When Your Mother Doesn't Novels & Stories

Five years of marriage, and as the pack's Luna, I've never been to a single big celebration. Every Moonlight Festival, I spent it alone at home. It's simply because my mate told me the pack has a rule: wolves not raised within the pack cannot join pack gatherings. Even Lunas can't. To follow this rule, I endured my wolf spirit's unease and felt lonely for five solid years. Until the eve of another Elder Gathering, I stumbled upon a post from his first love on social media. Through another woman's account, I saw my mate. She posted pictures with my mate. For five years, at every Elder Gathering, they were side-by-side, never apart. That's when I realized, it wasn't that he couldn't make an exception. It was just that the one he'd make an exception for wasn't me.

In the tenth year of my diagnosis with selective mutism, my mother decided it was time to bring home a little brother for me from an orphanage. Her eyes immediately landed on a boy in the back row, but the head of the orphanage opposed without hesitation. "Ms. Lane, this kid has been nothing but trouble since he was small. Just two days ago, he made an old man on crutches play goalie. If you take him home, your life will never be peaceful!" I looked on without the slightest interest. My mother, however, was exhilarated. Pointing at the boy, she declared excitedly, "Then, he's exactly the one I want!" And suddenly, lines of bullet comments scrolled before me. 'The mom cracks me up. Her eyes practically sparkled like spotlights.' 'Our brooding female lead grew up friendless. Her mom's been worrying about that for years. Now she's found this rascal, there's no way she's letting go.' 'Honestly, fate is wild. The mom instantly picks her future son-in-law. In their past lives, the female lead died trying to save him. Now that they've both been reborn, maybe they'll finally get a second chance together.'

On the way to a dance competition, a massive truck rammed into me. My legs were shattered, and my mother was sent flying from the impact after she tried to protect me. My stepbrother, who was also my secret boyfriend of six years, went crazy after hearing the news. He had the driver dragged off to a lawless borderland and called in the best doctors in the country to save me and my mother. Not many people knew, but I was born with a rare sensitivity to pain. The more it hurt, the clearer my mind became. That was how I ended up lying wide awake on the bed, listening to Luke Quinton and his friend, Harvey Lane, talking just outside my hospital room. "Luke, are you sure about this? You really want to let Queenie practice on Natalie's mother's heart?" "She deserves it. That vile woman seduced my father and drove my mother to her death. If not for revenge, do you think I'd stomach being with her daughter for six years? "She should be honored that Queenie is dissecting her heart. Keep it from Natalie for now. If she loses it, she might ruin my wedding with Queenie. What would I do if that happened? The only woman I'll ever have as my wife is Queenie. No one will ever take her place." So, that was the truth. What I thought was a love strong enough to defy the world had been a lie from the very beginning—just a carefully crafted act of revenge.

My colleague, Nora Lewis, suddenly leaned over at the company annual dinner. “You managed to land such a tough project with Sanscape Group. Tell me, how many people did you sleep with to pull that off? “I’ve heard for ages that you’ve got a great body and that you’re quite the player. You really live up to the rumors!” Right after, she pretended to have misspoken and quickly covered her mouth. The dinner table, which had been bustling just moments ago, fell silent. Everyone exchanged meaningful glances before pricking up their ears in perfect unison. Then, they lowered their heads to play with their phones. I looked at her calmly and asked in return, “Does closing a business deal require sleeping with someone? I’ve been working for so long, and I never knew that. You must be quite the expert, Ms. Lewis?” Also, how come I’ve never heard that my dad’s company requires sleeping with someone to secure a project?

Chloe Brooks is the new kid who wanted to keep a low profile. All she wanted was to get through high school in peace and make at least one friend to help her through. That plan of hers was ruined when she ran into Mason Carter-the popular charming captain of the Football Team. Since then, her life has never been the same. Join Mason and Chloe as they maneuver their way through high school life, handle embarrassing situations and possibly fall in love along the way.

In the tenth year of being Don Vitelli’s sugar baby, the most reckless man alive was ready to change his ways for a good girl. On my twenty‑eighth birthday, he told me it would be our last time together and prepared an entire box of protection. I opened one of the wrappers and asked casually who that good girl was. Caino Vitelli leaned against the headboard and released a slow ring of smoke. “Your sister. I don’t even know how I fell for her. “That little fool can barely breathe after we kiss. She’s as pure as they come.” His tone sounded like a complaint, yet his eyes held a smile. The wrapper slipped from my hand. I stared at him, unable to move. Why her, of all people?

In my previous life, my younger sister, Amy Lockwood, was sexually assaulted. When I wanted to file a police report, she adamantly refused to let me do so. She even stroked her belly lovingly and said something that blew my mind. "H-He was drunk. He didn't mean to do it. What if his life gets ruined because you reported him to the police? You shouldn't be so heartless!" Later on, Amy poisoned my food and nearly killed me just so she could run off with her assailant. However, my mother kept telling me not to hold it against her. This time around, I decide to be as heartless as I can possibly be.

She came to campus to disappear. He rules it without trying. When silence meets fire, something has to burn. Maya Chen has one goal at Crestview State University: remain invisible. A guarded first-year Software Engineering student, she's learned the hard way that closeness only leads to pain. After a public betrayal in high school, Maya keeps her head down, her grades high, and her heart locked away. Idris Vaughan is everything she avoids. Final-year Architecture student, campus debate champion, and magnetic in ways he doesn't have to try. Beneath his confidence, he's suffocating under his father's expectations and a reputation he never asked for. When Maya challenges him publicly, she doesn't fall at his feet like everyone else. And that unsettles him.

"Holy shit! You're built like a horse down there! At this rate, you'll definitely kill my daughter in bed!" Due to my swollen dick syndrome, my wife, Sabrina Ryder, refuses to sleep with me because of the pain I've brought her. But when my mother-in-law, Diana Wilcox, finds out about my condition, she's elated to say the least. That's when she straddles me immediately. "I have a big frame, not to mention I've given birth to triplets in the past. My body definitely is a good match with yours!"

Priscilla Gard, a newly certified law consultant has recently applied for a job in the top ten companies in Toronto— including the number one company— Southerford INC, run by none other than the MOST ELIGIBLE bachelor in the country— Gerrard Southerford. What happens when she gets the job in Southerford Inc. that not even professionals get easily, to work next to the hot, mysterious Gerrard Southerford? Will something magical happen, or will she just be another name on his long list of ex’s?