Touched

On the fifth anniversary of Rebecca Perry's marriage to Vance Bradford, his first love returned to the country. That night, she caught him in the bathroom, murmuring Catherine's name as he pleasured himself. That was why, for five years, he had never touched her. "Catherine is back; she's all alone. I'm just helping her as a friend." "I understand." "I promised her I'd accompany her to the island for her birthday. I'm just fulfilling it." "Okay." "This banquet requires a capable companion, and Catherine is more suitable than you." "Okay, go ahead." When she stopped getting angry, stopped shedding tears, and stopped making a fuss, he grew puzzled. "Rebecca, why aren't you angry?" Of course, she wasn't angry anymore—because she was preparing to leave. Weary of this stagnant marriage, she had secretly learned a foreign language, taken the proficiency exam, and applied to study abroad. The day her visa was approved, she presented him with the divorce agreement. Vance froze. "No joke. How are you gonna survive without me?" Rebecca turned away, bought a plane ticket, and flew to the European continent, vanishing without a trace. The next time he saw news of her was in a viral video. Dressed in a flowing red gown, she danced against a foreign sky, igniting the internet with her performance. He gritted his teeth. "Rebecca, no matter where you hide, I will find you and bring you back!"

"Kneel, Madison. Or did you forget that a stray like you doesn't deserve to stand in the presence of a True Alpha?" Austin’s voice was a jagged blade, but the heat of his hand on my throat told a different story. He’d traded me for my sister—the "real" daughter—claiming my scent was too weak, my blood too thin. He threw me to the dirt, watching with a smirk as my adoptive father tossed a few hundred-dollar bills at my feet and told me to disappear into the slums. They thought they broke me. They thought I was heading toward a life of hunger and shame with a family of "nobodies." They were dead wrong. When the black helicopters darkened the sky and the most powerful Lycan King in history stepped out to bow to me, the look on Austin’s face was worth more than his pathetic pack. My "impoverished" biological family didn't live in a shack—they owned the world. And my five "starving" brothers? They were the most lethal Alphas on the planet, and they were hungry for the blood of anyone who touched their sister. Now, I’m back. Not as the girl who begged for scraps, but as the Zillionaire Queen with enough silver to buy their souls and enough power to burn their legacy to ash. But there’s a problem: Ethan Harper. The Cursed Lycan King. A man who smells like midnight and looks like sin. He wants my heart, he wants my throne, and he’s determined to prove that while revenge is sweet, submission is delicious. He thinks he can tame the White Wolf. I think I’ll enjoy watching him try.

On April Fool’s Day, my CEO husband cut out my heart to save his childhood sweetheart's son. After the surgery, he tossed me into a cold rental apartment, where I died in agony. Three days after my death, my five-year-old daughter played in the room as usual. Walking by the sofa, she wrinkled her little nose and mumbled, "Mommy, there's a weird smell in here." She touched my face and murmured, "Mommy, are you pretending to be Snow White? Why are you so pale?" She shook my arm harder and raised her voice, "Mommy, it's my birthday today—get up and blow out the candles!" Confused, she picked up the phone and called her father. “Daddy, did I make Mommy mad? I lit the candles, but no matter how much I call her, she won’t wake up.” On the other end of the call, Patrick Hart’s voice was cold and impatient. “What could possibly be wrong with her? She’s just pretending to be asleep for sympathy. It’s Johnny’s birthday, I’m busy. Don’t bother me! Tell your melodramatic mother to stop playing her little tricks. I don't have time to humor her." My daughter removed the candle from her bun, pinched off a piece of the bun, and fed it to me. "Mommy, I made a secret wish… I really wish you could hold me again, just like before."

I stood in the shadows, the scent of pine and frost heavy in the air, watching my mate, Ethan, smile—truly smile—for the first time in years. But not at me. At her. My cousin, Isla. His first love. She sat beside him, warm and glowing, with our pups, Lucas and Mia, curled up against her like she was their real mother. They were laughing, sharing bites of ice-cream cake, the kind Lucas once said made his stomach hurt. I was never meant to be here. I wasn't his choice. He didn't fall in love with me—he was assigned to me. To him, our bond was never about love. It was a political arrangement—an alliance between two packs: his power, my father’s ambition. A tie forged not by hearts, but by bloodlines and borders. He never touched me unless required. He never looked at me like I was his Luna. In that moment, as their laughter echoed under the full moon, I felt the mate bond falter—thin, fading, like breath in winter. And I knew. I had played my part long enough. So I turned away. It was time to severe the bond that was never truly mine. But when he sensed I was really leaving, when the tether between us began to snap, he broke. Dropped to his knees, clutching the pups like lifelines, his voice raw. "Please," he whispered, "don't leave me." Even the pups cried, reaching for me with shaking hands. "Mom, we’re sorry… We didn't mean it. Please don't go."

"Walt..." I looked at him, my hand trailed his chest. I was biting my lip, I need him. It felt like I need him to make me forget. It felt like a familiar thing to do. But I still wasn't sure that he wanted us to happen the way it was intended to. Then he cupped my jaw and kissed me. His lips touched mine, his facial hair tickled my face softly. I was opening my lips, as his thumb stroked my cheek. "You need to stop me, Flo, we shouldn't be doing this." He whispered hoarsely in my ear. Flo was abused and misused by her parents because of her ability to see the future and see the dead. Until one day she runs away and finds herself in Walter's protection. She had all the right feelings for him, but he kept pushing her away until she finally left. Then he realized that he needed her more than he knew. Walter had been let down by the universe over and over again. He had to rebuild himself from his lowest moments several times already. He was trying to be strong, and he was finally happy for the first time in his life, only to be fucked up majorly as fate decided to take his wife's life before their first anniversary. He was rebuilding the tallest wall he had ever made, but Flo slowly tearing it apart and making him doubt himself. Will he finally have a happy ending, or will fate screw him again?

After graduation, I struggle to find a job, while my girlfriend easily lands a position at a major company. She has been with me for two years, and to cheer me up, she even lets me hold onto her payroll card. Once I finally start working, she worries about my long commute and immediately buys me a car. Everyone around us envies me for having such a thoughtful girlfriend. To save up for a house, I secretly deposit my salary into her account. A year later, we decide to get married. Excited, she grabs my hand and says, "I know you don't have much saved. I don't need any wedding gift. All I want is your love." I am deeply touched by her consideration. But on our engagement day, she pulls out photos of me with a dozen women and accuses me of cheating. I look closely and realize I have never even met any of them. Then she shows me my card's transaction history, filled with charges at the notorious Solara Club. "You had my payroll card, and you used my money to indulge yourself!" she cries. "I'm not marrying you. Return my car and all the money you spent over the years. It adds up to 800 thousand dollars." I calmly place the payroll card she gave me on the table and say with a smirk, "Fine, let's settle this properly." When I present the detailed account prepared by my top lawyer, she is stunned.

On the night of my wedding, my fated mate cut my heart out of my chest for his lover. I should have stayed dead. Instead, the cold, crazy goddess stitched me back together and gave me a choice: I have to tempt the Alpha King during his trial, Make him fall, Or die for real this time. So I did the unthinkable. I touched him. I pushed him. I teased him. I made the most dangerous man in the world want me and when he finally kissed me- some curse struck and I swapped bodies with him. Now I’m stuck in the Alpha King’s body for the rest of the trial, trying to hold his kingdom together while he’s trapped in mine. And when we finally switch back, the scandal is worse than either of us imagined. He wants me dead so he can stop the chaos I have caused. I want to live so I can exact my revenge. The curse isn’t done with us either, because we keep switching at the worst possible times, forcing us to feel everything the other feels. The heat. The hunger. The fury. The maddening desire. We can’t stop switching. We can’t stop touching each other, and I can’t tell if we’re going to kill each other first… or burn the kingdom down in his bed. He might be my curse, I might be his downfall.But the goddess didn’t give me a second chance just to die for him.

I was born a liar. That was the label my mother gave me. In the Dark Moon Pack, every pup carries a Lunar Mark on their wrist. Green means truth. Red means liar. My twin sister Maya slashed Mommy's ceremonial dress with a blade and blamed the pack hounds. Her wrist stayed soft and green. My mark went crimson when I said I was cold. "Mommy, I'm telling the truth. Please believe me." Elena would crouch down, look me in the eye, and say the same thing every time. "The Goddess's mark is absolute, Selena. Your own heart betrays you." She never touched me. She just looked at my wrist with disgust. No matter how honest I tried to be, my heart would race when I was scared. And every time my pulse spiked, the mark turned red. I lied when I said I was hungry. I lied when I said I loved her. I lied when I cried. After enough years, I stopped fighting back. I started to believe her. Maybe I really was broken. Maybe I was just born wrong. The night I died, I wrote one last line in my Penance Journal. "Mommy, help me. It hurts. Please — just believe me once." She never saw it. She had already locked the door and walked away. I'm sorry, Mommy. I died still trying to get it right. In my next life — will you hold me?

In a world torn by war and ruled by wolves, love can be both a weakness and a weapon. While hiding behind enemy lines as a child, Victoria met a boy named Makarius. In the chaos, they formed a bond they didn’t fully understand, a promise born from innocence and bloodshed. Years later, everything changes when Victoria’s mother marries the powerful Alpha Malachar. Victoria finds comfort in her new stepbrother, Drystan, who is fierce, loyal, and destined for greatness. Their friendship grows into forbidden love. On the night she is sent away to an academy for troubled she-wolves, Drystan promises, “I will return and make you my Luna.” But fate has other plans. Her pack is destroyed. Her parents are gone. Drystan disappears without a trace. Alone and hardened by betrayal, Victoria faces rivalries, heartbreak, and manipulation. She saves an injured wolf named Thane, only to get caught in another power struggle. Damian uses her. Cadmus betrays her. Even her own wolf turns silent. When Drystan finally returns, he is no longer the boy she loved but the ruthless Alpha King of four packs. He turns away from her, saying it is for her own protection. As a rare total eclipse rises, an omen spoken of in prophecy, Victoria must decide who she truly is and where her heart belongs. Will she choose the boy from her past who first touched her soul? ...Or will she choose the Alpha King who once promised her the world? The eclipse falls, the choice she makes will not only decide her fate… but the fate of every pack.

In order to protect me, Don Salvatore deliberately announces that my fiance, Simone Pozzi, is his long-lost son. Simone shakes with excitement when he sees the man in a bespoke suit stepping out of the Rolls-Royce that is parked outside my house. Just as I'm about to tell him it's all a lie, he shoves me aside. He even brushes his sleeves in disgust, as if he has touched something filthy. Simone says, "Stay away from me. Don't let your poverty rub off on me! Since I'm the Don's son, we'll call off our engagement. An illegitimate bastard like you isn't even fit to wipe my shoes!" When I try to explain, he cuts me off by writing out a check and flinging it hard into my face. The sharp edge of the paper slices across my cheek. "Take this one million dollars as our breakup fee and don't bother me again. We're no longer from the same world," Simone says. I watch the check flutter down into the mud and quietly turn off my phone screen. On the screen is a message Papa—Don Salvatore—has just sent me, "Just bear with it a little longer, Principessa. Papa will bring you home soon to take over the famiglia." Simone is so determined to cut himself off completely. He might have the luck to claim a fortune that big, but not the life to enjoy it.