But Everyone Feels This Way

Lily Green, a senior at Ashmore High school, is invisible. With no friends and romance novels to read during study hall, her life to her is perfect. However, Lily soon finds herself joining the student tutoring program. When she is sick the day partners are assigned, Lily tutors the detention reject, Jeremy Davis. However, when Lily discovers Jeremy is suicidal, she will choose between living her life and saving his.

It was my birthday. I thought he would take me to see the fireworks by the sea, but he showed up with another woman and her child. “Vera has a kid with her, and it’s inconvenient for them. Be a little understanding. She doesn’t know her way around here, and she has a lot of luggage. I’ll just drop them at the hotel.” He said it so casually, as if he were just explaining some trivial, everyday chore. It was that very gentleness of his that made me feel like I was so unreasonable getting angry over it. He helped them into the car. He leaned down to buckle the seatbelt on the child. Then, he turned to me with a smile. “I’ll be right back. Don’t overthink things.” I stood by the roadside and watched them drive away like a picture-perfect little family. As night fell, the sea breeze turned sharp and biting. Still, I waited until a notification of Vera Cannon’s social feed update lit up my screen. He was holding her daughter in his arms. They were watching the fireworks by the beach. It was a surprise I had planned for my own birthday. The comments poured in. [What a perfect match. What a beautiful little family!] Someone asked him why he was not picking me up. He just smiled and said, “Indy is very patient. She won’t be mad.” At that moment, my birthday cake melted into a puddle of frosting. I finally realized that he had not done that to be cruel to me. He was certain that I would always wait for him. However, even the warmest heart grew cold when neglected too many times. The waves crashed against the shore, over and over. With each crash, another shred of my hope washed away. This time, I was not going to wait for him to come back.

My whole family only ever loved my younger sister, Carrie Brooks. Carrie had a crush on my fiancé, Josh Beaumont. On my wedding day, my mother pressed a knife to her throat, forcing me to give Josh to Carrie. "The fortune teller said Carrie's illness will get better if she gets married," Mom pleaded. "You're healthy. You'll find someone else." My brother, Nick Jansen chimed in. "Grace, don't be so selfish. Hurry up and take off the dress. Carrie's thinner than you. Make sure you don't stretch it out." Even Josh said, "Carrie doesn't have much time left. But Grace… we still have our whole lives ahead of us." They didn't know. The one who was truly dying… was me.

On the night of the full moon, the Northern Wolf Pack held its annual honors ceremony. Alpha Rhys Ashbourne coldly handed out rewards to the elite wolf guards. My coworkers received bonuses. Spirit medicine. Weapons. When it was my turn, he suddenly stopped. “You don’t have enough seniority.” Low laughter spread through the hall. A black gift box was tossed into my arms. “So I prepared something else for you.” I opened the box. Inside lay a wolf fang collar. The floating comments exploded across my vision. 【Holy shit! The Alpha gave away his resonance collar?!】 【That’s basically like putting his manhood around her neck!】 【She doesn’t even know she’s a potential Mate yet!】 【If she touches it once, the Alpha over there is gonna lose his mind...】 I froze for a second. Then instinctively touched the wolf fang. The next second. The Alpha on the high platform stopped breathing. His hand clenched hard around the armrest of the throne. Meanwhile, I was only staring down at the collar in confusion. ...That sensitive? After hesitating for a moment, I obediently fastened the collar around my neck. High above the hall, the man closed his eyes. His throat bobbed slowly.

He was my first love. My biggest regret. And now? He's my stepbrother. Five years ago, Cade Blackwood James disappeared after one perfect night that changed everything. Now he's back, more dangerous than ever, and living under the same roof. Our parents just got married. They think we're strangers. They're wrong. Every rule says we should stay away. Every touch says we can't. And when he backs me against the wall and whispers, "You've always been mine," I know we're both going to hell. But first? We're going to burn. He was my first. He'll be my last. Even if it destroys us both. Forbidden. Explosive. Unforgettable.

Hazel Jones: “If we're going to start something, it's going to be my way." Moving into a new city with her aunt was not really the ideal choice for her, but she had to. She must... In order to live, she needed that. Who would've thought that the cocky guy she met on her first day at college is the son of her aunt's fiancé? Cocky? Yes. Idiotic? Of course! Hating him? Already is! Jordan Miller got all of the excellent criteria that Hazel hated, which made him the very last freaking annoying person alive on earth that Hazel never thought she would end up falling into. So, loving him? Checked.