His breath was fire against her throat.Her back hit the cold stone wall of the mansion."Tell me who you are," he growled, voice thick with rage-and something darker."I don't know," she whispered, trembling.But her eyes glowed. And deep down, something ancient stirred.Liana Bellarose was mistaken for a powerful Alpha's bride-and taken. But what begins as a terrifying mix-up quickly unravels into something far bigger. Hidden within her is a power long thought extinct, one that could shift the balance of the entire werewolf realm. Now, every Alpha wants her. But Liana isn't here to be claimed. She's here to reclaim everything.
Dante's POV
"You'll marry her."
No morning hello. No how's-your-shift. Just that-like it was as instinctive as ordering me to pull out a heart on the operating table.
I didn't look up. Just kept tracing the rim of my glass, letting the silence hang between us like a third entity in the room.
"And if I don't?
He walked as always-measured, polished, cold. Predator in a suit. "You will. We don't pair at random, Dante."
I laughed, hard and acidic. "She's not my mate."
"Doesn't matter."
"It does to me."
"That's your human," he said to me, voice as smooth as rocks over marble. "We don't let the beast have its way. We tame it."
And there it was. That Volmore mantra. The type of ideology passed from teeth to throat. My father was not a man. He was a wolf that'd chewed out his own heart for the pack.
He slid a file down the table. Thick. Surgical. Final.
Stella Virello's face leered back at me as if she knew. As if she hated it as much as I did.
"She ran," I said.
"And we found her," he replied, as innocent as sin. "That's what matters."
I finally caught his eye. "Why her?"
He blinked. Slowly. Unapologetically. "Bloodline. Legacy. Alliance. She's from a strong Alpha line. Their genes, our power. The future demands."
I settled back in my chair, lips twisting around the taste of it. This was no wedding. This was a breeding plan. Cold wolf intuition. No heart, no passion, just engineered bloodlines.
"This isn't the Dark Ages," I muttered.
"No," he said. "Worse. The Dark Ages ended. This never does."
He stood up. Done. As always. Volmores never beg. They command.
But before he went out, he hammered home one final nail.
"Fated mates are a myth, Dante. Real wolves build empires. They don't wait for stars to align."
And he was gone.
I sat there by myself, staring at her photo. Stella. A girl I was supposed to bind myself to in front of a pack of wolves who wore perfume and pearls but would tear your throat out if you blinked the wrong way.
This wasn't a union.
It was a leash.
And I was already gagging on it.
---
The clock on the wall ticks louder than my thoughts. I can hear every second crawl by, feel the weight of them pressing down. Forty-eight hours. Two days. The deadline's set, the deal signed, and the price has already been paid.
The chair groans beneath me as I stand, walking to the window. It should be peaceful. The way everything looks when you're too high to see the dirt. But the view doesn't settle me.
"Control," I mutter under my breath. "Control."
That's the game. Over the blood that wants to run wild. Over the wolf that wants to claw its way free and howl at the moon.
I don't want a mate. Never did. Mates are for weak wolves - wolves who can't command, wolves who think love will protect them from the darkness inside.
But it's not just about me. It's about bloodlines. The pack. The empire. The Volmore name is carved into history like a scar on this world.
Time's ticking, and it's suffocating me.
The wolf knows what I am. It knows what's at stake. A wife, a union, a life tied to another, bound by tradition. But my instincts scream - don't do this.
I squeeze my fists, digging my nails into the palms until it hurts.
"Focus," I growl, the word slipping out. "Stay human."
The air around me shivers like it's alive with that other world. The one I've buried deep. The one where the pack rules, where instincts reign.
I walk to the desk and pull open the drawer. Inside, there's a small silver vial. A reminder of what happens when I lose control. The wolf that's only been caged by will.
I put the vial back.
Stella isn't a mate. She isn't even a choice. But she's here. Now. In my world.
I feel the walls close in again. The hunger growls in my chest.
The pack is waiting for me to lead.
---
Cracking the still moment, a knock on the door.
I didn't look up. "Come in."
Enoch entered with his usual silent precision.
"She's here," he said, his tone as neutral as the rest of him.
Sawyer, the world's top arms dealer, stunned everyone by falling for Maren—the worthless girl no one respected. People scoffed. Why chase a useless pretty face? But when powerful elites began gathering around her, jaws dropped. "She's not even married to him yet—already cashing in on his power?" they assumed. Curious eyes dug into Maren's past... only to find she was a scientific genius, a world-renowned medical expert, and heiress to a mafia empire. Later, Sawyer posted online. "My wife treats me like the enemy. Any advice?"
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?
"I'm going to tell you what I have in mind," he murmured. "First you're going to strip down until you're completely naked," he whispered against her ear. "Then I'm going to tie you up so you're completely powerless and subject to my every whim." "Mmm, sounds good so far," she murmured. "Then I'm going to insert a plug to prepare you for me. After that I'm going to spank that sweet ass of yours until it's rosy with my marks." She shivered uncontrollably, her mind exploding with the images he evoked. She let out a small whimper as he sucked the lobe of her ear into his mouth. God, she could cum with just his words. She was already aching with need. Her nipples tingled and hardened to painful points. Her clit pulsed and twitched between her legs until she clamped her thighs together to alleviate the burn. "And then I'm going to f**k your mouth. But I won't cum. Not yet. When I'm close, I'll flog you again until your ass is burning and you're on fire with the need for relief. And then I'm going to f**k that ass. I'm going to take you hard and rough, to the very limits of what you can withstand. I won't be gentle. Not tonight. I'm going to take you as roughly as you can stand. And then I'm going to cum all over your ass. Are you ready to be completely and utterly dominated?"
Rumors claimed that Fernanda, newly back with her family, was nothing more than a violent country bumpkin. Fernanda just flashed a casual, dismissive grin in response. Another rumor suggested that the usually rational Cristian had lost all sense, madly in love with Fernanda. This frustrated her. She could tolerate gossip about herself, but slander against her beloved crossed the line! Gradually, as Fernanda's multiple identities as a celebrated designer, a savvy gamer, an acclaimed painter, and a successful business magnate came to light, everyone realized they were the ones who had been fooled.
When Corynn mustered up the courage to tell Elliot about her pregnancy, she unexpectedly found him gallantly helping another woman from his car. Her heart sank as three years of effort to secure his love crumbled before her eyes, compelling her to leave him behind. Three years later, life had taken Corynn down a new path with someone else, while Elliot was left grappling with regret. Seizing a moment of vulnerability, he pleaded, "Corynn, let's get married." Shaking her head with a faint smile, Corynn gently replied, "Sorry, I'm already engaged."
Betrayed by her mate and sister on the eve of her wedding, Makenna was handed to the ruthless Lycan Princes as a lover, her indifferent father ignoring her plight. Determined to escape and seek revenge, she captured the interest of the three Lycan princes, who desired her exclusively amid many admirers. This complicated her plans, trapping her and making her a rival to the future Lycan queen. Entwined in jealousy and vindictiveness, could Makenna achieve her vengeance in the intricate dance with the three princes?