8541 Book(s) Related to between the devil and the deep blue sea novel

My younger sister, Freya, was preparing for her advanced training in New York the following week, so she dragged me to the dance studio to help her correct her movements. I put on my dance shoes as usual and stood in the center of the floor, ready to demonstrate a turn.

The moment my foot slipped, I didn't even have time to react.

My body hit the ground hard, and the sharp pain from the back of my head nearly made me lose consciousness. I lay on the cold floor, my throat tight, unable to even cry out for help.

When Mother rushed in, she didn't spare me a glance.

She immediately helped Freya up and took her to the hospital. I missed the critical window for treatment and died on the way to the hospital.

The multi-million-dollar deal I worked my ass off to win back was handed over by my boss to a clueless new hire who could barely even read the material codes. And that same rookie had the nerve to mock me in public, saying I was nothing but his errand girl.
My boss went even further, tore up every rule in the book, and shoved a termination agreement right at me.
I didn't argue. I didn't make a scene. I took the severance and walked away.
Because I knew one thing better than anyone: without me, they wouldn't even make it through the manufacturers' front doors.
Sure enough, just days after I left, the entire supply chain fell apart, and the company's cash flow completely collapsed.
And when they started scrambling in desperation, running all over New York begging investment executives to save them, they walked straight onto my mother's turf.

The day I discovered my husband, Vincent, was cheating on me with my younger sister, I was seven months pregnant. I drove away in a panic, only to end up in a car accident.
When I woke up in the family’s underground clinic, Vincent was pressing a gun to his own forehead, begging me to forgive him.
My father immediately ordered Elena to leave Sicily.
From that day on, Vincent took over every family affair, big or small, never allowing me to worry about a single thing.
I never heard from Elena again.
Not until our son was suddenly hospitalized with acute pneumonia.
I rushed back to the family’s private hospital in the middle of the night.
Through the half-open hospital room door, I saw my parents and Elena, who were supposed to be thousands of miles away in Siberia.
Elena was bent over the bedside, sobbing.
"Leo is my child. Why can't he even call me Mom? Do you have any idea how much that hurts?"
Vincent wrapped his arms around her, his face full of tenderness.
"I know you've suffered, sweetheart. But if Isabella finds out that her baby actually died in that car accident, there's no telling how many people she'll drag down with her. You know what she's capable of."
I froze outside the door.

When he found out I’d injured my leg and couldn't scrub in to deliver the billionaire's baby tomorrow, my boyfriend’s first reaction wasn't concern. He gritted his teeth and snapped, "Hannah, you did this on purpose, didn't you? Why today of all days? Are you really throwing away your entire career just to spite me?!"
I didn't argue. I just stared at the medical chart labeled Eleanor Whitlock, my fingers trembling.
In my past life, I took this assignment. I was drugged and locked in a supply closet. A few hours later, the mother and baby were dead—and the security footage showed a nurse with my face poisoning them. I died in a damp prison cell, branded a murderer.
Reborn into this life, I just wanted to escape this fatal trap.
But somehow, the security cameras had once again captured "me" walking into that delivery room.

She's a werewolf and vampire.

Three years ago, on their way to attend my graduation art exhibition, the cruise ship carrying my fiancé and my family caught fire.

Over the past three years, I downed sleeping pills countless times, desperately wanting to follow them into the afterlife. Every single time, my adopted sister, Serena, saved me, crying hysterically as she shoved her fingers down my throat to make me throw up.

"They are already gone! Harper, you can't keep living in the past. You have to live on for their sake!"

After fainting from yet another high fever and being rushed to the hospital, I was diagnosed with terminal leukemia.

The doctor said I had a month left, at most.

I refused their advice to find a bone marrow match. Clutching my family's belongings, I decided to go back to our old estate in the suburbs for one last look.

While I was walking in a daze, a little boy running wildly crashed hard into my legs.

A male voice that had haunted my dreams for years rang out from behind me. "Alistair, if you keep running off, what will you do if Mommy and Daddy don't want you anymore?"

In an instant, it felt like I had been plunged into freezing water. I froze in place.

"Abort it," my husband said, his voice completely dead.
This was the man who had just fought off the guards to save me. The man who swore to protect me. But after one single croak from that cursed one-eyed raven, he condemned our third child to death.
My in-laws held me down. My own parents watched in cold silence.
As the abortion poison tore through my body and my blood stained the carpet, they all let out a sigh of relief.
Why? Why was this entire family so obsessed with my womb? Why did everyone obey a bird over a doctor?
I thought I had married into a prestigious noble family. I thought I was just a victim of their twisted traditions.
Until midnight, when I dragged my broken body past the study and saw it through the cracked door:
Black candles. A bloody pentagram. And my mother-in-law kneeling before the portrait of a man.
I finally understood the terrifying truth...

My daughter has passed away, and my ex-husband abandoned us.

In my darkest hour, my first love, Lysander, reappeared; he covered the medical expenses, married me, and provided me with a home.

For five years, I believed I was the luckiest woman in the world.

Until that fateful day, four months into my pregnancy, when I overheard his conversation with a friend—

“To save Celeste, I thought... who knew it would lead to the death of Seraphina’s daughter?”

“As for Seraphina, she is a good wife, but alas... I do not love her.”

It turned out that my daughter’s death was no accident.

It was revealed that these five years of marriage were merely his quest for atonement.

The one he had always truly loved was Celeste—my ex-husband’s current wife.

As I lay on the operating table, I made a decision—

Since he had taken my daughter’s kidney, I would seize everything from him.

Including what he believed he would never lose: me.

My adopted sister, Cordelia, conspired with her biological mother to harvest my organs alive, yet she had the audacity to claim I paid thugs to rape her.
My biological parents didn't bother to ask for the truth. They cursed me, calling me a vicious bastard, and threatened to break my legs.
My fiancé, Caspian, coldly announced the cancellation of our engagement, declaring he would marry the very murderer who killed me.
I had been dead for exactly three days. No one cared. My body was rotting back in a moldy storage room.
Through it all, my soul was trapped in the manor, forced to witness this absurd farce.
But what they didn't expect was that when they finally learned of my death—
Everyone went completely insane.

I was their real daughter.

The lost princess they found, brought home, and promised to protect.

But every time she cried, I was the one punished.

Every time she bled, I was the one accused.

When she disappeared, they said it was my fault. They tore my memories apart to prove it.

Fine , only if they stand where I stood, feel what I felt, will they ever know my pain.

Kasha is a lowly maid, but she received the favor of the moon goddess, and she has a powerful and handsome Alpha.
Adri is the Alpha of the Black Thunder Pack and he never thought his mate would be a weak maid.
Kasha finds her mate on her bar mitzvah day, but is rejected and threatened. Fate seems to be playing tricks on her, and Kasha gradually loses everything she has, but the moon goddess has left her a bigger surprise...

Jessica Thomas is thrust into the dark, seductive world of the mob when she gets the eye of David Mack, a powerful crime boss known for his cruelty.

What starts as a risky love quickly turns into a forbidden romance neither of them can refuse. But with deception around every corner and a dangerous enemy determined to keep them apart, Jessica and David must decide if their love is worth risking everything – even their lives.

As Jessica learns to manage this dangerous world, she’ll find the depths of her strength, and David will face a love that might break him or set him free.

What would you do if the Resonance Test matched you 100% with a species that had been extinct for centuries?

My grandmother died owing 1.2 million.

By the time the debt collector showed up at her funeral, I was out of options. Then three strangers appeared and paid off the entire debt on the spot.

The price? I had to enroll at Aurelis Academy, the most powerful magic academy in the world.

I'm Wren Hale. Sixteen years old. Human. Barely Level 1.

I grew up fixing fences and nursing injured animals on a dying farm. Casting spells? Yeah, not exactly my thing. I don't belong at Aurelis, and everyone here seems determined to remind me of that.

Then, on my very first day, the Resonance Test went haywire.

At least, that's what the academy claimed.

Because my actual result was a 100% resonance match with a dragon.

A dragon. A species that had been extinct for centuries.

I came here to pay off my debt, save my farm, and get back to my old life.

But apparently, the dragon had other plans.

He wanted an open marriage. I gave him exactly what he asked for—with the three men he fears most.
"You gave your body to a man who didn't know what to do with it," Cane murmured, his breath hot on her skin. "Let us show you what it means to be wanted… by three."
Riley gave everything to her marriage until she walked in on her husband and his stepsister cheating on her.
The betrayal shattered her… but only for a moment as she proposes to the one thing he's always wanted: an open marriage. He thought she'd crumble.
Instead, she chose revenge. And nothing stings more than the fact that she picked his three best friends to help her get it.
Three ruthless bikers.
Three men who don't share unless it's worth the risk.
Three Alphas who made Riley theirs the moment she said yes to them.
Now every night, she gives them what her husband took for granted—moans, surrender, and something dangerously close to love. He watches from the sidelines. Burning. Regretting but it's too late.
Because she's not just taking back her power—she's making sure he feels what it's like to be replaced.
And the worst part? He never expected she'd fall for them. And that they'd fall for her. And Riley? She's only just started.

...

"Elena, do you know what you're getting yourself into?" Layla, my best friend asked sounding concerned.

All for the right reasons though. I smirked, crossing my legs.

"He is rich, he is handsome, he is powerful..." A sly smile graced my lips "Noah Reynolds, is my target"

...

Elena Vasquez was a professional con artist, and this time she’d set her sights higher than ever: the cold-hearted billionaire, Noah Reynolds. When he mistakes her for his fiancée, Elena plays along. This was supposed to be her biggest game yet.

But the closer she gets, the harder it becomes to keep the mask on. Because Noah isn’t just another target; he’s the one man who makes her heart falter... The feelings were starting to feel real.

When the real bride-to-be returns, Elena finds herself caught in a dangerous triangle of lies, loyalty, and love. If Noah uncovers the truth, she could lose everything

Unless… he can’t remember.

Step into a world where desire knows no boundaries and every touch carries the weight of temptation. From forbidden nuns to jealous stepsisters, shy girls discovering their deepest cravings, and unsuspecting maids in the opulent mansions of billionaires—these stories explore lust, power, and the thrill of the forbidden.
Experience moments that blur the line between control and surrender, as characters navigate hidden passions and broken vows. Every encounter promises intensity, whether it’s a possessive grip, a commanding voice, or a longing that can’t be ignored. These affairs don’t just ignite—they consume, leaving both the willing and the unwilling craving more.
Warning: these tales are for readers who dare to explore the raw, unrestrained side of desire, where lust always wins, and every story leaves a lingering ache.

"In the dawn of the darkest hour, a man will come in search of you. I would suggest you escape but your destiny wouldn't. For the truth that you search for and the werewolf in you, will want to fight him. That is when you'll meet yourself."
Eve Mitchel, a lonesome werewolf lives in the world disguised as a human in England. Under brewing circumstances, she is kidnapped by the Alpha King of the Moon-Wolfland as his assistant. Her journey sets out as an assistant turns slave serving an intimidating king that she can't help but resist.
Will a naive outcast find her path through heart-shattering truths and make it till the end?

On the night legendary Head Elder Zane Valdez is condemned for destroying his own pack's nursery and exposed as a rogue wolf, healer Juliet Sinclair discovers the cruelest twist of fate: he is her destined mate. Before she can save him, the new Alpha exiles Zane into the Forbidden Forest, forcing Juliet into a marriage built on gratitude rather than love. Everyone believes the infamous rogue wolf died that night.

Two years later, relentless rogue attacks push the Nykaris Pack to the edge of destruction. Their last hope arrives with the Alpha of the Kaelvor Pack, a fearless ruler whose name commands respect across the region. To Juliet's disbelief, the powerful Alpha is Zane, alive, stronger than ever, and carrying scars far deeper than the ones carved into his body. Although he agrees to defend the pack that abandoned him, the warmth he once possessed has been replaced by a ruthless heart that refuses to forgive.

Forced to work side by side, Juliet begins uncovering the painful truth behind Zane's exile and the sacrifices he made after losing everything. As her feelings for him awaken once more, the marriage she desperately tried to protect begins to crumble, exposing betrayals, hidden agendas, and a conspiracy that reaches the very heart of the pack.

When the truth behind the nursery explosion finally emerges and an army of rogue wolves descends upon the werewolf world, Juliet and Zane must fight not only for their second chance at love but also for the future of every wolf condemned simply because of the blood running through their veins.

Earth has been invaded by aliens for years, and only a few places on Earth have natural resources. Lana becomes an alien prisoner after helping an ungrateful woman. Unfortunately, the king or leader of the aliens fucked Lana that day and Lana could not get out of the alien base. Nearly desperate, Lana finds out that there is a civil war going on and is offered a deal to dethrone the alien king. What happens next?

Rejecting her one true mate, Alpha Anton Bates, after all the horrible things he and his father had put her through. Nala thought moving into a new land and studying to become a doctor, her life would run smoothly, and she would have a wonderful new start, but it is not as she seems. Her being away from Alpha Anton his love for her has turned into an obsession one that is not healthy for him and dangerous for Nala. But that is not all happening within poor Nala's life. While trying to ignore her alpha mate another alpha's eyes met her. How will Nala get away from these two now or does she don't want one to leave her side.

"Get engross in an intriguing read."

**Social media accounts:
**Facebook page: A.K.Knight
**Instagram: Athan941

Blurb:

Rejected by her mate, sold as a slave by her family, Lilith is bittered by the amount of betrayal she suffered in the hands of those that she calls family.

Hurt by rejection, she gets herself drunk and has a one night stand with a total stranger and then sees him as the Alpha of Blood moon pack.. The same pack she's meant to become a slave at.

Meeting the Alpha of Blood moon pack and recognizing him as the stranger from that night, she did everything to avoid him.

But, the more Lilith tries to get away from Alpha Damian, the more she finds herself getting closer to him.

The more the Alpha King desires her.

"The Draganovs are moving on Celeste tonight. I'm taking her to the safe house. We'll do the claiming after this, Orla. I promise."
That's what my husband said the seventh time he chose Celeste over me.
Celeste. The girl he'd loved since before he had a wife to ignore.
The first time, she heard footsteps outside her window at two in the morning. Rafael sent his whole detail to sit on her house and left me at a meeting with two men who wanted our shipping routes and didn't like being told no. I came home with a bullet crease across my ribs. He apologized for a week.
The third time, someone tipped the cops on one of our warehouses and she got scared. He drove her upstate himself. I took a knife at the door because there was no one left standing in front of me.
By the sixth time, he didn't explain. He just texted the doctor to be ready for me and left.
He's a Don. When the guns come out, he walks away clean. I'm the one wearing his name where everyone can see it. The one they aim at first. Six scars say so.
Every time, he held my face after and promised. Founders' Day. In front of every family in the city. Once Celeste was safe. I believed him six times.
So when the seventh time came and he chose her again, my bags were already packed.
There won't be an eighth time he sends me out to die for her. Next time, there won't be a wife left for him to send.

The system made me an outcast live-in husband in a werewolf clan for three years. The mission reward: 80 billion dollars. Now there's only half a day left until retirement settlement.

The arrogant pure-blood Alpha wants to force me into a deadly full moon execution array, roaring for me to kneel and die.

I don't even lift an eyelid. Right at quitting time, I directly withdraw my soul, leaving the body to the original owner "Ancestor Wolf Emperor" to handle, while I return to my Manhattan penthouse, sink into the leather sofa, and start a holographic livestream.

"Enjoy your night shift, everyone." I take a light sip of hot coffee, coldly watching the screen as the Wolf Emperor crushes that pure-blood Alpha's spine into mush with one foot, shocking my mission wife and mother-in-law into idiots.

"You were meant to be my death. Instead, you've become my damnation."
Aria Thornwell has spent three years as a healer in her town, attempting to forget the night her former fiancé publically humiliated her by selecting her affluent stepsister instead—taking Aria's family fortune with him. Now, she lives quietly, utilizing her skill to aid the underprivileged while her stepfamily flaunts their stolen fortune.

But on the winter solstice, everything changes. She's chosen as the ceremonial bride for the vampires' holy Winter Feast—a "honor" that guarantees death at daybreak following the Christmas Eve rite. Dragged to the Crimson Vale with five other human tributes, Aria is prepared to meet her fate with dignity.

Until she meets him.

Lord Sebastian Thorne, the ancient vampire who has presided over the Winter Feast for eight centuries, is meant to drain her at dawn following the binding ritual. It's tradition. It's law. It's survival—the ceremonial blood maintains the vampire realm for another year.

But as Sebastian's lips brush her throat in the ceremonial hall, something unbelievable happens. Her blood doesn't simply sustain him—it wakes something in him that's been dead for generations. And in a move that shocks the whole vampire court, he refuses to complete the rite.
"This one is mine," he proclaims, his old strength sweeping the hall. "Anyone who touches her answers to me."

Trapped in the Obsidian Palace as Sebastian's "protected bride," Aria discovers three frightening truths: Sebastian isn't protecting her out of mercy—he's dying from an ancient curse, and her blood is the only thing keeping him alive past Christmas; the vampire court will do anything to kill her and reinstate the ritual; and her "ordinary" healer's gift is actually a rare and dangerous power that vampire nobility has been hunting for generations.

Three years ago, I was the sole surviving legendary mage of Ash Valley. To fulfill my comrade's dying wish, I married into the Robert family, becoming a despised and bullied son-in-law . For three years, I endured torment and humiliation; my entire family treated me like trash . My wife handed me divorce papers , then accepted the marriage proposal of a nobleman. On my wedding day, I walked into the hall in old clothes, and everyone laughed, thinking I was crazy. Until I shattered all magic with a wave of my hand, my legendary presence overwhelming everyone present, the woman who had once despised me finally cried and asked me: Why did you lie to me?

In the final days before the world collapsed, Ivy Brooks died… betrayed by the very people she trusted most.
She had fought, struggled, and sacrificed everything just to survive the apocalypse only to be pushed into death along with her three daughters at the very end by her own husband.
With her last breath, Ivy made a vow.
If she could turn back time…she would never be weak again and of course protect her daughters.
This time, she would stand at the top.
When Ivy opened her eyes, she found herself back in time with her still rounded belly of her third baby....
Twenty days before the apocalypse.
Armed with memories of the future and a mysterious system in her mind, Ivy moved without hesitation. She hoarded supplies, secured weapons, and took control of every resource she could get her hands on.
While others laughed, doubted, and wasted time…
Ivy was building her empire along with her daughters.
In this life, she would not be prey but will be an hunter.
With danger closing in and only twenty days to prepare, Ivy must outplay enemies both old and new, uncover the truth behind the system, and carve out her own kingdom in a collapsing world.
Because this time...she wasn’t just going to survive the apocalypse.
She was going to rule it along with a man, a love interest from the past before her marriage collapse. He provided everything Ivy needed. Money especially in change of a marriage with her and when the apocalypse started too....he ruled it with her as well as her daughters.

Evelyn was given the sum of five hundred thousand to leave the family she had always tried so hard to please, because they finally found their real daughter and don't need her anymore.
They've always bullied, abused and humiliated her in the past while she accepts without retaliation because she thought of she continued to break her back to please them, they'll love her one day.
But she was wrong.
She still got thrown out like a stray.
Well, they've just done something that they'll regret all their lives and she can't wait to see them crawling on the floor and begging her for help when they discover who she is.
This story is filled with rollercoasters so buckle up your seat belt for you're about to go on a crazy ride with this bad-ass female lead who won't take rubbish from no-one and won't hesitate to throw back whatever they throw at her.

The sound of the gurneys almost deafen my ears, and the light from these doctors' torches is blinding me but I keep running towards the scene. It is 12 o' clock. In the midnight, I know even though I don't look at the clock over my head. With sweaty palms and terrific faces, five gurneys are wheeled towards the emergency rooms by the late night doctors. Even though their mouths are shut tight, I can hear millions of inaudible sounds coming out of them. Each of the gurneys are being wheeled by two personnels, and each time they pass me by, i peer into them to see the victims' faces clearly because I can not see them from where I am.

The first face I see is badly disfigured. It's got a big mark from the forehead down to her upper eyelid, her lips are charred and her jaw is almost totally detached from the rest of her face. Hot drops of blood trickle down her head to her chest and her dress is soiled. She looks like she is no longer breathing and just as the ambulance pass by me, I see something in her hands-A red neck piece. She is clutching it tightly like it is her whole life. My red neck piece. Yes, this victim is my only sister, Jamie but I do not cry. I mean, I always want to cry but I can't. So my face is firm and peaceful, but I am screaming inside me. My legs are hitting the air and I'm ripping my hair inside of me, but outside? I am standing tall. Somehow, with all the swiftness as they pass by me, her hands shake and she loses hold of the red neck piece. As thick and shiny as my hair, our hair(hers blonde and mine black). It falls from her hands and drops at my feet just as soon as the second ambulance approaches me. I bend to pick up my red neckpiece-the one thing that binds my sister and I together but whoosh...it is air. I can see it on the cold tiled floor but when I try to pick it up, it is not there.

Warning: Smut! Smut!! Smut!!! Rated 18. Captured by an Alpha Daddy for Christmas contains possessive alpha behavior, forced proximity, age-gap romance, plus-size heroine, daddy-dom dynamics, jealousy, obsessive protectiveness, power imbalance, and holiday-season intimacy. Not suitable for readers under 18.
Dumped a week before Christmas, Annabelle "Belle" Evans forfeits her plan to spend Christmas with her narcissistic boyfriend in New York, and agrees to travel back home to Big Bear Lake with her perfect model sister and her nerdy brother-in-law. But a funny Christmas wish has other plans for her. When their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, Belle wanders off for help and finds herself cornered by a wolf in the snowy woods. Just when she thinks she's about to be torn to pieces, a massive stranger appears—tall, broad, and sinfully hot, his eyes glowing amber in the moonlight.
He saves her life—and claims her as his.
"You'll be safer here," Jaxon murmurs, his gaze cold yet magnetic. "The full moon rules these woods. You'll be free once it's over."
"When will that be?" Belle asks, heart racing.
"After Christmas," he replies, leaving her unable to look away.
In his secluded cabin, every glance, every touch ignites a fire she hadn't expected. He's possessive. Obsessed. Dangerous. He's everything she wished for when she jokingly wrote to Santa for a "hot werewolf boyfriend." And the way he looks at her curves, the way his presence overwhelms her, makes her question what's real and what's forbidden. Now she's trapped in his arms, a prisoner to his touch, his heat, his growl, and the wild, wicked love burning between them might just make this her best Christmas ever.

"You're... you're leaving me here? I'm your Luna!" I stammered. My body felt like it was burning from the inside out. I barely recognized it as my own.
"I'm sorry, Lyra," he said, already turning away. "My pack's safety comes first." With that, he turned his back on me.


What happens when the man you chose... chooses fate instead?
Lyra believed she had already won against destiny. She and Cassian were not fated mates, but they chose each other anyway. Together, they built a powerful united pack, ruled side by side, and vowed to reject whatever fate tried to steal from them.
Until the day Cassian returned from the border carrying another woman in his arms—Liora.
She was fragile, gentle, and completely different from Lyra. And most importantly, she was Cassian's fated mate.
Cassian refused to let either woman go. So, he offered Lyra an ultimatum: An open marriage.
Humiliated in her own home, accused of cruelty, and forced to watch her husband protect another woman with a devotion he had never shown her, Lyra's heart shatters piece by piece.
But fate isn't done with her yet.
Her longtime enemy, Ethan—the Alpha of the second-largest pack in the North—claims her as his contractual Luna.
As zombie rogue attacks escalate and secrets begin to surface, Lyra must choose between staying in a marriage that no longer wants her or walking away from everything she helped build.

After losing control due to alcohol, I slept with the guy next door.
He was an incredibly responsible man. When he sobered up, he proposed to me.
Later, I found out that the woman he loved most had gone abroad that night.
So, I hid my deep love for him and played the role of a perfect, obedient wife in the wealthy family.
In countless quiet nights, we were in perfect sync, yet we kept our distance, never crossing boundaries.
My friends all said I could never leave him. I thought so too.
Until one day, I found his second phone.

For seven years, Rose Bennett was Ryan Knight’s secret wife.
While all of New York believed Samantha Hikk would become Mrs. Knight, Rose silently endured a cold marriage to a man who never loved her.
Until one night, Samantha is rushed into Rose’s emergency room pregnant… and Ryan is the one protecting her.
That is the night Rose stops loving him.
What Ryan never knew was that Rose had already given birth to his daughter years ago after he rejected both mother and child without hesitation.
So Rose walks away—with only two suitcases, a hidden daughter, and the shattered remains of seven years.
But the woman Ryan abandoned is no ordinary wife.
Rose is the hidden genius behind Aetheris Medical AI, the revolutionary system about to change the entire medical world.
As Rose rises to the top, becoming untouchable, powerful, and impossible to replace, Ryan finally realizes the devastating truth—
He didn’t lose a woman who loved him.
He lost the only woman he would ever love.
And by then, even their daughter no longer calls him father.

In the sixth year of my life as a Scale-Stripper, I finally gathered the hundredth vial of Dragon Breath Essence.

I knelt before the altar, cradling the crystal bottle in both hands. The golden light swirling within it cast a warm glow across my scarred knuckles. Six years — six years of wandering the most dangerous battlefields of the Five Clans and the plague-ridden wastelands, using dragon breath to heal the wounded. For every person I saved, I had peeled away a living scale from my own flesh, baring the raw, bleeding meat beneath.

Seven scales left on my back.

Only seven.

But as long as it saved my brother Lucien, it was worth it.

Six years ago, during the Dragon Slaughter War, our parents had been assassinated by humans. An ancient curse had struck Lucien; his scales were crumbling away, day by day. He told me that only a hundred vials of Dragon Breath Essence could break the curse.

I held the crystal bottle out to him, my voice trembling with barely contained emotion. "Lucien, a hundred vials. We finally have enough."

Lucien took the bottle and glanced at it.

Then he tossed it off the altar without a second thought.

I went rigid.

Lucien stood at the top of the altar.

"I was never cursed," he said.

My hands were still cupped in the shape of holding the bottle, all ten fingers suspended in midair.

"Our parents never died, either."

"The Dragon Slaughter War six years ago, I planned it. The only one left crippled, with broken wings, was you."

I barely spoke a word before I turned six. Behind our backs, he townsfolk whispered that some foul thing had sealed my tongue.
The first time I truly spoke, I was pointing at our neighbor, Emily.
She was flying a kite just outside our fence. Floating right above her head was a stark, blood-red number.
"Three."
My mom poked her head out of the kitchen, asking if I had just spoken.
I nodded and pointed at Emily again.
By the time they looked, the girl had already run off.
Three days later, Emily was struck and killed by a turning delivery truck at the corner of our street.
After the funeral, my parents held me tight and swore it was just a coincidence.
The second time was when my grandmother, Eleanor Hart, was hospitalized for a stroke.
Dr. Grant took off his glasses, his tone brutally calm. "She is in terrible shape. The family needs to prepare for the worst."
I stood at the end of the hallway. Above my grandmother's head, the number flickered like a slow-burning fire.
"Two hundred and forty."
Claire clamped her hand over my mouth.
Daniel went pale. He knelt down, his voice a harsh hiss. "Sophie, shut up! You cannot say things like that out loud."
Grandmother did not die that night.
After being brought home, she miraculously began to recover. She even spent her afternoons listening to the radio in the sun.
Until the two-hundred-and-fortieth day. She passed away in her sleep.
That was when my family finally understood exactly what my numbers meant.

Six months ago, a yacht explosion consumed everyone I loved: my husband Leonard, my parents, and my brother.
I escaped only because of stomach pain that kept me from boarding. My adopted sister Claire became the sole survivor.
Since then, I've become an empty shell.
Even after being diagnosed with terminal uterine cancer, even while carrying my late husband's child, I've endured the agony of chemotherapy alone, exhausting what little strength remains to scrape together money for Claire—who hides away in a private care facility, claiming severe PTSD.
Until this winter day, with a blizzard approaching.
Dragging my dying body to my husband's memorial to pay respects, I discovered a credit card statement—charges made three months after his death.
Following the address on that receipt, I pushed open the door of a luxurious suburban villa.
Inside, it was warm as spring. My parents and brother, who should have been at the bottom of the ocean, stood there perfectly alive.
At the center of the room, my husband—the man I'd grieved for day and night—was kissing my adopted sister, his lips tender against hers.
The whole family was celebrating, raising glasses to toast the infant cradled in Claire's arms—barely a month old.
There had never been any disaster at sea.
It was all a meticulously planned hoax—their twisted way to erase me from their lives forever.

They gave him 24 hours to hand over the girl.
He gave them 30 seconds to regret .

Jack Cole was supposed to be nobody—just another quiet college student.
No records. No past. No trace he ever existed.

But when a powerful family tries to take his cousin as part of a dirty deal…
and a billionaire heiress becomes the target of a professional kill team…

Something buried comes back.

The campus?
Just his cover.

The truth?
He’s a weapon trained for war—
the kind governments deny, and enemies never see coming.

Now the richest family in the city wants him dead.
A private army is moving in.
And a global biotech empire is pulling strings from the shadows.

They think they’re hunting him.

They’re wrong.

Jack isn’t running.
He’s choosing who dies first.

I burn through eighty years of my life raising three dogs that turn around and tear into me.

My vampire husband, Damian, used to be an outcast covered in festering sores, cursed to fear the sun. I cut my wrist and gave up thirty years of my life so he could become the most powerful man among the bloodlines, in control of half the world's wealth. Cold and ruthless to everyone else, he only ever bares his fangs for me.

Knox, the werewolf boy I grew up with, was born with a genetic flaw that kept him from ever shifting. I gave up another twenty years so he could have the strongest bloodline of all. Wild and reckless, he used to swear he'd carry me on his back for the rest of his life.

Julian, my human brother, got burned beyond recognition saving me from a fire. I spent my last thirty years giving him back a face people would pay a fortune for. He used to send crates of his paintings to my room, the kind of work people would kill to own.

Then a woman named Daphne shows up, and all three of them lose their minds over her.

And somehow I become the jealous, vicious wife everyone wants gone.

She cries that I pushed her, so they drive blades of blood straight through my bones.

She says I'm cruel to the staff, so they break my legs in front of a crowd.

And when I'm dying, they drain my blood to keep her alive.

If you're all going to treat the life I gave you like trash, then I'm taking it back. The strength, the face, the life. All of it.

[God, I take it back. I want everything I gave them returned to me.]

Every night when my daughter comes home, she looks different.
On the first night, a little of her hair was gone.
On the second night, she was missing one hand.
On the third night, half of her body had vanished.
I jolted awake in a sudden start, thankful it had only been a nightmare.
Right then, my daughter came back home.
A patch of her hair was missing.

I spent five years letting men degrade me at a club, all to save $300,000 for my blind brother Joren's eye surgery.
The day I finally raised the money, I excitedly told him he would be able to see again—only to discover he was never blind to begin with.
My husband’s "bankrupt" company had been thriving all along. My parents, who supposedly died in a plane crash, had been living luxuriously abroad.
My husband even took my "stillborn" daughter and gave her to my adopted sister.
My entire family conned me for five years to "teach me a lesson"—all because my adopted sister claimed I bullied her.
Now, they are forcing me to donate my liver to the woman who stole my life, threatening that I'll never see my biological daughter again if I refuse.
But what they don't know is that I have terminal liver cancer, and I only have two days left to live...

Dominic once told me he loved me—then leaked my intimate photos to the entire school, all to avenge his dead first love.
Seven years later, he discovered that I had given birth to his son, a child suffering from a failing heart.
He ended his engagement, found our son a donor heart, dragged everyone who had ever hurt me to my feet, and finally proposed as death closed in on him.
I put on the wedding dress and became Mrs. Moretti with a smile.
But he never knew that I had returned to his side for anything but love.

I was driving my dad's luxury car to pick up a friend when his secretary stopped me on the spot.
She mistook me for the lover who had sex with my dad in his office.
So she used car theft as an excuse to drag me into the basement, beat me up, and took nude photos of me.
When my dad found out, he asked me to apologize to her.
That's when I realized that in his eyes, his reputation mattered more than his own daughter.
If that's the case, he doesn't need to be the figurehead CEO anymore.

At the Morello family’s Christmas dinner, I stood beside Vincent, waiting for him to announce our engagement.
Instead, in the very next second, he walked in holding a little boy and claimed him as his son.
And the woman he said he was going to marry? Scarlett Morello. The one he had always introduced as his “sister.”
The whole room erupted in applause. I stood there frozen, like a nail hammered into the floor.
Later, in his study, he took my hand and said, “Scarlett is dying. Late-stage breast cancer. She only has six months left. After she’s gone, I’ll marry you.”
But there was no guilt in his eyes. No love, either.
Then he told me to go to his villa that afternoon, to take care of the woman who was supposedly “dying.”
I opened the photo he sent me. Scarlett was lying in a hospital bed, pale-faced, an IV in the back of her hand.
A professional tennis player who had been playing in an exhibition match three weeks ago, and who had dropped three grand at Louis Vuitton on Fifth Avenue just five days ago.
But sure. She was “dying.”
At three in the morning, I was curled up by the front door of my apartment, crying so long I lost track of time.
Then my phone lit up. A text from an unknown number:
[Elena, I’m downstairs. When we were kids, you told me that once I controlled the docks on the East Coast, you’d marry me. The docks are mine now. Does that promise still stand?]
I pulled back the curtain and there he was. Ethan Vitale, my first love, leaning against the door of a black Cadillac, lifting a hand in a lazy wave.
Three years ago, when he left New York, he was only a Capo.
Now, he was the Don of the Vitale family.
He didn’t rush me. Didn’t pressure me to come downstairs.
He came for one reason only, to let me know he was back.
I wiped away my tears and texted back:
[It still stands.]
Because I wanted to see for myself just how long that woman could keep up her act.

My twin sister, Genevieve, caught the eye of a mafia don, Kael Rourke, at a charity gala.
Kael declared on the spot that she would be his wife, the donna of Rourke family.
But she was already deeply in love with her boyfriend.
When a ambush left the Kael in a deep coma, his cartel demanded their bride immediately. 
They believed a wedding would stabilize their empire and, by some old tradition, wake Kael up.
Genevieve refused to marry a dead man walking.
So, she knocked me out—her identical twin sister—and sent me to the Rourke estate in her place. 

Then, she eloped overseas with her boyfriend, vanishing without a trace.
I was forced to marry Kael. Miraculously, on our wedding night, he woke up. He quickly took back his empire, his power greater than ever. 
Since I was forced into this marriage against my will, I resented him and never gave him a smile. 
And he only saw me as a substitute for Genevieve.
When he was happy, he spoiled me. When he was angry, he was cruel.

Ten years later, Genevieve suddenly returned.
She ran to Kael, crying that I had pushed her into a lake to steal her place as his wife.
She claimed the drowning caused her to lose her memory, making her miss out on ten years with him.
Furious, Kael ordered his men to lock me in the dark basement of his compound.
Taking advantage of a visit, Genevieve tightly wrapped a iron chain around my neck.
"I'm sorry, dear sister. If you don't die, my lies will be exposed one day!"
I was strangled to death cruelly.

When I open my eyes again, I am back to the day the Rourke men came to collect the bride.
I step forward willingly. "Genevieve, go with your boyfriend. I will marry Kael Rourke in your place!"
In this life, I must be the mafia don's true obsession!

I am originally of royal vampire bloodline.
But because of one sentence from my adoptive father, I hid in the human world for decades.
The Church called me a "filthy heretic" because vampire blood flowed in my veins.
Yet they burned a blind girl to death, her crime being that she "couldn't see."
They burned an old blacksmith to death, his crime being that he wanted to learn medicine.
They burned a young mother to death, her crime being that she refused to be violated by the captain of the holy knights.
Bathed in holy light, I realized for the first time—
The demons... are in the light.

I've been married to billionaire Joseph Miller for three years. Pregnant three times. Aborted three times.

Every time, my husband stood outside the operating room, watching them wheel me in.

The first baby, my mother-in-law Victoria said had spinal deformities. The second, my father-in-law Richard showed a "report" claiming heart defects.

I believed them. I thought it was my fault, something wrong with my body.

Until the third pregnancy.

This time I secretly went to another hospital—DNA showed 99.9% match with Joseph, every prenatal indicator perfect.

I rushed home clutching the report, thinking I could finally save my child.

Victoria glanced at it and tossed it on the coffee table. "You are carrying a healthy baby. But the Miller family doesn't need it."

My in-laws forcibly dragged me to the clinic. I screamed to Joseph for help: "That's your child!"

His eyes were red, but he still let them kill my baby.

Desperate, I demanded a divorce. He coldly refused, tearing at my clothes: "Stop being dramatic. Time for the fourth."

I finally understood—I wasn't his wife. I was their breeding machine.

But why? Why force me to keep getting pregnant, only to kill every healthy baby?

Until that night, I pushed open the attic door that had been locked for three years—

And finally understood everything.

Wyatt’s eyes met mine, and I swear I saw them flash gold for a brief moment. The sunshine was coming through the window harshly though, so it was probably just a trick of the light.


Wyatt smiled and for a moment, it was like my heart leapt right out of my chest. He looked like a movie star standing there with the early morning sun behind him. His brown hair was styled a bit more than usual, with more prominent curls throughout and it was up and away from his face. His beard, which was usually more like a thick stubble across his cheeks and chin, had grown out a bit more, and I wondered how I hadn’t noticed that this morning.

That was when I realized I never really let myself look at him for more than a few moments. If I had, I would have noticed the full sleeve of tattoos he had on his left arm– especially when he was shirtless this morning. Or I would have noticed that yes, he was sexy. Yes he was gorgeous. But he was also quite handsome and seemed to have a sweet air about him…


Wrenlee "Lucky" Jones wanted to keep a low profile. Hell, her life depended on it. But when she turned 18 and discovered that a long-time crush of hers was actually her fated werewolf mate, things get complicated fast. Within weeks, she finds herself the victim of an ancient curse and has to battle against both magickal entities and her stubborn, authoritative mate, who happened to be the Alpha King of the Appalachian Dominion. Suddenly caught between fate, fear, and love, Wrenlee must navigate the curse surrounding her and make decisions that will not only cost her... but will cost her mate.

She was his fated mate… and his wife in name only.
Every night, Damien claimed her body, while his heart belonged to another woman. Elias endured it all, playing the perfect Luna, holding together a marriage filled with desire, but no love.
Then she became pregnant.
She believed the child would finally soften him, that the mate bond might at last mean something.
Instead, her mate personally sent her to the operating table.
"Elias," he said coldly, "you and the baby—only one can survive."
Her world shattered.
Her love meant nothing.
Her pleas meant nothing.
Completely broken, Elias vanished from his world without a trace.
Years later, she returned, no longer the obedient Luna he discarded, but a radiant, untouchable woman who stunned the entire pack. Only then did Damien realize what he had destroyed.
He fell to his knees, desperate.
"Come home, Elias."
She smiled calmly.
"Sorry. I'm no longer interested in mates."
His eyes darkened as he stepped closer.
"Then explain why you begged me to stop last night."

Ethan interposed his finger on her lips and gently silenced her. "Shh, babygirl," he cooed, "It's alright. I am here now." And without warning, he strode over to his desk and, in one fluid motion, bent Ava over it.
He lifted the exquisite gown, exposing her lissome frame and revealing her slender legs. With a primal instinct, he used his teeth to rip off her panties, relishing the sound of the fabric tearing. Her scent, a mix of jasmine and musk, was alluring, and he could feel his arousal growing with each passing moment.
He traced back up her spine with his lips, teasing her with light feathery kisses. With one hand, he reached down between her legs, caressing her clitoris, his fingers moving in slow, circular motions that made her lose herself. The way she responded to his touch was electric, and it made him crave her even more.
Will they continue their secret affair after a family member threatens to expose them? What happens if Ava's fiancé and Ethan's wife find out?
What will Ethan do when both his wife and mistress discover that they are pregnant?
Is he the father?