Karma

While they slice me apart, I desperately call my brother, Nathan Slade. He finally picks up as my consciousness starts to slip and answers in an annoyed voice, "What now?" "Nathan, help—" I don't get to finish before he cuts me off. "Can't you ever go a day without drama? Gemma's graduation is at the end of the month. Miss it, and I swear I'll kill you!" Then, he hangs up without a second thought. The agonizing pain swallows me whole, and my eyes close for good, tears still trailing down my cheeks. Well, good news, Nathan… You won't have to kill me because I'm already dead.

After the cruise ship strikes a hidden reef, panicked passengers shove me and Kristen Langford into the sea. My boyfriend, Elijah Jensen, is the ship's captain, so he plunges into the water. But instead of saving me, he grabs Kristen and boards the last lifeboat. I thrash and cry for help, but he slaps my hand away. "You can swim. Stop pretending for attention!" Elijah snaps. "Kristen's body temperature is dropping. I have to get her to a hospital!" The waters around me are pitch-black, and his words feel like a death sentence. When the tracking bracelet I always wear is discovered inside a shark, Elijah dives alone into shark-infested waters, searching for three days and nights. In the end, the brilliant captain who once ruled the oceans can never sail again.

My name is Lyra. For eighteen years, the Silvermane Pack was my home, but it was never my family. The night my only friend, Selene, chose to end her life—to Eclipse—was the night I decided to leave. She showed me that escape was possible, even if it meant walking away from everything I knew. The Alpha and Luna who raised me, and my so-called brothers, made it clear I didn't belong. Their love was always conditional, reserved for my "true-born" sister, Lillian, found just a year ago. On my forgotten birthday, I declared my own Eclipse. I am returning to my real family, the Blood-Claws. But leaving has a price. A primordial terror stirs in the darkness, threatening to devour everyone I leave behind. They think I'm running away. They have no idea what I'm really walking into, or what I must become to save them all.

Aku iri pada ibu, dia cantik seperti sekuntum bunga, disukai oleh semua pria di desa. Dia hanya perlu berbaring di ranjang setiap hari tanpa perlu bekerja, hidup dengan nyaman dan terawat. Sementara aku yang lahir darinya, justru berkulit gelap dan kurus, harus bekerja tanpa henti mengurus ladang dan pekerjaan rumah. Anak-anak desa pun sering menggangguku. Mereka bilang aku pembawa sial dan kelak pasti akan dinikahkan dengan dewa gunung, lalu mati tragis di kuilnya. Sebelum hari pernikahan tiba, aku diam-diam menukar posisi dengan ibu.

Seberapa memalukan hukuman cambuk di Diusz? Di bawah tatapan beberapa pria kekar, rokku disingkap ke atas dengan kasar dan aku langsung dicambuk. Akan tetapi, suamiku malah bersemangat, sampai-sampai tubuh bagian bawah miliknya bereaksi. Malam itu, akhirnya aku bisa merasakan kembali kebahagiaanku yang telah lama hilang ….

Madam Pratt, my mother-in-law, was in critical condition after a car accident, desperately needing surgery. However, as the lead surgeon, I—Lilianne Davis—stood by, casually scrolling through short videos on my phone. My best friend, Tiffany Owens, who was also a doctor, was far more anxious than I was. She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the operating room. “Lily, why are you still stalling? Hurry up and save her!” I took a step back, clutching my stomach in pain as her face twisted in shock. “I have cramps so bad I can’t even stand. You do it.” In my last life, the moment I heard about Madam Pratt’s accident, I had swallowed a painkiller and rushed into surgery, working for hours to stabilize her. I had barely stepped away from the operating table when alarms blared. “Lilianne, what have you done? The patient is experiencing acute hemolysis!” “Call the family now!” Gareth Pratt stormed in, his face twisted with rage. He slapped me hard in the face. “Lil, you’re a professional surgeon, yet you gave my mother the wrong blood transfusion?!” I froze, reaching for Madam Pratt’s medical report to explain, only to find that the A-type blood I had seen before had somehow changed to B-type. The medical board arrived, and a blood test revealed traces of hallucinogens in my system. “Unbelievable! Taking illegal substances before surgery? That’s a cardinal sin for a doctor!” In the chaos, Emma Pratt, Gareth’s teenage sister, grabbed a scalpel and stabbed me multiple times. Blood gushed from my arteries, and I collapsed in a pool of crimson. As my vision faded, I couldn’t understand what had happened. I had never taken illegal drugs. Besides, I was absolutely certain of Madam Pratt’s blood type. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the moment right before stepping into the operating room.

"Miss Jackson, are you certain you want to undergo hypnosis? You should know that once the hypnosis begins, it cannot be reversed. Your body will be controlled by an alternate personality, and you will fall into a sleep from which you will never wake up again," the doctor asked in a grave tone from the other end of the phone. "Yes, I'm certain," Nina Jackson replied calmly.

My mother-in-law got kidnapped, but my powerful husband, who ran both sides of the law, was too busy throwing a birthday bash for his old flame's dog. The kidnappers warned them they'd kill her if he didn't show up. I didn't beg him to act because, in my past life, I dragged him away from that party despite being eight months pregnant to save his mom. His old flame, who tagged along, got spotted by the kidnappers' lookout. They assaulted her and brutally killed her. Her body parts were left to be eaten by dogs. Furious, he gunned down the culprits and vanished for a month. When he returned, he never mentioned it. Then I gave birth to our son and was full of joy. But he threw me into the woods, weak and defenseless. Wild animals tore me apart, leaving nothing behind. "You were jealous of Alicia and had the kidnappers kill her?" he accused. "You don't deserve her happiness." When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day his mom got kidnapped.

Mi amiga, Sofía Santos, la misma que siempre juró que jamás se casaría, me acompañó a la clínica el día de mi inseminación artificial. Pero justo cuando estaba por elegir la muestra de esperma... ¡me la robó! En ese instante lo entendí: ella también había vuelto a vivir. En mi vida anterior, yo solo quería tener un hijo mestizo, así que decidí hacerlo por mi cuenta. Recuerdo que Sofía se burlaba de mí, diciéndome que era una tonta por querer tener un hijo de un desconocido. Lo que nadie imaginó fue lo que vino después: dos semanas más tarde terminé en la corte real. Resultó que el donante que había elegido era, nada menos, que un príncipe extranjero. No solo quiso casarse conmigo, sino que juró que nuestro hijo heredaría el trono. De repente, mi hijo y yo nos convertimos en figuras importantes de la familia real. Las joyas que me regalaban pesaban tanto que apenas podía sostenerme de pie. Mientras tanto, Sofía, tan obsesionada con sus ideas de liberación y ese afán de ir siempre contra todo, terminó metiéndose con la gente equivocada. La despidieron de su trabajo y quedó vetada de la industria. Cuando se enteró del bautizo de mi hijo, viajó desesperada para buscarme. Pero en cuanto la recibí, hizo lo impensable: empujó a mi hijo al suelo, matándolo al instante, y luego me arrojó ácido. —¿Por qué a ti te va tan bien? —gritaba—. ¡Eres una maldita desgraciada, no lo mereces! Cuando volví a abrir los ojos, estaba otra vez en el mismo día... el día en que Sofía me acompañó a la clínica.

Aku seorang janda. Malam itu, dalam keadaan setengah sadar, aku berniat pergi ke kamar mandi, tapi aku menemukan pintu kamar putraku yang berusia 18 tahun sedikit terbuka. Dari dalam, terdengar suara napas terengah-engah yang samar ….