Talia's life is broken when her father, Alpha Silas forces her into an arranged marriage with the ruthless and powerful Alpha Ryder. Desperate to escape the union with current lover, John. Talia attempts to flee with John but Ryder's enforcers capture her and kill John dragging her back to face her fate.As she dives into Ryder's world, Talia discovers the real reason why her father sold her off to marry Ryder - To settle an old debt.Time slowly passes and Talia begins to realize the dark secrets behind his brutal reputation. Despite his cold demeanor, Talia begins to see a spark of passion and a hint of vulnerability.Talia finds herself slowly falling for the Alpha who was once her captor but just as Talia thinks she has found a way into Ryder's heart, her past comes back to haunt her.John, her ex lover whom she thought was dead, he returns stronger and more powerful than ever seeking revenge against Ryder and determined to claim Talia as his own.Talia is forced to choose between the Alpha who owns her heart and the lover who refuses to let her go.
Chapter One
Talia's POV
My heart races fast and my body shakes in fear as I hear Dad call my name one more time. I gulp a lump down my throat and pause in my footsteps to think whether or not to answer his call. What am I saying? I have no choice but to answer it anyways, after all if I do not, he will come for me himself and when he does, it is going to be way worse than I imagined. Welcome to my life, the life of a daughter with an abusive father. Except usually, Dad's that are abusive, they do not ever have reason why they are abusive towards their children. Most of them just derive joy in watching their children in pain while others might by psychotic but my dad is different, my dad is crazy. He thinks I am the one behind the the death of my mother years ago. I mean i never even got to meet my mother, she died while giving birth to me but although, I heard some few good stories from my dad whenever he was sane.
"Talia! Get here now before I come for you myself!" Dad yells with anger and fury. I knew it, if i chose not to come, he would not stop calling me. He would only come for me instead and that is one conversation that I am not ready for.
"I am coming father!" I yell and in less than a minute, I appear right in front of my furious dad. His face is scrunched into a frown and his brown eyes twinkle in anger. I hastily know it is time for me to apologize if I do not want to get hit in the face.
"I am sorry Father." I say bowing my head in front of him in respect."Whatever. Pack your things together tonight, you will be leaving the house tomorrow.
" Dad snaps at me. I scrunch my brows in confusion and my heart races fast. What does he mean by I would be leaving the house tomorrow? What horrible thing does he have in mind planned for me now?
"With all due respect Sir, I do not understand you." I mumble. Dad raises a brow at me and asks
"Do you expect me to repeat my words Talia?" He snaps at me with a look of disdain plastered on his face. I shake my head in disagreement. That would also just lead to something else. Something unimaginable.
"No Sir but if I may ask..." I trail off in the most calm and polite tone. I need to be sure that I am not stepping on the tiger's toes.
"Are we moving out of town?" I blurt out. Although I can tell that is a very stupid question because my dad, Alpha Silas is the Alpha of a well known pack called the RiverMoon pack. Our pack house is here and so are our pack members which means it would be impossible for dad to just leave.
"Are you expecting me to answer that dumb question Talia? Really?" Dad yells at me. I shake my head in disagreement and take back my words immediately or rather should I say I rephrase my words in a way that dad can understand me better.
"Sorry for the silly questions Sir, I am just curious as to why I have to pack my things for tomorrow." I pause to sneak a glance at him and the look on his face is not something encouraging so I try again.
"It is not like I am questioning your order or something. I just think it would be nice to know why I have to pack my clothes today and where I would be headed to." I pause to grin widely and say "So that I can pack the prettiest."
"You will be getting married." Dad blurts out. What? Did I just hear him correctly? Getting married? To who and why is it even so soon that I have to pack out of the house and move into the person's house permanently because it is definitely not temporarily judging by the look on Dad's face. Is he already so tired of me that he can not bear with me for a longer while? At least long enough till John, my actual boyfriend asks me to marry him.
"Wait, John has not asked me to marry him yet or did he come to you personally for my hands in marriage?" I ask smiling shyly. Dad shakes his head at me.
"You clueless fool. Who said I ever approved of you and John's relationship in the first place? I only let you spend time with that idiot because I believed i had not found the right man for you but now that I have, forget about John." Dad says through gritted teeth and a clenched fist. I have a feeling that fist might land on my face anytime soon but I do not care,
"never will I marry a man I do not love" I blurted out without caution.
"Love?" Dad pauses to choke out a bitter laughter. He shakes his head at me and asks "What do you think you know about love?"
"Well enough to marry someone I love and not some ordinary man." I replied. Dad looks offended by my words because he rises to his feet and pulls me by the ear.
"Ordinary man? Talia, this is not just any ordinary man! This is Alpha Ryder of the silver moon pack that we are talking about here!" Dad yells at me through gritted teeth. I flinch a bit at his anger and my heart races extremely fast.Alpha Ryder of the Silver moon pack though? No way, that ruthless and manipulative Alpha. I have heard stories about him and how he treats everyone like trash. I heard he is also abusive, just like dad. No wonder dad wants me to marry him.
"Try to go against my orders and I will kill you. Mark my words Talia."
During her three years of marriage with Brendan, Adeline had become as humble as dust itself. However, what she got in return wasn't love and affection, but endless indifference and disdain. Worse yet, when the woman in Brendan's heart suddenly showed up, he further distanced himself from her. Finally, Adeline couldn't stand it anymore and asked for a divorce. After all, why should she stay with such a cold, distant man? The next one would surely be better. Brendan watched as his ex-wife left with her luggage in tow. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him and he made a bet with his friends. "She'll definitely regret leaving and will come crawling back to me in no time." After hearing about this bet, Adeline sneered. "Dream on!" A few days later, Brendan ran into his ex-wife in a bar. It turned out she was celebrating her divorce. Not long after, he noticed that the damned woman seemed to have a new suitor. Brendan was starting to panic. The woman who had clung to him for three years suddenly didn't seem to give a damn about him. What was he going to do?
A sudden twist of fate connected Helena to a prominent and influential person. To onlookers, she appeared as a naive bimbo. In truth, she was a top-tier specialist, shrouded in layers of hidden identities. Charlie declared, “She’s quite delicate and easily hurt. Cross her, and you’re crossing me.” The elite families, outwitted by Helena's prowess, kept these truths from him. Helena eventually broke free from Charlie, sending him on a frenzied worldwide hunt. To him, she was a bird with dazzling wings, and his goal was to help her reach new heights.
Rachel used to think that her devotion would win Brian over one day, but she was proven wrong when his true love returned. Rachel had endured it all—from standing alone at the altar to dragging herself to the hospital for an emergency treatment. Everyone thought she was crazy to give up so much of herself for someone who didn’t return her feelings. But when Brian received news of Rachel’s terminal illness and realized she didn’t have long to live, he completely broke down. "I forbid you to die!" Rachel just smiled. She no longer needed him. "I will finally be free."
In the eyes of the public, Elijah was ever the gentleman, always distant and reserved. But behind closed doors, he was an animal who relentlessly ensnared Ashley in a web of lust. No one knew of their secret relationship, yet at the same time, no one dared to bully her again. Then one day, she was hit with morning sickness right in front of everyone. To everyone’s shock, the aloof and domineering Elijah quickly knelt in front of her and caressed her pregnant belly. “Babe,” he crooned, “let’s go public with our relationship. I will give you my everything.”
Loraine was a dutiful wife to Marco since they got married three years ago. However, he treated her like trash. Nothing she did softened his heart. One day, Loraine got fed up with it all. She asked him for a divorce and left him to enjoy with his mistress. The elites looked at her like she was deranged. "Are you out of your mind? Why are you so willing to divorce him?" "It's because I need to return home to get a billion-dollar fortune. Besides, I don't love him anymore," Loraine replied with a smile. They all laughed at her. Some believed that the divorce affected her mentally. It wasn't until the next day that they realized she wasn't fibbing. A woman was suddenly declared the world's youngest female billionaire. It turned out to be Loraine! Marco was shocked to the bone. When he met his ex-wife again, she was a changed person. A group of handsome young men surrounded her. She was smiling at them all. The sight made Marco's heart ache severely. Putting his pride aside, he tried to win her back. "Hello, love. I see that you are a billionaire now. You shouldn't be with suckers who just want your money. How about you come back to me? I'm a billionaire too. Together, we can build a strong empire. What do you say?" Loraine squinted at her ex-husband with her lips curled in disgust.
Kaelyn devoted three years tending to her husband after a terrible accident. But once he was fully recovered, he cast her aside and brought his first love back from abroad. Devastated, Kaelyn decided on a divorce as people mocked her for being discarded. She went on to reinvent herself, becoming a highly sought-after doctor, a champion racer, and an internationally renowned architectural designer. Even then, the traitors sneered in disdain, believing Kaelyn would never find someone. But then the ex-husband’s uncle, a powerful warlord, returned with his army to ask for Kaelyn’s hand in marriage.