Ceremony

Bella’s life takes a dark turn when her father’s debt to the Jacksons falls on her shoulders, and the price is paid in blood. Lucas, one of the Jackson brothers, steps in, claiming her as his wife to save her. But before the wedding, Bella finds herself drawn to Damon, Lucas’s enigmatic brother. The ceremony shatters when gunfire erupts, leaving Lucas critically wounded. As he lies in a coma, Bella and Damon grow closer, crossing a line they can’t undo. When Lucas finally wakes up, shaken by his brush with death, he pleads for a chance to make their marriage work. Damon, however, drops the bomb about their affair. Lucas whisks Bella away, determined to salvage what’s left, but secrets and unfinished business loom. Will Damon fight for her, or will Lucas prove he’s the one who can truly win her heart? While traveling through Europe, Lucas discovers Bella is pregnant, with Damon’s child. It’s a gut punch, but he decides he’s got to step up if he’s going to keep her. Just as things start looking up for them, life throws another curveball. A freak accident sends them tumbling down a flight of stairs, Bella breaks her leg, and Lucas fractures his spine, leaving him wheelchair bound. Determined to see him recover, Bella throws herself into rehabilitating him while secretly using her father’s hidden Swiss funds to build a company. Back in America, the family drama kicks into high gear. Bella’s accused of shoving Lucas down the stairs to get rid of him, because, of course, she’d risk breaking her own leg for that. Damon’s met with a version of Bella he doesn’t recognize, convinced she’s only staying with Lucas out of pity.

As I approached Alpha Blake, he turned to face me with a solemn expression. His eyes, which used to be filled with love and adoration for me, were now cold and distant. I felt a pang of worry in my chest, but I pushed it aside, thinking it was just nerves. "Alpha Blake," I said softly, smiling up at him. "Hello, Sophia," he replied curtly. I frowned slightly, wondering what was wrong. But before I could ask, Alpha Blake turned to the crowd of werewolves gathered around us. "Thank you all for coming here today to witness the engagement ceremony of Sophia and myself," he said, his voice booming across the clearing. There were cheers and applause from the crowd, but I couldn't concentrate on anything except Alpha Blake's strange behavior. Something was off, and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. "However," Alpha Blake continued, his tone serious now. "I have come to a difficult decision. As the Alpha of the Night Walker pack, it is my duty to ensure the survival and prosperity of our kind. And with that in mind, I have decided to break off my engagement to Sophia." My heart dropped to my stomach, and I felt tears prickling at the corners of my eyes. This can't be happening. Alpha Blake couldn't possibly be breaking up with me. We were meant to be together forever. "I have instead chosen Leah, Sophia's stepsister, as my mate," Alpha Blake announced. Sophia is heartbroken at that moment that Alpha Blake, chooses her stepsister over her. Devastated, Sophia decides to start a new life in a different country, and that is where her worst nightmare started from because she get a job in her pack's biggest enemy company, Alpha Derick Mondragon. She was mistreated to the last drop...

After graduation, I spend a year interning with my mentor, a healer, out in the neutral lands—no packs, no laws, and no one to protect me. My brother, the Lycan Chairman of all werewolves, nearly loses his mind over it. He's terrified I'll fall for some Rogue and impulsively form a reckless mate bond. As such, he handpicks an arranged mate for me—Falcon Sterling, the Alpha of the strongest pack in Northmere. He's handsome and dangerous, a legendary figure. My brother orders me to come home for the mating ceremony, so I have no choice but to go pick out a Luna crown. At the jewelry shop, my eyes snap straight to a crown made of pure silver and covered in diamonds. Just as I reach out to take it, a sharp female voice cuts in. "I like the one she's holding. I'll take it. Hand it over." Before I can react, the clerk snatches the crown right out of my hands, nearly scraping my skin. I straighten up, forcing myself to stay calm. "Ever heard of 'first come, first served?' I saw it first. Is this how you do things here?" The she-wolf slowly turns toward me, casting me a long, mocking look. "This crown costs 300 thousand dollars. You sure you can afford it, peasant? I grew up with the Alpha of the Silvermoon pack, Falcon Sterling. Around here, I make the rules." I stare at her, almost laughing. Isn't that funny? Falcon just happens to be my arranged mate. I pull out my phone and press the call button. "Hey, Falcon. Your adorable childhood sweetheart just stole the Luna crown I'm supposed to wear for the mating ceremony. What do you think I should do about that?"

"Say something,” I whisper to Caspian, my voice breaking. “Look me in the eyes and tell me this isn’t a mistake.” “I, Alpha Caspian King of the Nightfall Pack, reject you, Jocelyn Valdez, as my mate and Luna.” He says, staring down at me with a look of pity in his eyes. That… that wasn't what I was expecting him to say. However, I don't need his pity, but I think my ears must have heard wrong. “Accept my rejection, Jocelyn,” he says quietly. “Let’s end this.” “You mean let's end us?” I chuckle a sad laugh, looking up at him. “Yes.” His response is cold. I bite down on my bottom lip until I taste blood. I want to stop crying, but I can't. Why reject me? Why now? Why Lycena? I don't want to accept his rejection, but he is leaving me no other choice. “Well,” I gather all my strength, “I, Jocelyn Valdez, accept your rejection, Alpha Caspian King.” As soon as the words leave my lips, I feel like a knife is butchering my heart into pieces. The pain of accepting his rejection is so intense and so merciless that I can't breathe properly. I feel like I am dying. ~ Humiliated and heartbroken, Jocelyn Valdez fled the Nightfall Pack after being rejected by Alpha Caspian King at her Luna Ceremony before he chose a power-hungry she-wolf to be her replacement. Jocelyn vanished into the night with nothing; no pack, no powers, no future. But what no one knows in her previous pack is that Jocelyn is the Chosen one of the Moon Goddess. Now, five years later, she returns. No longer the weak rejected she-wolf they tossed away. And her ex-mate? He is on his knees begging for the woman he threw away.

When I was young, I saved a fae—charming and extremely handsome. In return, he offered me one wish, and I, lost in romantic fantasies, asked for the strongest wolves to be obsessed with me. It sounded dreamy—until it wasn’t. Obsession, I learned, is a storm disguised as a dream. First up, my stepbrother—his obsession turned him into a tormentor. Life became unbearable, and I had to escape before a mating ceremony that felt more like a nightmare than a love story. But freedom was short-lived. The next wolf found me, nearly made me his dinner, and kidnapped me away to his kingdom, proclaiming I would be his Luna. He wasn’t as terrifying, but when he announced our wedding plans (against my will, obviously), his best friend appeared as competitor number three. “Great! Just what I needed,” I thought. This third wolf was sweet, gentle, and truly cared—but, alas, he wasn’t my type. Desperate, I tracked down the fae. “Please, undo my wish! I want out of this romantic disaster!” My heart raced; I really needed him to understand me. He just smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry, you’re on your own. But I can help you pick the best one out of them!” How do I fix this mess? Facing three intense wolves: “Marry me, I’ll kill anyone who bothers you!” the first declared fiercely. “No, marry me! I’ll make you the happiest ever,” the second pleaded. “I’ll destroy every kingdom you walk into. You’re mine!” the third growled, eyes blazed. “Seriously, what have I gotten myself into?” A long sigh escaped my lips. Caught between a curse and a hard place, I really just wanted peace and quiet…but which one do I choose?

"Obey us!" The four powerful werewolves loomed over me while my hands were tied behind my back. "No! I won't submit to anyone," I muttered. Alpha Bellamy, Alpha Caspian, Warrior Emre, and the Rugged rogue Wolvin wore khaki pants and white shirts, their muscles bulging and breaths ragged from hours of chasing after me on the mountains. "That's enough. We've listened to your nonsense and given you time. But if you want to fuck with us--," the towering rogue hissed, beginning to take off his shirt, "then we'll fuck you up real good!" "And we won't even break a sweat," Alpha Bellamy chimed in, shedding his shirt. My gaze shifted to the other two, who had also exposed their upper bodies now. All I could ask them was. "Why now? You all rejected me, betrayed me, and abandoned me when my pack was under attack. Why return now?" The four exchanged glances, with Alpha Caspian taking the lead to confess, "Because we've finally realized how deeply we've fallen for you!" It was too late, I have lost the part of me who craved a mate. …. After getting cheated on by her chosen mate on the day of her mating ceremony, everybody said Genevieve would never find a loving mate. Little did they know, the Moon Goddess had planned something bigger for Genevieve when she gave her four handsome, sexy, powerful and always horny mates to protect her. But the truth was far from what was known to Genevieve. The perfect mates of Genevieve yield secrets that would change their relationship forever. Will Genevieve find out her mates are far from perfect, or will her mates fall so deeply in love with her that they will do anything to make sure their truth never comes out and Genevieve remains theirs?

"No! It can't be!" I let out an internal hiss. "He would not dare come here!" "What the f*ck, Zara!" Levi bumped into me and growled behind me. "Sorry," I mumbled, wide-eyed. "What's going on with-" Levi's voice faltered when my father turned away from us and approached his table, confirming my worst fears: Noah f*cking Flinch! "Is that?" Levi mind-linked, and I nodded my head. "What brings him here?" He mind-linked. "Zara, I understand that you are familiar with Alpha Noah," my father said. I slowly nodded my head. "Great, Noah has also informed me that you are his fated mate." I slowly nodded, unable to utter a word. "He has requested your hand," my father continued. "Is that so?" I said. "Were you told by Noah that he rejected me more than a year ago?" "He did what?" Levi roared behind me. "There is more," I said. "He rejected me in favor of a mate he chose." **** Zara Silverwood is a silver wolf descended from one of the most powerful packs on the continent. A year after he rejects her, her fated mate comes knocking on her door to tell her he is back to claim her. After Zara turns down his proposal, he goes behind her back and asks her father for her hand. The old Alpha agrees to the arrangement. Zara is unhappy and decides to handle things on her own. She informs her father that she has taken a chosen mate, her Beta, and her best friend, Levi—only he has a little secret. What will happen when Zara's second chance mate attends her and Levi's mating ceremony? Will he stop the proceedings and claim her as his mate? Or is Zara's destiny already set? Will Zara find the happiness she so deserves?

"You ignore me, you don't want me, you don't touch me, you don't fuck me, and then you come at me with this weak threat just because I danced with someone else at the party?" I managed to push out the words, "Let's face it, you're not going to do a damn thing and just keep playing saint-maybe your machine has rusted after all these years of being without a mate." His jaw tensed, and his fingers dug into my skin, but then a low, husky chuckle escaped him. "You really enjoy pushing boundaries, don't you?" His free hand traced a slow path down between us and he suddenly cupped my pussy causing a gasp to slip past my lips, "Just so you know, Poppet-I have a lot of respect for you, but in the next hour, I'm going to make you forget that I ever respected you at all." Before I could retort, his lips brushed against my ear, a wicked smirk playing on his lips. "Brace yourself-because I am about to fuck you like my whore and I'll show you just how well this machine still fucking works." *** When Aurora Steel's mate cheats on her with her best friend just before their mating ceremony, her world shatters. But....Just as she hits rock bottom, a familiar face reappears in their pack-the Alpha of Darkclaw Clan, Jaxon Blackwood, her father's friend, and...the crush she'd long buried. And suddenly it seems there is no better choice for revenge against her cheating mate than letting a hot, cold, and older alpha fuck her. But in the world of revenge, betrayal, illicit desires, and forbidden temptation, an affair hidden from everyone with an Alpha like Jaxon is anything but a wise choice, isn't it?

The night before our Mating Ceremony, my fated mate, Alpha Ryker of the Howling Moon Pack, ordered me to give him the Moon Soul Crystal—the very thing that protected my pack, the Willow Creek Pack. He said he needed it to power up the Howling Moon Pack's Blood Moon Altar. He also promised he'd keep me and my people safe. But he didn't know that we, the healers of the Willow Creek Pack, can only create one Moon Soul Crystal in our entire lives. Making one takes a crazy amount of moon energy. It's the treasure that keeps our pack alive. My mother, worried about me using up my moon energy while I was pregnant, gave up her own Moon Soul Crystal instead. But just three months after Ryker and I were mated, she got sick, fast. She was dying. I knelt in front of Ryker, crying, begging him for the Silverleaf Herb from the Howling Moon's forbidden grounds. It was the only thing that could save my mom. But he just looked at me, his eyes full of disappointment, and kicked me away. "I asked for the Moon Soul Crystal to test you," he snarled. "And just as I thought, you married me for our pack's treasures! Your mother's not sick. You're making it all up!" "You don't deserve to be the Luna of the Howling Moon Pack!" It wasn't until after my mother died, when he was arguing with me, trying to kick me out of the pack, that my mother's things fell and scattered everywhere. Her Soul Stone, the symbol of a wolf's spirit, shattered. That's when he finally realized he was wrong. He fell to his knees, begging me not to leave, crying for me to forgive him.

I've been chasing after Howard Chapman for 20 years. A week before our graduation ceremony, we slept together every night, burning through ten boxes of condoms in just as many days. When I bring him our 11th box of condoms, he turns me away as he's working on his thesis. Worried about his health, I buy him some supplements instead. But as I stand outside his door, about to hand them over, I catch him poking holes in the condoms. His friend chuckles and says, "You're still sneaking Selena Reed birth control pills, huh? You're the only one who'd cook up such a scheme. Selena doesn't know she's already swallowed ten of them, does she? If she did, she'd throw a huge tantrum." Howard snorts. "I wouldn't even touch her if I didn't need her to try the pills and help me figure out which one causes the fewest side effects. "Lizzy's got a weak immune system. She's not as tough as Selena, so I have to be more careful with her. Besides, Selena and I are engaged. There'll be plenty of time to nurse her back to health after the wedding. I won't owe her anything." His friends cackle at his response. "You're not wrong. Selena's been pursuing you for 20 years. She's probably over the moon to marry you. She'd probably hand you her uterus if you asked for it—birth control pills are nothing to her." Howard had just proposed to me yesterday, in front of the whole college. My tears spatter onto the supplement box as I turn to leave. Howard has made his choice, and it's only right that I honor it.