1785 Book(s) Related to read house of hades online free

Riley
New name, new look, new life. I've been careful to keep my past at bay. The last thing I needed was the stranger with those calm discerning eyes to cross my path. I must avoid him at all costs, even if he haunts my dreams and sends waves of heat across my skin. My focus is survival, not lust. Not even if he ignited a longing I'd never thought possible.

Draven
A mission. Find the missing girls and bring the perpetrator to justice. The retributive kind. I've grown used to the shadows but I am drawn to her light. Moth to a flame, the only way to quell my curiosity is to satiate it. But not too much. Not completely.

TEASER:
You want me, don’t you?” A simple question that warranted a simple answer.
“Should I have had you checked for a head injury?” he scoffed, a swift blow that knocked the wind out of my lungs and I realised I had been holding my breath. My lips parted, and my chest heaved, working overtime to replenish my body’s oxygen from those few moments of starvation.
Steeling my spine, I stepped forward, invading his space, oblivious to the eyes that were thrown our way. Or was I imagining that? Draven didn’t budge, a perfectly shaped brow elevated as he considered my movement with little interest. There wasn’t a single flicker of emotion to cross his features, not even that Godforsaken misleading smile made an appearance.
“Then you’ve no reason to threaten any man I may find interesting.” I breathed the words slowly, erotically.

"Are you accepting?' he probed, his eyes brazenly following every line in her body. Ivory instantly grew shy. Her nerve waning.

"I am considering it. However, I am not sure what it entails." her voice and bravado had weakened. Raiden nodded at her words, understanding that he was previously vague.

"It's not a relationship. As I have pointed out to you before, I am attracted to you and wish to explore a purely physical relationship, albeit temporarily," he said, eyeing her every reaction.

"You mean purely sexual?' she corrected him. She knew the words he used were aimed at sugar-coating the reality but she wasn't interested in half-truths when she was considering going against everything she believed in. Raiden nodded. "How long is it to persist?" The more she considered the option the riskier it seemed. She worked closely with Raiden, would this make their relationship awkward?

"It's terminable at the will of either party," he commented. He wasn't in the habit of forcing a woman to be with him, in fact, it was something he made no great strides over. She had complete freedom to stay or leave his bed.

"Another way of saying when you've grown tired of me." she laughed incredulously.

She's pregnant with my brother's baby. And if he doesn't marry her, I will.


It was Austin’s turn to seething with rage. “You are not aborting that child.” His voice echoed menacingly, animosity lingering in the air around them.

My body, my rules.” She shot back with an unbothered shrug.

“I don’t think you have much of a choice.” He barked. The idea of marriage and children had never crossed his mind. It wasn’t a part of his life plan. “I’d chain you to a bed for the entire nine months if I have too.”

She blinked, stupefied that he thought himself capable. “I think you forget who you are speaking too, Austin.” She pronounced his name with disgust. “You cannot scare or manipulate me into following along with your ideas.” Marriage? To Austin Demon Cyner? Now that was a delusion. “A stupid one at that.” She added, eyeing him meticulously.

“Marry me, Skylar. It’s a win-win; a marriage of convenience.” He’d cleared his throat and was taking long strides towards her. Suddenly the room felt too small to contain the sheer size of him.

“I severely dislike you, though. What am I winning exactly?” her feet were traveling backwards, unwilling to have her standing up too close to him.

“A stable home for your child,” the sound of his shoes tapping rhythmically in her ear “Our child.” He added on quickly, his voice low, compelling her to agree.

“I don’t recall you being in the room when it was made.”


Check out another story in the same collection: His Tempting Captive

"I'm sorry, Ava, but you can no longer be my mate because you are not up to my level. You are now just a mere human," Caleb said, which made Ava extremely angry.

"After all the sacrifices I have made? My brother gave his life for you! I became a mere human because of you! It's the sacrifice I made! I had to lose my hybrid powers in order to break your curse, and after all that, you reject me?" Ava said, tears streaming down her face.

"Well, that's how you see it!" Alpha Caleb responded before walking away.

If you were in Ava's shoes, what would you do? Not sure? Let's dive in and see what Ava did!

“If our marriage were already claimed before the whole pack, I would make sure your ex-mate was watching as I make you moan my name, showing him the male who can take you past the moon… and make you beg for more until your voice breaks, Elena,” he whispered slowly.

"But… we should stop before someone walks in and sees us like this," Elena murmured, as she pressed back against him.


Elena Monroe once poured her entire soul into helping her mate, Drake Hamilton, the proud Beta of the Crescent Moon Pack, to remember the bond they shared before the accident stole his memories. Instead of returning to her, Drake chose Cassandra Travers, a glittering celebrity with a noble name and a perfect smile.

Then everything exploded.

At Drake's birthday party, Elena faced allegations of drugging and sleeping with him. Humiliated and mocked in front of the whole pack, she was on the brink of disaster when her protector, the male everyone believed was her guardian, pulled her away from the chaos.

The mate bond was cut, and Elena walked away in pieces.

But loss followed her. Two of the people she loved most were taken from her by her ex-mate and his family while she fought to clear her name.

Sorrow transformed into rage.

A reckless night with the man she previously referred to as her guardian sparked an illicit fire neither could extinguish.

Now hidden in a city far from her pack, she is no longer the broken omega they underestimated. She is ready to reclaim her life—and destroy those who dared to ruin it.

But when her ex-mate's memories finally come back, Elena finds herself torn between revenge and a love she ought to avoid.

And this time, her children’s lives hang in the balance.

Kendric Zillman is the "Golden Alpha" of Northwood University—arrogant, untouchable, and heir to a billion-dollar dynasty. Ansel Schmidt is the "Ice Prince" of the hockey rink, a sharp-tongued rival who despises everything Kendric stands for.

When a university budget crisis forces these enemies into a cramped dorm, their mutual hatred reaches a breaking point. But when Ansel’s suppressants fail during a lethal heat, his deepest secret is laid bare: the university’s star "Beta" is actually a dominant Omega.

One night of passion and pheromones surrender changes everything. What begins as a blackmail-fueled "arrangement" to protect Ansel’s secret soon spirals into a suffocating obsession. With a manipulative sister pulling the strings and a jealous rival ready to leak the truth, Kendric faces the ultimate choice: his inheritance, or the "enemy" he was never supposed to love.

In a world of dominant Alphas, can a ruthless playboy sacrifice it all for the one person he was born to hate?

Wasn't I good in bed? Didn't I spoil you enough? What the hell did those fuckers give you that I couldn't?" My husband, Dean, yells at me for the very first time, gripping my hand and when I look into his eyes, I see how much he's hurting, how much he believed all the lies, how much he's not willing to listen.

"I'd never do that to you, Dean. I love you, please believe me," tears streamed down my face as I pleaded with him.

"You're meant for the streets Bella, and that's where you'd always be,"

And just like that my once perfect marriage hits the rock edge in a twinkle of an eye.

A stripper, an exotic dancer but none of that mattered to Dean, he promised to love me and he kept to his words, not until this day.

And even worse, he used my past against me, something he swore never to do..


Ethan Fernandez, is a notorious casanova and unlike his friend, he never commits to any woman until his path crosses with Ivy, the formidable lawyer and the last person that gives a fuck about men and their shenanigans.

Now, the player becomes the played as his life takes an unexpected turn with the walking temptation that lurks in the form of Ivy Reynolds.

Sara Chen never wanted to be Luna but when her manipulative stepsister forces her into Alpha Ronan's brutal mate selection, everything changes and Sara's life takes a turn when she is stripped of her wolf and Alpha Ronan declares her his mate only for Sara to discover his true mate is her own sister Carla. Trapped in a nightmare marriage and pregnant with either Ronan's child or her cheating ex-fiancé's, Sara flees for her life. Five years later, she has built a new life as a healer with her twin sons but when fate brings her face to face with Ronan again, her carefully constructed world shatters. As war threatens between packs and a dying confession reveals a devastating truth Ronan must fight not just to keep his mate and children, but to prove his love is real before his past abuse destroys his chance with the family he never knew he needed.

（Do not open this novel lightly, or you will become so engrossed that you won't be able to stop reading for three days and nights...）
Four years ago, he heartlessly drove her out of the house, heavy rain pouring down. Margaret's heart fell with the rain, disappearing into the silence of that desperate rainy night.
Four years later, Margaret transformed into a cold-faced CEO, decisive and capable, with only a sweet and obedient daughter softening her heart.
She thought Raymond hated her to the core, not realizing that after that night, Raymond went mad searching the world over just to find news of her.
Upon meeting again, surrounded by numerous CEOs, she deliberately ignored him.
Raymond advanced towards her, 'I told you, you can only be my woman.'"

（There is a lot of sexual and stimulating content， minors are not allowed to read!!!）
On their wedding anniversary, he coldly handed her two papers, a divorce agreement and a sponsorship agreement.
She tore up the agreements: "Divorce is fine, but never see you again."
Years later, her ex-husband caught up with her at a banquet: "Darling, had enough fun? Let me take you home."
The woman's red lips curled slightly, and she coldly uttered one word: "Leave!"

（There is a lot of sexual and stimulating content， minors are not allowed to read!!!）
In the previous life, she disliked him and avoided him. This time around, Adelaide wants to kiss, cuddle, and hug Sebastian every day.
"Bullying my husband? I'll poke your eyes out."
"My husband isn't handsome?"
Believe it or not, I'll blind you. Save you from having a pair of useless eyes.
Rumors have it that Sebastian, the heir of the Manners family, is physically and mentally weak, with his life hanging by a thread.
Adelaide, the sixth wife to marry into the family, is a fool?
No, who started this rumor? Isn't this rumor too exaggerated?
Is Adelaide a top doctor or a national goddess? Who knows?
Those strikingly handsome long legs belong to Sebastian?
Alright!
It's one thing for Sebastian to be wealthy, but to be both wealthy and handsome, that's just too much!
Adelaide being pretty is one thing, but being pretty with a sparkling and intelligent brain is just excessive."

（There is a lot of sexual and stimulating content, minors are not allowed to read!!!）
She prepared for pregnancy and did her best to take care of her drunken husband.
Afterwards, her husband kicked her out, simply because his first love had returned.
After the divorce, she made it to the cover of Time magazine, reaching the peak of her life.
Her ex-husband pursued her all the way to the Civil Affairs Bureau, whispering tenderly, "Will you remarry me?"

At her father's funeral, he ruthlessly violated her body, then afterwards threw a divorce agreement at her.
"I married you just to retaliate against your father. Now that he's dead, you'll spend your whole life atoning for it!"
She finally realized, he had never loved her. He wished she were dead...

When the apocalypse struck, my brother Leo didn't hesitate to choose the offshore sanctuary.
In our past life, faced with a choice between a powerful inland warlord commanding a massive army and a leader clinging to a solitary island, Leo snatched up the first option.
But when a zombie horde overran the mainland and defenses collapsed, he fled to my island for refuge.
Jealous of how well I was surviving the end of the world, he and our parents knocked me unconscious in the dead of night and threw me into the ocean to drown.
Now that I've been reborn, Leo immediately took our parents to the maritime base, leaving the "dangerous" mainland to me.
He thinks the ocean is a natural barrier that guarantees his safety, that he can sit back and relax while the world burns.
But there's one thing he doesn't know.
Zombies aren't just static, mindless walking dead—they evolve.
And when they do, that offshore sanctuary will become a floating hell with no way out.

"A criminal is what you are and what you will always be. You are weak and pathetic, and you do not deserve to live for what you have done."

His voice was cold, but it was his eyes—filled with so much hate and disgust shattered me. My mate. My fated one. And the man who cast me aside. I ran—banished, hunted and marked for death—never daring to look back.
Claudia Wayne believed finding her mate would be the beginning of her happily ever after. Instead, she’s accused of a heinous crime just so she could become Luna. Forced to flee, she stumbles into a fate and destiny she never sought, one that places her at the heart of an ancient prophecy.

They call her a criminal.
But she just might be their salvation.
Or their doom.

I only meant to kiss a stranger to make my ex-fiancé jealous.
One daring moment in the heart of the pit; the roar of the crowd echoing off the steel, adrenaline pumping, and my heart pounding, I kissed the most dangerously gorgeous man I’d ever seen.
I didn’t know he was the Don to the most feared mafia group in the city.
I didn’t know he was being hunted.
And I definitely didn’t know I was his perfect alibi.
Now I’m tangled in a cruel world filled with secrets with the man who claims I belong to him. But there’s something Nikolai Moretti doesn’t know; I’m not just some pit-side whore fling. I’m his salvation…. and his damnation.

"The contract marriage has expired. You're no longer useful to me," Lucas's cold voice pierced my heart. After three years of devotion, I was nothing but a disposable tool.

Then, he brought her home. Amelia, his cherished true love—and the daughter of the mafia family that slaughtered my parents. She sneered at me, flaunting my mother's stolen sapphire necklace, while Lucas ruthlessly kicked me out, calling me a mere "housekeeper."

My heart shattered entirely, but the tears finally stopped. I signed the divorce papers and walked out into the night.

He thought I was a penniless nobody who would crumble without his wealth. He didn't know my real name was Isabella Sorelli.

When I appeared at a top-tier banquet, flanked by my three wildly protective, billionaire brothers, Lucas's eyes widened in sheer shock. I am the heiress to the city's greatest empire now. You threw me away for a snake, Lucas? Watch me crush her. And when you finally realize what you lost, begging on your knees won't be enough.

My name used to be whispered in fear by dictators. Now, it’s mocked by cheerleaders.

I am—or I was—Phantom. I killed for a living, and I was the best. But my retirement plan was cut short by a sudden darkness I never saw coming.

Fate, it seems, has a twisted sense of humor. I’ve been reincarnated into the body of Raven Martinez, a high school girl with a life so tragic it makes my old job look like a vacation.

Now I have to deal with pop quizzes, teenage hormones, and a hierarchy of bullies who think they run the world.

They pushed the old Raven to her death. But they’re about to learn a very painful lesson: You don't corner a viper unless you're ready to get bitten.

High school is hell. Lucky for me, I'm the devil.

The plan was simple: Break the nephew by seducing the uncle.
Wesley Vance didn't just break my heart; he tried to sell my dignity. So, I went after the only man he feared. The man who owned the city, the empire, and Wesley’s future.
Lance Lawson. He’s cold. He’s untouchable. He’s my ex-boyfriend’s uncle. I thought I was the one setting the trap. I wore his shirts, haunted his penthouse, and chipped away at his legendary control until the ice finally cracked.
But I made one fatal mistake. I thought Lance was a man I could use and discard. I didn't realize that once you wake a predator, he never goes back to sleep.
Now, Wesley is gone, the Vance family is in ruins, and I’m trapped in a gilded cage of my own making. Because Lance doesn't want my loyalty. He wants my soul.
I wanted revenge. I got an obsession.

The Hollow doesn't give you back the way it found you.

Three years inside those walls, and Elowen survived what shouldn't be survived. She came home expecting warmth, relief, maybe even gratitude for the sacrifice she'd made.

Instead, they looked at her with pity — like something hollowed out and broken beyond repair.

Her strength, gone. Her fortune, gone. Her family whispered omega behind closed doors, certain the Hollow had ruined her.**

They should have looked closer.

She thought she'd only been surviving. She didn't realize she'd become the kind of doctor who could do what no healer had ever done before.

But the worst part? She's learning that her skills can save bodies — but not the cursed prince rotting from the inside. Not the kingdom balanced on the edge of collapse.

For that, she'll need what the Hollow left inside her.

Something far more dangerous than medicine.

Is a stay-at-home wife just a maid in her marriage?

I say: Absolutely not.

I worked late just to buy my daughter a birthday cake.
But when I got home, I accidentally heard her on the phone with another woman.

She was ashamed of me, called me a maid, and begged that woman to act as her family member at the parent-teacher conference.

Later I found out my husband had been with that woman all along.
Hidden inside my daughter’s watch was a small group chat with just the three of them.

My own daughter said she hated me and planned to drive me away.
And my husband let it all happen.

My heart was completely broken.
On my birthday, I signed the divorce papers and left home quietly.

After leaving, I discovered a much bigger world and achieved my dreams.

But their lives fell completely apart.

Born without a drop of the magic that decides everything in Venice, Chloe Corvo spent ten years learning to be her father's heir anyway, and on the night he is murdered she takes his chair before his blood is dry, only to find that the family she was raised to lead has already sold her to the one man nobody in the city will name, and that everything her father taught her is about to become the only thing standing between her and the rest of it.

I was ranked first in my class, which made me this year's valedictorian.

Years ago, my dad served overseas, and a war correspondent wrote a story about him. He cut the article out and kept it in the inside pocket of his old jacket for twenty years.

I read it for the first time when I was twelve, and ever since then, I'd wanted to be a reporter like that.

But I almost turned down Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism for Spencer, my childhood best friend. I was going to follow him and his girlfriend, Chloe, to Stanford.

Four minutes before the Decision Day deadline, a video popped up on my phone. There was no sender.

The woman on the screen had fine lines around her eyes and a raspy voice. She had my face.

"Spencer logged into your account and switched your enrollment to the local community college. All because Chloe told him she was sick of you tagging along after him."

"After that, you fought to transfer, fought your way through grad school, and you still never got that press pass."

"Nora, you could have made it to the farthest corners of the world."

The screen went black. I ran back to my room and pulled up the applicant portal.

Right there under enrollment choice was some community college I'd never even heard of.

My hands were shaking as I switched it back to Medill. When I hit confirm, there was one minute left.

Then I realized something. As of that moment, eighteen years of friendship between Spencer and me were done.

The second the graduation ceremony ended, my parents took us all to the nicest restaurant in town.

They said they wanted to properly celebrate having "two graduates" in the family.

Pierce, my boyfriend of four years, showed up last with a huge bouquet of champagne roses in his arms.

I'd just gotten up from my chair when he walked right past me and handed the whole bouquet to my friend Brooke. "Happy graduation. No crying, okay?"

My mom was all smiles, going on about how thoughtful Pierce always was.

Then he caught my eye and hesitated. He tugged one rose free from the bunch and held it out to me. "You're not really into this kind of thing anyway, right?"

So that was my graduation gift from my boyfriend. One stem he'd pulled out of another girl's bouquet without a second thought.

Once we sat down, the conversation quickly turned to jobs.

Brooke looked miserable as she told us she hadn't heard back from a single place she'd applied to.

Pierce put down his fork and knife right away. "Come work at my family's hotel. Pick any job you want. I've got you."

My brother leaned in too. "My company's hiring right now. I can refer you. It's literally one phone call."

My dad gave her a sympathetic look. "Don't stress. You're so talented, good companies are going to be fighting over you."

The three of them crowded around her with ideas, each one trying harder than the last.

I'd just graduated too, but when it came to me, my dad barely gave it a thought. "Clara can just grab whatever job she can get. It's not like she can afford to be picky."

My mom nodded. "If anybody's willing to take you, just be grateful."

I stuck the rose in the water glass in front of me. The stem was too long and the glass was too shallow, so it slumped against the rim. No matter how I set it, it wouldn't stay up.

Just like me in this family. However hard I tried, I could never find my footing. Whether I was there or not, it made no difference to anyone.

Fine. Then I'd leave.

I'd go somewhere as far away from them as I could get, and this time I wasn't coming back.

My twin sister Mallory and I were the kind of girls who could gain two pounds just from smelling fries. On top of that, we both loved to eat, and we both had the same dream: walking the runway at Fashion Week.

Right before our eighteenth birthday, Grandma got so tired of us begging that she went into the woods outside town to find a witch. She came back with two glass jars.

One held a hunger worm. Swallow it, and you could eat anything you wanted without gaining weight.

The other held a glass beetle. Every time its host gained a pound, it took a bite out of her bones.

In my last life, Mallory nearly jumped out of her chair when she heard she could eat whatever she wanted and still stay thin. She grabbed the hunger worm's jar and hugged it to her chest. "Eat all I want and stay skinny? Who'd pick the stupid beetle that bites?" That left me with the other one.

To keep the bites to a minimum, I watched everything I ate and trained like crazy. I lost ninety pounds and signed with a top modeling agency.

Mallory, on the other hand, let that worm drag her into a hole she never climbed out of. She ate until her stomach ruptured, and even then she couldn't stop. The day she was diagnosed with binge eating disorder, she came to get me in Dad's old pickup and said she wanted to have a heart-to-heart. When we got onto the reservoir dam outside town, she floored it, smashed through the guardrail, and drove us both into the black water.

When I opened my eyes again, the two glass jars were back on the birthday table.

This time, Mallory beat me to it. She unscrewed the beetle's jar.

"Nora, the runway's mine this time."

She had no idea what kind of hell she'd just chosen for herself.

After five years of mopping floors at Harrington Tower, I finally had enough saved for my son Theo's heart surgery.

I got off work early that day, folded my new paycheck in half twice, and tucked it into my inside pocket. I practically ran the whole way to the hospital. I wanted my husband, Beckett Reid, to be the first to know.

The door to the family lounge wasn't shut all the way, and I could hear the hospital director inside.

"Mr. Reid, Ms. Hale says she'll have the rest of the money this week. Do you still want us to keep the medical records going?"

Keep the records going? I held on to the doorframe. For a second, it didn't make sense.

Beckett was leaning back on the couch, completely relaxed. "No, you can stop. Thanks for playing along all this time. I'll sign off on the pediatric wing donation soon. She's had a rough few years. Last month her back was so bad she could barely stand up straight, and she wouldn't even buy herself a pain patch."

My best friend Blair was sitting next to him, her voice all sweet and gentle. "Don't go soft on me yet. A guy like you has to find out if she's in it for you or for your money. Besides, Theo needs a little more time to adjust."

Theo was curled up against her, pouting. "She smells like bleach all the time. It's so gross. I want Blair to be my mom."

Beckett looked at the two of them snuggled together and didn't say anything for a few seconds. "Fine. Six more months."

I took the silver bracelet with Theo's name engraved on it out of my pocket and dropped it in the trash can in the hallway. I'd skipped lunch for two months to pay for it, and I'd stood at a jewelry counter at the mall for half an hour before I could bring myself to buy it.

Six more months? Don't bother.

Five years of night shifts. I'd just chalk it up to an expensive lesson. From now on, he could go be rich, and Theo could go be his precious little boy. None of it had anything to do with me anymore.

My father died owing the Callahan family a blood debt. His payment? Me and my sister—married off to their sons.

I woke up reborn on the night they buried him.

Standing in that funeral chamber, watching the lawyer crack open the sealed will, I discovered I could suddenly hear thoughts. My sister Vivienne's voice ripped through my head: Not marrying that butcher. No way in hell.

She lunged forward and grabbed Adrian—the refined bastard son who looked like a lawyer instead of a mobster. The same "perfect gentleman" I married in my past life.

Which left me with Dominic Callahan. The scarred heir. The Executioner.

Last time around, Vivienne married Dominic and got beaten down for years. I married Adrian and lived like a queen.

I almost laughed out loud.

Because she has no idea—this time, she's the one who grabbed the monster.

I used to be the Blackwells' best killer. For him, I walked away from that life and became his wife. I even gave him a daughter.

I thought it was redemption. Turns out, it was the start of something worse.

Three years ago, during that shootout at the docks, his first love showed up with his bastard son. When the rival family put guns to both kids' heads, he didn't hesitate. He chose to save her son.

My daughter burned in the explosion.

That was the day the man I loved for ten years died. What's left is just my sworn enemy.

At the Met Gala, I heard my husband tell his friends in French that I'm "boring." That his 22-year-old girlfriend is "so much more exciting in bed."

He laughed when they asked if I knew. "Elle ne comprend même pas 'bonjour'." (She doesn't even understand 'bonjour'.)

What Marcus doesn't know: I spent two years at the Sorbonne.

Je comprends tout, Marcus. I understand everything.

The diamond necklace he gave me after my miscarriage suddenly feels too tight. I smile at him across the champagne and candlelight.

He has no idea what's coming.

For years, I'd covered everything for my mate's family. The house, the car, the bags, the clothes.

So when they planned a family vacation, I thought I'd finally earned a spot.

Instead, they booked tickets for the whole family, plus Sloane, the childhood sweetheart who never quite left my mate's side. Even the dog had plans.

I was the one they expected to stay home and keep working. They called it a kindness.

And they expected me to cover the bill.

Fine. Let them go.

It would be the last trip of theirs I ever paid for.

My sister’s TikTok Shop was on the verge of being shut down. As a top livestream creator with three million followers, I stepped in and turned a warehouse full of dead inventory into bestsellers.

That night, my sister shipped the wrong items for three hundred orders. I apologized on camera, then paid ten thousand dollars out of my own pocket to issue refunds and send replacements.

After the livestream, I went to the warehouse to pick up samples for tomorrow. The second I grabbed two insulated tumblers, my sister snatched them out of my hands.

“I knew it! You’ve been stealing from me again!”

I told her they were samples and that every item had been logged.

She refused to listen and smacked the shelf with her palm.

“My inventory has been off for months because you’ve been stealing from me! Pay me twenty thousand dollars, or I’m calling the cops!”

For three months, I hadn’t charged a flat fee or taken a dime in commission. I had even covered the customer service costs myself.

And now she was calling me a thief.

Our parents rushed in when they heard the shouting. Mom wrapped an arm around my sister and glared at me.

“You’re her older sister. You’re supposed to help her. But stealing says everything about what kind of person you are.”

Dad looked at me with disappointment. “Do you have any idea how hard your sister has worked to build this business? How could you take advantage of her?”

I looked at the three of them, each one convinced they were in the right, and laughed.

Fine. If they thought anyone could sell this stuff, they could go live and sell it themselves.

I was an orphan, and a rare heart condition ate away at me for twenty years. The night I died in that cold hospital room, a reaper in a black robe came for me.

He told me if I crossed into a world of werewolves, into the Moonheart Pack, and made Estelle's family genuinely love me — Estelle being the real daughter who'd died a horrible death there — and if I rewrote the ending where they all went mad and tore each other apart, I'd get my health back for good. A second life.

For twenty years in that body, I loved every single one of them with everything I had.

My husband Rhett was the youngest Alpha the pack had ever had. I mentioned once that I wanted Alaskan wild berries, and he drove a thousand miles overnight to get them. My mother Sylvia, the pack's head healer, made me tonics herself every single day. My father Everett and my brother Callum spoiled me so much the whole pack envied me for it.

I thought I'd actually rewritten my fate. I thought I was the happiest person alive.

Until that night.

I'm carrying a berry pie I baked myself toward the council hall when I hear my mother's voice, flat and cold.

"Estelle's heart is finally in perfect condition. Now's the best time to take it."

"Her heart buys Lila's life. She should be grateful for it." Rhett says it like it's nothing. "Once we take the heart, I'll dissolve the mate bond myself."

So this is it. All that kindness was just to grow a healthy heart for their adopted girl.

Three years. I've spent three years trying to love them, to thaw them out, to change things.

Then let it end here.

One hundred years married to Everett, and I've learned one thing: whenever he wants to push me into a corner, he throws the mate bond dissolution agreement in my face. Whenever my parents want me to cave, they hold the family name over my head.

They've always wanted the same thing — for me to hand over everything I have to my twin sister Rosalie, who's been sick her whole life.

I've fought it. I've grieved over it.

But when the doctor slid the diagnosis across the desk — Blood Depletion Syndrome, late stage, less than two weeks left — something in me just went quiet.

What's the point of fighting when you're already dead?

One snide comment from my worst enemy, and I dropped eighty million gold coins on a custom golem built to look exactly like him.

My requirements were simple: same face, same body, and a personality that's submissive, obedient, and takes whatever I dish out without fighting back.

I've had that insufferable face fetching me coffee, rubbing my feet, massaging my shoulders, even wearing a maid outfit.

Watching him bow and scrape for me finally lets out most of the resentment I've been carrying.

Then tonight, the workshop sends a message out of nowhere:

[Due to a shortage of high-purity mithril, your custom golem needs another month to complete. Thank you for your patience.]

I look over at the man kneeling by the couch, rubbing my legs.

So who exactly have I been treating like a dog for the past two months?

The best deal I ever made in my life was selling my blood to a vampire.

I was a broke, permanently starving werewolf who needed ten times the food a normal person did just to feel full.

Evan was a vampire heir with a blood allergy, the kind where the smell alone made him sick and dizzy. Somehow his life was worse than mine.

Except my blood didn't trigger it. He never reacted to me.

So he pulled out his card. "I'll keep you fed. You let me feed off you."

This wasn't a vampire. This was a walking meal ticket.

For the next three years, he was the perfect meal buddy. Five meals a day, and he never once complained. Once I finished and let out a satisfied burp, it was his turn, just a small sip, nothing more.

Then, the year we graduated, he got a call from his family. He had to fly back to Europe that same night.

Before he left, I figured I'd thank him for three years of generosity. I pulled my collar aside.

"Go ahead, take more this time. Consider it a going-away present."

He hesitated, then leaned in.

But this time, once his teeth were in, he couldn't stop.

By the time he pulled back, horrified at himself, I already had a hand pressed to my neck, and everything went dark.

Ethan and I grew up together. We were supposed to exchange rings at the altar, make our vows. But on our wedding day, he left me standing there to go save his so-called suicidal ex. Almost killed my parents from the shame.

Four years later, I'm back in Portland with my husband. The city isn't that big, and of course fate decides to throw him in my path again.

He has the nerve to ask me to be his mistress.

I hold up my left hand, the ring catching the light. "Are you blind?"

Seven years ago I gave up my inheritance and went door to door with Nolan—a broke director shooting street documentaries—my belly out to here, begging investors to take a chance on him.

Everyone said I'd thrown my life away on him.

Seven years later he's a name everyone knows. And Emily, the first love who walked out when he had nothing, is back in Chicago with her daughter.

That afternoon I came home early and heard him pull five-year-old Ivy into his arms: "You can't ever tell Mom that Daddy and Emily are having a fake wedding."

"But Daddy, Mom will be so sad..."

"Say one word and Daddy won't love you anymore. Got it?"

Her little shoulders shook as she nodded, and nodded.

Out in the hallway, I couldn't even be bothered to cry.

I dialed the number I'd kept blocked for seven years. "Dad—can the family plane still come get me and Ivy?"

Nolan, what you lost wasn't a housewife you could push around. You threw away the only person who ever made you her whole world.

For the Adventure Club’s fall break camping trip, I was in charge of organizing all the food for three days and two nights.

Pine Hollow was deep in the mountains, three hours from the nearest town, with no place nearby to buy supplies.

I contacted Prime Harvest, a supplier my family owned. The menu included wagyu beef, antibiotic-free chicken breast, and organic salad, all at cost. I quoted everyone fifty dollars per person.

I quietly covered the rest myself.

The moment I posted the plan in the group chat, the complaints started pouring in.

“Fifty bucks? Do you think we’re suckers?”

A freshman who had just joined the club posted a flyer.

“My relative owns a food-processing plant. She can provide enough hot dogs and burgers for everyone for just fifteen dollars per person!”

The club president immediately started a poll.

Forty-one to two.

The freshman’s package won by a landslide, and I was accused of trying to make money off everyone.

I didn’t argue. I handed the food arrangements over to her and packed three days’ worth of food for myself.

The day we headed into the mountains, they sat around the campfire devouring meat skewers with grease on their faces, mocking me for putting on rich-girl airs.

Then, in the middle of the night, a scream tore through the valley.

I died in the tenth year of our marriage. Not from illness, but from thirty-six hundred days of silent cruelty and penance.

Ten years ago, during that avalanche, he grabbed my hand at the last second. The girl he loved got buried under all that snow.

After that, even breathing felt like a crime.

He drank himself into oblivion, stayed out all night, and on the anniversary of her death, he'd wrap his hands around my throat and ask, "Why wasn't it you?"

I loved him for fifteen years, from childhood sweethearts to bitter strangers. I gave everything for even a hint of warmth from him. What I got instead was him shoving me down the stairs for her little sister.

When I open my eyes again, wind cuts through me and snow fills the air. I'm ten years in the past, back to that afternoon in the Alps.

This time, I'll give you what you want.

The club is planning a team retreat, and sophomore Ashley suddenly raises her hand at the meeting.

"Doesn't Clara's family own a hotel? Cresthaven, right?"

"Since it's your family's place, we could each just chip in fifty bucks for the venue, like you're supporting your own business or something."

Cresthaven is the hotel my grandfather gave me on my eighteenth birthday.

Because it never advertises, outsiders assume it's just some bed and breakfast out in the countryside. In reality, the basic suites run eighty-eight hundred dollars a night, private dining rooms have a hundred-thousand-dollar minimum, and the ingredients get flown in fresh from around the world every single day.

She wants to hand me fifty dollars and get a free two-day retreat for fifty people.

I turn her down on the spot. Next week is already fully booked.

But that night at ten, Ashley posts in the group chat anyway:

[Good news! Thanks to Clara's generous support, the whole club is heading to Cresthaven next week for a two-day retreat, completely free!]

The replies underneath are wall-to-wall flattery.

She wants to use my hotel to buy herself goodwill and build her own reputation.

But that's up to me, not her.

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.]

The night the team wins again, the roar inside the arena could raise the roof.

On the ice, the captain has his arm around the new cheer captain, spinning her under the lights. His skates cut clean lines across the ice. Teammates whistle and shout, someone yells "ask her out!", someone else films on their phone. Everyone waits for me to show up and make a scene. Cry, stumble onto the ice, drop to my knees and beg him to come back. Pathetic, like every time before.

But no one knows I'm in the back of the locker room right now, pressed against a cold metal locker.

The quiet backup player has his hand on the back of my neck, his voice barely steady. "You sure about this?"

I push up on my toes and kiss him first.

The mafia boss chose me as his decoy—a body double for the woman he loves.

Eight years. Three bullets, one car crash, one explosion. The doctor said ten more minutes and I would've died on that operating table when they took my kidney. I gave him a son. He let me play "the boss's wife" in public.

Until he cleared every obstacle for her and decided to marry her.

Her wedding photos replaced mine in the master bedroom. He has her initials tattooed on his arm. When I questioned him, he had his men slap me at a charity gala, forced me to admit "I'm just a stand-in." When I touched her, he took away my custody, declared she was "the true lady of this house."

The punishments got worse. When he threatened to cancel my mother's insurance, I finally learned to shut up.

He pulls me close, whispers in my ear: "She gave up everything for me. Not like you—you were born to take bullets for me."

"Deal with it. She's not replacing you. This is her house now."

Even my son took her side.

"Stop being dramatic! Natalie actually loves us! You're nothing!"

But their pure, innocent Natalie? She unplugged my mother's ventilator while I was locked in the basement. Let his enemies slip poison into my drink during the last job.

When Grayson found me, all he said was: "She's pregnant and emotional. Go rearrange the flowers at the wedding venue."

I wipe the black blood from my lips. Look at him quietly.

"I'm dying."

I'm two months pregnant with Tristan's baby when Brielle, the woman he'd do anything for, shoves me down the stairs.

She calls it an accident. I lose the baby.

I beg my husband to do something about it. Instead, he shields her and turns it around on me.

"Brielle saved my life in that fire. The whole Merrick family owes her. So drop it."

That debt. Always that debt.

Three years. No matter how many times Brielle humiliates me, degrades me, Tristan only ever has one answer: "I owe her my life."

But the truth about that fire? I'm the only one in the world who knows it.

I tried to tell him once. He laughed in my face. "Adeline, you're so desperate for attention you'd make up something like that?"

So I shut my mouth. Buried the truth. Buried whatever was left of my heart along with it.

The man I trusted with my life just handed my child to the woman who killed them, and called it loyalty.

I'm done.

I pull up the number I blocked three years ago and hit call.

"Dad. I'll take over the company. I'll go through with the engagement to Everett. But I have one condition. I want Tristan and Brielle ruined beyond recovery. Nothing and no one left."

I’m Elowen, a Fae heiress. I snuck into the human world for a little fun and somehow ended up working as the personal bodyguard of Manhattan billionaire Grayson Whitmore.

To keep my real face from attracting trouble, I had one of my people cast a glamour on me, giving me a face full of freckles and a homely appearance.

Grayson criticized everything I did, yet every time I tried to quit, he refused to let me go.

His best friend, Preston Hale, was different. After I saved his life, he held my hand and made me a promise.

“Ellie, I don’t care what you look like. I want to give you a home.”

I was curious what it would be like to marry a human, so I said yes.

But at our engagement party, Brielle Vaughn, Preston’s first love who had spent years in Europe, burst through the doors with tears in her eyes.

Preston immediately yanked his hand away from mine.

“I’m sorry. She’s the one I love.”

Then he handed me a five-million-dollar check, put his arm around her, and left without looking back.

The guests laughed at me for ever thinking I belonged in Preston’s world.

All I could think was how ridiculous the whole thing was.

I turned and opened the door to the private lounge. The man who had watched the entire spectacle was sitting in the shadows.

I grabbed his tie and smiled.

“Grayson, don’t you need a wife to keep your family off your back? Why don’t you marry me?”

On our wedding day, my fiancé left me and an entire room of guests waiting for two full hours so he could go to the airport and pick up the woman he’d never gotten over.

When he finally showed up, he was standing protectively at her side. Then he told me to “be reasonable and stop making a scene.”

In that moment, the love I’d held on to for twelve years simply disappeared.

I threw down my bouquet and called off the wedding right then and there.

Furious, he demanded, “You’re doing this because I was late?”

“Yes. Because you were late.”

A hundred years ago, I was the strongest Delta the Silver Moon Pack had ever produced.

Born with the God Bone, unmatched in power, I had Royal Guard recruiters showing up at my door three times, waiting for me to say yes. The whole pack assumed I'd lead them to glory.

Then came that night. My own family dragged me to the altar in the frozen vault.

My mother cried and said, "Lacey was born broken. Without the God Bone, she'll die."

"You're the older sister. You're strong. You'll survive without it."

I refused.

Grant, my fiancé, pulled the knife on me. Brandon, my brother, pinned down my arms and legs. My parents watched from the shadows, saying nothing.

"Don't be so selfish."

They carved the God Bone out of my body, drained every drop of my heart's blood, and threw me into a vault fifty degrees below zero.

My sister took everything that was mine and became the golden girl everyone adored.

A hundred years passed. I became the Supreme Commander of the Royal Guard.

This year, during recruitment, my adjutant handed me the candidate list. I saw a familiar name and smiled. I picked up my pen and crossed it out.

"Doesn't meet the requirements. Denied."

Everyone in our circle knows I'm Adrian's caged bird, and the "bad woman" his son Miles hates most.

For Miles, I gave up my fellowship in Zurich and spent seven years playing housewife.

What did I get in return? Adrian took Sophie to gallery openings on our anniversary. Miles smashed cake in my face in front of everyone, calling me a frumpy housewife.

Adrian was certain I couldn't leave him. Certain I couldn't leave our son.

He threw the divorce papers on the table with a cold smile. "Sign this, and you lose everything. Including Miles."

He expected me to beg on my knees.

I didn't.

I picked up the pen and signed without hesitation.

"Fine, Adrian. You keep Miles. And I get to keep myself."

For just a moment, I saw shock flash in his eyes.

I heard later that Adrian searched for me like a madman, and the son he doted on cried and screamed for his mommy.

Too bad. I'd already burned it all down myself.

Blake's keeping me locked up in a villa outside the city, with a dozen bodyguards watching me around the clock. They won't let me step foot outside my room.

He once promised Vanessa, the woman he never got over, that he'd give her company shares and his estate. Now she's back after her divorce, pregnant, crying to Blake that I threatened her, told her to give up what he promised, and that I wanted to hurt her and her baby.

Blake believed her.

He's convinced I'm evil and gold-digging. He locked me up here while he stays at the hospital, never leaving Vanessa's side.

I'm going into sudden labor, crying and begging him to let me go to a hospital. I swear I never wanted those things, never hurt her.

Blake just sneers. "You're such a liar. I don't believe a single word from someone as vicious as you. After Vanessa delivers, I'll get you a doctor. Stop trying to fool me."

But when he finally sees my body, he completely falls apart.

As the sole heir to one of America’s wealthiest families, I had always known the Harrington rule: every heir had to go through all four years of high school under an assumed identity, without using a single dollar of the family fortune.

So I wore thick black-framed glasses and secondhand sneakers and worked part-time jobs to support myself.

Everyone at school mocked me for being poor. They said my face was the only thing I had going for me.

Only Nolan, the top-ranked student in our grade, never looked down on me. Once, he slid half an eraser across the library table to me and told me that education could change a person’s life.

The day we started dating, he held my hand and promised me:

“Georgie, I’ll hold your hand through all of it. No matter how hard things get, I won’t let go.”

I believed him.

But during the outdoor club’s final hiking trip before my four-year disguise was over, a storm rolled in. Savannah, his childhood sweetheart, complained that her ankle hurt.

Nolan immediately let go of me and knocked me into the mud as he rushed to her.

Everyone gathered around Savannah to make sure she was okay. Then they laughed at me for thinking a poor girl like me could ever belong with someone like Nolan.

I didn’t cry.

I took off my glasses and placed my muddy, bloodstained hand in the palm of Holden, the Upper East Side heir who had spent the past two years trying to get me to go out with him.

“If you take my hand, you’re agreeing to be my girlfriend.”

“Okay.”