vikings ancient times

Wendy Shaw has just wrapped up a mission in ancient time when the System delivers news that stops her cold. Her best friend Laura Harper has been killed by a man who never deserved her. Wendy takes the new assignment without hesitating. She returns to the 21st century as the true Xavier heiress, steps into a marriage meant for the family's fake daughter, and walks down the aisle to Steve Hart, the scarred eldest son everyone assumes is a punishment posting. Her mission is to make Steve fall for her.Nobody takes Wendy seriously. The girl from the countryside is supposed to crumble under the Hart family's scrutiny. Instead, Steve's regard for her deepens steadily, and Wendy rises to become general manager of Hart Corp without breaking a sweat.When she finally turns her full attention to Mark Hart, the second son whose hands are stained with Laura's death, everything she has built points in one direction. He never saw her coming. That was always the plan."

In my previous life, I gave everything for Kane — only to be locked in a dungeon by him, forced to watch our child be crushed to death, and die filled with endless hatred. Reborn on the day of my adulthood ceremony, with the entire Silver Moon Blood Clan watching, the Blood Prince gives me the right to choose one of his two sons to form an Eternal Blood Pact. Everyone expects me to choose Kane. Instead, I point to the man feared by all — the mad prince who returned from the Dark Ancient Forest. **"I choose Cass Nightshade."** The moment Kane’s face turns deathly pale, I know — this life, it’s finally my turn to take revenge. The bloodthirsty monster everyone calls a madman slowly reveals his obsessive tenderness only to me. "You chose me, Eve… Now you can never escape." Under the Blood Moon, the Eternal Blood Pact is sealed. This time, I marry the monster — just to crush my scumbag ex completely.

I was born broken. My Alpha mother was the one who branded me. She said emotion was a sin. A weakness. Especially for a werewolf. Especially for an Alpha’s heir. The day we were born, she clamped emotion-suppressing collars around our necks. Mine and my twin sister's. The slightest flicker of emotion, and the collar flashed red. My mother would then push the button, injecting me with a diluted "silver solution" to suppress my feelings. But my sister Cassia's collar? Always a calm, steady blue. Even when she shattered Mom's precious moonstone, it just pulsed gently. And me? I’d just whisper, "Mom, the thunder scares me," and my collar would erupt in a violent red. Then came the sting of silver poison burning through my blood.. I used to argue. But Mom always said the same thing. "The data doesn't lie. Pain is a teacher. This is for your own good." After thousands of these injections, I started to believe it, too. That I was born out of control. The night of the alliance's Moon Goddess Festival, Mom was taking my sister to the rooftop party. Something scared me during the day. The collar flashed red, and my mother started the punishment. But this time, the collar malfunctioned. It shot a dose a thousand times stronger into my neck. I collapsed on the carpet, begging, "Mother, the collar... it hurts so much... help me." My collar was flashing a frantic red. My mother just looked down at me, drenched in a cold sweat, and pressed the button for the maximum dose. "You'd lose control like this just for attention? You're a lost cause." She turned, took my sister, and slammed the door. I couldn't help but think, Mom must be right. The collar is red. It doesn't really hurt. I'm just being dramatic, looking for pity again. I'm sorry, Mom. In my next life, I'll be the perfect daughter you always wanted.

Three days before my marking ceremony, someone set fire to the bridal shop while I was inside trying on my ceremonial dress. Alpha Marcus threw the arsonist into the pack prison, sentencing them to the harshest punishment our laws allowed. I lay in the hospital bed, my body covered in third-degree burns, refusing to wake fully as the reality of my disfigurement sank in. In my semi-conscious state, I heard Marcus speaking with the pack's healing witch. "Alpha, we can still heal her completely with the ancient magic. If we wait any longer, Sarah will bear these scars for life! You just want Miss Rachel to be your Luna at the marking ceremony. This is cruel beyond measure!" "Let her keep the scars. I'll provide for her for the rest of her life, but if she's healed, she'll definitely cause trouble at the marking ceremony." "I promised Rachel that her pup would be welcomed into the pack with full honors. Only when Sarah is completely disfigured will she be grateful enough to raise Rachel's child as her own. The scars are necessary - at least this way, she won't dare mistreat the pup." In the corner of the room, where no one was watching, a tear slid down my burned cheek. So this was the truth. The marking ceremony I'd dreamed of was nothing but a lie. The mate bond I longed for would be my death sentence. If that's how it had to be, I would give him what he wanted.

For eighteen years, I, Althea Quinn Calder, wanted nothing more than torn shorts, hiking boots, and a detector in my pocket. My family was known across the stars as a glamorous treasure-hunting team, but what most people never knew was that our real fortune came from finding alien artifacts hidden inside ancient ruins. At a charity gala on Sobek Space Station, I was forced into an elegant dress and high heels, only to discover that the night was not just another social event. Our old rival, Alistair Draven, appeared again, watching us like a predator and hinting that he already knew about the secret mission my father had planned. Even worse, my father had hired a new intern without telling me. His name was Kaelan Frost, a brilliant student with green eyes, a Capellan accent, and the most dangerous effect on my concentration. I hated the idea of adding anyone to our team—until he joined our next expedition to New Haven, where a dive into the wreck of the Queen Anne's Revenge led me to a hidden metal box, a ruby ring, and a cipher connected to the lost lover of the infamous space pirate Edward Teach. The clue pointed us from a sunken ship to a protected estate, then to a secret garden where another message revealed something far bigger: Teach had hidden not only pirate treasure, but the missing fortune of a destroyed Spanish treasure fleet. Every clue brings Kaelan and me closer, but it also brings Alistair closer to us. He has followed every expedition we ever took, and this time, if he discovers what I am carrying, the next treasure we uncover may become the one that gets us killed.