Throat Tightness

At the party for our first wedding anniversary, I hit the floor—face-first on a red carpet, gasping like a fish out of water. Carlo Pipino, my husband, had his arm draped around Gianna Verde, his childhood flame, sipping champagne and laughing. Gianna knew I was allergic to nuts. So, obviously, she bathed everything in hazelnut dressing. One bite and boom—my throat locked, my lungs lit up, and hives popped like confetti. I reached for my allergy meds—came up with a fistful of melted M&Ms instead. Gianna laughed when she saw my face. "Surprise! Carlo swapped your meds. Seriously, Siena, one nut? Dramatic much?" I slid off my chair, wheezing, while the crowd placed bets on how long my "performance" would last. "Carlo... my meds..." I croaked. "Please. I'm gonna die." He sighed, annoyed. "God, you're so dramatic. Why do women always play dead for attention? You know I love you. Just stop this show already." Right then, my heart shattered faster than my lungs could. I stopped begging. Hit the distress signal. Called my real family.

Marley Benson is pathetic.  Not because she's a loser or because she's in love with her cousin's boyfriend. Okay, she might be a loser, but it does have everything to do with being in love with her cousin's boyfriend. It isn't Marley's fault that Luca Valentine has beautiful green eyes and a face sculpted by the gods. And so what if Marley is exaggerating, he's that attractive.  However, everything changes when Ares Abernathy decides to make Marley's life even more miserable than it was before.  She can handle watching the love of her life with someone who isn't her. What she can't handle is Ares' sharp words that cut like glass.  Besides, what has she ever done to make her the target of his cruel antics? With Ares at her throat Marley is forced to focus on other things.  Things that have nothing to do with Luca Valentine. Like why does her best friend seem to be hiding something, or why there's a giant dog lurking outside her house?  Or better yet, why is Ares Abernathy so obsessed with her?

I had always shared a perfect relationship with my mother-in-law, Betsy Dutton. We were the model pair of a wealthy family. She and my father-in-law, Rourke Dutton had been childhood sweethearts, their bond seemingly unbreakable. But one day, she told me something that changed my entire perception of them.  She clutched my hand and tears were streaming down her face. “Naomi,” she sobbed, “your father-in-law… he’s been keeping a mistress. They even have a child together! “For over ten years, I’ve been in the dark, made into a laughingstock!” My throat tightened, and I couldn’t hold back my own confession.  “Mom, actually… Julius is no better. He bought a whole apartment building for his mistress!” We wept in each other’s arms, our heartbreak spilling out in waves.  After what felt like an eternity, she sniffled and straightened herself. “Men are utterly unreliable creatures!” “I’m done with that old man, Naomi!” I gripped her hand tightly. “Mom, wherever you go, I’ll follow. I’m done with Julius, too!”

When I woke up that morning and happened to glance at the mirror, a scream tore from my throat before I could stop it. Because on the face I had always taken such pride in, there was now a jagged, horrifying scar. As terror gripped me, a cool, detached female voice cut through the air beside me. "What are you shrieking about so early in the morning? Scared by your own ugly face?" I looked up in shock and realized the voice belonged to my girlfriend, Alicia. Only—she wasn't the same girl from yesterday. Gone was the youthful innocence I remembered. In its place, every movement, every glance radiated the allure of a mature woman. The words slipped out before I could hold them back. "Babe… you're gorgeous…" But Alicia's brows knit together, her gaze colder than ice. "Kurt, drop the act!" Act? I was at a loss. Why would she accuse me of pretending? "Don't call me the way you used to five years ago. It's disgusting." Five years ago? But… I'm still twenty-three… am I not?

Diego strolled into his apartment, his heels clinking softly against the marble floor. He tossed his blonde wig on the couch, and his soft fingers propelled forward to count the dollar bills in his hands. “You're out crossdressing again?” His uncle, Roberto, a tall imposing figure with gray streaks on his hair walked into the room. “I might just have the perfect job for you,” Roberto chuckled softly and tossed a gun at Diego. “What?!” Diego's breath hitched in his throat as he swallowed the weight of the mission his uncle proposed. Cross dressing was one thing that Diego did with ease. There was no way he could do what his uncle requested; assassinating the infamous mafia lord of the Rocco empire. He stood in front of a mirror, holding the gun that Roberto had handed to him. There was no way that this soft and delicate hand could pull a trigger. Diego didn't expect that the mafia lord he was set up against was going to be a man who'll make his heart flutter. He tried to resist, bracing himself to complete his mission. But things only got heated when he found himself “entangled in the rival's hold.”

"Come to me." He sneered, sniffing her throat as she flinched. "No I won't." "Why?" "Because I hate you." She spat at him and he flinched, retreating back with a curse. * * * * * "He will fall in love with her, but she will hate him. She would be the lowlest of beings but he would crave her touch. She is his antidote, his cure, that he can never have. He will be a blasphemy to his generation, she would be the one to redeem him. He is the cursed one." * * * * * Adolph Caeser is the largest wolf of his kind. A born werewolf, and Alpha of his pack. To the outside world, he is a billionaire, a playboy and a womanizer. To those who know him, he is the Alpha and leader of the Keanu Clan. For years, he has been searching for his mate. Moon have risen and risen, years and days have gone, but he has not met the one. On an icy trip to Alaska he meets a battered lady, he takes her in without knowing she is a witch. She and she alone has the answer to the pain he has held in his heart. She alone holds the key to his curse. She alone knows where the long awaited one is.

"Yes”, I say slowly, tears welling up in my eyes as each drop run down my cheeks, hot and carrying the weight of my emotions, I feel my throat closing up and my chest tightening as I struggle to find words. What have I done to him? I think to myself, it dawn on me that maybe, just maybe, his aching and bothersome affection towards me could be sincere and I was at the brink of losing it. Billionaire CEO Elias Vermontary seems to only care about raising stocks and making investments, anything and everything to diversify the Vermontary enterprise. He is considered the most eligible bachelor in the country but marriage is unfortunately the last thing on his mind. In a bid to die down the rising rumors of his sexuality and the conniving efforts of his family, he decides to get married to Selene Argraval a struggling lawyer, who has a nerve wrecking disdain for the wealthy and their lavish lifestyle. As their worlds collide, they must learn to face the challenges of life together, forgoing their differences and withstanding the pressures of their contrasting lives. Will a love that doesn’t seem to exist brew, and will it be better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? Unravel the sacrifices made in a bid to love harder and longer.

When my mother asked me who I wanted to marry, this time, I chose none of them. Instead, I decided to go to the Northwest and serve my country. In my previous life, both my childhood friend, once a captain, and my educated fiancé courted me. I had feelings for both. But while I was still struggling to decide who I wanted as my husband, both accidentally ingested something. In a dazed state, I spent a chaotic night. After that, my parents asked one of the men to marry me. On the wedding day, the first love in both their hearts, the woman they had always truly loved, found out the truth. Out of spite, she accepted a local thug’s proposal. After marrying him, she was forced to give birth to ten children, one after another, until she died tragically. After her death, both men grabbed me by the throat and asked, “Why did she have to die such a miserable death, while you’re still alive and well?” They strangled me to death. When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day when my childhood friend and my fiancé had been drugged.

Thalia Faux, was cursed as a kid despite being a seer she couldn't use her gift to see the future, but her blood could be used to heal however her blessing became a curse and left a forever mark on her life by weakening her wolf to the point where she could no longer shift. In the end she was trapped by her Alpha and her blood which was blessed by moon Goddess was used by the packmates to heal themselves. She believed that she would die just like this but then her pack was attacked and Alpha Carter came into her life, she thought she was saved but once glance from her savior and she knew she was a goner. He wasn't her savior but tormentor The first words that he spoke while he held her by her throat “I will ruin you ” sent her life into an irreparable chaos She should have died back then but she didn't now she would pay the price for all her life. Everything About Carter was dangerous , beneath his charming facade laid a monster that Thalia never wanted to become target of, but no matter how much she escapes, Carter only wanted her.

He straddled me, his hips swirling in slow, maddening circles. His body was right there, pressing into mine, and I couldn’t escape it; I didn’t want to. His hands found mine and guided them to his chest, and when my palms touched his warm skin, I was gone. My pulse was a blur of frantic beats pounding in my ears, drowning out the crowd's cheers and whistles. With his face inches from mine, Alec leaned in. His breath ghosted over my lips, his smile, cocky, knowing, playful, and somehow tender all at once. “You okay there?” he asked with an amused tone, and I opened my mouth, desperate to say something—anything—but nothing came out. My throat was dry, my skin was on fire and my mind was completely blank. All I could do was stare at him, completely mesmerized by how his body moved against mine and that wicked smirk on his lips. Before I knew it, heat pooled low in my belly, spreading downward, and I instinctively clenched my thighs together to stop the throbbing that ignited between my legs, but it was too late as I dampened the soft leather.