What Lies In The Shadow

After the plane crash, my body was never recovered. My soul drifted back to the home I hadn't stepped foot in for five years. They didn't know I was dead. They were still waiting for me to come home for Christmas. When my mom got the call from the airline, she froze for a long time, completely at a loss, before breaking down in tears. I followed them as they went to the memorial crash site. That was when I noticed something strange—I could see their levels of regret hovering above their heads. My brother's regret level read: 40%. My father's showed: 60%. Even my sister-in-law had 30% over her head. But my mother's regret level? It flashed a cold, unchanging 0%.

I am enjoy swimming, I don't know how long Marco has been gone. I didn't realize that I had reached the bottom of the waterfall because of the hot weather and the feeling of the cold water on the body feels really good that I even thought if I sat at the bottom of the waterfall to let the water pour over my almost naked body. I've only been there for a minute when I felt my brassiere come off my chest! It's because there's no lace and the brassiere I am wearing is in tube style. I was shocked by what happened and confused what to do first, how to cover my naked breasts. Should I jump off the water again to get my brassiere before the water washes it away, or should I stay here in the falls to get help from the water to cover my naked body. I looked around first to find Marco for help but he wasn't there! He is nowhere to be found! Shit! I immediately went down to chase after my brassiere when it was being swept away by the water. Now I am not sure if Marco not being here is a good or a bad news, but as I think of it realized that I would really faint if he sees me naked right now! Good thing I know how to swim so I got my brassiere at the right time. I immediately breathed a sigh of relief. "Great! Just in time!" I said to myself while holding my brassiere. Of course, my breasts are exposed, well I'm the only person here so it's okay anyway. "Wow, nice breasts. Round and big!" It was as if my soul left my body when I heard an unfamiliar voice from somewhere.

Even after a full decade of marriage, my husband Rudolf and I were as deeply in love as the day we wed—an enviable couple in the eyes of all. On the day of our anniversary, I saw him lifting a little boy into his arms right outside the entrance of our neighborhood. "Daddy! Can you take me to the amusement park this time?" The boy's words were enough to stop me dead in my tracks. I instinctively hid around a corner. "Of course! I'll even take you on a trip." Rudolf smiled warmly and kissed the boy on the forehead. In that instant, something seemed to have been set off in my head, as if years of trust had been shattered at that one moment. Daddy? Upon closer examination, I realized that the boy's features were remarkably similar to Rudolf's. No one could deny they were blood-related. "Your dad's busy with work, sweetheart. Don't cling to him too much," said a beautiful woman standing next to the boy. The cruel moment before me made it clear. The man who swore he would love me forever had been cheating all along.

My best friend's brother and I have been dating for half a year, and she has no clue. My best friend drags me out on Christmas for a singles' night out. Unexpectedly, we see her brother, Chris Lambert, holding hands and kissing a girl under the fireworks. "Damn, Chris finally got the school belle!" She looks thrilled and pulls me forward to say hi. Chris awkwardly rubs his nose and introduces me to his girlfriend, "This is my sister, and the one beside her is… sort of like my sister too." I smile silently. We have held hands and kissed, yet now, I am just sort of like his sister.

Five years ago, Suri ruptured her uterus pushing Bruce out of the path of a car. The injury left her unable to have kids. But Bruce didn't care—he still pushed for the wedding. After they got married, he poured nearly everything into her. Or so she thought. Then came the scandal. One of his business rivals leaked it, and just like that, the truth exploded online—Bruce had another woman. She was already over three months pregnant. That night, he dropped to his knees. "Suri, please. I'll fix it. I won't let her keep the baby..." And Suri? She forgave him. But on their fifth anniversary, she rushed to the hotel Bruce had reserved—only to find something else entirely. In the next room, Bruce sat beaming, surrounded by friends and family, celebrating that mistress's birthday. The smile on his face—pure joy. A smile she'd never once seen from him. That was the moment she knew. It was over. Time to go.

I take my daughter, Joy Silver, to the healer for a routine check-up. My Alpha husband, Ethan Silver, who has been away on a business trip for a few days, comes to pick us up. The moment we meet, he possessively pulls Joy and me into his arms. It's as if we are his whole world. But I catch a faint, unfamiliar scent. As Joy snuggles up to her father affectionately, I force a smile, ignoring the sudden tightness in my chest. It isn't until we get in the car that I notice a woman sitting in the back seat. So it's her scent. A thought that has circled in my mind countless times surfaces once more. I want to leave him.

"From a million miles afar, looks up a woman. Eyes glistening with tears, shedding for the man lying at cosmos." Despaire Grevett has always hated her name for its peculiarity. In spite of it, the name itself resonates with her life. As she discovered the world of Terralona, the dark secrets of her identity were unearthed. Mysteries that we're long-forgotten were unveiled. Amidst her journey of seeking the truth, she met Cross Trevese Ashmeir, a man of her age who describes himself as the absolute epitome of tragedy. They were two kindred souls in two different worlds. But how can Despaire survive the fact that she is the root of Cross' tragedy? One lie and a disclosed secret, either of the two bring chaos. Will she be able to withstand the fate that was given to both of them? Or drown by the horror of the blood running through her veins?

She was too soft, too chubby, and too gentle for a brutal world. That’s what her Alpha told her the night he rejected her in front of the entire pack. “I need a Luna with teeth, not tits.” Moments later, Emara Dell lay dying in the snow...murdered by the same wolves she once healed. But death is only the beginning. Under the blood-red moon, the Goddess resurrects her as the Shadow Luna: powerful, untouchable, and burning with shadowfire. Her heartbeat awakens an ancient guardian across the sea....Fenric, the legendary Bone Wolf, a monstrous, devastatingly beautiful male who rises with one purpose: Find her. Claim her. Destroy anyone who ever hurt her. Bodies begin to appear beneath crescent moons. Wolves whisper of a feral god hunting in the dark. And when Emara and Fenric finally collide, their connection is explosive, forbidden, and dangerously addictive, and filled with heat that could burn a world to ash. But jealousy has consequences. Lyrina Veega, the Beta’s daughter and Corvin’s childhood favorite, performs a forbidden ritual to steal Emara’s power… and accidentally tears open a divine rift, awakening a forgotten god. Now war is coming. Desire is a weapon. And Emara must decide if she will rule the shadows...or let them consume her. A dark, high spice paranormal romance full of feral devotion, explosive chemistry, brutal revenge, and a heroine who rises from death as something no Alpha could ever control.

I had just become an adult when my neighbor, Connor Grayson, started flirting with me. We kept our relationship a secret year after year. After a wild night of intimacy, Connor whispered into my ear that he loved me over and over again. The next morning, I could barely stand as I got out of bed. Then I saw Connor bring another woman home. "Selena, this is my fiancée. We're getting married." I thought Connor would let me go. I didn't want to ruin anyone's relationship. However, he wouldn't leave me alone despite my shameful predicament. "Yes, I'm getting married, but did I say you could go? It took a lot of effort to make you fall for me."

In this world, there are more ways to deal with a problem than the problem itself. That applies just as well to cheating men. Rich men, especially, will go to absurd lengths just to have more women in their lives. There's no trick too low, no scheme too shameless. Take my boss, for example. He handed over his stunning mistress to me. Honestly, I suspected he couldn't perform in bed, because she came into my bedroom night after night.