Winter Bloom

I died five years ago. Now my husband, the Don of our Mafia family, wants me to take the fall for his sister again—this time for accidentally killing a British noble's heir during an arms deal. He's holding a fake confession letter with my forged signature, storming into my old apartment in the rust district, only to find it empty. Frustrated, he grabs the corner store owner downstairs, demanding to know where I am. The owner pauses, wiping his hands on his apron, calmly tells him: "Serafine? She died five years ago." "Heard it was retaliation from a rival family during the gang war. They ambushed her in an alley... shot her over a dozen times. She died immediately." My husband, Lucien, refuses to believe it. Convinced the owner is on my payroll, hiding me to help me escape his reach. He scoffs, his eyes filled with scorn: "Oh, so what? Because I called her out for messing up that last job, now she's throwing a tantrum?" "You tell her, if she doesn't come back and take the fall in three days, I'll revoke her grandmother's 'special family protection'! Let the old woman rot!" With that, he storms out, his rage still simmering. The owner watches him leave and sighs, shaking his head. "There's no grandmother left to protect... That woman passed away not long after Serafine did... couldn't survive the winter without our family's medical supplies and protection..."

Three years ago, my father marries me off to Evan Blackwell, the CEO of Blackwell Group, for the family's interests. Everyone thinks I'm done for because Evan is known for being ruthless and cruel. Yet, he's nothing but gentle to me, and he never raises his voice at me. He even has my initials, SH, tattooed on his chest. Every year on our anniversary, fireworks bloom across the city right on the dot. They spell out my name and the loving words he dedicates to me. On our third anniversary, the fireworks suddenly replace my name, Selena Holloway, with Serena Harroway. Before I can ask about it, Evan immediately calls his subordinates and tears into them. "What's going on? How could you mess up my wife's name? Do you want to lose your jobs?" I hastily tell him it's fine and that the thought is what truly matters. In the end, he lets them off the hook. However, he pushes me until my legs are shaking and my voice is gone that night. When I wake from the night that leaves my whole body humming, he's already seated at his desk and buried in work. He asks me to grab a folder for him, yet I open the wrong drawer and stumble upon an old photo album. It contains intimate photos of him and a young woman who looks strikingly like me. There's a confession on the back of every single picture. "I miss you so much, Serena."

Alexei McKenna, a man who's engaged and has experienced many things in life at a very young age. He's also known as a very cheerful person but no one knows how much he's hurting inside. His parents are divorced, from that moment on he wanted to live by himself without contacting anyone in his family. But when he met Lucien, he thought that he's the perfect guy until he cheated on him. The things that happened in his life had been his downfall, but then he met another man. Who he became his fiancee, his name is Atticus Montgomery. He's a very generous person and has a very lovely personality. Everyone would think of him as an angel, I am too. Through the years, everything is going smoothly until he meets the man who makes him weak in his knees. Tantalising eyes, that always burned desire for him and only him. Those hands that wanted to touch his body. And those lips that he wanted to taste. A man named Jace Dawson suddenly showed up in his life, a man whose dominant enough to make him kneel. A man who knows how to make him weak. Alex has found the man who knows exactly how to make him bend his knees and rules. A man whom he finally sees living with him in the future. But knowing he's engaged, what would happen to the desire he felt for the man who makes him weak? Will their love bloom? Or will their love for each other destroy one another?

How can a love be so patient but suddenly lose its will when the right time finally comes? “G-gusto kita, Jeo!” “Higit pa nga yata don. H-hindi ba pwedeng kahit s-subukan mo? Kahit ngayon lang iparanas mo naman sakin na akin ka,” nagmamakaawa kong bulong. Walang kaalam alam ang lahat na kasal na ang poging CEO na si Jeo sa nag-iisang sekretarya nitong si Ysobelle. Isang taon— isang taon ang hinintay ni Ysobelle pero si Kaela pa rin ang minamahal nito. Dito na tuluyang napagod si Ysobelle, umalis siya ng walang paalam at ang tanging iniwan sa asawa ay kapirasong papel ng divorce paper na may pirm niya. Simula ng umalis sa poder ni Jeo ay sinimulan niya ang pagdiskubre sa magagandang tanawin sa Pilipinas. Ngunit napadpad siya sa Palawan, sa lugar na ito nagtagal si Ysobelle dahil sa ganda ng mga tanawin. Ngunit masyadong mapaglaro ang tadhana, ang pamilyang napamahal na sa kanya puso ay ang pamilya rin ng dati niyang asawa. Ito na ba marka ng tuluyan nilang paghihiwalay? O ito na ang magiging simula ng pag-usbong ng pagmamahalan nilang dalawa. Can love really bloom from a man’s broken heart and a woman’s pierced heart? Or will waves keep on pushing them apart?

What happens when a lecturer accidently weds a billionaire? Business Tycoon Ian Hills and actress Mava Presley were the biggest couple in the tabloids. Their wedding was supposed to be the most celebrated event of the century. But when Ian found his fiancee cheating on him with his biggest business rival just a day before the wedding, he chose to call it off. A hot argument with his grandfather ended with him being mandated to get another bride before the big ceremony, or he would lose all his shares. He decided to go to his sister’s home to pre-mourn his losses in alcohol. Ashley Toma was a broken hearted college professor visiting her best friend, Rita Hills, the night before her tycoon brother’s big televised wedding, trying to get the image of her step-sister and her (now) ex-boyfriend jousting in bed out of her head. The venomous woman had succeeded in snatching him from her. She always had her sights set on him because he was a rich second-generation heir. In the same place at the same time, Ian and Ashley drowned their sorrows in the finest bottles of liquor Rita owned. Several drinks and a weird night, both of them woke up in Las Vegas with a marriage contract for one year with both their names and their signatures clearly displayed. It all seemed convenient; the billionaire would get to keep his shares and the professor would get to move on from the betrayal. There was only one wrench in the plan. They absolutely despised each other. With jealous exes and fame in the way, would they grow to love each other or would the hatred bloom even stronger?

In this lifetime, Lyana Coiningan, the widow, laments about how envious she is about my bedroom by telling Alpha Theron Ulrick, "Luna Astra's bedroom is so huge and beautiful! If Dexter could stay here, he'd definitely forget all about the sorrow caused by his father's death…" While Theron is still hesitant about giving my bedroom away, I've already taken the initiative to pack up my things and give it to Lyana. On the coldest day of winter, Lyana's son, Dexter Ulrick, suddenly wails and complains about how cold the weather is. He then demands to have my son, Cayden Ulrick's fur cloak. Cayden doesn't hesitate to take off the cloak and give it to him. Everyone in the Silverfrost pack says, "Luna Astra is the embodiment of the Moon Goddess. She knows when to let others have all the good things. On top of that, she doesn't fight over anything with anyone else. Even her son is as understanding and demure as she is." Theron compliments us on how understanding we've become as well. But what they don't know is that I've already bought flight tickets in preparation to leave the Silverfrost pack. Once I get my hands on the mate bond dissolution potion, I'll be able to take Cayden to a land far, far away from this place. In my previous life, Theron had neglected Cayden and me forever because of Lyana and Dexter. He even passed his assets to them after his death. Now that we get a second chance in the same lifetime, both Cayden and I don't want to have anything to do with Theron anymore.

"Stop we can't do this, Levi, it's wrong" I panicked, we were out in the open, and anyone who see us, children of the newlyweds like this would raise an alarm, he towered over me ignoring my protest as he cupped my chin forcing me to look into his alluring green eyes. "You know you want to" His voice was gruff and smoky. He was right. I didn't say anything when he leaned in and claimed my lips, somewhere at the back of my mind I imagined us at the altar just like our parents were earlier. Till death do us part? ~~~~~~ I have always hated how my life was with Mom getting married almost every year, I didn't think this would be any different from the rest. We will be out of here before winter, I would add the Sinclair to the list of families I owe an apology to in the future that's if I don't forget them. Or at least that's what I thought until I met him. Levi Sinclair. He is the one I shouldn't want yet I keep gravitating towards him and the more I tried hating him the more I wanted him. And I wasn't the only one with these feelings. Levi wanted me just as much as I wanted him, even more than I wanted him. But he is my stepbrother and I can't go down that path. Ll// So why can't my body refuse to listen to my brain when I'm alone with him?

Three year after my death, my former mate returned— not to mourn me, but to make use of me one last time. It was the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year—the night when wolves whispered to the dead. “Where’s Mira Thorne?” Rowan demanded as he strode downstairs into the tavern beneath the den. “Her lived here—Gavin’s sister. I need to find her.” Dorian, the tavern keeper, glanced up slowly. “Mira?” he repeated, wiping his hands on a cloth. “She’s gone, Doctor. Died three winters ago. Same night the Moon rose red.” Rowan’s brows knit. “Dead? That’s impossible. There’s no record.” Dorian’s voice softened. “The family from that healing case—remember them? They found her in the alley behind this inn. Tore her apart before dawn. The healers couldn’t even retrieve her wolf.” Rowan froze, a flicker of disbelief passing across his face before irritation took over. “No. She’s pretending. She’s doing this to make me feel guilty.” he said sharply. “She’s hiding. She always was weak. Tell her if her doesn’t come out within three days, I’ll stop sending money for brother’s treatment.” He turned abruptly and left, the tavern door slamming behind him. Dorian sighed after him., shaking his head. “brother? Her brother died before the healers even arrived… there was never any money for treatment.” The silence that followed was heavier than snow. Dorian watched the falling snow and murmured to the empty air, “No one pretends death, Doctor. Not when they’ve already lost everything.”

Being the only child to the Queen of Castle Grey, lost within the confines of mount Trenon, Kilvic is made to learn a number of things best suited to the heir to the Elzcrid bloodline at the hands of tutors handpicked by his mother. However, his fifteenth birthday sends him beyond the reaches of his mother’s domain. She has tasked him with the duty of learning more. Understanding greater things than she can teach him, greater things with which to cope with the curse upon his bloodline as she had been taught by her father and mother. Finding himself in a new kingdom, in an academy designed for only the most elite of mages, Kilvic is tasked to survive the new things he will come to learn, while struggling with the chaos of human association, as he comes to understand that while he may know a great deal about the world from the castle archives, it is a different thing to experience them. The association between people isn’t as easily deciphered as the books made them seem. As he struggles with the task of becoming a mage and a student along with surviving new friendships, failure threatens him at every turn and people prove pettier than the books would have him believe. Yet, despite all these, somewhere hidden in the shadows of the kingdom, a creature stirs, taking from the academy the one thing it values most. Kilvic must survive the trials of the academy, keep his friends, best his first enemy, and ensure that what stirs must not cause more damage than the kingdom can bear, lest the supremacy of Castle Grey be called into question in realms beyond that which most know. And all in time to attend the Winter Hall Fest.

“I was looking for a man named Zarion, but I ended up here.” Most of them gasped when I uttered Zarions’ name. “Don’t mention that name because it’s cursed!” someone hissed. My brows furrowed at her reaction. “Why? "He's the Alpha of this pack. He was banished because he didn't want to take the position. Rumour says that he's out in the woods, looking for his mate, and..." she trailed off. "And?" I swallowed. "Kill her. He wants to kill his mate." *** Alpha Zarion is on a quest to find his mate and kill her because he despises the idea of a mating bond due to his father leaving his fated mate (his mother) for another woman. During a winter storm, he met Cassidy Bentley who saved him from death. He knows he has no time to waste but Zarion was curious about her, deliriously wanting every inch of her skin and touch…until he found out that the girl is mated to his number one rival, Alpha Brandon. Alpha Brandon rejected Cassidy because she’s a human—which he greatly despises. She eventually started getting over him, pouring out her love to Alpha Zarion who obsessively wants her in return. During the night Alpha Zarion watches Cassidy transforms to a werewolf, leaving her humanity behind for her love for him, Alpha Brandon comes to his senses and goes to find her. But her first mate already found Cassidy in another Alpha's arm, in his half-brother’s arms, who was just about to mark her…