Rejected Luna, Claimed by the King
As a wolfless charity case at the Hyde Pack's celebration, my world shattered when Braydon, my supposed protector, publicly announced Katherine Parrish as his Luna, erasing me.
Heartbroken, I fled into a terrifying contract marriage with Alpha King Dallas Marshall for protection. Braydon's public assault and threats forced me to reveal my secret marriage, challenging the King.
My "protection" felt like a prison. Braydon revealed I was a "key" to power, not a mate, confirming my fears. Enraged by my attempt to take a morning-after pill, Dallas forced me to swallow it, then branded my lips with a furious kiss.
His chilling silence hardened my resolve. I immediately drafted an addendum to our contract, setting strict boundaries to reclaim control.
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Chapter 5
Adella POV
The adrenaline that had sustained me in the jewelry store evaporated the moment we sat down in the velvet booth of The Gilded Bean, an upscale café three blocks away. My hands shook so violently that the china cup rattled against its saucer, threatening to spill the dark roast all over the pristine white tablecloth.
"Drink," Azalea ordered, sliding a sugar packet toward me. Her voice was firm, lacking its usual playful lilt. "You look like you're about to pass out, and I am not carrying you back to the car."
I took a sip, the bitter heat grounding me, but it couldn't stop the racing of my heart. Across the table, Azalea watched me with the intensity of a predator assessing its prey. She wasn't just my friend right now; she was the Alpha King's daughter, and she smelled a secret.
"Talk, Adella," she said, leaning forward. Her eyes, a piercing shade of amber, locked onto mine. "That ring. The Blackwood guards. The way the manager looked at you like you were royalty. Who is he?"
I swallowed hard. "Azalea, I—"
"Don't you dare lie to me," she cut in, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "Braydon is unhinged. If you've got yourself mixed up with some dangerous underground crime lord to get back at him, I need to know. I can't protect you if I'm blind."
"It's not a crime lord," I whispered, my voice trembling. "It's... it's your father."
The silence that followed was heavier than lead. The clinking of spoons and the murmur of other patrons seemed to fade into a dull roar. Azalea blinked. Once. Twice. Her mouth opened, then closed.
"My father?" she repeated, the words sounding foreign on her tongue. "Dallas?"
I nodded, gripping the edge of the table until my knuckles turned white. "We signed the papers yesterday. It's a... a Binding Protection Contract. A marriage in name only."
I braced myself for her anger. I expected her to scream, to flip the table, to accuse me of gold-digging or betraying our friendship.
Instead, a strange sound erupted from her throat. It started as a snort and quickly spiraled into a full-blown, hysterical cackle. She threw her head back, laughing so hard that a few people turned to stare.
"Oh my Goddess," she gasped, wiping a tear from her eye. She reached across the table and grabbed my hand, squeezing it tight. "Adella, you didn't just get a shield. You dropped a nuke on him!"
"You... you aren't mad?" I asked, bewildered.
"Mad? I'm ecstatic!" Her grin was predatory, showing a hint of fang. "Do you realize what you've done? Braydon Hyde just threatened the Lycan King's wife. My father isn't just an Alpha, Adella. He's a monster in a silk suit. Braydon didn't just lose you; he declared war on a god."
She sat back, looking at me with a newfound respect. "So, I guess I should call you 'Mom' now?"
"Please don't," I groaned, burying my face in my hands. "It's just a contract, Az. He needed a wife to stop the Council's nagging, and I needed... safety."
"Safety," Azalea mused, her expression softening. "Well, you definitely got that. Nobody touches Dallas Marshall's things and lives to tell the tale."
Suddenly, Azalea went rigid. Her eyes glazed over, losing focus as she stared at a point over my shoulder. The air around her shimmered slightly with the static charge of a powerful Mind-Link.
I froze. Being wolfless, I had never experienced the telepathic connection of the pack, but I knew the signs. She was speaking to someone.
A moment later, she blinked, the color returning to her irises. She looked at me, her expression shifting from amusement to something akin to awe.
"He just linked me," she whispered.
My stomach twisted. "Is he angry? Did the manager tell him?"
"Oh, he knows," Azalea said slowly. "But he didn't ask about the store. He asked, 'Is she okay?'"
I stared at her. "What?"
"He asked if you were okay, Adella," she emphasized, leaning in. "My father doesn't ask questions. He gives orders. He commands. He demands status reports. In twenty-two years, I have never heard him ask a question that soft. He didn't ask about the damage to the store or the reputation of the pack. He asked about you."
For a second, a treacherous warmth bloomed in my chest. Is she okay?
But I crushed it instantly. I couldn't afford to be delusional. Hope was a dangerous thing for a girl like me.
"He's checking on his asset, Azalea," I said, my voice turning cold and flat. I pulled my hand away from hers. "Don't romanticize it. I am an investment. His property was attacked on his territory by a rival. Of course he wants to know if the 'goods' are damaged. It's bad for business."
Azalea frowned, shaking her head. "I don't think so. I felt his tone through the link. It was... dark. Possessive. That wasn't business."
"It's a contract," I insisted, picking up my coffee cup again to hide the tremor in my lip. "That's all it will ever be. And frankly, that's all I want it to be."
Azalea didn't argue, but the look she gave me was filled with pity—and a knowing skepticism that terrified me more than Braydon's rage. She thought this was a fairy tale starting. She didn't understand that monsters like Dallas Marshall didn't save girls like me because they cared. They saved us because they wanted to own us.
And I had just sold myself to the most dangerous owner of them all.
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8.4
To keep her grandmother on life support, Aracely was blackmailed into taking Evelyn's place in the pitch-black bedroom of the ruthless billionaire, Brennen Levine.
After that night, Evelyn tossed a hideous silicone scar at her feet, forcing Aracely to glue it to her face and work as a bottom-tier maid in his estate so he would never recognize her.
Brennen, suffering from chronic insomnia, was completely addicted to the sweet gardenia scent of the woman from the dark. But when he saw the "disfigured" Aracely scrubbing floors, he was physically repulsed, publicly humiliating her and calling her a monster.
Meanwhile, Evelyn paraded around as his soon-to-be wife. Terrified of her lies unraveling, Evelyn constantly abused Aracely, throwing scalding coffee at her face and threatening to pull the plug on her grandmother if Aracely didn't sneak back into Brennen's room to act as his human sleeping pill.
Aracely endured the suffocating fake scar, the insults, and the freezing servant quarters. She ground her teeth, swallowing the bitter injustice just to keep her only family alive, wondering when this torturous hell would ever end.
But Evelyn's malice knew no bounds. When Evelyn raised her hand to strike again, threatening to rip off the very disguise she forced Aracely to wear, something inside Aracely finally snapped.
"Do not push me."
Aracely locked her hand around Evelyn's wrist in a bone-crushing grip, completely unaware that Brennen was watching from the balcony above, his dark eyes narrowing as a dangerous realization hit him.
7.0
She was desperate. He was merciless.
Liana Moore's sister's life is on the line, and the only person who can save her is Dominic Vale-the man who destroyed her family years ago.
One year. One marriage. One chance to survive.
Dominic is cold, controlling, and unforgiving. Liana is fierce, stubborn, and trapped in a union built on hatred and power.
But when secrets are revealed and the line between punishment and protection blurs, the fire between them becomes impossible to ignore.
In a marriage never meant to exist, love is the most dangerous risk of all.
7.2
My family went bankrupt overnight, leaving me to face a mountain of predatory debt.
Instead of standing by my side, my billionaire fiancé's mother threw a five-million-dollar check on the marble table, demanding I take the money and disappear from her son's life forever.
Meanwhile, my former social circle mocked my downfall. They secretly took photos of me meeting with ruthless loan sharks, waiting for me to come crawling back to beg for charity.
I didn't give them the satisfaction. I legally took on my father's massive debt, threw the check back, and ruthlessly dumped my fiancé.
To stop my heartbroken mother from worrying, I lied and told her I had already found a new, reliable boyfriend.
But the lie was a ticking time bomb. My malicious rival even forced her way into my cramped apartment, demanding to meet this mysterious man, laughing that he must live in a dumpster.
I was suffocating under the pressure. I had nothing, and I had no idea how I was supposed to magically produce a husband to get these toxic people off my back.
Until a dying stranger I helped in the park made a final wish.
His grandson—my cold, aloof high school upperclassman, Caleb Barnes—handed me a watertight prenuptial agreement at the hospital.
"Marry me," Caleb said flatly. "I get to give my grandfather peace. You get a shield against your family."
I picked up the pen and signed my name.
7.8
After eight years in a cold marriage, I watched my husband, Damian, run past me during a raging fire. He ignored my screams, his only focus on saving another woman.
That night, he coldly admitted he never loved me. Our entire marriage was just a business deal he was forced into.
But his betrayal didn't end there. His mistress, Aida, framed my innocent younger brother for a crime he didn't commit. Damian believed her lies without question.
He stood by as she had my brother murdered in his hospital bed. He even forced me to crawl over broken glass to apologize for "upsetting" her.
The final blow came when he threatened me with my mother' s heirloom box, not knowing it held my brother' s ashes. He had taken everything from me-my love, my family, my dignity.
He thought he had broken me. But he only forged me into a weapon.
Now, I'm back. And as the new majority shareholder of his company, I'm here to make him pay for every last sin.
9.3
I sacrificed my dream career for my fiancé, only to find him cheating with his older investor-a betrayal that led to my mother's death.
He reached a new level of cruelty when he dumped my mother's ashes in the trash and conspired to have my wedding dress disintegrate off my body at the altar.
I vanished for five years, building a new life with a new family, but now he's found us-and just saved my daughter's life to force his way back in.
9.4
I used to believe love meant enduring. Staying. Shrinking myself so someone else could grow.
I told myself it was worth it-hiding who I was, working jobs I never had to work, pretending my life was smaller than it was. I loved him. I thought that was enough.
It wasn't.
He chose her.
My best friend looked me in the eyes and took everything I had built with him. And I remember standing there, wondering how I could feel so empty when my heart was still beating.
For a long time, I blamed myself. For trusting too much. For giving too much. For not being enough.
But I'm tired of carrying guilt that was never mine.
I am not broken. I was betrayed.
And there's a difference.
I'm going back-not to beg, not to explain-but to take back the parts of myself I abandoned. My name. My power. My voice. They don't know who I really am, and that might be the only advantage I have left.
Then he appears-calm, powerful, watching me like he sees the cracks I try to hide. And suddenly, revenge doesn't feel as simple as it used to. Neither does healing.
This is my second chance.
Not to love recklessly... but to choose myself, even if it changes everything.