Entertainment Circle

"Kylie, this year's annual bonus is evaluated based on two factors: performance and peer reviews. "Since your team never participates in company social events, your coworkers all gave you poor ratings. That's why this is your year-end bonus." Around me, the male employees were receiving bonuses in the tens of thousands. And yet, the women I led—developers who had worked for over ten years and built every core system the company relied on—each received nothing more than a coffee gift card and a mug engraved with the company logo. I laughed out loud. Then I turned and walked into my office and submitted resignation requests for the entire technical team. The manager, Preston Alec, sneered. "Good riddance. AI can replace women like you who only know how to have children." A few days later, the very people who had mocked me were standing in front of me, begging me to come back. I smiled in return. "AI conquers everything, doesn't it?"

After a wild, drunken class reunion, I woke up next to a male model. I had no clue what I was doing since it was my first time in this kind of situation. I called my best friend for help on what to do, and while the male model was still out cold, I left my wallet and bolted. When I got home, my best friend dragged me over to show me a picture of her new boyfriend. My jaw dropped. The guy in the photo was the spitting image of the man I had just left.

After a heart-pounding hunt, the pack gathered under the full moon for a celebration. Because of my contribution, I earned the right to bathe in the Sacred Spring and feast on the Stag King's meat. Just as I was about to take a bite, Emily Carter yanked it from my plate. "This isn't for you!" she snapped. In the pack, our roles were similar, but I outperformed her at every turn. She had been targeting me for months. I ignored her and reached for another piece, sliding it into my mouth. "Are you even listening to me?" she screamed, charging at me. Her hand shot up, ready to slap me. The next second, I grabbed her wrist and tossed her aside. Emily landed on the ground with a growl, her face twisted in fury. "You arrogant little wench! My father is the great Alpha King, Hyde Sullivan! How dare you?" she continued, her voice cracking with rage. "I'm revoking your Sacred Spring privileges!" I pressed a hand to my mouth, letting out a quiet laugh. Hyde was my uncle, and he never had offspring. I was his only successor.

My fiance, Henry Gordon, was two hours late to our vows on our wedding day. Just as he was catching his breath and about to say ‘I do’, he received a call from his secretary, Yvonne Luther. After hanging up, he looked at me apologetically. “Honey, my useless team can’t handle the personnel appointment of the financial team on their own. They’re insisting that I head back! I’ll make it up to you with another wedding later on.” I told him that I understood though I felt disappointed, because he was at a critical stage in his career. However, the moment he left without hesitation, I tossed the ring on my finger into the venue’s flower bed and announced to everyone that the wedding was cancelled. I had to see for myself who would ask Henry, a mere minority shareholder, to make such a significant decision without consulting me, the chairperson. He did not know that just a few hours earlier, I had taken back the ‘gift’ I gave him and reclaimed my position as the company’s chairperson.

Three years ago, during our marking ceremony, my fated mate suddenly proposed to my stepsister, Ashley Calisto. When I was publicly humiliated, Owen Wagner, Alpha of the pack and president of the Wolf Alliance, started to pursue me obsessively. A few months later, I became his Luna. He has treated me with great care and tenderness for the past three years. That is, until I get pregnant and accidentally overhear his secret conversation with a witch. "I need a potion that will kill the pup in her womb without her noticing," Owen says. The witch asks in confusion, "Alpha Owen, why don't you want this heir?" Owen replies coldly, "The only one worthy of bearing my pup is Ashley. This entire thing had been orchestrated to protect Ashley anyway." So, all this tenderness has just been part of a carefully crafted lie. If that's the case, I'll let them have each other.

On the night of the full moon, I lie in the forbidden grounds on the brink of death because of the wolfsbane terrorizing my system. My Alpha mate, Elio Palmer, wrenches my fingers open and snatches the only antidote that I have. "Kelly grew up with me since we were pups. After her parents died, I've been the one who's closest to her. As the Luna, you must sacrifice yourself for her." Then, Elio feeds the antidote to Kelly Giles, who has only gotten infected with a tiny hint of wolfsbane. He doesn't hesitate to abandon me, his dying mate, in the forbidden grounds afterward. He thinks I will accept my death without any resentment, seeing as he's tamed me during our times together. But what he doesn't know is that the thick stench of death doesn't attract any beasts to my side the moment our mate bond is completely severed. Instead, it attracts the attention of Samuel Gray, the Lycan King who drills raw terror into every werewolf in the land. Some time later, Samuel approaches me after slaughtering all the beasts in the forbidden grounds. "Are you planning to die like that after getting abandoned by an inferior mutt?"

You may k.i.s.s the bride," the priest announced and my body shuddered in resistance as the words I told him two days ago rang in my ears. I won't even spit on your face let alone marry you, Liam Knight. His eyes were shining in triumph, clearly stating that once again he won. He smirked cruelly, taunting me without words how he forced me to do exactly what I said I would never do even if he begged me. He didn't beg, on the contrary, he forced me to marry him. He took a step forward, raised my chin, I fisted my hand tightly at the sides when he placed his unworthy lips on mine. Disgusted with his touch but I tolerated it for the sake of my father who was at his mercy at this moment. He pulled away from my lips with the same rule smile intact on his face, "I made you mine, Babygirl and I can't wait for us to be alone!" He said darkly. My breath hitched looking at the darkness in his eyes. If I would have been the old Aurora I would be scared but not anymore. I might have bowed down my pride for my father but if he was looking for a submissive wife, he sure was not going to get one!

On our third wedding anniversary, I went out of my way to host an anniversary party. But my husband and Alpha, Johnny, took his assistant Amy to the seaside for a vacation instead, leaving me alone at the party as the subject of everyone’s mockery. I called the resort and even thoughtfully booked out the entire area just for the two of them as I calmly faced the crowd. Then, I slipped the mate bond dissolution application in with the paperwork for Johnny to sign. In my previous life, I forced him to stay to save face for both Johnny and the pack. That led to Amy leaving alone and dying in a car accident. Johnny didn't blame me—until I carried his pup that he tied me in a car, telling me that he wanted me to feel the pain Amy went through. When the car exploded, I finally realized that Johnny had hated me all along. Now that I had been reborn, I would make sure he lost everything!

In my third year of covert work along the border for Alpha Cole Grayson, the chairman of the Alliance, I was urgently summoned back to my pack by my mother. Apparently, my mom has used the pack's benefits as leverage to pick out a powerful mate for me. All the she-wolves envy me. After all, my mate is Alpha Leo Wagner of the Moon pack. He's the most outstanding werewolf among his peers, be it his identity, social standing, or capabilities. When Alpha Cole receives the news, he has a tiara custom-made before having it delivered to the venue where the marking ceremony will be held. "Thank you for your contributions to the Alliance over the past three years. I hope you'll live a happy life from now on." These are the words Alpha Cole left me with before leaving. But when I arrive at the Moon pack, I find out that Leo's secretary, Aria Thornwell, has worn the tiara. I berate her angrily, "That's the tiara representing the Luna's status! Give it back to me!" But Aria merely polishes the tiara on her head. She shows no intention of wanting to remove it. "What do you mean 'yours'? This is my tiara! Leo has already ordered me to attend the marking ceremony as your representative! "You're just a lowly she-wolf from a backwater pack, after all! You'll only humiliate everyone by attending such a grand ceremony!" I huff coldly before tearing the tiara off Aria's head. With her screams serving as the background ambience, I use my mind-link to contact Leo on the spot. "You'd better give me a reasonable explanation right now. Otherwise, I don't mind stripping the Alpha title off you."

This marks the third year since Alan Cohen and I became mates, and today's finally the day of the Luna ceremony. As the ceremony begins, Alan takes my hand. But then he hesitates, refusing to move forward. I'm still trying to make sense of it when my adoptive sister, Eden Parker, suddenly breaks into the mind-link. She says she's just ended a failed mate bond with another Alpha and will be back within the hour. That's when I see a flicker of a smile on Alan's face. Then, without a second glance, he lets go of my hand and walks away. I turn to my adoptive brother, Dexter Parker, and my adoptive father, Hank Parker, hoping for some kind of comfort, only to realize they've already left the ceremony with Alan. And just like that, I became the joke of the entire pack. Eden sends me a photo. She's glowing beside Alan, her arm looped through Dexter's, with Hank beaming next to them. That's when I give up. I reach out through the mind-link to my birth father. "Dad, I'm ready to return to the Bloodmoon Pack."