Novels by Lara Belle

Six Years Later Lara's POV The morning sun poured through my study window. Papers covered my desk—financial reports, territory agreements, pack business. But my eyes weren’t on them. Through the open window, Luna’s laughter drifted in. She was chasing butterflies in the garden, her curls bouncing with each step, her tiny hands reaching for the sky. Derek’s voice followed, calm and patient. “Gentle, sweetheart. Don’t catch them. Just let them fly.” I smiled, resting a hand on my swollen belly. Six months along now. My son kicked softly against my palm. These children were different. Born from love. Not fear. Not obligation. Love. The door opened. Zander entered, his face serious. He placed an envelope on my desk without a word. I stared at it. Prison letterhead. My throat tightened. “From Andre,” Zander said quietly. I hadn’t heard that name in months. Over the years, letters had arrived—not many, maybe one every few months. Never begging. Never manipul

The sunlight woke me.Not harsh. Not accusing.Soft. Golden.I stretched beneath the sheets. My shoulders didn’t coil with tension. My hands didn’t shake. For the first time in ten years, I woke up without dread.The bed beside me was empty.A flicker of disappointment stirred before I could stop myself.The door opened.Derek walked in carrying a tray—warm bread, honey, tea that smelled of chamomile and mint.“You’re awake.” He set the tray on the side table.I blinked. “Did you just bring me breakfast?”“You need to eat.” His tone was flat, but his eyes… his eyes were soft. “And I wanted to check on you.”“Since when does an Alpha serve breakfast in bed?”The corner of his mouth lifted. “Since his mate forgets to take care of herself.”My breath caught.Mate.The word hung between us. A promise. A danger.For once, I didn’t want to run.---By afternoon, the Moonstone elders filled the courtyard.I stood beside Derek. Their gazes pressed down on me—heavy, powerful.Not judgment this

The receiving room shrank around Andre.He stood between two guards, hands trembling. Up close, he was a ruin—sunken eyes, clothes hanging loose, the wild desperation of a wounded animal.Derek lingered just behind me. Not in front, not shielding—just there. A silent vow: I’m here if you need me.I needed him more than I wanted to admit.Andre’s gaze locked on mine, the same intensity that once made me flinch. Now, it only left me numb.“Lara,” he rasped. “I don’t deserve to be here. I know what I’ve done—what I put you through. But I had to see you. I had to tell you—”“Tell me what?” My voice was steadier than I felt. “That you’re sorry? That it wasn’t what it looked like? That you didn’t mean it?”He flinched. “Yes. All of it. I was blind. Cruel. Wrong—”“For ten years, Andre.” I stepped forward, something unbreakable settling inside me. “Not one mistake. Not one bad choice. A decade of deliberate cruelty.”His face buckled. “I know. God, I know. But I’ve lost everything—the pack,

LARA'S POV Two weeks had passed since the news broke. Two weeks of silence from Andre Castellano. I thought I was done with him. The moment I watched those headlines scroll across the screen—Andre stripped of his title, Tasha arrested by the AFCB, Dylan placed in a foster care—I thought it was over. I thought the chapter was closed, the book slammed shut. I thought I could finally, *finally* breathe without his shadow suffocating me. I was wrong. --- It started with a commotion at the gates. I was in the library when I heard the shouting—raised voices, the sound of guards mobilizing. My first thought was an attack. My second was that the press had found us. I rushed to the window overlooking the estate entrance and froze. Even from a distance, I recognized him. Andre. But not the Andre I remembered. Not the powerful Alpha who'd commanded respect with just his presence, whose aura could silence a room. This man looked... broken. He stood outside the Moonstone gates

Andre's POV The hospital's fluorescent lights buzzed overhead like angry wasps. I'd been pacing the waiting room for three hours, knuckles raw, mind a hurricane of rage and self-loathing. The attack would be all over the supernatural community by morning. Alpha Andre Castellano, losing control, striking his mistress in front of the council. Lucas wouldn't even need to call for a vote now. "Mr. Castellano?" I looked up to see a doctor in scrubs, expression carefully neutral—the professional mask of someone delivering complicated news. "How is she?" "She's stable. The head trauma was minor, but..." He paused, consulting his chart. "There are other factors we need to discuss." "Factors?" My stomach knotted. "She's pregnant, Mr. Castellano. About eight weeks along." The words hit like a physical blow. I staggered backward, gripping the plastic chair. "Are you sure?" "Blood work confirmed it. We're monitoring closely for any complications." Pregnant. After everythin

Lara's POV The AFCB representative stood up. The room went dead silent. "The investigation is complete." My heart pounded. This was it. "Frozen accounts. Missing funds. Unexplained transfers totaling over eight million dollars." He paused. "All trace back to one person: Tasha, Alpha Andre's mistress." The room exploded. Gasps. Whispers. Everyone turned to stare at Tasha. Her smile disappeared. Just like that. "She embezzled pack funds for months," the representative continued. "Luxury purchases. Transfers to other Alphas. Designer shopping. International vacations. Your pack paid for everything." He slid documents across the table. Hard evidence. Undeniable. "Impossible!" Tasha's hands shot up. "Andre must have known! He approved the accounts—he's just as responsible!" I looked at Andre. His face went pale. Then red. Shock, then rage. His jaw clenched so hard I heard his teeth grind from across the room. He'd only found out days ago when the accounts froze. I knew because t

The paper sits on the floor like a snake. I stare at it from the bed, my name written across the fold in handwriting I don't recognize. Neat. Deliberate. *Della* The bedroom door is wide open. Kade closed it when he left—I heard the soft click. Which means someone opened it. Someone came in while I was sitting here and left this. My heart pounds as I slide off the bed. My legs wobble but hold. I pick up the paper with shaking hands. It's folded once. Plain white. No other markings except my name. I unfold it. Three sentences. Handwritten in the same neat script. *You weren't supposed to survive the poisoning. Ask him why he needed you to forget. The timing wasn't an accident.* The paper slips from my fingers. I stare at it on the floor, those three sentences burning into my brain. *He needed you to forget.* Not they. He. The door is still open. I move toward it on unsteady legs, look out into the empty hallway. No one. Nothing. Just silence. Someone was here. In my room

I wake up screaming. Hands pin my shoulders down, and a voice—deep, unfamiliar—tries to calm me. "Della, it's okay. You're safe—" I thrash against the grip, my wolf surging up weak but desperate. "Get off me!" The hands release immediately. I scramble back against the headboard, chest heaving as I take in the room around me. White walls. Soft morning light. Expensive furniture I don't recognize. This isn't my room. This isn't my bed. A man stands beside the bed—tall, dark hair, eyes wide with something that looks like pain. I don't know him. "Della." His voice is careful, controlled. "It's me. It's Kade." Kade. The name means nothing to me. "Where am I?" My voice comes out ragged. "How did I get here?" He takes a slow step back, hands raised in a non-threatening gesture. "You're at the pack house. You've been sick." Pack house. My blood runs cold at the words. "My father sent you," I say, and it's not a question. "No." His voice is firm. "Your father didn't s

Dr. Winters sets the tablet down. "We found out what was in the poison." The room goes still. "We have a treatment that can save your life and fix your healing," she continues. "But you need to understand what it will cost." She looks at me directly. "The poison attacked your brain. "It's been destroying your brain for days—your memory, your ability to think clearly, everything that makes you *you*." She pauses. "The treatment can stop the damage and save your life. But when you wake up, you may not remember recent events. Possibly the last few weeks. Maybe longer." My stomach drops. "She'll forget?" Kade's voice is tight. "The memory loss should be temporary. As her brain heals, memories should return." Dr. Winters doesn't look away. "But we can't predict what she'll lose or how long recovery will take. It could be days. It could be months." "Months," I repeat. "Or it could come back faster. We don't know. Every case is different, and your brain has already been severely dam

Kade's hand finds mine. Warm. Steady. "Where were you that day?" His voice is gentle. Not interrogating. Just asking. I close my eyes. Try to remember. Tuesday. Six days ago. What did I do? The memory feels slippery. Too ordinary to have registered as important. "I was out," I say slowly. "Looking for contractors again after Jonah Reed refused the job. I drove to Riverside that morning. Met with someone—a woman who ran a small construction firm. She seemed interested until I mentioned Shadow Moon territory. Then her enthusiasm died." I pause, piecing it together. "'I'll have to think about it,' she said. She never called back." "After that, I stopped at a café. Needed coffee. Needed to clear my head before making more calls. The café was small. Quiet. I sat by the window and ordered coffee. Started working through a list Derek had given me. Three more contractors. Three more polite rejections." I can still feel the frustration. The exhaustion. "I remember staring a

"You're not touching her." Kade's voice cuts through the sterile air of the Riverside facility like a blade. I'm sitting on the edge of an examination table. IV in my arm. Heart monitor beeping steadily in the background. And standing in the doorway, blocking Theophilus Cain from entering the room, is my mate. His shoulders are rigid. His hands are clenched. The bond between us is a live wire—panic and fury twisted together so tightly I can barely breathe through it. Theophilus doesn't move. Doesn't react. Just stands there with a tablet in one hand and that same calm, professional expression he wore at the council building. "Alpha Kade," he says evenly. "I'm here to consult. Not treat." "I don't care what you're here to do." Kade's voice drops lower. Dangerous. "Turn around and leave." "Kade." Derek steps forward from the corner of the room. His tone is careful. Measured. "Cain helped her at the council facility. He's the one who identified the symptoms." Kade doesn

The nausea doesn't stop. Three days of waves that come without warning. My wolf should be burning through whatever this is, knitting me back together the way she always does. She isn't. I keep it hidden. Eat meals in my room. Time my appearances for when the worst has passed. Smile when Kade checks on me through the bond. But something's wrong. Something my body can't fix on its own. --- Derek finds me in the library on the fourth morning. I'm sitting in the window seat, trying to focus on a book I'm not actually reading. The sunlight feels too bright. My skin too sensitive. "Della." He doesn't knock. Just walks in and closes the door behind him. "We have a problem." I set down the book. "What kind of problem?" "The medicine we used to save Callum—it's controlled by the government. The regional medical authority wants to see our paperwork. They're sending someone to check our story." "Why does that involve me?" "Because you were there when Callum fell. You saw the water bo