Jack Goldsmith wants a mate. He is sick of being alone. Jack is the only wild wolf in the United Kingdom - Werewolf or otherwise. According to his father, he was an aberration, his mother died giving birth to him and his father had never forgiven him. Superstition was rife in the 1600s when he was born and he grew rapidly, not like the other children. Rumours spread of witchcraft, and though his father was caught, Jack escaped to live his life alone - until now. Saffron Talbot, is a hybrid wolf-witch, except that she doesn't know that. In fact, she's a modern girl who simply does not believe in witches and all that gobbledygook, and if anyone told her that werewolves are real she would laugh her socks off. As an empath Saffron finds it very hard to live in London, she can feel everyone's emotions, and when she goes out she has to wear noise-cancelling headphones and the darkest glasses she can find to avoid feeling all the emotions around her. Saffy heads off to Yorkshire to a cottage left to her by her grandmother, whom she has never met, to live a peaceful life in a small village. However, it's not all that peaceful.
The wind screamed, and the rain drummed a heavy metal riff on the roof of the Landrover. It was making more noise than the classical music coming from the radio. Saffron Talbot peered out of the windscreen. This weather was frightening. Saffy wanted to be inside, warm in the cottage. This road didn't even have streetlights, not that they would have been any use, as the trees were so thick. The boughs were bending like a roof over the road. Saffron leaned forward, clutching the steering wheel. She looked at her phone stuck to the windscreen.
Was Doris the Sat Nav sending her in the right direction? Doris had been quiet for the last few miles. Her phone screen was black, no internet, no 4G, nothing.
"Great."
The road was straight, and no turn offs she could see in the next ten yards that her headlights illuminated. Saffron turned the radio up. All she could do was carry on and hope that the tree roots were long and well established. She was humming along to Beethoven's 7th Symphony when right in front of her, something shot across the road.
"Wow! What the hell..."
Saffron slammed the brakes on. Was it a deer, poor thing she would have to see if it was okay? Saffron looked in the rear-view mirror, and she saw something on the verge. She reversed the vehicle and pulled up in front of the animal. She got out and grabbed the torch from the door. The rain soaking her through in seconds as it pounded into her. She struggled in the wind to reach the back of the Landrover.
Saffron gasped, "Oh my God!" she looked at the naked man laying on the grass, the rain and his blood mingling and running down his face and into his thick stubble. She opened the back of the car and grabbed a blanket to cover him.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hit you. I'll get my phone and call an ambulance,"
"No, no ambulance," he gasped. She was already on the way to the front of the car, grabbing her phone and running back to him. Except... He wasn't there. Not even a mark of where he had been on the wet grass. Although, he seemed to have taken her blanket with him.
The rain made black rat's tails of Saffron's hair, and they slapped her in the face as she shook her head, wondering what was going on. Did she really see a naked man at the side of the road? That wasn't the only thing that puzzled her. Why hadn't she felt the emotions of that man? She could feel everyone, and that was why she had left London, to stop feeling the emotions of every person she made eye contact with. W she so puzzled by what she had seen that her abilities had not kicked in. Huh, that had never happened before. It was shocking to see anybody out in this weather, but a naked man running in the forest?
"Saffy, you are losing your mind, you've driven a long way, you're tired, and now you are soaking through to your skin," she muttered.
She concentrated her thoughts on the man, but there was no feeling at all. That was impossible. She could feel everyone's emotions. She had met no one who could lock their feelings away from her. Her jeans were now soggy as she sat in the driving seat again, and she wished that she had stayed at the inn she had passed a while back. Her late grandmother's cottage could not be much further.
"Come on, Doris, do your stuff." Saffy peered through the windscreen. It looked as if the rain had stopped, and the sky was blazing with stars. Doris kicked into life and instructed Saffron to drive for one hundred metres. Turn right, and you have reached your destination.
When Saffy pulled up, the cottage was dark, thatched, and she was sure that if she stood on tiptoe, she could reach the windowsill of the bedrooms. She had never been here to see her grandmother. Saffy's mum had argued with her Gran, and even though Saffy had never even met her grandmother, she had left everything to her.
Saffron parked the Landrover at the side of the cottage and pulled her phone from the sucker on the windscreen. She grabbed her bag and peeled her wet jeans from the seat. Standing by the car, Saffron looked at the chocolate-box-pretty cottage. The sky lightened for a moment, and Saffron swayed and grabbed hold of the car handle. God, was she that tired? The cottage seemed to move too as if in a heat mirage, like when you're driving on a hot day and the road in front seems half disappear. The front door was at the side of the house, with its own little thatched roof. There was a small square window in the white-painted door. Picking a key from the bundle on the keyring, she tried it in the lock. The door was stuck, stiff because of the rain, and Saffron pushed it hard.
The first thing Saffron noticed when she went inside the house was the smell. The house smelled like a garden. She could smell flowers, Pinks, Jasmine, and fresh greenery, and that was just in the hallway. That was odd, thought Saffy. They had locked the cottage up a year ago, well, the solicitors had, and as far as she knew, no one had been in it since. Was the smell coming from one of those plug-in air fresheners? Saffron looked around. She couldn't see one anywhere. Dropping her bag at the bottom of the stairs, she walked down the hallway to the closed door at the end. It was warm in the house as if the radiators had been on for days. The gas bill would be enormous.
Saffron opened the door at the end of the hall. That was strange. The table lamps were on, casting a beautiful golden glow over the room and the smell, Sweetpeas and freesia. The room was idyllic, Saffy imagined she would have to decorate, but the room was photoshoot ready. Decorated in cream and blue with what looked like the antique furniture that she loved. The kitchen smelled of lemon; it was fresh and immaculate.
There were two doors at the end of the kitchen, one was the laundry room. Saffy cautiously opened the remaining door. The smell was enticing, of spices and herbs, and a smell that she couldn't put her finger on, but it was the smell of a far off memory, one that she couldn't quite grab. The walls had open shelves, and they held hundreds of bottles of all different sizes. On another wall were piles of ledgers and books labelled Illness, Truth, Lies, and Love. Hanging from the ceiling were bunches of herbs and other plants, bunches of feathers, and... What was that Saffy squinted at the ceiling, bunches of tied fur? Laughing inside, she would no doubt find a cauldron and a jar of frog's legs in a minute.
Saffron shook her head. She was too tired to look at this and make any sense out of it. As she walked out of the room, she knocked a bottle off the shelf; it was only a small bottle, and it smashed on the red-tiled floor. Heaving a sigh, she left it until tomorrow. The warmth of the cottage was making her sleepy, so sleepy.
Saffron hardly remembered going up the rickety stairs to the bedroom. When she opened the door, the lavender smell filled her nose, and she was asleep before her head touched the soft feather pillow. Saffron awoke when the birds outside the window chirped loudly enough to wake her up. She pulled the handmade quilt over her head, and she closed her eyes, intending to sleep again. But a tendril of excitement was curling in her belly. She was in her new home, away from the millions of people in London. A place where she had to wear headphones and the darkest sunglasses she could find, to avoid the emotions of all the people she walked past. Not to mention the ones she sat opposite on the Tube. There were no people here, only birds and small furry animals. The only emotion they felt was where was the next meal coming from.
There was a bluetit tapping against the window, "Bloody hell, you're worse than an alarm clock, hang on, I'm sure I saw some bird food in the kitchen." Saffy found the bag of bird seeds, but before she went back upstairs, she couldn't resist looking into the strange room. Oh, and she had to clean that bottle up. She found a dustpan and a brush and opened the door, expecting to find glass on the floor. Hang on a minute. She wasn't dreaming. She knocked the bottle over, and there was a space on the shelf, and the smashed bottle should be on the floor. The shelf was full, and there was no glass on the floor or liquid that had spilt out of it. Saffy walked further into the room. There was a piece of paper on the large oak table. That definitely hadn't been there last night. She picked it up and then dropped it quickly. It fell with the writing face up.
Please be careful with the jars, Saffy dear, I'm so glad you are here. Love Granny.
The 11th duke of Shettleham, Jasper Neyve has an excellent reputation...for breaking hearts. He has everything money could buy, the girls, the cars, and the properties. The only trouble is Jasper was in desperate need of the one thing he didn't want - a wife. Ellie Fox is carefully holding the pieces of her shattered heart. She had been lied to and cheated upon by the man she loved and wanted to marry. Trying to forget the past she changes her world and her new job brings her into contact with the biggest Lothario of them all. Can Jasper help Ellie to forget the past and convince her to marry him? Ellie has to endure a shooting, a kidnapping, a murderous childhood friend of Jasper's and a blackmailing sister-in-law. Will Jasper provide a lifetime of love that she has set her heart on?
Janice, the long-forgotten legitimate heiress, made her way back to her family, pouring her heart into winning their hearts. Yet, she had to relinquish her very identity, her academic credentials, and her creative works to her foster sister. In return for her sacrifices, she found no warmth, only deeper neglect. Resolute, Janice vowed to cut off all emotional bonds. Transformed, she now stood as a master of martial arts, adept in eight languages, an esteemed medical expert, and a celebrated designer. With newfound resolve, she declared, "From this day forward, no one in this family shall cross me."
"Ahh!" She was in a moaning mess. She did not want to feel anything for this man. She hated him. His hands began to move all over her body. She gasped when he pulled down the back chain of her dress. The chain stopped at her lower waist, so when he zipped it off, her upper back and waist were exposed. "D-Don't touch m-ummm!" His fingers rolled around her bare back, and she pressed her head against the pillow. His touches were giving her goosebumps all over her body. With a deep angry voice, he whispered in her ear, "I am going to make you forget his touches, kisses, and everything. Every time you touch another man, you will only think of me." - - - Ava Adler was a nerdy omega. People bullied her because they thought she was ugly and unattractive. But Ava secretly loved the bad boy, Ian Dawson. He was the future Alpha of the Mystic Shadow Pack. However, he doesn't give a damn about rules and laws, as he only likes to play around with girls. Ava was unaware of Ian's arrogance until her fate intertwined with his. He neglected her and hurt her deeply. What would happen when Ava turned out to be a beautiful girl who could win over any boy, and Ian looked back and regretted his decisions? What if she had a secret identity that she had yet to discover? What if the tables turned and Ian begged her not to leave him?
When Zora was sick during the early days of her pregnancy, Ezrah was with his first love, Piper. When Zora got into an accident and called Ezrah, he said he was busy, when in actual fact, he was buying shoes for Piper. Zora lost her baby because of the accident, and throughout her stay at the hospital, Ezrah never showed up. She already knew that he didn't love her, but that was the last straw for the camel's back, and her fragile heart could not take it anymore. When Ezrah arrived home a few days after Zora was discharged from the hospital, he no longer met the woman who always greeted him with a smile and cared for him. Zora stood at the top of the stairs and yelled with a cold expression, "Good news, Ezrah! Our baby died in a car accident. There is nothing between us anymore, so let's get a divorce." The man who claimed not to have any feelings for Zora, being cold and distant towards her, and having asked her for a divorce twice, instantly panicked.
6 years ago, Lydia suffered a brutal betrayal orchestrated by her own husband and step-sister, who drugged her and framed her. In a twist of fate, she ended up having a one-night stand with a stranger. Don't even remember what he looked like. Later, in the throes of death, she discovered the truth about her mother's death all those years ago. In the blink of an eye, she lost everything. 6 years later, Lydia returned with her genius son, vowing to exact revenge on all her enemies! Little did she know, she encountered an incredibly familiar man at the airport! *** The man was briskly pushing open the door to the restroom, heading to the urinal. Even with such a mundane action, he did it with unparalleled elegance and grace. Lydia, following him in a daze, saw his fierce lower body and suddenly snapped back to reality. She let out a high-pitched scream, instinctively covering her eyes with her hands, her cheeks flushed, and stood there stiffly, unsure of what to do. Lambert furrowed his brows slightly but remained calm as he continued to relieve himself. The sound of water hitting the urinal made Lydia's face even redder. She angrily shouted, "You pervert!" Little did Lydia know that Lambert, seeing her in this state, had a flicker of recognition in his eyes. Memories from many years ago flashed through his mind, and his heart couldn't help but stir. It was her!
"I've warned you from the beginning. Don't marry him, but you won't listen." She stood close to me and smiled with concern. "You are not a woman worthy of a man as handsome, rich, smart, and virile as Blaze." My whole body trembled at her words. "Have you no shame?" I asked in a quivering voice. "Take a good look at yourself, Heather." She looked at me in the mirror. "You can't even look at your ugly face. Do you think Blaze can endure a lifetime of looking at that face?" Heather Bailey had a surprise from her husband that night: a divorce agreement. After a year of marriage and facing ups and downs, she couldn't believe Blaze intended to divorce her. But she was devastated when she saw him gazing lovingly at another woman because that person was closest to her. Shortly after she put her signature on their divorce papers, shock waves caught her up. Her flower shop was severely burnt, beyond repair. Her father's company collapsed, and her parents blamed her. She struggled to rebuild her life from the ground up and became more successful than ever. Having many customers who came from influential families, she started her action against Blaze. She won the very thing he wanted. But that was just the beginning.
Linsey was stood up by her groom to run off with another woman. Furious, she grabbed a random stranger and declared, "Let's get married!" She had acted on impulse, realizing too late that her new husband was the notorious rascal, Collin. The public laughed at her, and even her runaway ex offered to reconcile. But Linsey scoffed at him. "My husband and I are very much in love!" Everyone thought she was delusional. Then Collin was revealed to be the richest man in the world. In front of everyone, he got down on one knee and held up a stunning diamond ring. "I look forward to our forever, honey."