Xi Yue

For twelve years, I was King Damien's secret blade and his most loyal shadow. I took silver daggers to my chest and shed my blood to clear his path to the throne, all for the promise that I would one day be his Luna. But at his victory feast, the man I loved held the hand of a highborn noblewoman and announced her as his fated mate. In front of the entire laughing court, Damien looked at me with absolute coldness. He publicly stripped me of my rank as his personal protector. "You are demoted to the Northern Wall." He threw a cheap iron guard's badge at my feet like I was a stray dog. Later that night, he kicked down my door, pinned me against the wall, and threatened to make me regret ever defying him with my silent obedience. He wanted me to cry, to beg, to show him I was still his pathetic, devoted pawn. It turned out that while I was suffering in the dark for him, he had been secretly spending his winters courting her. My twelve years of life-and-death sacrifices were nothing but a joke, a convenient stepping stone he was now desperate to throw away. I didn't shed a single tear. Instead, I crushed his family crest in my bleeding hand, packed my dagger, and climbed out the window into the night. I was done being his weapon. But just as I slipped into the shadows of the royal garden to escape the Citadel forever, a cold, commanding voice cut through the darkness. "Who's there?"

Angel was slammed onto the freezing stone slabs of the central square, surrounded by the deafening, mocking laughter of her clan. Her own sister, Jasmine, stood over her with a look of pure malice, loudly and falsely accusing Angel of sneaking into the Chief's tent to seduce him. Then, Al Stein, the man who had sworn to be her mate, stepped out of the crowd with a twisted face of disgust. "You're a genetic reject. You can't give me children. You're useless." He threw their bone mate ring hard at her face, cutting her cheek, as the crowd roared for her blood. Without a trial, the High Oracle stripped her of her citizenship and sentenced her to eternal exile in the deadly wasteland. To make her punishment a complete joke, the guards dragged out a comatose, dying outcast named Kain, slicing Angel's finger to force a mate bond between the two defects. They were tossed out into the raging blizzard like discarded corpses, the heavy steel gates slamming shut behind them, cutting off all light and warmth. Angel crawled through the snow, her vision blurring from extreme starvation and the biting wind, suffocating under the weight of their lies. Why did her own blood frame her? Why did her mate throw her away to die in the ice? Just as the freezing shadow of death wrapped around her, a sharp, mechanical voice exploded in her mind. [Genetic Evolution Codex activated. Host Status: Legendary Kitsune Prime.] The despair evaporated from her chest, replaced by a burning vow to survive and make every single one of them pay.

Elizbeth married the wealthy heir Carlton Wilkinson to save her grandfather's life's work. But on their wedding night, instead of a loving husband, she faced a cold tyrant. He forced her to sign a brutal prenup, stripped her of all family rights, and banished her to a dingy guest room. He was convinced she was just a pathetic, gold-digging liar. When a catastrophic pain attack drove Carlton to smash his own head against the wall, Elizbeth rushed in to save him using her specialized acupuncture. She risked her life to calm his spasming nerves. But the moment he woke up, he nearly choked her to death. He threw her against the wall, bleeding and bruised, accusing her of using cheap parlor tricks to poison him. The next morning, his greedy relatives openly mocked her cheap clothes, waiting like vultures for Carlton to drop dead so they could steal his fortune. Elizbeth was humiliated and terrified, but she soon discovered a classified secret. Carlton was a former Delta Force operator slowly going mad from an undetectable weaponized biotoxin. The poison made him paranoid and violent. He would rather die in agony than accept help from a woman he despised. Begged by his desperate grandfather, Elizbeth knew she had to cure him in the shadows. At 1:00 AM, she slipped a heavy, odorless sedative into his water and sneaked into his pitch-black bedroom to begin the detox. But as her silver needle hovered over his skin, a massive hand shot out and pinned her violently to the mattress. "How much did they pay you to poison me?" he hissed in the dark, his eyes wide awake and blazing with murderous fury.

The harsh glare of the spotlight hit Harper's custom wedding dress as she smiled at her groom. But a single phone call from his mistress, Lila, made Chase violently shove his way down the aisle and sprint out of the hotel. He left Harper to face the flashing cameras and the mockery of hundreds of guests. Her mother-in-law dragged her into a hallway and slapped her hard across the face. "You cannot even keep your own man in the room. You are making a mockery of this family." When Harper rushed to the hospital, Chase blamed her for Lila's theatrical, fake miscarriage. He threatened to pull every cent of capital from Harper's investment firm if she dared to walk away. The Young family then used the media to frame Harper, turning her into a public pariah who viciously "killed" an unborn child. Mobbed by ruthless paparazzi, Harper was pushed into the freezing rain, her knees bleeding on the concrete. She couldn't accept that her entire life and career were being destroyed by a mistress's pathetic lie. When Chase later tried to buy her silence with a pink diamond—the exact same one he had just gifted Lila—her remaining love turned to absolute ice. But fate intervened when she was rescued from the mob by Antoni Donovan, the most ruthless billionaire on Wall Street and her biggest corporate rival. Discovering that Antoni was actually her best friend's older brother, a dangerous smile spread across Harper's face. She picked up his gold-lettered business card. She was done being the victim; she was going to use the wolf of Wall Street to crush her ex-husband.

Aria Mcgee was the unwanted second daughter of a decaying Long Island family. To save their bankrupt corporation, her father and older sister drugged her. They shoved her into a town car and delivered her to a ruthless Wall Street billionaire's bed like a piece of meat. They expected her to be the perfect sacrifice. The original Aria had no access to her own trust fund and was forced to live in a windowless broom closet. Even worse, a cold, synthetic System voice echoed in her skull, demanding she play the tragic, helpless female lead. It ordered her to endure her family's abuse and suffer the billionaire's humiliation to force a pathetic romance plotline. "Host must follow the tragic trajectory and achieve the ultimate painful romance." But the soul that woke up in that bed wasn't a weak, frightened girl. She was a dead Hollywood Oscar-winning actress. Why would a top-tier professional ever agree to play the weeping victim in such a garbage, B-list script? Instead of trembling in fear as the System commanded, Aria looked at the billionaire and smiled. Using her flawless acting skills, she shattered his ego, extracted a hundred thousand dollars, and walked right out the door. Now, she was heading back to the Mcgee estate, ready to rip her money from her father's greedy hands and burn her sister's life to the ground.

I was accused of pushing my sister down the stairs, facing a highly publicized second-degree murder charge. My billionaire husband, Lachlan, insisted on a private psychiatric evaluation. I thought he was trying to build a medical defense to save me. But through a cracked door, I overheard the psychiatrist talking to Lachlan's crisis PR team. Lachlan had bribed the doctor to officially diagnose me with severe paranoid schizophrenia. The plan was flawless. They were going to involuntarily lock me in an asylum and strip me of my voting rights to steal my trust fund. Worse, Lachlan's team leaked my clinic photos to the press, using my "violent mental breakdown" to perfectly cover up his midnight hotel rendezvous with a Hollywood starlet. I was forced to swallow heavy sedatives while the entire world labeled me a crazy, toxic wife. As the chemical fog dragged me into terrifying nightmares, I realized this family had always used me as their scapegoat, just like my adoptive mother did when I was a child. They thought the drugs, the public ruin, and the isolation would break me into quiet submission. But I secretly recorded the doctor's corrupt phone call. I went home, uploaded my million-dollar custom wedding dress to an auction site for exactly one dollar, and prepared to expose the Langley family's deadliest, bloodiest secret.

I took the fall for my sister and endured three years of torment in prison. My knee was shattered, my body covered in scars, and I almost lost my life in that "accident". On the day I was released, clinging to the last shred of hope, I ran toward my fiancé Ford’s Maybach—only to hear his cold voice: "Your existence is just a nuisance."​ It turned out that the beatings and cigarette burns in prison were all arranged by him, paid for with his money. It turned out that the sister I had protected with all my heart had long been switching my medicine behind my back, hoping I would be completely crippled.​ At the family gala, they joined hands to strip me bare in front of the flashing camera lights. My father slapped me hard across the face and roared: "Why didn’t you just die in prison?"​ I smiled and tore apart my tattered dress, then dialed the number I had hidden in my heart for three years—the man who only understood blood for blood, his voice hoarse and alluring: "Turn around."​ This time, I will no longer be a toy to be manipulated. I will tear off their masks and burn the Willis family to the ground.​ By the way, I will take back everything that belongs to me—including him, the one hiding in the shadows.

My father didn’t look at me like a daughter; he looked at me like a bad loan he needed to settle. After five years of being nothing but a monthly expense on his ledger, I was shoved back into the Quinn mansion, smelling the expensive lavender that masked the rot beneath the floorboards. He slammed a prenuptial agreement onto the mahogany table and gave me a heartless ultimatum. "Sign it and marry Harrison Sterling, or I call the care facility in ten minutes and tell them to pull the plug on your mother's life support." My stepmother Lydia told me I should be grateful for this "future," while my stepsister Tiffany kicked a bag with her old, hideous wedding dress at my feet. They told me I was born for nothing but to pay off their debts. I was shipped off in the rain to the Sterling estate, a stone fortress where the housekeeper treated me like a servant and locked me in a pitch-black room. Inside, my new husband—a man rumored to be a blind, unstable monster—hurled a crystal glass at my head and tried to strangle me with his bare hands. I could feel the tremors in his grip and the sickly-sweet smell of neurotoxins on his breath. I realized then that Harrison wasn't the master of this house; he was a specimen in a jar, being systematically poisoned by his own family while cameras watched his every move. My own father had sold me into a death trap, thinking I was just a desperate girl with nowhere else to go. But they didn't know I had been living a double life as a medical prodigy who graduated from Johns Hopkins at nineteen. I pinned my "monster" husband to the floor, pulled a set of silver acupuncture needles from the hem of my dress, and made him a deal. "I’ll give you your eyes back, and in exchange, you help me burn both our families to the ground."

I stood in the shadows of the hospital, watching my wife kiss another man while my grandmother lay dying upstairs. Just minutes ago, Erlene had snapped at me over the phone, calling me a "needy child" and claiming she was stuck at a business meeting across town. Now, she was stepping out of a red Porsche in a designer dress, wrapped in the arms of Andrew Hanson, the man who was supposed to be her "sick friend." "I'm not going up," Erlene said coldly when I confronted her in the rain. "I don't like watching people die. It's depressing. Tell her I came by." She looked at my soaked, cheap hoodie and my scuffed sneakers with pure disgust before turning her back on me to return to her lover’s side. I had to go back to the ICU alone and lie to my grandmother with her final breath, telling her Erlene was waiting just outside the door. As the heart monitor flatlined at 2:14 AM, my phone buzzed with a call from my mother-in-law, who screamed that I was a "worthless loser" and demanded I sign divorce papers immediately so her daughter could finally be with a "real man." For three years, I lived as a ghost, a poor driver who endured their insults and hid my true identity just to have a simple life with the woman I loved. I sacrificed my future for a family that treated me like a stray dog, only for them to spit on me while I held my grandmother’s cold hand. Why did I stay in the shadows for so long? Why did I let these people believe they could crush me under their expensive heels? I walked out of that hospital and threw my thick, black glasses onto the wet asphalt, watching a delivery truck grind them into dust. I didn't need the disguise anymore. I drove my rusted Honda to the towering iron gates of the George Estate, where the security team dropped their batons and snapped into a terrified salute. My father was waiting on the marble steps, but I wasn't there for a peaceful reunion. I was there to reclaim my inheritance and make sure Erlene realized exactly what she had thrown away.

The last thing I remembered from that life was the metallic taste of blood. Mark' s fists felt like concrete blocks, crushing my ribs with every blow. Through the haze of pain, I saw Sarah by the warehouse door, holding her son. She watched me die, her beautiful face blank, her eyes cold and empty. She had chosen him, the gangster, the man now beating me to death, over me. After twenty years of trying to save her, sacrificing everything, her betrayal was the final, most painful blow. Then, nothing, until a phone started ringing. I snapped awake in my childhood bedroom not aching, not broken. My old flip phone flashed a familiar name: Sarah' s Mom. I knew this call. This was the night Sarah got into trouble with Mark. The night her parents begged me to use my college savings to bail her out. Last time, I' d said yes, draining my account and giving up my dream school. This time, I took a steadying breath. "No." The line went silent. "What? Alex, what do you mean, no? This is Sarah we' re talking about." "She made her choices. She needs to face the consequences. I' m not getting involved." A weight I didn' t know I was carrying for two decades lifted. "I have my own life to think about. I' m sorry." I hung up, staring at my unbroken hands, the hands of an eighteen-year-old with a future I was taking back.

The crystal chandeliers of the Grand Ballroom reflected in the champagne, but the light felt cold. My husband, Mark, was across the room, his eyes fixed on Lily, the young intern who had become his entire world. I walked towards them, the whispers of the crowd following me. He handed me a pre-prepared divorce settlement. "I\'m going to marry Lily," he said, loud enough for those nearby to hear. Then, with a cruel twist of his lips, he added, "Consider our partnership terminated. Effective immediately." In the weeks that followed, Mark systematically dismantled my family' s business. He orchestrated a public scandal, leaking fabricated documents that implicated my father in fraud. My father had a heart attack. My mother aged a decade overnight. I sat by my father' s hospital bed, watching the news report on Mark and Lily' s engagement. That' s when I truly broke. Then, a blinding flash of light. A gut-wrenching pull. I gasped, my eyes flying open. The date on my phone was October 12th. The day I found Lily' s photo on his computer. The day the nightmare began. I was back. The memory of my parents' ruined faces, of my father in that hospital bed, was burned into my mind. It was not a dream. It was a warning. I had a second chance. Not for revenge. Not to win him back. For survival.

The searing pain was the last thing I knew. A sharp, cold metal plunging into my belly, again and again. My best friend, Tara, was screaming, a twisted rage on her face I' d never seen before, "Why couldn't it have been you? You have everything!" Her husband, Brian, held the knife, his eyes empty. I watched my own blood pool on my marble floor as they staged a home invasion, taking over my life, my home, my wealth. I watched my husband, shattered by grief, take his own life. My baby, my husband, me – all of it, gone. I died, clutching to the injustice of it all, wondering how the people I loved most could betray me so absolutely. Why did they hate me so much just for having what they wanted? Then I woke up, alive, in my Silicon Valley home, my hand resting on my still-pregnant belly. And the front door opened, revealing Tara and Brian, suitcases in hand, their smiles dripping with false sweetness.

I had just closed a nine-figure deal, the kind that sets your family up for generations. But when I got home, exhausted and suffering a heart attack, my wife and daughter were too busy recording TikToks and live streams to even notice. As I collapsed, gasping for breath, my wife told me my "negative energy was messing with her aura." I had to dial 911 myself, my family completely oblivious, leaving me to die on the floor. Waking up alone in the hospital, I found not concerned calls, but credit card alerts for lavish shopping sprees. They weren't worried; they were celebrating. Then, at Malibu, I saw my wife with her "life coach" lover as she handed me divorce papers, and my daughter told me he was more of a father than I ever was. My world shattered, I saw the truth: every sacrifice for them had been a lie. I had given my life, my fortune, all of it, to people who only saw me as an ATM. But the real shock came with a sealed envelope: 0.00% paternity. The daughter I had raised for seventeen years wasn't mine. The pain burned away the old me, leaving behind a cold, calculating resolve. I froze their accounts, repossessed their luxuries, and hired a PI to expose the "life coach" as a low-level con artist with massive gambling debts. When they came begging, I showed them the paternity test and his criminal record, then I called 911 on him for kidnapping them-his desperate attempt for ransom money. I set up a small trust for Molly, enough only for community college, sealing off my past. Then, I sold my company, bought a muscle car, and drove cross-country, ready to finally live for myself. I didn't seek revenge; I orchestrated justice.

The day of my SATs, my first step toward freedom, began with a slap. Our Texas ranch was a river of mud, and the testing center was twenty miles away. My father, a self-made oil tycoon, didn' t even look up as I begged for fifty dollars. "Fifty dollars? Do you think money grows on trees, Gabrielle?" he sneered. Then came the slap, hard and fast, echoing through our cavernous living room. "Lazy and entitled," he spat, stealing the seventeen dollars I' d painstakingly saved. He kicked me out into the storm, telling me not to return until I'd learned the value of a dollar. My brother, Andrew, stood by, his face a mask of indifference. My mother was upstairs, oblivious, probably admiring a new diamond. As I trudged through the mud, a news report on our giant billboard flashed. It showed my family smiling on a stage, celebrating a one-million-dollar donation to an arts program in honor of my adopted sister, Molly. Her achievement? A C+ in art. They had just slapped me and thrown me out for a fifty-dollar ride to the most important exam of my life. The image of their smiling faces burned into my mind, washing away the tears I didn' t even realize I was crying. Defeated, I reached the testing center, only to find the doors locked. I tore my soggy admission ticket into tiny pieces, letting the rain carry them away. Something inside me broke. Or maybe, it finally healed.

Ethan Miller always felt like a ghost, invisible in his own home. He yearned for his biological parents' love, but their affection, their very sight, was reserved for his adopted brother, Kyle – the golden boy who perfectly filled the void Ethan had left. Then, terror struck. He was kidnapped, brutally tormented. A desperate call reached his FBI profiler father, who, in Ethan' s darkest hour, dismissed him as a mere nuisance: "Your brother's debate is what matters today!" Days later, Ethan's body was found, brutally murdered. His own parents-an FBI agent and a medical examiner-worked the scene, professionally examining the unrecognizable remains. They handled his personal effects, his ruined clothing, utterly blind to the son they held in their hands, prioritizing another' s success over his very life. How could they not see him? How could he be so utterly erased, dismissed even in death, by the people who gave him life? The gut-wrenching irony was an agony even for a ghost. But the truth couldn't stay buried forever. A small receipt and security footage would shatter their denial, forcing them to confront the unrecognizable horror. And when the kidnapper' s chilling confession revealed Kyle' s calculated betrayal as the mastermind, their perfect family would finally, explosively, unravel before the world.

It was Valentine's Day, also my daughter Lily's fifth birthday, and our San Francisco house buzzed with her party. Her innocent wish, spoken in perfect French, shattered my world: "I wish Mommy and Daddy would divorce, and Uncle Julian could be my new daddy." My wife Izzy confirmed her chilling desire, and the subsequent divorce papers, the mere fifty-million-dollar check, and pervasive public humiliation felt like the final blows. Every person I cared for-my wife, my daughter, my very own parents-echoed the same brutal sentiment: I was nothing but a convenience, easily discarded. Years of devotion, of caring for Izzy during her coma and raising Lily, yielded only cold dismissals and public scorn. My heart, already weakened by a secret chronic illness, shattered repeatedly, leaving me hollowed out and completely unvalued. Was my loyalty a curse? Had I truly been nothing but a 'placeholder'? With nothing left but bitter pain, a mysterious entity offered an 'exit'-a chance to leave this life behind. But death, it seemed, was merely a new beginning. I awoke to a reality where I was reborn, the highly respected screenwriter Ethan Cole, cured of my past ailments. Until a ghost from my previous life, my ex-wife and daughter, appeared, ready to 'reconquer' me. This time, the game was on my terms.

Molly's marriage with Eric was not made out of love—it was merely an arrangement. It all stemmed from her beauty that held an uncanny resemblance to his late sister. He never gave much thought to her until she found out that she was seducing his brother. Enraged, he made it a point to make her everyday life miserable. However, something he was not prepared for happened—he fell head over heels in love with her. The once domineering CEO became vulnerable, dedicating his time to adoring her, spoiling her, and loving her.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Today was my thirtieth birthday. I left work early, secretly hoping my husband, Braxton, would finally remember and celebrate with me. But when I unlocked the door, the house was dark and silent. Through the terrace window, I saw him and our five-year-old daughter, Bonnie, sitting happily on a picnic blanket. Sitting across from them was Danika, holding the exact chocolate lavender cake I had wanted. "Make a wish, Auntie Danika! Daddy said all your wishes will come true!" Bonnie cheered. Braxton looked at Danika with a profound tenderness he had never, not once, shown me. My hands went numb, and my water glass slipped, shattering loudly on the marble floor. The laughter outside stopped. Braxton stepped inside, frowned at the broken glass, and pulled out his phone. "Mrs. Sullivan, there's a mess in the living room. Have it cleaned up tomorrow." He didn't call my name. He didn't even consider that his wife might be home. He just walked back out to his perfect family. Standing in the shadows, I realized I was just a ghost in my own house. My husband didn't love me, and my daughter wished another woman was her mother. The last flicker of hope in my heart completely died. I didn't scream or cry. I packed a single suitcase, signed a divorce agreement waiving all assets and custody, and walked out to build my own tech empire. They wanted a life without me. I was going to give it to them.

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.

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.

I was born to be Alpha Damien Carlisle's fated Luna. Instead, I lived like a stray dog in his pack. For one year, I watched everyone worship Lilith Vance, his fragile first love, while they mocked me as the barren mate he was too ashamed to mark. Then I learned the truth. His mother had been forcing brutal fertility herbs into my body. His sister threw an illegal sterility poison at me. And Damien, my own mate, had been secretly lacing my food with wolfsbane contraceptives for months. When I confronted him, he did not deny it. "I couldn't let you get pregnant," he said coldly. "If Lilith found out you were carrying my heir, the shock might kill her." I finally understood. I was never his Luna. I was his bloodline. His legal womb. His family's insurance policy. The moment Lilith coughed up blood, Damien abandoned me without looking back. So I ran to the capital and begged the Alpha King to grant me a formal Rejection. He threw my petition away unread. My mate had poisoned me. My pack had betrayed me. And the King himself refused to free me. Fine. If the law would not save me, I would save myself. In my past life, I had been a healer no one believed until it was too late. This time, I remembered everything. In seven days, at the Royal Hunt, the Alpha King would drink a silver poison designed to kill even a Lycan. No royal healer would be able to save him. But I would. I packed my surgical kit, disappeared into the city slums, and prepared the only cure in the kingdom. When the King lay dying, he would finally listen. And the price of his life would be simple. My freedom.

As a wolfless charity case at the Hyde Pack's celebration, my world shattered when Braydon, my supposed protector, publicly announced Katherine Parrish as his Luna, erasing me. Heartbroken, I fled into a terrifying contract marriage with Alpha King Dallas Marshall for protection. Braydon's public assault and threats forced me to reveal my secret marriage, challenging the King. My "protection" felt like a prison. Braydon revealed I was a "key" to power, not a mate, confirming my fears. Enraged by my attempt to take a morning-after pill, Dallas forced me to swallow it, then branded my lips with a furious kiss. His chilling silence hardened my resolve. I immediately drafted an addendum to our contract, setting strict boundaries to reclaim control.