TRAPPED IN SHACKLES
His Discarded Luna, the Rival's Obsession
"No wolf. No family. Harmless. Useful. The second I am done with her, the Luna title is yours." Eira Crawford heard those words through her husband's office door. For four years, she had been Sebastian Vale's hidden mate. She managed his household, entertained his relatives, cleaned up his messes, and lived on the three thousand dollars he gave her each month like charity. Even buying a new coat required an explanation. But for his first love, he casually prepared three hundred thousand dollars in research funding. To Sebastian, Eira was nothing more than a wolfless Omega from an orphanage. A quiet, obedient wife with no pack, no power, and no value beyond being useful. He had never introduced her publicly as his Luna. His family treated her like a servant. His sweetheart mocked her as a woman who could only survive by clinging to an Alpha. So Eira stopped crying. She recorded the affair, filed for mate dissolution, and placed the divorce papers in front of Sebastian. Even then, he thought she was throwing a tantrum. He signed without hesitation, certain she would come crawling back once she realized no one else would want a discarded, wolfless Omega. He was wrong. The woman he left at home washing dishes was a Stanford-trained electrical engineer. The "useless" wife he ignored was the hidden chief engineer behind a national self-developed chip project. Her movements were classified. Her disappearance could alert the federal authorities. Her name, once revealed, was enough to shake the entire scientific community. And Sebastian knew nothing. After walking out of his house with nothing but her freedom, Eira crossed paths with Killian Sterling, the coldest and most powerful Alpha in the north. He did not know her name yet, but his wolf recognized something in her that everyone else had missed. Meanwhile, Sebastian finally realized that Eira was not bluffing. He searched the entire city like a madman. For the first time in four years, he publicly called her his wife. He demanded she return. He begged for another chance. But by then, Eira was no longer waiting in his house. She was seated at the Sterling Pack's dinner table, dressed with quiet confidence, while the most feared Alpha in North America stood beside her. In front of everyone, Killian Sterling placed his hand at her back and said coldly, "Eira is not anyone's discarded Omega." "She is my Luna."
Chapter 1 Serpent's Coil
The main screen flashed green.
SUCCESS
For one stunned second, the clean room went silent.
Then the lab exploded.
"We got it!"
Cheers broke out across the room. Someone slapped Eira on the shoulder as Professor Davies pushed through the crowd and pulled her into a quick hug.
"Eira, look at those numbers. This is huge. We just changed the game."
A researcher behind him let out a low whistle. "National pride, military contracts, and enough money to make half the country lose its mind. Not bad for one night, Dr. Crawford."
Davies leaned closer so she could hear him over the noise.
"Your husband is Alpha Sebastian Hale, right?"
Eira nodded.
"This could give Hale Pack a serious edge," he said. "If they get access before the other Packs, they'll leave everyone else in the dust."
His words hit harder than she expected.
She pictured Sebastian opening the certification report. His face would go still first. Then his eyes would sharpen. Maybe, just maybe, he would look at her with something close to respect.
She had wanted that look for four years.
"I'll tell him tonight," Eira said.
Davies grinned. "Good. Let him see what you've been up to."
Eira smiled, but her fingers tightened around the folder.
[No, ]she thought.
[I'm giving him the biggest advantage of his life because I'm his wife.]
She cleared three security checkpoints, changed out of her clean-room suit, and collected the final certification documents.
Her name was printed across the first page.
Dr. Eira Crawford.
She ran her thumb over the title.
This time, no one could call her useless. No one could brush her off as a wolfless omega. No one could say she had nothing to offer an Alpha.
She had built something powerful enough to make entire Packs fight for access.
And tonight, she was going to put it in Sebastian Hale's hands.
--
The VIP elevator took her straight to the top floor of Hale Tower an hour later. Alpha Sebastian used the private suite for late business meetings, and sometimes he slept there when he claimed Hale Group's work ran too late. Eira had brought him dinner there more times than she could count.
This time she brought him a future.
She stepped out of the elevator with the folder held against her chest. The hallway was quiet, thick with expensive carpet and soft yellow wall lights. She was twenty feet from his office when her steps slowed.
Her nose knew before her mind did.
Cedar. Sharp, familiar, warm in the way only Alpha Sebastian's scent could be. It was the scent she had fallen asleep beside for four years, even when his side of the bed stayed cold too long.
But under it was something else.
Sweet. Floral. Not hers.
Eira stopped.
The office door was not fully closed. A thin line of light spilled through the gap, and with it came the mixed scents of two people standing too close.
Then Alpha Sebastian spoke.
"Serena, you know I've always loved you. She means nothing."
The folder slipped slightly in Eira's grip. She caught it before it fell.
Serena's voice came next, soft and wet around the edges, but there was a thin blade of amusement underneath. "If you love me, why did you let that Omega orphan become your Luna? Why didn't you come after me when I left?"
Alpha Sebastian gave a low laugh. Eira knew that laugh. He used it when he wanted someone to feel foolish for doubting him. "You're jealous?"
"Shouldn't I be?" Serena asked.
"I chose her because you left," Alpha Sebastian said. His voice softened, but the softness made it worse. "I needed a Luna. The elders wanted the position filled, and Eira was harmless. No family. No wolf. No one to challenge me."
Harmless.
Eira stood outside the door, unable to breathe.
Serena made a small sound of disgust. "And now?"
"Now she's useful." Alpha Sebastian sounded almost bored. "She runs the house, handles Pack accounts, keeps my mother from turning every dinner into a war. Why would I throw away a tool that still works?"
The word sank into Eira slowly.
Tool.
Not wife. Not Luna. Not partner.
Tool.
Serena was silent for a moment. When she spoke again, her voice had lost its tears. "I don't want to stay hidden forever."
"You won't." Fabric shifted inside the room. "When the time is right, the Luna position will be yours."
"And the heir?"
Alpha Sebastian's answer came without hesitation. "My heir will only come from you."
Eira closed her eyes.
For four years, Alpha Sebastian had avoided touching her. He told her she was young. He told her the silver poisoning he suffered years ago might still affect his body. He said he did not want to hurt her. She had believed him because she wanted to believe there was kindness inside the distance. She had thought he respected her. She had thought patience was love wearing a quiet face.
No.
The truth was simple.
She was not Serena.
Through the crack in the door, she saw Alpha Sebastian lower his head to Serena's neck. His nose brushed her skin, and his expression changed in a way Eira had never seen directed at her. Desire made his proud face almost drunk.
"I missed you," he murmured. "Your scent. Your voice."
Serena leaned into him. "Then divorce her."
"Not yet."
"Why?"
Alpha Sebastian's tone cooled, turning into the voice he used in board meetings. "Because she still serves a purpose. Give her a little attention, and she'll do anything for this family. Don't touch the tool before I'm done using it."
Eira's fingers tightened around the folder until the edge bent.
Inside it was a certification that could have changed Hale Pack's future. She had imagined placing it on Alpha Sebastian's desk and watching pride finally dawn in his eyes. She had imagined him saying her name like it mattered.
Instead, she heard the truth.
For a moment, pain emptied her completely. Then something colder moved in.
She took out her phone with steady hands and pressed record. The screen captured the gap in the door, the angle of Alpha Sebastian's face, Serena's hands on his shirt, the kiss that followed, the way he whispered her name like a vow. Eira recorded until her soul felt far away from her body. Five minutes. Enough for any lawyer. Enough for any Council hearing. Enough for any fool who later tried to call her dramatic.
Then she stopped the recording.
She walked back to the elevator without making a sound. The doors closed around her, cutting off cedar and flowers at last.
In the polished steel, her reflection looked calm.
So calm it felt like a stranger was staring back.
***
Outside Hale Tower, the cold air hit Eira's face. She did not cry. Tears felt too small for what had happened.
She called the legal division of the National Research Institute. Susan answered on the third ring.
"Dr. Crawford?"
"I need a formal mate separation agreement. I have proof of my mate's affair. I want the bond ended and my name removed from all Hale Pack records as soon as possible."
"Standard filing or protected status?"
"Full protection. Highest level. Sebastian must not learn about my security clearance."
Susan paused. "That process will cost you."
"I don't care how much it costs." Eira looked up at Hale Tower. "Get his signature before he figures out what he's losing."
She ended the call and walked away without looking back.
TRAPPED IN SHACKLES
Warning: 18+ contents in few chapters. Athena Stanford and Terrence Adams are used to be childhood friends but tied into marriage. He was attracted to her but he hated her. She hated him but she secretly likes him. Similar to fire and ice, their relationship were hidden under some circumstances.
Contract With The Devil: Love In Shackles
I watched my husband sign the papers that would end our marriage while he was busy texting the woman he actually loved. He didn't even glance at the header. He just scribbled the sharp, jagged signature that had signed death warrants for half of New York, tossed the file onto the passenger seat, an
Trapped in his love
After suffering a bad fall on the ice, Dalia finds herself at crossroads in her life. Ryan a gorgeous stranger gives her an ultimatum, forcing her to choose between himself, a guy who promises her a chance at becoming all that she can be or Adam the boy that she's in love with. Hearts are broken as
Trapped In Her World
Blurb: Two nights before her wedding, Daphne Hartford disappears. Desperate to save their family's reputation, her twin sister Dianna is forced into a shocking deception: take her place and marry Alex Kingston, the billionaire who loved Daphne deeply. But Alex doesn't know the truth. And Dianna
Trapped In Your Love
Julliet's life was perfect. A rich and loving family, a sister like bestfriend and a man she loved more than her life. She was even getting engaged to the love of her life on her birthday. However, her life took an unexpected turn. "Julliet Harris, you are convicted for attempting to murder." "No
Trapped In Hell
CLANK! The cup fell on the floor and broke to pieces, while Hazel stood in shock, her mouth agape and her tiny body shivered in fear, she had read a lot of fairytale and watched a lot of horror movies she knew she shouldn't have watched, but this was no fairytale nor was it a horror movie, it was
Trapped In Beastly Desires
After an incident that occurred nineteen years ago when Kayla Jonathan lost a friend who she betrayed during a final hearing, she lived with a deep-well of guilt that could never go away until she fell deeply in love with a man on social media who eased a bit of her guilt. Unknowing to her, he harb
Trapped in the Underworld
Amber Jones, a brilliant graduate, is forced into servitude to mafia lord Nicholas Gonzalez after her boyfriend's debt puts her in danger. As Amber adjusts to her new life, she's caught between her increasing attraction to Nicholas and her need for revenge. As their relationship deepened ,She reali
Trapped In His Love
Isabella's world was a dark place, lit only by the flames of Sebastian's passion. His touch set her skin on fire, and she couldn't help but crave more. She'd been trapped in this life for nine years, given to the Acosta mafia clan as payment for her family's debt. Sebastian, the ruthless son of th
Trapped In Lace
Rachel was a brilliant doctor with her whole life ahead of her. After five years of being stuck in a loveless marriage, she finally decided that it was time to get a divorce. By some cruel twist of fate, Rachel also found out that one of her patients was actually her husband’s mistress. “Mr. Fu,
Trapped in a Marriage
Money cannot buy love, but it sure can make marriages possible. It may not be genuine and warm, but for a woman hanging by a thread, what else is there to choose? Gabrielle Angelique–blonde woman, golden eyes, and pale skin. Though beautiful and extremely irresistible, she is an orphan who is under
Trapped in his arms
"I don't give a fuck" I shouted back before Ace's fist collided with my face. To be fair, I probably deserved that one. I stumbled to the ground, blinking a couple of times. It caught me off guard, but he did warn me. I stood up and wiped the blood from my lip before throwing a punch. He caught my a
Trapped In Paradise
Despite her reluctance, Anna James agrees to work with her friend Ridley to prepare a prestigious bachelor party in the Caribbean since she needs the cash. After meeting the wealthy, attractive billionaire who hired them, Jason Stryker, she finds herself attempting to deny her attraction to the self
Trapped in Lustful Revenge
Her husband's affair made Dola revengeful, starting from her illicit relationship with Ryan in the former school library warehouse, making Dola and Ryan addicted to doing it at every opportunity and as a result, there was a feeling of love between the two of them. The problem is that besides the lar
Trapped in between
In the opulent world of New York City's elite, Elena Bennett is a rising star as a successful art curator, cherished for her keen eye and independent spirit. However, her life takes an unexpected turn when she is thrust into an arranged marriage with Alex Davenport, the formidable and ambitious CEO
Trapped In A Mafia Marriage
The surgeon told me I had one hour to save my right hand, the one that spun my soul into symphonies. My husband, Don Dante Rossi, gave that hour to his mistress for a minor fracture. The surgeon pleaded with him, explaining that every minute we delayed risked catastrophic, permanent damage. But Da
Trapped in a Millionaire's Revenge
Sienna Di Marco is the daughter of an influential businessman of a shipping line in Miami, Florida. Her father, Mauricio Di Marco, is looking to do business with Lucas Sandonini, the son of one of the most important entrepreneurs in the shipping industry in Italy. Lucas arrived in Miami intending to
Bloodbound: Trapped in His Darkness
"They say love is a fairytale, but mine starts with a contract and a man who has lost everything..." I was the unwanted daughter, a pawn in my family's games. When they forced me into a contract marriage with Ethan Blackwood-a man once poised to inherit an empire but now confined to a wheelchair-I t
Trapped in a Forced Love
Aria, a simple and caring young woman, suddenly finds herself caught in a secret marriage with Dorian Calderon, a widower known for his cold and possessive nature. It all started with an accident involving her younger sister, Mira, who ran over Dorian's twin sister, Lina, who was pregnant at the tim
Trapped in a secret marriage
In "Trapped in a secret marriage," Glenn Blackwood has it all: money, good looks, and a reputation that makes tabloids swoon. But when his father, Harrison Blackwood, one of the most influential men in the world, gives him an ultimatum-get serious or lose his place at the top of Blackwood Corporatio
