From The Sea

Since I was a kid, my parents drilled it in—you're gonna be a Corleone girl, Giovanni Corleone's property. "This is just an alliance. Don't expect anything more." That's what he said on our wedding night. So I played the part—quiet, polished, dutiful. Then year three hit, and suddenly Giovanni couldn't keep his hands off me. Every night, something new. I thought maybe—finally—he felt the same way I had all along. Then I caught him kissing his stepmom. Funny. Just the night before, he told me kissing me made him sick. "I've been practicing with her—for your sake." So yeah. All that heat? Just rehearsal for her. So I ran. Took back my life—and our unborn daughter. The Don lost his mind looking for me. Begged me to come back—with the kid. But I would not stop for him anymore. I turned and walked straight toward the stage that was always mine.

I waited eight years. The day I was supposed to become Luna, my fated mate, Alpha Cayden, rejected me in front of the entire pack. Because I was barren. He severed our mate bond and kissed my omega assistant, Lilith. Turns out, they had already mated. The bitch was pregnant with his child. Rage consumed me. I was ready to leave it all behind, but his mother threw me in a silver cell. He planned to strip me of my wolf and my gift—and give my powers to his new Luna, Lilith. Broken, I fled, only to be attacked by rogues and left for dead in a pool of my own blood. When I woke again, I was in a strange place. My memory was wiped clean. Alpha Rhys of the Shadowcrest Pack was by my side, promising to take care of me. And me, the barren wolf, I was pregnant… But I can no longer remember who the child's father was.

My mother was the Chosen Luna—the one who once conquered three powerful Alphas. When her mission was done, she vanished from this world, leaving behind only me, and the three Alphas who had once loved her with everything they had. My first father, Alpha Jeff Tanners, ruled the Silver Moon Pack—rich enough to buy half the continent. My second father, Alpha Kael Grey, commanded all the warriors of the Northern Alliance. My third father, Alpha Bran Theron, held every medical resource wolves and humans depended on. For eighteen years, I was their cherished little princess. Whatever I wanted, they gave—no questions, no hesitation. Until they brought home that girl—a fragile orphan named Arie Ryker. From that day on, everything changed. She told them I called her a filthy stray, unworthy of our pack. She said I led the young wolves at school to bully her. She said I tampered with her performance costume, that I caused her allergy, that I made her faint on stage. And they believed her. They stopped believing me. The ninety-ninth time they chose her over me, when they shouted, "Don't come back again!", I didn't argue. I just picked up my luggage and left. They thought I'd come running home like before—that my disappearance was just another way to make them see me. But when they found out I had left the pack for good, that my identity had been erased, that I could no longer be found, the three mighty Alphas finally broke.

I used to work as a model, but not the typical kind. In our profession, everyone had a benefactor, someone who supported them financially. I dedicated myself to my benefactor for a year and a half, tending to his needs diligently. Despite my dedication, I was eventually abandoned. Just when I gathered my courage and decided to start afresh, he showed up again, "Do you want to date me? Officially."

My ex-best friend's birthday is also my mother's death anniversary. When I see Susan Lloyd picking a birthday cake with Hans Luther, I know she's going to snatch my husband after snatching my father from me. I won't let her get away with it, though. I don't want to follow in my mother's footsteps and be forced to jump off a building. So, after ruining Susan's birthday party, I leave the divorce agreement I've prepared and move out of my marital home. It's been less than seven hours since the incident. In that time, I've spent one hour packing, one hour getting to the train station, and three hours getting to my grandmother's house. In my final two hours, I convince my grandmother to let me stay. Hans, I don't want you anymore.

When you are growing up adults usually tell you that you can be whatever you want to be, right?! I was told I would be a starving artist if I became what I wanted to be. I let their words become me. All their words. I let them dictate the person I became. I kept the real me to myself after so many years of their hatred for that person. I let little bits of my soul break away and die to keep their torment to a minimum. I learned to not rock the boat, just keep my head down and do as I was told. I was the party crasher on their life that never left. Until I shocked them when I did. Out on my own, I wasn’t as strong as I thought I was. I settled for the first “nice guy” to come along. That quickly fizzled out after a shotgun wedding. After a year alone I met Prince Charming #2 at a backyard BBQ. I didn’t know my jerk radar was still broken. Then out of nowhere, the one I had always thought was a jerk turned out to surprisingly be my Prince Charming. Being the man, I need in my life. He became everything I needed, and everything I didn’t know I wanted. Allowing me to grow and blossom as a person which inspires him to do the same. And we live happily ever after.

Liam and I have been together for five years. We were supposed to become mates in a month. I have been planning our honeymoon because in these five years, we have never left this city. So I prepared a $100,000 trip in advance as a mating gift for Liam. When I mentioned it to him, before I even finished my words, he interrupted me impatiently, “Who asked you to plan it? For our honeymoon, I will only give you a budget of $50. We’ll just go somewhere nearby for a night.” That night, I found out he had transferred his $1 million hunting competition bonus to his childhood friend Stella, letting her use it to buy an apartment of her own. He got really mad at me, when he saw the receipt for the $100,000 I had prepaid for the honeymoon. “Who gave you the right to spend our future money on a trip?” Liam’s parents also yelled at me, “You are just a useless Omega! You can’t even shift into a werewolf form, unlike Stella, you are not good enough for our son.” But every single cent was earned by myself from my herb business. I broke up with him without any hesitation. Liam stole that trip from me and went on it with Stella instead. Seven years later, we ran into each other at the Alpha’s castle. Liam was about to become a Warrior of the pack. Meanwhile, I was on my knees, searching for something on the floor. “Mia, you broke up with me over a $50 honeymoon fund back then. Now, you are working as a maid? You’re in this mess because of your own choices.” In fact, I was looking for my pup’s favorite toy. It had rolled under one of the tables earlier. “Is that so? Don’t you even know who the Luna of this castle is?”

For eighteen years, my bestie Sarah and I were just regular humans. And then, all of a sudden, we both awakened our werewolf blood. She ended up mated to Logan, like, the most powerful Alpha around. And me? Fate, or whatever, paired me up with Ethan, an Alpha from a pack under Logan's. The day of our mating ceremony, Sarah was all like, "Go on, enjoy Ethan's mark!" I mean, the guy had an eight-pack and was drop-dead gorgeous. But almost a year into our mating, Ethan still hadn't marked me. I cried to Sarah, "What's the point of a mate who won't even mark me?" I never expected Sarah to burst into tears too. "Logan and I… our genes aren't compatible. He can't get me pregnant. I want to break our mate bond too!" So, just like that, we hatched a plan to escape. After a "car accident," both Alphas' mates vanished. It wasn't until we started our new lives that we found out... We were both pregnant!

After three years of marriage, William Harris’s first love, the woman he broke up with six years ago, returned from abroad. And she brought back a five-year-old son with her. Charlotte handed him the divorce papers with both hands. “Let’s end this. It’s better for you, for me, and for her.” William glanced at her and said dismissively, “Divorce? Can you afford to leave me?” Charlotte threw down the divorce papers and cut him out of her life for good. She severed every tie to the past and poured all her energy into her career, quickly rising to become an internationally renowned sleep disorder specialist. Powerful figures across the globe owed her favors and respected her work. The youngest heir of a foreign financial empire said, “Charlotte, just divorce him already. I can’t wait any longer.” The CEO of a multinational corporation said, “Charlotte, I’ll go with you when you file for divorce.” A world-famous attorney told her, “Charlotte, I’ll handle your divorce case myself.” Charlotte rubbed her temples. It wasn’t that she didn’t want the divorce. He was the one who refused to divorce her no matter what. Left with no other option, she made a public announcement. “Whoever can actually get this divorce finalized gets VIP seating at my divorce party.” Not long after, William received a divorce notice from her lawyer right in the middle of a shareholders meeting. Soon after that, a multi-billion-dollar project of his fell through. That same afternoon, he was nearly hit by a car right outside his own company. Later, Charlotte arrived at the hospital carrying a bouquet of flowers. “Let’s end this,” she said softly. “It’s better for everyone.” The cold and dignified William pulled her tightly into his arms, his eyes reddening. “You want a divorce? That’ll happen over my dead body.”

I, Alpha Lake Rush of the Rush Pack, hereby reject you, JoJo Wyatt, as my mate. However, you will need to keep working to pay off your debt." "Wait, what?" At the tender age of eleven, JoJo Wyatt had been forced to grow up faster than most. Coming from a challenging family background with a distant father and a fragile mother, JoJo realized early on that she had to take responsibility for herself and her younger sister. Her focus was solely on survival—love and romance held no appeal for her, especially after a devastating experience. She swore off relationships with men, but that changed when she began working for him in an unconventional role, trying to pay off roughly 7.8 million dollars for her mother’s hospital treatments. Alpha Lake Rush, 30, was known as the most formidable Alpha in the country. Though burdened by his own struggles, he had learned to be strong and decisive. His past experiences had led him to reject two of his mates. But when fate brings him JoJo, who is working to pay off her debt, everything changes. What happens when his destined mate turns out to be the one person he never expected—his third chance mate?