Betrayed Love, Cold Revenge

My boyfriend, Carter, hadn't spoken to me in five days. But when my national architecture competition win went viral, he finally called-not to congratulate me, but to scream that I' d embarrassed him by not telling him first. His new girlfriend, Brittney, was the one who tagged him in my post. She was also the one whispering in his ear during the call, telling him I was making him look bad. This was the final straw in a long, cold war. But the real nightmare began when Brittney sent me a video of her torturing my dog, Apollo, in our old apartment. Then came a photo of his lifeless body. I rushed over, blinded by rage, and slammed her head against the wall with an ashtray. Carter, the man I once loved, shoved me away, calling me a maniac for hurting the woman who had just murdered my dog. He chose her. He always chose her. As I carried Apollo's cold body out the door, I made a vow. I would make them pay. I would make their lives a living hell.

In a dilapidated warehouse, my husband brutally cut open my abdomen to extract the fetus. All for the sake of obtaining bone marrow from our child to save the life of the son he had with his mistress. "Honey, I'm begging you, don't hurt the baby," I pleaded with him. "Arina, don't be afraid. It won't hurt. Just a little while, and you'll be free,". Just when I was on the verge of giving up all hope, the sound of approaching help reached my ears. I felt a glimmer of joy, thinking I was finally going to escape this nightmarish hell. But then, in an instant, there was a sharp "Puff!" It was the sound of a dagger slicing through my belly. There was a deep gash in my abdomen, and blood was gushing out profusely. "Ah! My baby!" "How could you be so cruel?" I stared in disbelief at my best friend standing before me. "Arina, you have to die today..."

The bomb strapped to my chest had less than a minute on the timer. I called my husband, begging him to save me. "Kevin, please. This is real. I'm going to die." But Kevin just sighed, his voice dripping with annoyance. "Stop the drama, Michelle. Violet is having a panic attack because her cat is stuck in a tree. I don't have time for your jealousy games." He hung up. Moments later, the warehouse exploded, and I was gone. But I didn't cross over. My spirit was tethered to Kevin, an invisible spectator to his life. I watched him roll his eyes at my mother’s frantic calls. I watched him perform the autopsy on my charred body, convinced I was actually hiding in a hotel to punish him. It wasn't until he returned to the blast site and found my wedding ring in the ash that he finally broke. He fell to his knees, screaming my name. I thought his remorse would free me. But then he discovered the truth: Violet had orchestrated my murder. He cornered her, his grief mutating into a violent, obsidian hatred. I tried to drift away, but the invisible chain binding me to him suddenly tightened, crushing my soul. I realized with absolute horror that the truth hadn't set me free. His hatred was an anchor, heavier than his love ever was. I wasn't just a ghost anymore. I was his haunting, and I was never leaving.

Eighteen months ago, the man I loved shattered my heart, claiming everything between us was a mistake. Now, he's back, a ghost of his former self, a rookie tryout in my pro esports team. And I will make him regret crawling back. Clifton, captain of a legendary esports team, was secretly battling a severe wrist injury that threatened his career, every match a fight against his own body. He pushed through the pain, ignoring doctors' warnings, desperate to maintain his god-like status. His world was already on the edge, but nothing prepared him for seeing Justice Terry again in the team basement. Justice, pale and trembling, his eyes wide with naked terror, was now a rookie tryout. Clifton had spent a year and a half trying to forget that rainy Chicago alley, the raw revulsion in Justice's eyes, the whispered "it wasn't real" that had left him heartbroken. Justice had vanished, and Clifton had erased every trace. Now, the boy who once looked at him like he was the sun was back, flinching at his touch, displaying a deep, primal fear. Amidst sponsor pressure and whispers of being "washed," Clifton saw Justice's return as a chance for vengeance. He publicly humiliated Justice on a live stream, forcing him into a suicide mission, then coldly benched him. Yet, the satisfaction never came. Instead, a hollow emptiness and a torrent of questions: What had truly happened in the past? Why was Justice here, and what trauma had carved such fear into his bones? Clifton, unwilling to be fooled again, swore to uncover every secret and every lie. He would force Justice to explain why he had returned, even if it meant tearing down everything they both had left.

The forest has always been Jackline's only home. She doesn't remember the palace she was born to, the parents who once held her, or the kingdom that cried for a stolen princess. All she knows are the crumbling stones of an abandoned castle hidden deep in the woods, the whisper of leaves, the growl of distant beasts, and the cold reality of surviving alone. By day, Jackline hunts, forages, and explores the shattered halls of the castle swallowed by ivy and moss. By night, she curls up under broken rafters and stares at the moon, wondering if anyone, anywhere, is looking for her... even though she's certain the answer is no. The world beyond the forest might as well be a myth. No one has ever come for her. No one has ever stayed. Until the wolf. One fateful day, while tracking signs of wounded prey, Jackline doesn't find a deer or a boar, but a massive black wolf sprawled in the roots of an ancient tree. Its fur is stained with blood, its breathing shallow, its silver-gray eyes blazing with pain and something disturbingly close to human awareness. Every instinct tells her to run. A cornered predator is dangerous. A wolf this big is deadly. But Jackline recognizes the loneliness in its eyes. The fear of being left to die. It mirrors the ache buried deep inside her own chest. Ignoring her fear, she uses everything the forest has taught her-herbs, makeshift bandages, secret paths-to drag the heavy creature back to her ruined castle. There, in a forgotten servant's corridor, she creates a shelter. Day after day, she cleans its wounds, grinds healing plants, and whispers calm words to a creature that could end her life in a heartbeat. The wolf snaps and growls, but it never truly harms her. Slowly, it begins to trust her. When the wolf finally stands again, strong and steady, Jackline expects it to vanish into the trees without a backward glance. Instead, it follows her. Silent as a shadow, the wolf becomes her constant companion. It pads at her side when she searches for berries, keeps watch when she sleeps, and nudges her hand when her thoughts become too dark. Jackline learns to speak her thoughts out loud-to the forest, to the castle, and to the wolf with the haunted eyes. She tells it her fears, her questions, and the strange emptiness she feels when she thinks about her past. The wolf never answers, but somehow, it feels like it understands. For the first time in her life, jackline isn't truly alone. But the forest keeps its secrets tightly wound, and this wolf is one of them. Everything changes under the full red moon. Jackline has seen full moons before: pale and silver, gentle and distant. But this one climbs into the sky like a burning ember, staining the forest in crimson light. The air grows tense and electric; the castle feels suddenly awake, like it's holding its breath. That night, the wolf could rest. It paces, muscles tight, eyes brighter than she's ever seen them. There's something wild and barely contained inside him, something both terrifying and beautiful. When jackline reaches out to soothe him, he pulls away with a look that almost breaks her-one filled with sorrow and dread, as if he has been waiting for this moment and wishing it would never come. Under the blood-red moon, the wolf begins to change. jackline can only watch as bone and muscle twist, fur ripples and sinks beneath skin, and the creature she nursed back to life reshapes into something new. Something impossible. When the transformation ends, the wolf is gone. In his place lies a young man with dark hair, pale skin marked by faint scars, and the same silver-gray eyes that once watched her from a wolf's face. He is human. And he's not. He looks at her like he's been waiting his whole life to be seen. He knows her name. From that moment, Jacline's world fractures. The young man-her wolf-reveals a truth she never imagined. He is cursed, bound to the red moon, doomed to live as a wolf most of the time and return to human form only when blood stains the sky. Hunted by men, feared by sorcerers, and rejected by both humans and beasts, he is trapped between two worlds, never fully belonging to either. But he is not the only one living in a story shaped by magic and betrayal. The wolf's curse, he explains, is tied to old magic that once protected a powerful royal bloodline. A bloodline that ruled the kingdom beyond the forest. A bloodline that vanished the day a newborn princess was stolen from her cradle and never found. The day Jackline disappeared. Piece by piece, the life she thought she knew crumbles. The ruined castle she calls home is more than a random shelter-it once housed the loyal guardians of the royal family. The forest is not just a wild, dangerous place-it's a barrier of living magic, hiding her from those who would use or destroy her. Jackline is not simply a forgotten girl who happened to survive.

To escape my psychopathic, controlling lover, I faked my death in a Syrian war zone. Thirty-seven reconstructive surgeries later, the terrified girl he kept locked in a basement was gone. I returned to New York as an untouchable neurosurgeon, Dr. Alivia Clay. I only came back to save his grandfather—the one man who helped me escape. I thought my flawless new face was the perfect armor. But the moment Collis Duncan saw me, he cornered me against the hospital wall. He didn't recognize my face, but he recognized my panic. He trapped me in his arms, inhaling the faint scent of vanilla and orange blossom on my skin. "You smell exactly like a ghost I used to know," he whispered. Worse, a traumatized, mute little boy with Collis's exact gray eyes stumbled into me in the hallway. The boy clutched my white coat and handed me a flashcard with a crude drawing of a woman. "Mama." My blood turned to ice. Five years ago, I was told my newborn baby burned to ashes in that medical tent. How could this boy be alive? Why did Collis have my son while I mourned a pile of dust? Now, Collis is ordering a microscopic background check, desperate to tear my fake life to the ground and cage me again. But I'm not running anymore. Once I finish this surgery, I'm taking my son back.