Mark Twain Library Long Beach Novels & Stories

They were supposed to kill each other. But a mistake caused them to get tangled. And now the moon goddess herself has decided their fate. She will do anything to get rid of him. He will do anything to make sure they never end up together. But where does the line start to blur? And where does fate become love?

After two years of marriage, I believed I was living the dream—until the day I gave birth to our long-awaited heir. The house was filled with joy as my husband's family arrived, bearing gifts and ready to bestow a name upon our child, as tradition dictated. But the happiness of the day shattered in an instant when my husband walked in, hand in hand with his childhood sweetheart. In front of everyone, he announced not only our divorce but also his engagement to her, as if I had never mattered. *** "I’m divorcing Stacy," Jason announces, his voice unwavering, "to marry Nicole Cruz, my childhood sweetheart." He points to the woman standing before him who smiles and waves at everyone in the room. My world tilts on its axis. The words echo in my mind, louder and louder until they drown out everything else. What is going on?? "But why?" I whisper, my voice barely audible, even to myself. I'm unable to believe his betrayal. Jason doesn’t even glance at the child in my arms. "Because this has been a long time coming, Stacy. I’ve only stayed this long out of obligation and not love." Important Author’s Note: This is a rewritten version of my book The Alpha’s Betrayal: Reclaiming His Rejected Luna. From Chapter 12 onward, the story takes a new turn with fresh twists and drama. Thank you for reading—I hope you enjoy this new version!

“Beg, little mate. Let’s hear how sweet you sound when you’re desperate.” “She won’t beg for you. She’ll crawl to me, just like she should.” “Pathetic. Both of you. She already knows she belongs to me.” Dahlia thought her biggest problem was surviving college with her dignity intact. Blackridge Academy was brutal enough—where dominance and bloodlines meant everything. She already endured the cruel whispers, the “waste of tuition” insults, and a boyfriend who flirted with other girls while she clung to him, desperate not to lose the only affection she thought she had. But her quiet misery ended the night her cheating boyfriend breaks up with her. The searing pain across her chest was more than just fate. It was three mate marks. Knox Rivers — her brother’s best friend, the brilliant Alpha-to-be who can’t stand that his weak, bullied mate is her. Jace Blackmoor — the Lycan King’s golden son, cruel playboy, who laughs at the bond and swears he’ll break her until she kneels. Zayne Lachlan — the hybrid everyone fears, a dangerous artist with hands stained in rumors of blood, who stares at her like she’s his salvation…and his curse. Dahlia becomes the academy’s obsession, the girl with three marks who doesn’t deserve even one. Her boyfriend fears her. The other girls retreat from her. Everyone hates her. And yet… her three mates won’t let anyone else touch her. Not out of love. Out of possession. And possession comes with a price.

GAMMAS OF LUST SERIES 2 👑 Hi. I'm a prostitute. Shocked? Don't be. I was named Dorothy McAllen by my parents but life made me Marilyn Paltan, a whore. I thought being a prostitute was the end of life, but little did I know there's still a light at the end of the tunnel. "Dori it's our mate!" My wolf screamed after five years she's being dormant. Mate? Does a prostitute have a mate? Not just a mate but Mates? Gamma Lucian and Gamma Lucifer the most powerful werewolf generals are my mates? Fraid they'll never take a prostitute like me I'm sure. But wait, when Lucifer grabbed my ass, his other hand pulled my jaws and I faced his ferocious eyes as he breathed, "I will support you, even if you wanted to become an assassin but any man that touches what belongs to me, will surely rot in hell!" I thought that was all untill Lucian opened the door and snatched me from his twin brother, before sealing my lips with kisses and then inserted a finger in my hole and warned me, "I own you Whore. Every hand that touches you expect mine will be dipped in the Hades till thy kingdom comes" Damn! The two of them are fuckin enemies! I mean I'm mates with twin brothers that hate each other. Save me!

“Part your legs for me, Beth. Yes, like that. All nice and slow like a good girl.” * * * When Beth’s boyfriend of five years cheats on her, she decides she’s done being a good girl. Donned in her best party dress, she stops at a fancy club with the intention of partying and drowning herself in the best liquor they have to offer. Her plans seem to be going well until someone notices the beauty on the dance floor. A hot, handsome stranger with the most flirtatious smile she has ever seen. The two get talking, and he makes the most outlandish offer: one night in his bed. What better way to forget a cheating ex other than to let a stranger flush his memories out of her system? So, she says yes to the best night of her life. But what happens when this hot stranger demands more than a night stand with her? What will she do when another handsome man approaches her with the craziest story about werewolves?

I wish that night had never happened, the night I died and was resurrected by a vampire, life to me never made sense and I always wondered what happens after death. I didn't think my question was answered so soon, but now I ask you: What is the price of death? I found out the hard way that the price of death is life, my life that now belongs to him!

On our sixth wedding anniversary, I felt a seam split open in my skull. Not from pain, but from truth. “Ethan, that new assistant… how does she taste?” Marcus’s thought, slick as oil. Ethan's reply slithered through my veins: "Young. Tender. Like summer berries." His lips shaped a lie. His hand shielded me from the crowd, even as his fingers pressed a blood-red cocktail into my palm. "Don't let Lena find out,"he thought, the words clear as speech. "I’d in a big trouble." Laughter swirled. Champagne clinked.their mind. Nobody knew I could hear every thought ,the ability to read minds awakened in me last night. . Nobody knew I had already known about his betrayal long ago. There were no tears, no screams I just replied “yes” to Professor Johnson’s encrypted call-the path I should have chosen six years ago. In three days, I would vanish. Not running from him. Running back to who I was at twenty—the rising star of virus research.

Living as a human in werewolf territory means surviving by staying invisible. She has no wolf, no pack, and no protection—only a fragile agreement that keeps her alive on the outskirts of Alpha rule. That fragile peace shatters the night she is taken during a territorial conflict and forcibly marked by the most feared Alpha in the region. The mark binds her against her will, flooding her body with a bond she never asked for and tethering her to a man who sees the connection as a necessary claim, not a choice. To the pack, she becomes Alpha property overnight—watched, judged, and expected to submit. To him, she is a complication he cannot undo without risking his authority and the stability of his territory. She refuses to bend. As the bond tightens, her resistance brings consequences. Pain follows defiance. Distance becomes impossible. Every attempt to escape only strengthens the invisible chain between them. While the Alpha enforces control publicly, cracks begin to form in his certainty as her defiance challenges everything he believes about power, dominance, and loyalty. Enemies circle, drawn by rumors of a human mate and a bond formed under blood and coercion. Pack politics turn dangerous, and her existence becomes leverage in a larger war she never chose to be part of. Bound by force, surrounded by wolves who expect her obedience, she must decide whether survival means submission—or whether breaking the Alpha who claimed her is the only way to reclaim herself.

Hunted by men. Marked by the Moon Goddess. Claimed by the Alpha. For seven years, Lyra Vale has lived in fear. Captured and hunted by dangerous men who believe she carries a mysterious power connected to the Moon Goddess, Lyra finally escapes with nothing but the hope of freedom. Weak, broken, and unsure if her wolf even exists anymore, she collapses at the border of the powerful Shadow Fang Pack. But fate has other plans. Alpha Damon Blackwood, the cold and feared leader of the pack, never expected to find his mate in a fragile girl on the verge of death. Yet the moment he sees Lyra, his wolf recognizes her. His mate. There’s only one problem—Lyra cannot feel the bond at all. As Damon struggles to protect the mysterious girl who awakens something dangerous inside him, enemies from her past begin to close in. Dark secrets about her captivity slowly surface, revealing that the strange mark on her body is not just a blessing—it is a power powerful enough to start a war among werewolves. With danger outside the pack and betrayal hiding within, Damon must make a choice: Protect the woman fate chose for him… Or sacrifice her to save his pack.

Three years ago, Moon-Lake Pack — once a proud member of Lupus Celestial, the central pack alliance — lost everything in a brutal defeat to the Rogue Packs that had long plagued us. The Lycan King believed my father — the Alpha of Moon-Lake — had conspired with the Rogues, and our pack paid the price. My father and I were enslaved and cast out, becoming the laughingstock of all the packs. Even my mate, Chase, turned his back on me. But three years later, I was sent back to Lupus Celestial by Chase’s order — just as he was preparing to bond with his future Luna. Everyone assumed I had returned to sabotage the ceremony. “Taryn, do you still think you stand a chance of becoming his Luna?” “Chase never liked you. He’s always adored Wynette.” “Why would you show up now — just before he bonds with his mate?” Warnings, veiled threats, and even silent beatings made one thing painfully clear: I was not welcome. And Chase — the one I had once believed was my fated mate, the one I’d felt an unexplainable pull toward — stood by, cold and detached, watching it all in silence. His eyes held nothing but loathing. “You still think you can live freely outside Lupus Celestial after betraying us time and again? What exactly are you plotting at my bonding ceremony?” I let out a bitter laugh and wiped the blood from my lips. He didn’t know my wolf had been gravely wounded by a silver dagger — and I didn’t have much time left. “Don’t worry. If I hadn’t been dragged back, I’d never have returned. And if I truly wanted to cause trouble, I’d have killed myself first.” Chase didn’t respond. He just scoffed. But when I walked away — from his pack, from his world — he was the one who crumbled. He begged me to return, as if losing me shattered something deep inside him.