Comes with a price
/1/118699/coverbig.jpg?v=1bf72c7e122ab2ea31302562a1751bd1)
His Defiant Mate: The Lycan King's Chosen Luna
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.
Chapter 1
Audriana POV:
"I'm sorry, Ms. Sullivan, but Mr. Black's appointment was for half an hour ago."
The clerk's voice was polite, but his eyes held a pity I refused to acknowledge. I glanced at the sleek watch on my wrist. Thirty-two minutes. He was thirty-two minutes late.
"He's on his way," I said, my voice smoother than I felt. My stomach was a tight knot of cold dread.
I stepped away from the polished walnut desk, the scent of lemon cleaner and old paper filling my nose. The North American Inter-Pack Alliance Registry Hall was designed to be imposing, with its marble columns and vaulted ceilings, meant to impress upon werewolves the gravity of the contracts signed here. Today, it just felt cold.
The air conditioning ghosted across my bare arms, raising goosebumps. I unconsciously twisted the delicate silver chain bracelet on my wrist, a nervous habit I'd had since I was a child. The tiny links were cool against my skin.
My phone buzzed in my clutch. A message from my assistant, Maya.
'Apex Ventures deal is ready for your final review. They're getting antsy.'
I typed a quick reply, my fingers flying across the screen.
'Tell them to hold their breath. I'm handling something personal.'
Personal. That's what this was supposed to be. The final step. Gabe and I, registering our intent to bond, a formality before the ceremony that would tie our packs, our families, our futures together.
I closed my eyes for a second, focusing, trying to pull his scent from the air. It was a game we used to play as kids. I could always find him. That familiar, comforting scent of pine and damp earth.
But all I could smell now was a cacophony of strangers-stale coffee, cloying perfume, the metallic tang of anxiety from a dozen other wolves waiting in this sterile hall. A wave of nausea rolled through me. Something was wrong.
My phone buzzed again. Not a work message this time. An unknown number.
The message was short, brutal.
'VIP Lounge 3. He's waiting for you.'
My breath hitched. VIP Lounge 3. I knew the layout of this building. It was at the end of the private corridor, reserved for Alphas of significant standing. Gabe's father had used it last year to finalize a trade agreement.
My fingers tightened around my phone. It was a trap. A cruel joke. It had to be.
But the knot in my stomach pulled tighter, a cold, hard certainty.
I pushed open the heavy glass door that separated the main hall from the private corridors. The sound of the bustling hall was instantly muffled by the thick, plush carpet. My heels sank into the crimson pile with each step, silencing my approach.
As I moved down the hallway, a new scent cut through the sterile air.
Cherry blossom. Sickly sweet and artificial.
Hailee's scent.
My steps slowed. My heart, which had been hammering against my ribs, gave a painful lurch and then seemed to stop altogether. It couldn't be. She was my stepsister. She was supposed to be my maid of honor.
I reached the door. Room 3. It was heavy, dark redwood, and slightly ajar. Just a crack.
Through the gap, in the dim, intimate lighting of the lounge, I saw them. Two figures, tangled together on a leather sofa.
Gabe.
His hand was buried in her blonde hair, the same way he used to touch mine. Hailee's head was thrown back, her laughter a low, throaty sound that made my blood run cold.
The world narrowed to that sliver of a view. The sound of my own blood roaring in my ears drowned out everything else.
I didn't think. I acted.
My hand shot out and slammed the door open. It crashed against the interior wall with a sound like a gunshot.
They sprang apart, their faces a blur of shock and panic. Gabe scrambled to his feet, his shirt rumpled, his face flushed.
"Audriana! What the hell are you doing?"
Hailee, true to form, immediately dissolved into a picture of terrified innocence. She shrank behind Gabe, her eyes wide and already filling with tears. "Audri, it's not what it looks like."
A laugh escaped my lips, but it was a harsh, ugly sound. "Not what it looks like? You're half an hour late to our registration, and I find you with your tongue down my stepsister's throat. Please, Gabe. Enlighten me."
"You were following me?" he roared, his voice bouncing off the wood-paneled walls. He took a step forward, trying to use his Alpha presence to intimidate me, to make me shrink. It was a tactic that had stopped working years ago.
"Don't be stupid," I snapped, my voice like ice. "I can smell her on you. You reek of cheap perfume and betrayal."
Hailee let out a sob. "We couldn't help it! The bond... it's just so strong between us. We never meant to hurt you."
The bond. She dared to speak of the bond.
I ignored her, my eyes locked on Gabe. On the man I had loved since we were children. The man my wolf had recognized. The man who was supposed to be my future.
"Give me an answer, Gabe," I said, my voice dangerously quiet. "A real one. Now."
He looked from my face to Hailee's tear-streaked one. She gave a little whimper and tugged on his arm, the perfect damsel in distress. And in that moment, I saw his decision. His jaw tightened. His eyes, which I once thought held the whole world, turned to stone.
"I, Gabe Black, Alpha of the Blackwater Pack," he began, his voice formal and loud, ringing with the ancient power of the rite.
The air in the room crackled. The words were a physical force, slamming into me.
"Reject you, Audriana Sullivan, as my mate."
Pain. It wasn't emotional. It was physical. A spear of white-hot agony that started in my chest and ripped through every nerve in my body. It felt like my soul was being torn in two. My breath was stolen from my lungs. My knees threatened to buckle.
I bit down on my lower lip, hard. The coppery taste of blood filled my mouth. I would not scream. I would not cry. I would not give them the satisfaction.
My fingernails dug into the soft leather of my clutch, the leather groaning under the pressure.
For a flicker of a second, I saw something in Gabe's eyes. A flash of regret. Of pain. But it was quickly smothered by the cold, hard wall of his decision. Hailee's hand was on his arm, a triumphant possessiveness in her touch.
I forced myself to stand taller, to straighten my spine, even as the world tilted around me. I met his gaze, and I let him see the abyss that had just opened between us.
I cleared my throat, my voice a raw, broken thing. But it was steady.
"I, Audriana Sullivan," I rasped, each word costing me a piece of my shattered soul, "accept your rejection."
The bond snapped.
It was a sound no one else could hear, but for me, it was a cataclysm. A final, brutal severing. The pain intensified for a blinding moment, then settled into a deep, hollow ache that I knew would never truly leave.
Behind Gabe, Hailee's lips curved into a small, victorious smile.
I looked at them, and in that moment, the labels fell away-fiancé, stepsister, family-until all that remained were two strangers, standing on the ruins of my life. Two pieces of trash I had found on the side of the road.
Worthless.
Without another word, I turned my back on the wreckage of my life. I walked out of the room, my steps even and measured, down the long, silent corridor, and away from the man who had just ripped my heart out of my chest.
/0/64976/coverbig.jpg?v=23fce339f353ef0abb05eb6426f541f9)
Comes with a price
Lena Winston has always been excluded and maltreated by her family when she returns from abroad where she she had been idled for so many years,her family tried to take advantage of her once again, forcing her to get married to a member of a rich family. After discovering some plots and secrets of
/0/76742/coverbig.jpg?v=541839aa9623069f8c05e4adb6950fee)
A PRICE OF OBSESSION
One night. One mistake. One man who refuses to let her go. Amara Leighton is a rising art curator with a tainted past and a desperate need to stay invisible in the elite world of New York's wealthy. But when she agrees to a nameless, faceless one-night stand at a masked rooftop party, she unknowing
/0/84529/coverbig.jpg?v=142685a38fe1b1f54673190801018857)
A Price on Freedom
"Just drink it, Emily, it\'ll help you relax." David Clark\'s voice was smooth, but his grip on my arm was tight, pushing a dark, sweet-smelling liquid toward me. I looked at him, his face a charming mask, and knew he wanted me drugged for a photographer he\'d hired. He aimed to frame me, his fianc
/0/82002/coverbig.jpg?v=74c1578284917d72142c044b0f8d3d85)
Mr. CEO Ex-lover Comes With Baby
Olivia Grace was willing to sacrifice everything for the man she loved-Hunter Jackson. But every sacrifice was repaid with humiliation. When her husband threw a lavish birthday party at a nightclub for his ex-girlfriend, treating it like the grandest gift, and allowed Olivia to be publicly humilia
/0/90177/coverbig.jpg?v=5ebb1c93c7b821e4fb12e2321573e5ed)
Love's Ashes, A Bitter Price
The world saw my husband, Kaden, as a tragic hero, honor-bound to me while his heart belonged to his childhood sweetheart, Cali. I believed it too, willing to endure the pain for his sake. On our anniversary, he came home with her. He didn't just ignore the special dinner I'd made; he grabbed the t
/0/85379/coverbig.jpg?v=74d7a5e9594430c465127bc19ef94aa3)
A Price For Her Ambition
The final line of code glowed emerald on my holographic interface, my AI masterpiece complete. Tomorrow was the launch, the culmination of years, ready to redefine my legacy. Then, Sarah, my co-founder and the woman who' d been by my side from the start, walked in. "I''m pulling out," she stated,
/0/30448/coverbig.jpg?v=cf9a6585ed9b8373df278443691ca8e9)
When love comes knocking
Derek Packer is a guy from a rich family, And a weakling when it comes to women. Bobby Packer is Derek's cousin who think that he can't fall in love. Miya Martins is a girl with a bad reputation. What will happen when Derek's mother thinks that Miya is a gold digger that has come to steal Derek's mo
/0/43797/coverbig.jpg?v=1e22b3963c4e81c8684ce6493e8823d5)
When Love Comes Late
In order to fulfill her grandfather's last wish, Stella entered into a hasty marriage with an ordinary man she had never met before. However, even after becoming husband and wife on paper, they each led separate lives, barely crossing paths. A year later, Stella returned to Seamarsh City, hoping
/0/86797/coverbig.jpg?v=eed8651ec2cb91b8d74f672c1f54e9a6)
The Price of a Lie
The dull ache in my side was a souvenir from the back-alley clinic, but the briefcase in my hand, filled with $500,000, promised a future. It was my life savings, the sale of everything I owned, and even a kidney sold on the black market. All for Ethan, all to save the man I loved from experimental
/0/85931/coverbig.jpg?v=f61082dcc99120de709a58ae2d78b9b1)
A Masterpiece of Lies, A Love's Price
The pain was a white-hot spike, a familiar agony that blurred the edges of Mark' s vision in his penthouse office. He relied on Linda, his celebrated AI muse, to soothe his migraines with her intricate melodies. But today, Linda' s music felt weak, ineffective, a sign that her "source"-a silent wo
/0/40549/coverbig.jpg?v=6c327d1e1122c7e3df8b77c9a75ff7ab)
Love Only Comes Once
Casey McAddams left her old town and the love of her life, behind just to chase her career in acting in the Hollywood. After some years and she finally becomes a big time actress worth over millions of dollars, she is back home not to stay but to film a movie, then she saw the one man she is madly i
/0/41893/coverbig.jpg?v=20a3bd59f501cea9344eafe754d2d694)
When Love Comes
Emir, after being abandoned, became a bitter man who disbelieved in love, his only focus in life is work. Betrayed by his ex-girlfriend, he dedicated himself exclusively to his career, to become a successful publicist. One morning he meets a journalism student, fearless, sassy and much younger than
/0/46925/coverbig.jpg?v=20231124140201)
The Demon Comes To
Samuel Waverly is an ordinary young man, who experienced paralysis in his legs, due to an attack by his upperclassman. One day he was declared dead due to a heart attack, while he was studying in class. But the next day, everyone was frightened, because Samuel suddenly entered school, in perfect hea
/0/59802/coverbig.jpg?v=c2fe52e97b8eed87311c978ba8f24021)
The CEO’s Ex Wife Comes Back With Twins
Her billionaire husband divorces her when she needs him the most. She has a week left to live and has just discovered she’s pregnant. Life gives her a second chance to get revenge on her ex husband, but will she fall even harder for him now or overlook the fact that CEO Aaron, Alpha of the Grey pack
/0/24807/coverbig.jpg?v=5bbdc70b4df4beb5642c809a00a6383b)
Until my mate comes
Anton and Amy grew up together but what happens when they also grow up appart? Amy has a crush on Anton but he avoids her at any cost. Will he change his mind? And what happens when they find their mates?
/0/3630/coverbig.jpg?v=5bd8a41b33798b78edba08667299fbb9)
/0/5079/coverbig.jpg?v=6e18e462cb01c220d1fbeb687bc63848)
/0/86935/coverbig.jpg?v=83576b879ecb731ad1938aaa9fefa76e)
The Price Of Love, A Life Reclaimed
The New Year's trip was meant to be a fresh start, my final test to prove myself worthy of Chloe Davis' s powerful family. I spent the holiday tirelessly entertaining her restless younger brother, Leo, a frantic effort to be the perfect future brother-in-law. Then, a single scream shattered everyth
/0/89874/coverbig.jpg?v=fa7809905ea233c77bb3ba5d038450ec)
The Price of a Perfect Lie
My husband, the real estate magnate Gregory Thompson, had a five-year affair and a secret son. When the scandal broke, he went on national television, his face a mask of sorrow. He swore I was the only woman he had ever truly loved and that he would spend the rest of his life earning back my trust.
/0/85044/coverbig.jpg?v=f3f7eba573db694fb568d628612cf6aa)
The Price of Jealousy: A College Nightmare
My parents dropped me off at college like a princess, with a platinum card and no worries. My new life, full of independence and excitement, was just beginning. My roommate, Sarah, seemed sweet at first, a quiet girl with kind eyes. But her sweetness quickly turned sour, poisoned by resentment ov
