Contract Over: I Rejected My Alpha Husband First
When her father fled with his mistress, leaving crushing debts behind, Freya Gilbert had nowhere to turn. Crashing Alpha Jonas's welcome ceremony in desperation, she never expected to find her fated mate there. But it wasn't gentle Jonas who made her wolf howl "mate." It was the dangerous, devastatingly powerful Niklaus Lockwood.
One scorching night of passion sealed her fate.
Niklaus already had his perfect chosen mate, the elegant Rebekah. Unwilling to abandon his plans, he offered Freya a cold business deal: be his contract Luna for three years, play the perfect wife in public, and he'd clear her debts. When their arrangement expired, she'd accept his rejection and disappear quietly.
Freya thought she could survive a loveless marriage. She was wrong.
Three years later, she's fallen hopelessly for the Alpha who sees her as nothing more than a gold-digging Omega. On their anniversary night, the very day their contract expires, Niklaus chooses Rebekah.
The message couldn't be clearer.
But when Freya files for divorce and moves out first, Niklaus's carefully controlled world shatters. The mate bond he's suppressed for years, and he never expected his obedient, compliant wife to actually leave him.
"I, Freya Gilbert, reject you, Niklaus Lockwood."
The words that should have set them both free only ignite a fire that threatens to consume them both.
Can a love born from a business contract survive the flames of pride and betrayal? Or will the most powerful Alpha in the territory lose his true mate because he was too blind to see what was right in front of him?
When the contract ends, the real battle for love begins.
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Chapter 2
"Mate."
The word made the entire banquet hall fall silent. Conversations stopped. Champagne glasses hung halfway to lips. Every single person turned to stare at them.
Jonas's brown eyes went wide with shock and a flicker of disappointment. His mouth opened, but no sound came out.
The mysterious Alpha stared down at Freya, his ice-blue eyes burning with a hunger so scorching it made her skin flush.
"Rise," he commanded.
Freya's legs shook as she tried to stand, but her body felt like jelly. Before she could fall again, his large hand clamped around her wrist and hauled her up.
The moment their skin touched, a jolt of pure electricity shot through her entire body. Her heart hammered against her ribs. Within her, Vicki went absolutely feral, howling, "Mate! Mate!"
"Niklaus!" A sharp female voice cut through the tension.
The stunning brunette in an elegant champagne dress rushed over, clutching Niklaus's other arm. Diamond rings glittered on her fingers.
"What is this crazy girl saying?" Rebekah's voice cracked with panic. "She's lying, right? Tell me she's lying!"
Freya could see the desperation in the woman's eyes. She shrank back, ducking her head as hot shame flooded her cheeks. This powerful Alpha already had someone--someone polished and perfect, not a broken, debt-ridden Omega in a tattered, muddy dress.
Niklaus said nothing. His silence was answer enough.
"No!" Rebekah let out a piercing scream. "Niklaus! How could you do this to me? We're engaged!"
"Rebekah..." Niklaus's voice was thick with a jagged edge of guilt. He reached toward her.
"I hate you!" Tears blurred her vision. "I hate all of you!"
Rebekah turned and bolted toward the exit. The banquet hall doors slammed shut behind her.
Niklaus watched her go, pain crossing his face. Through the mate bond, Freya could feel his desperate urge to chase after Rebekah, torn within him.
Bitterness filled her heart. Her fated mate loved someone else. And Jonas, the man who was supposed to be her savior, was now miles out of reach.
Niklaus pulled himself together in an instant. When his gaze snapped back to Freya, his eyes were burning with that primal hunger again.
"What's your name?"
"Freya... Freya Gilbert."
"Freya. You're coming with me. Now."
Not a request. A command.
"I... I can't..." The mate bond pulled at her, making it impossible to think straight. The soul-consuming need made her want to follow him anywhere, but she needed to speak with Jonas about her problem.
"This shouldn't be happening," Niklaus suddenly hissed, clenching his fists as he fought the wolf inside him. His eyes instantly shifted from blue to a pale gold. "But since it has..."
Niklaus didn't want to cause any more of a scene. Ignoring Freya's protests, he clamped his hand around her arm and began pulling her toward the exit.
"Wait!" Jonas finally spoke up, stepping forward. "You can't just take her!"
Niklaus stiffened, a low growl vibrating in his chest. His eyes flashed, the blue vanishing entirely as a brilliant, terrifying gold took over.
Niklaus snapped his head toward him. "You want to stop me, Alpha Jonas?"
Then he let out a loud growl that made everyone's hearts quiver.
Many lower-ranking pack members began to fall to their knees. They could not withstand the Alpha's growl. Their strength wasn't enough to resist Niklaus's dominance. Even Jonas took a step back. It was clear that Niklaus overpowered every Alpha in the room.
"She's a member of our pack..." Jonas held his ground against Niklaus's overwhelming aura, realizing that Niklaus was now completely controlled by his wolf. The stronger the Alpha, the more vicious the beast.Once controlled by the wolf, it took tremendous effort for an Alpha to regain control.
"She's my mate. Which makes her mine." Niklaus snarled in a condescending tone.
Niklaus tightened his iron grip and shouldered past Jonas, striding toward the exit.
Freya felt powerless. She had no idea what to do. She twisted her head to look back at Jonas as Niklaus continued hauling her away.
Behind them, the crowd exploded into gossip.
"Oh my Goddess, did that really just happen?"
"Alpha Niklaus of the most powerful Whitecrown Pack is mated to that? To the Colors Freak?"
"Yeah, I heard she's a total lost cause. Couldn't tell a scent from a form during training. Her brain is fried. She was so weak they had to demote her to the bottom."
Freya ignored it all, though the cruel nickname cut like a knife. Niklaus's grip was so tight her hand went numb. She could tell he was seething--as if he didn't want her as his mate. They were practically strangers. Worse still, he had been in a relationship with a woman he'd planned to marry.
Niklaus shoved her into an elevator and slammed the button for the top floor.
"I need to go back," Freya managed to choke out. "You don't understand. I came here tonight because--"
Her words were stifled as Niklaus suddenly lunged forward, caging her against the wall. The heat of his body made it impossible to think.
Niklaus's breath hitched as he stared into Freya's striking green eyes. His throat constricted, his mouth going dry.
"I can't wait any longer," he rasped.
Then, his lips crashed onto hers.
She'd never been kissed like this. His scent exploded in her head, painting patterns of blue and gold, making her dizzy with pure, unadulterated want.
Niklaus's burning fingers traced her skin, pinching her earlobe before sliding down her neck to her collarbone. The touch ignited sparks that made her shudder uncontrollably.
Freya pushed against his chest, but a hungry, ache deep within her body pulled her closer instead. The mate bond tugged at her, demanding surrender.
"The elevator..." she panted, her voice trembling as her hands rested uselessly against his chest.
Niklaus paused, his body going still except for the hand splayed across her lower back. In the dim elevator light, his eyes glowed with an unnatural redness, wild and hungry.
"Do you want me to stop?" he rasped.
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8.6
Seven nights with the devil to pay a debt. One truth that will burn the world down.
Sienna Blackwood was never part of the deal until her step-brother gambled with her life to save his own.
Now, she is collateral in a brutal game of revenge. The collector is Dante Moretti, a billionaire with a fifteen-year grudge and a thirst for Blackwood blood.
He doesn't want her money; he demands seven nights of her total surrender.
But in the shadows of a Manhattan penthouse, hatred turns into a lethal obsession. When a syndicate ambush forces them to flee, the contract becomes a race for survival across the Atlantic.
Hunted for the three-year-old secret heir in their arms, Sienna and Dante must navigate a world of blood oaths and forced alliances.
In a game where every kiss is a tactical error, Sienna must decide: is her step-brother's rival the monster who shattered her life, or the only man who can save it?
7.6
When Christine Woods collapses into a hospital bed from unbearable pain, her husband's response is colder than the IV dripping into her veins: "Stop pretending to be sick."
That same night, a single social media post shatters her marriage--Neil Caffery, intimate with the first love he once claimed was dead.
Three years of marriage. Three years of neglect, indifference, and quiet self-deception.
In that moment, Christine finally understands the truth: she was never a wife--only a substitute.
Not wanting to live as a substitute any longer, she divorced her husband.
After divorce, Christine started her new life, achieving success both in career and love.
Seeing her so radiant and successful, her scumbag husband beg her to come back.
"Hazel, I know I was wrong. Please come back."
However, before Christine could respond, the country's richest man kicked him and held Christine's waist, "Who are you? Stop pestering my wife!"
His voice was cold, his presence imposing.
Christine looked at him and snorted, "When did I agree to marry you?"
"Baby, are you still angry about last night? I promise, I will be gentle next time." The man said, looking at her playfully.
Christine hit his chest playfully, her face turning red.
9.1
Leo Vance builds things that last. Bridges. Buildings. A quiet, unspoken life with the woman he loves. What he has never been able to build is the courage to name what they are.
On the morning of his wedding to botanical illustrator Elara Ashford, Leo stands in a chapel in a suit he cannot bring himself to fully button, and realizes something that stops him cold - he has already been married to her. Not in any courtroom or ceremony, but in every moment that actually counted. The night she held his hand at his mother's funeral and said nothing, because nothing was the right thing to say. The years they ate ramen so he could chase a dream she believed in before he did. The night she stood in the doorway during their worst fight and looked him in the eye and refused to let him run.
He has said I do a thousand times in a thousand unspoken ways.
So why does saying it out loud feel like the beginning of the end?
What Leo doesn't know is that Elara has been sitting with her own impossible question for three weeks - ever since she found a note in his jacket pocket that made her wonder whether the man she is about to marry proposed because he chose her, or because someone told him he was about to lose her.
What neither of them knows is that the woman he was secretly engaged to four years ago just walked into the venue. His best man is in love with his bride. His estranged father is standing outside in a rented suit, unable to go in. And the wedding videographer has been filming everything - with two cameras.
By the time the officiant asks who gives this woman, nothing about this wedding will have gone according to the blueprint.
But then again, the most important things Leo has ever built never did.
Every Vow But One is a lux serialized romance about the terrifying distance between loving someone completely and choosing them on purpose and what it can cost when you finally close the gap.
8.4
Everly spent four years playing the perfect, accommodating wife to Carson Moss, swallowing every grievance just to secure medical treatments for their sick daughter.
But at a high-society banquet she exhausted herself organizing, Carson's pregnant mistress crashed the party.
The woman shoved an ultrasound of Carson's "real heir" directly into Everly's frail grandfather's face.
The shock triggered a massive heart attack.
Carson refused to use his private helicopter to save the dying old man, choosing to protect his mistress and his company's IPO instead. Her grandfather died on the hospital table.
Instead of remorse, her mother-in-law demanded Everly publicly cover up the murder.
"You will do exactly as I say, or I will freeze every single cent of the medical trust fund paying for your crippled daughter's treatments."
When a battered Everly returned to the estate, she discovered her three-year-old daughter covered in dark bruises and pinch marks. Her in-laws were deliberately torturing her disabled child.
Everly couldn't comprehend how a family could be so utterly heartless. Her only family was murdered, her child was abused, and her husband threw a five-million-dollar check at her face as hush money.
They thought she would just break and quietly disappear.
But when a terrifyingly powerful billionaire unexpectedly blocked Carson's security team from locking her up, Everly finally saw her window.
She grabbed her sleeping daughter and ran out into the freezing storm, making a blood-bound vow to make the entire Moss family bleed.
8.5
Kaelyn spent three years believing Andrew loved her completely, until one overheard conversation shattered everything.
He had never returned for her. He had come back to save another woman, even if it meant taking Kaelyn's heart.
Humiliated and done with loving alone, she agreed to marry Theodore, the blind yet powerful heir chosen by his grandfather.
After the wedding, no matter how many times she tried, she just couldn't get past his walls.
Then at a banquet, her desperate ex came begging. Before Kaelyn could react, Theodore drew her into his arms and murmured, "Giving up already? Try again. I'm ready to surrender."
8.8
She married the devil. Then she divorced him. Now she carries his child.
All Isabella Lorenzo wanted was to protect her family, and she thought marrying the ruthless and feared Luca Moretti... heir to the Moretti crime empire would be enough, but she was wrong. Instead of protection, her father was brutally executed and her heart left shattered in a million pieces.
Two years later, she has managed to move on from the past and rebuild her life in the shadows. Every feeling of emotion was buried in her past, but they soon reignite after a reckless night with a masked stranger... a stranger that happens to be Luca Moretti.
Now she's pregnant, and Luca will do anything to get her back.
But forgiveness is not something that exists in her heart anymore... will she be able to fully heal, or will her urge for revenge burn everything down?