About Last Night
Rejected By My Betrothed, Claimed By The Warlord Alpha
I was born a wolfless cripple in the Richmond Pack, but by royal decree, I was engaged to the kingdom's Champion Knight, Emory. During the winter banquet, my half-sister Dessie suddenly tilted backward into the royal ice pond, screaming that I pushed her. In my previous life, I reached out in panic to save her, only to be dragged down and framed for attempted murder. When Emory dove into the freezing water, he swam right past my sinking body to rescue her instead. Once ashore, my own father and my betrothed ignored my desperate pleas. They branded me a vicious, jealous traitor. Emory publicly broke our engagement to marry Dessie, while my father threw me to the executioner to wash away the family's shame with my blood. Until my head was on the chopping block, I didn't understand. Why did my own family want me dead just because I had no inner wolf? Why did the knight who swore to protect me conspire with my illegitimate sister to destroy my life? Opening my eyes again, I was back on the snow-dusted terrace, right as Dessie was setting up the exact same trap. "A wolfless cripple like you should crawl back to the gutter," she whispered, falling backward. This time, I didn't flinch or beg for help. Instead, my fingers shot out like iron clamps, grabbing her wrist, and I dragged her into the freezing depths with me.
Chapter 1
Kalea POV:
"Emory Lambert is destined to be mine," Dessie Richmond, my sister, whispered, her voice a poisonous thread slipping through the frigid breeze of the Royal Lunar Garden. "A wolfless cripple like you should crawl back to the gutter where you belong."
Her amber eyes gleamed with malice.
Before I could even process the violent sting of the freezing air on my face, Dessie tilted her body backward, angling herself toward the black waters of the royal ice pond.
She was setting up the exact same trap from my past life.
She wanted the entire court to see her fall, to hear her screams, and to watch me take the blame for attempting to drown the favored younger daughter of the Richmond Pack.
In that past life, everything had favored her. I had screamed in panic and lunged to grab her, my fingers clamping hard around her wrist and leaving livid grip-bruises on her skin.
When we fell, I thrashed and begged Emory to save me, so when he swam straight past me to lift Dessie first, onlookers called it justice — the Champion saving the victim from her attacker.
The healers found my marks on her, and nothing of hers on me. That was enough for a charge of attempted murder.
Now, everything is different. The terrace is crowded with high-ranking nobles, and I know exactly where her nails will land.
I had already seen through her act completely. I would play along — and turn her own trap against her.
I did not flinch. Instead, I calmly extended my left arm toward her, offering the loose silver-blue cuff at my wrist as if trying to catch her. Dessie, already falling backward to fake her accident, instinctively clawed out and seized my wrist hard to make it look real, her nails digging deep into my sleeve.
Dessie's smug grin instantly froze.
Her eyes widened in shock as she realized she had grabbed me first. Before she could let go, I stopped resisting. I leaned into her pull and let her own backward momentum drag us both off the marble edge together.
A chorus of shrill gasps erupted from the noble onlookers lining the snow-dusted terrace.
Then came the deafening crash of freezing water.
The shock of the sub-zero pond slammed into my chest, squeezing every drop of air from my lungs.
The weight of our velvet winter gowns pulled us straight into the dark depths.
Dessie thrashed wildly, her arms flailing like a dying bird as her silken skirts tangled around her legs.
Even as she thrashed, her right hand remained locked around my left wrist, her nails tearing frantically at my silk cuff.
Her mouth opened in a silent scream under the water, bubbles bursting around her terrified, contorted face.
Unlike my past self, I did not scream, did not beg, did not leave a single mark on her. I stared back at her through the murky blue, cold and completely still.
Pain tore through my limbs, but my mind was clearer than it had ever been in my two lifetimes.
Above the surface, muffled shouts vibrated through the water.
"Someone help! The Richmond ladies have fallen in!"
Through the rippling surface, I saw a familiar silhouette on the bank tear off his heavy velvet cloak.
Emory Lambert.
The newly crowned Champion Knight of the Grand Royal Trials, and my betrothed.
He dove into the water with a clean, powerful slice.
His eyes scanned the depths, searching desperately.
He looked right past my sinking form.
Without a single glance in my direction, Emory swam furiously toward Dessie, wrapping his strong arms around her waist to haul her toward the light.
A bitter, silent laugh bubbled in my throat.
He was supposed to be my promised mate by royal decree, yet his body reacted purely on instinct to save my illegitimate half-sister.
I let my limbs go limp, allowing the darkness of the pond to drag me downward.
I needed this.
I needed every high-ranking noble on that terrace to see him choose her over me.
Darkness began to creep into the edges of my vision.
My lungs burned for oxygen.
Then, the water exploded behind me.
A massive shockwave ripped through the freezing depths, stirring a violent current that pushed the weeds aside.
A shadow moved with terrifying, predatory speed.
Before I could even register the beast-like force tearing through the water, a pair of scalding, calloused hands locked onto my waist.
The grip was unyielding, made of pure steel.
I was yanked violently against a broad, rock-hard chest.
Even submerged in ice, the overwhelming scent of crushing cedar and raw, wild musk flooded my senses, piercing straight through the freezing haze in my mind.
It was the aura of a dominant, top-tier Alpha.
Yet the moment his skin touched mine, the suffocating pressure of his command miraculously softened, wrapping around my freezing body like an invisible shield.
I forced my heavy eyelids open.
Through the distorted water, I looked directly into a pair of piercing, golden-amber wolf eyes.
Gaines Moss.
The notorious young lord of the Moss Pack, heir to the northern iron legions, and widely feared across the capital as an uncontrollable, violent rogue Alpha.
There was no cruelty in his gaze.
Only a dark, frantic intensity that bordered on madness.
The moment my wet shoulder pressed against his collarbone, a sharp, electric jolt surged from his palm straight down my spine.
My frozen muscles trembled beneath the sheer heat of his touch.
Gaines's jaw tightened.
His arm banded around my waist with possessive force, pulling me flush against him as his powerful legs kicked against the current, launching us toward the surface like an arrow.
On the other side of the pond, Emory was already breaking through the surface with Dessie clutched tightly against his chest.
The freezing air hit my face in a violent rush as Gaines hauled me out of the water, his long fingers instinctively cradling the back of my head to shield me from the jagged marble edge.
The deafening roar of the royal court swept over us in an instant.
About Last Night
Kristina will accidentally and unexpectedly gave her cherished Dignity and Cleanliness as a virgin woman to the young man she meet in just one night. In short, that Kristina got a one night stand to Troy Madrigal for the reason that both of them are drunk and not in the right frame of mind. But des
Last Night
Camilla had long dreamed of having a child, so that she would have someone to live with as she grew older. But she doesn't want to have a husband, because she is afraid of loving a man and being hurt just like what happened to her mother who died because of the cruelty of her father who also died a
Last Night.
Elijah Orleans is that boy whose curiosity and intelligence make him go after what others think is impossible. His obsession with the story of whose diary written by a woman more than two thousand years ago, leads him to want to investigate further, taking as a surprise what even in his worst dreams
One Last Night With My Son's Daddy
After working several end jobs. A taxi driver, Naomi was desperate and finally found a job that could pay for her mother's hospital bills. As an escort for a high-profile successful billionaire, Salah. And not to her expectations, she not only ends up falling in love with him. But gets pregnant wit
About Ireland
Trajectory presents classics of world literature with 21st century features! Our original-text editions include the following visual enhancements to foster a deeper understanding of the work: Word Clouds at the start of each chapter highlight important words. Word, sentence, paragraph counts, and re
The Truth About Lying
Life has no background music unless you are Sebastian Michaelson. He was a young man with the ambition and skills to change the music industry and had practically written a song for every significant moment of his life. Until life sent him a memo that it was just not meant to be, he had to put down
crazy about the CEO
Erotic novels didn't used to be something for Cissa to be ashamed of, at least until she started working as an assistant to a powerful CEO. Oliver Prado Albuquerque and Guimarães, even his name made her shudder. As cliché as it used to happen in the books she read, Cissa fell in love with her boss,
Something about u
Eira kings, life turn around when she had a one night stand with a stranger. (Well who she thinks was a stranger) six week later she found out that she was pregnant. What would Eira do?
crazy about CEO cowboy
Distributed Release Upcoming I fell in love with your rope skills. I stayed because, somehow, he took my heart and made it his. Callum Valentine didn't want to listen. So again? When a man is calling a woman fat in front of your desk, it's kind of hard not to intervene. Especially when the prettiest
Round About the Carpathians
This book (hardcover) is part of the TREDITION CLASSICS. It contains classical literature works from over two thousand years. Most of these titles have been out of print and off the bookstore shelves for decades. The book series is intended to preserve the cultural legacy and to promote the timeless
Quiet Talks about Jesus
Trajectory presents classics of world literature with 21st century features! Our original-text editions include the following visual enhancements to foster a deeper understanding of the work: Word Clouds at the start of each chapter highlight important words. Word, sentence, paragraph counts, and re
Everything about you
Persephone Wilson has buried everything that happened 4 years ago between her and Theodore Huxley in the past. She used to be irresponsible and outgoing and lived under her older brother's wing. But after getting her heart broken she decided to escape. Living a new life happily in a new country wit
About Orchids A Chat
The contents of my Bungalow gave material for some "Legends" which perhaps are not yet universally forgotten. I have added few curiosities to the list since that work was published. My days of travel seem to be over; but in quitting that happiest way of life—not willingly—I hav
MYSTERY ABOUT MY DIARY
Vanessa Campbell is a young, dreamy, extraordinary girl that completely loves been an introvert, or I will best describe it as a loner. She is the only child of her parent but has only her mom left after her dad was involved in a motor accident years back. Her only best friend is her diary and sin
Last One Night-Stand With The Billionaire CEO
Nova Bassey had been married to Marvin for years until she found out he was cheating on her. At the time, another woman was already pregnant for him and she happened to be wealthier than Nova which resulted in a divorce paper being slammed in her face. Shattered like a broken glass, Nova slipped a
The Hot Stranger Of Last Night Is My Alpha Professor
This was meant to be a secret. I was dressed in a red mini-gown, the sexiest gown in my wardrobe. Tonight is gonna be hot! I was feeling the sensations already, I'd never had sex with my mate for the five years we've been together which was one reason tonight was gonna be special. Close to his h
The Truth About Tristrem Varick
Saltus's first two novels bear the imprint of the kind of diffident, decadent pessimism The Philosophy of Disenchantment elaborates. Indeed, the sensitivity requisite for the recognition that life has no value informs Mr. Incoul's Misadventure, the first novel, while the delusion that life has value
Night Night vampire
"Claudia! Claudia come back here!". Her mother shouted rising from her log, she stamped her foot in anger as she always did whenever she was furious. "I'll be back". Claudia shouted back. "I just want to be alone right now. Is that too much to ask?". She added silently. Her mother gave up yellin
What so special about her?
He threw paper on her face, she take a step back of sudden action. "W-Wh-what is this" she ask, "Divorce papers" he said, "Sign it and move out of my life, I will hand over you to your greedy family and set myself free" he stated grinding teeth while clenching his jaw. She felt like someone thrown c
The Truth About His Mistress
I was four months pregnant, a photographer excited for our future, attending a sophisticated baby brunch. Then I saw him, my husband Michael, with another woman, and a newborn introduced as "his son." My world shattered as a torrent of betrayal washed over me, magnified by Michael's dismissive claim
