Bloodbound: The Alliance

At the Mafia Alliance Academy, reputation is the only currency—and mine was bankrupt in a single morning. One planted file, one flawless performance, and a few crocodile tears from Elena Rossi, the “fragile” scholarship student, were all it took. Overnight, I fell from the heights of the elite to a pariah branded a cruel bully. The ultimate betrayal? My fiancé, Luca Valenti—the future Don who once swore to be my blade—stood by her side, looking at me with nothing but cold contempt. They called me cruel. Entitled. A rich girl bullying someone who had nothing. What they didn’t know was that I could hear the venom dripping from Elena’s mind. While she played the victim, her thoughts laughed—mocking the Academy’s stupidity, sneering at how easily she had Luca wrapped around her finger. I stayed silent… until the Truth System awakened. Now I can broadcast her twisted thoughts to anyone I choose. And without hesitation, I linked her mind to Luca’s. So while Elena clings to his arm, crying about her “shattered dreams,” Luca hears everything— her plans to destroy his family, her contempt for his protection, and her disgust at being touched by him. The girl he chose is already tearing his world apart.

Nathan Grey became the Alpha of the Old Woods Pack just a few months ago. Together with his best friends, Beta Kaiden and Gamma Caleb, he is trying to fight off the threat from a large rogue group that settled in the vast forests of North Washington. Between creating an alliance with the biggest pack on the continent and learning how to lead a pack, the last thing on his mind is finding his mate. He doesn't understand everyone's obsession in finding their destined one. That is, until he meets her. Nate gets persuaded by his friends for a night out in Bellforth, where they end up going to a show by a local theatrical group. As the performance begins he realizes that one of the actresses is his mate. Captivated by her voice and beauty, he quickly forgets about his previous views on soulmates. But what if she doesn't know about mates and holds secrets of her own? Caleb just recently became Gamma to one of his best friend. Together with Beta, the three of them had been friends since childhood yet he holds a big secret from them. With a deep desire of having his mate, comes even bigger fear of being rejected. Not only by his possible mate but also his friends.

Ava Thorne never felt she could be Alpha Jackson Wolfe's mate, a merciless man. She was weak and helpless, unable to match the force and domination his pack demanded. Driven by three indisputable reasons—his pack needed a strong Luna, his desire to find an alliance with another strong Alpha through marriage, and a deep-rooted dread of vulnerability—something Ava's presence brought too near to the surface—the rejection was quick and forceful. Ava departed broken and humiliated, but she left with more than just dashed dreams. She carried his secret: twin heirs to the Blood Moon Pack developing inside her. Ava comes back five years later, no more the defenseless girl she once was. She is a mother, strong in her own right but still delicate in ways that trouble Jackson. Jackson understands too late what he threw aside as foes near and treason threaten his pack. But as he finds out about his kids, old scars come back and rivals hiding in the shadows start to stir. Jackson has to choose whether he would fight for the family he unintentionally built or let darkness take over everything considering the possibility of losing everything. Ava's life is thrown back into peril; one mistake might ruin both of them.

On the third anniversary of our engagement, my fiancé—Dominic Corleone, heir to one of the most powerful Mafia dynasties in New York—told me he was not ready to form a new family so that our wedding would have to postpone. I told myself to wait for some time, the bond between the Corleones and the Valentinos—our families’ sacred alliance—would hold us together. But what followed were his endless betrayals and tortures. I walked into a bridal boutique and saw him laughing with Liliane, the childhood friend who always lingered too close. I watched him destroy the wedding gown I had spent months designing—then crush my hand beneath his heel until it bled. And when I thought I had hit rock bottom, he proved I was wrong—by getting behind the wheel and running me down. He thought I’d beg and cling to him, terrified of losing the Corleone name and privilege that came with it. But instead, I made one phone call and insisted firmly on canceling the engagement. However, that call didn’t just end a marriage arrangement. It unearthed a secret that had been buried for over a decade…and turned a marriage born of duty into a story of dark devotion.

After the great war between humans and beasts, both sides agreed to let the half-beasts govern the world. Every hundred years, a union between humans and beasts would be arranged. The first half-beast child of the generation would be the next ruler of the Human-Beast Alliance. In my past life, I chose to marry the eldest son of the wolf clan, renowned for his unwavering devotion. I was the first to bear him a child—a rare half-beast white wolf. Our son was named the next ruler of the Human-Beast Alliance, and my husband, by extension, rose to immense power. My younger sister, who had chosen to marry into the fox clan out of vain admiration for their beauty, was not so fortunate. The fox clan's heir, a notorious philanderer, eventually contracted a disease and lost his ability to father children. Jealous and resentful, my sister set a fire that burned both me and my young white wolf son alive. When I opened my eyes again, it was the very day of the human-beast mating ceremony. This time, my sister was quicker—she climbed into the wolf clan heir Jacob's bed before I had the chance. I knew then: she had been reborn too. But what she didn't know… was that Jacob's nature was cruel and violent. He worshiped bloodshed, not love. And he was anything but a worthy mate.

Le jour de ma cérémonie avec Vincent Richard, le futur Alpha, la bague en pierre de lune qui m'était destinée, la future Luna, a mystérieusement disparu de l'écrin. À sa place se trouve une languette de canette déjà noircie par l'oxydation. Les applaudissements des invités s'éteignent immédiatement. Ils se tournent tous vers moi. Dans le silence, Joséphine Albert, l'amour d'enfance de Vincent, sort de la foule. Elle lève la main gauche et fait un signe de la main, la bague en pierre de lune sur l'annulaire. Puis, elle sort une bague assortie et la glisse au doigt de Vincent. « Tu dois être terrifiée, Angela, n'est-ce pas ? En fait, c'est moi qui porte la bague en ce moment. Cette languette de canette n'est pas un objet ordinaire, tu sais. Vincent me l'avait donnée quand nous étions encore des enfants. Elle symbolise l'amour éternel qui ne s'éteindra jamais. Maintenant, je te la donne. » Les paroles de Joséphine me transpercent le cœur. Je tremble violemment, comme si mon cœur était coupé en mille morceaux. Cependant, Vincent se contente de rire. « Joséphine a toujours des idées ridicules. Elle plaisante, Angela. Ne prends pas ses paroles au sérieux. » « Oh, je ne le ferai pas. » Je jette la languette de la canette dans le feu de joie, laissant échapper un petit rire sec. « Cette cérémonie est annulée. » Vincent m'attrape la main avant de me serrer dans ses bras. « Arrête de chercher à semer la zizanie, Angela ! Nous avons trouvé l'anneau, n'est-ce pas ? Cette alliance affectera l'avenir de nos meutes ! Ce n'est pas toi qui prends les décisions ici ! » Je me dégage de l'étreinte de Vincent, captant une trace d'odeur écœurante qui flotte autour de lui, une odeur qui n'est pas la mienne. « Il est vrai que la meute du Lac de la Lune va former une alliance avec la meute du Pierre Brun, mais mon futur compagnon n'est pas nécessairement toi. »

Lucky isn't ready to be married nor is she interested in the arranged marriage with Mafia Don, Nico Santangelo. But he has a contract out on her father for the marriage or he will have Lucky's father killed. He is a man who always gets what he wants and nothing will stand in his way. He is richer than any man and more powerful than any other Don has ever been. He rules the underworld of the New York Crime Scene and this alliance between his family and Lucky's mafia family would mean he becomes the King of New York. He doesn't care for a wife especially not Lucky but he needs her and it eats him alive that this is the only way he can be King of New York and he will do whatever it takes in his power to make that happen. Lucky is strong willed, she is fierce and not a docile dove he can easily manipulate but Nico Santangelo is not scared of a challenge, he will have her eating out of his hand and tamed if it is the last thing he does. Besides, when he is the King of New York and her father dies eventually, he will no longer need this woman. He isn't prepared, however, that he could fall in love with her.

For a thousand years, the city of Crescent Falls has survived beneath the shadow of an ancient savior. Each century, a man is chosen as an offering to Sariyah—the being said to have once driven demons from the world. When Bastion, the man Ember loves, is taken after daring to refuse her, Ember’s grief turns into defiance, and she vows to bring him home no matter the cost. Her search forces her into an uneasy alliance with Orion St. James, a dangerously charming immortal with a violent past and secrets tied to Sariyah herself. Bound together by a magic neither of them wants nor understands, Ember and Orion are drawn into a hidden war beneath the city—one involving cultists, monsters, and an ancient order known as the Watchers. As Crescent Falls begins to fracture, Ember experiences unsettling visions that hint her bloodline is far more entangled with Sariyah than anyone ever suspected. Strange new powers awaken within her, blurring the line between protector and destroyer, while enemies gather and old loyalties are tested. With the city on the brink of collapse and unseen forces moving in the shadows, Ember must decide how far she is willing to go to save Bastion—and whether becoming something darker is the only way to stop an evil that has ruled unchallenged for centuries. Because some thrones are not inherited. They are taken.

Ciara thought her relationship with Austin, her boyfriend of six years, had always been solid and full of love. But on the night before their wedding, she caught him and her young stepmother doing something unspeakable. The shock of the moment shattered her heart, yet she didn’t confront them. Rather, she found herself making out with Rowan, the older brother and sworn rival of Austin. The next day, she went through the ceremony confidently, only to humiliate her cheating fiancé by not saying ‘I do’ before leaving him at the altar. As a result, Ciara’s father got enraged and even dismissed her claim of her stepmother’s affair without a second thought. As if that wasn’t enough, she got kicked out of the company. With nowhere left to turn, she sought out Rowan and accepted his offer of an alliance, fueled by a desperate need for revenge against everyone who wronged her. Ciara knew exactly how dangerous Rowan could be. She was well aware of his obsession, his psychopathic behavior, and the risks that came with trusting a man like him. Still, vengeance was all she had left to her name. And if it meant making a deal with the devil and surrendering herself to his darkness, then she would do it, no matter the cost.

The night before my fiancé, Soren, and I were supposed to leave for Northern Europe to start our new life, the sounds of a lively discussion drifted from his private club. "Christ, Boss, are you insane? Why the sudden marriage alliance with the Rosetti family to make a play for Italy? Didn't you say you were getting out of the life with Abby and heading north?" Soren leaned back into a leather sofa, his voice nonchalant and muffled by a cloud of smoke. "Plans change. Besides, remember, I'm the one who made her who she is." "Once she sees the new empire I'm building, that little canary will come flying right back to my cage. The woman can't live without me." I stood in the shadows of the club, a wine glass in my hand, a dull ache blooming in my chest. The anniversary gift I had so carefully chosen for Soren was still in my purse, waiting for me to give it to him. I slipped out of the smoke-filled club, tossed the gift into the nearest trash can, and booked a one-way ticket to Northern Europe. But what he didn't know was that just as he could betray our future for Monica, I could abandon him for mine. All those years we spent dancing with death were never just for his sake.