Waiting Under The Willow

After being forced to go to rogue wolf territory to exchange my mate's kidnapped childhood sweetheart while three months pregnant, I was tortured to death. Before my death, my eight-year-old daughter begged her father three times. The first time, my daughter took her father's hand and said, "Daddy, mommy is pregnant with my little brother. She can't go to the rogue territory." The alpha wolf let out a cold laugh: "How dare your mother teach a pup to lie." Then he had his beta guards drive my daughter out of the pack house. The second time, my daughter grabbed his sleeve and told him the rogue wolves were torturing me with silver. The alpha frowned: "These rogues were hired by your mother to kidnap Willow. How could she really be tortured?" The guards stepped forward and once again pulled my daughter out of the room. The third time, my daughter lay on the floor, desperately clutching his pant leg, crying that I was dying in the rogue wolf territory. The alpha finally lost his temper. He slapped her away with force. "I told you, Ava won't die. She's strong. If you come running back here to disturb Willow's rest again, I'll definitely throw both of you out of the pack territory." To save me, my daughter gave her most precious possession to the most powerful warrior in the pack—the healing gemstone I had given her for her birthday. "Please, can you use this to help save my mother? I don't need protection anymore. I just want my mother to live." The warrior took her healing gemstone, but before he could leave to rescue me, Willow stepped in his way. "Sorry, little pup," she smirked. "The warrior needs to stay here to protect my dog. Your father was afraid I would be sad if anything happened to my pet."

Willow Brown hides big secrets beneath her smile and cheerful personality, each secret weighing more than the previous one. One of her big secrets is that she has been crushing on her emotionally unavailable boss for years. Imagine her happiness when her boss starts to subtly reciprocate her feelings. Now, imagine her heartbreak when she comes to know that he already has someone he loves. Heartbroken, she wants to leave this life behind where she doesn't have to be her boss's pretend girlfriend. But then more secret spills from both her side and his and from another perspective. Secrets which involve lies, greed, manipulation and even murder. Now throw in a childhood friend who is showing all the love for her. Will she forgive her boss Spencer Cruiz? Or will she give in to the temptation of her childhood friend who also happens to be Spencer's cousin?

My younger brother told me he was overwhelmed by school stress and had developed depression. I tried to help by encouraging him to seek treatment, drawing from my own experience with the illness. However, my mother blamed me, accusing me of passing the depression onto him. She took me to a witch, who locked me in the house. Every day, the witch used willow branches to drive away evil spirits, beating me until my skin was raw, forcing me to drink filthy water, and making me bleed. "This is the only way to banish the evil and bless your little brother." After enduring days of torment, my depression worsened, and I chose to end my life. However, when I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day my brother first confessed his depression. I looked at my body—whole and unharmed. This time, I will make them pay for everything I endured.

Notice: This Book Contains Two Separate Books That Can Be Read As A Standalone! The first Novel features Samantha, who saves a bleeding, disoriented stranger who collapses in her arms. To keep him calm, she tells a lie that spirals into something far deeper. With him, Samantha rediscovers the kind of warmth she thought she’d lost forever. But love built on borrowed truth has an expiration date. When the truth about his real identity surfaces, their fragile world crumbles—revealing a past powerful enough to destroy them both. Because the man she thought she saved… might be the one who was never meant to be found.

At that moment he turned to face me. My breath hitched at the intensity burning in his green depths. He stated, "I've decided to let your people go, but on one condition." My throat dried up. "What?" I breathed. His voice dropped to a lilting octave. "Belong to me." __ King Lan is cold, ruthless and powerful. Anything he wants, he gets at the snap of his fingers. Except her. Willow is a sweet, wilful witch who aims to gain her coven's approval after years of being thought weak, clumsy and powerless by her caste-witches. When Lan meets the young, enthralling witch, nothing could've prepared him for the thrilling ride that ensues. A ride that involves pain, betrayal and untamed desires. Will the two be consumed by the age-long hatred between their species, or will they defeat the dark threats surrounding them and succumb to the sizzling attraction burning hot between them? Warning: Mature content. Suitable for readers above 18.

On the day I was in heat, my childhood sweetheart stood me up. He only sent me a voice message, which said, “Willow, what do you mean you’re in heat? You’re just desperate for a man. Have some self-respect. Stop calling me!” Just as my fever spiked, pushing me to the edge of delirium, spectators watching my story flooded my vision with comments. [Sweetie, there are plenty of fish in the sea! Don’t be sad!] [Honey, look who’s walking in front of you. It’s Douglas Simus, the university heartthrob. He has the whole V-line and abs package, and he’s still a pure virgin boy!] Who? A V-line and abs? He should probably be able to satisfy me then. I struggled to open my eyes and saw a handsome man appear. Not bad. He smelled clean. I stopped him. “Do you want to hook up with me?”

During the tenth year I had a crush on Ron, I was diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer. With a critically ill notice in hand, I stood at the door to the room where my former classmates gathered, and I heard Ron holding his crush and cooing at her, “Just ignore it. Willow has been bothering me for ten years. If there was even a possibility of us getting together, we would have done so a long time ago. Honestly, I would never like her. Even if she continues bothering me for another ten or twenty years, I still won’t like her.” My former classmates cheered, and Ron looked like he was about to kiss her. I stood at the door and cried so hard that I trembled, but I did not dare make a sound. Ron, I would not be able to bother you for another twenty years. I was about to die.

I’m getting married, but my CEO fiancé, whom I had been engaged to for ten years, had no idea. Thanks to his new personal maid, the man has no time to spare for me. The two of them always shadowed one another, and they might as well be sleeping in the same bed. My fiancé even bought a yacht and brought her to the Arctic to see the aurora when she was in a bad mood, completely forgetting that we were supposed to be picking out wedding gowns that day. I spent the entire day waiting in that bridal shop, waiting for a man who would never show up. So I called my dad, “I’m marrying someone else.”

Every bonding anniversary, Shawn would bring home a new human girl from the outside—always under the lovely pretense of letting me mentor her on how to serve an Alpha. On our seventh anniversary, he brought back a nightclub girl dressed in a Princess Snow White outfit—cheap satin trembling under the chandelier's light. “She doesn’t have anything appropriate for an occasion like this,” he said casually. “Let her borrow your bonding dress. And the jewelry I gave you last time. As for shoes—what you're wearing now will do.” Then he added, with a trace of irony, “She’s just a young human girl, clueless. Teach her a few things about our world, will you? Especially the part about the bed.” Everyone was waiting for the spectacle—for me to break again, as I always had. And I didn’t disappoint them. I looked at Shawn, my voice steady, and said I wanted a bond-severance. He laughed—short and sharp—and leaned back like he was watching a comedy. “Clara, when are you going to stop with this bond-severance nonsense? I’ve heard it so many times. They’re just human girls, while you are my Luna. How could they ever compare to you?” Then, grinning as if doing me a favor, he added, “Fine. If you really want a bond-severance, I’ll gift you a territory in the south. Consider it a reward for doing your job as my Luna.” The room erupted in laughter. To them, I was ridiculous—greedy, jealous, hysterical. But what they didn’t know was that this was the 365th time I’d asked for a bond-severance. And the first time, I truly meant it. When he found out I wasn’t joking this time, he lost his composure. He searched for me across the world—only after he realized I was no longer where he thought I’d always be.

I was always the outcast—taunted and bullied for my half human blood. After being sent to live with my grandparents in the human world, I grew to resent my parents and my shifter heritage. But when my mother died, I returned to Bridgewater under the guise I could continue my studies at Haronia University while helping my father until he found a new Luna. I expected drama in Bridgewater. What I didn’t expect was falling for my professor. —- “You’re so frustrating,” he said in a low, rough voice. I sat on the edge of his desk and looked up at him. “Are you complaining?” I asked. He stepped forward and pushed his knee between my legs. “Do I look like I’m complaining?” “No,” I answered softly. “You look like you’ve been waiting for this. Do you normally wait for the woman to make the first move?” “I don’t wait for anything,” he said. “I take what I want.” He tightened his grip on my hair until I moaned at the pull. “You’re different.” Fated to My Professor is created by Amelie Bergen, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.