when hope is not enough serum

My stepsister falsely accuses me of causing her allergies to act up. My three brothers stuff me into the cramped cellar and chain the door shut. I pound on the door and beg them to let me out. My eldest brother, an outstanding businessman, snaps, "It's bad enough that you keep bullying Lori. How could you make her eat seafood when you know she's allergic to it? Isn't that just murder? Stay in there and reflect on your mistakes!" My second brother, an award-winning singer, and my third brother, a genius painter, scoff contemptuously. "It's unbelievable that someone as evil as you is making excuses to garner pity. You can stay in there and repent for your sins!" After that, they take our shuddering stepsister to the hospital. The oxygen in the cellar soon runs out, and it gets difficult to breathe. Ultimately, I die in there. My brothers only remember me three days later when they bring our stepsister back from the hospital. Unbeknownst to them, I've already died of asphyxiation.

Vivian Hale transmigrates into a novel. She is assigned one goal—irritate the tyrant emperor badly enough that he puts her out of her misery, collects her hundred million, and goes home. She schemes, she provokes, she causes chaos at every turn. The Emperor just laughs, pulls her closer, and absolutely refuses to cooperate. What she doesn’t know yet is why. Adrian Kingsley has died and been reborn three times, watching her meet the same terrible ending each time, and has spent every subsequent lifetime dismantling the forces that killed her before she even knows they exist. When the truth finally surfaces, he takes her face in his hands, eyes red, and makes her one quiet promise—his life for hers, every time, as many times as it takes. Vivian, who came here to die on purpose, finds herself suddenly and inconveniently unwilling to lose him.

Max Lowell, once an Aureate Immortal of the Immortal Realm, is forced to reincarnate after crushing usury debts. He wakes in the Mortal Realm inside a deadbeat gambler slain over loans—and finds the man's wife: Queenie Lynd,breathtaking, gentle, but mute, long mistreated at home. Max chooses to begin his mortal life by setting this one thing right: earn enough to craft a pill that will restore his wife's voice.

The night of my first shift at eighteen, my two older brothers brought home a twelve-year-old orphaned Omega. My alpha brother seized the rare healing herb I'd spent all my savings on—herbs meant to ease my first transformation—and gave them to her instead. "You're strong enough," he growled. "You don't need such precious herbs." My beta brother snarled with fury, pointing toward the door. "Get out! Don't come back!" I said nothing more, just grabbed my packed bag and left. They assumed I was merely throwing a tantrum, that I'd return in a few days. My brothers, finally free of my presence, took the orphan girl on an international vacation to the Caribbean islands I'd always dreamed of visiting. Many days later, when they returned to the pack, they were shocked to discover I'd accepted an offer from the neighboring pack's Head Healer. The position required fifteen years of isolated herbal research. I could never return home. That night, they fell apart.

Max Lowell, once an Aureate Immortal of the Immortal Realm, is forced to reincarnate after crushing usury debts. He wakes in the Mortal Realm inside a deadbeat gambler slain over loans—and finds the man's wife: Queenie Lynd,breathtaking, gentle, but mute, long mistreated at home. Max chooses to begin his mortal life by setting this one thing right: earn enough to craft a pill that will restore his wife's voice.

Harper Allen is born in Prosperity Village, where women possess a special constitution that produces multiple babies per pregnancy.Because they have too many children, the village is desperately poor. Harper is chosen by the villagers to work in the city and bring hope to everyone—and she just happens to run into the Lauren family patriarch offering a fortune for a grandchild.Perfect timing! With the old man’s arrangement, Harper marries Spencer Lauren, the aloof CEO cursed by his family bloodline of “Any woman who bears a Pierce heir will die.” But the prideful CEO refuses. What to do? No job is too difficult for a hardworking woman—she has plenty of strength and methods! That very night, she ties up the struggling Spencer and tosses him into the bridal chamber...

Eight years after a one-night stand, Sophie Archer raises son Jack alone until he's diagnosed with leukemia requiring a rare blood-type donor. Doctors suggest a million-dollar imported medicine to buy time. While struggling financially, Sophie becomes Caleb Johnson's secretary, unaware he's Jack's father. Meanwhile, Caleb and his grandmother Kate meet Jack by chance and confirm paternity through DNA testing. As Sophie and Caleb develop feelings and she becomes pregnant again after another encounter, Sophie saves enough for Jack's treatment, only for rival Chloe Bradford to destroy the medicine. Kate intervenes, recognizes Sophie and Jack as family, and tells Caleb to marry Jack's mother, not realizing he's already falling for Sophie. When Caleb discovers Sophie is Jack's mother, they commit to each other. At their wedding, Sophie reveals she has no blood relation to the Archers, and learns she's actually the biological daughter of the Bradfords couple, whom she refuses to forgive. The story ends with Sophie giving birth to twins and living happily with Caleb, Jack, Kate and their growing family.

Harper Allen is born in Prosperity Village, where women possess a special constitution that produces multiple babies per pregnancy.Because they have too many children, the village is desperately poor. Harper is chosen by the villagers to work in the city and bring hope to everyone—and she just happens to run into the Lauren family patriarch offering a fortune for a grandchild.Perfect timing! With the old man’s arrangement, Harper marries Spencer Lauren, the aloof CEO cursed by his family bloodline of “Any woman who bears a Pierce heir will die.” But the prideful CEO refuses. What to do? No job is too difficult for a hardworking woman—she has plenty of strength and methods! That very night, she ties up the struggling Spencer and tosses him into the bridal chamber...

Theo and Rose were a couple deeply in love with each other, but their relationship faced great opposition from Rose's family. As if that was not enough, Theo had to watch his own mother who had died of strange circumstances have her body torn apart by stray dogs, all because he was a child born out of wedlock! It was only after tackling the dogs that he was able to salvage a mere few bits of her corpse. In a rage, he would leave to fight a war in the northern borders. Channel

Amber Baker, the Lucia family's adopted daughter, was sweet and pretty-looking, yet she was forced into an absurd arranged marriage with White Group's CEO, who was old enough to be her grandfather. This loveless alliance made her a laughingstock among the elite. But Amber was no helpless damsel. On her wedding day, she ruined her wedding dress and fled, humiliating the Lucias. Enraged, they launched a city-wide manhunt. No one suspected she'd run to Mike Lucia—her adoptive uncle—who now shelters her under his wing.

My mother was the Chosen Luna—the one who once conquered three powerful Alphas. When her mission was done, she vanished from this world, leaving behind only me, and the three Alphas who had once loved her with everything they had. My first father, Alpha Jeff Tanners, ruled the Silver Moon Pack—rich enough to buy half the continent. My second father, Alpha Kael Grey, commanded all the warriors of the Northern Alliance. My third father, Alpha Bran Theron, held every medical resource wolves and humans depended on. For eighteen years, I was their cherished little princess. Whatever I wanted, they gave—no questions, no hesitation. Until they brought home that girl—a fragile orphan named Arie Ryker. From that day on, everything changed. She told them I called her a filthy stray, unworthy of our pack. She said I led the young wolves at school to bully her. She said I tampered with her performance costume, that I caused her allergy, that I made her faint on stage. And they believed her. They stopped believing me. The ninety-ninth time they chose her over me, when they shouted, "Don't come back again!", I didn't argue. I just picked up my luggage and left. They thought I'd come running home like before—that my disappearance was just another way to make them see me. But when they found out I had left the pack for good, that my identity had been erased, that I could no longer be found, the three mighty Alphas finally broke.

Amber Baker, the Lucia family's adopted daughter, was sweet and pretty-looking, yet she was forced into an absurd arranged marriage with White Group's CEO, who was old enough to be her grandfather. This loveless alliance made her a laughingstock among the elite. But Amber was no helpless damsel. On her wedding day, she ruined her wedding dress and fled, humiliating the Lucias. Enraged, they launched a city-wide manhunt. No one suspected she'd run to Mike Lucia—her adoptive uncle—who now shelters her under his wing.

Silas Thorne has seen enough lives destroyed by gambling to dedicate his entire existence to ending it. He beats Lady Sparrow, the Titan, the Ace one by one, talks them all into walking away, and disappears with them into quiet retirement as a foot massage therapist. It holds, until it doesn’t. His sister-in-law is drowning in gambling debt, and the underground world he walked away from is the only place that can save her. He goes back in disguise, looking every bit the scruffy laborer, and proceeds to dismantle the underground gambling scene from the inside out. The legend they forgot to fear just walked back through the door.

Former gambling legend Ryker Miller, weary of the bloodshed and intrigue of the casino world, retreats from the underworld to live an ordinary life. Years later, Ironbriar Group chairman Bryan Taylor leverages an old favor to finally convince Ryker to emerge from retirement and help resolve a crisis threatening the corporation's survival. However, Ryker doesn't know that behind the Taylor family's glamorous facade, Bryan's son Jason Taylor is brutally tormenting his pregnant daughter-in-law, Carmen. Her suffering and despair are quietly brewing a storm powerful enough to overturn the entire Taylor family, and Ryker's return will inadvertently pull him into this vortex of family and power struggles.

Luna Ashford is a sharp modern forensic scientist who wakes up one day as the princess consort of the seventh prince of the Solmire Empire—wife to Jothan Barnett, a prince the entire court whispers about:brutal, cursed, a man who buries his wives. Her system gives her a clean exit: earn enough intimacy with Jothan and solve the wrongful case shadowing his past, and she goes home. Simple enough. Except the monster the rumors promised turns out to be something else entirely, and the case runs deeper and darker than any file she's ever worked. She came to investigate a prince. She didn't plan to understand him.

Trapped by her adoptive father, Lynette was forced to live under the name Aerith,the hidden hand behind her sister Colette's fame. Her brilliance fed the family's vanity while she remained a shadow.Just as the Shermans prepared to ruin her for their own gain, fate led her into the arms of Asher Herring, the city's most powerful man. One night of unexpected passion marked the beginning of her reckoning.From that moment on, Asher was no longer a distant figure. He tore into the chains that bound her, shielding her from the Shermans' manipulation and exposing the family's twisted schemes.Together, they reclaimed her name, her freedom—and built a love strong enough to last a lifetime.

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.

My younger sister and I spent ten years fighting over Rowan Vale, the Alpha of Silver Ridge Pack. In my first life, I became his mate. Everyone said he was obsessed with me. Why else would he keep me carrying litters for seven years and give Silver Ridge six heirs? When I went into labor with the seventh, I nearly bled out. Rowan sent the healers away and forced wolfsbane down my throat himself. Only then did he tell me the truth. If it were not for the fact that only a daughter of the Hart bloodline could bear pureblood Alpha heirs, he said, he never would have claimed me at all. I had been useful for one thing only: giving him heirs. Now that he had enough, I had none. I died hating him. In my second life, I handed the bond papers from Silver Ridge Pack to my sister. “Go,” I told her. “You’re the one he wants.” Five years later, she was sent back to me half-starved, shaking, and marked by restraints. Through sobs, she told me Rowan had never loved her either. He had kept her because she was still a Hart daughter, because she could give him heirs, and because her scent could calm him during rut. She died less than two months later. When I opened my eyes again, I was in my third life. The unsigned bond papers from Silver Ridge Pack lay on the table between us, and my sister and I could only stare at each other. Who, exactly, did that Alpha want?