Far Apart, Safe at Last
During a snow-mountain expedition, an avalanche buried me alive. By the time they dug me out, the cold had already drained every last trace of warmth and life from my body.
Julian Crowe dug through the snow with his bare hands for ten straight hours. His fingers were torn and bleeding by the time he finally pulled me out. Then he chartered a private jet and rushed me to the most elite private hospital for emergency treatment.
Inside the thermal recovery chamber, a faint thread of consciousness returned to me. Through the haze, I heard Julian arguing with the doctor.
"Weren't we supposed to amputate just to save her life? Why are you draining all of her hematopoietic stem cells too? Mr. Crowe, you're personally destroying her last chance of survival!"
Julian's voice, usually so controlled, carried a chilling cruelty.
"Letting her live safely and comfortably until today is already the greatest mercy I've ever shown her. The only woman who will grow old with me is Serena Vale. And the only thing that can save Serena is her life. She owes Serena that much, and now it's time to repay it."
So the promise to live and die together had only been my own foolish fantasy.
Julian had married me, Stella Hart, for one reason only. To turn me into a walking blood bank for his precious mistress.
If that was the truth, then I would give them exactly what they wanted.
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Chapter 1
During a snow-mountain expedition, an avalanche buried me alive. By the time they dug me out, the cold had already drained every last trace of warmth and life from my body.
Julian Crowe dug through the snow with his bare hands for ten straight hours. His fingers were torn and bleeding by the time he finally pulled me out. Then he chartered a private jet and rushed me to the most elite private hospital for emergency treatment.
Inside the thermal recovery chamber, a faint thread of consciousness returned to me. Through the haze, I heard Julian arguing with the doctor.
"Weren't we supposed to amputate just to save her life? Why are you draining all of her hematopoietic stem cells too?"
"Mr. Crowe, you're personally destroying her last chance of survival!"
Julian's voice, usually so controlled, carried a chilling cruelty.
"Letting her live safely and comfortably until today is already the greatest mercy I've ever shown her. The only woman who will grow old with me is Serena Vale. And the only thing that can save Serena is her life. She owes Serena that much, and now it's time to repay it."
So the promise to live and die together had only been my own foolish fantasy.
Julian had married me, Stella Hart, for one reason only. To turn me into a walking blood bank for his precious mistress.
If that was the truth, then I would give them exactly what they wanted.
......
"You're awake? Then hurry up and sign this agreement."
Julian tossed a stack of documents straight onto my face.
With great effort, my eyes slowly shifted toward the papers.
The document was titled "Voluntary Lifetime Hematopoietic Stem Cell and Organ Donation Agreement."
Under the recipient section, two clear words were written—Serena Vale.
My lips trembled as I tried to speak.
"Why..."
A flash of disgust crossed Julian's eyes as he cut me off without mercy.
"There is no why. Serena's leukemia has gotten worse. In the entire donor registry, only your stem cells match hers. I dug your life out of that avalanche. Using it now to save Serena is only fair."
I stared at him, my heart suddenly clenching so hard it became difficult to breathe.
"But I'm your wife! We swore on that mountain peak that we would stay together through life and death!"
Julian let out a cold laugh, as if he had just heard the most ridiculous joke in the world.
"Wife? Stella, are you taking this fantasy a little too seriously? If your blood type hadn't been a perfect match for Serena's, do you really think I would have married someone as ordinary as you? Every bit of kindness I've shown you these past three years was just to maintain the stem cells in your body. And now it's time for you to repay the favor."
Every word sliced into my heart like a slow execution.
So the expensive tonics he forced me to drink every day were meant to enrich my blood.
The strict schedule he imposed on me, never allowing me to stay up late, was to keep my stem cells healthy and active.
Even the mountain expedition had been part of the plan. The doctors had said high altitude could stimulate bone marrow activity.
What I had believed was boundless devotion had actually been a carefully planned captivity.
My hand trembled as I lifted it, trying to tear the agreement apart.
Julian grabbed my wrist, squeezing so hard it felt like my bones might shatter.
"Don't push your luck. You're signing it whether you want to or not. The doctors have already taken half of your stem cells. Serena's rejection reaction is severe. We need the second extraction tomorrow."
Pain shot through me and I gasped, staring at him in despair.
"If you take more... I'll die."
Julian released my wrist without expression and calmly wiped his fingers with a wet tissue.
As if touching me had been something disgusting.
"The doctors already said you won't die. At worst you'll spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair. Compared to what Serena has suffered, this is nothing."
The hospital room door slowly opened.
Serena sat in a wheelchair as a nurse pushed her inside.
She wore an oversized hospital gown. Her face looked ashen, yet the smugness in her eyes was impossible to hide.
"Julian, please don't force Stella." Serena's voice sounded soft and fragile, deliberately weak. "I'm sure Stella doesn't mean to refuse saving me. After all, who would willingly become a cripple? We grew up together. You've always treated me like your own sister. It's only natural Stella would feel jealous. If it really comes to that... then maybe I should just die and give you back to Stella."
As she spoke, large tears rolled down her cheeks.
Julian's expression changed instantly. He strode over and pulled Serena into his arms.
"Serena, don't say that! As long as I'm here, I won't let you die."
He turned back and glared at me viciously.
"Stella, look at how considerate Serena is. Then look at that selfish, vicious expression on your face! Even if you have to bite your finger open, you're putting your fingerprint on that agreement today."
Watching them embrace, nausea churned violently in my stomach.
Resting in Julian's arms, Serena looked at me over his shoulder.
A provocative smile slowly spread across her lips.
Then she slowly raised her hand and pulled a heart-shaped ruby bracelet from beneath her collar.
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9.0
"I can't let you go, Rain. Not now. Not when we're old and they put us both in the earth. You are mine until the grave closes over us both."
Rain spent years loving Colt Walden, surviving every breakup and betrayal with the hope that one day he'd finally choose her. Instead, he shatters her world by announcing his engagement-to the woman he always claimed was his cousin.
Drunk on heartbreak and fury, Rain finds herself in the arms of Rhysand-magnetic, dangerous, and nothing like her ex. One reckless night turns into chaos when she learns the truth: Rhysand is Colt's estranged older brother.
Her past and future collide.
Rhysand wants more than a mistake. More than one night. He wants her. Entirely. Obsessively. Permanently.
And he's not afraid to say it.
Colt, realizing what he's lost, suddenly wants her back.
Now Rain is caught between the man who broke her for years...
and the man who would burn the world to keep her.
One offers familiarity.
The other offers a devotion that borders on dangerous.
Rain must choose which brother she'll walk toward-
and which storm she's willing to survive.
9.5
Reyna has one mission... And it is definitely not falling for the guy who ruined her best friend's life.
Reyna Davidson is twenty and torn when her best friend, Varna Soni's heart gets broken by Grentwood's hockey-star-playboy, Evander Gabriel.
His betrayal sparks a chain effect, driving Varna into drugs, and eventually, psychiatric hospitalization.
Reyna, overtaken by grief and anger, sets her vengeful eyes on Evander.
She transfers to Grentwood College, armed with one mission: Get close, make him fall, then crush his heart until it bleeds and he feels the pain Varna felt.
But things take a dark turn when she starts to see cracks beneath Evander's perfect playboy mask.
And she becomes the target of a psychopathic girl who is obsessed with him.
With growing feelings, a mentally ill best friend, and the psychopath, Reyna is about to discover that there is more to her mission... than revenge.
7.1
The captain is dead to the world. And I'm the only one holding the kill switch.
Ethan Carter, the "Glacier of Silvercrest," was the most feared Alpha to ever step onto the ice. Now, he's nothing but a shell-a broken, comatose legend trapped in his own body.
My life? It was supposed to be simple. Graduate, survive the pack's bottom-tier status, and pay off my father's ruinous blood-debts. Instead, the pack elders handed me a contract soaked in cold, hard malice: I am the designated "Stabilizer." My only job is to touch him, scent him, and keep his wolf from flatlining.
I thought I was just a glorified nurse. I didn't realize the Alpha was listening.
When Ethan finally wakes, he isn't the hero the Kingdom of Valeria remembers. He's a starving predator with amber eyes that burn holes through my defenses and a temperament that makes the frost in the mansion seem warm. He hates the bargain, he hates the pack, and-most dangerously-he hates the way his scent turns wild whenever I'm near.
He wants me out of his sight. I want to be out of his reach.
But in a pack built on secrets, someone is still trying to finish the job they started on his life. Now, the man who wants me gone is the only one who can protect me. And as the rink turns into a battlefield, I'm realizing the most dangerous thing about the Alpha isn't his temper... it's the fact that once he claims a mate, he doesn't know how to let go.
Frozen hearts are meant to shatter. But in the fire of this pack, we're both going to burn.
9.8
I was an arrogant, canceled reality TV star, trying to salvage my ruined reputation on a live broadcast.
But after I lost my temper and assaulted a cameraman, my furious grandfather chased me into our family's forbidden gallery, where I accidentally crashed into an ancient, sealed portrait.
The canvas shattered, and a terrifying woman with glowing golden eyes stepped out of the wall.
She was Cecil, the First Matriarch of the Marshall family. She caught a lightning bolt with her bare hands and crushed me to my knees with an invisible, suffocating pressure.
My grandfather, instead of saving me, groveled on the floor and abandoned me to her mercy.
"You are the disgrace that will end this family."
She hijacked my entire life, forcing me to act as her submissive baggage handler on my own survival reality show, broadcasting my humiliation to millions.
I didn't understand why this ancient monster was tormenting me. Why did she strip away my pride, treat me like a broken tool, and force me to endure the mockery of the very ex-girlfriend who had ruined my life?
But when those same cast members tried to corner me in the dark woods, Cecil stepped in front of me, her eyes locking onto the silver ring of the man mocking me.
"To catch the wolf, one must sometimes walk with the sheep."
That was when I realized she wasn't here to destroy me—she was here to hunt the parasites who had been secretly siphoning away my life force.
7.7
Whispered secrets. Shared bodies. No regrets.
Some secrets are too hot to keep quiet. Naughty Confessions pulls back the curtain on the private fantasies we only dare to admit in the dark. This compilation is a raw, unfiltered journey through the moments where "too much" is never enough-a collection guaranteed to leave you soaked with heat or hard as a rock from the very first chapter.
Every page is a deliberate provocation, designed to push your pulse to the limit and keep you on the edge of total release.
9.2
I woke up suffocating in the dark, only to find my mind trapped inside a tiny, plump, and entirely uncoordinated body.
A cold, mechanical voice echoed in my brain, announcing that I was dead in my original world and had transmigrated into a corporate revenge novel as the six-month-old illegitimate daughter of Edward McClure, the story's ruthless villain.
The system mercilessly outlined my doomed fate. Tonight, my cold-blooded father would abandon me to a state orphanage. By age two, he would officially sign my rights away, leaving me to die miserably at the hands of human traffickers. Outside my nursery, I could hear his terrifying footsteps approaching, his voice devoid of any human warmth as he debated throwing me out like garbage. I was completely helpless, trapped in a baby's body, staring up at a man who looked at me with pure, visceral disgust.
Why did I have to be reborn as the tragic cannon fodder of a tyrant destined to put a bullet in his own head? How was I supposed to win over a severe germaphobe when my unequipped infant reflexes made me literally pee and vomit all over his pristine Tom Ford suits?
"Your ultimate mission is to prevent Edward McClure's self-destruction. Step one: Survive tonight's abandonment crisis."
Hearing the system's terrifying ultimatum, I swallowed my adult panic, forced a pool of pitiful tears into my large eyes, and reached my chubby little hands toward the monster.