9492 Book(s) Related to alpha s regret the discarded luna became untouchable

Salvatore Romano is the cold, calculated and feared silent ruler of the Italian underworld. Never breathing a word unless necessary and when he does, people either listen or they disappear. He is very ruthless and obsessive about control that just his name alone sends shivers down spines from Milan to Palermo. He trusts no one and especially not women.

So what happens when he mistakenly kidnaps a woman… Who turns out to be an outspoken investigative journalist?

And a rival mafia group leaves her life hanging on a thread, because they thought she'd be their leverage to Mafia Romano.

Elena Moretti is known for digging up stories no one dares to touch. She is fiercely independent, and unknowingly tied to secrets her own father keeps buried deep. She’s everything Salvatore hates but definitely everything he can’t stay away from.

She was never meant to be a pawn in his war. But just one kiss, one secret, and … she’s no longer a mistake.

She became his obsession.

Can Elena escape the impending darkness or will she become part of it? What happens when her next big story is the man who owns her heart?

What will Salvatore do when she betrays him to the Press?
And what happens… when the journalist falls for the villain?

When Evelyn Hart transfers to Westbridge University, she only wants one thing,
to surprise her longtime boyfriend, Alex Carter.

But the surprise turns to horror when she arrives just in time to see his body pulled from the campus lake.

The police call it an accident. Evelyn calls it a lie.
Alex was a strong swimmer, too strong to drown without a reason.

Haunted by grief and suspicion, she refuses to go home. Every corner of Westbridge whispers secrets, and every smile hides something darker. Especially the ones belonging to Lila Montgomery, the campus queen with perfect charm and ice in her veins, and Daniel Reid, Lila’s mysterious boyfriend and Alex’s supposed rival.

Both know more than they’ll say. One might even be the killer.

As Evelyn digs deeper, she finds herself caught between truth and obsession, danger and desire. The closer she gets to uncovering what happened that night, the more tangled her heart becomes in the very web she’s trying to escape.

Because at Westbridge University, love is a weapon…
and the truth can drown you.

Scarlett and Alexander had been married for two years and their relationship was very strong. Despite being the youngest son of a mafia family, Alexander was gentle and caring towards Scarlett. She thought they would be happy together forever. However, everything changed after a car accident - Scarlett fell into a coma, and Alexander lost his memory! When Scarlett woke up, she found that Alexander had a new girlfriend by his side, and she had become a burden, occupying the position of his wife. Scarlett was in agonizing pain. Can she and Alexander ever return to the way they were before?

Maria has always dreamed of freedom, but her life has been shaped by decisions beyond her control. It was tormenting, but everything changes after she becomes engaged to Rico. She can’t have the life she wanted but at least, she gets to be with the man she loves.

Or so she thinks—until she witnesses him mercilessly kill someone in front of her. Her whole world collapsed.

Falling in love with the devil himself, Maria realizes staying with him means sacrificing her dream of freedom. So she runs, determined to never be found by him.

But she can only hope.

Rico believes they belong together, and he'll do anything to prove it.

For Maria, the only true escape may be in death.

𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐌𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐀𝐆𝐄
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
𝐀 𝐘𝐀 𝐌𝐘𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐘-𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐑

I was only eighteen when my parents were murdered for discovering a secret the government wanted buried.

Before I could even grieve, I was kidnapped and taken to a Cage, a hidden underground facility where young people like me are being hunted, imprisoned, and experimented on.

They call it a medical breakthrough.

I call it hell.

The government has joined forces with Project Ouroboros, secretly kidnapping young bloods to test a deadly genetic program designed to create the impossible:『 𝐈𝐌𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 』

Then I see him.

Julian Thorn.

My childhood best friend. My first love. The boy I thought was dead.

But the Julian I remember is gone. The Cage has turned him into a ruthless gladiator, forced to fight for his life while they study what his body can endure.

When he realizes I'm trapped there too, he'll risk everything to protect me.

And the feelings I buried years ago come rushing back.

Now I have to survive the experiments, uncover the government's deadly plan, and escape before they take everything from me.

Because they don't just want my blood.

They want what my blood could create.

When her husband and child are brutally murdered by a man she once rejected, Aria Kane's world collapses. With no family, no power, and no protection, the law fails her, justice slips through her fingers. Desperate and broken, she turns to the most feared man in the city — Lucien Moretti, the ruthless Mafia Don known as “The Devil,” and unfortunately, her ex.

He agrees to help her destroy her enemies. But nothing with the Devil comes without a price.

His price? Her.

As Aria is drawn deeper into Lucien’s dangerous world, passion ignites between them, blurring the lines between hate, desire, and something darker. But when secrets unravel, and loyalties are tested, she must face one terrifying truth: she may have sold her soul to the devil… and fallen in love with him too...for the second time.

Serena Parton thought burying her husband would finally give her the freedom to figure out who she was without him.

Then Wayne’s last request sends her straight into the path of Brick Hemmingway—the tattooed, terrifying Devil’s Crown VP Enforcer who blames Serena for taking away the only man who ever felt like a father.

Brick wants nothing to do with Wayne’s widow. He definitely doesn’t want to spend weeks escorting her across the country, scattering Wayne’s ashes in the places that mattered most to him. He’s willing to give up his brand-new VP patch just to avoid the assignment.

Then Serena saves his life.

Now they’re trapped on a cross-country motorcycle journey neither of them wanted, following the final wishes of a man they both loved—and slowly discovering they knew two very different versions of him.

One road trip becomes thousands of miles of motel rooms, mountain passes, buried resentments, unexpected confessions, and an attraction neither of them planned for. When a winter storm leaves them snowbound with one bed, keeping their distance becomes almost impossible.

Serena spent years inside a marriage where love slowly became another kind of restriction. Brick has spent his entire adult life letting the Devil’s Crown decide who he needs to be.

But somewhere between Wayne’s past and the life waiting at the end of the road, Serena begins to wonder if Brick could be the first man to love her without deciding her future for her.

And Brick begins to realize the woman he once blamed for taking Wayne away might be the one person capable of showing him that walking away doesn’t always mean abandoning the people you love.

She saved the Enforcer first.

Before the road ends, he may have to return the favor.

"I don't do gentle, Constantine. I don't make love. I fuck, I claim, and I own. Still want this?"
My breath hitched as his hand wrapped around my throat—not squeezing, just... possessing. "Yes."
"Good girl."
It started with spilled coffee and ended with my world on fire.
Wyatt Gorshkovsky is everything I should fear: ruthless CEO, mafia prince, and the man who's been watching me from the shadows since that night I don't remember. The night he first tasted me. Claimed me. Marked me as his.
His offer is simple and filthy: Be his secretary. Be his stress relief. Be his dirty secret. In return, he'll erase every debt that's suffocating me.
I signed because I'm desperate. Because my father's dying and my mother's care costs more than I'll ever make. Because sometimes survival means selling your soul to the devil in a three-piece suit.
But Wyatt didn't just buy my body...he's consuming my mind. His obsession is suffocating, addictive, and the only thing keeping me breathing.
Until I discover the truth: He's the reason my father is dying. His family wants me eliminated. And the baby growing inside me is the only thing standing between love and murder.
Rule #1: Don't fall in love.
Too late. We're both already burning.

Feeling trapped in a loveless and worthless marriage with Carlos Anderson, Tara finally decided to leave. Not expecting anything good to happen, her life took an unexpected turn when she met the mysterious billionaire, Andrew Hills.

Despite her trust issues, she found herself drawn to his charm and sophistication. As their relationship blossomed and her career took off, her ex's jealousy threatened to ruin everything she had worked so hard to build.

Kaelen Vance is a broken soldier who just wants to disappear. But when a dying Alpha thrusts a moonstone into his hands, he is dragged into a war he never asked for—a prophecy that says he alone can unite werewolf packs torn apart by 300 years of blood. The only problem? The two Alphas who find him, the scarred and dangerous Aldric Thorn and his charming, manipulative brother Roman, both feel the mate bond snap into place. And the prophecy says Kaelen must destroy one of them.

The Blood Moon is twelve months away. If Kaelen fails, every wolf on earth will turn feral.

But nothing is what it seems. There’s a traitor inside the pack, feeding secrets to human hunters who want all wolves dead. Kaelen’s own body betrays him—he’s not fully human. His wolf has been suppressed by a dark secret, and when it awakens, it reveals a power that terrifies even the Alphas. He is the Eclipse Wolf: a weapon so dangerous that both packs want to control him. Or kill him.

And then there’s the romance. Aldric burns cold and fierce, offering protection at the price of Kaelen’s freedom. Roman weaves seduction and lies, promising love but hiding a knife. Kaelen loves them both, but one of them might be the spy. One of them might be the enemy. And the prophecy might not be about saving the world—it might be about ending it.

Fell in love again with my twin white wolf mates.

When my mate saved me from being bullied, I thought it was the best gift the moon goddess could give me.

To my surprise, my mate is a twin!

But will they remember me after my rebirth?


This innocent sensuality was most tempting. I almost wanted to submit, almost--

No, I couldn't. She seemed drugged and didn't know what she was doing, and besides, she wasn't Tanya.

She wasn't Tanya... I shouldn't touch her.

I warned myself to suppress the flames of desire, but her hips suddenly moved at this moment, causing my member to sink slightly into her delicate folds.

Damn it! I cursed under my breath but couldn't restrain myself any longer. My tongue entangled with her small and delicate pink tongue, and I couldn't resist letting weak desire take over everything...


My life was a never-ending struggle.

As a descendant of witches, I possessed incredible powers that lay dormant within me, waiting to be awakened. But the tragic loss of my mother left me alone and powerless, with no guidance on how to use my witch abilities. To make matters worse, I was constantly bullied by the Dark Moon pack, who saw me as an outcast because of my Omega heritage. Even my own father, an Omega himself, abused me, adding to my emotional turmoil.

But my luck changed when I met my second chance mates Brande and Elton, the Alpha twin brothers of the White Wolf clan.

Yes, mates.

They were unlike anyone I had ever met - Elton exuded dominance and confidence, while Brande was gentle and caring. Despite their vastly different personalities, both brothers fell in love with me and vowed to protect me.

The three of us formed an unbreakable bond, but fate had other plans...

In a world suddenly thrust into chaos, humanity faces an unprecedented threat as enigmatic extraterrestrial beings known as the Gins launch a relentless assault.

As cities crumble and governments falter, a diverse group of survivors must navigate the harrowing landscape of fear, uncertainty, and the unknown. Amidst the ruins, alliances are forged, secrets unravel, and the true nature of the Gins becomes a key to humanity's survival.

With time running out, the fate of Earth hangs in the balance as the survivors strive to understand the motives behind the alien invasion and discover a way to reclaim their planet.

Unbeknownst to the Gins, Alex, an ordinary individual, stumbles upon a mysterious extraterrestrial artifact that grants him access to a powerful system embedded with advanced technologies. As he inadvertently activates it, Alex undergoes a transformation, gaining extraordinary abilities and knowledge. Now armed with this unparalleled advantage, he becomes an unforeseen force to be reckoned with.

As Alex navigates his newfound powers, he discovers that the system not only enhances his physical prowess but also grants him the ability to decipher the Gins' weaknesses and counter their strategies. The Gins, initially confident in their invasion, find themselves confounded by an unexpected adversary.

Alex's journey becomes a relentless pursuit for the truth behind the system's origin and purpose, intertwining his destiny with the fate of humanity. As he rises in power, the Gins, once invincible, face an unprecedented challenge, forcing them to reevaluate their invasion plans and confront the unforeseen consequences of underestimating the resilience of the human spirit.

This story is about a girl named Lila who was born to a human mother Melody and vampire hybrid father Lance . Lance did not know what he was until his father a vampire king came looking. His bloodline will allow vampires to eat human food and walk in the day. Lance was drawn to Melody because she was a direct descendant of Adam and Eve. A hybrid can only make another true hybrid if their mate is a descendant of that bloodline. Melody had to go through a test by having sex with multiple other vampires during a one night ritual to prove she is going to be loyal to Lance. Once the test is past she will be properly married in the eyes of the vampire coven. Lance and Melody eventually have a baby girl, Lila, that they hide from the king. They know her fate will be the same as Melody's and they do not want their daughter to suffer the same awful experience as she did. An opposing coven figures out Lila is a hybrid and does a recon mission to get close to her. Eventually they have to hide within the vampire king's coven. Lila will propose a list of men her grandfather and father approve of and they have to apply to date her. She falls for two of them, but one of them will betray her and she is able to make her choice, but not after going through hell.

Nadine is a 28 years old omega living with her abusive boyfriend and her weak mother.
Every morning felt the same—waking up in a house that didn’t feel like home, surrounded by tension so thick it clung to the walls. The bruises weren’t always visible, but the damage ran deep. Her boyfriend, Theo, didn’t need words to warn her, his fist did most of the work. He dictated what she wore, who she spoke to, when she came and went. And she obeyed. Not out of love. Out of exhaustion.

Then out of nowhere, he throws her out of the house, where she meets Madden, her mate who she had run away from. He has intention of letting her go this time. After all, she was the cause of his Luna's death.

What will Nadine do when the life of her mother is also at stake?

"Get the fuck away from me.."

"J-Jace, please. Your shoulder is badly hurt. Let me help. That's my job."

"Don't touch me, witch," he spits out bitterly without looking at her, his resentment toward her palpable.

They're both exes with a messy history. But one happens to be the injured star player, while the other is the team's physical therapist.

Bailey attempts to touch him despite his initial refusal. She reaches for his shoulder gently , "J-Jace, I know you're upset, but please—"

But her words are cut short, and her hand is flung away as a strong force abruptly pushes her against the nearest wall.

Bailey gasps in fright.

Jace's hand firmly pins her neck to the wall, a death glare etched across his face as he growls, "I. said. don't. fucking. touch. me," he warns brutally, "Dare again, and I'll fuck you right against this wall till you're the one who's badly hurt."


After Bailey Carter brutally breaks the heart of the only man she's ever loved, abandoning him and disappearing without a trace, fate brings them back together five years later on the ice rink.

Only this time, Jace Hartley — the nation's Ice Beast and her ex-boyfriend — loathes her with every fiber of his being.

He wants absolutely nothing to do with her. But she's his physical therapist — and also the mother of his baby, whom he has no knowledge of!

Sophia Carter is a talented young university student about to graduate in law, but her life is far from easy. After her mother’s death, Sophia was left in the care of her cruel stepfather, Thomas, and his spoiled daughter, Vanessa. Since then, Sophia has lived as a prisoner in her own home, constantly mistreated, humiliated, and forced to do all the heavy work.

Despite her suffering, her only hope has always been her boyfriend, Daniel Montgomery, a charismatic young man from an influential family who promises to take her away from that life and provide a better future for them both. However, everything falls apart when Sophia discovers that Thomas sold her to a cold and ruthless tycoon, Nathan Blackwell, in exchange for an amount that will guarantee Vanessa’s future.

With no way out and abandoned by the love of her life, who betrayed her with her best friend, Sophia finds herself alone, desperate, and on the brink of collapse. Determined not to be a victim of circumstances any longer, she makes a bold decision: if she is to be sold, it will be for a price of her choosing.

UPDATES ARE NOW ON MONDAY, WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY

Wanted By None, Needed By Both.

Josie Braille has been in love with her next door neighbor since she was 14, too bad he only has eyes for her younger sister.
But then, the night before she begins her first job, masked men break into her house and kidnap her father. She turns to Grayson for help and all evidence point to one culprit, Vladimir Sedof. He was a self made billionaire with mafia ties and his very presence makes Josie loses all sense of awareness except the need to submit to him. Everyone told her that Vladimir was the devil reincarnated and to stay away from him, unfortunately, Josie has never been good at doing as she was told. Besides, Grayson paid more attention to her ever since Vladimir came into the picture. Could he be jealous?
The longer she stays in Vladimir's company, the greater the pull she feels to him and the more restless Grayson gets. All she wanted was to make Grayson jealous, but she ends up falling for Vladimir's dominant personality. Now she has a decision to make between both men. At least she thought she did.
What happens when Josie discovers that she is the only one in love and Vladimir doesn't want her and Grayson was never after her heart?

"Sooner or later , you will fall for me"

"Upon my dead body", I hissed out.

SOLD AS THE ALPHA’S MISTRESS
"I'm trying to be gentle", he murmured, his voice tight, strained. "But that's not me",

"Then don't," I whispered. "Don't hold back with me".

"You don’t know what you're asking for," he said, then pushed his dick into me and I saw stars immediately.

Blurb
On the day Mia finally decides to come out to her parents, her carefully laid plans shatter when she catches her girlfriend betraying her. Heartbroken and desperate for a distraction, she impulsively gives a charming stranger she meets at a club a chance. But what should have been a reckless one-night stand turns into her worst nightmare.

Mia wakes up in a cage surrounded by terrified girls—many half her age. She's been captured for an auction, a horrifying trade where humans, witches, and monsters bid for lives like hers.

“Pray a monster doesn’t buy you,” one girl whispers before being dragged away, screaming.

When the hammer falls, Mia is sold to the most feared creature in the realm—the ruthless King of the Beasts. In a world where escape is impossible and death isn't an option, she’s given a chilling purpose:

“To give the king an heir.”

But surviving the king’s brutal world is only half the battle. The king has two tails, monstrous instincts, and a dark secret—his kind is incapable of love. Trapped in a nightmare, Mia must summon every ounce of strength to endure, adapt, and maybe, just maybe, find a way to change her fate.

Will Mia succumb to the horrors of her new reality, or will she discover a power within that even monsters fear?

"They said you killed him.”
“I did.”
“And the girl who tried to save you?”
“She died too… because I didn’t stop playing.”

"And you died once. Didn’t that teach you something?”
“Yes. That some lives aren’t worth reliving.”

When Elara Vance, a world-class tennis prodigy, dies after a betrayal, she wakes up three years earlier before everything went wrong.

But this time, life wasn’t how she remembered. The orphanage had given up her adoption to someone else, and they seemed desperate to marry her off to the very man she once sworn to kill.

Filled with vengeance, Elara vows to reclaim her title, her pride, and destroy everyone who once watched her fall, anyone who stands in her way.

But her greatest obstacle isn’t her rivals, it's her heart. Because the man she despises most might not be who he seems, and the deeper she digs, the truth takes a dark turn.

Short Copywriting:
Lily couldn't stop others from hurting her unborn child.
Just because she is the daughter of a nanny, and she fell in love with the young master who is beyond her reach.
When she felt his tenderness, she could even abandon her dignity as long as she could stay with him.
But what she didn't expect was that the man she loved deeply asked her to donate a kidney for saving his ex-girlfriend while she had pregnant for eight months!
"You’d better leave after the operation." He said coldly.
"Why? I love you so deeply, but why do you want me and our child dead?"

Elizabeth Siege has no powers. No bloodline, no magic, not even a gene.
She only has a brain that was sharp enough to earn her a full scholarship to the most powerful school in the country, where vampires, werewolves and witches/wizards ruled every corridor for centuries.

She arrives with nothing but her intelligence and starts her first day with enemies she didn’t ask for and a power she can’t explain.

But now, there is a prophecy. And Elizabeth Siege is exactly who the prophecy has been waiting for.

And unfortunately, the once known powerless Elizabeth Siege is now the first tribrid in three hundred years. But she just made a mistake by walking through the front door of the unknown prophecia.​​​

When her life fell apart due to a divorce, Amelia Carson never imagined she would be trapped in the dark world of the mafia. Losing everything and drowning in debt from a casino game at a nightclub, Amelia is faced with an ultimatum from Luca Devereaux—a deadly mafia boss: pay off her impossible debt or marry him in a contractual agreement.

A terrifying sham marriage with a mafia boss gives her a chance to reclaim her dignity and retaliate against her ex-husband’s insults. But when Amelia’s gentleness begins to melt Luca’s icy exterior, love unexpectedly starts to bloom.

"His lips hovered dangerously close to my throat, his breath warm against my skin, as his gaze burned with a hunger that had nothing to do with feeding"

CAPTURED BY THE RUTHLESS VAMPIRE
I was human—fragile, terrified, and trapped in his world. A world where I was nothing more than a pawn, a prize to be claimed by the vampire who had captured me."

WOLVES WERE THE ENEMY…

Everyone in town knew that. They hunted and killed all humans and that’s why we had surrounded ourselves with the wall.

To keep them out. To keep us safe.

Only I wasn’t safe, because I was pretty sure one was stalking me.

When he finally came for me, and dragged me away from my baby brother I knew my life would never be the same again.

I expected death, I even welcomed it because anything was better than living with them but what I didn’t expect was for there to be TWO OF THEM.

Two alpha werewolves , who both claimed I was theirs.
Theirs to command, theirs to use, theirs to break.

Thrust into a world I didn’t know, I only had one choice , succumb or be killed

Sandra's perfect life is shattered by her husband's betrayal, and the threat of a monstrous creature. She found unexpected protection in the Wolf Prince, Diego. Together, they face an electrifying battle with a vengeful snake demon.

when mysterious deaths haunt them. Diego and Sandra must unravel a dark mystery that threatens their lives. Amongst the conflicts and sacrifices, love grows between them. Is their love strong enough to face a greater evil, one that involves evil demons and unimaginable sacrifices? In this epic story of love, betrayal, and the battle between good and evil, they will face the biggest test of their lives. Prepare to be trapped in an enchanting fantasy realm. Where wonder and danger always await.

Accused of a crime she didn’t commit and abandoned by everyone she trusted, Mira decides to drown herself.

Gary has just been told he has one hundred days before death claims him. He was preoccupied with the thought when he found Mira trying to take her own life.

He didn't hesitate to save her, but Mira Hale didn’t want to be saved. For her, death felt kinder than a lifetime behind bars.

Gary then offers Mira wealth, freedom, and his name in exchange for one hundred days of living without fear.

What begins as a contract turns into laughter, healing, desire, and a love neither of them planned to survive.

But when secrets surface and time stops being the enemy, Mira must choose between protecting her heart… or believing that some love stories are meant to last beyond their expiration date.

She's a Pack doctor. He's a fugitive Rogue.
For two years, Dr. Nora Caldwell has been healing wounds in the shadows—treating Rogue injuries off the books and gathering evidence that the official narrative is built on lies. But when she's assigned to hunt down a notorious Rogue leader, she realizes the man she's been falling for is the same one she's sworn to destroy, forcing her to choose between duty and truth.
Reth never meant to let her close. As a former operative turned underground revolutionary, he knows that love is a liability and trust is a weapon. But Nora sees past the armor, sees past the scars—and when she discovers what he's really fighting for, she has to make an impossible choice.
Fight for the system that trained her. Or fight alongside the man who could bring it all down—and risk everything she believes in.
In a world where the government manufactures enemies to justify genocide, where genetic purity is law, and where love becomes an act of treason—Nora and Reth must decide if their connection is worth burning everything for.
Sometimes, the most dangerous thing is choosing the truth.

A young couple recently moved in right across the hall from us.
The husband, Richard, works as an auditor at City Hall. His wife, Chloe, is the morning show host for a local TV network.
Chloe is about five-foot-three, with curves in all the right places. Her entire being radiates an unignorable, mature housewife charm—she is absolutely gorgeous.
Richard is a serious whiskey enthusiast and often invites me over to the patio for a couple of drinks, so our families quickly grew close. My wife, Sarah, and Chloe, in particular, became like sisters the moment they started talking about Sephora's new releases and luxury bags. They could easily gossip for an entire weekend.
And that... gave me an opportunity.

Five years ago, they stripped me of my rank and stopped my retirement pay. Now, with the Imperial army at the gates, they kneel at my door, begging for my services. My daughter is wearing last year's shoes, her big toe practically sticking out. My wife is still refilling coffee at a fast-food restaurant at 3 a.m. The neighbors call me "that welfare-dependent guy" behind my back. I pulled my five-year-old dismissal order from under the bill and slipped it under the door. "You've got the wrong person."

Tessa gave up everything for her husband—her career, her family, her dignity—only to be discarded when his past walked back into his life.
Broken, she signs the divorce papers and leaves.

Years later, she returns as a woman the world kneels before and Smith realizes too late that the wife he broke has become the reckoning he cannot escape.

She's back powerful, untouchable, and unforgiving.

This time, she isn’t asking for love.
She’s collecting debts.

Corbin, Davis, Seth, and I grew up in the same neighborhood. We'd been inseparable since childhood, promising to go to college together and never leave anyone behind.

Everything changed when Mira moved into Corbin's house during high school.

Since then, every major decision had become a guessing game. They always told me to guess their choices, and I was always the one left out.

Three days before our graduate school decision deadline, I asked where everyone was going.

Corbin, my boyfriend, hinted at Boston. Mira posted a photo of New York, and Davis shared a video from Chicago.

I spent seventy-two hours reconsidering my options, desperate to stay with them.

Then I found a secret group chat on Corbin's laptop.

Mira: You're really all coming to New York for me?

Davis: We already accepted.

Seth: What about Brenna?

Corbin: Let her choose for herself. Once she realizes we're all together, she'll follow us. She always does.

I stared at the screen. They'd already planned their future without me.

This time, I didn't try to catch up.

Instead, I accepted an offer from Project Aegis, a classified federal research program requiring two years at a restricted facility with limited outside contact.

They'd made me guess for years.

Now it was their turn.

Nathan Cole had been overseas on business for two weeks.

The night he came back, he kept me in bed until well past midnight.

Afterward, I could barely lift an arm. It took a while before I noticed the empty box on the nightstand. The last one.

I reached for my phone to order more condoms. I always bought them. Nathan never bothered with it.

This time, just as I was about to pay, he took the phone out of my hand.

“Don't order them yet.”

I paused.

He offered no explanation. Leaning back against the headboard, he opened my shipping information, deleted the default address, and typed in one I didn't recognize. Right in front of me.

I stared at the screen for a few seconds.

“Where's that?”

“Ethan Mercer's place.”

He said it casually, as though there were nothing strange about it.

For a moment, I couldn't make sense of what he meant.

“Why would I have them sent there?”

He looked down at me and smiled.

“Claire Bennett, how long have you been with me?”

My fingers curled slightly against the sheet.

“Four years.”

“That long, huh?” He gave another little laugh, as if he'd just realized how long he'd been using something.

“Then it's about time you had someone new.”

"I need you to erase Elena Cavalli completely," I said, sliding an untraceable check across the table.

People say my husband Vito Cavalli broke every mafia code for me. The heir who knelt before all five family bosses and named an ordinary woman his godmother.

For three years, he convinced the world we were in love. He told the press I was why he went legitimate, why he gave up the gun.

But devotion has an expiration date.

While I basked in his affection, believing I was cherished, he was climbing into another woman's bed.

So I walked away.

When I disappeared, he shattered.

He tore through every corner of the globe hunting for me. But the woman he'd once traded his empire for didn't love him enough to turn around.

I was born a princess of the Dragon Realm, destined for greatness.
In my past life, I married an amethyst dragon, Damien. Our union should have produced heirs worthy of legend. Instead, I bore him a Wingless One, the ultimate shame.
He didn't hesitate. One swing of his blade, and our child's cries were silenced forever. Then he dragged me, still bleeding from childbirth, to the Dragon's Maw. Threw me into the molten lava, my screams echoing as the flames consumed my flesh.
Meanwhile, my half-sister Isadora, a mere Bronze Dragon, married another Bronze, equally unremarkable. Yet somehow, she gave birth to an Amethyst Dragon.
She became our new Dragon Queen. I became carrion.
But death wasn't my end.
I opened my eyes on the day of the Choosing Ceremony. Damien stood before me. Then, with cold calculation in his eyes, he turned away. He chose Isadora.
He remembers too.
A smile curved my lips. Let him play his game. Because I know the truth now, a truth that will shatter everything.
How could a dragon who needs dark magic to maintain his wing color possibly father a dragon of true noble bloodline?

I had caught Jasper entertaining the same woman in his bed seventeen times.   The first time I caught them, the shock triggered a miscarriage.   As I collapsed on his office floor in agony, Jasper didn't call 911. He just ordered his security to mop up my blood before it could ruin Lenora's designer shoes.   "At the end of the day, you're the one sitting at the head of my table," he would remind me, keeping me trapped.   When my grief finally turned to rage, I exposed their affair on his company's bulletin board.   In response, Jasper invited the tabloid press to our home. He tossed a contract at me with a cruel smirk.   "I have one other mistress," he challenged. "Find her in thirty days, and I'll drop Lenora and come home for good."   Desperate to save my marriage, I exhausted a fortune on private investigators. Yet, all my traps only ever caught Lenora.   Today was the deadline. Surrounded by flashing cameras and paparazzi, I exhaustedly slid a piece of paper with Lenora's name across the table.   "Jasper, please stop playing games."   Jasper lounged on the sofa, his arm wrapped around Lenora. He looked at me with cold, apathetic eyes.   "You dug through my entire life, yet missed the most glaring detail. The other woman... is you, Elowen."

Eight years ago, I was forced to marry Sicily's most dangerous man.

Louis De Santis, heir to the Santis crime family, decided he wanted me. Right in front of me, he brutally tortured and killed my fiancé Alessandro, then dumped the body in the ocean for the sharks. He used Alessandro's blood to write threats on the wall to my parents—I had no choice but to walk into that fortress he called home.

Louis was obsessed with me to the point of madness. He took bullets for me during family wars, got down on his knees and begged the family elders when they questioned his choice. Under that twisted kind of love, I gradually fell for him and gave him a son—Marco.

For five years, I thought I'd found happiness.

Until year eight, when the Corleone family sent their "peace offering"—Angelina Corleone. This innocent-looking woman effortlessly stole Louis's heart. He had the nerve to announce: "You two are going to get along."

I couldn't stand the betrayal, so I secretly reached out to other families to try getting rid of Angelina.

I got caught.

In his rage, Louis strung up 5-year-old Marco above the blast furnace at the steel mill.

"NO! Please! He's just a child!" I rushed toward Louis frantically, but his men held me back.

Molten steel roared inside the furnace at 2912°F. Scorching heat blasted upward as little Marco dangled just ten feet above the flames.

My heart nearly stopped.

"Mommy! Help me! It's so hot! So hot!" Marco screamed in terror.

"Put him down! Please!" I fell to my knees, begging desperately, "Kill me! Kill me instead! Don't hurt Marco!"

"Nod and let her stay, and I'll let him down." Louis coldly began counting down: "TEN!"

I watched Marco's little body writhing in agony from the heat.

"NINE!"

Sweat and tears blurred my vision.

"EIGHT!"

"I agree! I AGREE!" I broke down screaming, "She can stay! Please let Marco down!"

Louis smiled with satisfaction and stopped counting, about to signal his men.

Then—

"SNAP!"

The rope suddenly broke!

"NOOO—!"

Time seemed to freeze. I watched helplessly as Marco's tiny body plummeted.

"THUD!"

He fell into the furnace.

In an instant, he was gone.

I completely shattered, blood spurting from my mouth as I collapsed.

When I opened my eyes again, I'd gone back to the day Louis first brought Angelina home.

This time, I'm going to make him pay!

The kidnapper's boot sent the briefcase flying. Thirty million in cash scattered across the floor.
He pointed at me, then at the unconscious Camilla. "Not enough money. So you pick one to take home. The other stays."
Lorenzo stood among the bills, his face drained of color.
"I'm sorry. Camilla has a heart condition—she won't make it through the night here." He wouldn't meet my eyes. "You've always been the strong one. Once I get her to the hospital and pull together the rest of the ransom, I swear I'll come back for you."
The next second, Lorenzo gathered Camilla in his arms and walked out without a backward glance. The heavy iron door slammed shut with a boom that echoed through the space.
In the cavernous abandoned factory, it was just me and five thugs with brutal faces.
The leader dragged the flat of his blade across my cheek, his eyes dark with sick intent. "Well, well. Looks like your rich boyfriend just chose her over you. But hey, don't feel too bad, sweetheart—we're gonna keep you company."
Watching the twisted hunger in their eyes, I didn't scream or beg. I just glanced at the locked door. "Lorenzo's gone, right? Far enough away?"
"That p**y's probably halfway across the county by now." The leader grinned, reaching for my collar.
"Good." I let out a breath.
Snap.
The zip tie around my wrists gave way like thread. A massive shadow swallowed him whole.
In less than two seconds, a dragon nearly sixty feet long filled every inch of space.
I lowered my massive head, molten slitted eyes locked on the five frozen insects below.
Then I opened my fang-lined jaws and snapped them up one by one.

I've signed five blood-bound annulment contracts with my mafia don husband, Killian.
Each and every time, he fed me the same line: "When this is over, we'll tie the knot again."
But every single one of those "things" was for the same woman: Seraphina Moretti.
We ended our marital bond for the first time, and I sobbed, begging him to tell me if his love for me had ever been real.
He clamped his hold on my jaw hard enough, enunciating every word coldly: "Elara, that doesn't matter."
When the second annulment rolled around, I was mocked openly at the family gala.
I locked myself away in the ensuite bathroom and sliced open my wrists; blood trickled along the tile grout.
My best mate tracked me down to find me trembling.
It wasn't the wound's ache making me shake, though—Killian was somewhere on the estate that very night, yet he never bothered to pop by and check on me once.
By the third split, I'd taught myself never to shed a tear in his presence.
On the fourth occasion, I even took it upon myself to ask him flat-out: "What sham do you need me to play along with now?"
He froze for the longest moment, said nothing at all in the end.
Now we're here for the fifth annulment.
He thought he only needs to click his fingers and I'll trot back to remarry him just as I've done all the previous times. What he did not know is this:
This time, I'm disappearing from his life for good.

I'd been married to Nikolai Konstantin for three years. In that time, I'd miscarried six times for him—nearly died on the operating table once.

Every time I woke up, this cold-blooded mafia boss would hold my hand and say, "I'm sorry you had to go through this. Should we try again?"

I thought he loved me.

Until my seventh pregnancy, when I saw that video—

My sister Scarlett curled up in his arms, crying: "Nik, she's had six miscarriages... what if something happens to her? It's all my fault. My heart condition won't let me carry a baby..."

Nikolai kissed the top of her head: "Don't worry, baby. Her body can handle a few more tries. I promised you a child, and I always keep my promises."

That was when I finally understood—

The child in my womb had NEVER been ours.

They said I killed them all.

My father. My daughter. My brother's legs. One explosion, one moment of selfishness, and I became the family murderer.

My husband Dominic—the most feared mafia boss in the city—drowned himself in whiskey. I drowned myself in something worse.

Three years on the pole. Three years with strangers' cash stuffed in my bra, their cocks shoved down my throat, their fists in back alleys, their cameras catching every degradation. Three years swallowing cum and shame to scrape together half a million for my brother's surgery.

Then the doctors found the tumor. Three months left.

One last show, I told myself. A blindfolded performance. Enough to pay off Ethan's debt before I died.

That's when someone ripped off my blindfold.

Dominic.

Behind him stood my very-alive father. And Ethan—on two perfect legs, kicking aside an empty wheelchair. And my adopted sister Vanessa, draped over my husband, flashing a diamond ring.

This whole performance? Her birthday present.

"Surprise, sweetheart." Dominic smiled. "The explosion was fake. We just needed to put you in your place."

Ethan laughed. "Three years of stripper money made one hell of a party, sis."

My father still wouldn't look at me. "Learn to treat Vanessa right, or you're no daughter of mine."

The room exploded in laughter.

I stood there, diagnosis crumpled in my fist.

The explosion was fake. The crippled legs were fake. Everything was fake.

But the cancer eating my brain?

That was real.

By the time I was pulled into the book, the story was almost over.
The hero and heroine had beaten every obstacle and found their happily ever after.
And the tragic second lead, Sebastian Cross, had lost not only the woman he loved, but his entire career.
On the day Marcus Wade married Isabella Lane, Sebastian slit his wrists.
I got him to the hospital in time. When he woke up, I sat by his bed and talked his ear off.
It all boiled down to one thing: “As long as you’re alive, it’s not too late for anything.”
After that, I stayed by his side while he rebuilt everything from nothing.
Three years later, he was back on top of the Manhattan business world.
The day his company rang the opening bell, he got down on one knee in front of everyone, holding up a diamond ring, his eyes full of devotion. “Tessa, I love you. Will you marry me?”
My heart melted completely. “Yes.”
And so I stayed in this world.
Life with Sebastian was peaceful and easy.
I thought I’d be happy like that for the rest of my life.
Until six months into our marriage, when the heroine of the book, Isabella, showed up outside our house.

Three years of doting affection was nothing but a meticulously rehearsed lie. Dante Vitale kept Isabella as his perfect human shield to guard Seraphina, the woman he truly loved. Every warmth was fake, every danger was arranged. When the truth shattered her world, she lost her child and narrowly escaped death. Presumed drowned, Isabella lays low, collects evidence, and allies with an old FBI classmate. She brings down the entire Vitale clan, ruins his power, and leaves him scavenging for food on cold streets. He weeps for her in the snow, yet she will never turn back.

Vincent Romano never had to ask me to stay. For four years, I made every excuse to remain his wife.

Then Diana came home.

Suddenly, there was always someone who needed him more. Someone whose calls he answered, whose fears he soothed, whose place beside him no one dared question.

I stopped asking where that left me. I started arranging my departure.

He thought he was signing another set of university forms. I watched his pen move across the page and said nothing. By the time he learned what those signatures meant, his wife would be gone.

But there was something I hadn’t put in the papers.

A secret I carried beneath my heart.

Now Vincent wants answers. He wants to know where I am, why I left, and how the woman who once waited all night for him can refuse to take his calls.

Let him wonder. I spent enough nights wondering whether he would come home.

The man who commands Greyhaven’s most feared family may know how to make people obey. That won’t help him with me.

If he wants another chance, he’ll have to ask.

And this time, I’m the one who decides.

Maeve and I dragged a dying animal out of the rain. We thought we were saving a life. Instead, we invited a monster to our door for a blood oath. In my first life, I accepted the oath and died screaming. In the second, Maeve took my place and was skinned alive. This is our third chance.

I’m the lowest of the low in the palace beneath the sea: a half-blood maid who cleans the mermaid prince’s chambers.
Then his Blood Tide hit, and the prince I’d quietly loved for five years lost control.
He doesn’t remember that night. He doesn’t remember me.
But I’m pregnant with his child.
When I finally work up the courage to tell him, he’s polishing his trident and swearing to find whoever “seduced” him.
“Feed them to the sharks.”
Worse, glowing comments have started floating across my vision, like an invisible audience is reading my life and placing bets on how I’ll die. And they all agree on one thing: his royal fiancée is coming home, and I’m about to become caviar.
I just want to keep my baby safe.
But when the princess drags me to the edge of the abyss and lets go, the cold, untouchable prince finally learns the truth.
And for the first time in his life, he loses his mind.

I hid in shadows for six years while my vampire husband played duke with his mistress.

Lucian kept our marriage secret, called our daughter "the half-blood bastard," and rushed to comfort Seraphina's twisted ankle while five-year-old Vanessa nearly died from silver poisoning.

His precious lover had "gifted" my child deadly perfume. While I held my convulsing daughter, he was cutting cake with his real family.

So I handed him divorce papers during his next dramatic rescue mission. Fool signed without reading—too busy playing hero to notice he just legally abandoned his wife and child.

Now the mighty vampire Duke burns under holy sunlight, chasing us to territories his undead flesh can't survive.

Begging on scorched pavement for a second chance he'll never get.

My daughter was choked until her face turned purple by the mistress's son, then nearly died after my ex-husband forced her to give blood.
She was beaten, cursed at, and abandoned on a bench outside the hospital.
And I could do nothing to help her.
Because I had already died eight years ago.
It wasn't until my daughter collapsed crying at my grave—and the story made the news—that my ex-husband finally learned the truth.
He had destroyed both me and the child we shared in the cruelest way possible.
And by then, there was no fixing it.

At three in the morning, I dragged my suitcase through the front door.
After a full week at an exchange program in Germany, I was too tired to even turn on the lights. I went straight to the shower.
The hot water poured over me, and I went cold all over.
A hundred and thirteen degrees.
My temperature. The one I always use.
Ryan had always said it was scalding. In five years of marriage I must have reminded him a thousand times, but every time he showered, the dial stayed parked at his lukewarm ninety-eight. Not once had he turned it back.
Tonight, the temperature was right.
Which meant only one thing: the last person to use this shower wasn't him.
I wrapped myself in a towel and leaned against the bedroom doorframe. "So," I said, keeping my voice light. "Since when do you think about your wife?"
The man in the bed blinked, then grinned and snapped me a textbook salute. "Yes, ma'am. Won't happen again, ma'am. I'll always remember from now on."
I didn't say a word. I turned and went back into the bathroom.
As the steam slowly cleared, two pairs of handprints surfaced on the glass shower door, one over the other.
One large pair, one small. The fingertips of the small pair sat a good few inches below where mine would reach.
And caught in the drain was a single strand of hair—long, straight, black, glossy as satin.
My hair is short and honey-blond.
Credit where it's due: they'd gotten creative.
Swallowing the nausea rising in my throat, I took a photo and sent it to my cousin Riley. She was a senior at West Point, majoring in cybersecurity.
Long straight black hair. About 5'1".
Find her and I'll give you five thousand dollars.
She answered in seconds:
On it. Let's see who this little home-wrecker is.

My best friend Sophie has a rich dad, a romance-novel addiction, and Daddy’s black card.

I have student loans and three part-time jobs.

So when Sophie decided to live out every love story she’d ever read, she hired me to play the villainess.

The mean girl who corners the class genius? Me. The spoiled heiress who won’t leave the campus heartthrob alone? Also me. Ten bucks per cringey text. Cash up front.

Easiest money I ever made.

Except the heartthrob never answered my fake flirting. He only answered when I accidentally told him the truth.

Now Sophie’s on romance number three, a bad boy with a Ducati, and I’m in a back alley in black eyeliner, pretending to slap her so he can swoop in and save her.

He doesn’t show.

Her last two heroes do.

The genius smirks. “Well, well. If it isn’t the two women who once loved me to death.”

“You’ve got it wrong,” the heartthrob says, and he’s not looking at Sophie. He’s looking at me. “That’s the gorgeous rich girl who swore she’d marry me.”

I was paid to be his worst nightmare.

Nobody paid me to fall for him.