Yellow Wallpaper

On the night of New Year's Eve, I wake up in a hospital ward with an IV drip connected to the back of my hand. A nurse passes me the hospital bill. "It's 300 dollars in total, including the emergency treatment fee and the cost for a bottle of glucose drips." When I turn on my phone, I feel my heart sinking. I only have 29.01 dollars left in my bank account. The wallpaper of my phone is a countdown of my family contract's app. Today is the date when I have to renew my family contract for the year. In order to accumulate enough money to go home, I've been working as a staff member in concert venues. Earlier, I had collapsed backstage, so I was quickly sent to the hospital. The dial tone keeps beeping for a long time. Finally, my mom answers my call in what seems to be a noisy background. "Mom, I'm at the hospital right now. I need 300 dollars to pay the hospital bill." "You're at the hospital?" Mom's voice turns shrill immediately. "Why did you visit the hospital during the holidays? You really are a jinx!" "I fainted earlier. I was working at a concert venue—" "What? So, you refused to do chores at home during the holidays! Instead, you decide to work at a concert venue?" Mom interrupts immediately. "I don't have 300 dollars on me! You'd better come up with a way to pay that bill of yours!" "Mom…" My hand tightens around my phone. "Today is the last day of my family contract's renewal period. I'll renew the contract once I pay the bill." "Renew the contract, huh?" Mom just sneers at me. "That's a part of your duties! How dare you use it against me! Helena Lambert, if you don't renew the contract today, you can forget about calling me 'Mom'!" After that, she ends the call. I can only grip my phone to the point that my fingers turn white. After that, I tap on a social media app in hopes that I can borrow money from my friends, only to see the latest post on the social media feed. My younger sister, Hannah Lambert, has posted a photo collage there. "I'm here with my parents to watch my favorite singer's concert! Snagging tickets to the first-row seats is definitely worth it!" The background of those photos is the same concert venue where I work part-time at. It's the most expensive venue in town. Apparently, tickets cost 2,900 dollars each.

"Good evening, Mom. How was your day?" "My day was good, my love. How is yours going?" Her voice was a soothing balm against the stress of the day. "It’s... busy. My boss gave me a mountain of work to finish before tomorrow morning, so I won't be coming home tonight. I’m going to stay late and then head straight back in." "Oh, my dear," she sighed. "Just be careful. Don't get into any trouble." "I won't, Mom. Did you take your medication?" I asked, knowing how she tended to forget when I wasn't there to nag her. "Ah... I’ll take it now." "Mom, please. You need to stay strong for me." "I will, I will. I love you, Annabelle." "Love you too." After I hung up, the silence of the office felt even heavier. The lights were dimmed, except for the glow from my monitor and the soft yellow light spilling from Elias’s office. He was still in there, a silhouette of intense focus as he reviewed the project details. Suddenly, a sharp ping echoed through the quiet room. I jumped slightly, my eyes snapping to my computer screen. Unknown Email. No encrypted address. No profile picture No signature. Whoever sent this, don't want to be traced. "What is this?" I muttered, my skin crawling with a sudden, inexplicable chill. The subject line was written in bold, stark capital letters: BEFORE THE INVESTMENT. My pulse shifted into a frantic rhythm. I hesitated, my mouse hovering over the notification. When I finally clicked, my breath hitched. It wasn't just a message; it was a cache of attached documents, internal financial transfers, offshore account statements, and adjusted revenue projections. I realized instantly that these were different from the official files Elias had given me.

"Why? Just because my wolf is white and weak? Just because I was born with different colored eyes-one yellow and the other green? Then you ignored our mate bond and rejected me? Finally chose this bitch?" I pointed at my sister Casey who wrapped her arms around my ex mate Chase's neck as the stabbing in my heart continued with tears blurring my vision. "Watch your mouth." Casey sneered as a heavy slap dropped on my face and the hurt made my head turn to aside. Chase came closer to me, I thought he would protect me like before but I was totally wrong when I reached out to the hand only to be smacked away. “My mate is with you? With someone who has such a weak, accursed wolf?! Werewolves are supposed to be stronger once their wolves awaken, but you? No alpha would chose a low mutt like you.” He wrapped an arm around Casey shoulder and gently pulled her closer to him. "If anyone is more fitting to be my mate, it’s her. You can just go rot in the middle of the woods." Those words hurt me more than anything else I was told. Since those words were told by the one person I trusted in this place, it most especially hurt. It was as though everything we had together never existed. It did not help that the person he chose as his new mate was my sister..If one day you crawl my legs to ask forgiveness, I, your mate, will never give it to you.

For seven years, Sharon Spark has lived in exile—beyond the brutal tyranny of the Yellow Pack and the man who'd made her his mate. In a secluded cottage, hidden by anonymity and guarded by silence, she's constructed an uncertain peace for herself and her son, Alexander, a son born of secrets and sacrifice. But tranquility is destroyed the moment Luthor Michaels—the powerful, stubborn Alpha of the Tenzclaw Pack—discovers them. Driven by obligation, custom, and a possessive grasp he will not let go of, Luthor drags Sharon and Alexander back to the world she fled, insisting on making them both pack members. and a part of him. Forced into a union ritual she did not want, Sharon is thrust into the arena of political intrigue, whispered threats, and unadorned, unresolved feelings. She refuses to play the docile Omega. Yet in Luthor's gaze, she sees something deeper than domination—something which awakens the passion they once shared, and hungers for forgiveness. As Alexander comes to terms with his shifter heritage within the pack's shielding embrace, Sharon stands on the edge of preservation or release. With her possible protectors as unexpected as Deborah, Luthor's steel-spined cousin, and dangers in the form of rogue shifters on their borders, Sharon must decide: will she protect her son by running again… or battle for a home she never thought could ever be hers? Uncertain between the woman she once was and the mother she has become, Sharon must reconcile with the past she abandoned and the Alpha who never let her go. Trust being a vulnerability—and in a world where power is currency and war is love—building a future may demand more from either of them than they are willing to give up.

Everyone had been poisoned. The toast for my party had just happened and now people were dropping like flies around me. And then I saw him. He entered the hall like an angel of death, his dark brown eyes two pools of malevolence that shone with sinister intent.Despite his twenty years of age, he definitely had more kills under his belt than years on his person. I was viciously yanked into the hard body of the man responsible for everything going on.One muscular arm went over my chest, pinning me to him. Fear lodged itself in my throat upon the sensation of cool dangerous metal at my temple. I bit back a whimper. He was going to kill me. “The name is Gabriel Rossi,” he murmured, his deep voice sending ripples of fear down my spine. “And your papa is going to watch me k*ll his precious princesa. He took my birthright from me. I’m gonna take something from him too.” I gathered my courage and with a surprising amount of strength fueled by the sheer terror pumping in my veins, I pulled myself out of Gabriel’s grasp. He tried to grab my arm, only for his hand to go over the protective bangle that suppressed my magic. I gave another fierce jerk of my body and the bangle broke away, left behind in his hand as I pulled free. I heard the cocking of his p*st0l. My eyes met the feral glowing yellow eyes of my killer, one hundred percent sure I was going to die. “Mate,” Gabriel Rossi said, staring straight at me. **** In a world where darkness and magic collide, Evelina finds herself entangled in a perilous dance with fate. You can run from Gabriel Rossi....but you can't hide. ***