LOGINEmily Turner thought signing a contract marriage would save her life. One signature. One arrangement. One powerful man who promised protection in exchange for a perfect illusion. Ethan Reed is everything she shouldn’t trust cold, controlled, unreadable. A billionaire who doesn’t believe in love… only control. But Emily has a past she can’t outrun. Jason, the man who once called her “baby girl,” is watching. Waiting. And getting closer. Now every smile feels like a lie. Every silence feels like danger. And every step inside Ethan’s mansion feels like she is being watched… even when she is alone. Ethan says it’s just business. A contract. A role she must play. But the way he looks at her says something else entirely. Possession. And Jason isn’t the only one who refuses to let her go. Because in Ethan Reed’s world… A wife by contract is still a wife. And letting her walk away was never part of the agreement.
View MoreSORA'S POV:-
It was the time when both the moon and the sun were not in the sky. The sun had settled down and the moon hadn't risen up. I was running deep into the forest. I was turning my head from time to time to see if I was being followed. I couldn't hear a pair of footsteps, his footsteps, behind me. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. But after all, I was just a mere human while he was a werewolf, running after me using the strength of his wolf.
"The more you make me chase after you, the more you will regret the moment I catch you. It's better for you to give up, Sora." I heard him growling at me from behind. My heart shivered with fear but I kept on running. I was constantly changing my ways, just to spread my scent around.
I was constantly looking behind. With my human ears and normal hearing, I could only sense him running behind me. I looked in front of me and gasped as I found him standing in front of me. His arms were wide open, in order to catch me. I tried to stop myself but it was too late. As always, I fell right into his trap.
Before I could have broken my nose, he caught me. He fell on the ground and we both started laughing. "How do you do it every single time? I work twice as hard as any of you. No one can beat me at the academy, but you always find a way to get to me." I spoke in an annoyed tone as I sat up on the ground, slapping his chest.
"If I can't find one of my pack members if she doesn't have a wolf, I can never be the Alpha I am meant to be. Besides, you are my best friend. And I can't risk losing you." Noah replied in his usual soft tone that he only used whenever I was with him. To the whole pack, he was a rude jerk. That's why no one believed me when I told them that Noah was such a sweetheart. Smiling at his response, I wrapped my arms around one of his arms and placed my head on his shoulder.
Noah was the only son of the Alpha of the Ice Crest Pack. That meant, he was born to be the alpha in the future. I was the daughter of the beta's sister who used to serve the king when she was younger. I live with my mother and my sister in the beta's quarters. My sister and I were orphans . And my mother never told us anything about our father. Pack couldn't care less about me, while my twin sister, Solana always found new boys to pamper her. But for me, Noah was everything.
Noah and I grew up together. We played in the same yard, we trained together and I even dreamt our future together. The only thing we couldn't do together was shifting. Unlike all other wolves of our pack, Noah shifted the day he turned fourteen. While I was still waiting for my wolf to finally wake up as I was counting days to turn seventeen soon.
Noah was a year older than me. And he was soon to turn eighteen. That means, he was supposed to be looking for his mate soon. That one thing concerned me so much. "What if I never awakened my wolf, Noah?" I asked him that same question again and heard him sigh. Despite my nagging personality, he was always very patient with me.
"So what! We will always remain as best friends. And you will always be part of this pack, my pack. I will never let anyone harm you in any way." He promised me something that always terrorized me. I smiled and nodded my head.
………………
I went back home at night, only to find my mother all packed up and ready to leave. "Are you going on a vacation or something, mom?" I asked, smiling at her as I grabbed a bottle of water and poured some in a glass.
"No! We all are going together. I have already packed up your stuff as well. Solana and I are ready. We will wait for you to shower." She replied and I spat the mouth full of water on the ground. I had choked on the water that was in my mouth. I started coughing hard due to the sudden surprise.
"What are you talking about?" I asked out of confusion.
"Oh, you dirty girl! You have no manners at all." Solana growled at me as she walked toward me.
"Anyway, mother has accepted the proposal of Alpha Oliver. And we are going to the Dark Crescent Moon Pack to live with Alpha Cougar and his family. Isn't it exciting?" As always, Solana was busy buttering our mother while no one asked me what I wanted.
"That's out of discussion. I belong to this pack, the Ice Crest Pack. And I am never leaving. I have already submitted to the alpha and I will do the same once Noah becomes the alpha. You can't just ask me to pack up and leave." I was almost screaming at my mother for being so clueless, especially about me.
"I thought you'd say that. And I had decided never to say anything else. You made that decision, you will be the only one to suffer. Solana and I are going. You can rot in here." My mother cursed me as always and walked away with Solana and her stuff.
My heart ached at the thought of losing my family. It had been like this since I could remember. Solana was mom's favorite. While I was more of an outcast despite all that I had been doing for them. Aside from my military training, I was also earning to help my mother. My vision blurred due to the tears in my eyes as I watched my mother driving away.
I stayed home for two days. I didn't even go out for training. Then it was the night of Noah's eighteenth birthday. I was standing in front of the full view mirror, staring at my reflection. I was wearing the dress Noah had picked for me by himself. "I can do this!" I whispered to myself and walked out of the quarters I was in.
I stepped into the alpha's mansion and bumped into Uncle Leo, the beta of the pack. "Sora? What are you doing here? I thought you went with your mother?" He asked me and I smiled nervously.
"I belong to this pack, I am not going anywhere. Do you know where Noah is? I have something to tell him." I replied confidently then asked Uncle Leo about Noah. As soon as he heard the name, I saw beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
"Oh! Never mind. I found him. Thank you, Uncle Leo." Without another word, I walked away. For some reason, I had a bad feeling about him.
"Noah! Happy birthday!" I wished him from behind. Noah turned around and I saw a confused look on his face. He looked at me from head to toe and his eyes glowed red in the light of the moon.
"Mate!" I heard him growl. A second later, he shook his head and looked around.
"I need to talk to you." I whispered, staring into his eyes. But he was busy looking at his surroundings. He grabbed me by my arm and dragged me out of the mansion. He took me straight to the forest.
"Why haven't you left with your mom?" He asked me angrily, making my heart clench at his question. My eyes started to water up as I was not expecting him to be mean to me as well.
"Why are you asking me that question, Noah? I thought you would be the one person who would be happy that I stayed." I asked him, my voice cracked as his questions echoed in my head again and again.
"I love you, Noah. And I can't watch you being with anyone else. I just don't know why but…" I was unable to complete my sentence as Noah grabbed me by my neck and slammed me against a huge tree. The rough surface of the tree tore my dress and pierced through my skin. If that was not enough for him, he started squeezing my throat, choking me.
"Why, Moon Goddess! Why me? Out of all the powerful women, I got to have this wolfless burden as my mate." Noah growled angrily, shattering my heart with each word that he spoke. He let go of my neck. Gasping loudly for the air, I fell on the ground. I was taking deeper breaths to relieve that burning sensation I was feeling inside my chest.
Noah grabbed my hair and forced me back on my feet again. "This can't happen. No one can ever know that you are my mate. Do you understand me?" He growled at me. For the first time, the sweet Noah I knew was gone. And the Noah in front of me was scaring me. But the love I had in my heart for that man was far greater than any other feeling I had ever felt for anyone before. Despite that fear in my heart, I wanted to tell him my feelings again.
"Noah! I don't know if you are my mate or not. But I love you. I don't know when I started to have feelings for you. But I know for sure that I love you more than I love myself." I confessed my true feelings , my love to the man I believed would be a perfect mate for me. Unfortunately for me, he started laughing at me as soon as he heard my confession. The man who was also her best friend, the man I had submitted to, the man who was my whole world, was heartlessly laughing at my confession.
"Oh, I am your mate, Sora. But what made you think that I would ever want to be with you? You! A low life wolfless woman. I am the future alpha of my pack. I can't be with you." Heartlessly, Noah replied without caring for the tears that appeared in my eyes. He even ignored the pain he might be able to see in my eyes.
He grabbed me by my neck again and choked me. "I, Noah, reject you, Sora, as my mate. Now take your ugly face away from my pack and never show it to me again. You and I are done." He rejected me just like that. He didn't even let me feel the sweet bond myself. He took that right from me. Without waiting for my response, Noah walked away. The man who couldn't see tears in my eyes, actually left in tears.
I covered my face and started crying. I didn't know what to do. After everything we had done together, the man I loved, the man the Moon Goddess chose to be my mate, betrayed me. I never expected him to betray me. That too when I was all alone.
After a while, I wiped my tears as they no longer concerned anyone at all. I stood up and started walking toward the Beta quarters again. I had my arms wrapped around my chest because Noah tore my dress. As soon as I got home, I saw that the front door was open. A growl escaped my lips as I walked toward the quarters. Before I could step into the cabin, I felt a sharp pain in the nape of my neck.
As I touched my neck, I found a tranquilizer dart on my neck. My vision started to blur almost immediately. I saw two tall figu
res walking toward me. Before I could even try defending myself, the darkness swallowed me whole.
Claire froze in the middle of her room after she heard the faint sound outside her door. Her heart pounded heavily against her ribs as she stared at the door. The mansion was supposed to be asleep. Richard had gone to bed hours ago. Ethan was resting upstairs. Emily had already slipped back into his room. So who was out there? She waited a few seconds, then walked over and opened the door. The hallway stretched empty under the soft yellow lights. Darkness stretched across the floor, and everything looked still. Claire stepped out barefoot, the cool tiles sending a small shiver up her legs. “Emily?” she whispered. No answer. She looked left and right, then let out a shaky breath. Probably nothing. She didn’t need more trouble tonight. After one last glance, she went back inside and locked the door. The click sounded loud in the quiet room.She picked up her phone again and dialed. Jason answered with clear irritation. “Why are you disturbing me in the middle of the night?” C
Emily’s eyes narrowed the moment she saw Claire standing too close to Ethan’s bed. The room was dim, with only the little glow of the bedside lamp. For a second, she just stared, trying to understand what she had just woken up to see, or is it a dream. Claire had been leaning far too close to Ethan. Close enough that it made Emily’s stomach twist uncomfortably.“What are you doing here?” Emily asked quietly, her voice low so she wouldn’t wake Ethan.Claire straightened up quickly. “Nothing.”Emily got off the bed carefully. She didn’t want to disturb Ethan, who was still making tiny sounds from the pain, but she also wasn’t letting this go. “Nothing?” she repeated, her throat feeling dry.Claire folded her arms. “Lower your voice.”Emily took a slow breath, trying to keep herself calm. “No. You walked into the room in the middle of the night. You were standing over him, and now you’re telling me it’s nothing?”Claire glanced toward the bed. “You’re going to w
Emily stood in the living room, staring at Claire in disbelief. The two large suitcases sitting near the staircase made the whole situation feel too real.“Are you serious?” she asked slowly.Claire adjusted the hand of her handbag and looked around the living room like she already belonged there. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”Emily folded her arms. “You packed your actual bags, Claire. You’re talking about staying here and you didn’t even think to mention it to me first?”Claire gave a small shrug. “I honestly didn’t think I needed permission from my own friend.”The word “friend” came out with a strange feeling. It didn’t feel warm. Emily noticed it right away, but she was too tired to start arguing. Claire continued talking while glancing upstairs toward Ethan’s room. “Besides, after everything that happened today, this is the safest option. Ethan needs someone handling work from here. The shareholders are suspicious, and Victor is definitely pl
The hospital room turned heavy the moment Ethan realized he couldn’t feel his leg. One second everyone had been relieved he was awake. The next second, panic filled the room. It felt hard to breathe. The glass cup slipped from his hand and shattered loudly on the floor. His voice came out shaky and scared.“I can’t feel my leg.”Emily froze beside the bed. Ethan tried moving his leg again, but nothing happened. He stared down at it, hoping maybe his body just needed a little more time. But it stayed still. His breathing became fast and uneven.“No,” he said quickly. “No, no… something’s wrong.”The doctor stepped forward right away while two nurses rushed into the room. “Everybody needs to step outside for a moment,” the doctor said calmly.Ethan shook his head and gripped Emily’s hand tighter. “No. She stays.”Claire turned sharply. “But the doctor”“It’s fine,” the doctor interrupted. “She can stay. The rest of you wait outside.”Claire’s face chang
Morning came too quietly in the mansion. Not peaceful. Controlled like the house itself was holding its breath. Emily stirred slowly, her body still adjusting to the unfamiliar comfort of the room. The night before lingered in fragments Ethan’s presence, the strange calm, the unsettling sense of
Later that night. The mansion was too quiet. Not the kind of quiet that brought peace, but the kind that pressed against the skin, making every breath feel louder than it should. Emily stood in the center of her room for a long moment, trying to adjust. The space around her was beautiful, care
The silence after the signature didn’t feel like peace. It felt like something had already begun something that didn’t need her permission to change her life. Emily stared at the contract one last time as Ethan closed it. He closed it dramatically. “Done,” he said. Like the world had just
Back in Ethan's study. The masked lady presence shifted the room slightly. She has black straight hair, she wore dark silk sexy lingerie, it looks expensive, she was intentional with her steps. She didn’t ask for attention. It was all over her. She closed the door behind her, slow and careful. He












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