Victor Hale

I spent two years trapped in a loveless marriage with Gavin, the Alpha of the Carter pack. But when he returned from a trip, he brought back the overpowering scent of another woman and coldly initiated the rejection ritual. "I've fallen in love with my Fated Mate," he declared, offering me a pitiful one million dollars to disappear. He forgot that two years ago, I secretly saved his bankrupt company with my own money. When I threw the contract in his face—demanding the $1.5 billion my equity was now worth—he and his new lover panicked. They launched a vicious smear campaign, leaking stories to the press to brand me as a violent rogue and a greedy blackmailer. They even cornered me at the city's top law firm, bringing in a weeping, fake witness to publicly accuse me of stealing her life savings. They wanted to destroy my reputation so thoroughly that no lawyer would ever dare to take my case. I had poured my own fortune and sweat into saving his family's empire when everyone else abandoned them. How could they be so ruthlessly ungrateful, trying to frame me for a felony just to steal what was rightfully mine? They thought I was just an isolated, friendless rogue they could easily crush. They had no idea the legendary, undefeated lawyer they were desperately trying to hire was actually my secret ally, and the real war had just begun.

Everyone knew Frances had loved Evan for years. Obedient and docile, she'd endured a dependent life for his sake. When the public accused her of framing someone, Evan watched coldly, even ordering her to kneel down in public for his childhood sweetheart. Utterly humiliated, she lost all hope in him. After breaking off their engagement, she eloped and married a trillionaire heir overnight. That very night, their marriage certificate shot straight to the top of trending searches. The arrogant Evan finally panicked and snapped harshly, “Don't get your hopes up. Do you really think she loves you? She's only using your family's power to get revenge on me.” Alexander kissed the woman in his arms and replied lazily, "So what? I happen to have all the wealth and influence she needs."

To escape my psychopathic, controlling lover, I faked my death in a Syrian war zone. Thirty-seven reconstructive surgeries later, the terrified girl he kept locked in a basement was gone. I returned to New York as an untouchable neurosurgeon, Dr. Alivia Clay. I only came back to save his grandfather—the one man who helped me escape. I thought my flawless new face was the perfect armor. But the moment Collis Duncan saw me, he cornered me against the hospital wall. He didn't recognize my face, but he recognized my panic. He trapped me in his arms, inhaling the faint scent of vanilla and orange blossom on my skin. "You smell exactly like a ghost I used to know," he whispered. Worse, a traumatized, mute little boy with Collis's exact gray eyes stumbled into me in the hallway. The boy clutched my white coat and handed me a flashcard with a crude drawing of a woman. "Mama." My blood turned to ice. Five years ago, I was told my newborn baby burned to ashes in that medical tent. How could this boy be alive? Why did Collis have my son while I mourned a pile of dust? Now, Collis is ordering a microscopic background check, desperate to tear my fake life to the ground and cage me again. But I'm not running anymore. Once I finish this surgery, I'm taking my son back.

Hovering as a translucent soul in the freezing cemetery, I watched Corbin Mendez—the ruthless billionaire I had spent my entire life despising—violently smash open my tomb. I thought he had come to desecrate my corpse. Instead, he collapsed to his knees, reverently kissed my dead lips, and swallowed a lethal bottle of pills without a drop of water. In my past life, I was betrayed by my ex-fiancé, framed by my vicious step-family, and trapped in a suffocating marriage with Corbin. I thought he was a paranoid, abusive monster who only wanted to control me. I fought his madness every single day until I died sick, exhausted, and utterly defeated. But watching him climb into my casket, wrapping his massive arms around my cold body to die beside me, my non-existent heart shattered. Why hadn't I seen the truth? He wasn't a monster; he was a deeply traumatized man suffering from severe PTSD, and his obsessive love for me was his only tether to sanity. The regret and agony tore my soul to pieces. "My love, I'm too late." Those were his last words before his heart stopped. When I opened my eyes again, I wasn't floating in a dark tomb. I was lying in Corbin's bed, exactly two years in the past. This time, I wouldn't run away. I would heal the broken beast who died for me, and I would personally put a bullet in everyone who ruined us.

Helena endured two years of a sterile, loveless marriage to billionaire CEO Dante Velasquez, playing the role of the perfect, invisible wife. The fragile illusion shattered when she found microscopic holes systematically poked through her entire box of condoms. When she confronted Dante, he coldly accused her of trying to trap him with a baby, then immediately abandoned her to comfort his ex-girlfriend. But the truth was far more twisted. At the hospital, Helena overheard her mother-in-law's horrifying plan. "She has to get pregnant. We need the stem cells to save Julian." They didn't want an heir. They needed Helena to be a walking incubator to harvest spare parts for Dante's sickly younger brother. When Helena tried to fund her escape, Dante dragged her back, froze all her accounts, and forced a humiliating blood test to prove she wasn't scheming. "You're nothing without me," he sneered, locking her inside their penthouse. Sitting in her gilded cage, watching the media parade Dante and his ex as society's "golden couple," Helena felt her heartbreak completely evaporate. She had sacrificed her prestigious ballet career for a family that viewed her as literal livestock. The tears stopped, leaving behind only a cold, razor-sharp resolve. She printed out her divorce papers, marched straight into the crowded headquarters of Velasquez Corp, and prepared to burn his empire to the ground.

Finley's stepfather gave her a sickening ultimatum: marry her predatory stepbrother Shane tonight, or he would throw her fragile mother out on the street. To escape this hell, she used a matchmaking agency and hastily married a complete stranger. Garrison Strickland claimed to be an ordinary data analyst making $95,000 a year, driving a beat-up Honda Civic, and needing a wife in name only. They got their marriage license at City Hall that very afternoon. But when Finley returned home to pack her bags and threw the certificate on the table, her family just laughed. Dozier ordered Shane to drag her into the bedroom to "teach her a lesson" and trap her forever. "Come on, little sister," Shane crooned, lunging at her. "Don't fight it." Finley's own mother just stared at the floor, blaming Finley for ruining the family, watching blindly as Shane cornered her. Terrified and desperate, Finley smashed an ashtray over Shane's head and frantically dialed her new husband's number. Shane snatched the phone, mocking the "imaginary husband" before the line went dead. Finley felt a bottomless despair. Garrison was just a normal guy; he would never risk his life against her violent family. She was completely on her own, waiting for the end. Suddenly, deafening bangs echoed through the house, and Garrison stepped into the living room radiating a cold, terrifying fury. This supposedly "frugal data analyst" effortlessly snapped Shane's wrist, leveled a ruthless death threat that made Dozier tremble, and whisked Finley away in a waiting Bentley. Looking at the powerful man beside her, Finley's heart raced: just who exactly had she married today?

My husband of eight years had twins with another woman-a woman who looked uncannily like me. I soon discovered this wasn't just an affair. He'd been secretly feeding me birth control pills for years, treating me as a placeholder in his meticulous life plan. He refused a divorce, moving his lover and their children into our home as the "nanny," where she delighted in humiliating me. Then, during a house fire, he left me to die while he saved her. But his ultimate betrayal came later, when I overheard him calmly planning to harvest my skin for a graft to heal a minor burn she'd received. He didn't just see me as a placeholder; he saw me as spare parts. That was the moment I decided to disappear. I faked my own death, leaving him to the ruins of his perfect plan while I built a new life from the ashes.

The last time I heard my boyfriend Arthur' s voice, he was telling me to stop being so dramatic. I had been kidnapped by a man he' d bankrupted, and I was begging for my life. "This is a new low, even for you," he said, his voice cold with annoyance. "I don' t have time for these games." He hung up on me to deal with a work crisis for his partner, Genesis. My kidnapper, realizing no ransom would ever be paid, strapped a bomb to my chest and left me to die. The explosion killed me, but it didn't set me free. Instead, my spirit became tethered to Arthur, a cruel, invisible chain forcing me to follow him. I had to watch as he investigated the murder of a "Jane Doe," never once suspecting the unrecognizable victim was me. He saw my final text message-the one telling him I was pregnant-and called it a sick, manipulative lie before blocking my number and erasing me from his life. I was a ghost, bound to the man whose indifference was my death sentence, forced to watch him grieve for a stranger while cursing my name. I thought this was my eternal punishment. But a year later, I overheard his new fiancée, Genesis, bragging to her friends. And I finally learned the truth about who really sent my killer to my door.

The day after my father passed away, my stepmother, Destinee Vaughn, wasted no time bringing my father's biological daughter, Lola Haynes, back from the countryside. She threw a paternity test report in front of me and demanded I leave the Haynes Group. My fiancé, Caden Fletcher, who loved me deeply, apologized, his eyes red with unshed tears, "I'm sorry, I can only marry the heir of the Haynes Group." I wasn't my father's biological child. But they didn't know my mother was the daughter of a mafia boss. The lady that Eura's biggest mafia leader had been searching for was me.

Today was our ninth wedding anniversary, and I arrived at the airport, bouquet in hand, ready to surprise my wife, Jessica, after her "business trip." Instead, I found her wrapped in a young man's arms, sharing a long, deep kiss. My world went silent. The roses in my lap felt impossibly heavy as I watched her with this stranger, a boy who looked fresh out of college. Then, her text flashed on my phone: "Plane just landed! So tired. Can't wait to see you, honey! XOXO." The blatant lie hit harder than the betrayal itself. That night, she came home, smiling, feigning affection, even pulling out an anniversary gift – a sleek, silver watch. A wave of nausea washed over me. It was the exact same watch the young man at the airport was wearing. She spoke of love and forever, her words like ash in my mouth. Was any of it real? She spun more lies, claiming her trip was to San Francisco, not Chicago, and trying to pass off the watch as an innocent mistake. Her desperation to maintain the facade was almost fascinating, a grotesque parody of the woman I thought I knew. I felt a strange detachment, watching my life unravel. The situation worsened when she tried to comfort me, mistaking my coldness for work stress. Her phone rang, and I knew it was him – Liam Davis. I locked myself in the bathroom, feeling the filth, and then made a call. I hired a private investigator. The next morning, the investigator' s photos confirmed my worst fears: Jessica and Liam, intimate, entangled. The rage I had suppressed began to simmer, fueled by the sheer audacity of her deceit. How could she have poisoned every moment of our shared life for two years?

The old man hit the pavement hard. One moment I was walking to meet my best friend, Jessica, for coffee, the next my medical student instincts screamed. "Sarah, stop!" Jessica's grip on my arm was tight, her face a mask of alarm. "Don't get involved," she hissed, warning of scams and pickpockets. Her words, and a past trauma of kindness exploited, made me pause, just for a second. A fatal second. In that life, I listened. I stood by, fear warring with my training, as precious minutes ticked away. Mr. Henderson, the veteran, died before the ambulance arrived. The public fallout was immediate and brutal. Jessica, my best friend, painted me as a cold, heartless medical student in a viral interview, cleverly omitting her own role in dissuading me. "Heartless Med Student Lets Veteran Die." That headline destroyed my life. I was suspended from medical school. My boyfriend left me. My address was leaked, and I received death threats, trapped as a pariah in my own home. Jessica, meanwhile, thrived, becoming a celebrated symbol of civic virtue, funneling donations from a foundation in Mr. Henderson's name into her own pockets. The weight of the world's hatred, Jessica's betrayal, and crushing guilt became too much. I lost everything. My future. My will to live. The last thing I remembered was Jessica's triumphant smile on a talk show. Then, darkness. Until I was ripped from it. My eyes flew open. The scent of hotdogs, a taxi's screech, humid air. I was back. Standing on the same sidewalk, my bag in hand. Twenty feet away, Mr. Henderson was just beginning to crumple to the ground. This wasn't a memory. It was happening again. The thud of his body was the starting gun for my second chance. I didn't waste a second.

For eight years, I truly believed I had the perfect marriage with Ethan. Then came the "terminal illness" diagnosis, a convenient tragedy that allowed him to have children with another woman, Chloe, supposedly for his parents' legacy, not ours. I swallowed my pain, playing the role of the understanding wife while Chloe, pregnant with their third child, paraded her triumph in my home, erasing every trace of my presence. It wasn't enough for them; Chloe, with her mother's vile "holy water," attempted to poison me, leading to a miscarriage and cardiac arrest, all while Ethan watched, then struck me, and forced me to sign our divorce papers with my own blood. I was left for dead, abandoned by the man I loved, my world collapsing around me with a sickening thud. But I wasn't dead, and neither was my resolve. Now, it' s my turn to reclaim my life, piece by agonizing piece, and expose the monstrous lies that stole everything from me.

"I' m turning it down." My words, quiet but firm, echoed in the university president' s opulent office as I rejected the Ivy League scholarship that was supposed to be my golden ticket. This scholarship, the one I' d bled for, I had given up for him-Ethan Hayes, my fiancé, who convinced me his struggling "first love," Chloe, needed it more. In my past life, I watched him rise to tech billionaire status, only to be discarded like an old toy. He and our son, Leo, kicked me out, calling me an embarrassment, while Ethan flaunted Chloe, who conveniently reappeared once the money flowed again. I died at 45, penniless and alone, my life a footnote in his grand story. The sting of that memory, a cold, hard stone in my chest, fuels me now. I don' t understand how I believed his lies, how I let myself be erased. How could I have been so blind? But now, I' m back. This time, there will be no sacrifices for Ethan, no quiet suffering. This time, I hold the pen, and I will write my own future.

The hum of the server room was a familiar lullaby as I watched years of my life, "Echoes of Eternity," approaching launch. This was my statement to the world, my proof to Liam. Then, he walked in, my brother, Liam Reed, and his words, laced with doubt and veiled threats, twisted the air around me. "It won't fail," I insisted, but the tremor in my voice betrayed my desperate hope for his belief, not his constant, suffocating need to control me, to protect me from myself. His PR manager, Scarlett, smirked, calling my masterpiece a "small indie title," a "shame" that my work ended in humiliation, all while Liam stood by, indifferent. The crushing failure of my game, the torrent of angry messages, and Liam' s public statement blaming my "unproven indie studio" hit me like a physical blow, stripping away my hard-won independence and shattering my belief in him. He called, his voice dripping with false concern, claiming he "mitigated the damage," while I knew the truth: he destroyed everything. He always said he was protecting me, but his love was a gilded cage, his protection a prison. I screamed, "You destroyed everything!" But his reply, calm and infuriating, solidified my resolve: "You're too emotional, too naive." He wanted me to come home, to come back under his umbrella, but staring at his number, a terrifying yet exhilarating realization dawned on me: I was truly on my own. That' s when Noah Vance's email, a lifeline from a rival I barely knew, landed in my inbox: "An Opportunity." I knew then, this was my chance. I would rise from the ashes, a phoenix, not for his approval, but for myself. My life, my choices, my future-they were mine now.

Ethan Miller, a dedicated veterinarian, cherished his seemingly stable life and loving marriage to Jessica in the picturesque town of Aspen Ridge. He envisioned a future brimming with warmth and family, a life built on trust. Then, a chilling discovery shattered his world. He uncovered Jessica's secret affair with Kyle Vance, a man whose polished charm masked a far darker truth: he was a cunning con artist. But Kyle wasn't content with just infidelity; he embarked on a systematic campaign to destroy Ethan. Horrifyingly, Jessica became his shocking accomplice, actively participating in the elaborate gaslighting. Ethan found himself relentlessly framed with fake injuries, subjected to public humiliation, and ultimately accused of attempted murder through chillingly fabricated audio recordings. His reputation, meticulously built over years, crumbled. The community turned its back, whispered accusations following his every step. His home became a battleground, then a prison, finally lost to the man who stole his wife. How could the woman he adored become so consumed by deceit, so willing to destroy him? The betrayal was an agonizing wound, the sheer injustice leaving him hollowed out, utterly lost, and questioning his own sanity. Stripped of everything-his home, his career, his dignity, and any shred of trust-Ethan realized there was no fight left. He fled Aspen Ridge, a broken man, seeking refuge and silence, determined to forge a new future built on cold pragmatism, far from the ashes of his past.

I' d finally done it. My resignation letter officially landed on Mr. Henderson' s expensive mahogany desk, putting a ruthless period on years of being Ethan Cole' s secret convenience. But freedom was fleeting. Isabella, his fiancée and my tormentor, summoned me to Ethan' s TriBeCa penthouse, wielding an old, whimsical sketch of mine like a weapon, then slapped me clean across the face. Ethan arrived, and instead of defending me, he smoothed Isabella' s perfect, glistening fake tears, dismissing me as someone who "meant nothing" -just "a release." Emboldened, Isabella snatched my portfolio, spilling my architectural dreams-designs for community centers-and pouring red wine directly onto them, staining my future crimson. Ethan then tossed a wad of cash at my feet, his voice flat: "For the dry cleaning. Now get out." I stumbled out into the New York downpour, each raindrop a tiny hammer pounding home the gut-wrenching humiliation of being so utterly worthless to the man I' d loved. How could he, the center of my naive world, watch as my dignity and dreams were drowned in wine, then casually toss money as if I were a broken possession? But in that deepest moment of despair, something snapped. I was done being their discarded convenience, their emotional punching bag; I would disappear and rebuild a life where my peace wasn' t for sale, no matter what it took.

Fear follows Alpha Samson wherever he goes. As the ruthless leader of the Blackthorn pack, he and his beast, Savage, bow to no one. But when a haunting scent leads him to a neighboring pack's dungeon, he finds his fated mate-bloody, broken, and chained to the wall. Alora is a half-wolf, half-witch hybrid falsely accused and left to die. But her abusers made one fatal mistake: they touched the mate of a monster. Rescued by the fierce Alpha, Alora begins a journey of healing that uncovers a lifetime of lies. She isn't just a survivor; she's a weapon. Together, Samson and Alora will unleash hell on those who wronged her, unearthing dark family secrets and claiming the crown that was stolen from her birth.

I was waiting at the Registry Hall to formalize my mate bond with Gabe, my childhood sweetheart and the Alpha of our pack. He was thirty-two minutes late. When I finally found him in a private VIP lounge, his hands were buried in my cousin's hair, their lips locked together. Hailee was supposed to be my maid of honor. Instead of apologizing, Gabe looked me dead in the eye and used his Alpha authority to publicly reject me. The severing of our ten-year bond tore my soul apart, but the nightmare didn't stop there. My grandfather immediately called, demanding I clean up a mess Hailee had made. When I refused, he disowned me on the spot, froze every single one of my bank accounts, and stripped me of my family name. Within hours, my entire pack erased my existence, gleefully announcing Hailee as their new Luna. I had given my entire life to a family and a man who discarded me like worthless trash the second I became inconvenient. I was left broken, humiliated, and utterly penniless in the blink of an eye. But as I stumbled out of that sterile hall, a terrifyingly beautiful stranger stepped out of the shadows, radiating a primal power that made my knees weak. He was Caden Sinclair, the ruthless Lycan King, and he was dodging a forced political union of his own. "You need a shield. I need a wife. Marry me." Without hesitation, I signed the Eternal Vow.

For years, Elara Park endured being called "half-breed" and "weak blood" at pack meetings. Because she was a hybrid wolf, she trusted Zack Blackwood's sweet promises. Then he rejected their fated mate bond moments after claiming her body. Before she could even breathe through the soul-crushing agony, the news was already celebrating his engagement to her vindictive stepsister, Selina. The headlines gushed about their "perfect pureblooded union." Her mother's call came like a final blow: "Elara, you're twenty-three now. It's time you contributed to the family." Marry the worthless second son of a prominent Alpha family or lose her father's empire forever. They had her trapped, ready to steal her birthright and leave her powerless. But as the heartbreak bled out, ice-cold determination took its place. Elara went to the arranged meeting at the city's most exclusive club, determined to turn her mother's matchmaking scheme to her advantage. She would agree to marriage-but on her own terms. When she found who she believed was Damian Sterling in the private suite, she cut straight to business: a contract marriage with clear boundaries, separate lives, and a guaranteed escape route. What she didn't know? The devastatingly dangerous man who'd just signed her contract with a predator's smile wasn't the pathetic playboy she expected. He was Dominic Wolfe-the Alpha King who'd been relentlessly hunting her for years. And now, she'd just signed herself over to him completely.

I was three months pregnant when the car hit me. Lying there, barely hanging on, I called my husband-Alpha Ethan-over and over. No answer. When I finally woke up from the pain, I saw a post from his first love, Ivy. "Thank you, Alpha, for knowing how scared I am of the dark and staying with me all night. He even cleared his whole schedule today to take me to the auction, just to give me the best gift in the world. I'm so happy!" Right then, it hit me. While I was fighting to protect our child, he was with another she-wolf. I calmly liked her post and put my phone away. Since he chose his first love, I chose to let go. Seven days from now, I'd leave his world for good-with our child.

For three years, I poured my blood, sweat, and tears into building Blackwood Group for Alec, my Alpha and the man I thought was my mate. But on the day of our work anniversary, I stood outside his office door and heard him talking with his Beta, shattering my entire world. "Kay is just a wolfless Omega, useful for paperwork," Alec sneered coldly. "The bonding ceremony is just a show for the elders. The real Luna, the one who carries the bloodline that matters, is Breanne. I'm transferring all of Kay's core project files to Breanne tomorrow. Let her take the credit." He even texted me later, telling me to wear a blue dress to the upcoming gala because it made me look "obedient." I had turned down a Wharton scholarship for this man. I had spent countless nights fixing his mistakes, building his empire, and giving him my youth. Yet to him, I was nothing but a disposable placeholder, expected to smile and bow while another woman stole my life's work and my place by his side. The agonizing pain in my chest didn't break me; it forged me into ice. I didn't cry, and I certainly didn't beg. Instead, I wiped his servers clean of every strategy I had ever created, left a wax-sealed resignation on his desk, and accepted a job offer from his most ruthless rival.

For eight years, Cecilia Moore was the perfect Luna, loyal, and unmarked. Until the day she found her Alpha mate with a younger, purebred she-wolf in his bed. In a world ruled by bloodlines and mating bonds, Cecilia was always the outsider. But now, she's done playing by wolf rules. She smiles as she hands Xavier the quarterly financials-divorce papers clipped neatly beneath the final page. "You're angry?" he growls. "Angry enough to commit murder," she replies, voice cold as frost. A silent war brews under the roof they once called home. Xavier thinks he still holds the power-but Cecilia has already begun her quiet rebellion. With every cold glance and calculated step, she's preparing to disappear from his world-as the mate he never deserved. And when he finally understands the strength of the heart he broke... It may be far too late to win it back.

Luna has tried her best to make her forced marriage to Xen work for the sake of their child. But with Riley and Sophia- Xen's ex-girlfriend and her son in the picture. She fights a losing battle. Ollie, Xen's son is neglected by his father for a very long time and he is also suffering from a mysterious sickness that's draining his life force. When his last wish to have his dad come to his 5th birthday party is dashed by his failure to show up, Ollie dies in an accident after seeing his father celebrate Riley's birthday with Sophia and it's displayed on the big advertising boards that fill the city. Ollie dies and Luna follows after, unable to bear the grief, dying in her mate's hands cursing him and begging for a second chance to save her son. Luna gets the opportunity and is woken up in the past, exactly one year to the day Sophia and Riley show up. But this time around, Luna is willing to get rid of everyone and anyone even her mate if he steps in her way to save her son.

Lyric had spent her life being hated. Bullied for her scarred face and hated by everyone-including her own mate-she was always told she was ugly. Her mate only kept her around to gain territory, and the moment he got what he wanted, he rejected her, leaving her broken and alone. Then, she met him. The first man to call her beautiful. The first man to show her what it felt like to be loved. It was only one night, but it changed everything. For Lyric, he was a saint, a savior. For him, she was the only woman that had ever made him cum in bed-a problem he had been battling for years. Lyric thought her life would finally be different, but like everyone else in her life, he lied. And when she found out who he really was, she realized he wasn't just dangerous-he was the kind of man you don't escape from. Lyric wanted to run. She wanted freedom. But she desired to navigate her way and take back her respect, to rise above the ashes. Eventually, she was forced into a dark world she didn't wish to get involved with.

For two years, I was Alpha Jase Davenport's loyal assistant and secret bed-warmer. Because I was a wolfless Omega, I trusted his empty promises instead of instincts I didn't possess. Then, a push notification from a notorious gossip blog shattered my world. Jase was pictured in Paris, his hand intimately resting on the waist of my cruel stepsister, Kira. The headline screamed that he was finally claiming his fated Luna. Before I could even process the betrayal, Jase texted me a cold command to update his schedule, treating me like a soulless employee. Immediately after, my mother called to gloat. "Did you honestly believe an Alpha like Jase would settle for a defective creature like you?" She threatened to freeze my late father's Pack trust fund unless I agreed to marry an abusive, elderly Alpha to be his breeding mare. If I refused, I would be cast out as a penniless stray, easy prey for any Rogue. I was nothing but a convenient placeholder to Jase, and a piece of livestock to my own family. They thought they had me completely cornered, ready to steal my inheritance and leave me to die. But as the panic subsided, a cold clarity took its place. My father's will only required a legal mating bond to unlock my millions; it never said my family had to approve of the groom. I wiped my tears, opened my laptop, and searched for a disgraced, debt-ridden Rogue named Babe Vincent. If I needed a husband on paper to secure my freedom, I was going to buy one.

I died once before, framed for a murder that never happened. I am Princess Fiona Avery of the Blackwood Pack, forced by my father into a political union with Bowen Mayer, heir to a powerful house. In my first life, my husband's mistress faked a pregnancy, accused me of pushing her into a lake, and watched as I was condemned as a murderer. I spent my final days in a mental ward, broken and drugged, until a lethal injection silenced me forever. But the dead don't always stay dead. I opened my eyes on the very day it all went wrong. My tea was still laced with sedative. My husband's footsteps were already pounding down the hall. His weeping mistress was ready to play her part. This time, I don't beg. I don't cry. I don't kneel. I summon the ruthless Gamma of the royal Shadow Guard. I demand the pack doctor examine his precious lover-right here, in front of everyone. I stake my life on a wager I know I cannot lose. They think I'm still the weak, wolfless princess they once destroyed. They have no idea what I've become.