Alyssa It Ends With Us

In the rigid hierarchy of werewolf society, Natalie Silverstone exists as a ghost in her own pack house. Locked away, abused, and treated as less than nothing by her uncle's family for ten years, she survives by hiding her true rebellious nature behind a mask of meek obedience. "There's no doubt I'm a good girl," she said mockingly, and so did everyone who knew her. When a chance encounter at a mating ceremony brings her face-to-face with Florian Nightshade, the powerful second son of the Northern Territory's most dominant Alpha family, neither expects how drastically their lives will change. "Do you have a mate? Want to have sex if you don't?" Natalie made the invitation first, then all but disappeared from Florian's sight like a ghost. "Natalie Silverstone, what a name." Florian muttered a chilling laugh when he finally realized who she was. His amber eyes sparkled with determination, vowing to find her again. But nothing is simple in the dangerous world of wolf pack politics, especially when the Nightshade family faces its own power struggle. Will their unconventional relationship bring about mutual redemption or mutual destruction?

On the day of my first shift, my Alpha triplet adoptive brothers weren't by my side for the first time ever, because their long-lost birth sister Scarlett had returned. My doting third brother Hunter abandoned me in a forest crawling with rogue wolves and made me walk back alone. My gentle second brother Ethan slapped me across the face for Scarlett, demanding to know why I was being so vicious. Even my usually level-headed oldest brother Mason told me to get out and never come back for his birth sister's sake, without even bothering to hear my side of the story. Scarlett's sweet facade fell away when we were alone. "So what if your parents sacrificed themselves to save my brothers? They are my biological brothers. You're just a mongrel with no blood relation. Even if I drive you out, my brothers will definitely take my side." I didn't say another word. I just grabbed my bags and left. They thought I was just throwing a tantrum and would be back in a few days. The three brothers even postponed their busy pack affairs to accompany their birth sister to patrol the Northern territories – to see the snowy tundra I had always dreamed of visiting. Many days later, when they returned to the pack, they suddenly learned that I had joined a Beta Wolf Enhancement Program that would last ten years, with no contact with the outside world. When they knew that I could never come home again, they fell apart.

Clarabel Jones, a florist, was forced into marriage with her childhood arch-enemy, Aiden Smith. Aiden Smith, a renowned oil businessman from a very wealthy background was however indifferent about the arranged marriage. The marriage was a written down instruction from their grandparents.

On my wedding day, my arranged fiancé abandoned me and chose my sister instead. As I became the laughingstock of every elite guest in attendance, my business partner James Crawford shocked everyone by publicly proposing to me with a passionate declaration of love. After we married, he was incredibly attentive, especially during my pregnancy when he catered to my every need. I thought my suffering had finally ended. Until I overheard his confession to my sister: "I've only ever loved you." James's voice carried a passion I'd never heard him use with me. "Marry her? I was only after her resources, connections, and her talent for making money. She's nothing but a useful cash cow." "Now that she's pregnant, even better." His tone was coldly calculating. "With the baby, she'll be even more dependent on me, more devoted. She'll never leave." Everything I had treasured—our love, our marriage—was all a lie. Learning the truth, I turned and walked away without a word. I was done with this charade. Everything that belonged to me, I would reclaim with my own hands.

At the Mating Ceremony, my mate Alexander rejected our mate bond in front of the entire pack, then turned around and marked Sarah instead. While I endured the excruciating pain of rejection and the pack's vicious gossip, Alexander's brother Ethan walked into our ceremonial grounds. He presented me with nine hundred and ninety-nine Moonflowers, confessing he had secretly loved me for years. His wolf had recognized me as his mate, and he'd dreamed of making me his. I was shocked to discover he was my second chance mate, and touched that he saved me from humiliation. I immediately nodded in agreement. Five years into our marriage, I had miscarried five times, and had finally managed to conceive again. Ethan held me carefully, spinning me around with joy, promising to take good care of me and the baby, even if it cost him his life. Four months into my pregnancy, I overheard him talking with the pack healer: "Alpha Ethan, just like the previous five times, the miscarriage drugs have been added to your wife's pregnancy supplements." "I don't understand. Sarah was able to bear your child, so why not your wife?" Ethan laughed bitterly: "Only those who produce an heir can inherit the Alpha position. Alexander is infertile, and I want Sarah to fulfill her wish of becoming the pack's Alpha Female." Alexander and Ethan were the children of our pack's Alpha. The Alpha had declared that whoever produced an heir first would become the next Alpha of the pack. All those passionate vows and promises were nothing but lies. The brothers, Alexander and Ethan, both loved Sarah. If that was how things stood, I would leave. I returned to our bedroom and secretly took out my phone, dialing a number I thought I would never contact again: "I agree to return and inherit the Shadow Pack. But I need you to do me a favor."

Five years after I mated to Alpha Derek Blackwood, his childhood sweetheart broke her mate bond with another Alpha and returned to our pack. Even worse, I had depleted my life force saving Derek when he was mortally wounded, and now I was dying. In the less than six months I had left to live, I continued to play the role of Derek's good mate. Until I passed away. And Derek, after reading the journal I left behind, completely fell apart.

My mate Derek, Alpha of the SilverCrest Pack, secretly marked me two years ago. But he still hasn't held our mating ceremony to publicly announce my position. I've been working as his "assistant," helping him manage pack affairs all this time. Every time Derek cheats with his childhood sweetheart, Vivian, he promises to finally hold our mating ceremony. Two years. Ten promised ceremonies. Ten broken promises. The first time, he said Vivian's dog had died. "I can't hold a celebration while she's grieving," he told me, his eyes not quite meeting mine. "It wouldn't be right." The second time, Vivian had a stomach ache. He left the ceremony venue minutes before it was supposed to start, rushing off to cook soup for his precious childhood friend. After that, each scheduled mating ceremony fell through because his childhood sweetheart always had some kind of emergency. I've cried. I've screamed. I've begged. Derek always gives me the same answer: "Viv and I are just friends. You're my true mate. Taking care of pack members is your responsibility too. Don't be so jealous." After the tenth canceled ceremony, I finally gave up. I slid the mate bond dissolution papers across his desk. "The Alpha Council has approved our request to break the mate bond," I said, my voice steadier than I expected. "You and I are no longer connected." That’s when the powerful Alpha went crazy...

My twin Alpha brothers believed that I have deliberately hidden the vast inheritance left by our Alpha parents so that our adoptive sister Sophia couldn’t by the medical equipment to treat her silver poisoning. For the sake of our adoptive sister, my twin Alpha brothers dragged me before the Council's tribunal. They accused me of stealing pack assets and deliberately harming pack members. If the charges stuck, the Alpha Council would strip away my Alpha power to treat Sophia. My brothers had no idea that years ago, I'd nearly died protecting them. If I lost my Alpha bloodline strength, I would die. In my own brothers' eyes, I was already a criminal beyond redemption. But when the Council used ancient magic to extract my memories for judgment, everyone wept for me. And when my brothers learned the truth, they fell to their knees, begging my forgiveness.

Everyone envied how my best friend and I mated to the Alpha twins of the Creek Pack. But the pack didn't know that Victoria, their widowed stepmother, was the one the Alpha twins truly loved. My best friend Cathy and I planned to run away, but the night before our escape, she poisoned herself with wolfsbane. I called her mate Damon, but he sneered, "Luna, my brother says, your and Cathy's little tricks are getting really old. Are you going to jump off Silver Cliff tomorrow?"

My Alpha brother's Omega assistant had always wanted to be Luna. She didn’t know my identity and she mistook me as a rival trying to steal her place. She framed me for theft and tortured me without mercy. As I lay dying, it was my old companion—Rex, the Siberian war dog who had fought beside my brother and earned the highest military honors—who sacrificed his life to protect me. She dragged me by my hair, smugly satisfied, and threw me before the crowd like refuse. In her hands, she flaunted her "gift" made from Rex's fur. She had no idea she was about to face the fury of the entire werewolf world.