Vox X Val

I paid the ultimate price in my last life for being too polite to refuse others. During a summer vacation, four children ended my life. "Talia, we’re already on the way to your place. We should be there in about two hours. No need to prepare anything special. Just keep things the way you normally do. Don’t fuss." I stared blankly as the voice came through my phone. The agony of my skin being scalded raw by boiling-hot stew was still vivid in my mind. When I had struggled and begged for help, those children had dragged me back together. In the chaos, I had fallen from the seventh floor and died with my eyes wide open. I glanced at the calendar on the wall. I had been reborn. In my previous life, my sister-in-law, Vanessa Mercer, had dumped her four kids at my home for the summer and left. I was forced to care for six children alone and was pushed to the brink of collapse. Simply because I wouldn’t let my nephew, Jaxon Mercer, play on his tablet for hours on end, and because I told him not to wander around the house in nothing but his underwear, the conflict escalated until it led to that horrifying death. My whole body trembled at the memory. I rushed into the bedroom, grabbed my identification documents, and fled toward the high-speed rail station with my two daughters, Kaia and Nova Mercer. "Mom, where are we going?" "I'm taking you on a trip. We’re going to have as much fun as we want!"

I had a massive fight with my husband, Gary Mitchell, while I was six months pregnant. He kicked me out of the house. With nowhere to go and no money, I ducked into a convenience store just to get some warmth. I was staring at the steam rising from the hot food display when the cashier walked over. "Excuse me, Miss. We have one last bottle of amnesia water left. Would you be interested in it?" I froze, then let out a bitter laugh. "I don't have any money." She said, "You don't need to use money. You can exchange it for something from your body." Instinctively, I raised my hand and touched my swollen belly. "How about this?"

After Josephine’s father died suddenly, she is forced to become the ward of powerful Lord Leven. As a new face many men are willing to do whatever they can to win her hand. She must find a husband to secure her future, but in a world of backstabbing and positional play will she settle for what’s safe or follow her love for a man she can’t have?

The Bloodfang Pack’s Alpha has declared a grand warrior match. A test of strength, cunning, and dominance. The werewolf who emerges victorious will not only earn the title of champion but will also claim his most beautiful daughter as a mate. But everyone knows this is just a formality. No matter who wins, I should be the one to marry Harken Shadowfang. He and I grew up together, our wolves intertwined by years of shared hunts and whispered promises beneath the full moon. He has always been my destined mate—or so I thought. The match begins, and Harken deliberately loses. I watch as he kneels in the dirt, breathing heavily, his sharp golden eyes flicking toward me with something cruel, something mocking. A chill runs down my spine. Why? Why would he do this? The victor stands tall, his fur still bristling from the heat of battle. Alaric Jaggedmane. A warrior through and through, his aura is heavy with the weight of a true Alpha—something Harken never had. Without hesitation, I step forward, lifting the warrior’s wreath. "Congratulations," I say, my voice steady. "You're now my husband." A furious snarl rips through the air. Harken storms toward me like a rabid beast, his fangs bared, his hands trembling as he snatches the wreath from my grasp. "Why didn't you pick me?" he demands, his voice bordering on madness. I meet his gaze without fear. Because in my past life, I did. I chose him. I thought he loved me. I thought we would be happy. But I was a fool. After my father’s death, Harken locked me away, keeping me weak with silver-laced drugs while he took his true mate, Ravyn Evermoon, to public events at his side. I was nothing but a tool. A stepping stone for his ambitions. A title to secure his rule. It was only then that I learned of his betrayal— of the three children he had already fathered with her. And so now, with this second chance granted to me by the Moon Goddess herself, I do not waver. I will not be Harken’s pawn again.

I always get on the bad side of love she said…Lexa Cross made a vow never to get involved with any man again after her mate chose to believe others over her. Even taking away the one thing that was supposed to make their bond stronger. She’s different now, pretending to have lost her memory. She wants to forget every hurt and pain her mate caused her, but life takes a new turn when she’s thrown back to face the pain she so long pretended to have forgotten. They both want her, she hates men but it’s not her decision to make Two rivals fight for her locked up heart.

I used to believe silence meant peace. That if I endured long enough, stayed patient long enough, things would eventually fall into place. But the morning everything changed, I realized how wrong I had been. A room I had once asked for was suddenly cleared. Not for me. For someone else. For her. My husband didn’t hesitate when he said it. No explanation. No consideration. Just a decision that reminded me exactly where I stood in his life. I tried to ignore it. Told myself it wasn’t worth questioning. Until my birthday came. And went. No acknowledgment. No effort. Nothing. Just the quiet understanding that I no longer mattered. Then the truth found me. One moment was all it took to see everything clearly—the lies, the betrayal, the role I had been playing in a life that was never truly mine. So I signed the papers. I walked away from the marriage, from the name, from everything I had spent years holding together. I thought leaving would be the hardest part. I was wrong. Because walking away was only the beginning. And some endings don’t set you free— they pull you into something far more complicated.

When I was at my absolute poorest, I got sucked into some kind of survival game. The challenge was to survive 7 days on just 50 dollars, and the winner would walk away with a million dollars. As someone who might as well be certified as a professional at being broke, I knew exactly how to survive on next to nothing. That prize money had my name written all over it.

For our seventh anniversary, my mate, Alpha Ethan, sent my daughter and me to the Moon Goddess Altar. He told me it was a surprise—to give our daughter her dream of watching a meteor shower from the highest peak in the territory. But Ethan never came. The protective runes at my feet sputtered, then died. The ground beneath us began to crumble. My daughter screamed, her small body sliding toward the abyss. I lunged, grabbing her hand just before she went over the edge. I screamed his name through our mind-link. Ninety-nine times, he refused to answer. On my hundredth cry, the link didn't just open—it was ripped wide. It wasn’t his voice that answered. It was his senses, flooding mine. I saw it all. Him. Another she-wolf. And him, buried deep inside of her. "I knew you loved me, Ethan," her sickly-sweet voice purred. "You even sacrificed Marcus, just to save our Leo from the soul-sickness. I'll do anything for you." Ethan’s voice was velvet and ice. "Stop. If Sera hadn't betrayed me, you never would have had the chance to carry my heir. Once I get rid of her other pup—Jullian's bastard—we can be perfect again." My world shattered. My son... Rogues. I'd always believed rogues had stolen him. But it was his own father. He sacrificed him for a lie. With my last ounce of strength, I called Julian. "I'm breaking my bond with Ethan," I snarled into the new link. "Make me your Luna. In return, I will help you burn his pack to the ground."

Until I met Ronin, the love of my life, life had never been fair to me. Everything changed for me once he turned my life upside down. He swept me off my feet, like a breath of fresh air. He became a source of light for me, guiding me away from my darkest and most wretched road. My life is not a fairytale love story; it is about my strength, courage, struggle, happiness and joy, pain and sadness, memories, willpower, survival to fight, endearment, abuses I have experienced throughout my life, light and hope I have in me, and determination to improve my life. So follow me on my adventure of life survival and how I became the person I am today.

Benda. Apa yang terbesit pertama kali di kepala kita saat mendengar kata benda? Bukankah benda hanya benda. Tetapi katanya benda mampu menyimpan kenangan. Katanya benda juga mampu merasakan dan mentransfer energi akan ingatan kepada orang lain. Pernahkah kalian merasakan kekosongan aneh saat berada di dekat suatu benda? Atau pernahkah kalian secara tidak sadar mendengar benda berbisik di telinga? Jika tidak kalian beruntung. Sebab aku terlahir bersahabat dengan benda. "Ia sering terpuruk sendirian. Tak ada yang peduli. Tak ada yang sadar. Kami menjadi saksi bisu rasa sakitnya." Lemari itu membisikkan kalimat penuh penderitaan padaku. Seolah-olah ia merasakan apa yang dirasakan pemilik kamar ini. "Ia tidak pernah bahagia sekalipun hidup di rumah ini. Kebahagiaannya hanya satu. Saat kamu datang dan merangkulnya pagi itu." Gagang pintu yang kusentuh tanpa diminta bercerita. Aku hanya laki-laki bisa. "Rio, jangan menyalahkan diri sendiri." Begitu ucap mereka. Hingga suatu harii aku terjebak di jalan berkelok yang seharusnya tak pernah ku lalui. Hari itu sabtu malam yang kelam dan aku berhasil menemukan jalan masuk. Festival yang tak pernah kulihat dimanapun. Pesta kembang api pertama dalam hidupku. Lalu kejanggalan apa ini? Tidak ada habis-habisnya. Hari terus berganti. Namun mereka tak pernah berhenti. Dalam hati aku bertekad aku harus keluar dari tempat ini. Akankah benda-benda ini mampu membantuku keluar dari kurungan tak berujung ini? Atau aku malah akan terus terperangkap? Sial. Kembang api pertama dalam hidupku malah mengakhiri segalanya. Hidup, keluarga bahkan cinta pertamaku.