From Cursed Widow to the Serpent King's Obsession
Fuzzy Melissa · Completed · 9.4k Words
Introduction
In that precarious moment, it was I who held the throne together, heartbroken yet unyielding.
I depleted my magic without reservation to repair the realm's protective barriers, working through endless nights to brew life-sustaining elixirs for the Queen.
Yet when the Dragon Legion finally drove back the abyssal demons, what awaited me wasn't victory—it was a fatal blade.
My magic was shredded apart. The soul core in my chest was ripped out by a pair of familiar hands.
In my final moments, I saw the face of the one holding the knife.
My newly wedded husband, Drystan.
And beside him, pulled tight against his chest, was my half-sister Vespera.
"You're brilliant, Vespera." Drystan turned the faintly glowing core over in his palm. "A single forged love letter, and this fool willingly died defending our dying realm. Now even her core is mine."
Vespera nestled against him, emerald eyes glittering with greed. "Once you absorb this power, we'll return to the throne together. You'll still be the Empire's Crown Prince, and I'll wear the Crown Princess's coronet. As is only right."
Amid this sickening pledge of betrayal, I drew my last breath.
When I opened my eyes again, cold gray stone vaulting stared back at me.
I had returned to the day news of Drystan's death in battle reached the capital.
One glance toward the corner of the great hall told me everything.
That man stood there wearing a cold iron mask, posing as my dear sister Vespera's sworn personal knight.
You want to drain me dry? Steal my soul core?
Dream on.
Chapter 1
Ever since Her Majesty the Queen fell gravely ill, the entire dragon realm had been teetering on the brink of collapse.
In that precarious moment, it was I who held the throne together, heartbroken yet unyielding.
I depleted my magic without reservation to repair the realm's protective barriers, working through endless nights to brew life-sustaining elixirs for the Queen.
Yet when the Dragon Legion finally drove back the abyssal demons, what awaited me wasn't victory—it was a fatal blade.
My magic was shredded apart. The soul core in my chest was ripped out by a pair of familiar hands.
In my final moments, I saw the face of the one holding the knife.
My newly wedded husband, Drystan.
And beside him, pulled tight against his chest, was my half-sister Vespera.
"You're brilliant, Vespera." Drystan turned the faintly glowing core over in his palm. "A single forged love letter, and this fool willingly died defending our dying realm. Now even her core is mine."
Vespera nestled against him, emerald eyes glittering with greed. "Once you absorb this power, we'll return to the throne together. You'll still be the Empire's Crown Prince, and I'll wear the Crown Princess's coronet. As is only right."
Amid this sickening pledge of betrayal, I drew my last breath.
When I opened my eyes again, cold gray stone vaulting stared back at me.
I had returned to the day news of Drystan's death in battle reached the capital.
One glance toward the corner of the great hall told me everything.
That man stood there wearing a cold iron mask, posing as my dear sister Vespera's sworn personal knight.
You want to drain me dry? Steal my soul core?
Dream on.
"Nymeria, this is Drystan's final letter to you." The King placed a blood-stained parchment before me.
This once-formidable monarch trembled now, unable to control his shaking hands. Tears carved paths down his weathered face.
His gaze fixed on the heavy obsidian coffin dominating the center of the hall, as though all life had been drained from him overnight.
The ancient dragon bloodline had always suffered under a cruel curse of infertility. Even seated on the throne, he'd managed only this one son.
And now that sole heir had not only left after the wedding a few days ago, but this aging father would bury his own son.
I stood motionless on the marble steps.
I stared at the parchment, ice in my eyes and hidden triumph in my heart.
I knew better than anyone what those words said.
Drystan had written in blood, with twisted, trembling strokes: [I swore to grow old with you, and I have broken that vow. If souls have an afterlife, I will cross the River of the Dead to be with you forever.]
In my previous life, this poignant declaration had shattered me completely. I'd swallowed every bitter tear and shouldered the collapsing realm alone.
Until my dying moment, when brutal truth finally emerged—Vespera had stood behind him, guiding his wrist, dictating every word.
"I know Nymeria too well." Her smug voice still echoed in my memory. "No woman can resist a tragic hero's deathbed vow. One letter, and she'll guard your throne like a loyal hound."
Now, facing this performance of dual betrayal once more, cold nausea churned in my gut.
My gaze sliced toward the tall, silent shadow behind Vespera.
Everyone in the hall saw him as merely a faceless knight accompanying my sister.
But I knew. Beneath that cold mask stood Crown Prince Drystan himself, the man who should be lying in that coffin.
He'd faked his death to escape, lurking like a rat in Vespera's shadow, carrying on an affair with his sister-in-law while the Empire crumbled.
Now he watched the hall's grief like a bystander, cold and detached.
"Nymeria." Vespera lifted her skirts and approached, emerald eyes brimming with fake tears. "Please, open it. Drystan thought only of you in his final moments. Let us hear his devotion, so Her Majesty may know her son departed without regret."
Instantly, every noble's gaze converged on me.
Crystal clear. Vespera was backing me into a corner, weaponizing the entire court against me.
Once the High Council saw this letter, they'd believe Drystan had loved me deeply.
If I abandoned my marriage vows under these circumstances, I'd become the realm's most heartless monster, bringing eternal disgrace upon my family.
The Queen's lips parted, but no words came. This powerful woman desperately wanted to see her son's final message.
In the suffocating silence, a garrison commander burst through the doors.
Mud-covered and disheveled, he dropped to one knee. "Your Majesty! The realm garrison heard of the Crown Prince's death. With demons massing at our borders, panic is spreading. Hundreds have already deserted."
The King shot to his feet, armor clanging.
The Queen shook with rage. "My son just died for this kingdom, and these cowards are already running? Traitors—every damned one belongs on the scaffold!"
The King waved the ashen-faced commander away, then turned his clouded but authoritative gaze to the assembled court.
"No matter how dire things become, I will be this realm's last line of defense."
"If demons breach our gates, I'll send you through the tunnels. But I will burn my last drop of blood taking them down with me."
Anxious whispers rippled through the hall.
And I saw it clearly—when the King spoke of dying sword in hand, the tall attendant in Vespera's shadow shifted his boot.
Just slightly. His armor scraped with a stiff, almost imperceptible sound.
Your own father is about to bleed out for the mess you abandoned, Drystan. How does that feel?
The King's gaze returned to me, mournful yet gentle.
"Nymeria, you exchanged vows with Drystan only days ago. Today you're separated by death itself. Perhaps the gods are cruel..."
He sighed heavily. "What will you do now?"
Deathly silence. Everyone waited for me to pledge tearful loyalty, to willingly don the shackles of sacrifice.
I raised my head, meeting the throne's sorrowful gaze. Even with Vespera's barely suppressed triumph lurking at the edge of my vision.
Ignoring the blood-stained parchment, I met every watching eye with iron certainty.
"I'm going to remarry."
Last Chapters
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GO ON YOUR KNEES, ALPHA.
He was wrong.
Six years ago, Pete Leadsilver had everything an Alpha could want. Power, a respected pack and a future already written for him.
Then he met me.
What began as a game became a mistake I would spend years trying to survive. When I told him I was carrying his child, Pete chose not to believe me. He rejected me, humiliated me, and allowed the people around him to make sure I understood that there was no place for me in his world.
So I disappeared.
I took the secret of my pregnancy with me and built a life far away from the Alpha who had broken me.
Six years later, Pete finds me again. Only this time, he isn't the man with all the power. His pack is dying, his people are running out of time, and I may be the only person capable of saving them.
But I'm no longer the woman Pete remembers. And beside me is a little boy who carries far too much of Pete's face to be a coincidence.
Our reunion should have been about a cure, but instead, it becomes the beginning of a war neither of us saw coming.
Because Pete's greatest danger isn't outside his pack.
It's inside his own family.
Old resentment turns into manipulation. Loyalty becomes betrayal. And the people Pete trusts begin hiding secrets that threaten to destroy everything he's built.
Then someone comes for the people I love.
Suddenly, this is no longer about whether Pete can earn my forgiveness.
It's about whether he can keep me alive.
Whether he can protect the son he never knew existed.
Whether he can uncover the truth before the people closest to him destroy everything he has finally learned to value.
Along the way, we'll lose people we thought would always stand beside us, I'll be forced to confront wounds I've spent six years trying to bury, and the family we're slowly building will be tested in ways neither of us could have imagined.
Because sometimes love isn't the hardest thing to find. Sometimes it's the hardest thing to survive.
Pete once believed power meant never needing anyone and I once believed surviving him meant leaving him behind.
We were both wrong.
Because some bonds refuse to die, some betrayals cut deeper than rejection and some people don't come back into your life to give you a second chance.
They come back to show you exactly what you almost lost.
Pete Leadsilver lost me once.
This time, he'll have to fight to keep the family he never knew he needed.
Faking It With My Worst Enemy On Ice
But on his birthday, everything falls apart when his girlfriend exposes Clare's most humiliating secret in front of the entire team.
Just when Clare is ready to disappear, Rhys Calloway, her worst enemy and the team's arrogant captain, pulls her into his arms and tells everyone she is his girlfriend.
She should have pushed him away, but she kissed him back instead.
Now Clare is locked into a two-month fake relationship with the most infuriating man she has ever met, trying to get over a stepbrother who never cared and survive a captain who makes her forget why she was supposed to hate him.
The problem is that Rhys kisses like he means every single second of it, and just when Clare starts to move on, Zane decides he wants her back.
One girl, two hockey players, and a heart that was never supposed to feel this much. Will she choose the stepbrother who broke her or the enemy who caught her when she fell?
Accardi
“I thought you said you were done chasing me?” Gen mocked.
“I am done chasing you.”
Before she could formulate a witty remark, Matteo threw her down. She landed hard on her back atop his dining room table. She tried to sit up when she noticed what he was doing. His hands were working on his belt. It came free of his pants with a violent yank. She collapsed back on her elbows, her mouth gaping open at the display. His face was a mask of sheer determination, his eyes were a dark gold swimming with heat and desire. His hands wrapped around her thighs and pulled her to the edge of the table. He glided his fingers up her thighs and hooked several around the inside of her panties. His knuckles brushed her dripping sex.
“You’re soaking wet, Genevieve. Tell me, was it me that made you this way or him?” his voice told her to be careful with her answer. His knuckles slid down through her folds and she threw her head back as she moaned. “Weakness?”
“You…” she breathed.
Genevieve loses a bet she can’t afford to pay. In a compromise, she agrees to convince any man her opponent chooses to go home with her that night. What she doesn’t realize when her sister’s friend points out the brooding man sitting alone at the bar, is that man won’t be okay with just one night with her. No, Matteo Accardi, Don of one of the largest gangs in New York City doesn’t do one night stands. Not with her anyway.
Moonfire: Betrayed By The Alpha
Alpha Caden Blackwell believed those words would break me. That after three years of marriage marked by silence, humiliation, and quiet rejection, I would fear a life without him.
I did once.
As the Luna of the Shadowcrest Pack, I gave everything to a man my wolf recognized as her mate, enduring whispers, cold stares, and a pack that never truly accepted me. I stayed because I believed love required endurance. Because I believed patience would one day be rewarded.
That belief shattered the night Caden welcomed his former lover back into our home, along with a child he claimed as his heir. It ended the moment his choices nearly cost me my life and the life of one of my unborn pups. Leaving was no longer a matter of pride. It was survival.
Caden does not know the woman who walked away. He still sees the Luna who waited, who forgave, who loved without limits. He does not see Nova Ashton, a woman capable of rebuilding her identity and claiming a future on her own terms.
I will never crawl back.
Fated to the Enemy: The Alpha's Witch Bride
My touch tames his inner beast.
… Until I find another woman’s bite mark on his neck.
As a holy witch, I shouldn't be sneaking out for Zuri—a cursed shape-shifter from a rival clan.
But our forbidden heat is intoxicating.
When his monstrous Primal breaks free, slaughtering everything in its path, even his fiercest warriors cower.
I don't.
I walk straight to the blood-soaked beast, press my body against his, and tame him with a single, desperate embrace.
There’s just one problem: his clan betrothed him to a Shaman’s daughter.
I tell myself it's purely political. I tell myself his heart is mine.
Until tonight.
He sneaks into the woods for me. We share a deep, hungry kiss under the moonlight.
But as I pull back, my blood runs cold.
Right there, on the neck of the man I just risked my soul to save...
Is a fresh, undeniable bite mark.
The Mafia King's Unknown Doctor Wife
Mated To My Nemesis
Agnes Tremaine arrived in Melbourne with a camera but no backstory in this world. She was meant to document one season. She never realized she was already the blueprint — that the connections, the open doors, and the meticulous arrangements were all built specifically for her, tailored and designed to use her.
Ace had a nine-year revenge in the making. A journalist had destroyed his sister's life and left no fingerprints. Now the man's daughter was standing in his garage with a camera, and Ace had been the one to open the door.
His wolf chooses a mate he never wanted and couldn't shake — not in the paddock, not on the track, not even at 200mph where nothing else had ever followed him before.
For the first time in his life, he couldn't have it all.
Rejected By My Family, Desired By The Mafia
While the real heiress struggled to survive, the nanny’s daughter, Talia, was raised in luxury as the beloved jewel of the Laurent family, pampered by Camille’s parents, adored by her three brothers, and even promised to the prestigious Matteo Devereux through a childhood engagement arranged by their grandparents.
Then the truth came out.
Six months ago, Camille was finally brought back to the Laurent family. To protect the family reputation and prove their devotion to their bloodline, the Laurent patriarch transferred 35% of his personal shares into Camille’s name overnight, instantly making her one of the wealthiest heiresses in the country.
It brought anxiety to all the Laurent family. But what they don’t know…is that Camille never needed them.
Behind her elegant smile lies a woman filled with secrets powerful enough to shake the whole family. She's a miraculous healer capable of curing the incurable poisons.
Yet despite everything, her family still chooses Talia.
Every accusation against Talia is forgiven. Every scheme against Camille is brushed aside. Even Matteo, the man who was supposed to be Camille’s fiancé—cannot let go of the woman he always believed belonged by his side.
But while the Laurent family underestimates Camille, another man begins to see exactly who she is.
Dante Moretti.
The ruthless heir of an old-money dynasty. A billionaire CEO worshipped by the public…and the merciless king of a criminal empire hidden beneath the city’s glittering surface. When Dante is poisoned by a rival syndicate with a deadly toxin no doctor can cure, he offers a fortune for anyone who can save him.
Only Camille can. Their deal is simple: she becomes his personal physician, and he gives her anything she wants.
Where The Ice Gives Way
Blake Atlas scents his mate the moment Charlotte arrives. The bond hits hard and unmistakable, but Charlotte doesn’t recognise it. She doesn’t know why her chest keeps pulling toward the one boy she absolutely cannot afford to want. Blake is Charlie’s new hockey captain. Charlie’s chance at making something good. Charlie makes it clear; his sister is off-limits and Blake tries to do the right thing, but secrets don’t stay buried forever. Rogues prowl the edges of town. The ice cracks. The bond tightens. Then Charlotte’s rare white wolf awakens, the very thing that makes her powerful, also makes her a target.
Shanti needs Shakti. (Peace needs strength.)
Where the Ice Gives Way is a slow-burn YA paranormal romance filled with fated mates, protective alpha energy, fierce sibling loyalty, found family pack bonds, hurt/comfort, and quiet, aching tension. It’s a story about first belonging, learning to be cared for, and what happens when the girl who has always held everyone else up finally falls, and someone catches her.
Reborn and Unleashed: The Boss Lady Takes No Prisoners
Now reborn, Vivian refuses to hide her strength. She's revealing her true identity, claiming her power, and rewriting her fate. No more submission, no more misunderstandings—this time, she'll take control of her life and her love.
As regretful brothers beg for forgiveness and powerful enemies fall at her feet, Vivian has one goal: to rise without mercy and make the man she once loved fall for her all over again—on her terms.
CHASING GHOSTS
Bonds at War: The Virgin is Mine
Perhaps then they would stop controlling my every move. Maybe my brothers would stop resenting me. Perhaps I wouldn’t feel so invisible anymore.
No one believed I could do it—not even my mate, Alpha Jaxon Trevane.
The night I planned to tell him... I found him tangled in bed with my best friend.
Heartbroken and humiliated, I left everything behind and went to Elite alone.
But the academy isn’t the fairytale I dreamed about.
Beneath the grand halls and traditions, a brutal game is being played.
The four ruling Alphas of the North, South, East, and West fight for power, dominance... and now, for me.
A virgin. Untouched. Unclaimed. The prize they all want.
There’s the mate who shattered my heart and swears he’ll win me back.
The brilliant strategist who wants me as his Luna.
The dangerous playboy who promises no one will ever touch me but him.
And the cold, possessive Alpha who watches from the shadows—and would destroy anyone who dares to take me from him.
But in a place where love is a battlefield and lust is a weapon... falling in love might be the most dangerous thing I ever do.
Welcome to Elite Order Academy—where every desire has a price, and my body is the ultimate trophy.
