Ceremony

On the night of my wedding, my best friend's younger brother wiped the sweat from his forehead and asked me, “It’s a little big. Can you handle it?” I stared at his perfectly defined abs, my mind going completely blank. “What?” He repeated, “Can you handle it?” My voice jumped an octave from my panic. “Aren't we supposed to take things slow? Isn’t this way too fast?” That night, the sound-activated lights in the house flickered on and off until dawn. Meanwhile, my ex-husband was squatting downstairs. His eyes were swollen red from crying, but I did not even spare him a thought. Back then, when I agreed to let him proceed with a fake wedding with his childhood sweetheart, Miles Carter thought our cold war was over. When he explained things to me, he said, “Vivian and I will only be married on paper. The ceremony is just to satisfy my mom. I swear, when this is over, we’ll live as a real couple.” I remained silent. I just stared at the countdown on my phone, counting the days until I could finally leave. He did not know that the moment he tricked me into signing the divorce papers, our marriage had already ceased to exist.

My fated mate left the pack, heartbroken, after I rejected him. Seven years later, he returned with his new mate-to-be. By then, the pack doctor had given me my final diagnosis. "Extreme wolf spirit decay." It was irreversible. My wolf would be gone within months. My life was at its end. My fated mate, Alpha Roric, now the most powerful Alpha in North America, smirked when he saw me. I was pale and thin, leaning on my sister for support. "Ayla. Seven years, and you're too weak to even stand straight? When you rejected me, didn't you say that beta was a better match? Where is he now?" His voice dripped with hate. I just tugged on the sleeves of my coat, hiding the way my fingers trembled. A tell-tale sign of my power slipping away. "It's just a cold." Roric's gaze swept over me like ice. "In that case, you should come to my Mating Ceremony with Cressida. I'll save you the best seat." I just smiled. "I can't. I'll be going somewhere far away soon. I'm sorry." Then, pulling my sister with me, I turned and melted into the shadows.

I loved my stepbrother, Simon Rossi, the Don, for ten years. When he got poisoned one day, I offered myself to him and ended up pregnant. He smoked half a packet of cigarettes before saying, “I’ll take responsibility for this.” However, his first love, Camillia, claimed that she had an asthma attack on our wedding day. I begged Simon to wait until our ceremony was over before going to her. Unfortunately, Camillia escaped the hospital and died on her way to find him. Prior to her death, she called Simon 99 times. But he did not answer even once because of our wedding ceremony. When I found out, I felt terrible. Yet, Simon was exceptionally calm. After our wedding, my health deteriorated exponentially, and I bled heavily during childbirth. Just as I was about to die, I heard the doctor sigh softly. “Mr. Rossi, you’re ruthless. The poison you gave your wife has seeped into her bones. The baby can’t be saved either.” “Camillia suffered the same pain before her death.” When I opened my eyes again, I had gone back to the night before everything happened.

I used to be the secret mate of Jason Boone, Alpha King of the Northern Realm. I was an Omega kept in the dark for seven long years. In this forbidden relationship, I gave birth to his son. Yet, he never once allowed our child to address him as his father. He promised that once his position was secure, he would publicly announce me as his Luna. But what I got instead was news of his grand engagement ceremony with Princess Bailey Shaw of a neighboring kingdom. "You're just a filthy stray Omega, surviving only because Jason pities you. Spare us the noble act. The elders would've cast you out of the Northern Realm long ago if it weren't for Jason. You'd be dead in some wilderness." Bailey rose gracefully and linked arms with Jason. She looked down on me as she spit out her contempt. When Jason missed our son's birthday again because of Bailey, I made my decision. I left, taking my son with me, and returned to my homeland. Unexpectedly, Jason, who had always been arrogant, lost control. He stormed into the healer academy I founded, desperately asking where I'd gone. But this time, neither I nor my son would look back.

My pack was slaughtered. But my fated mate Ethan turned his back on me, choosing another she-wolf, Lyra. In my darkest hour, his brother, Alpha Caden, claimed me. He promised me safety. Vengeance. A home. For three years, I was his Luna. I thought I was safe. Then I learned the truth. "You've hidden the evidence for three years, Alpha. You know Lyra was behind the Dawn Moon slaughter. What happens when your Luna finds out?" Caden’s reply shattered my world. "I have to protect Lyra. Even though she chose my brother, I need her to be happy. As for Selena, making her my Luna is compensation enough." My legs went weak. I almost collapsed, sobbing. The monster who killed my family was right beside me all along. And the mate I loved so deeply? Our bond was a lie, built only to shield her. So I performed the Farewell Ritual, a ceremony to erase myself from the world. Only when he was about to lose me forever did Caden finally see the truth. Shattered by regret, he hunted down the real killer, begging for a forgiveness he would never earn.

They call him a monster. A killer. The rogue wolf who slaughtered his own pack. But Aria Steele knows the truth the moment she finds him bleeding at her border: Kade is her fated mate. And her father, the most ruthless alpha in North America, will rip him apart the second he finds out. Aria has three days before the full moon ceremony where she’s supposed to accept another wolf’s claim. Three days before her father discovers the rogue she’s hiding in the old cabin. Three days before the pack that wants Kade dead tracks him to her territory. But Kade is keeping secrets. Dark ones. The kind that got his entire pack slaughtered and could get Aria killed for protecting him. When bodies start appearing on Steele land, torn apart by claws that aren’t quite wolf, Aria realizes the horror: Kade’s past didn’t just follow him here. It’s already inside her gates. Now she must choose: turn in her mate to save her pack, or trust the rogue everyone says is a murderer and face the monster he’s been running from all along. Because some bonds are worth killing for. And some secrets are worth dying to protect.

She was a slave to the pack that slaughtered her family. A rogue Omega, broken, but set for revenge. Amaya’s world was turned upside down when the Grayhide Pack wiped out her rogue clan, taking her captive. Forced to serve under the Alpha who commanded the attack, she hides her pain beneath a mask of obedience, until fate takes a cruel turn in the darkest way. Rejected in secret at the mating ceremony, the bond should have broken. But it didn’t. Every whisper, every touch, every graze the Alpha gives his betrothed, waves of agony meet Amaya. She is forced to watch. Every dream she has is permeated by his presence; he is at every corner she turns to. Haunted by vengeance, Amaya begins to work in secret, but the more she moves, the more shattering truths are uncovered. What if everything she has been made to believe was a lie? What if she isn’t the only one set out for revenge? What if the person her soul truly craves is totally different from the mate the moon goddess has fated for her? As her forbidden powers awaken, rewriting the very fragment of fate itself and creating a forge between the past and the present, Amaya must choose between blood and destiny. Because in the Grayhide Pack, some secrets are deadly, and some bonds refuse to be broken.

Series One: On her wedding day, Isabella Hernando stared into the mirror and wondered— how could she possibly marry someone she barely remembered? Miguel Martez, the man she was arranged to wed, was only a childhood friend who had long since disappeared. But just before the ceremony was about to begin, Miguel vanished without a trace. To save the family’s reputation, Maximilian Martez, his elder brother, was forced to take his place at the altar— without anyone knowing, not even the bride herself. But when Isabella finally stood before the man, she was shocked. That face, those eyes… that voice… Series Two: Adeline Martez is a quiet, introverted girl who grew up cherished and spoiled by her parents. Marriage was never something she worried about—until the day her parents announced her arranged match. Her groom-to-be? Jason Castello—the man she despised most. Her senior. Her tormentor. The shameless bully who had made her school days miserable. Adeline fought with everything she had to escape the engagement. But the harder she pushed him away, the tighter Jason held on. One stubborn cat. One relentless dog. When hatred sparks, tempers clash, and neither is willing to surrender— how does a battlefield turn into a marriage?

On the night the Moon Goddess was meant to bless her fate, she was rejected instead. Born to be the Luna of the Silverclaw Pack, she waited years for the mate bond to snap into place—only for Alpha Kael to publicly reject her at the mating ceremony, choosing another woman and declaring her unworthy. Humiliated. Broken. Cast aside by the very man destined to protect her. But what no one knows is that her rejection didn’t shatter the bond… It awakened something far more dangerous. Banished from her pack and stripped of her title, she disappears into the shadows—until fate places her in the path of Alpha Ronan, Kael’s most feared enemy. Ruthless. Powerful. And nothing like the mate who rejected her. He doesn’t see weakness. He sees a Luna forged by pain. As ancient rivalries ignite and long-buried secrets about her true bloodline begin to surface, the Alpha who rejected her realizes his mistake—too late. Because the woman he cast aside is no longer begging for his bond… She’s being claimed by his enemy. And when the Moon rises again, only one Alpha will kneel. But when the truth of her power is finally revealed… will she choose revenge, or will her choice destroy every pack standing in her way?

Introduction A year ago, I had my eyes on the winning prize in the arena - a rare red gemstone, and wanted to win it back as the mating ring with my Alpha mate Damien. Just as I was about to claim victory and take the prize, Damien's secretary Celia stepped forward to challenge me. Damien laughed helplessly. "Young girls love these shiny things. As the Luna of our pack, you should be generous and let her have them, okay?" I refused outright and defeated her. That day, Celia ran off the platform crying. I proudly showed Damien my prize. He kissed my forehead helplessly. "My stubborn little wildcat." After our mating ceremony, he claimed me night after night for a whole year, in every way imaginable, never giving me a moment's rest. But one year later, I received an invitation to a private combat arena. Videos and photos of me beneath Damien, my eyes hazy with desire, were brazenly displayed as the victor's prize. Damien had his arm around Celia's waist. "Don't you love fighting? There are over a hundred people here. I'll have them challenge you one by one. Whoever wins gets a sex tape of you and me. A whole year's worth."