We Are Not Ourselves

Annie Saint-Claire is a woman with an active memory. She daily has to fight constant memories about her husband, Aaron Casey, whom she had lost three years ago. As a widow she has to fight for survival. She is in desperate need of an income. Billionaire Aaron Casey wakes nightly from erotic dreams about a woman whose face keeps eluding him. His frustration and questions about what happened to him makes him a serious man with anger issues and no answers as to why his body has scars. Aaron’s safe place is his office. He trusts no one. He randomly hired a personal assistant unbeknown to him his wife. Annie in her haste to attend an interview has an explosive encounter with her husband, the very man she thought she had lost. He was angry and alive, quick enough to catch her before she collided with the ground. Aaron found himself instantly annoyed yet intrigued with Annie who he impulsively kissed where they stood in a thunderstorm. Annie’s mind and body screaming for answers. Passion and a past have both spiraling out of control. Annie now has the explosive knowledge her husband was alive but completely unaware who she was. One shock look into his eyes…memories flashing through her mind in picture perfect clarity, her heart screaming for completion, demanding she open her broken heart and start rewriting her own heartbeat. Once by all account a forgotten past, now forcing her to reclaim what’s rightfully hers…you are mine: I am yours…

When I'm on my break, I decide to help my neighbor, Yvonne Cook, fix the gas valve, which has been leaking gas. But she instantly lodges a report, saying that I've gone against the rules. She demands compensation for the shock that she's suffered as well. I don't bother defending myself. Instead, I just write a reflection report. After that, my squad leader sentences me to disciplinary confinement. Yvonne wastes no time gloating in the tenants' group chat. "It's time to teach these power-abusers a good lesson, anyway!" Three days later, a fire breaks out in Yvonne's apartment. Thick plumes of dark smoke keep rising from the burning apartment. Yvonne wails as she bangs on my door and pleads with me. "Please crack open the door and put out the fire!" I can only sigh from behind my front door. "I'm under disciplinary suspension right now, so I can't break protocol. You should wait for the fire truck instead."

My roommate sets me up. She deliberately forces me into a death-trap survival game. As I shut my eyes and wait for death to take me, I realize that the game's bosses can read my mind. "Look at the blood spurting from this baby doll's neck. It's like a fountain of pee." The baby doll is baffled. It's about to launch its ultimate move, but it falters. "Man, look at how this guy is still sweeping the streets when he's so old. Does he not have a pension?" The old man is about to swallow me whole, but he suddenly gets a heart attack. An ambulance takes him away. "Oh, so this is the amusement park's owner. Oh, dear god, he's handsome, albeit a little skinny. I can send him flying with a kick!" The handsome owner's expression darkens. He instantly takes off his shirt to reveal his washboard abs. "Do you still think I'm skinny?"

On the day of her wedding, she ended up in the hands of a man she had no idea who could be. Instead of being welcomed, she was despised by her parents and replaced by her twin sister, who took her place. Defeated and pregnant by a man she couldn’t remember — a man she wanted only to hate and forget, even without knowing who he was — all she had left was the silent promise to protect the children she carried and run away to survive. But the destiny she tried so hard to escape had never stopped watching her. Because inside her grew three lives marked by the moon and by blood — the children of the Supreme Alpha, the most feared and powerful among all wolves, the very one who should have claimed her as his mate. Among hidden kingdoms, broken pacts, and memories buried by time, she will discover that the love that destroyed her may also be the one to bring her back to life.

Sophie Mack, a 19-year-old resilient and dedicated child of a zealot parish man, raised by a nanny turned stepmother after the death of her mother from birth. She not only faced betrayal by her stepsister, but her boyfriend of five years drugged her, then she had a one-night stand with a stranger, resulting in triplets.   Elliot Harrington, a 26-year-old shrewd billionaire, wakes up in a hotel room to find himself wrapped around a beautiful girl.  Before he checks out of the hotel room, he leaves the girl with a bundle of cash. Later, he sends his investigator to find the girl he slept with, who mistakes Sophie for Olivia, Sophie's step-sister.   Five years later, Sophie, now a renowned financial analyst, returns to New York and starts working at the prestigious Harrington Group, where Elliot is president. Little does she know, her triplets embark on a mission—to uncover the identity of their elusive father.  *** "Owen, did you hear what that man said? He said you looked like his boss. Can the boss be our daddy?" Nathan said, looking at Owen, who had already started working devotedly on his laptop. "We can't be sure of that. But we can still make him candidate 1. The point is helping Mummy find Daddy," replied Isabel, the only girl of the triplets.   "I found him—his boss—and I guess I kind of resemble him. I have his eyes and ears." Owen said with a raised brow. "See, Nathan, you have his hair. But Isabel, you don't resemble Dad, not even Mom; who do you resemble?"  "Who told you his dad? We are not even sure he is our dad; it's just candidate 1." ***  Will Candidate 1 prove to be the missing link, or is there another layer to the mystery that even the triplets couldn't foresee?

“You were never supposed to exist.” Those are the last words Aeris hears before he’s dragged into the forbidden forest to die. Born scentless and wolfless, beaten by his own pack, and blamed for every misfortune, Aeris has spent his life as a cursed shadow. Until one deadly night forces him into the woods… and into the arms of the most feared Alpha alive. Killian of the Seven Territories is a monster whispered about in every pack,merciless, unmatched, untouchable. But the moment he lays eyes on the broken boy bleeding in his forest… something ancient awakens. A bond. A spark. A mate-pull that should be impossible. And when Killian touches Aeris, his wounds heal. But Aeris carries more than scars. He carries a prophecy. A prophecy older than wolves themselves,one that marks him as the omega who should not exist, the key to ending every shifter’s power forever. Hunters are already closing in, sent by the Council to kill him before he awakens. Killian should turn away. Reject him. Let him die. Instead, he bares his claws at the world and whispers: “Let them come. I protect what’s mine.” Now a ruthless Alpha and a shattered omega must survive assassins, ancient magic, and a destiny written in blood. Because something inside Aeris is stirring,something brighter, darker, and more powerful than any wolf. If it wakes… the entire shifter world will fall. And the only thing more dangerous than the prophecy is the way Killian looks at him like he’s worth saving.

The day before our wedding, my fiance, Yale Salvatore, died in an accident. He had been setting up the venue when the stage collapsed. I'm now a widow and carrying his child. Devastated with grief, I even tried to end my life. However, my parents-in-law urge me not to grieve too much. After all, I'm pregnant and need to stay strong for the child's sake. On the day of Yale's funeral, his older twin brother arrives from Novavista with his wife and child. They're here to attend the funeral. His face is so identical to Yale's that I nearly mistook him for Yale several times. By accident, I overheard a conversation between him and my in-laws. "You faked your death just for Gwen King? Sasha is pregnant with your child! Do you want your baby to be born fatherless?" "You did all of this just so you could be with Gwen out in the open?" My brother-in-law, exasperatedly explains, "Mom, Dad, Gwen has cancer. She has less than a month to live. She's loved me for years, and her dying wish is to marry me. "Once she passes, I'll return to Sasha's side and give her an even grander wedding. Then, I'll be there for the birth of our child, and we'll raise him together." Hearing this, I'm so shocked I can't speak. My so-called "brother-in-law" is actually my fiance, Yale! For the sake of helping another woman fulfill her dying wish, he doesn't care how upset or devastated I may be. And once he completes his benevolent mission, he intends to return to my side? No. My fiance, Yale, is already dead. I won't beg him to come back. And in three days, I'll be just like him. I'll be lying beneath a cold gravestone, and I'll forever vanishing from his world, he will never find me again...

Because of an accident during the hunt, I lose the chance to be "awakened". My wolf becomes badly damaged, and I'm forced to take the "inhibitor" injection to stay alive. I lose my strongest backing—my dad, the Alpha of the Argent Flame pack. After my dad's passing, his close friend, Ryder Wright, takes me to the Glace pack. As the Alpha and leader of the pack council, he can protect me. Meanwhile, my most trusted best friend steals the original draft I wrote when I was younger. The story goes viral among humans, and she becomes the most popular "werewolf literature" author. There's a charming Alpha in the story. He's her crush. Now, the three candidates of my marriage of convenience have been following her around, arguing about the real identity of her crush in the story. When I'm being mentioned, they seem irritated, and their tone is full of contempt. "How could she still think of marrying us when her wolf can never be awakened?" "Princess of the Argent Flame pack? Hah! She's nothing but a loser now!" "Why don't we try triggering her again? Maybe she'll go completely crazy if she loses control of her wolf." "Haha! Then none of us needs to marry her." I stand at the door, and the wolf hidden in me for years is awakening. They have no idea that the inhibitor has lost its effects, and my awakening is secretly happening. I've never loved any of them. They are merely pawns for me to pick. My phone rings, and it's a call from Ryder. "Aria, have you decided? Among the three candidates, who are you going to choose?" "Alpha Ryder, do I only have three choices?"

It was the fifth year of my engagement to Jake Zimmer. Just as we were preparing to get married, his first love came back. Suddenly, every promise he had made to me meant nothing. Because of her, he began to resent everything I did. That was when I realized I was nothing compared to the woman he truly loved. I was tired, so I let go. I gave them my blessing and walked away from Jake’s life for good. But then, he changed his mind. He came back in tears, begging me not to leave.

I found out my husband, Logan Atkinson, had quietly added his secretary's number to our family plan. [Dear customer, the number ending in 8848 has been successfully added to your family plan. Effective immediately, all calls between plan members are free.] I held up my phone and looked straight at Logan. "You're treating her like family. What does that make me?" He sounded annoyed. "Regina said staying on the phone with me every night was getting expensive. If she's on the family plan, it doesn't cost anything. She's just used to saving money. Don't read into it." Regina said she had severe depression and couldn't fall asleep, so Logan stayed on the phone with her every night for at least seven hours. I stared at the call logs in the family plan. Even on our wedding anniversary, when I closed my eyes, wishing we would make it through another ten years and grow old side by side… He was still on the phone with Regina Dittman, coaxing her to sleep. When I didn't say anything, Logan looked a little surprised. "Wow. Quiet today? Finally learned how to be the bigger person?" I just didn't feel like arguing with them anymore. All those fights before had only proven one thing: he always chose Regina. After ten years in a broken marriage, it was time to set things straight.