Yotsuba Reaction Face

By a twist of fate, my husband, Morgan Lancaster, and I perish together in a sea of flames. When I open my eyes again, I find myself back on the very day we received our marriage certificate. In my previous life, we appeared to be a loving couple in the eyes of others, yet Morgan refused to share a bedroom with me the entire time we were married. It was only moments before our deaths that I discovered I was merely a substitute for his first love and that he had chosen to remain chaste for her for life. After getting another chance at life, neither of us mentions the past. Instead, by mutual understanding, we file for divorce that same day. From that point on, we go our separate ways. Eight years later, Morgan shows up arm in arm with his childhood sweetheart, Freya Springer, at a business summit. He is now a prominent and celebrated rising star in the business world. Seeing me dressed in a plain outfit, he approaches with a glass of champagne. His tone drips with mockery as he asks, "Ms. Smith, even if you still have feelings for me, there's no need to dress like a waitress just to get close to me. You aren't hoping for a reconciliation, are you?" I say nothing and simply smile as I wave at someone in the distance. My son, Theo Coltrane, toddles over and tugs at the hem of my shirt. "Mommy, Daddy says that he's tired from waiting so long. When are you coming home with us?" The smile on Morgan's face freezes instantly, and he nearly loses his grip on the glass in his hand.

"Don't you know how to fake a smile anymore? Those irritating little smiles of yours that screamed nothing but desperation? We're making an appearance in front of several high calibre people for goodness sake. You must carry this facade on without any slip, Rosalie.” He said.  My chest pinched, and I looked away, pretending to adjust my bracelet to hide the pain. “I know."  ~                                    ~ “Rosaline...” Ezra murmured. “Why help me to ruin a man you once loved?”   "Why?" I repeated. "Because they took everything from me—the one thing I loved more than life itself. They destroyed my life, my reputation, my happiness, all to serve their own selfish agendas. Him and his mistress. I've been maltreated and betrayed severally, countlessly! But no more. It's my turn to take what I deserve: their pain, their humiliation, their downfall." I paused, my face hardening into an expression of pure, vengeful rage. "And I will make them suffer for it.” *                  *.             * Rosalie’s journey had been a tumultuous one– betrayal and pain. The transactional marriage that she had entered into, hoping one day it would turn around to be a marriage for love, had instead left her heartbroken and betrayed. Her ex- husband’s infidelity, coupled with an unimaginable cruelty that he had subjected her to, had shattered her beyond repair.  Now, fueled by a desire for vengeance, Rosalie had returned to seek revenge on those who had wronged her. Joining forces with her ex-husband's rival, a ruthless business tycoon who harbored his own grudges against her ex-husband, she plotted a scheme that would bring them both justice...and ruin.

"I can't do this no more. I'm leaving you, Rupert Peter Myrie," Tasha said, her heart thudding in her chest. He turned, locking his eyes with hers, but she didn't flinch. Rupert snorted softly, his footsteps slow and deliberate as he approached, each breath husky, each movement heavy until he stood just an inch away. "Tee, you must be really angry for you to be calling me by my full name." "Stick to the point," she said, turning her face from his intimidating gaze. "I want to end things with you." Her voice trembled, but she forced the words out. He closed the space between them. "You want to end things with me?" His voice dropped. "Who teaching you this 'strong woman' crap?" He wrapped his arms around her, gently rocking her and pulling her to his chest. "The only way I'll ever let you leave me... is in a body bag." ****** After escaping a toxic relationship and years of being controlled, Tasha Mackenzie finds herself under the protection of Joseph Grind, America's most feared Mafia boss. He’s cold-blooded. Untouchable. And hiding a secret darker than his empire: he's also the Alpha of the Stinging Vipers werewolf pack. As Tasha is pulled into his dangerous world, she learns the man protecting her has a fiancée he claims is just a business deal. But how can she trust a man feared by an entire country, let alone love him? Can Tasha survive the war between her heart and his secrets... or will loving a monster destroy her for good?

On the day of my daughter Eleanor Baldwin's second birthday party, my entire family stood nervously by the banquet hall entrance. They were not there to greet guests, but rather to keep me from showing up and causing a scene. Mom's face was written all over with anxiety. "Lucas wouldn't actually crash the party, would he?" Dad's brow stayed tightly furrowed. "Who knows? That disgrace of a son is capable of anything." My younger brother, Cody Baldwin, had his arm wrapped gently around my wife, Kendra Clarkson, trying to reassure her. "Don't worry. If Lucas dares to show up, I'll keep you and Ellie safe." Kendra nodded slowly. "If it really comes to that... maybe we should just let Ellie be his goddaughter. At least then, we're still family..." However, the party came and went, and I never appeared. I had already made up my mind to join a classified national defense research program. Only this time, it was for good.

On Christmas Eve, my uncle, Garrett Wayne, takes a sip from the fancy whiskey I bought. Then, he points at me while grinning. "Well well well… I've been watching you since you were a kid, Flint. You were a bed-wetter when you were a little boy, and now that you're all grown up, you stay cooped in your parents' shop while running that social media account of yours. You don't have any skills at all. "My Ronnie, on the other hand, has an amazing job that will continue paying him and keeping him around no matter how hard times get. Small businesses like your family's will definitely crumble as soon as the tiniest change happens in the global economy!" All of my relatives roar in laughter at Garrett's quip. My cousin, Ronnie Wayne, pretends to be playing on his phone, though his grin has already become ear-splitting. Mom and Dad can only laugh along as well even though deep down they are very uneasy and anxious. I just gaze at Garrett coldly. In six hours, the blizzard apocalypse will descend onto this world. At the same time, a zombie outbreak will occur across the globe. In my previous life, Garrett, who had looked down on my family and me, didn't hesitate to push us into the upcoming zombie horde just to take over my parents' grocery store. In this lifetime, I swear that I will never let him off the hook! I'm about to pick up a plate of food and smash it onto Garrett's head when I hear a mechanical voice chiming in my head. "Ding! You have been bound with the Rage System! You may talk back and retort to others to your liking in exchange for supplies. The more arrogant you sound, the better supplies you'll receive!" As I look at Garrett's insufferable face, I let out a chuckle. "Oh yeah, I'm not skilled at all. But I suddenly remember this funny little thing. Uncle Garrett, you claimed that you had gone on a business trip to Brimstone eight years ago. But the truth is, you got arrested by the vice squad, right? "Does Aunt Cassia know about this?"

He was her enemy by blood. She was his salvation by fate. When Alpha heir Tyler Rogers finds a rogue-marked waitress in his territory, instinct tells him to turn her in. But his wolf howls for her—and Tyler doesn’t ignore his wolf. Stephanie Channer is dangerous, mysterious, and completely off-limits. But when sparks fly and secrets ignite, one forbidden touch sets off a chain reaction that threatens the pack, the throne, and everything they thought they knew. He’s ready to burn down his world to claim her. She’s the Flamekeeper fated to save it. Let the mating games begin.

The world snapped back into focus, the memories of my brutal end crashing into the present. I was back—right here, right now, the exact moment Jarrold Jameson was trying to hand me that obscenely expensive purse. In my past life, he'd had a nasty fight with his precious Cindy Mayford. To make her jealous, he decided to use me as his pawn. I'd been stupid enough to love him once, but my pride had revolted. I'd refused to be a stand-in. It didn't matter. He kept engineering "accidental" run-ins, crafting one public misunderstanding after another, all to get a reaction from Cindy. I had done nothing wrong. I gained nothing. But I became Cindy's enemy. Her jealousy festered until it turned lethal. She had me kidnapped. The men she hired left my body shattered and broken. And Jarrold? He held his sobbing darling close and whispered those unforgettable words, "She got what she deserved." In the end, they stepped right over what was left of me and walked off into their picture-perfect life. Now, staring into his smug face, a cold clarity settled over me. This time, everything would be different. I snatched the handbag from his grasp. "A present for me?" I asked, my voice sweet, a sharp, calculated smile on my lips. "I love it. But just so you know, for next time… I've always preferred the classic design from her family's brand. That's the one you should be buying me."

"You’re worth five million dollars, Vespera. Don't make me regret not selling you to the labs." My father didn't look at me like a daughter. He looked at me like a bad investment. As a 'Dud' born into a Royal Shifter line, I was a freak, a wolf-less servant who scrubbed the floors of the packhouse while my sister prepared to lead. But when my grandmother’s heart started failing and the hospital threatened to dump her on the street, I ran out of options. I signed the paper. Ninety-nine days. One child. No names. No light. The man who bought me lives in a fortress of concrete and silence. He is a billionaire who never shows his face, a shadow that only comes to me in the dead of night. They say he’s a monster. They say he’s deformed. But when Killian finally touches me in the dark, his skin doesn't feel like a monster's. It feels like a furnace—a scorching, electric heat that makes my dormant blood scream for the first time in nineteen years. The truth is much worse than the rumors. Killian is the Lycan King—the same God my former pack kneels to every Sunday. He doesn't want an heir. He’s dying from a feral rot that’s eating his mind, and my 'useless' human blood is the only thing that stops the screaming in his head. My parents think they sold a broken girl to pay a debt. My ex-mate, Alpha Jax, thinks he rejected a nobody. But as the life inside me begins to howl, I realized that I’m not a Dud. I’m a Moon-Healer. And King Killian isn't going to let his medicine walk away when the ninety-nine days are up.

On my birthday, I passed out at home alone for more than two hours. My Alpha, Augustus Brock, took our son and went to an amusement park with Christine Terra, who had just severed her mate bond. Someone snapped photos of them, and the images went viral on social media. [Brock Pack's Alpha is enjoying a sweet family outing with his mate and heir. His Luna's face is revealed for the first time!] In the photo, Augustus held our child in one arm while wrapping the other around the woman beside him. My son, Ethan Brock, who had always been a neat freak and never let me touch him, had actually kissed that woman on the cheek. He was grinning from ear to ear. I lay on the floor. The harsh glow of my phone screen hurt my eyes. I then heard Augustus' voice through our mind link. "I'll celebrate your birthday with you next time. Christine just severed her mate bond and isn't in a good mood. I'm taking her out to cheer her up. Stop making a scene." Right after that, Ethan's voice followed through the mind link. "Mom, I want Christine to be my new mom! From now on, it's enough if you visit me once a month. If you come too often, she won't be happy about it." My phone buzzed. It was a message from an unknown number. [You know who he really loves. I've regained my freedom. If you know what's good for you, sever the mate bond yourself.]

A month before the SATs, I, Jenny Reid, could see my score. Literally. It was just floating right above my head. But there was a catch. Every time I cracked open a prep book, my score would drop by ten points. But if I skipped a day of school? It jumped right back up by ten. So, I played the system. For a whole month, I barely lifted a finger. And on the day of the test, the number glowing over my head was a solid 1560. When the scores finally dropped online… I'd scored a 500. And the 1560? That was my little sister Patricia's score. My parents lost it. As punishment, they got me a grueling night-shift job at a local electronics factory. That first night, a bunch of guys I'd never seen before cornered me in the parking lot and beat me half to death. Fading in and out of consciousness, I heard my sister's voice right by my ear. "You just had to one-up me, didn't you? Thought you were so smart… but you never figured out I was the one controlling that number over your head." The truth hit me like a physical blow. The score had been her trick all along. I opened my eyes—and I was back. One month before the SATs. The number above my head read exactly 1300. "Hey," my sister said, all fake sweetness. "Want to study together tonight? We can go over the practice tests." I looked at the stack of papers in my own hands. Without a word, I pulled out my lighter and set them on fire right there in the driveway. "Exams are coming," I said, watching the flames. "I'm not studying." My score ticked up to 1310. My sister's face was this perfect mask of disappointment, but the second I turned away, I caught the sly smile she couldn't quite hide. She had no idea… the real performance, the one I'd been rehearsing just for her, was finally about to begin.