Times-tribune E Edition Today Novels & Stories

The explosion wiped out my parents—and their company. All I had left was some insurance cash and a pile of patents nobody cared about. I begged their old partners to back me. Crickets. Then Alex Ross strolled in, played the hero no one asked for, and proposed. Five years deep into our marriage, after my 99th FDA rejection, I finally cracked. I was in the garage when I heard his phone on speaker. Mark's voice came through: "Dude, you're still handing Lily Emma's blueprints before she even files? How many times has she flopped now? Girl's relentless, huh?" Alex? Straight-up ice. "Ninety-nine. She'll quit soon." "You're really tanking your wife to boost Lily's brand? Worth it?" "Lily's launching her new product tomorrow at the Boston Medical Summit. Patent number 100. Watching her blow up from nothing... makes me proud." "But it's all Emma's stuff. Your dad made you marry her for her brain, didn't he?" "Don't bring up my father." His voice turned sharp. "He forced me to dump Lily. I just played along." I sank into the driver's seat, frozen. I wasn't a partner. Just a pawn—revenge bait for his dad and backup fuel for his ex.

My fated mate, Alpha Kaelen, rejected me seven times. The first time we bonded, he whispered against my ear, his breath hot. “From now on, my soul sings only for you.” But then his first love, the Omega Seraphina, came back for him. And just like that, he rejected me. They shared a mate’s mark from their past. It left her hopelessly addicted to his scent. “I’m sorry,” he’d said. “I have to be with Seraphina. The scent addiction is destroying her. She can’t even shift. Her wolf is weakening.” The first time he rejected me, I slashed a silver dagger across my wrist. I let the blood flow, hoping the pain would make him look at me. It worked. Kaelen was horrified. He left Seraphina for a moment and rushed to my side, holding me, comforting me. The third time, I disguised myself as an ordinary pack wolf. I got an internship at his pack headquarters, just to breathe in the air he breathed. But this time, he looked right through me, as if we were strangers. By the sixth rejection, I had learned how to calmly erase my scent from his suite. I left without a sound. My screams. My surrender. My begging. And what I got in return? Every time he was with her, the full moon would rise, and he’d call me back. Just to play the same sick game all over again. Until now. I heard Seraphina was coming back again. So I handed him the ceremonial dagger myself. He set the date for my return, just like always. He had no idea. This time, I'm the one severing the bond for good. And I am never coming back.

Warning: This collection contains explicit adult content, including intense power dynamics, dominance/submission, dubious consent themes in fantasy context, BDSM elements, age-gap scenarios, breeding kink, group play undertones, and graphic sexual situations. All stories feature consenting adults in fictional scenarios. In this scorching anthology, eight ruthless, ultra-wealthy billionaires each claim total ownership over the woman who enters their world—whether through debt, auction, obsession, or sheer predatory desire. Every novella stands alone, delivering a different flavor of erotic heat while threading the addictive "owned by the billionaire" fantasy throughout. Dive into whichever kink calls to you... or devour them all.

My mother is in the late stages of cancer. Yet, she sits in a wheelchair with an oxygen tube and endures a long train ride just to attend my wedding with Isaac Pudley. But when it's time for him to walk down the aisle, I don't see him anywhere despite screaming his name. It turns out his childhood sweetheart, Megan Ericsson, is having another depressive episode and is threatening suicide again. "Isaac, I can't live without you," she screeches. Isaac is always so stern and composed, but he now holds Megan in his arms and begs me to call off the wedding so they can leave. Relatives and guests watch the spectacle with thinly veiled amusement. To make matters worse, my mother is so angry that she faints. However, Isaac believes that my mother is feigning illness. He only wants to take Megan with him and leave. He even takes away my mother's wheelchair. But he seems to have forgotten that he has hurt me 97 times by now. After he hurts me 99 times, I’ll definitely leave him.

When my wedding gets delayed for the 99th time, I call the company in charge of planning the wedding and tell them to swap my name out for Julian Foster's childhood sweetheart, Madison Hart. "We understand what you mean, Ms. Sinclair. But are you sure you want to make the change? It seems that Mr. Foster has no intention of delaying the wedding this time." As I listen to the shocked host's words, I stare at the draft on the monitor. Groom: Julian Foster Bride: Olivia Sinclair But the design's special note shows, "Adjust the theme according to champagne yellow, Madison's favorite color." Madison is Julian's childhood sweetheart. Even though he claims that she's only lending a hand in referencing the wedding's designs, the truth is, she's the one calling the shots in the wedding's flower arrangement, wedding gifts, as well as the wedding anthem during the bride's entrance. She even leaves an airy comment about my wedding dress. "A fishtail gown suits her more." After dragging the document into the recycle bin, I reply calmly, "Yes. Please change the bride's name to Madison." I shall return the wedding that's filled with Madison's traces to her and Julian without altering a single thing. After that, I will retreat from this bunch of nonsense unscathed. Finally, we shall part ways permanently. Julian can stay with the woman he truly wants to be with, while I can enjoy the unbridled freedom on my own.

Mia Thompson spent her senior year dreaming about Ryder Vaughn—the school’s golden boy and hockey captain—until the day he turned her deepest secrets into the entire town’s entertainment. Humiliated beyond repair, she left everything behind and vowed never to look back. Five years later, Mia has rebuilt herself into a strong, independent woman. The past is buried—until an unexpected interview places her face-to-face with the one man she never wanted to see again. Ryder Vaughn is no longer the reckless bully she remembers. He’s a powerful young CEO haunted by regrets he can’t erase and feelings he never outgrew. When he offers Mia a job that could change her life, she refuses without hesitation. But Ryder isn’t willing to lose her twice. As old wounds reopen and sparks fly between hatred and attraction, Mia must decide whether some scars are too deep to heal—or if the boy who broke her heart has become the man willing to fight for it.

Everything starts when Kenzo met a girl at the train station. He is a University student, studying arts. He does know nothing about love, all he does is studying then hangout with friends, his life became more complicated when he starts dating. Then there is Eliza she went to a different university and is taking a course for dress making. Kenzo fell in love at first sight when he saw her standing near the window while reading a book. But he doesn't know that Eliza knows him already. She was acting normal towards him. Until one day, Kenzo started dating her, everything goes normal as it is. They enjoy each other's company. As the time went by he noticed that Eliza is changing and was not able to remember all things they have done together for a month. He started going insane when he found out that the time and date where Eliza live is different from his. She is living on a different world where her time moves backwards. His life became more and more complicated. Unable to understand everything of what is happening around him. Little did he know that Eliza's time is limited and that she will be gone and won't see him again. Will there be any chance that destiny will change and that their paths will meet again?

As we make our way to the city hall, Paisley Doyle is struck by regret once again. After seven years together, this is the 11th time we've found ourselves at this crossroads. Every time we reach the city hall, she claims she needs more time to care for her sick first love and can't bring herself to marry me. Unable to hold back any longer, I finally decide to confront her. "If his condition never improves, does that mean you'll never marry me? Tell me, what do I even mean to you?" Paisley's temper ignites, and she snaps back at me without a second thought. "I promised to take care of him for the rest of my life! Can't you stop being so selfish? "Besides, we've been together for seven years. What does it matter if we're not legally married?"

I had lost count of how many times Aaron and I had dissolved our mate bond. He always said it was temporary. Vivian was the only she-wolf from Blackridge Pack who had made it into Hollywood. Her father had died saving Aaron during a rogue ambush. From then on, Aaron treated Vivian like a debt he could never repay, and I became the easiest thing to sacrifice for that debt. Whenever Vivian returned, Aaron took me to the Bonding Hall and dissolved our bond. Whenever she left, he came back and let the elders write our names into the bond ledger again. In Blackridge Pack, Aaron could take me to the Bonding Hall, dissolve our sanctioned bond, and come back for me when Vivian no longer needed him. At first, I cried and begged. Later, I learned to pack quietly, sign quietly, and hand back the Luna position along with whatever tenderness he had left for me. But this time, when Aaron waited at the Bonding Hall to renew our mate bond, I never came.

For seven years, I destroyed myself trying to give my mate an heir. Thirty-six pregnancies. Thirty-six miscarriages. Thirty-six tiny lives were buried while my husband held me in his arms and promised me it wasn’t my fault. I believed Alpha Cassian Blackthorne loved me. I believed the Moon Goddess had blessed our bond. I believed every painful miscarriage was a tragedy we suffered together. Until the day I discovered the horrifying truth; Cassian never wanted my children. For seven years, the man I loved has been secretly poisoning me with wolfsbane, slowly destroying both my body and my wolf as punishment for the death of the woman he truly loved. And when I finally become pregnant again, Cassian murders both me and our unborn child without hesitation. Broken and full of regret, I died praying for one thing only: a second chance never to love Cassian again. When I opened my eyes, I found myself back seven years in the past on the night everything began. But this time, something is different: Cassian has returned, too, and, unlike before, he chooses to save his first love and abandon me to die in her place. Fine. This time, I will no longer beg for his love. I will reject the mate bond, protect my family from the tragedy waiting ahead, and rewrite my fate completely while taking my revenge. But the more I pull away, the more the cold Alpha who once destroyed me begins to look at me with emotions I have never seen before and suddenly he's scared of losing me forever.