Mate's VENGEANCE

To destroy him, I've traded my pride for a maid's uniform. My plan is simple: infiltrate his estate, seduce him into breaking his royal engagement, and lead his enemies to his doorstep. I want to see his pack burn. I want to see the light leave those storm-grey eyes as how he did to my mate

Chapters

Chapter 4

The kitchen smelled like baking bread and simmering soup, and despite everything, Sera's stomach growled. She'd barely eaten in days, too focused on preparation and planning to remember basic things like food.

Elder Moira noticed. Of course she did. Those sharp eyes didn't miss anything.

But she didn't comment, just led Sera down another hallway and into a small office. It was tidy and efficient, with a desk, two chairs, and filing cabinets. A window looked out onto what appeared to be an overgrown garden, wild and beautiful and somehow sad.

"Sit," Elder Moira said, taking the chair behind the desk.

Sera sat, hands folded in her lap, projecting calm even though her heart was hammering.

Elder Moira pulled out a file-Sera's application, she realized, along with the false references she'd carefully constructed.

"Your references are adequate," the older woman said, flipping through pages. "Though I notice you've moved around quite a bit in the past two years. Oregon, Washington, Northern California, now here."

"Yes, ma'am." Sera let real emotion color her voice-not hard, when the pain was always so close to the surface. "I lost my parents in an accident two years ago. I've been... trying to find somewhere that feels like home again. It's been difficult."

Elder Moira's expression softened slightly. "I'm sorry for your loss. Losing family is never easy."

"Thank you." Sera took a shaky breath, perfectly calculated. "I know moving around so much doesn't look great on a resume. But I'm ready to stay somewhere now. To build something stable."

"What brings you to Silvermoon specifically?"

Sera had prepared for this question. "I'd heard good things about the pack. That Alpha Stormridge runs a fair, honorable operation. That he takes care of his people." She met Elder Moira's eyes directly. "After everything... I wanted to be somewhere I'd feel safe. Somewhere I could maybe belong again."

It was a beautiful lie, wrapped around a kernel of truth. She had heard those things about Kael Stormridge-everyone said he was fair, honorable, a good Alpha. It was one of the things that made the evidence of Marcus's assassination so hard to reconcile.

But evidence didn't lie. And Sera couldn't afford to doubt now.

"The work is demanding," Elder Moira continued. "Long hours, early mornings, physically exhausting at times. You'd be responsible for cleaning and maintaining the main house, which has over forty rooms. You'd also be expected to help with special events and pack gatherings. The upcoming mating ceremony, for instance-all staff will be involved in preparations."

The mating ceremony. Where everything would end.

"I'm not afraid of hard work," Sera said firmly. "And I'm good at what I do. I pay attention to details. I'm reliable and discreet."

"Discretion is important here." Elder Moira leaned back in her chair, studying Sera with those sharp eyes. "You'd be living in the household, seeing and hearing things that are private pack business. The Alpha values loyalty above all else. Can you give me that loyalty, Miss Blackwood?"

The irony of the question would have been funny if it weren't so bitter.

"Yes, ma'am," Sera lied smoothly. "I understand the importance of discretion and loyalty. You can trust me."

Elder Moira was quiet for a long moment, and Sera had the uncomfortable feeling that the older woman could see straight through her carefully constructed facade. Could see the rage and grief and deadly purpose underneath.

But then Elder Moira nodded. "I'll be frank with you, Miss Blackwood. We're short-staffed at the moment. Two of our regular housekeepers left to join their mates in other packs, and we have the mating ceremony in six weeks. I need reliable people, and I need them quickly."

Six weeks. The timeline matched what Sera had learned from her research.

"That said," Elder Moira continued, "I'm a good judge of character. I've been running this household for twenty years, and I know when someone is being honest with me."

Sera's pulse jumped. Did she know? Had she somehow seen through everything?

"You're running from something," Elder Moira said quietly. "Pain, probably. Loss. I can see it in your eyes, child. You have the look of someone who's been hurt deeply."

Sera's throat tightened. That, at least, wasn't a lie.

"But," the older woman continued, "I also see someone who's trying. Someone who wants to rebuild. And that's what we do here at Silvermoon. We give people a chance to belong."

The kindness in her voice was almost unbearable. Sera wanted to scream at her, *I'm not here to belong! I'm here to destroy everything you've built!*

Instead, she ducked her head and whispered, "Thank you. That means a lot."

Elder Moira stood. "The position is yours if you want it. Room and board included, plus competitive wages. You'd start tomorrow morning at five AM. I'll show you to your quarters now, introduce you to some of the other staff, give you a tour of the areas you'll be responsible for."

It couldn't be this easy. Sera had expected more scrutiny, more questions, maybe a background check that would take days.

But apparently the pack's desperation for staff was working in her favor.

"I want it," Sera said, standing as well. "Thank you so much for this opportunity, Elder Moira. I won't disappoint you."

Another lie. She was going to disappoint everyone here so catastrophically that the pack would probably remember it for generations.

"Come along then." Elder Moira headed for the door. "I'll show you around before the Alpha returns from his border patrol. He likes to meet new staff members eventually, but there's no need to bother him with it today."

The Alpha. Kael Stormridge. Marcus's killer.

Sera's hands clenched into fists before she carefully relaxed them. "Does he... does the Alpha interview all the staff personally?"

"Not usually, but he likes to know who's in his household. Security concern, mostly." Elder Moira led her back through the kitchen, nodding to the cook. "Don't worry, dear. He's intimidating at first-all Alphas are-but he's fair. As long as you do your work and stay out of trouble, you'll never have a problem with him."

*Stay out of trouble.* If only Elder Moira knew.

They climbed a back staircase to the second floor, then down a long hallway. The mansion was even larger on the inside than Sera had expected-endless corridors, numerous doors, the kind of space that spoke of old money and older power.

Continue to next part

My father gave me an ultimatum: marry a man I despise or lose my entire inheritance. I chose to run, boarding a private jet with no intention of looking back. But his reach is absolute. The phone buzzed before we even left New York airspace. "Send me a picture with Sterling now," his voice barked, "or I'm calling your pilot to turn that jet around." I faked the photo and fled to Las Vegas, my last resort. My mission was simple: find my father's illegitimate son, the one secret that could break his hold over me. My only lead was a grainy picture of a ruthless fixer, a man who cleaned up my father's messes. I found him in a desolate diner, a giant of a man surrounded by a wall of guards. I gambled everything on a single coin toss for the information I needed. He saw right through my desperate bluff. He leaned in close, his voice a low, gravelly rasp. "In my city, the house always wins." I was left standing there, humiliated and defeated. But as he turned to leave, he glanced over his shoulder. "But you're lucky. Today, I'm just curious what Howard Bright's daughter is doing so far from home." He had seen me not as a threat, but as a curiosity. I had lost the battle, but I wasn't done yet. I was no longer running. I was hunting.

Action Billionaire Modern

7.1

Her Rebirth For Revenge

7.1

They said she killed the prince, but what if they were wrong? Selene was the pack's beloved queen until everything changed. Someone put poison in the prince's drink and he died. Everyone blamed Selene. Her own husband, the king, said she had to die. But Selene didn't do it. The night before her death, a magic lady saved her. She gave Selene special powers that let her know when people tell lies. Now Selene looks different and has a new name. She comes back to her old home as a stranger. No one knows who she really is. She can hear the truth now, and the truth is scary. The real killer is still there, hurting more people. He has big plans to destroy everyone she once loved. Her old husband still thinks about her every day. His heart is broken because he thinks he killed his wife. But the new Selene is not the same person anymore. She is stronger and has magic powers. She wants to catch the real bad guy and save her people. But doing the right thing might mean losing everything again. Will she tell everyone who she really is, or will she keep her secret forever?

Action Mystery Romance

8.9

My Baby, My Strength, Our Future

8.9

The mangled car teetered on the cliff's edge, my leg crushed, gasoline fumes thick in the air. My husband, Holden, stood safe on the highway, directing the rescue – but not for me. He was saving her, the woman in the passenger seat, leaving me and our unborn child to the ocean below. I woke trapped in the crushed Maybach, leg pinned. The cliff loomed; the driver's seat was empty. Holden, safe outside, directed paramedics past me to Giana, his "most valuable asset," ordering her rescue first. I watched him comfort Giana, oblivious, as the car slid. My baby barely viable. Holden offered a black card for silence; Giana gloated. Ten years of devotion, a cruel lie. Rage fueled me: how could he abandon his wife and child? I swore a venomous oath: never again an accessory. I flicked his card away, shielded my pregnancy, and promised my baby escape.

Action Modern Romance

9.0

Revenge for Mom: Destroying His Mafia World

9.0

My fiancé, the Underboss of the DeLuca Crime Family, promised he would burn the world down for me. But when my mother was dying in the hospital, he chose a ski trip with another woman. It was that woman's dog that attacked my mother, but when I called him, shaking, he was annoyed. He was in Aspen with Isabella, and I could hear her laughing in the background. He dismissed my mother's injuries as a "minor scrape" and told me not to "make a big deal out of this." While my mother's fever spiked, he ignored my desperate pleas. Instead, my phone lit up with an Instagram post of him and Isabella smiling by a fireplace, sipping hot chocolate. My mother slipped into septic shock. That picture was a public declaration, a judgment on my mother's worth, and my own. A cold fury burned away every last bit of love I had for him. She died at 3:17 a.m. I held her hand until it was cold, then walked out of the hospital and called the one number I was never supposed to use—the number for my father. "She's dead," I said. "I'm coming to Chicago. I'm leaving this life, and I'm going to burn his world to the ground."

Action Mafia Modern

9.1

SWEET REVENGE (He Betrayed Me, Now He Must Pay )

9.1

"Stop this God forsaken wedding!!" I boom, my voice resonating through the halls of the church. Murmurs fill the air as eyes turn to me, dressed in nothing but rags. My grip tightens on the bat in my right hand. How dare they? How dare he? My eyes burn as I match forward, my body trembling with rage. "Clara, what–" His words are barely out before I send my hand forward, swinging the bat at him. Thick red blood spurts out as screams fill the air. ~~~~~ Clara Anthony thought it was love when she took the fall for a theft her husband committed just a few weeks after she gave birth. Thought she was doing the right thing for him, for them, but she was wrong because on the day she came out three years later, she found out he was getting married to her best friend of ten years. Her whole world shatters as she watches her best friend take her life, her husband, and her daughter. Left with nothing but pain and a deep ache for revenge. She teams up with the one person she swore never to look at again, the one person everyone thought was dead. Spencer Anthony, twin to her husband and her first love, the same man who left her without a word. Now he is back from the dead, not as the same man she once knew, but a cold, heartless mafia man who wants nothing but destruction. As Spencer offers her a chance to reclaim her life and daughter. Filled with nothing but hate, she takes up the offer, determined to make everyone pay. But what she didn't know when going close to Spencer was that when dining with the devil, you use a long spoon.

Action Modern Romance

7.9

The Blood Bag's Billion-Dollar Revenge

7.9

I was in the kitchen of the Vance mansion, slicing black truffles worth more than my car while my mother-in-law, Victoria, mocked my "backwoods" origins. My back throbbed from standing for six hours, and my head spun from the chronic anemia I’d developed since marrying into this family. Suddenly, my phone vibrated with a call from my husband, Julian. He didn't ask if I was okay or if I’d eaten; he simply ordered me to get to the hospital because his "fragile" friend Caroline needed another emergency blood transfusion. "Her hemoglobin is low, Seraphina. Get to St. Luke's now." I looked down at my left arm, which was a roadmap of bruises and needle marks hidden beneath my sweater. When I tried to tell him that the medical guidelines forbade donating again so soon, Julian’s voice turned dangerous. "I don't care about guidelines. She’s in crisis, and your anemia is manageable. Are you really going to be this selfish after the life we gave you?" Seconds later, a photo arrived from an unknown number. It showed Julian sitting on Caroline’s hospital bed, tenderly feeding her apples. The text underneath was a visceral slap in the face: "He wouldn't even eat dinner with you, but he's feeding me. Thanks for the refill, blood bag." At that moment, something inside me finally snapped. I realized that to the Vances, I wasn't a wife or even a human being—I was a biological spare part, a servant they kept around only to be drained dry for a woman who was faking her illness. I untied my apron, dropped it into the trash, and walked past a screaming Victoria toward the front door. I picked up the phone and dialed the one number I had been forbidden to contact since my wedding day. "Mr. Henderson, it's Seraphina Sterling. Prepare the divorce papers. And if they contest it... burn their entire empire to the ground."

Action Modern Romance

Mate's VENGEANCE

Chapter 4

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