Virtue & Vanity

It is 9:00 pm, and a soft glow still lights the master bedroom on the Lowe residence's second floor. "Helena, there's only a month left before the marriage agreement ends. Once it's up, I'll go ahead and arrange the fake death." Sitting at her vanity, Bianca Lane types the message and sends it to her mother-in-law, Helena Johnson. A reply comes back almost instantly. "Bianca, you've worked so hard these past ten years. You've taken such good care of Sebastian and even gave birth to a child for our family. "To me, you've always been my daughter-in-law. Why not just forget about the agreement?" Reading the message, Bianca unconsciously tightens her grip on her phone before quickly typing her response. "No, Helena. Let's just stick to the agreement."

After a century of war between humans and the Otherkin, both sides finally agree to a ceasefire. To preserve peace and coexistence, an intermarriage pact is established—every hundred years, humans and the Otherkin must marry. The first Otherkin to produce an Otherkin child will become the chairman of the Otherkin Alliance. In my last life, I married Kevin Walker, the famously devoted Alpha of the Whitefang pack. One year after our wedding, I gave birth to a wolf pup, and Kevin ascended smoothly to the chairman of the alliance. My sister, Meredith Singer—driven by vanity and a thirst for power—married Simon Lynch, the leader of the vampires. However, she didn't expect his chaotic private life, overflowing with mistresses, to leave her with a disease that robbed her of her ability to bear children. Bitter over her ruined life, Meredith blamed everything on me. She drugged both me and my pup before setting a fire that burned us alive. "Annabelle, everything you have should've been mine! I should be the one married to the Alpha! I should be the chairman's mate! You're nothing!" As the fire roared around us, I clutched my pup tightly in my arms. He sobbed against my chest. "Mom... it hurts..." I couldn't do anything but watch as the flames consumed us both. In the final moments of my life, I saw someone I never expected—the zombie king, Landon Zeller. Without hesitation, he charged into the inferno, cradling me and my pup in his arms, trying desperately to save us. However, it was too late. We'd already taken our last breaths.

I’d been married to my husband James for three years. On Valentine’s Day, he gave his stepsister, Mia, one hundred and eighty thousand dollars, along with millions in jewelry. I, on the other hand, received a free bouquet of roses. When I didn’t look thrilled, he accused me of being a gold digger. “Mia never had anyone to care for her growing up. Why are you competing with her? Isn’t being Mrs. Smith enough to feed your vanity?” Furious, I stormed out of the house. When a car lost control and came barreling toward me, he instinctively rushed to protect Mia, who was standing a full ten feet from the road. I was the one who ended up in the hospital. Lying in that bed, I finally gave up. I signed the divorce papers without hesitation. “Giving up the title of Mrs. Smith is the dumbest decision you’ll ever make,” he told me, looking down at me from above before walking away. Seven years later, we met again. He took one glance at my simple dress and laughed out loud. I didn’t bother to respond. I just held my daughter close and waited for her father—the richest man in the city—to arrive.

Landry Green's biggest regret is the night he rejected his soulmate at the Vernal Ball - a yearly gathering that sees packs around the world come together in hopes of its members finding their soulmates. Instantly left broken and ashamed for his rash decision, he worked to earn his way into Jennifer's heart with the help of his new Alpha. Every day he wakes up stunned that this sweet, loving woman gave him a second chance, and so he has vowed to never let her down again but their families couldn't be less pleased, though for entirely different reasons. Landry will prove to himself and everyone else that he can be the man Jennifer deserves and a man strong enough to stand up for those he loves and what he believes in. Whole Again is a spin-off in the Queen Among series (specifically A Queen Among Alphas). It takes place during the events of A Queen Among Blood. The setup to this story and background events will make more sense if you have read the main series. Here is the list of books in the series: A Queen Among Alphas - Book 1 Bite-Size Luna - A Queen Among Alphas Prequel A Queen Among Snakes - Book 2 Runaway Empress - A Queen Among Snakes Prequel A Queen Among Blood - Book 3 Whole Again - A Queen Among Alpha's spin-off A Queen Among Darkness - Book 4 Dark Invocation - A Queen Among Darkness spin-off A Queen Among Tides - Book 5 Valor, Virtue, and Verve - A Queen Among Tides Prequel Spin-off A Queen Among Gods - Book 6 A Queen Among Tempests - Book 7

“I am betrothed to marry you…” Esmé mumbled, shivering from her shoulders down her spine. Maybe it was because her clothes were soaked from the rain or the cold stare that the man was grazing towards her—piercing, cold, and judging. "You’re sexy underneath those already-drenched clothes. I could understand if you wanted to tempt me. But you’re crazy enough to tell me you’re marrying me,” he said with a smirk. She never thought she’d be on her knees in front of any man, crying and begging for him to take her in. Left with no options but to beg for shelter at the hands of the most dangerous mafia in their city, Esmé lets go of shame and pride just to talk to the man who is promised to her. With no parents to support her claim that she is betrothed to the billionaire mafia praised by many, she only has her words which he labeled as lies. But Esmé won’t give up that easily, especially when she has dedicated her life to honor her parent’s words before they were assassinated. It was then that Esmé knew she had to stay alive to avenge her parent’s death. But nothing comes easy, especially when it’s a forced marriage to a man who doesn’t want her. By virtue of courage, trust, and seduction—Esmé will go to the depths of hell just so she’ll get his attention, devotion, love... and never let her go.

My mother-in-law is extremely frugal. She reuses paper others have discarded, carefully saving the unmarked portions. She even takes the black waste oil from the kitchen range hood and uses it to cook our meals. She says, "Frugality is a virtue—it brings blessings!" I try tirelessly to convince her otherwise, throwing out all her filthy items to protect my family's health. But while she praises me to my face, behind my back, she uses my baby's food scissors to clip her grimy toenails. My child eventually dies of a lung infection, leaving me heartbroken. My mother-in-law, however, points her finger at me, saying I'm unlucky and that I've brought misfortune to their family. Even my husband blames me. In the end, they use a knitting needle to pierce my throat and stab me to death. When I open my eyes again, I find myself back on the day I first see her picking up dirty paper. The first thing I do is hide all the high-quality tissue paper I had stocked up on before my pregnancy, pretending I knew nothing. She calls these blessings, right? Fine. The blessings of this miserly frugality—she can reap them all herself!

Labeebah Sheriff, known as 'BeebahShe' in the south and simply 'Beebah' in the north is your girl-next-door actress, likes to hide indoors but has enough vanity to see herself grace the screens. When tragedy strikes, Labeebah isn't surprised because to her, what could be more tragic that having an unsupportive partner? So she plunges herself harder into her work and leaves him to his antics. But how does she deal when she ends up in a wheelchair and has only her thoughts for company? What will she do? How will she even let light come back to her life? Misfortunate is Labeebah's fate.

Her parent's death had taken a part of Beatrice. Having grown into a cold-blooded vampire, she was weak, unlike the others. The Coldblooded vampires were the ancient virtue of the night. Passed down to generations and lineages, the blood never lies. After her parent's death, she moved to the other part of the land. The land of Viscoria unlike the other lands was ruled and settled in by the other creatures, the wolves. Having met the Lord of Viscoria, Beatrice was determined to unlock her powers and become the hybrid Hostess of land of Viscoria. **** "Aye Milord, this maiden does not need a broth," Beatrice said with a smile. "Did you have fun Beatrice, I heard you went to the brothel to meet a friend. "...."

“You know the consequence of your decision?” Edwin’s tone was as indifferent as usual. He never cared for her, Janet knew this. It didn’t affect her before because she always knew her place, but it was hurting then. Three months. They were living together, sharing a life; she didn’t know it was only a moment of passion for Edwin, and it was unacceptable. She hardened her demeanor and gulped her sadness inside to face Edwin. “I know,” Her reply was short but determined. “You are being stubborn,” Edwin replied. This time, she was getting on his nerves. “Mr. Wilson, I can accept any of your demands. But I would never be a second woman in someone’s relationship.” Janet didn't want to compromise anymore. One rainy night, they met each other and fate connected them. Janet didn’t know that night not only did she lose her virtue, but she would lose her heart, too. But being someone’s mistress wasn’t something she would ever accept.

Devil's Vale, a story of Life and Death, Vanity and Conflicts, Relationship and Romance. ◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇ Abigal, a handsome young boy got adopted by his classmate William Goshai's family because of an incident in school. Lizzy a caring mother got separated from her baby girl Heaven due to her husband Sandy's past mistake. So with the help of her genius brother Mete she made a robot which was exactly like Heaven in all and named it as Nevaeh (Reversed form of Heaven). •Do any accidental circumstance bring both Heaven and Nevaeh a chance to see each other?How will be the variation in situations if they meet each other? •And what happen if Heaven get a chance to know that Lizzy was her actual mother and not Sophia?How will be Sandy's family's reaction to it?¤ What will happen if Abigal get a chance to know that he was really a vamwolf (vampire-werewolf hybrid) because of a curse ? And the curse will completely affect him in his 30 th birthday? •How Heaven negate the birth curse of our Abigal by hiding her dark secret? Do they fall each other? •Does our Nevaeh get a chance to fall for our multi billionare William Goshai? How a robort can pair with a human? •Does William get a chance to know about his brother's curse? Do he help him to negate the curse by time travelling? Do fate has any hidden play in this four's lives? #family #brotherhood #Love #sci-fic #curse #rebirth #fighting spirit #Time Travelling