Victoria: A Novel

"That b*tch messed with the wrong wife!" An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. Hell hath no fury than... A Woman Scorned!

He built an empire no one could shake… until she walked in and shattered his control. Alexander Thompson is a billionaire CEO, feared for his cold heart and iron discipline. No one challenges him. No one defies him. No one says no. Until Jasmine Ramirez. She’s simple. Honest. Unimpressed. And completely immune to his charm, his power, and his intimidation. “Ms. Ramirez, I’m used to being obeyed.” “Then you’ve never met a woman like me, Mr. Thompson.” For the first time, someone dares to push back. Someone he can’t intimidate. Someone he can’t forget. The more he tries to keep his distance, the more dangerously he falls. She is his distraction. His weakness. The one woman he can’t afford… yet can’t resist.

My younger brother, Andrew Midler, pushes me off a cliff, and my life hangs by a thread. Yet my mother, Edith Callahan, the leader of the rescue team, only busies herself with checking on Andrew, who has sprained his wrist. I beg in a faint, faltering voice for her to save me. She, however, looks at me with cold indifference. "Your brother is hurt! Why didn't you protect him? And now you're pretending to be weak? Well, you can stay here by yourself and reflect on what you've done!" She turns and orders the entire rescue team to leave, forbidding anyone from helping me. In the end, I die alone in the desolate wilderness. Upon learning of my death, Mom hysterically holds my already decaying body close, calling me her precious son repeatedly.

The remnants of the pack gathering had barely faded when my whole world changed. My best friend, Hallie Richmond, vanished, snatched away by rogues. Only for her to reappear the next day, found bruised and bitten near the pack borders. My heart ached for her, so I went to her with her favourite apple pie. But the solace I intended to offer shattered into a million pieces the moment I heard the words of my boyfriend, Camilo White, our pack's beta. "...Hallie's family will destroy her if they learn of this. I have no choice but to mark her first.” "What about me, Camilo? I'm your girlfriend!" The words tumbled out. "You can be my secondary mate, Violet. It's just a small favor. Surely, if you truly loved me, you wouldn't hesitate to help?" Camilo's words ripped my heart out, breaking up with me and replacing me with Hallie for the marking ceremony we had both anticipated with such joy. From that moment forward, I became a shadow. The pack whispered words of how I was deflowered before my true mate could claim me. My family now regarded me with disappointment. My father's anger was a physical force, driving me to my knees beneath the icy waterfall. Then, the following day, a figure emerged from the mist. Alex Skye, the Alpha's son, pulled me from the water. He leaned close, his sky-blue eyes holding mine, and whispered the words that offered home: "I'm your true mate, Violet. Break up with that vile, idiotic boyfriend of yours. I believe you will be the perfect future Luna."

When I arrive at a villa to fulfill an order, the beautiful young woman living there looks at me expectantly, her face flushed. "Stop looking around—there aren't any dogs here. I'm the one you need to feed…" She changes into inviting lingerie and pins me to the couch. Her voice is coy, and her lips are soft. She parts them slightly and looks at me lovingly. "Remember to use all your strength to fill me up, okay? If you don't, I'll give you a bad rating…"

Shifters have come out of hiding. Not all of them are good, but its not just the shifters that are the bad guys anymore. I was only 12 years old when the announcement came over the news. I had no clue what a shifter was but I knew I was just human. Until I met him. The only one who made me doubt everything I had been taught and made me realize what type of world we really live in.

I had just walked out of the Pack Healer's cabin, clutching the crumpled paper of my official pregnancy report, when I refreshed my social media feed. An anonymous post on the local pack forum caught my eye. "I've been sleeping with the Alpha for a while now, and I just found out I'm pregnant. But his Luna is knocked up too, and she's months ahead of me. I hate the idea of him having a pup with someone else. I want to carry his firstborn. How can I make him force his mate to get rid of it?" The comments section was flooded with curses and insults calling the poster a home-wrecker. But the original poster had liked one particularly vicious comment. "That's easy. Tell the Alpha that his Luna is too weak and that she is carrying an abomination corrupted by wolfsbane. Tell him it will be a stillborn anyway." I usually just lurked in these threads, but my wolf, Selene, growled within me. My fingers flew across the screen as I replied. "Aren't you afraid of the Moon Goddess's wrath for defying Her will like this?" The moment I hit send, my mate Kael, the Alpha of the Starlight Pack, walked up to me. He was holding a forged diagnosis report from the Healer, his face a mask of pained hesitation. "Seraphina," he said, his voice trembling. " The Healer says our pup's soul is fragmented. It has been judged as a stillborn. For your safety, we have to terminate the pregnancy immediately." He took a breath, looking deep into my eyes. "I have already made the arrangements. Tomorrow, before the Moon Goddess's altar, I will supervise the surgery personally to ensure your absolute safety."

Born in a werewolf pack comes with laws and you must obey. The strong dominate the weak and guide them, the same can be said for one's mate. We fell in love but we're bound by laws to love different people in the end. She had the strength I did not to defy our laws and destiny, it was in her I found my strength. My generation saw the birth of two True alphas as we had come to call them. They had no name given by our pack since it was the name of the one who ascended that it would be called. However, it took her death to find freedom from the laws. When I first embraced the power I wanted to destroy the laws which lead to the destruction of our pack. But that didn't fill the hollow feeling inside. Left to wander my goal shifted as easily as a change in the wind's direction. I was lost in most of my travels trying to solve a problem with no clear solution. But deep down I wanted to change our ways through force. That was until I came face to face with an enemy of our kind who was equal to the power I had. I claimed victory after a long battle but the cost was high, this power brought forth this calamity. So I decided to seal it away keeping it hidden from everyone. One day I will find my path and claim my place in this world, whatever it may be. Without her, I may never find a place to belong again however but it's clear our ways are wrong. If nothing else I want to save my people somehow from a similar fate as us.

"So, I had my first kiss when I was eighteen. I was sitting on a bench park as a handsome guy went towards me, leaned, raised my chin and kissed me." That was the thought that ran on Cassadie's mind that night after they make love. She realized that the man who was her first kiss was the man lying beside her now. She was amazed and embarrassed at first but later then, she was confused as Yomiel confessed that he traveled back in time just to be her first kiss. The alluring, handsome, young detective of Felgrom City, Yomiel Argentum who was secretly an Ultima Werewolf without his knowledge had fallen in love on a werewolf hunter, Cassadie Aiden. Would their relationship work out when the Luna of the werewolf clan, who was Yomiel's mother wanted Cassadie dead? Will they successfully kill Cassadie? or will they fail to do so as Yomiel would travel back in time to save her over and over no matter what.

Belle Rose has to put up with being told to do things that she doesn't want to do and she doesn't want to marry the man that her parents have picked, Ayers as she wants to marry the man that she wants to be with. Her parents treat her like a 16-year-old girl instead of 22-year-old women and Belle Rose wants to show her parents that she is in charge of her life instead of them. Belle Rose goes on a school trip to Hohenzollern castle as she never has been on a school trip because her parents won't allow her. Belle Rose prays and hopes that Ayers will marry someone else instead of her. She met Prince Willem Maxilion Alfonso Sven of the Netherlands and she risked her own life to save Prince Willem as Luke was about to stab Prince Willem. Prince Willem asks one of the teachers if Belle Rose can stay with him so she can recover from the injury and he was told that Belle Rose can stay with him. However, they have no idea that something huge will happens and Belle Rose knows that she has to do something for Prince Willem.