smoke and steel

"I am your weakness. I can do anything to hurt you, even if it includes harming myself — I will do it. Even if I will have to die to shatter you, I will die. That's how much I hate you." Some things are better unknown. Faith was living her mediocre life at her best. The most she had to worry about was school and her jobs. But things changed in a matter of a night... One day, she had everything - family, friends, a house, and a very typical everyday life.... the next day, everything is gone and now she is running in circles - trying to catch what she can. Now it is not just about living, it is about surviving. And to do that, she needs Mateo... ....... Mateo is a man built of stone. Faith is a clueless young woman searching for her reputed guardian after a tragedy strikes that leaves her all alone. In search of answers, she finds so much more, about Mateo, her family, and herself. He calls her a clueless foxy, she calls him flesh over concrete.

Hannah was used to being bullied by the future Alpha. She couldn't wait to find her mate and leave her cruel pack. But when fate twists and mates her to her abuser, she has to decide how to deal with her options.

"Our heart beats only with their permission." For as long as she can remember, the bookworm Synecdoche Rochet, 23, has lived a simple life in Maharlika Nation—hiding in the grasses and grains of District G to avoid the terrifying power of the Embassy and its ruthless Ambassador. In a dytopian world that is controlled and opressed, Synecdoche Rochet embarks on a mission to get back their rights on their district's valuable resources—the grains. When she discovered her intellectual ability, she found herself drawn to the charismatic Giovanni, the long-lost Ambassador's previleged son together with other intelligent students, Ulap, Token and Keithwarth. They found themselves being the tributes on the 2nd Maharlika Spelling TwistBee—trapped in the Word Arena. An annually commemorated survival game where each district will represent 1 letter in the Alphabet, spell the given English words not verbally, but by brutal killings of other competitors who have letter tattoos on their arms. The rules are to Spell and Kill. Within the killer's reach, the team-up of Synecdoche, Giovanni, Ulap, Token and Keithwarth isn't a coincidence, it's a conspiracy. What if Synecdoche's age will be reversed? Will they use their intelligence for vengeance? Will they compel love and trust to survive the battle royale? Is their life the price or the prize? "Even the shortest word has the longest meaning. Spell the words and kill with swords!"

The rivalry between werewolves and vampires is as old as time. Now, two destinies are entangled in the mix and they are forced to fight for their love. Can a vampire and a werewolf unite against all odds? Valeria is an outcasted vampire with a deep rooted hatred for werewolves, given that her parents were killed by one when she was only eleven years old. And when a chance for revenge shows itself as Marcello, she ceases it, leading him on to believe that she loved him. But it is only a matter of time before she began to feel things for him that she did not bargain for. Now, will she go on with her plans? Or will she let love tame her? Marcello is the second son of the Crescent pack's Alpha. Life had been pretty smooth for him until Valeria walks into his life one day and awakens a part of his heart that he was not even aware existed. Her presence causes a chain of discoveries and events, most of which drastically turns his life towards a direction that he never planned for. Amidst all the chaos, his love is his only drive to keep going. But there is only so much a person can take. Will love truly conquer? Or will they get eaten up by the troubles of life.

When Annie learned that her husband Eric was still with his ex-girlfriend Mia and that Mia was also pregnant with his child, she left for good by faking death and renamed herself as Renee. When they meet again, Annie is a completely different person. Eric's eyes on fire. He wants to devour her. But he's interrupted. "Mommy who's that?" "A stranger." "Say that again? Who am I to her?!" -------------------------------------------------- Renee is no longer the woman Eric once knew—stronger, unyielding, and harboring secrets of her own. She thought she'd left her old life behind when she faked her death to escape the heartbreak of her husband Eric's betrayal. But fate has other plans. Now, caught between the past she thought she’d escaped and the present she fiercely protects, Renee must confront the man who distroyed her. Eric, meanwhile, will stop at nothing to learn the truth about her true identity—and the mysterious child by her side. Can they handle the truth? Or will Renee manage to find her happiness that she's always dreamed of having?

Si Xerxes Santillan III o mas kilala bilang Tres ay isang magaling na CEO sa mismong family business nila. Kilala ang kanilang kompaniya sa bansa at halos lahat sa kaniya ay perpekto. Mabait, guwapo at supportive. Maliban do'n, maganda ang kaniyang buhay, at may maganda ring singer na girlfriend. Ngunit sa kabila ng perpekto niyang buhay ay hindi pa rin niya mapapayag ang babaeng minamahal sa isang kasal. Parati na lang siyang naghihintay at sumusuporta sa mga pangarap nito. "Babe, please give me one more chance. I'll make sure na after nitong crusade performance ko sa Italy, ay magpapakasal na tayo." sabi nito sa kaniya sa ika-apat na proposal niya kay Lian. Tinakbuhan lang naman siya nito at walang sabi na umalis patungong airport. "Pero ang sabi mo, after ng concert mo sa Paris ay sasagutin mo na ako." giit niya, pero hindi niya pinaalam na galit siya at dismayado. "I'm sorry, babe. Babawi ako sa'yo after, okay?" Kung kailan nakahanda na ang lahat ay saka naman ito aalis bigla. Mahal niya ito, kaya kahit anong pilit niya, kung mahal din nito ang pangarap nito, ay wala siyang ibang magagawa kundi ang mahalin rin ang pangarap nito. Sa kaparehong araw, namamalayan na lang ni Travis na kasal na siya at nagising sa isang kama na may kayakapan na ibang babae at walang saplot. Ano kaya ang magiging love story ni Travis, gayo'ng nagtaksil na siya sa kaniyang nobya?

“You arranged a marriage for me?" I exclaimed, my voice quivering with anger and disbelief. "How could you? How dare you play with my life?” I sat in disbelief, the weight of my parent's words sinking in like an anchor in my chest. Scarlett Morgan was forced into an arranged marriage with Ethan Donovan, the richest family in Brooklyn, by merging their company with the Donovans to save their family business from total bankruptcy. On meeting Ethan for the first time, she realizes that he's the handsome stranger she shared a passionate one-night stand with two years ago, and he has no memory of her. Caught off guard by this news, Ethan and Scarlett are thrown into a complex situation they never expected. Will they be able to handle the secrets that they have been hiding from each other? As they navigate the complications of their marriage, they'll have to confront their past and turn their unexpected connection into a beautiful love story. But how long will this last? What happens when their ex shows up?

Francesca's life is turned upside down when betrayal and ruin shatter her world. After waking up next to Marco, a powerful mafia don and Lycan, and her ex-fiancé Gianni’s older brother. She is pushed into a dangerous game of power, vengeance, and forbidden desire. Forced to choose between the humiliation of her past and a future bound to Marco by an unconventional marriage, Francesca must navigate family betrayal, mafia intrigue, and her growing attraction to the man who could destroy or save her. Will her alliance with the enigmatic mafia Lycan be her salvation or her undoing?

Everyone in the Titanus region would have heard the older generation tell them this—during sky burials, the vultures wouldn't eat the corpses of people who'd committed heinous crimes. My husband is the sky burial practitioner who buries me. The vultures circle my corpse in the air above the burial site, but they don't prey on me. My husband frowns at the sight. "It looks like this person must have committed crimes when alive. They deserve this." Suddenly, I remembered him pointing at me, his eyes ablaze with flames of rage as he shouted, "Nancy wouldn't have lost her baby if not for you! Someone like you doesn't even deserve to get a sky burial!" It looks like his words are coming true. But later, he falls to his knees before my grave and weeps. He begs me to forgive him.

Caught between loyalty, love and deception, Raven must choose between her duty and her heart. As the packs political tensions rise, betrayal hung in the air and words of the mouth became wind. What will Raven do when she finds herself torn between two alphas: The one who sent her to destroy, and the one who had the life of her father and family in his hands? Will she find a way to protect those she loves? Or will her secrets and desires be the end of her and her family’s life?