Sakura Branch Tattoo 소설 & 이야기

On the same day we were registering our marriage, my boyfriend, Levi Salfolk, had someone throw me out of the clerk's office while he led his childhood sweetheart inside. He looked at me nonchalantly. "Rosalie's child can't be illegitimate. I'll marry you once we get divorced." Everyone thought that the lovestruck me would wait for him for another month. After all, I had already waited for him for seven years. However, I went overseas that night, accepting the arranged marriage my family had set up for me and disappearing from his world. Three years later, I accompanied my husband back home to pay our respects to his ancestors. Something came up, and my husband sent someone from the local branch office to pick me up. Unexpectedly, I met Levi, whom I had not seen since I left. "Enough with the fooling around. Come back. Rosalie's child is starting preschool soon. You're in charge of picking up and dropping off the child."

On our wedding night, my wife, who almost never drank, got wasted because she was supposedly too happy. Just when I didn't know what to do, my best friend sent me a long message explaining how to take care of her. I blushed, but I still followed his instructions and soothed her the way he described. Natalie, who had been making a scene, miraculously quieted down. But just as I was about to call my friend and thank him, Natalie suddenly hugged me from behind. Heartbroken, she whispered, "Ashton Hawke, you're the one I wanted to marry." As she said it, the tattoo near her heart slipped into view: a hawk with its wings spread wide. My mind went blank. Ashton Hawke was my best friend of twenty years. Natalie hadn't gotten drunk because she was happy. She had gotten drunk because she hadn't married the man she truly wanted.

After my rebirth, I avoided my family and my boyfriend like the plague. When they tried to throw me a birthday party, I faked an urgent business trip to dodge it. When my parents pleaded with me to move back, I secretly bought my own house that very night. When my boyfriend popped the question, I spun on my heel and married someone else. In my previous life, my sister and I were swept away in a raging flood. By sheer luck, a jagged tree branch snagged my clothes, saving me from the depths, but my sister drowned in the merciless current. My parents, consumed by grief and rage, gripped my throat and screamed, "If it weren't for you, Andrea would still be alive!" My boyfriend acted like it was no big deal, offering half-hearted comfort before we tied the knot. But on our wedding anniversary, during a family cruise, they cornered me on the deck and shoved me overboard. "Time to taste drowning yourself!" they hissed. It turned out they had never gotten over Andrea's death. My boyfriend had never forgotten about her. When my eyes fluttered open again, I found myself back on that fateful day. This time, I vowed to live for myself, reclaiming the joy they'd stolen from me.

A wolf howls. The forest stills… for a moment. Then, all wildlife burst into motion. Every living thing, from the smallest lizards and toads to the great brown bears and powerful mountain lions, flee. Spiders scurry to the top of their webs. Birds take flight. Squirrels leap from branch to branch. Wide-eyed deer and elk jump over brush and fallen logs. A lone wolf pauses, but tucks his tail and turns to join the escape. The wind whips through the forest, causing leaves to fall and tall pines to groan. Thundering hooves and paws make the forest floor shake. Finally, the forest stills. The wind gusts slow to a gentle and warm breeze. The wildlife seem calm once more and return to their foraging, napping, or grazing. The wolf howls again. ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Amerie moved to a small town in Montana for a fresh start and to follow her dreams. Things are starting to look up and feel right again. Then, the town seems to turn upside down when someone goes missing in the forest. Some locals fear the legend of the Wolf Man may be real and claim the beast is to blame, claiming it wants revenge for mistreatment of the forest. Amerie rolls her eyes and joins the search parties, but an unfortunate fall leads her to discover more than she signed up for as she comes face to face with a large, white wolf. The secrets of the forest have been waiting to reveal themselves to her.

I was born into hardship, but my beauty led to my adoption by the Maddox family. When I was 18, they brought home two boys. Dustin Holland, a piano prodigy, quickly bonded with my sister, who was the darling of our social circle. Nathan Holland remained in the shadows. He didn't like to talk, laugh, or even show the normal emotional fluctuations of a person. His stubborn, wooden gaze was like that of an abandoned stray dog. Diagnosed with emotional detachment disorder, he became my project. I vowed to heal him. He locked me in a dark room, scarred my face with a branch, and encased my favorite doll in plaster. I forgave it all, thinking he was just traumatized. The elite in the circle mocked us, urging me to abandon him, but I kissed him publicly, declaring, "I love Nathan. Anyone who hurts him will pay." Then a fire tore through our home. Nathan stepped over my broken body to save my sister, his eyes wet with rare tears. Turned out, his disorder had a cure. It was just not me. Reborn on the day they arrived, I looked at the taciturn boy and sneered, "Dad, must we take in every stray?"

For stumbling upon a purge, I was taken by the city’s most dangerous don, Lucca of the Rossi family. He said it was the only way I’d survive. So he kept me in his mansion, taught me how to shoot, and drilled me in the rules of the underground world. He would stroke my hair and call me his innocent lily. Everyone knew I was his woman. Until one day, he handed me over to the enemy to secure an alliance with the Balsamo family. That was when I realized I was never his lover, just the sharpest blade in his hand. I buried all my feelings, faked my death, and disappeared. Years later, we met again at a casino. He looked at me in a backless gown, the rose tattoo on my back on full display. “Eliana, I once loved that purity of yours. Look at you now—tempting, yet cheap.” I smiled lightly, brushing his hand away. “Can’t help it, Don Rossi. The owner of this place just likes me this way.”

“Do I look odd to you?”My throat tightens up…My eyes trace the black ink swirls of his sleeve tattoo, and the breeze carries his scent to me. I feel overwhelmed with the urge to touch the markings on his skin, to run my fingers through his dark hair.Desire, sharp as a blade, slices through me and I’m shocked at myself, unsure of where it came from.Vanessa thought she was lucky to find her fated mate. But on the day of their ceremony, he chooses her best friend to be his Luna instead. He scorns their bond and humiliates her, quickly turning her into the pariah of the pack and ruining her future. Then lures her with an explanation, before nearly killing her. She’s saved by Shawn–Alpha of a rival pack–but she’s mistrustful and has to learn to open her heart again. Can she be happy with someone who isn’t her mate? And what happens when her old pack decides they want her back? The Broken Fate of a Fated Mate is created by Claire Wilkins, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

The cursed Alpha has claimed five lives. I was never meant to survive him—until a witch gave me a Redemption Code and a warning: I could cheat death only three times. Now I’m trapped in Kade’s world—a blindfolded Alpha feared by all, born from a forbidden union and cursed to destroy everything he touches. But every time I overcome the fear he plants in me, a black rose petal tattoo blooms on my skin—protecting me from the very curse meant to consume me. He says I’m different. That I might be the one to break his curse. That the tattoos mean I’m becoming immune. But I’m not here to save him. I’m here to survive him. And if the only way out of this bond is to pretend… then I’ll play along—until I uncover the truth behind his curse, his prophecy, and the reason he needs me alive. Even if a part of me is starting to wonder… what if the real curse is falling for him?

On the night we came of age, George Costa and I finally took things further in our relationship. Despite the physical discomfort that night, I was happy for a very long time. I genuinely believed that by taking this monumental step together, George and I were locking in our future. We would get engaged, get married, and seal our destinies. After all, the Alfonso and Costa families were the two most powerful mafia families in Solaria. After our union, my father could finally rest easy, knowing he could slowly pass the family empire down to us. However, the very next day, I overheard George talking to one of his friends on the phone. “Wow, that's insane. You actually got the daughter of the Alfonso family to be your first?” Hearing those words made me embarrassed, so I decided to walk away. But then, George said dismissively. “Please, she’s just an Alfonso. Honestly, I wanted Julie first, but I was worried that my lack of experience wouldn't give her a good time. So, I just settled for the next best option and used Annie for practice.” When those words hit me, I didn’t cry or throw a tantrum. The moment I got back, I refused to take my place within the family empire. Instead, I immediately put in a transfer request for our branch in Londres.

Stanley Hamilton and I were basically Southport's favorite hate-watch couple. For Elodie—my oh-so-perfect adopted sister—he wrecked my company and had my parents thrown in prison. I, in turn, drove Elodie to her death, making him watch as she jumped off a rooftop. Our forced marriage? Just a slow ride from mutual disgust straight into mutual destruction. Then came the car explosion. Stanley, who'd hated me forever, still used his last breath to shove me out of the blast. "Vivienne Weston, one lifetime tangled with you is enough. If there's a next one, let's never meet." He touched the tattoo of Elodie's name on his neck, smiling faintly as the flames took him. After he died, I wandered through life half-dead myself until illness finished the job. When I woke up in the past, staring at two betrothal contracts, I didn't hesitate—I picked the guy everyone swore was insane. Stanley and my dad? I handed them right back to Elodie. This time, I wanted no meetings, no memories, no strings. Ever again.