Winning The Week

In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Helen wakes up one morning with an atomized heart. A week later, she throws herself off a cliff. What caused her heart to self-destruct? Her on-and-off relationship with the odd Tom? The circumstances of a global crisis? Or the alleged accident that killed her neighbour Paul a few days ago?

My father's adopted daughter was only locked in the cramped storage closet for around fifteen minutes, yet he punished me by tying me up and throwing me inside. He even sealed off the ventilation with towels. "As Wendy's older sister, if you can't take care of her, then you should also experience how scared she was," he declared coldly. He knew I was claustrophobic, but my desperate pleas for mercy, my terror, were met with nothing but heartless reprimands. "Let this be a lesson on how to be a good sister." As the last sliver of light disappeared, swallowed by the oppressive darkness, I struggled helplessly. A week passed before my father finally remembered my existence and decided it was time to end my punishment. "Let's hope this week served as a good lesson for you, Jennifer. If this happens again, you will no longer be allowed in this house." He would never know that I had already taken my last breath in that suffocating room. My body had begun to rot in the darkness.

Our pup, Kyle Draven, is burning with a fever of 104 degrees Fahrenheit. His small body convulses as he cries out for his father. But my husband, the Alpha, doesn't care. Julian Draven ignores our son's suffering because Kyle's cries might disturb his precious Linda Griffin. "Linda's trying on evening gowns. Stop using Kyle to get my attention. You're pathetic." Linda deliberately monopolizes my husband's time, then shows up with cake for Kyle like she's some saint. When Kyle eats it, he vomits black-purple blood. The cake had Wolfsbane. I confront her, desperate for answers, but Julian responds with a vicious slap and crushes me under his Alpha authority. "Linda wouldn't hurt a fly. How could she poison anyone? You clearly framed her. What kind of mother poisons her own pup?" He shatters my spine and throws both me and our dying pup into the Borderlands. Just as he gives the order to kill us, a roar erupts from deep within the forest—the kind that makes every beast submit. My childhood friend has returned.

I'd been married to Matteo—the Lamberti Don—for five years. No one knew I was his wife. I didn't want the perks. The spotlight. So I stayed invisible. We were in love. Still felt like dating every single day. Then my first day at the new hospital wrecked everything. "Dr. Accardi, you won't believe this." A coworker leaned in, grinning. "Guess who that new patient's husband is? Matteo freaking Lamberti." I froze. If she was his wife—then who was I? She was pregnant. Carrying the future Lamberti heir. So what did that make the baby inside me? I held it together. Did the exam. Played the calm, capable doctor. No one saw the panic clawing through me. I told myself it was gossip. Lies. It had to be. Then I heard Matteo call her 'my princess.' That was it. He had a new 'princess.' And I had to let him go.

Arthur Black is the heir to the Alpha position in the Northland pack. He's cold and decisive, and he intimidates the rest of the pack. All in all, he's a cold-blooded black wolf. But after he and I get together, he formally announces to the entire pack that I, Ella Grant, am his mate. He never speaks with other she-wolves just to make me feel extremely secure. But what he doesn't know is that I've already personally witnessed his betrayal to my love. On the night of the full moon, Arthur embraces a sexy she-wolf while kissing her. He remarks casually, "Ella told me before that she will leave me if she ever finds out that I've cheated on her. I love her, and I can't ever lose her. "That's why you'd better not expose our affair to Ella. Otherwise… well, you know the consequences of doing so." The she-wolf, Lilian Frisk, retorts in displeasure, "Then why did you still seek me out?" Arthur smiles. "I'm just toying around with you, you see. You know that the she-wolf I love is Ella. But I've been staring at her face and sleeping with her for seven whole years. Even a devoted wolf like me needs something new every now and then."

Alice Clearwater has died once. When she did, it was on a cot in the Moonshadow pack's infirmary. She remembered hearing her daughter, Aliya Steelclaw, laughing coldly by her ear. That laughter was mixed with Anna Darkfur's string of vile curses as well. Before Alice died, she finally realized that her perfect mate of 50 years, Alexander Steelclaw, never ever loved her.

I was Alpha Dylan’s “mate-in-waiting” for six years. Every night, he’d make love to me, worshipping every inch of my body. On our sixth anniversary, he promised me a surprise. I thought he was finally going to make me his official Luna. Instead, I watched him place the moonstone necklace, the symbol of the Luna, around the neck of Lady Lilith from the Black Forest Pack. He took my hand and explained, “Lilith has a rare disease, Moon-Eater's sickness. The only cure is to complete the mating bond with a powerful Alpha.” “Don’t worry. In three months, you’ll take your rightful place as my Luna.” I didn’t cry or fight like I used to. Instead, I sent a message to the Alpha King, the fated mate I once rejected. “About your offer to marry me… I accept.”

On the night of the full moon, my fated mate, Alpha Chase Howler of the Redstone Pack, rejects me right in front of everyone. He has one arm slung around my best friend, Bella Hooks. "Daisy, you're too much of a traditionalist, not to mention you're very domineering. Bella, on the other hand, is very understanding and docile. She's the one who's meant to be my Luna." I try to explain to Chase that this is the Moon Goddess' arrangement for us. Yet, Bella clutches her chest before collapsing into Chase's arms, her eyes already reddened. "Daisy, I'm not a powerful healer like you. I know that I'm far too useless. If my death allows you to be with Chase, then I shall die right now." Chase is heartbroken, to say the least. He forcibly rejects our bond, completely disregarding the fact that we've been together for years. When I spit out some blood and collapse to the ground, Chase doesn't even bother glancing at me. Instead, he busies himself in comforting Bella, who has suffered from shock. As my punishment for making Bella sad, Chase decides to make me kneel before the altar until I'm willing to admit my mistakes. "You can only get up to your feet when you decide to apologize to Bella." I end up kneeling before the altar for three days and three nights before finally collapsing into a dead faint. When I stir awake once again, two mating marks have occupied my neck. I see the Alpha twins, Kyle and Ryan Grayback, standing in front of me. Legend has it that they are the violent and bloodthirsty rulers of the Snowlight Pack in the north. Later on, Chase begins regretting his decision to reject me like mad. He relentlessly pleads with me to give him another chance. But my mates are quick to refute, "How dare you ogle our Luna, you filthy mongrel!"

When I married mafia don Paul Garcia, I was twenty-two, and he was thirty-two. By day, he was the cold, dangerous king of the underworld. By night, he was my daddy. Everyone in New Haven knew how much he loved me. I casually mentioned I disliked the ballerina competing with me for the principal role. The next day, she “accidentally” broke her leg and never returned to the stage. One night, I craved pasta from a specific restaurant. Without a word, he led his men into the kitchen, pressed a gun to the chef’s head, and forced him to recreate the dish overnight. I once joked about wanting to sleep among the clouds. He turned around, had the building of a rival family blown up, then bought the tallest one in the city and engraved my name on the top floor. However, in bed, he would exhaust me completely and refuse to let me go. Even when the doctor warned that I was in early pregnancy and needed restraint, he ignored my cries, tied my wrists with his tie, and went on until dawn. The next day, I started bleeding. I called him ninety-nine times, yet he rejected every single call. In my panic, I suddenly received a video from my best friend. “Emily, your don is pinning a woman down and kissing her at the bar of the Four Seasons in Moscovia.” When I opened the video, my heart stopped. The man was Paul, and the woman was my aunt. In that case, I’ll give him two gifts when he comes back: an abortion report and a divorce agreement.

My fiancé, Aaron Willis, treated me like a prize he could toss across a poker table. One drink, one careless joke, and he lost me to his twin brother, Kevin Willis. They were both heirs to the Redwood Pack. I didn't cry or make a scene. I acted like I didn't know a thing and followed that quiet, cold wolf out the door. I stayed in his bed the entire night, tangled up with him until morning. At dawn, when Aaron came looking for me, I made sure I was wearing Kevin's shirt. Right in front of the staff, I let my voice turn soft and teasing as I complained about how out of control he had been the night before. Then I let one of Kevin's heirloom cufflinks slip loose and roll straight to Aaron's feet. His face went instantly gray, the arrogance in his eyes shattering. I rose onto my toes, slipped my arms around his neck, and murmured against his ear, "The way you had complete control over me last night… I really liked it."