Mighty Ducks Jesse Hall

My mate bond with Alpha Ronan of the Blackthorne Pack had failed thirty-two times. I thought the Moon Goddess did not bless us. I thought if I endured a little longer, loved him a little harder, the next time would finally work. Until the thirty-third rite. Then the fire swallowed me whole. When I woke in the healers’ hall, my body was broken, my Moonborn Core was damaged. Only then did I hear Ronan speaking to his Beta outside the door. “If you love Selene that much, then sever the claim with Elara. The Blackthorne Pack can silence any rumor. Why keep staging accidents?” “She almost died,” his Beta said. “Ten years ago, the Alpha of Nightvale and his mate died saving me. This bond is how I repay that debt.” “I never wanted Nightvale’s bloodline chained to mine.” “The woman I love is Selene.” That was when I finally understood. The Moon Goddess had never rejected us. Ronan had. He saw my parents’ sacrifice as a chain around his neck. He saw Nightvale’s Moonborn bloodline as a cage built to trap him. And he would never know— the fire he arranged had already taken the child I carried. The true black-core heir Blackthorne had waited generations for. If Ronan hated this bond so much, I would give him what he wanted. I would sever the claim myself.

My blood-bonded mate lied to me. He said our bond—a bond of centuries—was fading. It was all for his new lover, Josie. He wanted to let her play princess. He denied me my rightful place. I was walking down a hall lined with ancient tapestries when I heard Josie’s voice, sweet and laced with venom. “Darling, if you make me your princess, just for a little while, can you taste me every night? But… won’t that old relic Lydia get suspicious? Your bond has lasted three centuries, after all.” “What can she do? She can’t leave this castle, and she needs my blood to survive.” Milton’s voice dripped with contempt. “That fool, Lydia. I told her the bond was fading, and she actually believed our connection was broken. Even if she knew the truth, she’d just hand over the Eternal Chalice without a fight and go back to being a quiet little Dreamweaver. You’re the only princess in my heart, my little wildcat.” I froze. And I let him believe his lie was safe. Then, a pain sharp enough to kill a mortal ripped through my soul. The bond shattered. I turned and melted into the shadows. Let them think their little play is flawless. They’ll soon find out what this “fool” is truly capable of.

One noble lie. Fifteen years of cold, calculated hate. One moonlit night that changes everything. Savannah Reed is a woman forged in ice. When Grayson Cole, her fated mate, vanished fifteen years ago, he didn't just leave her alone—he left her carrying a pup he’d never see. To survive the shame, Savannah buried her heart, married a man she despised, and let a singular obsession take root: Revenge. Now, the Alpha has returned. Grayson is back to claim his territory and raise the formidable Ridge Hall, but he isn’t the arrogant wolf Savannah remembers. He is a man of jagged edges and haunting silence, watching her from the shadows with a hunger that threatens to melt her icy resolve. Savannah is determined to break him. She wants to see him bleed for every night she spent alone, for the son they lost, and for the life he stole. But as she peels back the layers of his betrayal, she discovers a "noble lie" more devastating than the truth. In the heat of the forge and the darkness of the sacred grove, the line between hatred and desire thins. Grayson is a raging Alpha to the world, but for Savannah, he is a male on his knees, begging for a mercy she isn't sure she can give. He sacrificed everything to protect her once. Now, she’ll have to decide if she can forgive the male who destroyed her world—or if the fire between them will burn the entire pack to the ground.

Ella Hart was adopted into a wealthy household—but she never lived like a daughter. While her adoptive mother, Nora, indulged in luxury and high society, Ella was treated like little more than a servant, forced to do the hardest chores and surviving on scraps of affection. For years, no one questioned it. Until the day her biological family finally found her. Their arrival brought a shocking revelation. Years ago, the Hart family had arranged a marriage alliance with the powerful Sterling family. The bride was meant to be either Ella… or her beloved sister, Piper. When Piper met Tiesto Sterling—handsome, quiet, and dressed far too simply—she scoffed. A man without money, no matter how attractive, was beneath her. For Ella, however, the marriage felt like an escape. Eager to leave the life she had endured for so long, she agreed without hesitation and walked straight into City Hall with a man she barely knew, signing the marriage papers that very same day. What Ella didn’t know was this— The “poor” man she had just married was anything but ordinary. Tiesto Sterling was the most elusive tycoon in the city, a man whose wealth and power were whispered about in legends. And soon, the world would discover another secret. Because the girl everyone believed to be the pitiful Cinderella… was about to be protected by five powerful brothers—and reveal a true identity far greater than anyone imagined.

At the Colonetti family banquet in New York, I stood in the center of the grand hall with more than a dozen girls from different families, all of us waiting to be chosen. Victor, the heir of the Colonetti family, was supposed to announce his fiancée tonight. Along with that announcement, he would present her with the family heirloom, a lily brooch. As an illegitimate daughter of the family, I understood that if I didn’t receive that brooch tonight, it meant I would be sent to Chicago for an arranged marriage. Victor, who had once promised to marry me, changed his mind without warning. With a smile, he pinned the lily brooch onto the chest of the woman standing beside me instead. Then, he leaned close to my ear and whispered, “Let your sister Emily have her moment today. She’s also an illegitimate daughter like you, and she’s also never been valued growing up. Don’t worry. With me here, no one will force you into an arranged marriage.” Even as I looked at him with pleading eyes, he reached out and let Emily take his arm. “Emily is kind and gracious,” he said. “She deserves the lily brooch.” Those words—kind and gracious—turned me into the joke of the entire evening. The next day, I boarded a flight to Chicago alone, but Victor panicked. He used every connection he had and managed to ground every flight heading to Chicago.

"They called me a defect from the day I was born. No wolf, no scent, no future." That was the lie the Crescent Moon pack fed me my entire life. I was the dirt beneath their paws. The pack’s punching bag, an empty vessel, kept around only to scrub their floors. All I ever wanted was to survive my eighteenth birthday and vanish into the human world. But the Moon Goddess has a sick, twisted sense of humor. At the brutal Alpha Summit, the kind that happens once every decade, the scent hit me. It wasn't just one intoxicating wave of mate-pull. It was two. One smelled of pine and dark magic. The other smelled of blood and winter fire. Kael, Alpha of the Bloodhound Pack; ruthless, heavily scarred, and the most feared executioner on the continent. Ryker, Alpha of the Silvermane Pack; arrogant, indomitably powerful, and Kael’s sworn, centuries-old blood enemy. When both men roared "MINE" across the summit hall, the fragile peace treaty didn’t just break. It shattered. They don't want to share. They want to conquer. Now, the invisible nobody is the ultimate prize in a territorial war that will tear the shifter world apart. I am physically bound to two men who would rather burn the world to ash than let the other touch me. If I reject one, the mate-bond will kill him. If I choose both, the packs will riot. I just wanted to survive. But to stay alive, I might have to become the most dangerous Luna of them all.

We all know how it ends, the story of the sexy cheerleader and the captain of the football team. But this is different. Every cheerleader always dates every guy on the football team it is a "high school achievement". You know how it feels to walk down the hall and have all eyes on you, most of them envy you, some wish they were you, some wants your man and the few just would stop at nothing to drag you down. Well that's a "high school challenge" one way or the other student see school as a battle field in other to meet up with the high status, keeping up appearances, expressing themselves and getting high. Keeping up good grades is only secondary. PROM, PROM, PROM, that's what's on every girls mind and it will be embarrassing when your girls ask "who are you going with" and you say "with no one", "that's a high school walk of shame". High school is like a bed you lay. You can choose how you want to lay it, what matters is you lie on it eventually. By The story of the sexy cheerleader and the captain of the football team are just like the fairy tale story of Cinderella and her prince charming but the question is, does every story end up like that? Still, standing at the far end of the hallway was a simple introvert, trying to cook up the courage to say one word to her. He could see her laugh at her friends jokes, but can she SEE him?

"Oh, fuck," I said aloud, grabbing the sheets harder. His hands found my breasts and he squeezed them slowly, his mouth trailing down until he was blowing warm air against me. He shifted my pants to the side, fingers rubbing slow circles over my clit before pressing a soft kiss there. Then his tongue rolled over it, unhurried, like he had all night. "Damien," I whispered. He didn't stop. Didn't even look up. Just kept going, steady and deliberate, until my fingers twisted deeper into the sheets and my whole body forgot how to be still. Mia Calloway was running out of options fast. Her mother was going to die if she didn't do something, and when she heard about the club, she didn't think twice. She thought it was only going to be that once. Only to walk into her lecture hall the next morning and come face to face with the same man. He was her professor. Now he wants everything, her time, her body, her mind. And every time she tries to walk away, she's pulled in deeper. The closer she gets, the more she realizes the club, the money, the way he chose her, none of it was random. Someone wanted her in his world.

Divorced and remarried—I've lost count of how many times Aaron and I stepped in and out of marriage. He once treated me like something precious, but less than a year after our wedding, he asked for our first divorce. The reason was simple, Vivian was coming back. "Vivian's a public figure," he told me. "I don't want anyone thinking she's involved with a married man." That third-tier actress had nothing but her father's sacrifice to her name. He had taken a bullet for Aaron—a life for a life. And because of that, Aaron believed he owed her everything. Every time Vivian returned to the country, Aaron divorced me. And every time she left, we remarried. The first time we split, I drowned my tears in whiskey and stumbled back to his house half-drunk. The lights inside were warm. He was with her. And I stood outside, shivering through the night. The second time, I tracked his every move—restaurants, auctions, charity galas—just to "accidentally" run into him again. Later, I learned better. The moment he mentioned divorce, I would quietly pack my suitcase and disappear from his mansion. My love and humiliation kept me trapped in that endless cycle of breaking up and coming back together. But this time, when Aaron waited for me at City Hall to remarry, I never showed up.

On the eve of Valentine's Day, the entire Ravenport is waiting for Vivian Grayson's scores to be released. They're all watching to see if my score is high enough to attend her family banquet this year. The Grayson family has made it clear that their future son-in-law will be chosen at that banquet. Yet, after seven years of dating Vivian, I come in second every single time. This had made me the biggest joke in the city. This year is no exception. Vivian throws herself into the arms of the male model, Jason Carter, who ranks first. She says matter-of-factly, "I really like the way he smells. You understand, right, Noah? Next year, I'll definitely make you number one." The lively atmosphere in the banquet hall drops to freezing point. Everyone is waiting for me to tear that smug look off Jason's face. But I don't lose my temper like before. I simply say calmly, "Congratulations." A victorious smile appears on Vivian's face. "You've finally learned to control your temper, Noah. You're not far from becoming the Graysons' son-in-law." I nod indifferently. I am about to become someone else's son-in-law, but not the Grayson family's. I have disagreed and argued with my family for the past seven years. Now, it's time to follow their arrangement and go abroad to honor the marriage they set up for me.