”

After Celine Anderson let her newly-promoted assistant take credit for my billion-dollar project for the ninth time, I handed in my resignation letter. I also refused to show up in the same place as her. Whenever she was interviewed by talk shows as a public figure, I would switch off all the screens in the building. I also got the security guard to stop her from entering even if she brought me a cup of coffee in the middle of a tornado. To see me, she purposely rescheduled three virtual meetings with foreign companies. So, I immediately bought air tickets to leave the country. I blocked her everywhere and formatted the hard disk that contained all of our memories from the past decade. When I was twenty, I studied with her in the university library. When I was twenty-five, I ate the cheapest bread with her when she first started her company. When I was thirty, I finally knew how to let go of things that no longer serve me. On the ninth time I was accused of sleeping my way up, I came across a photo of her and her assistant kissing. Meanwhile, I was sitting at our dining table with food that had turned cold. It turned out that our decade-long relationship had been a joke. However, it was fine. It was not too late to come to my senses.

I gave everything to save my fated mate, Alpha Austen. I even lost our pups. Twice. But he gave all the credit to his adoptive sister, Seraphina. He called me weak. Useless. He always chose her tears over my scars. He even stood by as her poison shattered my wolf spirit. As I lay dying, I watched him hold my killer and whisper, “I know it wasn’t your fault. This was her fate.” Then I opened my eyes. And I was back. Back before it all went wrong. This time, I’m done explaining. Done sacrificing. Right in front of him, I disguised a potion that would sever our mate bond as a "blessing elixir" and held it to his lips. “My love,” I said, “drink this. It’ll help you comfort your poor little sister.” He drank it without a second thought. In thirty days, under the Blood Moon, our mate bond will be severed for good. But only when I was truly gone did he finally regret it. He knelt before me, again and again, calling himself my fated mate. Begging me to take him back.

On the train back home, I found a scathing post online. [My sister-in-law is pushing thirty but isn’t married yet. She comes home all the time. Would you be bothered by it?] The comments were numerous and ran the gamut of opinions. The post got wildly popular, and there was an argument between the poster and commenters. [It’s bad enough that she won’t get married. She wants to stay with us when she’s home. Shouldn’t she feel ashamed? I’m at the end of my rope. She even drank all my lemonade last time she was here. I really hate her. [She has no boundaries. I’ve been wanting to teach her a lesson for ages. I turned her bedroom into my walk-in closet. Let’s see if she can still stay here.] When I got to this point, I closed the post. It was lucky that I bought the house where my parents and brother live. Because of that, I would not be at risk of losing my own room. But when I got out of the train station, I received a text from my mother. [Sweetie, I booked you a hotel room. You don’t have to come home and stay this time.]

Ariana Silverio lost her mother about 5 year ago now takes care of her brother and father in her place. Her father Kenneth has been trying to find a job to support his family but with no luck and now decided to ask his brother for help. His brother is the Alpha of Blood Rose pack and will only take his brother back if he becomes his Beta and sadly her father has no choice but to take it. After the moved back not only do they live in the same big pack house as the Alpha but now her and her brother will be in the same private school as the Alpha children. The private school only allows the higher rank children and even the Royal family as well. There are some exception of some witches intending the school as well. How will Ariana going to handle the change in her life? How will she hide about her wolf being different? Prince Marcus Heinrich is the son of King Alexander and Queen Aurora, next in line to be king of the east side packs. He’s the first male white wolf in the family blood line. The white wolf was created to protect the Moon goddess blood line, but no one has seen any sight of the silver wolf in thirty years or more. Will it be Marcus who finds the silver wolf as he is destine to?