"You're cold and untouchable. Strangely enough, I've fallen for you, Isabella." Isabella froze, speechless, unable to respond to Zach's words. His dark eyes were intense yet uncertain. But Zach pressed on, "You said your middle name is danger. And you know what? I'm ready to love danger."
CHAPTER 1
Isabella let out a harsh sigh, then dropped the cigarette she failed to light onto the asphalt.
"I hate winter."
Not only because Isabella would have trouble lighting her cigarette, but also because winter was the season when she lost her best friend, the best person in her life, Alisa Horrison.
"Hey!"
Isabella turned around and stuffed both hands into the pockets of her black fur coat.
"Do you think you can do that?"
One of Isabella's eyebrows lifted when suddenly a man-who she didn't even know where he came from-walked toward her. Isabella observed him. He was tall and muscular, wearing a fur coat and a gray scarf with yellow polka dots. He was masculine and adorable at the same time.
"This." Suddenly, he picked up the cigarette butt Isabella had thrown away and showed it with a displeased look. "You can't just throw trash around like this. Plus, this is a campus area. A public place. A place where smoking is prohibited. I'm going to punish you."
"Are you a professor?"
"No."
"Then?"
"I'm Zach."
"I wasn't asking, anyway."
Zach adjusted his coat, then lifted his chin arrogantly. "I'm a teaching assistant here. I work with Mr. Brown. Nice to meet you, Naughty Girl." Zach offered the cigarette to Isabella. "Throw this in the trash, or you will-"
"Or I'll what?" Isabella interrupted.
Seeing Isabella's boldness, Zach got provoked. He pointed at her face, ready to bombard her with a thousand insults. But before he could, a voice from the other side interrupted their attention.
"Miss. Moore? Mr. Troll?"
Isabella and Zach both turned to the voice at the same time.
An older man with white hair stood there. He smiled and waved his hand before walking toward them. Up close, the man adjusted his glasses that had slipped down his nose. He was still smiling and said, "People these days really don't know manners. Shouldn't you be the ones approaching the elderly, not the other way around?" Isabella and Zach exchanged confused looks, suddenly being judged. The old man, Bennedict Cullan, quickly assessed the situation between them. "Ah, forget it. By the way... I'm Uncle Ben. Hi! Nice to meet you both."
Uncle Ben extended his hand, and Zach accepted it promptly, while Isabella just stared, not returning the handshake. This made Ben lower his hand, slightly disappointed and awkward.
"The snow will get heavier, you both should come inside with me."
Zach nodded. "Sure."
"Should I walk with this patrol guy?"
Isabella's words made Zach and Ben go silent. Ben tried to say something, but Zach quickly raised his hand to the air.
"He's a police-"
"What did you just say? Hey, you look younger than me, you should know better!"
Isabella took a step forward, looking defiant. She stared straight at Zach and replied, "Hey, 'the guy much older than me,' isn't minding other people's business also not a good thing?"
Zach's face turned red. He almost exploded.
But Ben quickly stopped him. "Excuse me, guys. We should go inside now or we'll really get drenched."
Zach looked up at the sky, confirming that Uncle Ben's words were true. He snorted and immediately walked into the four-story building in front of them. Uncle Ben raised one hand to give way for Isabella to follow.
The three of them entered the first floor of the building and stopped in front of a room labeled Alisa Harrison and Anne Hathaway.
"So, this is Alisa's room?" Zach asked Ben, who nodded firmly in response.
"As the news spread on social media, Alisa was found here. She... yeah, I don't need to explain any further."
Zach nodded, seeming to understand the direction of the conversation. Meanwhile, he just realized that Isabella was still standing next to him with a fixed expression. Her eyes were staring straight at the door, not budging at all.
Zach cleared his throat, trying to break the awkward silence between them.
"Excuse me, Miss." Isabella blinked, as if she had just woken from a dream. She turned to look at him. "You need to leave. This room is mine."
"Um, actually-" Ben suddenly spoke between them, causing both Zach and Isabella to look at him. Ben smiled and continued, "You'll be sharing a room with Miss. Moore."
Zach furrowed his brows. "What?"
"I'll share a room with this stiff guy?"
Zach shot Isabella a disapproving look. She really was a judgmental girl, always cursing. So annoying!
"Stiff guy?" Zach couldn't accept Isabella's words, so he protested to Ben. "Can you explain what you meant by that?"
Bennedict cleared his throat, adjusting his glasses again. Oh, really, he should buy a new pair of glasses with the hundreds of thousands of dollars he earned each month instead of keeping these worn-out ones. "You, and Miss. Moore, will stay in the same room until you both achieve your respective goals. This is a decision made by the NYPD leadership and Mr. Harrison. I can't change anything, and neither can you."
"But-"
"Sorry, Mr. Troll. I have to go now."
Bennedict hurried away as fast as he could, though it still looked slow. Zach grunted as he watched the CEO's secretary from Golden Group leave from where he stood. It took him a few seconds to process the situation, but suddenly Isabella walked past him and opened the door in front of them.
"Hey! Hey! What are you doing?! You shouldn't do that!"
Isabella turned around. Her face was expressionless. "Why?"
"Why? You're asking 'why'? Does it make sense to you to share a room with a stranger you've never met before?"
There was a pause, before Isabella shrugged and said, "We're just sharing a room, not a bed. It's not a problem for me. If it's a problem for you, you can leave. See you."
Zach snorted again, staring at Isabella as she entered the room with an unbelieving expression. "That girl is really crazy!" but also intriguing.
For ten years, Beatrice had known Louis, but that day, he seemed like a stranger. This wasn't Louis. Louis would never strip naked and sleep with her best friend, Kylie. Damn it, her tears almost fell for such cruel people. "I want a divorce." Beatrice didn't mean it when she said it. She still hoped Louis would beg, at least ask her to stay and forgive him. But Louis had changed. "I agree. Let's divorce. I don't want to be with a useless woman like you."
Stella has friends who are loyal to her, but as time goes by, Stella doesn't realize that some of the guys are in love with her. June, Samuel and Harry, they are stuck in a real friendzone. But beyond that, Stella has to find out why her best friends changed after the death of one of their best friends, Karen and why the guys are in love with her.
Alexandra's fiancé is found tragically dead and leaves Alexandra wondering about the cause of Louis' death. But the more Alexandra finds out, the more she is seduced by the handsome and smart Detective Noel Simmons. Alexandra falls in love, but there's terror ahead.
Alicia Perth has a special ability, she has high intuition to detect things. But great terror awaits her when she is asked by Detective Nicholas to help solve a murder in the dormitory. Stuck with two handsome men, Detective Nicholas and Ace Blake, the son of the CEO of Golden Group, will Alicia be able to see the truth behind all these incidents?
Rose never imagined that she would be sold by her own stepfather for personal gain. However, her job at the brothel unexpectedly brought her face-to-face with a handsome drug dealer named Antonio. Their feelings changed, but their lives did not. Can Rose withstand Antonio, who has a dark side to his life?
Lucia Balstone thought she had chosen the right man to spend the rest of her life with, but he was the one who ended her life. Their ten-year marriage seemed like a joke when her husband stabbed her with a dagger. Fortunately, God is never blind to people's tears. Lucia got a second chance. She was reborn at the age of 22, before all the terrible things had happened. This time, she was determined to avenge herself and let those who hurt her pay! She made an elaborate list of her goals, and the first thing on her list was to marry her ex-husband's enemy, Alonso Callen!
After three secretive years of marriage, Eliana never met her enigmatic husband until she was served with divorce papers and learned of his extravagant pursuit of another. She snapped back to reality and secured a divorce. Thereafter, Eliana unveiled her various personas: an esteemed doctor, legendary secret agent, master hacker, celebrated designer, adept race car driver, and distinguished scientist. As her diverse talents became known, her ex-husband was consumed by remorse. Desperately, he pleaded, "Eliana, give me another chance! All my properties, even my life, are yours."
Madison had always believed that she would marry Colten. She spent her youth admiring him from afar, dreaming of their future life together. But Colten was always indifferent to her, and when he abandoned her at a time when she needed him most, she finally realized that he never loved her. With renewed resolve and a thirst for revenge, Madison left. Endless possibilities lay ahead, but Colten was no longer part of her plans. Colten rushed to her place in a panic. "Madison, please come back to me. I’ll give you everything!" It was his powerful uncle who answered the door. "She's my woman now."
Rumors said that Lucas married an unattractive woman with no background. In the three years they were together, he remained cold and distant to Belinda, who endured in silence. Her love for him forced her to sacrifice her self-worth and her dreams. When Lucas' true love reappeared, Belinda realized that their marriage was a sham from the start, a ploy to save another woman's life. She signed the divorce papers and left. Three years later, Belinda returned as a surgical prodigy and a maestro of the piano. Lost in regret, Lucas chased her in the rain and held her tightly. "You are mine, Belinda."
Amy didn't expect that her husband whom she had loved and trusted earnestly for many years would be cheating on her by having sex with his secretary. When she confronted him, he and his secretary mocked and ridiculed her, they called her barren to her face, afterall, she had not conceived for the past three years that she had been married to her husband, Callan. Terribly Heartbroken, she filed for divorce and left to the club, she picked a random gigolo, had a hot one night stand with him, paid him and dissapeared to a small city. She came back to the country six years later with three identical cute boys and three identical cute girls of the same age. She settled and got a job but soon find out that her CEO was the gigolo she had sex with six years back at the club. Will she be able to hide her six little cuties from her CEO, who happens to be the most powerful man in NorthHill and beleived to be infertile? Can Amy and the most powerful man in NorthHill get along considering the social gap between them.
COALESCENCE OF THE FIVE SERIES BOOK ONE: THE 5-TIME REJECTED GAMMA & THE LYCAN KING BOOK TWO: THE ROGUES WHO WENT ROGUE BOOK THREE: THE INDOMITABLE HUNTRESS & THE HARDENED DUKE *** BOOK ONE: After being rejected by 5 mates, Gamma Lucianne pleaded with the Moon Goddess to spare her from any further mate-bonds. To her dismay, she is being bonded for the sixth time. What’s worse is that her sixth-chance mate is the most powerful creature ruling over all werewolves and Lycans - the Lycan King himself. She is certain, dead certain, that a rejection would come sooner or later, though she hopes for it to be sooner. King Alexandar was ecstatic to meet his bonded mate, and couldn’t thank their Goddess enough for gifting him someone so perfect. However, he soon realizes that this gift is reluctant to accept him, and more than willing to sever their bond. He tries to connect with her but she seems so far away. He is desperate to get intimate with her but she seems reluctant to open up to him. He tries to tell her that he is willing to commit to her for the rest of his life but she doesn’t seem to believe him. He is pleading for a chance: a chance to get to know her; a chance to show her that he’s different; and a chance to love her. But when not-so-subtle crushes, jealous suitors, self-entitled Queen-wannabes, an old flame, a silent protector and a past wedding engagement threaten to jeopardize their relationship, will Lucianne and Xandar still choose to be together? Is their love strong enough to overcome everything and everyone? Or will Lucianne resort to enduring a sixth rejection from the one person she thought she could entrust her heart with?