in the heat of the night: by duty bound

Within the halls of Golden Feather Academy, wealthy stepsiblings Tanya and Leo, bound by family but not blood, hold court as the institution's dual reigning icons of popularity. As the holiday break ends, the queenly Tanya sets her sights on the newly elected Student Council President, Logic—son of the nation's president. At the grand ball, her calculated allure meets only his icy dismissal. Stung and pride inflamed, she makes a reckless wager with her notorious playboy stepbrother, Leo, who has just slipped into her bedchamber under cover of night: if Leo can seduce and shatter the seemingly incorruptible, iron-willed heterosexual scholar Logic within one month—turning his arrogance to ashes and his reputation to ruin—she will grant him the one thing he's craved for years: a night in her bed. The libertine Leo, who believes his charm can conquer anyone except the elusive Tanya, acknowledges the formidable challenge of making Logic fall in love. Yet, brimming with audacious confidence, he accepts, plunging them all into a twisted game of seduction and vengeance. However, as the month draws to a close, a chilling realization dawns on Tanya: not only has she been denied the sweet venom of revenge against Logic, but she may have irrevocably lost the mercurial, ever-devoted Leo—the brother whose affections she'd always held in a delicate, dangerous dance of veiled dominance—to the very heart he was supposed to destroy.

Within the halls of Golden Feather Academy, wealthy stepsiblings Tanya and Leo, bound by family but not blood, hold court as the institution's dual reigning icons of popularity. As the holiday break ends, the queenly Tanya sets her sights on the newly elected Student Council President, Logic—son of the nation's president. At the grand ball, her calculated allure meets only his icy dismissal. Stung and pride inflamed, she makes a reckless wager with her notorious playboy stepbrother, Leo, who has just slipped into her bedchamber under cover of night: if Leo can seduce and shatter the seemingly incorruptible, iron-willed heterosexual scholar Logic within one month—turning his arrogance to ashes and his reputation to ruin—she will grant him the one thing he's craved for years: a night in her bed. The libertine Leo, who believes his charm can conquer anyone except the elusive Tanya, acknowledges the formidable challenge of making Logic fall in love. Yet, brimming with audacious confidence, he accepts, plunging them all into a twisted game of seduction and vengeance. However, as the month draws to a close, a chilling realization dawns on Tanya: not only has she been denied the sweet venom of revenge against Logic, but she may have irrevocably lost the mercurial, ever-devoted Leo—the brother whose affections she'd always held in a delicate, dangerous dance of veiled dominance—to the very heart he was supposed to destroy.

When Dora Quinn, the Goddess of Fortune, descends to the mortal realm, she crosses paths with the ambitious but struggling Adrian West.Using her divine powers, Dora helps Adrian navigate a career crisis and repeatedly thwarts the schemes of the ruthless Leo West.Along the way, Dora braved the Underworld to save Adrian's grandfather and used her own body heat to cure his mysterious chill.As they face challenge after challenge together, romance blossoms. In the end, love triumphs, proving that fortune truly favors the bold.

Seth Stroud, the embodiment of Earth's will, possesses extraordinary talent, breaking through to the Martial God Realm at age ten, though no one believed it. Driven by duty, he helps Sancta Union guard the Demonbane for thirty years, slaughtering demons until they fear to attack. After three decades of peace,the federation leadership and citizens firmly believe peace comes from the demons' kindness and genuine desire for harmony with humanity. Meanwhile, the upper echelons have always viewed Seth as a threat to their power and now plot to eliminate this thorn in their side.

I dated my lawyer boyfriend for five years. He canceled our wedding.Fifty-two times.First time? His intern messed up some paperwork. He ditched me at the beach to fix it. I waited all day.Alone.Second time, we were mid-ceremony when he bolted.Heard that intern was getting heat from another lawyer and left me to face the guests and their stares.After that, every time we tried again, there was always some ""emergency"" with her. Always.I finally hit my limit. I was done. Packed up and broke it off.But the day I left Ainsley? He totally lost it trying to find me.

I have been bound to Ryan Hardin for nine years. He is pureblood, the Alpha of Silverfang Pack. And I… I was chosen as nothing more than a “temporary Luna,” a political pawn to steady the pack’s power. In those nine years, he betrayed me countless times. The first time, on my birthday, he announced that the celebration belonged to another she-wolf he had just met. The second time, I brewed medicine for his injuries, only to be accused by the Elders of bewitching the Alpha. He didn’t defend me—instead, he ordered me to be whipped in front of the entire pack. The third time, I was three months pregnant. He stood there, watching as his childhood sweetheart pushed me down the stone steps. I lost our pup that day. Nine years. Three thousand two hundred nights. I endured his indifference, his humiliation, his contempt. Last night, at the Silverfang Pack’s full-moon feast, he openly entwined his hand with a young Omega’s while I sat abandoned at the far end of the Alpha’s table. Every gaze cut into me—wolves whispering, mocking, savoring the spectacle. It was his 200th betrayal. When the feast ended, Ryan didn’t even look at me. His words were sharper than fangs: “Don’t forget, your Luna title is only temporary.” At dawn, he descended the Alpha’s staircase, his voice cold and commanding as if I were a servant: “Prepare the council’s tea. Now.” I met his gaze without flinching, my voice steady, stripped of all submission. “I’m sorry, Alpha. That is no longer my duty.” He seems to forget—we were never bound by a mark. Ours was an agreement, nothing more. And today marks the third-to-last day before that agreement ends. I gathered the Luna emblem, the wedding ring, and our only wedding photo—and burned them all. In three days, I’ll leave this pack. I will return to the secluded Herbal Academy, reclaim my research. And this time, when I walk away, I will never return.

Lucine and her husband, Cheney, were in a devastating car accident that took Cheney's life. Lucine survived but lost her memory. When the powerful Sterling family learned she was carrying Cheney's only child, they sent his twin brother, Noah, to bring her home and ensure her safety. At first, Noah saw it as a duty, but as he cared for the vulnerable and lost Lucine, an unexpected bond began to form. Amidst fierce family struggles, kidnappings, a heartbreaking miscarriage scare, and ruthless outside schemes, their connection deepened—until neither could deny the pull between them.

My husband and I were the two people who hated each other most in this world. He hated me for tearing him away from the woman he loved. And I hated him because that his heart remained occupied by another woman. For eight years of marriage, the words we spoke to each other most often were not love, nor duty, but curses. Yet on the day the city fell, everything changed, the enemy banners were already visible beyond the inner gate. He rode ahead and took the road, putting his body between the enemy and my escape. “Live,” he said quietly. Then he raised his blade and did not look back. Arrows came like rain. As they tore into him, he turned his head once—only once— After that, his body held the road,and nothing passed. “If there is another life…may Your Highness grant me the mercy to belong to her.” That night, with the city in ruins and the people either dead or fleeing, I climbed the highest tower of the palace. I leapt. When I opened my eyes again, I went to the king. “The northern kingdoms require a royal bride,” I said. “I will go.” This lifetime, I will be the one to cross the border. In my previous life, he died believing he had failed her. This time, I will not allow that regret to exist. I will take the marriage meant for her. I will carry the crown meant to exile her. I will walk into a future she should never have to endure. Let her stay. Let him protect her. Let him live his life believing he has finally kept his promise.

Riverside University player Marcus Hyde suffers an injury that reduces him to water bottle duty on the bench. With fifteen seconds left in a do-or-die regular season game, he gets shoved onto the court as the team's sacrificial lamb. Everyone expects him to choke. What they don't know is that he's already awakened the "Basketball God System". Every completed task unlocks a new skill. From forgotten benchwarmer to Finals MVP, Marcus demolishes defending champions, posterizes CBA rookies, dunks over giants, and drops 13 points in 35 seconds for an impossible comeback. And this is just the start of his legend—the number one draft pick already has his name on it.

Omega Leah never meant to save the Wolf King, or to be bound to him forever. But one rescue changes everything. Obsessed and possessive, he'll do anything to keep her by his side. She wants freedom. He wants forever. Can love survive a destiny she never chose?

Sophia Smith wakes up as an F-grade duchess bound to four SSS-grade men who all hate her. Forced to survive in a world where women rule and men submit, she uses healing powers and sincerity to change her fate.But Sophia doesn't choose just one. She wants them all.

Traveled into an interstellar shifter novel as the hated villainess! Bound to a dating system, Queena has to romance 6 hostile commanders to survive. She just wants to earn points to peace out and live the high life, but all 6 guys fall hard. Now they're blocking her door, yelling: "You romanced us and dipped? What about us?!"

Sophia Smith wakes up as an F-grade duchess bound to four SSS-grade men who all hate her. Forced to survive in a world where women rule and men submit, she uses healing powers and sincerity to change her fate.But Sophia doesn't choose just one. She wants them all.

Liam Holt accidentally transmigrates into a flea, bound to an EvoCore System. After forming a contract with campus beauty Natalie Fallon, he's mocked by everyone. Feeding on essence blood, he evolves from a flea.Together, they conquer deadly trials, face academy elites, tame the Blood Phoenix, and ultimately challenge the Supreme Academy, beginning his legendary rise!

After the war of the gods, Thrud takes on the heavy duty of ruling the Aesir. She resurrects Alviss — once turned to stone for offending Zeus — and elevates him into a god of her own clan. Grateful for everything Thrud has sacrificed, Alviss swears he will cherish her. When Thrud returns to the realm wounded, she finds Alviss being intimate with an envoy named Levia — and Levia is wearing her crown and her sacred marriage band. Alviss claims that Levia cared for him during the years he was stone, and that he has already elevated her to the rank of divine envoy. When Levia deliberately drops the band, Thrud finally reaches her breaking point and strikes her, stripping Levia of her title on the spot and banishing her from the realm of the Aesir.

Customs officer Wynne Sutton died in the line of duty, only to wake up in the body of a character from a novel. She was now the wife of the hero, Lance Shelton. In this new world, she weighed 200 pounds and was mocked by everyone as Madma Pig. She also had a five-year-old son, Henry, who was considered slow-witted. Armed with a weight-loss system, Wynne was determined to turn her life around—and soon discovered that Henry possessed the power of prophecy: his words could come true, he could see people's nationalities, and he could hear their thoughts. When Henry said, "Aunt Lane has 'I am Gapanese' written on her head," Wynne became alert. Riding her motorcycle, she crashed a banquet and confronted Lance, who dared not acknowledge her. Thus began the dramatic tale of her spectacular rise.

Fabron Lovell's life was a mess. His boss treated him like dirt, and his girlfriend dumped him. But he was unexpectedly bound to the Doomsday Shuttle System, forcing him to travel back and forth between the zombie-infested future world and a modern city. In the collapsed future, gold and jewels were worthless junk. Fabron spotted an arbitrage opportunity across time and space and wanted to build his empire in both worlds.

Jason, a workhorse in the modern world, transmigrated into a Lucky Koi but was despised by the mermaids at first. Luckily, he was rescued by Linda and bound to a system. With the help of the system and his Luck Value, he evolved and defeated the enemies, earning the Lesser Dragon Queen's recognition. After he found the Lesser Dragon Queen's wicked intentions, he took the clan mermaids to defeat the Lesser Dragon Queen and finally became the True Dragon.