Rejected By My Mate, Claimed By His Stepbrother
After two years of love and unwavering commitment to her mate Adrian, Amelia's world shatters when she finds Adrian, cheating on her with his ex-fated mate, Mara. The pain deepens when she is framed for a crime she didn't commit, and forced to leave the pack she once called home. Yet, as time passes and Adrian's regrets grow, he embarks on a desperate quest to find Amelia and win her back.
Years later, Amelia has rebuilt her life as a successful medical doctor, only to find herself drawn to Alex Darlington, a charming and caring doctor who turns out to be none other than Adrian's stepbrother. But when their bond grows undeniable, Amelia must face the shocking truth-Adrian, the man who once betrayed her, is now the one asking for her forgiveness. Torn between her past love and her new feelings for Alex, Amelia's heart is pulled in two directions.
As Adrian fights to reclaim the woman he lost, he must confront his own mistakes and battle the darkness inside. But when Alex's true motives come to light, Amelia must decide who is truly worthy of her love, and whether she can find a future with the man who shattered her heart-or the one who might just heal it.
In a world where loyalty is tested, love is fragile, and betrayal runs deep, will Amelia find peace, or will she be forced to choose between two men who will stop at nothing to claim her heart?
Settings : Moonstone Pack, Present Day, Human World, New York City, Present Day, 21st Century.
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Chapter 1
*Amelia*
Hot tears streamed down my cheeks as I stormed into the dimly lit bar, my heart pounding with fury. The man I'd been married to for two years, Adrian, was sitting there with another woman, his lips pressed against hers as if the world outside didn't exist. Tonight was supposed to be our anniversary-a celebration of our love-yet here he was, entangled with someone else.
I'd doubted my friend when she called to tell me she'd seen Adrian with another woman. I'd trusted him. But now, standing in the bar's smoky haze, there was no denying the truth.
Without hesitation, I marched toward him, my voice trembling with anger. "Adrian, what is going on here?"
He froze, his lips still hovering close to hers, and turned to face me. His expression shifted from shock to guilt in an instant.
"Amelia, what are you doing here?" he stammered as he stood, but my gaze had already shifted to the woman. When I saw her face, my breath caught in my throat. It was Mara, Adrian's ex-mate.
The woman who had abandoned him two years ago-the one who chose another Alpha over him because Adrian hadn't shifted into his wolf. The same woman who shattered his heart when he was at his lowest. And now she was back?
I clenched my fists, my voice sharp. "So this is why you didn't come home for our anniversary? To rekindle things with her?"
Adrian stepped toward me, grabbing my arm. "Amelia, let's talk outside," he said firmly, steering me away from the curious eyes around us.
Once outside, I yanked my arm free. "What the hell is going on, Adrian?"
He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "It's not what you think. Mara... she's been through a lot. Her father forced her to leave me, and the Alpha of the Redmoon Pack... he's been mistreating her. She came to me for help."
"And that justifies kissing her?" I shot back, my voice rising.
He frowned. "She's my fated mate, Amelia. I couldn't just turn her away."
My heart twisted at his words. "And me? What am I, Adrian? Your chosen mate? The woman who stood by you when everyone else doubted you?"
"Amelia, that's not what I meant. You're my Luna, and nothing's going to change that," he insisted, his voice softening. He reached out to wipe the tears from my cheeks. "I'll make it up to you, I promise. But for now, I can't just leave her. I will tell Jake to take you back home"
His words felt hollow, but I nodded numbly. He kissed my forehead before heading back inside. As I stood there in the cold night air, the weight of his actions settled over me. Deep down, I knew everything was about to change.
As Jake drove me back to the palace, I asked the maids to clean up the anniversary dinner I'd prepared, then retreated to our room, too exhausted to think.
---
The next morning, I woke to an empty bed. Adrian hadn't come home. My heart sank as I got up, the ache in my chest deepening with every step. From downstairs, the sound of laughter and chatter reached my ears. My stomach churned as I made my way down, dread pooling in my gut.
At the dining table, Adrian and Mara sat together, their conversation light and easy. She was seated in my usual spot, her hand brushing his as they laughed. They didn't even notice me until I cleared my throat.
Adrian looked up, smiling. "Hey, Lia. You're finally awake."
I ignored his casual tone, my eyes fixed on Mara. "What is she doing here?"
Adrian's expression turned serious. "She has nowhere else to go. Her parents won't take her back, and she's left the Redmoon Pack. She'll stay here for now."
Mara's voice was soft, laced with false humility. "Please don't be angry, your highness. I promise I won't be a burden."
I could see through her act. The feigned helplessness, the calculated tone. But Adrian was blind to it.
"Amelia is kind-hearted. She'll understand," Adrian said, his hand resting reassuringly on Mara's shoulder.
My throat tightened, but I forced a small smile. "Of course," I murmured before turning away and heading upstairs. I couldn't stay in that room any longer.
"Amelia, where are you going? Come join us for breakfast," Adrian called as I headed upstairs.
"I'm not hungry yet," I replied quickly, avoiding his gaze before continuing up the stairs. I didn't want to be anywhere near his ex-mate-if I stayed, I might say or do something I'd regret.
---
I had barely settled in my room when there was a knock at the door. Assuming it was a maid, I called out for them to enter. But it wasn't a maid. It was Mara.
She stepped inside, her demeanor completely changed. Gone was the timid facade. Instead, her lips curled into a wicked smirk. "Nice room," she said, her tone mocking.
I stood, crossing my arms. "What do you want?"
She walked closer, her eyes glinting with malice. "I just thought I'd remind you that Adrian is my fated mate. You're nothing but a placeholder."
My jaw tightened. "If that's true, why hasn't he rejected me yet?"
Her smirk faltered, but only for a moment. "Oh, he will. And when he does, I'll be the Luna of this pack."
I laughed bitterly. "Then why are you here, Mara? If you're so confident, why not just take what you claim is yours?"
Her eyes darkened, and before I could react, she pulled a knife from her pocket and plunged it into her own stomach. Staggering backward, she screamed. "Help! Somebody help! The Luna stabbed me!"
The door burst open, and Adrian rushed in. His eyes darted between Mara, clutching her bleeding stomach, and me, my hands stained with her blood from trying to push her away.
"Adrian, she attacked me," Mara gasped weakly. "Please... make her stop."
As she collapsed, Adrian's gaze turned to me, filled with rage and anger.
"What did you do?"
To be continued...
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7.4
I was the bankrupt socialite everyone pitied, standing in the mud at my mother's grave with nothing left but a pair of old Louboutins and a single white rose. My bank account was overdrawn by three hundred dollars, but I still believed Julian, my fiancé, was the one person who hadn't abandoned the toxic Compton name.
Then I saw his Maybach shaking in the cemetery parking lot. Through a crack in the window, I heard the man I loved whispering to my stepsister, Tiffany.
"Don't worry about the broke princess. Once I secure her voting proxy for the trust, I'm dumping her."
Tiffany laughed, clutching the scarlet coat she'd charged to my own maxed-out credit card.
"She's so pathetic, Julian. She actually thinks you love her."
I didn't scream; I recorded them. But when I tried to use that leverage, my family turned into vipers. To protect Julian's status, they framed me for causing Tiffany to miscarry a fake pregnancy and planted stolen documents in my bag. My own father stood by as they locked me in a room, planning to sell me to a predatory creditor named Hightower to settle his gambling debts. I ended up in a freezing police cell, my ankle shattered and my reputation destroyed.
I sat on that metal bench, shivering as I realized my own blood had traded my life for a check. I called the only man powerful enough to burn them all-Julian's uncle, the "Butcher of Wall Street," Alden Stark. The phone just kept ringing. He wasn't coming. To the world, I was just a walking bankruptcy filing, a girl who had finally run out of luck.
I didn't wait for a savior. I escaped custody and ran barefoot through the rain, leaving a trail of blood on the marble floor of Stark Tower. When I collapsed at Alden's feet, he didn't look at me with pity; he looked at me like a rare, damaged artifact he finally owned.
"Inform the board that this is my fiancée," he announced, lifting me into his arms.
I signed the marriage contract that night, trading my freedom for the power to ensure my family's liabilities exceeded their assets for the rest of their natural lives.
7.7
I was suffocating in a borrowed Valentino gown at the Met Gala, but it wasn't the corset that was killing me. It was the debt collector, Vargo, stalking me through the crowd like a wolf.
Desperate to hide, I ducked into a private lounge and threw myself at the silhouette of a man sitting in the shadows, pressing my lips to his in a frantic plea for cover. When I pulled back, the air turned to ice; I was staring into the ocean-blue eyes of Kingsley Osborn, the billionaire who believed I’d sold his company secrets six years ago.
Kingsley didn’t save me; he trapped me. The next morning, he slid a "Marriage Service Agreement" across his desk, revealing he knew everything about my father’s illegal Ponzi scheme and the quarter-million dollars I owed to loan sharks. He offered to pay my debts and protect my father, but only if I signed over two years of my life to be his trophy wife.
"I don't want your money, Cassidy. I want your life."
The marriage was a cold, calculated war. He forced me into his glass fortress, banned me from contacting my friends, and treated me with a distilled hatred that felt like a physical weight. When I accidentally broke his grandfather’s vintage watch during a nightmare, he didn't see an accident—he saw a crime, threatening to destroy my father if I didn't "charm" his board of directors into submission.
I was a prisoner in a three-piece suit, until I found a mislabeled file buried in his company’s server. It contained evidence of a massive, illegal hostile takeover that would ruin Kingsley if the Feds ever saw it.
I held the gun that could destroy the man who had cornered me. But as I looked at the champagne roses he’d secretly kept from my "peace offering," I realized I didn't want to pull the trigger. I wanted to see how far he’d go to keep me from leaving.
9.3
Born into privilege, Eleanor never imagined her life could shatter in a single night. Then her father disappeared with his mistress, her mother fell from a building and slipped into a coma, and everything she once owned turned to dust.
Determined not to ruin Jonathan's future with her family's disgrace, she ended their relationship and became the bride of a man trapped in a vegetative state.
She believed that was the last time their paths would cross. But two years later, Jonathan pinned her in the dark and whispered, "Long time no see, my sister-in-law."
9.1
For three years, June played the perfect, submissive wife to billionaire Augustus Pruitt, hoping a child would finally warm his cold heart and secure their marriage.
But when she cautiously suggested they have a baby, he looked at her with pure, unfiltered disgust.
"A woman who schemes her way into a marriage doesn't get to carry my blood."
He sneered, leaving immediately to lavish his mistress with diamonds. The nightmare only escalated from there. Augustus bought the one painting June desperately wanted—a piece she had secretly created herself—just to gift it to his mistress. He publicly outbid June at the gallery, mocking her lack of wealth, and left her to collapse in the freezing rain. When the storm gave her a severe 104-degree fever and she nearly died on their staircase, he didn't even stay by her hospital bed. Instead, he sent an assistant with a box of jewelry to buy her silence, then forced her to attend a family dinner where his mother and sister viciously mocked her barren womb and background.
Looking at Augustus, who sat there casually cutting his steak while his family tore her apart, the last flicker of hope in June's chest sputtered and died.
She finally understood that her three years of bleeding devotion were nothing but a pathetic joke to them.
She dropped her silverware, the sharp clatter silencing the entire room. She wasn't going to be their punching bag anymore. It was time to finalize the divorce papers, reclaim her hidden identity as the world-renowned artist 'mr.sun', and make them all regret it.
8.5
Series One:
On her wedding day, Isabella Hernando stared into the mirror and wondered-
how could she possibly marry someone she barely remembered?
Miguel Martez, the man she was arranged to wed, was only a childhood friend who had long since disappeared.
But just before the ceremony was about to begin, Miguel vanished without a trace.
To save the family's reputation, Maximilian Martez, his elder brother, was forced to take his place at the altar-
without anyone knowing, not even the bride herself.
But when Isabella finally stood before the man,
she was shocked.
That face, those eyes... that voice...
Series Two:
Adeline Martez is a quiet, introverted girl who grew up cherished and spoiled by her parents. Marriage was never something she worried about-until the day her parents announced her arranged match.
Her groom-to-be?
Jason Castello-the man she despised most.
Her senior.
Her tormentor.
The shameless bully who had made her school days miserable.
Adeline fought with everything she had to escape the engagement.
But the harder she pushed him away, the tighter Jason held on.
One stubborn cat.
One relentless dog.
When hatred sparks, tempers clash, and neither is willing to surrender-
how does a battlefield turn into a marriage?
7.9
On my wedding day, my fiancé Connor received an urgent phone call.
He told me a D-list actress had broken her leg on set, then abandoned me right at the altar.
In my past life, I cried until my throat bled, begging him not to leave.
But my tears only brought endless humiliation. My mother and adopted sister mocked me, framed me, and forged my signature to steal my multi-million dollar trust fund.
They kicked me out of the family estate without a single dime.
I ended up freezing to death in the minus-twenty-degree New York blizzard, listening to my mother's voicemail telling me to die in the street as long as I didn't bleed on her carpets.
Until my last breath, I couldn't understand why my own blood relatives hated me so much, yet treated an adopted daughter like a precious princess.
The only person who showed me any mercy—draping his wool coat over my frozen corpse and giving me a proper burial—was Connor's ruthless, untouchable uncle, Harding Snow.
Opening my eyes again, I was back in the bridal suite, right as Connor was rushing out the door.
This time, I didn't shed a single tear.
I let him run to his actress, then walked straight into the VIP room to face the most feared billionaire on Wall Street.
"The wedding proceeds as planned, but the groom's name changes to yours."