Rose of Sharon

Rose of Sharon

C.Kimberly · Completed · 64.1k Words

1k
Hot
1k
Views
0
Added
Add to Shelf
Start Reading
Share:facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsappreddit

Introduction

Two babies, Two women. Life for Ryan Thorpe is messed up after a mistake he made in a drunken fit of rage. He hurt a woman that he loved and lost her. Now he is chained to another, not of his own will, but can he make a choice to be happy? A choice to let go and start over?

A sequel to the story Courting Trouble. The story of Ryan and Katrina and their journey of healing to find peace and love despite everything.

Chapter 1

'

Do not watch the petals fall from the

rose with sadness, know that, like life,

things sometimes must fade, before

they can bloom again." -

unknown

The cool mountain breeze blew through the mountain ranges and carried with it the scents of the valley into the magnificent Maracheli resident.

White plastered walls rose high surrounded by beautiful hedges of white rose bushes and cedar trees.

A wide red brick pavement led away from the front gate to the front steps of the house where white pillars rose high, sheltering the front oak doors from the ravaging elements.

Several guards in black suits and black turtle necks patrolled the grounds. Occasionally one would stop to mumble into his earpiece before continuing with his easy stroll.

In the background, violin music could be heard playing. It flowed out from the front parlor even as the fiddler skillfully plucked it to the tune of Nicona pogandini No.4. The music suddenly stopped as a strong feminine voice suddenly applauded.

"Very well Katrina, lets try No.6 as well, shall we?"

The dark-haired girl in a white and yellow sundress nodded back to the matronly lady and started playing.

As the sweet melancholic notes of the violin flowed, her tears flowed down her pale creamy cheek as well. Flowing down from a pair of closed green eyes before soaking up the front of her dress.

The old woman peered on curiously, at loss for words and what to do.

Katrina played on though, oblivious to the concerned looks that her instructor was now throwing her way, as she lost herself into the music that was now creating.

The music calmed her as it flowed from the ends of her fingertips into the very depths of her weary soul. It soothed her, relieving her in a way that no one could understand. It seemed to speak to her pain and pacify it, while momentarily, it also acted to blot the whole world away. The world that had brought so much chaos and yet, what did she do to deserve this?

Katrina hit the final notes in the piece and turned to look at her instructor. Unconsciously, she wiped away the with the back of her sweater-clad hand, and just like that, it was as if nothing had happened.

"Well..." the instructor stuttered. "I think that will do for today."

Katrina nodded back in acquiescence before standing up to walk out of the parlor with a single word.

Mrs. Beufont, the elderly instructor, stared back at the receding backline of the girl and shook her head in wonder.

"Such a young girl, yet so much sadness!"

She picked up her music sheets and stuffed them into her brown traveling bag. Then, she began to walk towards the door with a slight limp on her left leg. At the door, the butler helped her into her brown tweed jacket which barely closed at the front over her blue floral print dress. The bowler hat went to her head, slightly covering her greying brown curls. She was all set. She smiled as turned to look back at the butler

"Thank you, Mrs Beufont. See you again next wednesday?"

"Indeed Mr. Fredrick." She replied while stepping out into the cool forest breeze.

"This way Mrs Beufont." A guard met her at the door and walked her down the red brick pavement to the towering black gates that led out to the outside world.

She gave one more look at the imposing building she had left behind and heaved out a tired sigh, feeling quite sorry for the sad girl that was now holed up in that great stone edifice. It could not be helped though. She was but an old lady and not a Prince Charming.

"This way Mrs Beaufont, your car is waiting." Another guard addressed her as he gently guided her through the massive front gates to the car that was a taxi.

"Another beautiful day ma'am." the driver turned around with a smile as she came up to stand beside it. Her gaze flickered back to the mansion before turning back to the driver.

"That it is." She smiled even as she settled back into the brown leather seats.

"The usual route?"

She nodded.

"You know it. I wouldn't miss my bible study group or my babies for anything."

"Yes I know." He smiled, releasing the handbrake to let the car cruise down the lane before joining up with the main highway.

The Maracheli residence was quite a distance from town and as such every other Wednesday, Mrs. Beufont would ride up the mountain in the same taxi and ride down an hour later to oversee a bible study group that met at their local church.

She was a retired music teacher. However, every once in a while she would take up a private student just like Katrina. At the same time, she still working at the big church and as an assistant pastor in Crayon city.

She had never had any children of her own but had once been a pastor's wife albeit some many years ago. Her husband though had passed away, leaving her a widow at the very young age of barely twenty-seven. After that, she had decided not to remarry and had instead poured out herself into her music and her calling as a mentor to her many groups of mentees.

The taxi finally stopped in front of the church office and she handed over a few notes to the driver before picking up her bag to exit the vehicle.

"See you later Mrs B."The driver called out as he drove away. Mrs. Beufont smiled and waved back at him before turning back to walk up the front steps that led into the great church building.

"Mrs B!"

"Mrs B!"

Two teenage girls ambled down the stairs bubbling with a whole lot of excitement.

"Here let us help you." One said while relieving her of her bag and the other, she held out her arm to escort the elderly woman up the great church stairway.

"How is your leg today." The second girl asked her.

"Its okay Janice. Thank you for asking." she responded to the tall slender girl who was holding on to her arm to assist her.

"And how was the class?"

"It was okay. Katrina is really talented. Her music is heavenly."

"Oh, I wish I could hear her play."The shorter and much younger girl that was carrying the bag replied dreamily. Mrs. Beufont patted the girl's brown curly locks and sighed at her expression.

" I wish you could too Bernice. I wish you could."

"But how? She is locked away in the castle with the dragons guarding her."

" Bernice! They are guards not dragons."Janice protested in laughter.

"What! You've never heard of an allegory?"

"That's not an allegory."

"It is not? Then what is it?" Bernice pouted.

"I believe it's called symbolism. And girls, lets stop arguing. We have a class, remember?" Mrs. Beufont finally mediated.

"Yes Mrs B." The two chorused together before helping Mrs. Beufont up the main stairway into the main sanctuary building.

Last Chapters

You Might Like 😍

Diaries Of A Hybrid And Her Mate

Diaries Of A Hybrid And Her Mate

2.3k Views · Ongoing · Sherryann Martinez
R18 MATURE CONTENT

Beautiful Aubrianne Ivanov, raised by her single mom, had a tough childhood. With low self-esteem, she became an outcast and was alone one too many times for her liking. Time spent at her part time job, she eventually grew into a brave, confident, and determined young woman who walked right into an opportunity that would change her life forever.

Will Aubrianne truly feel whole? Will she find what has been missing in her life? Will she allow herself happiness and joy? Will she find love, and most importantly, will she survive what's to come?

Join Aubrianne on her journey as she discovers who/what she is and navigates all the heartbreak, betrayal, drama, and exciting and thrilling events that come her way...

Excerpt:

She lay before him in all her magnificent beauty draped across his king-size bed in the most compelling and provocative way known to man or beast. And for Alpha Zayne, it was the most captivating view he had ever had the pleasure of seeing with his own eyes.

She stared at his every movement, lips slightly parted, her stunning brown eyes scanning every inch of his gorgeously toned and glorious body while heat radiated off of hers. He was HERS.

Her body trembled in delight and anticipation; she was ready and wanted to be with him in every way.

As innocent as she was, she wanted him to...no need him to take her in the worse ways, bringing her to heights of pleasures she had never experienced before.

Fuck she is beautiful, one fine specimen, and she is all MINE, MY MATE. A wave of pure unbridled possessiveness vibrated through Alpha Zayne. He thanked the Divine Moon Goddess, for she has truly blessed him.

He drank her in, eyes trailing up her toned sexy legs spread wide for him, and she gave him that come-and-get-it look.
Taste of Fate: The Vampire King's Human Mate

Taste of Fate: The Vampire King's Human Mate

6k Views · Ongoing · Miranda Carr
I never knew my blood could kill a king—until I met one. Sebastian, the ruthless and immortal King, rules with precision. For centuries, he's ruled with ruthless precision, his heart as cold as the stone throne beneath him. One moment, I'm nothing. The next, I'm his obsession. His touch burns like ice fire. His stare follows me through shadows. And when he feeds from me—God help me—it feels like drowning in darkness and craving more. He tells me my blood is unlike any he's tasted, that my scent drives him to the edge of madness.


He reached for the back of my head and pulled me up just enough to reach my neck. When his fangs slid into me, the pain was instant, electric. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. My hands found his shoulders, clawing for something to hold. My legs kicked. Tears streamed down my cheeks.

He moaned against my throat as he drank, and the sound was devastating.
Where I End and She Begins

Where I End and She Begins

1.1k Views · Completed · Briana Wilson
Amelia is starting high school with her best friend Lola — confident, magnetic, fearless Lola — the girl who makes the world feel manageable. While Amelia juggles grief, an absent father, and the heavy responsibility of raising her younger brothers, Lola is her escape. Her courage. Her voice. The version of herself she wishes she could be.
But when a body lies at Amelia’s feet, and her hands are covered in blood that isn’t hers, one question echoes louder than the rest:
How did it come to this?
As the school year unfolds, cracks begin to show — in friendships, in family, and in Amelia’s own mind. The lines between loyalty and control blur. Between truth and perception. Between who she is… and who she thinks she needs to be.
Because some friendships don’t just shape you.
They consume you.
And when the illusion shatters, there’s always something left behind.
Tempted By The Enemy

Tempted By The Enemy

4k Views · Completed · rituparna darolia
Twenty-two-year-old Alyssa Van Every is in a dilemma. Her close friend, Sienna, is marrying billionaire, Lucas Donnelly who, along with his brothers, happens to be her older brother, Alex's sworn enemy.
She escapes to Preston Island to attend the wedding without informing him only to collide with Lucas’s hot, fiery and arrogant brother, the twenty-three-year-old, Nicholas Donnelly. Sparks immediately fly between them but Alyssa refuses to acknowledge them fearing her brother's wrath.
The wedding is over and Alyssa tries hard to forget the mysterious Nicholas Donnelly but can he forget her? Can he ignore the attraction he feels for her, feelings that have resurfaced after ten years?
What will Allyssa do when she is stalked by the man who has been invading her dreams since the day she met him? What will she do when she is whisked away to a deserted island by the unpredictable Nicholas Donnelly? Can she tame her heart or surrender to sinful temptations? Read to find out!
Part of the Temptation Series. Can be read as a standalone.
My Benchwarmer Boyfriend's Secret

My Benchwarmer Boyfriend's Secret

1.7k Views · Completed · Marina Ellington
A wild party night leaves me with fuzzy memories and a mortifying encounter I can't quite piece together. Then I meet Marco—the quiet basketball player who just transferred for training—and there's an instant spark I can't explain.

As the team's benchwarmer, Marco practices harder than anyone, though few seems to notice. There's something about his quiet determination that draws me in, and I find myself falling for the underdog.

But when Marco's true story starts unraveling—about that first night, about who he really is, about the future he's destined for—I realize I might have gotten in way over my head.

And there's another problem: this was always meant to be temporary. His training program has an end date, and we're both fighting against a reality that seems determined to pull us apart.

When everything is on the line, how far are we willing to go for love?
Omega Bound

Omega Bound

2.6m Views · Ongoing · Veronica White
Ayla Frost is a beautiful, rare omega. Kidnapped, tortured, and trafficked to rogue clans and corrupt alphas to do with as they pleased.  Kept alive in her cage, broken and abandoned by her wolf, she becomes mute and has given up on hope for a better life until one explosion changes everything. 

Thane Knight is the alpha of the Midnight Pack of the La Plata Mountain Range, the largest wolf shifter pack in the world. He is an alpha by day and hunts the shifter trafficking ring with his group of mercenaries by night. His hunt for vengeance leads to one raid that changes his life. 

Tropes:
Touch her and die/Slow burn romance/Fated Mates/Found family twist/Close circle betrayal/Cinnamon roll for only her/Traumatized heroine/Rare wolf/Hidden powers/Knotting/Nesting/Heats/Luna/Attempted assassination
Game of Destiny

Game of Destiny

1.3m Views · Completed · Dripping Creativity
Amie's wolf hasn't shown herself. But who cares? She has a good pack, best friends and a family who loves her. Everyone, including the Alpha, is telling her she is perfect just the way she is. That is until she finds her mate and he rejects her. Heartbroken Amie flees from everything and start over. No more werewolves, no more packs.

When Finlay finds her, she is living among humans. He is smitten by the stubborn wolf that refuse to acknowledge his existence. She may not be his mate, but he wants her to be a part of his pack, latent wolf or not.

Amie cant resist the Alpha that comes into her life and drags her back into pack life. Not only does she find herself happier than she has been in a long time, her wolf finally comes to her. Finlay isn't her mate, but he becomes her best friend. Together with the other top wolves in the pack, they work to create the best and strongest pack.

When it's time for the pack games, the event that decides the packs rank for the coming ten year, Amie needs to face her old pack. When she sees the man that rejected her for the first time in ten years, everything she thought she knew is turned around. Amie and Finlay need to adapt to the new reality and find a way forward for their pack. But will the curve ball split them apart?
Iron And Glamour Just Don't Mix

Iron And Glamour Just Don't Mix

3.8k Views · Ongoing · Kit Bryan
Have you ever seen a screaming toddler and thought, wow, they just can’t be the same good-natured kid who was eating cereal ten minutes ago?
Well… Sometimes you just might turn out to be right.
It turns out, the fae stole my little brother. In his place? A pixie with boundary issues and a talent for home repairs.
I’ve spent my life taking care of everyone else. So when my baby brother is taken, I don’t hesitate. I walk straight into a faerie mansion and make a bargain with its infuriatingly charming master.
Kie is everything you’d expect from a dangerous fae, beautiful, political, and entirely too amused by me. Power wrapped in a smirk. Sensual, mischievous, and far too aware of the effect he has on people. He agrees to help me find my brother.
For a price.
Now I’m bound by a faerie bargain and navigating a world of glamour, manipulation, and ancient rules I definitely should have learned sooner, enchanted forests, political games, magical contracts, and a fae lord who treats seduction like a perfectly reasonable negotiation tactic.
Iron is how I keep people out.
Glamour is how he draws them in.
And apparently, they just don’t mix.
Human Capture (Up North #2)

Human Capture (Up North #2)

1.7k Views · Ongoing · eenboterham
She was a ghost in the trees. Now, she is a prisoner of the pack.

Raised in a starving settlement choked by a vast, unforgiving forest, Lara learned early that survival has a price. To keep her family alive, she became a master hunter—agile, silent, and deadly with an array of mismatched blades. But the forest has eyes, and one evening, the shadows dragged her away.

Nine months later, Lara breaks free from a concrete dungeon, only to find herself stranded in the lawless, rogue-infested wilds of Avers Land alongside four captured werewolf girls. Seeking refuge in the neighboring territory of Illyen, she expects to find a way back to her human life. Instead, she is brought face-to-face with Alpha Rowan, the terrifying, ruthless ruler of the frozen North.

One look into Lara’s eyes, and the Alpha’s world shatters. His eyes turn an absolute shade of black. The bond is undeniable. She is his fated mate.

But a human cannot survive the brutal political landscape of the North, and Rowan openly rejects the bond, dragging her onto a warship bound for a kingdom that views her as a fragile liability. Trapped between a mate who refuses to love her and a court of monsters waiting for her to break, Lara must use every hunter's instinct she possesses. Because in the realm of wolves, a human must either grow claws of her own—or perish in the snow.
The Spy Who Left

The Spy Who Left

1.7k Views · Completed · Orion Vale
"She's naive. A pretty little socialite who got lucky marrying above her station."
"I still can't believe she actually did it. Aria Hart, filing for divorce. Who saw that coming?"
"How long do we think it'll take before she comes crawling back?" Another voice joins the conversation.
"Three days," Victoria declares. "Five at most. She has no money, no skills, no family. Where's she going to go?"
When Aria Chen divorced billionaire Leon Hart, New York's elite sneered, betting she'd crawl back within days. She never did.
Three years later, the world is rocked when Dr. Aria Vale, CEO of a revolutionary cybersecurity empire, steps into the spotlight. The mysterious genius who built a billion-dollar company from nothing is none other than Leon's discarded wife, the woman everyone thought was just a pretty ornament.
Now, every powerful man wants the queen Leon threw away a renowned scientist seeking partnership, a financial titan proposing an empire, and an actor offering devotion. Each sees the brilliance Leon ignored.
Then Leon discovers the truth: Aria's sacrifices, her secret double life, and the daughter she's been raising without him. For the first time, the man who once took her for granted must fight for her love. But can he compete with men who valued her from the beginning?
A story of love, betrayal, and power where the king must kneel before the queen who never needed saving.
Let Them Kneel

Let Them Kneel

238.7k Views · Ongoing · My Fantasy Stories
Kaelani spent her life believing she was wolfless.
Cast out by her pack. Forgotten by the Lycans.
She lived among humans—quiet, invisible, tucked away in a town no one looked at twice.

But when her first heat comes without warning, everything changes.

Her body ignites. Her instincts scream. And something primal stirs beneath her skin—
summoning a big, bad Alpha who knows exactly how to quench her fire.

When he claims her, it’s ecstasy and ruin.

For the first time, she believes she’s been accepted.
Seen.
Chosen.

Until he leaves her the next morning—
like a secret never to be spoken.

But Kaelani is not what they thought.
Not wolfless. Not weak.
There is something ancient inside her. Something powerful. And it’s waking.

And when it does—
they’ll all remember the girl they tried to erase.

Especially him.

She’ll be the dream he keeps chasing… the one thing that ever made him feel alive.

Because secrets never stay buried.
And neither do dreams.
Reborn: My Biased Brothers Beg Me To Come Back

Reborn: My Biased Brothers Beg Me To Come Back

10.2k Views · Completed · Eleanor Sterling
In her past life, Arabella Oberon was the lowest-ranking member of the Oberon family.

She genuinely took in Regina, the butler's daughter, only to be constantly manipulated by this cunning and manipulative woman.

Regina gradually stole the love from her three brothers.

Arabella was forced to give Regina blood transfusions time and again, her weight plummeting to a mere eighty-eight pounds.

Ultimately, under the relentless pressure from her brothers, she jumped out of a window in despair and died. Her last words were,

"What about Regina's blood transfusions?"

When she opened her eyes again, Arabella found herself reborn three years earlier—the very day Regina appeared at her doorstep crying, begging for help.

Looking at the pitiful, tearful girl before her, Arabella smiled.

No more soft-heartedness.

No more groveling.

Instead, she "kindly" arranged for Regina to move into the servants' quarters, to earn her own living through honest labor.

Faced with her brothers who sided with her, she no longer bothered to please them.

And towards her former fiancé, Theodore, whom she had once fawned over, she remained cold, distant, and indifferent.

Moreover, in this life, they would discover that her identity was far more than just the eldest daughter of the Oberon family.