Last Chance Performance Marine Novels & Stories

Some people are akin to the sun, radiating brightness and warmth ceaselessly. Unaware of their own effect, they inadvertently bring light to someone's dark world and warm up their hearts. Noah Sullivan was such an existence in Vivienne Pearl's life. He was her Sun. But when he rejected her coldly in front of everyone, Vivienne felt like her life was thrown back into the darkness. Fast forward ten years and fate reunites them at a friend's wedding. Despite her best efforts to maintain a distance from her, Vivienne found herself drawn to Noah once more, her heart unable to resist the pull of their shared history. "It's a bad idea!" Her brain kept sending warning signals to her repeatedly. But all her efforts came crashing down once he smiled at her. Vivienne threw caution to the wind and reached out to him, sparking an unexpected one-night stand that ignited a passionate entanglement neither saw coming. Join the journey of Vivienne and Noah as they navigate the complexities of their newfound connection and confront their part hurt and insecurities, risking it all for a chance at love's redemption.

“…How dare you do this to me, Conrad? How dare you sleep with my sister right next to my bedroom?” I scream at the top of my voice. My voice breaks in two halves. My hands won't stop shaking. My forehead is beaded with sweat. "Ashanti, please I can explain!" Conrad begs as he tries to step down from the bed, but he can't because he's stark under the comforter. "Ashanti, what the are you doing in my bedroom?" Rhea screams at the top of her voice and I drag my eyes from Conrad and plaster them on her face. She doesn't look scared or guilty like Conrad. "And what the are you doing in bed with my boyfriend?" I ask, raising my voice as well. "I just him. What are you going to do about that" …. After red handedly catching her boyfriend in bed with her step-sister, Ashanti thought things couldn’t get any worse for her until the Lycan Beta showed up at her father’s pack and picked her together with her step-sister as for the Lycan Harem who will stand the chance to be chosen as a mate for the ruthless Lycan King. On the same day she arrives at the Harem, she finds her mate… Read to find out the identity of her mate and how things pan out for her in that Harem.

When I was born, I was already a certified liar. That's a fact that everyone seems to agree with. The truth is, my mom, who's a scientist, has implanted advanced chips into me and my fraternal twin brother, Ryan Hartwell, when we were still babies. By right, as long as we lie or make mistakes, our mom will receive the devil signal from the chips. Then, she'll administer electrical shocks as a form of punishment. Ryan's chip often transmits the smiley signal. Even if he destroys our mom's research equipment and pins the blame on me, his chip still has the smiley branded on it. Meanwhile, when I reach home ten minutes later than usual because I had to help out a classmate, my chip transmits the scary devil signal. The next thing I know, I've already crippled to the floor from the intense pain caused by the electrical shock. At first, I'll still explain to Mom what happened. But she often exclaims, "Don't think you can pull off clever little tricks just like that gambling father of yours! The chip is ten thousands times smarter than you! The punishments will only be branded into your bones if the pain is searing enough! What I'm doing is saving your life!" After suffering from the pain countless times, I get brainwashed into thinking that I really am a liar and a troublemaker by nature. On the night of Christmas Eve, Mom comes to the attic to tell Ryan to join the family at the table for the Christmas dinner. That's when my asthma suddenly acts up, causing me to stumble and fall to the floor. "I… I can't breathe… Save me, Mom…" But Mom just coldly gazes at the devil signal that she has just received on her phone. Then, she dials the shock value to the maximum. "You don't have asthma at all! Ugh, you're kicking up another fuss just to attract attention! Seriously, you never change your ways!" After that, she takes Ryan's hand and leads him out of the attic. Soon, she slams the door heavily behind her. As I suffer from asphyxiation while on my deathbed, I can't help but think that Mom is right. After all, my chip has just transmitted the devil signal. Maybe the asthma attack really is just a figment of my imagination. I've always been a bad girl who loves lying to others, after all. When Mom finds out that this is the last time I've ever lied to her, she must be really happy, right?

At Opaline Corp, the lowest-performing employee had to eat a plate of pasta mixed with live worms. This time, Tristan Crocker lost three clients and landed dead last. To keep Tristan from feeling singled out, my wife, Wendy Kline, hit me with a nine-million-dollar performance penalty because I showed up one minute late while sick—even though I'd brought in three million in revenue. Just like that, I became the first employee in company history with negative earnings. Grinning, Tristan shoved the plate toward me. "Wendy updated the company rules last night to keep everyone in line. Anyone who's late gets penalized three times their performance. You always said mistakes deserve punishment. Now that it's your turn, you're not backing out, right?" Every eye in the room locked on me, waiting for me to lose it. Wendy quickly sent me a message: [The nine million is only on paper. It's not a real fine. With your talent, you'll earn it back in three months. Tristan's allergic to worms. If he ends up in the hospital over a punishment, it'll damage the company's reputation. And if people hear we punished an outsider, that'll look even worse.] [You're my husband. You're one of us. I love you, which is why I'm giving you the chance to show some leadership.] [Once this blows over, I'll give you an extra twenty dollars a month, okay?] When I didn't reply, she finally snapped. "Company rules apply to everyone, even the top performer. If you don't like it, you're free to leave." I nodded, unclipped my badge, and set it on the table. "Fine. I quit." I looked at her. "And while we're at it, let's get divorced."

Marina has endured six years of abuse as the wolfless adoptive daughter of Shadowmoon Pack's Alpha family. Treated as a slave, she clings to one hope—her fated mate will save her. When Alpha Derek finally appears as her mate, he publicly rejects her, shattering her last dream. Broken and furious, Marina flees into dangerous rogue territory where she encounters Lycan King, the most feared Alpha in the northern territories, Damon. The mate bond snaps between them—he's her second chance. But Damon is no knight in shining armor; he's a ruthless killer with a dark past. He offers her a deal: accept his mark and become his Luna, and he'll help her destroy everyone who hurt her. Marina accepts, trading one form of captivity for another. But this time, her cage has teeth. As she transforms from victim to queen, Marina must navigate pack politics, face her abusers, and decide if revenge is worth the cost—and if the monster who saved her might be exactly what she needs.

“Are you crying?" She shook her head and wiped at her face as more tears were falling. “I’m so stupid.” she groaned. "Now I am truly and utterly alone. If I had just said yes to marrying him, none of this would’ve happened. I wouldn’t have dragged you into this mess.” Without warning, I turned sharp to the side, putting the car to a sudden stop close to the curb. “Don’t ever say that again. You think marrying a man you don’t love, a man who doesn’t care if he hurts you, just to please your family is the right thing to do?” I turned to her slowly. “That would’ve ruined you.” “But I would’ve had a home to go to, I would’ve been taken care of. Now I have nothing,” she looked away. I reached over and gently took her bruised hand in mine. “You did the hardest thing anyone in your position could have done. You saved yourself. That takes more guts than standing there and pretending to be happy.” I tucked a hair behind her ear. “You think you are alone? You’re not… you have me.” ___ Alina Etienne has always lived a life dictated by her parents. She is groomed to be an obedient daughter, a perfect public image, and now, a bride to a man she doesn’t know or love. On her wedding day, crushed by the weight of expectations, Alina does the unthinkable... she says “I don’t” and flees the altar. On the run and scared with nowhere to go, she crosses paths with Mikhail Antonov. A cold, guarded man with a past he doesn’t talk about. What began as a reluctant act of kindness turned into something neither of them expected.

At a company team-building dinner, my coworkers started a challenge. We had to call our husbands or boyfriends and compare how much money they sent us. The rules were simple. Whoever got the biggest transfer and the fastest answer won. As usual, I came in dead last. "Seraphina, don't take it personally. Mr. Brooks may not be very romantic, but at least he's rich." Everyone laughed and tried to smooth things over, carefully avoiding old wounds. Like how I had spent seven years helping Conrad build his business, yet he had never once brought up marriage. Like how Conrad had distributed company shares to the executive team, and I was the last person to find out. Or how, on the day I was diagnosed with stomach cancer, the only person sitting beside me in the hospital waiting for the test results was my best friend. I simply smiled and said nothing. Then my gaze landed on the new intern. She gripped her phone so tightly her knuckles had turned white, hesitation written all over her face. "I think I'll pass," she said quietly. "He's on a business trip. He's really busy." The mood in the room began to grow awkward. Trying to help her out, I leaned forward with a smile and tapped the speakerphone button as I dialed for her. I had expected the call to go unanswered. Instead, it was picked up instantly. The private dining room fell completely silent. Because the voice that came through the phone belonged to my quiet, unromantic boyfriend, Conrad, and his tone was impossibly gentle. "Babe, did you get the Valentine's Day surprise I sent you?"

Ten days before our wedding, I discovered that Luna Sterling had been keeping another man in secret. She spent her days with me and her nights in the arms of her lover who was a wedding planner. I went to find her and call off the wedding, but by chance, I overheard the truth. Luna had been bound to a system that granted her unlimited reincarnations. "Host, this is already your ninety-ninth reincarnation. Haven't you had enough fun yet?" Luna answered without a care, "This is the last one. Once I complete my hundredth conquest, I'll settle down and live a good life with Julian." Later, the system came to me. "Mr. Prescott, would you like to bind yourself to the Reincarnation System? The only way to reincarnate is through death. The system will activate only after all signs of life have ceased." "Yes," I replied. "But I have one condition." I wanted Luna to lose her endless chances at reincarnation. And from this life onward, through every lifetime to come, she and I would never meet again.

"Are you gonna ignore me for the rest of your life princess." Luciano lean closer "fuck you bastard." That's what Soren wanted to say. The word Princess disgusted him. yet he can't voice it out. Luciano smirked, watching his Mate struggle to from a word. "A pathetic Basterd." Soren think in his mind.

I don’t even know how our lips met. It just… happened, and he tastes sweet, like a gourmet dessert, and instantly, I want more. I can't even form a thought right now as I part my lips and our tongues dance together. It’s a primal force, instinct maybe, something telling me that at this moment, I have everything I have ever wanted in my life. I have a mate. I am complete. *** I always thought I was leading a good life, although I never quite felt like I belonged, until I met Devon, the gorgeous, sexy Alpha of the Emerald Moon pack whose mesmerizing gaze drew me in. Wolves? How could I be one of those? I find out I’m a hybrid, wolf and mage, and all this time I’ve never been a human at all. No wonder I didn’t fit in. But just as things are starting to come together for us, it’s all quickly torn apart as mysterious outside forces with an ancient hatred invade our world and threaten everything. Will the love of a true, fated mate save everything, or will it be my downfall?