Why He Purple

My daughter was born with silver poisoning in her blood—passed down from me—which made it hard for her to sense her wolf, and even harder for her to shift. I worked tirelessly, taking on every job I could, to earn enough money to find a cure for her. One night during a late shift, I saw her. My daughter, dressed like a princess in an elegant, Silverlight-woven gown, sat at a table in a high-end restaurant. With her was my mate—supposedly bedridden and paralyzed—wearing a tailored haute couture suit. Across the table sat the famous she-wolf of our pack, the daughter of a respected elder. They had ordered a lavish dinner, the bill totaling over $500,000. After the meal, I overheard my mate ask our daughter, “You remember how to tell the story, right?” She nodded and replied, “Yes. I’ll tell Mom we were working as werewolf junk collectors all night, collecting waste paper crates, and in the end, we only earned enough to buy half a loaf of bread.” My mate smiled, pleased with the answer. The she-wolf then gifted my daughter an entire collection of newly released moonstone jewelry. Before they left, my mate tipped each waitress $5,000. I stood frozen, tears falling as the truth shattered my heart: my mate—and even my beloved daughter—had been lying to me. Even in dormancy, my wolf mourned. A colleague saw me crying and asked what was wrong. I forced a smile and said, “I’m just happy. I got $5,000 tonight. It would’ve been even better… if it hadn’t come from my mate, the one who’s supposed to be paralyzed and lying in bed.” No one knew what I had sacrificed to be his mate. I waited for an apology. But it never came. So I made my decision. I called my father—the one who had been waiting all these years for me to return as his heir. When I disappeared from their lives, just as they had always secretly wished... That’s when they finally began searching for me across the world.

Ever since I tied the knot with Connor Steele, he ditched his playboy ways and cut off all his side flings. Everyone thought I had him wrapped around my finger, with our perfect little family. But that all came crashing down on our ninth anniversary when I accidentally saw his group chat with his friends. [Connor, how was that Bentley ride with Ashley yesterday? Pretty wild, huh?] [We tried every spot imaginable. She's totally obsessed with me and can't get enough.] There was a steamy photo of them attached, and the group was blowing up with cheers and congrats, wishing them happiness ever after. I stared at the screen, feeling a sharp stab of pain hit me right in the chest. It turned out that all our happy moments were just a carefully staged performance. I sat there in a daze all night, waiting for him to get home. When he finally walked in with a cake, I let out a cold laugh. "I know everything now. Aren't you sick of faking it?"

She was brought in as a maid. She left as a ghost. Lara was seven years old when she adopted to the Wildfang wolf clan with nothing — no family and no wolf. Until the Alpha's son sat beside her one day and said, "I will protect you." She believed him and that was her first mistake. Years later, the wolf shaman declared Lara was Lucien's destined mate. His Luna, which was chosen by the moon goddess herself and so they got married. But Lucien never believed it was real. To him, Lara was a former maid with no wolf and no status who had used a prophecy as a ladder to climb above her place. So he kept her close enough to call her Luna and far enough away to make sure she felt every inch of that distance in a cold and dismissive manner. When Lara discovers she is pregnant, she thinks for just one moment that maybe this changes things. Until she overhears Lucien ordering the doctor to terminate it. She didn't scream, rather she made an impromptu decision. So, she left. What neither of them knows yet is that Lara was never an orphan and not a nobody they all agreed she was. She is the long-lost daughter of Alpha Darius Rowan — the most powerful Alpha of the Moon Shade wolf clan, who has been searching for her for over twenty years. The woman who walked out of Wildfang with nothing walks back into a legacy that was always hers. And six years from now, when the Alpha conclave brings them face to face again, Lucien will be standing across the room preparing a gift for the mysterious new female Alpha everyone is talking about. He has no idea who she is.

Sheena was just an ordinary housewife. Every day she was busy in the kitchen, washing, cleaning the house, and taking care of her child. Her appearance was unkempt, her body overweight, her face dull, and she always wore thick glasses—and all of that made her husband, Gevan, feel ashamed. Sheena’s life grew even more bitter when Gevan openly held hands with his beautiful secretary. What hurt even more was that their only son, Ghani, actually supported his father. The boy openly said that he was embarrassed to have a mother like Sheena. Insults kept coming, even from her own mother-in-law. But Sheena was not a weak woman. She knew she had sacrificed a lot, and she would not stay silent. When everyone underestimated her, Sheena left and divorced Gevan. “You just wait and see, Gevan! I will make you regret underestimating and mocking me!”

During the holiday, a hashtag related to honeymoon trips goes viral on social media. The topic is, "How are you planning to spend your honeymoon?" One of the threads that has the most replies reads, "I have to bring my mistress along, of course." "Wow! That's crazy. Can you teach us how to pull that off?" I frown as I scroll down the thread and find the reply. "There are a lot of poor, female backpackers these days. As long as the mistress acts pitiful enough, you can pull the wool over your wife's eyes. And just like that, a couple's haven will become a world of three. "My wife and I will be going on our honeymoon trip tomorrow. I'll give everyone live updates in this thread." Feeling disgusted, I close the thread. … The next day, my husband, Sean Clifford, and I meet a poor, female backpacker on the road. She has no car, money, or any suitcases with her. Sprawling herself across the windshield, she begs, "Can you give me a ride, sir? I have blisters all over my feet. I can't walk anymore."

My fated mate, Alpha Cullen, fell for the lies of his first love, Donna, and planned to kill me. But in a twist of fate, we were ambushed by rogues and died together. But with his last breath, he whispered another woman's name: Donna. In that moment, I knew the truth—it had always been her, his real love. When the Moon Goddess gave me a second chance, I was reborn on the day I first met him. One look at the hatred in his eyes, and I knew: he had been reborn, too. So before he could speak, I rejected him in front of the entire pack. Years later, when we met again, he sneered that I was nothing more than a pathetic rogue who tinkered with flowers. But he didn't know I had found a new mate: Orton, the Alpha of Alphas. It wasn't until our son ran to me, wrapping his little arms around my leg and crying, "Mommy!" that Cullen's façade finally shattered. He grabbed my arm, his voice cracking as he begged, "This can't be happening! I'm your fated mate! You still love me… right, Juliet?"

Due to my outstanding work performance, my boss grants me special permission to have flexible working hours. I am out until very late last night meeting a client, and I have only been asleep for a while when a call from my colleague wakes me up. "It's already 9:30 am! Why are you late again today?" I explain to her patiently that I worked overtime last night to finalize things with a client and have them sign the contract, so I won't be going into the office in the morning. My colleague snickers. "You'd better not think that you can skip work whenever you like just because you've achieved top sales in our department. "Today is our boss' son, Mr. Hammond's first day in the office. He might just tell you to pack your things and leave if you were to upset him in any way!" Despite the splitting headache I'm having, I try to recall it in my head. Alex Hammond, the man she's just mentioned, sounds very much like that fiance of mine, who desperately wants to tie the knot with me.

My boy friend Caleb Ford's childhood sweetheart, Julia Leclair, is losing her hair from chemotherapy. So, he orders me to cut mine off and make her a wig. "Julia's allergic to synthetic wigs. You've been growing your hair for ten years—it's perfect." I refuse, but his friends tie me down. Someone shaves my head to the scalp, buzzing through my thick, glossy hair until nothing's left but a butchered mess. Julia sits in her wheelchair and laughs, saying I look like a toad. Caleb smiles and nods in agreement. He adds with a chuckle, "It's just some hair. Was that really necessary?" But back when I was bullied for having uneven, choppy short hair for six straight years, it was he who stood in front of me. He had his arms spread wide as he shielded me from harm. Now he's the one wielding the blade. One by one, their little circle chimes in. They tell me not to hold a grudge against someone who's sick. Caleb snaps impatiently, "Stop trying to talk sense into her. She can get lost! Did you see that fit she threw over a few strands of hair? It's not like they won't grow back." I turn around and walk away. I never look back. Later, I hear that Caleb begs for my forgiveness by kneeling his way up 9000 steps until his knees are ruined.

Lucien sent me onto the transplant table with his own hands to save the foster sister he treasured most. “Elara, this is what you owe Sylvie.” “Give her your kidney, and I’ll let you remain the Luna of this pack.” He did not know that five years ago, when the northern wolf keep caught fire, the one who carried him out of the flames had never been Sylvie. It had been me. He knew even less that I had long since reached the final stage of soul-wolf collapse. I had only forty-eight hours left. This kidney was the last thing keeping me alive. On the day of the operation, he stood outside Sylvie’s healing chamber, speaking to her softly and refusing to leave her side. Meanwhile, in the transplant room next door, my heart stopped. When news of my death reached him, he only sneered and called it another one of my tricks. Not until much later did he unfold the blood-soaked rescue record from the northern fire and see the photograph attached to it. Mine. Alpha, your Luna left one final message before she died. “She says this life is returned to you.” “In the next one, may you never meet again.” So why are you losing your mind now, Lucien? Isn’t this exactly the ending you wanted?

Charlotte Jenkins’s biggest regret was ever falling for Zac Cooper, a man as cold as ice. She spent three years chasing him and two more as his wife, thinking she had finally melted his frozen heart. In the end, she realized she had only been fooling herself. Her mother-in-law despised her, her husband treated her like a stranger, and his precious first love kept showing up just to remind Charlotte she was still in the picture. The final blow came when Charlotte caught Zac and Jodie Quinn together at a hotel. Just as her heart shattered, she found out she was pregnant. She didn’t stay to hear excuses. She threw down the divorce papers and disappeared without a trace. * When they met again, Charlotte was a successful single mom with a thriving career and plenty of admirers. In the pouring rain, the man who had once treated her like she was nothing stood in front of her car. He looked humbled at last. In a hoarse voice, he begged, “Lottie, come home with me.” The window rolled down, and a little boy who looked just like Zac glared at him. In a childish but fierce voice, he said, “You want to chase my mommy? You have to get past me first.”