Rejected by her kind, marked as a witch and sold into slavery, Kristen's life took a turn for the worse. Fortunately, a Lycan named Arthur buys Kristen's sister to be his nanny, and he was persuaded to purchase Kristen as well. Kristen and Arthur's attraction to each other is undeniable. But she fears the worst if he learns who and what she truly is. If her own kind reject her for her powers, how could Arthur accept her?
Arthur rubbed his forehead and sighed irritably. He had grown weary of the man's fawning from the moment he had stepped into the building, and with an impatient grunt he held up one hand. "Enough. Show me the slaves."
"Of course." The old man bowed low and pattered down the long narrow hallway. "Forgive me, my lord. It is not often we have someone of your stature visiting."
They walked out into the courtyard and the man stopped short, staring suspiciously at the large horses hooked to an empty wagon. A young man and a small girl were sitting on the seat of the wagon and they stared back at him.
He glanced up at Arthur. "My lord, how many do you need?"
"I require six."
The man led him across the yard toward a second building. As they walked by the wagon, Arthur stopped and held his arms out to the young girl. She was no older than seven, and she hesitated briefly before allowing him to pull her from the wagon seat and set her on the ground. "What are we doing here?" she asked.
"We're hiring some staff for our new home, as well as a nanny for you and your baby brother." Arthur smiled down at the girl.
She didn't return his smile, staring solemnly at him for a moment. "I can take care of Nicholas."
"I know you can, my love. But I think it would be best if you had some help." He squeezed her hand encouragingly as they approached the building. "I could use your help in picking out the right nanny. What do you say, Sophia?"
She nodded, watching curiously as the small, dirty man in front of them pulled out a giant ring of keys from a pocket hidden deep within his coat. He thumbed through them until he found the correct one and unlocked the door. Its rusty hinges squealed, and the little girl cringed but followed her father into the building.
They walked down the hallway. The man flipped a light switch on the wall and the overhead lights buzzed on weakly.
"You have electricity here," Arthur said.
"Aye - some days. We're close enough to the city to latch on to their grid. But it goes in and out." The man led them down the hallway to another door. This too was locked, and they waited patiently as he picked out the right key and unlocked the door. He ushered them into the room and shut the door behind him as Sophia peered from behind the safety of Arthur's legs.
The room quieted as the women in the room stopped their chatter and stared at the two strangers. Arthur grimaced. All of the women were dirty and unkempt, their hair uncombed and their clothing ripped and stained.
He swore softly and gave the man an undisguised look of disgust. "What kind of facility are you running here?"
The man bristled. "I can assure you, my lord, that our slaves are of the utmost quality. Just because our facility is not as proper as you are undoubtedly used to, does not mean we don't offer excellent services."
Arthur rolled his eyes. "I'm sure." He eyed the women in the room with suspicion. "How many of them are suffering from the sickness?"
"None of them!" The old man puffed himself up, trying to match Arthur's formidable height. "If they suffer from the sickness, we banish them to the outskirts immediately." He paused.
"Perhaps my lord would prefer to go somewhere else?"
"You know very well your facility is the only one within fifty miles," Arthur said. "Enough idle talking. I require a nanny and a house staff. Who do you recommend?"
The man didn't reply. Instead, he hobbled toward the group of women and began pulling a few of them to the front. Out of the nearly fifty women in the large room, he separated fifteen of them into two groups before returning to Arthur and Sophia.
"They have experience in both cooking and cleaning." He pointed to the ten women on the left. "They have experience with child-rearing." He waved his hand at the other five on the right. Arthur moved forward, Sophia trailing behind him, and looked over the ten women. He stood in front of the oldest. "What's your name?"
"Marian." She kept her gaze on her bare feet.
"What experience do you have?"
"I was the head of the household for the Farthing family for more than fifteen years. Perhaps you have heard of them?"
"I am not from here. Why did you leave their employment? Were you fired?" Arthur asked.
She shook her head. "No, m'lord. Mr. Farthing grew ill and died. Mrs. Farthing could no longer afford my services and sold me to pay some of her bills."
"How long have you been here?"
She squinted in thought. "Not long, m'lord. Six months perhaps?"
He looked behind him. "I'll take this one. Who among this group of women would you recommend, Marian?"
She hesitated. "How many do you need, m'lord?"
"Five, including yourself."
She pointed to four of the other women. After questioning them, Arthur agreed to the ones she had chosen.
He turned to Sophia, crouching beside her and patting her back awkwardly. "Sophia, would you like to help me pick out your new nanny?" "Yes, Arthur," she replied.
Arthur stared at the women critically as he and Sophia paced in front of them. "How many of you were nannies before?"
Three of them raised their hands and Arthur glanced at the other two. "You're dismissed."
They melted back into the crowd of women as Arthur questioned the remaining three women.
After finishing high school, Isabella finds herself at crossroads in her life. Her parents and Scott, a gorgeous and rich stranger who is secretly in love with her gave her an ultimatum, forcing her to choose between a career that promises her a chance to become all that she can be, or Michael, the guy she's in love with. Hearts are broken as Isabella's boundaries and courage are tested in this epic love story.
"There will be no falling in love, we will only act as a loving couple when we are in public, we will share a room to make it believable, but no intimacy, touching is off-limits. We'll only have sex once a month, and that's solely to produce an heir. You won't interfere in my business, and I won't interfere in yours. You will be my wife in every sense and you will not be involved with any other man," he said, arrogance seeping from every word. I watch his mouth move, I'm not ready to fall in love with any man, especially not one as arrogant and egoistic as him. I can handle acting as a loving couple, and as for intimacy once a month. I can agree to that just to satisfy my sexual cravings with no strings attached. "Where can I sign?" I asked since I had nothing to lose. *** Nadine's wedding dreams turned to nightmares when she caught her sister and fiancé cheating! With a secret recording, she's ready for revenge. But then mysterious billionaire Logan West offers a deal: A Contract Marriage to take down her ex's empire. But what Nadine doesn't know is her life is getting complicated as she takes her chance to get revenge or risks everything for a chance at love?"
Lindsey's fiancé was the devil's first son. Not only did he lie to her but he also slept with her stepmother, conspired to take away her family fortune, and then set her up to have sex with a total stranger. To get her lick back, Lindsey decided to find a man to disrupt her engagement party and humiliate the cheating bastard. Never did she imagine that she would bump into a strikingly handsome stranger who was all that she was currently looking for. At the engagement party, he boldly declared that she was his woman. Lindsey thought he was just a broke man who wanted to leech off her. But once they began their fake relationship, she realized that good luck kept coming her way. She thought they would part ways after the engagement party, but this man kept to her side. "We gotta stick together, Lindsey. Remember, I'm now your fiancé. " "Domenic, you're with me because of my money, aren't you?" Lindsey asked, narrowing her eyes at him. Domenic was taken aback by that accusation. How could he, the heir of the Walsh family and CEO of Vitality Group, be with her for money? He controlled more than half of the city's economy. Money wasn't a problem for him! The two got closer and closer. One day, Lindsey finally realized that Domenic was actually the stranger she had slept with months ago. Would this realization change things between them? For the better or worse?
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."
Belinda thought after divorce, they would part ways for good - he could live his life on his own terms, while she could indulge in the rest of hers. However, fate had other plans in store. "My darling, I was wrong. Would you please come back to me?" The man, whom she once loved deeply, lowered his once proud head humbly. "I beg you to return to me." Belinda coldly pushed away the bouquet of flowers he had offered her and coolly replied, "It's too late. The bridge has been burned, and the ashes have long since scattered to the wind!"
Sawyer, the world's top arms dealer, stunned everyone by falling for Maren—the worthless girl no one respected. People scoffed. Why chase a useless pretty face? But when powerful elites began gathering around her, jaws dropped. "She's not even married to him yet—already cashing in on his power?" they assumed. Curious eyes dug into Maren's past... only to find she was a scientific genius, a world-renowned medical expert, and heiress to a mafia empire. Later, Sawyer posted online. "My wife treats me like the enemy. Any advice?"
"Please trust me, I didn't do anything." "I don't believe you. I am rejecting you as my Queen and giving you the punishment of death." Alina was living outside her pack for five years. Her parents didn't try to contact her and always ignored her. Her best friend convinced her to go back to their pack and she agreed. But she had never imagined what was waiting there for her. She never thought she would meet her mate and had to face betrayal from everywhere. She had to pay for the crime which she never committed. Aaron Robertson is the king of Lycans. He is a very dominant and powerful King who not only rules Lycans but also rules other ranks of werewolves. Everyone is afraid of Lycans and he is the king of them. But who knew that he would get a mate who was just a simple Omega with no powers and strengths? He called her weak all the time but little did he know that his weak Omega would give him the biggest betrayal of his life for which he had to give her the sentence of death.