'If you keep making such advances, I'll be seduced for real.' She frowned. 'Just reminding you that I will consider every interaction between us a part of our arrangement. Don't get involved with me. I don't like men like you.' Caph examined the serious expression on her face and reached out one hand to tuck a strand of black hair behind her ear. Where his fingers touched her skin, it burned. She leaned as far back as she could. 'Aren't you the one who's getting confused?' . After losing both her parents in an attack by rogue wolves, Ran's uncle, Acamar, took over the pack as Regent Alpha until she is of age to succeed her parents. Since the attack, Ran became reserved and ambitious, rising up to the rank of Beta on her own. Acamar gives her an ultimatum as Regent: marry a capable man and hand over the position of Alpha to him or give him the right to be Alpha before her 21st birthday. Her Unwelcome Mate is created by Rowyrn Kafka, an EGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.
Ran had gone a distance from the clearing to escape the crowd of the Full Moon Gathering and look at the stars. She tilted her pale face to the moon, coal black eyes reflecting the galaxy visible tonight. How peaceful. She pursed her lips.
Lately, the monthly werewolf gatherings held to report pack activity had gotten stressful.
She braced herself for more unwanted attention and returned to the bonfire at the centre of the clearing. There it was! She felt a large hand reach out to touch her from behind. Instinctively, she lifted her leg and swung it at her attacker. The offending party dodged her lethal kick with inhuman ease.
'Woah!' he exclaimed. 'Easy, girl. It's a party. Chillax a little.'
The culprit lifted his arms in mock surrender, a wide smile on his face. She frowned.
'A drink for you?' he asked. Her fingers twitched.
'No, thank you.' She continued walking.
He followed her. 'Don't like beer? What would you like? I'll get it for you.'
She glanced sideways at him. Like most werewolves in their human form, he was tall and muscular but average-looking. He kept pace with her easily. A normal human would have been out of breath.
'Don't,' Ran said.
'Don't?' he repeated. He tilted his head to the side. 'As in, you don't like beer? Or you don't like drinks in general?'
Ran stopped walking abruptly even though she had almost reached the bonfire. Here, howls of laughter and loud conversation surrounded her on all sides.
She looked the male werewolf in the eye, her coal black eyes burning. 'Don't hit on me.'
His jaw dropped at her lack of tact but he covered it up quickly by drinking from his bottle of beer. Ran walked away, her eyes scanning the boisterous crowd for members of her pack. She liked knowing where her people were, even though they were in no danger here at this Full Moon Gathering.
'I'm not hitting on you,' he said, trailing after her as she picked her way through the crowd. 'I'm just being polite, you know. It's manly to ask a female if she wants a drink.'
Ran stopped walking again, her long black ponytail whipping around as she turned and glared at him. 'That's not manly. It's flirting. You need to be more than polite to be an Alpha.'
The male werewolf flinched. 'Alright. Chillax, Beta of Eridanus. Just being nice.'
Before she could respond, he disappeared into the crowd.
Ran reached the buffet spread piled high on rows of sagging wooden tables. Obviously, feeding hundreds of hungry werewolves meant there would be a lot of food. There was more meat and cheese on these tables than there would be at a commercial poultry farm. Jars of cow's blood sat at one end of a particularly rickety table, weighing down one end of the wooden surface so it almost toppled over.
Ran pursed her lips and picked up a packet of marshmallows.
A gruff voice called her from behind.
She spun around instinctively.
Anyone from the Eridanus pack would have, because Acamar was the Regent Alpha-the current leader of the pack because Ran was not of age yet to take over the role of Alpha. Her parents, the Alpha and his Luna were killed ten years ago. Acamar, her father's older brother, was her guardian and would remain the pack's leader until she turned 21.
Acamar was big and burly with an ugly scar on his left temple left behind by a silver bullet from the Human-Werewolf War. He had sharp black eyes, just like her father, only his were hardened from surviving many brutal battles. Ran bowed her head briefly, a show of respect for her leader, but met his gaze right after as an equal (after all, the position of Alpha rightly belonged to her).
'What is it?' she asked.
Everything seemed to be going well at this Full Moon Gathering. There was peace among the Septrion County packs and no major problems had to be dealt with urgently. All the packs had given their reports and the First Shifting Ceremony had been held for the new werewolves. The 'gathering' part of the Gathering had just begun.
'Is something wrong?'
Her uncle shook his head. He gestured at werewolf behind him. A young man with tousled red-brown hair and alert blue eyes. She had never seen him at any of their Gatherings. 'He's from the Cassiopeia pack,' Acamar said, reading her eyes.
'The Alpha's fourth son, Caph.'
Caph was tall and muscular too, but in a lithe and lean way. He stood out from all the werewolves at the Gathering somehow. The people around them could not help but stare at him.
Ran also could not tear her gaze away.
His name was familiar even though he wasn't.
After a moment, she realised why. Her pack's latest obsession had been the rumours of a college student named Caph who was caught making out in a lecture theatre while another class was in session.
She did not expect 'Caph' to be a werewolf.
Werewolves rarely involved themselves with humans because it increased the likelihood of being discovered.
The rumours had described Caph as very attractive and seeing him for herself, Ran could understand why. There was something about him-the bold red tint in his brown hair, the misty seductive gaze that made you forget what you were doing?-probably the way he held himself with lazy confidence, that drew people to him.
Ran's was sure he was the kind of werewolf who always got what he wanted.
Most likely through seduction.
Ran despised this type of male the most.
'Happy 20th birthday, Beta of Eridanus,' Caph said with an charming smile, holding out his hand to shake hers.
She refused to take his hand.
Immediately the conversations of the werewolves around her began to include Caph's name. And hers.
Ran's eyes flicked over to her uncle and narrowed. Had he told the Cassiopeia werewolf about her birthday? Why?
Acamar's eyes gleamed when he noticed the question in her eyes.
'Ran. This is an order,' he commanded.
Immediately, Ran straightened her back, her senses heightened. An Alpha's order was the sacred word of his pack. Even she could not resist it-yet. Not until she turned 21.
'You will marry Caph.'
'What?!'
Her uncle's eyes hardened and he asserted his authority with a growl. Ran lowered her head reluctantly.
'You must marry before you turn 21,' Acamar declared, 'otherwise you will hand over the right to be Alpha to me.'
"I stood at the edge of my heart and watched him choose her. In the end, I was not the one he needed. I was simply the one he settled for." - Noelle ~~~~~~~ I thought I was the one he loved. But a few days before our wedding, I saw him in a way I never had before. His eyes softened as he spoke to her. His first love, and the very woman who had left him in pieces. Heartbreak was something I knew too well. And as I watched the love he still held for her in his eyes, I realized what I had to do. I couldn't marry a man who wasn't truly mine. With no means to cancel the wedding and lacking the courage to confront him, I made a desperate choice to leave. I painfully gave his first love my treasured engagement ring thinking it was for the best and the only way to free myself. But when he saw that ring on her finger, the fragile world I had tried to escape began to shatter. His obsession to find me and bring me back ignited a dangerous game of cat and mouse.
For as long as Emily can remember, she has wanted to overcome her shyness and explore her sexuality. Still, everything changes when she receives an invitation to visit one of the town's most prestigious BDSM clubs, DESIRE'S DEN. On the day she chose to peruse the club, she noticed three men, all dressed in suits, standing on the upper level, near the railing. Despite her limited vision, she persisted in fixating on them. Their towering statues belied the toned bodies concealed by their sharply tailored suits-or so she could tell. The hair of two of them was short and dark, and the third had light brown-possibly blond-hair that reached the shoulders. The dark, crimson background incised their figures, exuding an air of mystery and strength. They stood in stark contrast to the unfiltered, primal energy that pulsed through the club. Shocked by the desires these men aroused in her, she was disappointed to learn that they were masters seeking a slave to divide and conquer. She couldn't afford the fee, and she also realized that they were outside her league. Emily hurriedly left the club, feeling disappointed and depressed, unaware that she had also caught the group's attention. A world of wicked pleasure, three handsome men. Over the years, they have lived a life of decadence, their lavish lair serving as a stage for their most sinister desires. But despite the unending parade of willing subjects, one woman sticks out. A mysterious stranger with white porcelain skin and a killer body, a slave, a name with no address, the first lady to attract their eye and they will go to any length to obtain her no matter the consequences.
Lindsey's fiancé was the devil's first son. Not only did he lie to her but he also slept with her stepmother, conspired to take away her family fortune, and then set her up to have sex with a total stranger. To get her lick back, Lindsey decided to find a man to disrupt her engagement party and humiliate the cheating bastard. Never did she imagine that she would bump into a strikingly handsome stranger who was all that she was currently looking for. At the engagement party, he boldly declared that she was his woman. Lindsey thought he was just a broke man who wanted to leech off her. But once they began their fake relationship, she realized that good luck kept coming her way. She thought they would part ways after the engagement party, but this man kept to her side. "We gotta stick together, Lindsey. Remember, I'm now your fiancé. " "Domenic, you're with me because of my money, aren't you?" Lindsey asked, narrowing her eyes at him. Domenic was taken aback by that accusation. How could he, the heir of the Walsh family and CEO of Vitality Group, be with her for money? He controlled more than half of the city's economy. Money wasn't a problem for him! The two got closer and closer. One day, Lindsey finally realized that Domenic was actually the stranger she had slept with months ago. Would this realization change things between them? For the better or worse?
Rosalynn's marriage to Brian wasn't what she envisioned it to be. Her husband, Brian, barely came home. He avoided her like a plague. Worse still, he was always in the news for dating numerous celebrities. Rosalynn persevered until she couldn't take it anymore. She upped and left after filing for a divorce. Everything changed days later. Brian took interest in a designer that worked for his company anonymously. From her profile, he could tell that she was brilliant and dazzling. He pulled the stops to find out her true identity. Little did he know that he was going to receive the greatest shocker of his life. Brian bit his finger with regret when he recalled his past actions and the woman he foolishly let go.
Maria took her sister’s place and was engaged to Anthony, a disabled man who had lost his status as the family heir. At first, they were just a nominal couple. However, things changed when things about Maria were gradually exposed. It turned out she was a professional hacker, a mysterious composer, and the sole successor to an international jade sculpting master… The more that was revealed about her, the less Anthony could rest easy. A famous singer, an award-winning actor, an heir of a rich family—so many excellent men were chasing after his fiancee, Maria. What should Anthony do?
After two years of marriage, Sadie was finally pregnant. Filled with hope and joy, she was blindsided when Noah asked for a divorce. During a failed attempt on her life, Sadie found herself lying in a pool of blood, desperately calling Noah to ask him to save her and the baby. But her calls went unanswered. Shattered by his betrayal, she left the country. Time passed, and Sadie was about to be wed for a second time. Noah appeared in a frenzy and fell to his knees. "How dare you marry someone else after bearing my child?"