Window-shopping

After I came back to life, the first thing I did was hand that five-carat diamond ring—yes, the one my husband gave me—to his mother. The very woman who spent years picking me apart like it was her favorite pastime. In my last life, that ring was a custom New Year's gift. He paid a ridiculous amount for it. I actually thought it meant something. One afternoon, I was out shopping when I walked right into a bridal party taking pictures. The bride glanced at my hand, saw the ring, and her entire expression changed. She stormed over and slapped me, accusing me of being a shameless mistress trying to steal her man. I stood there, completely stunned. She was wearing the exact same ring. Before I could explain, her friends grabbed me. They dragged me aside, tore my clothes, hit me, and stomped on my hand until I couldn't move my fingers. They carved the word "mistress" into my face and paraded me through the street like some kind of public disgrace. I died there on the pavement. When my husband finally appeared, he didn't fight for me. He just signed off on a settlement, as if my life were nothing more than a piece of paperwork. Widowed that morning, married to the bride by nightfall. His mother instantly welcomed the new woman, all because she was pregnant. And then I opened my eyes again… back on the very day he first placed that diamond ring in my hand.

To become Marcus's Luna, I hid my identity as Crimson Ridge pack's Alpha heiress and married him. Since two Alphas have difficulty conceiving offspring, I even begged the pack witch to suppress my bloodline, downgrading my wolf from Alpha to Beta. After I finally got pregnant, Marcus was out shopping with his omega mistress while I was being attacked by rogue wolves and losing our child. I forced myself to like the social media post where his lover was showing off their relationship, fighting back nausea. His call came through immediately. "What are you trying to pull now! The pack successfully signed a cooperation treaty with the neighboring pack today. You didn't even show up to the celebration, so Ivy had to take over all your Luna duties and has been taking care of my daily needs. You should be thanking her for helping you out!" "You're supposed to be a strong warrior! How can one pregnancy make you this delicate?!" He finished his rant and hung up in anger. Right. I'd been away from home too long. I was starting to forget my own last name. I didn't hesitate anymore. I picked up my phone and dialed a number I hadn't called in ages. "Beta Hayes, book me a flight for tomorrow morning. I'm going back to Crimson Ridge pack."

Stella Sullivan is your normal seventeen-nearly eighteen-year-old girl. She likes shopping, taking selfies on her phone and hanging out with her friends until she had to move as her mother has just died and her father couldn't cope. He got into a lot of debt with his boss, and the only payment his boss would take was his daughter. So, as a cover for selling her, her father told her he got a promotion and that they had to move to a quiet country town as part of that promotion. What Stella didn't know was that she was about to be introduced to a new kind of not only living but an entirely different species. Axel Echethier has just turned five hundred years old. He is cruel, ruthless, violent, strict, savage, brutal, and a lot would call him bloodthirsty and barbaric, but that is only to others outside his pack because outsiders cause trouble and then pack members get killed. He is the King of Alphas and nothing gets done with a soft hand. Axel learnt that the hard way when he lost his chosen Queen. He has given up on finding his true mate, but this doesn't faze him as a true mate would just be a distraction and a weakness he doesn't want... **** WARNING **** The first part of this story contains mature scenes, implied rape, and some violence. In the extension "SOLD TO THE ENEMY ALPHA KING" Please read at your own discretion, as this part contains some violence, including physical, mental, and sexual abuse, including some rape, which may trigger some readers. Again, please read at your own discretion.

Rebecca was watching the full moon from the window of her room. AND hearing the speech behind her back. She already decided to let him live here... It was not a game of mind but her heart. And she already has given her heart to him. But the dangers that come along with him are far more dangerous than she can even think, she never thought that she will lose everything along in the fight for love and trying to change the evil into good. Only because of the Alpha Wolf that came out as her true mate. "Luna Moon, we can not let a Male Wolf enter our territory. It will be not only dangerous but very risky for all of us and our pack." Beta Julie said. "He is not what he looks like, there is something very dangerous and off vibe that has come along with him," Simon warned her... "Not only you, but I also don't believe my brother I don't even know where he was all these years, what he was up to... Don't trust him!" Simara was the traitor but she also told her...

I died on my birthday, but neither my parents nor my husband noticed. They were too busy pouring all their attention into planning my twin sister, Esme Shaw's, birthday party. While she was surrounded by people helping her pick out a gown, I was tied up and thrown into the basement. With what little strength I had left, I forced my broken fingers to press in the code—9395. It was a signal my husband, Edwin Grant, and I had once agreed on. It was a straightforward way to call for help in the event of danger. I never thought I would actually need it one day. But when I sent it, he didn't believe me. His reply was cold, "Claudia, just because I didn't take you shopping for a new dress, you've decided to put on a show? "You can still wear last year's gown. Stop making trouble. I'll see you at the party later." What he didn't know was that Esme had already shredded that gown into pieces. And what he couldn't imagine was that the moment after he hung up, I was already gone. So, when the celebration began, I never appeared. But when everyone saw the birthday gift I had prepared for Esme ahead of time, the entire room lost its mind.

My birthday present this year is a written contract titled 'Behavioral Reform Contract'. My fiance, who was the mafia head Matteo Giovanni, and my parents have already signed their names at the bottom. Together, they had me sent to the Behavioral Correction Center. … The windows are always shut, and the sunlight is filtered through the metal window bars. They drug, reprimand, and ostracize me to make me shove my feelings of aggrievement down. Even while I am being humiliated and punished, they teach me to force a smile and maintain a steady breath. It was all done in the name of "treating" me. A year passes, and I go from being a so-called "troublemaker" to their ideal version of me—quiet, elegant, and utterly perfect. Matteo beams at me and says, "You've finally become my perfect wife. We can finally marry." I match his smile, a gesture that they think means obedience from my part. However, it is not true. It is just me bidding my farewell before I leave for good. There's something I don't understand, however. They constantly found me lacking, so now that I am gone from their lives, why are they falling apart?

It is against the bro code to nurture feelings about one's friend's sister, but in the case of Josh, was that really it? For years, Lina has nurtured feelings for her brother's best friend, ones that she knew she had to keep at bay, but with them being in senior high, and with her feelings raging out, she found herself doing everything possible to get his attention, but would she be able to, when she suddenly found herself with a love interest? Josh had his well tucked in, tried so hard not to break bro code but all of his rationality seemed to have flown out the window when he found a pest lurking around Lina, and wanting to claim her as his. He had done everything to keep the pests away, but it seemed he hadn't done enough. With his obsession, and crave for her skyrocketing over the top, he finds not just his friendship with her brother threatened but his pack as well. What had held him back was a thin line threatening to snap at any time, but would he let it? What decision would he take? When odds are against him?

My younger twin sister, Emma Lawson, is everyone's favorite because she is sickly. A snowstorm traps us on the mountain and the rescue helicopter arrives with room for only one more. I have terminal cancer and am ready to let Emma take my place. Then she suddenly clutches her head and cries that she feels dizzy. My whole family rushes to her side and together they push her into the cabin. My husband, Leon Ziegler, touches my fractured arm and says, "Sarah, you'll have to wait for the next helicopter." My daughter, Daria Ziegler, even throws a snowball at me. "Aunt Emma is sicker than you. Stop trying to take her spot." Only when the helicopter takes off do I see Emma pressed against the window, smugly sticking her tongue out. She has been lying the whole time. When I am finally rescued, the doctors tell me I have three days left to live. I decide to trade everything I own for a small piece of my family's affection.

Because of a last-minute business trip, my husband missed the Thanksgiving family dinner. I spent the entire day helping out at my in-laws' place in the countryside with our five-year-old son, only to receive a complaint from the downstairs neighbor just before dinner. "Ari, could you please close your kitchen window when you're cooking? I can smell the hot sauce from all the way here. My husband has a lung condition—he can't handle it." My neighbor's words shocked me, and I immediately called my husband, who was allergic to chili peppers. "Honey, did someone break into the house? The neighbor said there was smoke coming from the kitchen." His breathing hitched for a second before he let out a casual laugh. "No break-in. My flight got canceled, so I was home alone cooking. When are you two coming back? I really miss you." I smiled and told him we'd stay a couple more days, but in the middle of the night, I packed up our son and drove straight home.

In the underworld littered with only the worst people imaginable, it is very important to know who you can trust and who you can't. Where death is just a breath away and one mistake can cause an all-out war between powerful groups of people, trust is something earned, not given. Eden Maschera, the leader of an organization known as The Aberrants with their signature letter 'A' in all the clubs, restaurants, hotels and everything else they owned, knows this fact. To get where he is, he's had to make many sacrifices. With blood-stained hands, he watched over all the people under him with an iron fist and unwavering ideals. No one knows to be more cautious against other people than him, not after what he's been through. But, all that is thrown out the window when he meets a pretty, naked, black-haired man in a club with who he did not get along instantly. Even though several things happened just in the course of that night. In a world of betrayals, heartbreaks, lies, secrets and death, what will become of the two? Read to find out. Updates every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (GMT+8) P.s. Not my artwork