Who Was

She was always the shadow. He was always chasing the light. Lavinia Hartwell had learned early that love was rarely for girls like her. She was the quiet one, the overlooked one—always second to her luminous best friend, Verity Langford. Even Henry Wynthorne, the boy whose compassion had unexpectedly caught her heart in high school, only had eyes for Verity. But years change people. Henry’s dreams of studying abroad collapsed with his father’s death. Verity left. Success became his only compass, and alcohol his only escape. And somehow, in the wreckage, there was Lavinia—never demanding, never judging, quietly holding him together in ways he never noticed… until she was gone. When an arranged engagement threatened to give her to him, Henry assumed she was being forced into it and set her free. Lavinia smiled, thanked him—and walked away, taking with her the steady presence he had taken for granted. Only then did Henry begin to notice the ache. The way her absence unsettled him. The way another man’s hand on her waist ignited a heat that was not anger, but something darker, sharper, and dangerously possessive. A single night blurred the lines forever—her lips on his, soft at first, then desperate, as though she’d loved him all her life. Desire flared, undeniable. But in the morning, she was gone again. Now, with Verity back and the past colliding with the present, Henry must face the truth: he no longer loves the woman he once chased. But has he realized too late who truly held his heart all along? Slow-burn, sensual, and laced with aching restraint, this is a story of unspoken devotion, of a man’s reluctant fall, and of the quiet girl who was never anyone’s first choice—until she became the only choice.

"What gives you the right to think you can control me?" I fumed, feeling the anger rising in me. Before I could react, he had me pinned against the wall, his eyes staring into mine. “Go ahead and deny it all you want but this body of yours belongs to me completely. Like hell I'd let anyone touch you this way.” Violet Murray had always longed for the day she would find her mate. She doesn’t expect the painful rejection and humiliation that comes from the Alpha. Tired of everything she’d been forced to endure; she does the most reasonable thing anyone would do in her shoes. Strike a deal with his long-time rival, Lucian Sinclair. They form an alliance under the guise of a fake relationship. She swears she has no feelings for him. When their fake relationship bleeds into something else, she finds herself questioning everything, including her growing feelings. Lucian Sinclair had one simple aim; completely destroying the one thorn in his flesh, Tristan Black, along with his bleeding pack. He finds an opportunity in the person of Violet who bears a grudge against Tristan and her former pack for all she’d been put through. They agree to form an alliance for the sole purpose of taking their mutual enemy down. It was meant to be no feelings attached. When the lines start to blur, her finds herself unable to deny the feelings he has for her. When different enemies threaten to tear them apart, they must decide if their love is worth fighting for.

When human girl Elena Morris accidentally crosses into forbidden wolf territory, she never expects to be claimed as the mate of the most feared Alpha in the North. Alpha Kael Blackwood has spent years hating humans. They destroyed his family. They poisoned his pack lands. And now fate mocks him by binding him to one. He rejects her publicly. But the Moon Goddess has other plans. When rogue wolves begin hunting Elena and a dangerous prophecy resurfaces — one that speaks of a human Luna who will either save the packs or destroy them — Kael is forced to keep the very woman he despises under his protection. As enemies close in and secrets unravel, hatred turns into obsession. And obsession turns into something far more dangerous. Because Elena is not just human. And Kael is not just protecting his mate. He’s falling for her.

Althea Madison survived death once. A year ago, a heart transplant saved her life and gave her a second chance. Determined to move forward, she tries to rebuild a normal future. Until a car accident leaves her stranded deep in a forbidden forest. That is where she meets him. Xavier Sandalio, the ruthless Alpha of the Redmoon pack. A man feared by enemies and respected by his wolves. A man who despises humans due to the loss of his mate. From the moment Xavier sees Althea, something about her unsettles him. His wolf reacts to her in ways he cannot explain. Her presence awakens instincts he has spent years trying to bury. So he does everything he can to push her away. But fate has other plans. Trapped inside a territory filled with werewolves, surrounded by enemies and secrets, Althea soon realises that her arrival has disturbed something far deeper than she understands. Because the closer she gets to Xavier… the more his control begins to break. And the truth hidden inside her chest may be more dangerous than either of them is ready to face.

“No! I don’t care if you buy me the city skyline, Jason. I’d still tell you to fuck off.” Jason Hale smirked. “What if I bought you the moon?” Samantha Torres’ life isn’t what she planned. Once a top science student, she now waits tables to pay off debt and care for her family. And the one wound she’s never healed? Jason, the man she loved in college, who cheated and broke her heart. Now, five years later, Jason is back. He’s heir to a billion–dollar empire and determined to win her again. He claims he’s changed, and he tempts her with lavish gifts, promises, and the same charm that once ruined her. But Jason has dangerous secrets, and Samantha swore that she would never fall for him again. Until her brother’s gambling debt pulls the mob to her doorstep…and Jason becomes the only man who can save her. Now she is drawn back into his world of wealth and risk, and Samantha finds herself torn between old wounds and new desires. But enemies circle fast: his ruthless twin, the woman who once came between them, and a rival who wants her for himself. Will Samantha walk away from Jason, or will she risk everything to find out if love is worth the danger?

He married me for revenge. I married him to protect my father. On our wedding night, he looked at me like I was nothing. Three days before my wedding, I was drugged. I lost my first time to a stranger in that night. Three days later, I was forced to marry Leonard Eastwood—the most powerful man in the city. He despised me. He said I married him for money. He said I was greedy. He said I wasn’t pure. But every night, he searched for a woman he couldn’t forget— A wild girl from a hotel suite. A girl who bit him. A girl who vanished before he saw her face. What he doesn’t know is that— But before we ever stood at the wedding— We had already shared a night in the dark. And when he finally discovered the truth— The man who once said, “The daughter of a whore can’t be innocent,” Was the one kneeling in front of me, begging not to lose me.

Everyone thought Zed would end up with Amber. So did River — until Amber left, and fate forced her to take her sister’s place. River stepped in as his mate, his Luna, and the one who held his world together. While Zed loathed her, River ruled beside him… until one night changed everything. Three years of cold marriage vanished in one mistake — and one missed period later, River had something to tell him. But when she went to tell him, Amber was back. And this time, she didn’t just want Zed. She wanted River gone — with one deadly lie that could take everything. Even her life.

Grey Collins has the condition of hyperthymesia which allows him to remember practically every detail of his life with near-perfect accuracy. It is a condition in which an individual possesses a superior autobiographical memory. At a very young age, he witnessed the death of his father. His father was killed in their own home. Surrounded by a bunch of men. His father who's lying down on the floor covered with blood. He was killed cruelly and helplessly. To avenge his father's death, his dream to become a lawyer intensified. Hunting down all the people behind his father's death. A monster in court. A cold-blooded man. With the power of his memory, will he succeed? Will he be able to avenge his father's death? Will justice prevail? Having hyperthymesia, is it a blessing or a curse?

The mate bond was supposed to be a blessing. For Sera, it became a nightmare. Alpha Kade took one look at her and said the words that shattered her world: "Not you. Anyone but you." Now she's stuck living with him for three months, watching him wish she was someone else—someone dead, someone better. But Sera's done being invisible. If he wants to hate her, fine. She'll survive anyway. She always does.

From a stall in the office restroom, I overhear someone badmouthing me. Henry Fielder, the intern I've been mentoring for three months, grumbles, "The guy's got zero people skills. He's a total fossil, like a robot stuck in one mode." I'm about to push the door open and jump in when someone laughs and piles on. "The paperwork is incomplete. The receipts aren't compliant. I can't reimburse it without a manager's signature. We could recite his canned empathy lines in our sleep!" Once they're gone, I quietly head back to my office. Later, Henry drops a thick stack of expense reports onto my desk. "Quit waving the rulebook and rejecting everyone's reimbursements." I skim the fake receipts, and for once, I don't call him out. Instead, I give a thin smile and say, "I have a headache. I can't make out the words."