We Were Artinya

Jake, the guy I used to work with. The guy that I had unspoken tension and chemistry with from the first day we met. I say unspoken because nothing was ever said or done about it at the time. Why? because we were both in relationships. The last time I saw him was over a year ago, and a lot has changed since then, well some things. I was single, he was still taken, and that should be enough to keep me at bay, right? Wrong! One night we meet at the club and everything changes. I become the kind of woman I never thought I was, the kind to go after another woman's man. And he becomes something he never thought he was either, a cheater. It was only supposed to be a one-time thing, but it was like the moment we had a taste, we keep coming back for more. Temptation is a hard thing to fight, and I guess in this case, it is a fight that we both lost.

My best friend and I had been abducted by the Pendragon brothers—a duo consisting of a religious CEO and a top-billed movie star. We became their secret lovers against our will. "I'm pregnant, Lilith," my best friend said, tears glistening in her eyes. "Me too, Lindsay," I replied softly, caressing my belly. "But I won't go through with it." The brothers heard us. Their control tightened. They watched us during mealtimes, while we slept, and even during our bathroom breaks. We could not endure it any longer, so we fought back. In their anger, the brothers kept mistresses who resembled us. We thought we were free until one day, they found us. They called us homewreckers and hurled insults at us. They broke into our house, scarred our faces, broke our legs, and kicked us until we miscarried. It did not matter how much we tried to explain ourselves. They removed our clothes and paraded us in the street. Finally, the Pendragons arrived. They raised their marriage certificates and declared, "Lilith and Lindsay are our wives!"

Back in the day, in the legal world, Finn Cross and I were the top dogs. Untouchable. He ran New York, a king in criminal defense, never lost a case. I held down Boston, crushing it in civil court. People in the biz used to say it was a good thing we weren't in the same city. If we were, we’d have gone head-to-head, and it was anyone's guess who'd come out on top. But they never would've guessed. Three years ago, I, Victoria Sterling, quietly married Finn Cross. And just like that, the legend of "Vicky" was locked away. I was willing to leave my career behind, to be the quiet, supportive woman behind the great man. I made his coffee, went with him to all sorts of events, and left a light on for him when he came home late. But when Elena, the one he’d always carried a torch for, showed up again, I couldn't keep up this charade anymore.

We stood across from each other, with a bed in the middle. The bed was surrounded with golden pots of burning incense, the fragrance intoxicating. On one side of the bed stood a warrior wolf from my pack, and on the other side was a vampire from Diego's pride, both present to guard us. Chairs were set in both sides of the large room, with the werewolves occupying the right side and the vampires on the other side. Everyone stood when the head witches of the three covens arrived and took their seats adjacent to the two parties. " Creatures of the underworld, we have all gathered here to witness something spectacular, something unheard of, the mating of a vampire and a werewolf. These two from both sides have claimed to be mated to each other even though they are not of the same kind, so tonight, underneath the full moon, we shall witness them in bed to attest if the Moon Goddess truly destined them for each other. Let the drums roll!", one of the witches addressed everyone. The incense had aroused us . My were hard and erect, and I could clearly see the bulge in Diego's pants as he stood across. The drums signalled us to begin the mating process, and we got onto the bed. We gently , suppressing the urge to tear each other's clothes off. I felt a bit insecure and ashamed. I could literally feel my alpha's eyes on me and could only imagine the disdain that will be written on his face. Diego's father too was watching, together with their maester. Everyone we knew was there to watch us have and I just couldn't bring myself to feel comfortable. Most importantly, I couldn't help but wonder, what if we die mating?

We all know a Viola, we've all met a Viola, we might even be one. Viola is a woman in her early twenties with absolutely no reason to keep living. She wants to die, so she tries to, sadly for her, she doesn't. Now, she is standing in the ashes of who she used to be with no idea who she should be. Viola will break your heart, but only the best stories do. She is consumed by a loss that is as deep as the ocean, pain that knows no bound, extreme anxiety and chronic paranoia, trauma that is skin deep, sadness that always return, depression that never leaves and how agonizing a friendship-breakup can be. This is a book about Love, the love that lives between you, love that is hard to find, harder to understand, the love we were born with, waiting patiently between our ribcages, waiting to be recognized, to be seen, the love we should have for ourselves, the love that does not fade.

"So this is the way of it? We fight together, we bleed together, and what then do we do with our hearts?" "You tell me, Jasper of Moline... You tell me." ~~ Dive deep into this epic tale of Love, adventure and redemption alongside Hannah and Jasper. A princess who once thought her destiny was to rule alongside a man whom she might not have wanted and a warrior who once wanted nothing to do with love. They both soon find that not everything must be without color, not all flowers must be dead, and not all wars were physical, and that some of them took place right within our very selves.

“The most important clause in our marriage contract is that we are not to have children,” my husband stared at me closely, fire burning in his eyes. “This is supposed to be a five-year contract, five year and that’s it,” he continued, “I thought we agreed on that. No children to tie us down, then we part ways.” “I know that, and I completely agree!” Then he took every single condom out of the nightstand. He inspected them carefully, tossing each one aggressively on the bed as he did so. They were all the same. Full of tiny holes. “Then how do you explain that?” he snarled, his voice dripping with accusation.

We’d been together for seven years, but during that entire time, my fiancée rejected the idea of getting married ninety-nine times, all because of a male intern. The first time, she canceled our vacation at the last minute, saying the intern was stuck on a night shift and afraid of the dark. She got on a flight that very night and rushed back to the hospital. The second time, we were already halfway through the doors of the courthouse to get our marriage registered. But just then, she got word that the intern had collapsed from exhaustion. Without a second thought, she left me standing alone in the snow for the entire day. After that, it became a pattern. Every time we were together, the intern would find some excuse to pull her away. Eventually, I made up my mind to let go. I stopped dreaming about a happy marriage with her. However, just when I announced I was transferring to another city, she broke down, begging me, almost hysterically, not to leave.

In a world were old ways were nearly extent, few kept the traditions and held power in the modern days, but one thing remind certain, blood ruled over all. We watch as two faited souls, found one another, one lost in the world he did not choose, the other a princess that held more power than eyes meet. Both bewitched by each other, unable to let go of one another.

My mother, Mariana Heimann, has terminal cancer. She wants me to get married before she dies. It takes 57 days of me pleading with my boyfriend, Hayden Weatherford, before he finally agrees to marry me. On the day we agreed to register our marriage, he's a no-show even after the city hall staff have clocked off from work. At the same time, Hayden's childhood friend, Scarlett Needham, shows off a photo of her and Hayden holding up their marriage certificate. It's captioned, "Time sure flies. In another week, we'll have been married for two months." It dawns on me that Hayden and Scarlett were married on the day I first begged him to marry me. I receive a message from Hayden on my phone. He apologizes, "Scarlett's family members were forcing her into marriage, Lucy. I couldn't stand by and watch her suffer, pressured into marrying a stranger. We'll get divorced in a week, after which you and I can get married." … One week later, I send Hayden a message as he waits for me in front of the city hall, dressed in a suit. "We'll never meet again, Hayden."