Wooden Troublesome Truck

“I would like to introduce you all to the person who will be overseeing this project, our new project manager, Jenna Anderson.” Being followed by the students and teachers clapping their hands, which was then followed by the click-clacking sound of high heels on wooden floors, and my eyes widened as my heart started the pound with surprise and anticipation at what my eyes were seeing next. Long, lean legs, a perfect ass wrapped up in a black pencil skirt. A blouse that hugged every perfect curve. Blonde hair that was right now up in a high ponytail instead of loose like it had been on New Year’s Eve. I couldn’t help but smile widely, believing that fate had intertwined our paths once again. The woman who had both haunted my dreams and intrigued me deeply was now in a project at my very own workplace. And even better, right now I also knew her name. Jenna Anderson. And now, I was happy to know that my parents did not raise a quitter in their firstborn son, because from the second I saw her, I knew that I would chase her, win her over, and make her mine, forever.

I was born into hardship, but my beauty led to my adoption by the Maddox family. When I was 18, they brought home two boys. Dustin Holland, a piano prodigy, quickly bonded with my sister, who was the darling of our social circle. Nathan Holland remained in the shadows. He didn't like to talk, laugh, or even show the normal emotional fluctuations of a person. His stubborn, wooden gaze was like that of an abandoned stray dog. Diagnosed with emotional detachment disorder, he became my project. I vowed to heal him. He locked me in a dark room, scarred my face with a branch, and encased my favorite doll in plaster. I forgave it all, thinking he was just traumatized. The elite in the circle mocked us, urging me to abandon him, but I kissed him publicly, declaring, "I love Nathan. Anyone who hurts him will pay." Then a fire tore through our home. Nathan stepped over my broken body to save my sister, his eyes wet with rare tears. Turned out, his disorder had a cure. It was just not me. Reborn on the day they arrived, I looked at the taciturn boy and sneered, "Dad, must we take in every stray?"

On our wedding night, my husband didn't stay long enough to toast with champagne. He left me alone at the reception and retreated to the chapel. Because from the very beginning, this stoic, untouchable man had only ever loved my younger sister. For three years of my marriage, I poured myself into thawing a heart of stone, only to be met with glacial silence. "Claire," he said coldly, "I'd rather take vows of celibacy than ever love you." But when the truck came barreling toward me, the man who had resented me his entire life used his own body to shield mine. Just before I lost consciousness, I saw him gripping the paramedic's sleeve, blood staining his lips. "Don't tell that crazy woman who saved her… And don't let my family… make things difficult for her." Tears welled in my eyes. Only then did I realize I wasn't the only one at fault in this marriage. After coming back to life, I chose to join the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces and head straight to the front lines. If we were never meant to grow old together in this life, then let my final wish for him be this: A lifetime of peace, and an eternity of never crossing paths with me again.

The world is full of corruption, tragedy, and disaster. Rape, murder, embezzlement, human trafficking. You name it. There is nothing humans won’t do for money, power or self-gratification. More than that it always seems that the downtrodden and the good-natured always suffer the most. The cherry on top? All this suffering is supposed to be rewarded in heaven when you die…if you make it there that is. Sounds ridiculous, right? Don’t worry you aren’t alone. My name is Jasmine Peters and I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired as the world around me crumbles while Sky Daddy watches from his ivory tower. I was cursed with the ability to read minds and now I’m owning this curse on my own terms and saving whoever I can with it. If God won’t help us… I will.Gabriel: I’ll never understand The Almighty’s infatuation with these creatures. Humans demand so much, but yet they give so little and whatever they are given they destroy. The audacity of this human especially leaves me particularly annoyed. She dares to defy divinity and scoffs in the face of The Almighty when it was divinity that has gifted her with the ability to do so in the first place. Only a creature as lost as a human would be given a gift and label it a curse. Nonetheless, as the hand of The Almighty, I will do as I am asked by tending the flock and heard this lost sheep back to pasture. As troublesome as she may be, I fear there is something much more sinister at play and she appears to be at the epicenter of this chaos.

"You are not more important than my pack's safety and the duties I possess as an Alpha to my subject. You're not worth the sacrifice", Archer declared, crushing the last hope Echo had. She walked away without a word, back to the truck loaded with people like her. She was abandoned by her parents, her pack, and her mate. Being wolfless has never been an issue to Echo Ruth Solaris until the community split into two coalitions. The Perfects and the Deviants. Echo is wolfless— a deviant. When the danger of extinction creeps around the wolf packs all over the world, creatures like Echo are axed from their respective packs. But the unexpected rejection from Archer cut her to the core and ignited a fierce determination within her and she swore to be the one people will need. Years later, she has the world at her feet and also the Alpha who once rejected her. With challenges lurking around, Echo embarks on the journey while dealing with her former mate trying his best to win her back. As she embarks on her journey, facing challenges at every turn, Echo refuses to settle for anything less than what she deserves.

On the night of the Benedetto family's Harvest Festival, my Mafia husband, Salvatore, told me to bring our son, Giuseppe, to the family gathering. He said his madre had finally accepted us into the Benedetto bloodline. I was trembling with excitement in our little cottage as I dressed Giuseppe in his finest little suit. He had carved a single wooden rose by hand, a project he'd saved for over five years. He said he would present it to his grandmother at the celebration, a plea for her to accept our place in the family. But the moment we stepped into the stone manor, I saw Carmela. Salvatore had her pinned against an oak barrel in a deep, searing kiss. In the moonlight, her hand was undoing his tie. In front of everyone, Salvatore smiled and gently pushed her away. He walked toward the family members gathered in a semicircle and raised a crystal glass. "Tonight, in addition to celebrating the harvest, I have an important announcement." "I would like to introduce you all to the woman I have married in the eyes of God and the Church." "Miss Carmela Torrino." Before I could even process his words, Giuseppe tore his hand from mine and rushed forward. "Papa, what are you saying?" "Isn't my mother your wife?"

As the attempts at her resurrection have come to fail time and time again, Karmina's power continues to return to her, thought little by little. She grows confident with each passing day that she'll soon return to the land of the living. Amira Haddock, a 22 year old who lives and breathes the life of a Hunter, an organization created by the Human government in order to maintain order between the Humans and the Supernatural. With the Rogue Werewolves growing in numbers, and the threat of Karmina's return getting dangerously closer, she is tasked to take down a rumored Rogue Alpha. Little did she know of what was truly waiting for her in the little old town of Dawson, Wisconsin. Aiden Rose, a Rogue Werewolf who only wanted to live peacefully in his small town alongside his mother and grandfather gets rudely interrupted when a Hunter enters his territory. Little does he realize the connection he has with the Hunter and how troublesome everything will turn out to be with her. As sexual tensions rise between them, chaos continues to reign. Can Amira and Aiden settle their quarreling in order to deal with the monster menace that troubles Dawson, or will Karmina finally get her way? Book 1: Fated to the Werewolf King Book 2: A Vampire's Witch

Sebastian Pena hates me for a whole decade after his true love's death. I try to please him at every turn, but he merely scoffs. "If you really want to make me happy, you should go to hell." That hits hard. However, when a truck hurtles toward me, Sebastian throws himself at me. He saves me, but he dies in a pool of his blood. Before he breathes his last breath, he looks into my eyes and says, "If only… I'd never met you…" His mother is devastated at his funeral. "I should've given Sebastian and Gillian my blessings. I should never have forced him to marry you!" His father resents me. "Sebastian saved you three times—he was a good person. Why weren't you the one who died?" Everyone regrets having Sebastian marry me, myself included. I'm kicked out of the funeral. Three years later, someone invents a time machine, and I travel back in time. This time, I'm going to sever all ties with Sebastian. Everyone will get the happiness they deserve.

After my twin sister Harper died, my Alpha mate hated me for ten years. For a whole decade, I was his Luna, and I tried every possible way to be good to him. One day, he said, “If you really want to please me so much, then just die.” So when a truck was coming at me, I didn’t even move, but I had never expected that Noah would push me out of the way to save me. He was badly injured. Before he died, he looked at me and whispered, “Charlotte, if only I had never met you, everything would have been better.” At Noah’s funeral, all the elders and members of the pack came. “I should have let Noah choose Harper as his Luna. I regret forcing him to choose you back then. You killed him!” Noah’s mother was overcome with grief. Noah’s father also said, “You know? Noah saved your life three times! He was such a kind-hearted Alpha. Why didn’t you die instead?” Everyone at the funeral stared at me with blame. Finally, I was thrown out of the funeral, lost and devastated. Three years later, with the help of a witch, I returned to the past through her spell. This time, I have made a decision. No matter what, I will never be Noah’s Luna again.

I'd been married to Joshua Merck for five years, but we still didn't have kids. To stay healthy, I took those pricey custom vitamins he ordered from overseas—never missed a dose. Then my cousin came back from studying abroad, took one look at the bottle, and was like, "That brand doesn't even make custom vitamins." I sent them to the hospital for testing. The lab report hit me like a truck—birth control pills. Powerful ones. Suddenly, all those mornings with Joshua hovering over me, acting so concerned while I took my "vitamins," made sense. The whole thing had been a lie. Five years of lies. Just as I was gearing up to confront him, my phone buzzed—a group chat notification. Shirley Hoare had tagged Joshua. [Honey, I had a prenatal checkup today, and the doctor said I'm carrying twins! Your family's about to get two grandchildren at once—excited?] My heart turned to ash. Everything clicked. Fine. We were done. I pulled out my phone and replied to my childhood sweetheart's message from three days ago: [After watching the northern lights, I still wanted to see penguins in Antarctica.]