

For five years, Gideon—my brother's Beta—and I had a secret.We were supposed to announce our mating at the pack's Winter Solstice festival.Instead, he breathed hot against my ear."Babe, we've been sleeping together for five years. I'm bored with you. Find someone else for the marking ceremony, alright?"I didn't cry. I just gave a calm, simple nod. "Alright."Only because in my last life, I had begged him through tears to complete the bond.After he finally marked me, he grew cold.He never again woke me by rubbing his stubbled chin against my forehead.Even when we made love, he kept his eyes shut, as if he were wit for my life, he left me.He was going to comfort his savior, Aveline. The old wound she suffered saving him had relapsed, sending her into a mental spiral. In that moment, I finally understood.A mark I had to beg for was nothing but a curse, a wound that would never heal.This time, I pulled away with a smile, removing his hand from my waist. "You're right. I'm tired of it, too. We're done."h someone else, just using my body.When I was in agony giving birth to our pup, fighting

When her Alpha husband, Leander, gives her adopted sister the only antidote that can save her, Viola Hawthorne stops begging to be chosen. With her parents and even her own son against her, she gives them one final gift: a life without her.Her death leaves them shattered, and Leander turns to forbidden magic to bring her back. But Viola awakens in the care of Kai, a powerful werewolf leader who has loved her for years. Now her former mate will do anything for a second chance.He brought her back to life. That doesn’t mean she’s coming back to him.

Bella, General of the Northland, attends her younger sister Ada's engagement party, but is looked down upon for wearing the janitor's uniform she wore while on a mission. Ada stands up for her, while Bella teaches Ada's fiancé and his family a lesson, and introduces a better man for Ada. Later, Bella and Ada each encounter the parents who abandoned them years ago, and Bella makes them live with lifelong remorse.

Lisa Philip had an affair during her marriage. She trusted Elvis Turner,her first love, and mistakenly believed her husband, Allen Lucas,married her only for her money and was using their daughter to extort wealth from her. This led her to abandon her own child in a critical moment. However, what she didn't know was that Allen had been secretly supporting her career all along, hiding his true identity.Meanwhile, Elvis was just using Lisa, aiming to steal Allen's research results and swindle her family fortune. When the truth finally came to light, Lisa was filled with regret. But Allen and their daughter chose not to forgive her. Allen turned to his long-time secret admirer, his junior schoolmate. And Ann, their daughter, also wanted her to be her new mother, leaving Lisa to wallow in her remorse.

Nolan Ward, a submarine captain, faked his death and vanished for two years to stay with Talia Black, the woman he believed had saved his life, while she evaded investigation. Upon returning to the United States, he was convinced his childhood sweetheart Ella Morgan would still be waiting for him. He condescendingly proposed to her again and demanded that Ella continue to tolerate Talia. What he did not know was that Ella had long uncovered the truth behind his faked death. During those two years, she cleared her name, married Declan Grant, and gave birth to a pair of twins. Faced with Nolan’s public humiliation, biased favoritism and slap across her face, Ella offered no further explanations and refused to look back. She then traveled to Paris with her husband and children as originally planned. After Ella left, Nolan still blamed everything on her change of heart. It was not until the military reopened the old case that he learned Ella was the one who had given him her oxygen during the deep-sea accident. Talia had falsely claimed the act of heroism, spread rumors for years, intercepted messages, and framed Ella. Meanwhile, Declan confessed his long-hidden crush on Ella and gave her a proper proposal and wedding. At the wedding venue, Nolan received an arrest warrant. He was disgraced over charges including obstruction of justice, dereliction of duty, and faking his own death. In the meeting room, Ella revealed to him that she had been promoted to chief submarine captain and Deputy Chief of Fleet Operations. She had known all of his lies long ago. She bid farewell to her past for good and stepped into a new life with the man who truly cherished her.

The night I died, my whole family was busy celebrating my twin sister Elena's eighteenth birthday. Everyone thought Elena was going to die the next day. We're elves. My father worked as a clan guardian, and after Mom gave birth to Elena and me as twins, she stopped working altogether. We should have been a happy family. But from the moment we were born, Elena and I were bound by a witch's curse. Because Elena came into the world one minute before me, she took the full weight of it onto herself. She was never supposed to live past eighteen. From the day we were born, Elena was the family's treasure. Mom and Dad treated me like I owed her something. New toys went to her first. New dresses were always her pick. Every night, Mom would sit in Elena's room for at least an hour before she'd turn off the light. I always fell asleep alone. One night I had a nightmare and ran barefoot to find Mom. She was holding Elena and didn't even look up. "Go back to bed. Stop making a fuss." I kept telling myself: she's dying, of course they're kind to her. But every time I let something go, that splinter in my chest pushed a little deeper. Then the day the curse was supposed to take effect finally came, and naturally, that was the day my stomach cramped so badly I could barely stand. Mom and Dad didn't hesitate. They shoved me into the cellar and locked it from outside. I crouched on the stone floor with the smell of mildew everywhere and knocked on the door over and over. "Mom... Dad... my stomach really hurts, I can't even stand up... let me out, please..." One sentence came back through the door. "Your sister is dying tonight! Can you just give us one day? One day!" "But... Mom... I'm scared..." Nobody answered after that. The cellar went quiet. My eyelids grew heavy. My last thought was: if I were the one dying of a curse, would they come hold me too.

The night I died, my whole family was busy celebrating my twin sister Elena's eighteenth birthday. Everyone thought Elena was going to die the next day. We're elves. My father worked as a clan guardian, and after Mom gave birth to Elena and me as twins, she stopped working altogether. We should have been a happy family. But from the moment we were born, Elena and I were bound by a witch's curse. Because Elena came into the world one minute before me, she took the full weight of it onto herself. She was never supposed to live past eighteen. From the day we were born, Elena was the family's treasure. Mom and Dad treated me like I owed her something. New toys went to her first. New dresses were always her pick. Every night, Mom would sit in Elena's room for at least an hour before she'd turn off the light. I always fell asleep alone. One night I had a nightmare and ran barefoot to find Mom. She was holding Elena and didn't even look up. "Go back to bed. Stop making a fuss." I kept telling myself: she's dying, of course they're kind to her. But every time I let something go, that splinter in my chest pushed a little deeper. Then the day the curse was supposed to take effect finally came, and naturally, that was the day my stomach cramped so badly I could barely stand. Mom and Dad didn't hesitate. They shoved me into the cellar and locked it from outside. I crouched on the stone floor with the smell of mildew everywhere and knocked on the door over and over. "Mom... Dad... my stomach really hurts, I can't even stand up... let me out, please..." One sentence came back through the door. "Your sister is dying tonight! Can you just give us one day? One day!" "But... Mom... I'm scared..." Nobody answered after that. The cellar went quiet. My eyelids grew heavy. My last thought was: if I were the one dying of a curse, would they come hold me too.

Noah Marr is the last surviving bloodline of his parents, a young heir who sleeps until noon, counts money until his hands cramp, and lists eating and gaming as his highest aspirations. At his own birthday banquet he announces these goals without embarrassment, and the room collectively writes him off as a useless rich boy. His fiancee moves to break off the engagement. Nobody takes him seriously. Noah takes none of it personally. Then, the people responsible for his parents’ deaths finally step into the light, and everyone who ever laughed at him gets a very different look at who they were actually dealing with. Every sneer he absorbed, every dismissal he let slide, was just silence before the thunder.

Lin Wei, a werewolf girl, was once loved by her two brothers. But after they took in fake orphan Li La, she was abandoned and hurt deeplyHeartbroken, she left to study medicine alone for fifteen years. Her brothers later regretted bitterly.Fifteen years later, she returned as a strong healer with an antidote. She let go of the past and devoted herself to medicine