Thirty Nine

My sister, Anna Hawkins, and I are twins, but I'm slightly heavier than her when we were born. Anna has always been weak and sickly since young, whereas I'm always active and healthy. When Anna was four years old, she was diagnosed with leukemia. Mom blamed me for stealing Anna's nutrients when I got born, so I needed to return the nutrients to her. When I got my blood extracted for the first time, a thick syringe was used on me. I was so scared when I saw it. Mom told me not to be scared. She gave me a magical pen, stating that whatever wish I wrote down with the pen would come true. I wrote, "It won't hurt." When the syringe was plunged into my arm again, Mom bought me a sweet lollipop. The pain never struck me again afterward. When I was five years old, I drew a strawberry cake on the paper while getting 1000cc blood withdrawn from me. That week, Anna could sit up in bed and play on her own. When I turned seven years old, I wrote down my wish that I'd like to go on a vacation. The next day, I was sent into the operating theater for the doctors to collect my hematopoietic cells. For the first time ever, Anna's cheeks became rosy. When I was eight years old, I wrote that I wanted to become the top student of my grade. But a day before my exams, my bone marrow was drawn from me. Anna finally got discharged by the hospital. She got to wear new dresses that I never got to wear. In the year I turn nine years old, my body is heavily depleted. With a trembling hand, I can only write down a line in messy handwriting. "I hope… that I won't become Mom's daughter in my next life."

Past thirty, my usually serious husband suddenly developed a fascination with pink. The dark-colored furniture that had stayed the same for ten years was replaced with pink; even the utensils he picked up casually were pink. I stared at the line of pink pajamas, pink bow ties, and pink underwear hanging out to dry on the balcony, feeling something was off. "I thought you said you hated pink—that it was a color only women liked?" He was unpacking a new pink bed set and didn't even look up. "Oh, Jack and I made a bet. If I can replace everything in the house with pink, he'll give me his seaside villa for free. Honestly, after looking at it for a while, pink isn't that bad, don't you think?" I neither agreed nor disagreed. Instead, I called Jack, who blurted out, "What seaside villa? I don't remember ever buying one!"

After Cain called off our mate-bonding ceremony for the ninth time—calling it off for the sake of his childhood sweetheart—the Alpha himself came to the Abel family estate to deliver an apology in person. "We are prepared to offer an additional 300kg of frost iron, three hunting territories west of Silvermoon Forest, and nine forges in the pack compound," he announced. "Consider this reparations for the nine broken betrothals." Before his words even faded, Cain's laughter crackled through the phone speaker. "Dad, is she honestly worth that kind of price? I could toss her a half-rotted beast bone soaked in moonlight and she'd still come crawling. You'd be better off funneling those resources into Lina's beast-training arena." The old Alpha ended the call without a second thought. His golden wolf eyes shifted toward me, heavy with visible unease. The gathered wolves stifled their snickers, their throats rippling with suppressed laughter. Every pair of eyes fixed on me, gleaming with anticipation of the show. They all expected me to swallow the humiliation, just as I always had. After all, every wolf in Silvermoon Pack knew the tale: I, the Abel family daughter, had been pining for Cain, the Alpha King's youngest son, for years. Pathetic and devoted. But I'd endured this exact scene eight times before. I was done with it. And more than that, I was done with him. A beat of silence passed. Then I lifted my gaze, searching the crowd until I found the one face Cain despised most: his older brother, Cass. A slow smile curved my lips. "Whoever I claim as my mate inherits the Alpha title," I said. "Does that promise still stand?"

I was Alpha Damon’s Head Beta. For six years, I had been his partner in bed and his second-in-command. When he announced our mating ceremony, the entire pack celebrated. My dream was finally within reach. But then, outside his private trophy room, I heard him bragging about his “Luna trials.” And just like that, I learned the truth. I wasn’t his one and only. I was one of thirty candidates. He’d spent a month with each of us, grading our bodies, our submission, our performance. My score? Lower than an Omega’s. Lower than Lydia’s. “Fucking Lydia was incredible,” he boasted. “I could barely pull myself away. Then I look at Elysia—so stiff, so in control—and I’m just… bored.” Ice flooded my veins. My body went numb. Six years of devotion. Countless nights tangled in his sheets. It all meant less than a cheap thrill and a wolf who knew how to kneel. My heartbreak hardened into ice. I sent a message to an Alpha who had wanted me long ago. “Adrian, you once said your offer to mate was a standing one. Does it still stand? Damon and I are over now.”

Devlin, while on the run from his grandfather's control, accidentally obtained a necklace without him knowing that in it was a captive fox. After returning, his girlfriend Anthea had a life-threatening accident, he wore that necklace for Anthea, also from that moment, the spirit of the nine-chasing fox entered Anthea's body. That fox's name is Renata, she wakes up with a new identity and lives in a completely different society from five hundred years ago. After the accident Renata came back to life under the name Anthea, she didn't know anything about this girl so when she woke up everyone thought Renata was Anthea and thought Anthea lost her memory due to the accident. Devlin discovers that his girlfriend has betrayed him so he decides to keep Anthea by his side to avenge her, but after a while, he discovers that Anthea has turned into a different person after waking up, all habits and events Her understanding changes but it's strange that he tolerates all these changes even to fall in love with this strange girl in this familiar appearance. He became suspicious and discovered that Anthea was not human, he had accidentally seen Renata's nine fox tails on a full moon night, but he did not panic and threw Renata away. This was the first time Renata had seen someone who saw her true form without seeing her as a monster. The two of them gradually fell in love with each other, but the difference between humans and foxes caused them to go through a lot of hardship and suffering. Renata had never hoped to become a human like this. Where will their love go? Will Renata's sincere prayer move the angels to let her become human and live a normal human life?

This Christmas was actually one of my favorite and hilarious Xmas celebrations with uncle Gabriel here with us. It was fun and embarrassing too which made everything much of a sweet memory later on. How many can I remember? It began with little Josh's scandal, grandpa's embarrassment in the mall that day when he actually and mistakenly took his voter's card to the mall instead of his payment card. That day,I wouldn't dare wish anyone else the kind of embarrassment I felt under the unusual gaze of my classmates. I had to endure it all because my siblings and aunt ran away when they sensed what was happening. What if I tell you about aunt Caroline's argument with the pastor right there in the church on the twenty fifth of Christmas in the presence of everyone and with the pastor still standing in front of hundreds of people or is it uncle Gabriel's mischief which got us in trouble with the police, making us to sleep in the snowy woods with crazy imaginative ghosts hunting us down.

"Your punishment. Shall we?," Matteo asked, this time moving towards me. He stepped closer and ripped open my half-buttoned shirt. "If other men can have you," he added quietly, "Why can't I?" I froze. "You—" "You have two choices," Matteo said, undoing his cufflinks and pushing me back toward the bed. “Choose wisely.” "One: take your pants off. Let me see what you used on my brother." "Two: I call Alessandro and have him come watch what I do to you." "You're insane," I snapped. "Does your brother know you're a fucking pervert?" "He doesn't need to," Matteo said, his hand settling on my belt. "He only needs to know you betrayed him." He said as my buckle clicked open. "And now, La mia bambola ( My Doll).” Matteo continued softly, "You're about to learn what consequences really mean." Betrayed by his fiancee two days to their wedding, Alessandro spirals and falls into the hands of a play boy--Luca Mariani. Matteo Rossi, Alessandro's brother looks into Luca and finds a full file of his promiscuous nature, seven men in two months. He warns Luca to flee from his brother but Luca has no intention of doing so. What happens when luca finds out that the so called overprotective brother is the feared head of the Italian mafia. And worst still finds him in bed with another man. Let's find out!!

Maya's life turned upside down when a fertility clinic mishap left her pregnant with a stranger's baby. This stranger turned out to be Kelvin Sinclair, the famous billionaire in L.A. Given the pressure his family was putting on him regarding a heir, he was left with no other option than to take Maya in against her will to stop her from terminating the pregnancy despite that they were already engaged and married to their respective lovers. But things were about to go crazy and more disastrous with Maya under his roof and two jealous fiance's on the loose.

My fated mate, Alpha Ryker, postponed our bonding ceremony thirty-three times after my Luna Ceremony. All because his student, Isla, always had some new problem. Our first ceremony, Isla claimed she was attacked by rogues and her shift failed. She needed help. Ryker left me at the altar. I waited all night. Alone. The second time, Isla said her wolf was weak, that she was about to collapse on the training grounds. Ryker dropped my hand and ran to her. Without a second thought. After that, every time we tried to have our ceremony, every time he was about to mark me, Isla would interrupt. I swallowed the sharp pain in my chest and finally decided to reject him. But the moment I did, Ryker went feral. He started tearing the entire werewolf world apart, just to find me.

I am one of the last of the merfolk, born with the ability to create Mermaid's Pearls. Pearls that can bring the dead back to life. After the werewolf, Kyle, saved me from human hunters, I would have done anything for him. He died nine times expanding his pack’s territory. Each time, my pearl brought him back. The ninth time, I was too weak to even stand. But the first thing he did when he woke up was pull a sexy omega she-wolf into his arms and flirt, "Baby, you smell incredible—not like Althea. Her scent does nothing for me." He glanced at my pale face, annoyed. "Go rest. Get ready for the next time. I'll need you again soon." The next time? He had no idea. There would be no next time. I only had nine pearls. And I'd just given him my last.