N K Jemisin The Inheritance Trilogy

"NO… Don't hurt my baby, PLEASE!" That day, Aria knelt on the freezing cold floor of the operating room, her desperate cries echoing off the sterile walls. But Kane’s cruelty cut deeper than any scalpel. "She is unworthy of being the mother of my child." Those words shattered her. In a final act of heartbreak and defiance, Aria threw herself out of his world—and out of his reach. Years later, she returns. Not alone. By her side is the daughter Kane never knew existed—the living proof of the love he once so cruelly denied. Now the man who cast her aside is the one left shattered—haunted by regret, consumed by obsession, willing to tear the world apart to claim what he lost. Her. Their daughter. Their second chance.

“That’s not my baby.” His voice echoed through the room, sharp and cold, slicing through the warm, celebratory atmosphere we’d carefully set up. Everyone went still, and I felt my heart lurch, every beat heavy with disbelief. I stared at him with wide eyes, hoping I’d misheard. “What?” The word barely escaped my lips, a fragile whisper. He didn’t even flinch. “That is not my baby,” he repeated, louder, as if to make sure everyone—his family, all gathered here—would hear. *** Darla was rejected by her fiance three months before her wedding claiming that she was sleeping with other men. She was humiliated and kicked out by his family despite her pregnancy, returning home, she was met with the tragic accident of her whole family. Not only did she lose her family and fiance in one night but she was also found out that her fiance was getting married to his claimed cousin. She vowed to take revenge on them and win back everything that belongs to her.

After the Great War between humans and the Shifter races, an accord was struck, decreeing that the world would be ruled by a hybrid of the two races. The most powerful human family, a corporate dynasty, was granted the right to the first union with a Shifter leader. Whoever bore the first hybrid child would become the next ruler of the Alliance. In my past life, I married the werewolf Alpha, Jacob, and quickly bore him a wolf-human hybrid. When our son became the ruler of the Alliance, the werewolf clan’s power and influence soared. But my sister, Isabella, had always favored the beautiful elves. Her husband's philandering left her barren and riddled with disease after several miscarriages. She envied everything I had. In her rage, she orchestrated the car crash that killed my son and me. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day of the Alliance’s choosing ceremony. Isabella had already mated with Jacob, brazenly showing off the mark on her neck. I knew. She was back, too. What she didn't know was that Jacob was a madman, obsessed with his bloodline above all else. Without a second thought, I let her have him. I walked toward the one they all feared—the notoriously brutal and bloodthirsty Dragon Lord, the Dragon King, Damien Wyatt.

The day we were meant to be mated, my Alpha, Ford, was ambushed. Silver bullets shredded his car, sending it plunging off a bridge and into the river below. He was pronounced dead. Drowned. I was left pregnant with his heir, shattered by the raw agony of our severed mate bond. Then Ford's twin, Aiden, returned from abroad with his mate, Kyra. His identical face and a scent so similar to my mate's nearly drove me mad. A desperate part of me swore Ford was still alive. I told myself it was just grief. A widow's delusion. Until I overheard a hushed conversation and the horrifying truth slammed into me: the man pretending to be Aiden was Ford. He had faked his death. He'd let his own brother die in his place, all for Kyra—the other woman carrying his child. The grief that had crippled me instantly morphed into a cold, sharp rage. Ford didn't just break our bond; he shattered it. And I would make him pay. I wiped my tears and sent a single message to my brother, Billy, the Alpha of the Winterstone Pack. "Brother, I need a plane crash. He loves faking his death? Fine. Let him feel what it's like to truly lose a mate." Only when the news of my "death" spread did Ford reclaim his name. He knelt for seven days and nights in the ashes of the home we once shared, consumed by a grief of his own making.

For ten years, Isaac was my fated mate. My Alpha. My future. Then, on the eve of his Alpha Ceremony, he chose another she-wolf to be his Luna, Chloe. His reason? She was wild and free...everything I used to be. "We are FATED MATES!" I screamed, my hand flying to the mark on my neck. "How can you defy the Moon Goddess? How can you just throw me away?" My wolf howled through our bond, trying to make him feel my pain. The backlash should have crippled him. But he didn't even flinch. It wasn't a real mark. Just a lie, painted on with magic. A trick to chain me to his side. My legs gave out. I hit the floor, a raw sob tearing from my throat. When the tears dried, the grief turned to ice. I stormed the Elders' Council and demanded they sever the bond. Then, I did the unthinkable. I chose his cursed uncle, Vincent. Isaac laughed. He thought it was a pathetic game to make him jealous. He had no idea. The Elders had already named his uncle the new Alpha. He didn't understand his mistake until he saw me crowned Luna on Vincent's arm. Only then did he come crawling back, begging for a forgiveness I would never give.

By year's end, I'd closed a huge deal and snagged a $2.5 million bonus. The company even sent me on early maternity leave—nice perk for being eight months pregnant. Pauline found me lounging on the couch. "Why aren't you at work?" I cracked a joke. "Got fired. Guess I'll be stuck here playing housewife." Her response? A slap across my back. "Then get off and do the laundry! You're having a girl, not a son, and you think you can sit around like some princess?" My husband, Logan, walked in right then. He just pulled her into the nursery. Feeling hurt, I switched on the hidden cameras I'd secretly installed. I thought maybe he'd defend me. Yeah, no. What I uncovered? It was so much worse. Twisted secret after twisted secret.

Thrown out by her step mother, when Victoria was trying hard to find a shelter for herself and her sick little brother.. He appeared, an ugly looking rich man with a life changing contract.. She has to marry him and be his wife and in exchange he will give her a shelter and her brother's medical fee's.. She agreed for the sake of her brother and stepped into his world where lots of unknown dangers were waiting for her!! But, when the truth revealed, he turned out someone beyond her imaginations and her identity changed dramatically!! Yet, he won't not let her go!! Because, they have been vowed to be together till the end.....

I was born a fragile omega, but my gift of prophecy made me the Saintess of the Northern Packs. The Council of Elders demanded I choose a mate from the Alphas of the great packs. The Alpha I chose was destined to lead the North to victory and be crowned the Alpha King. I chose Alpha Kane without hesitation. He'd saved my life once. On the day of our bonding ceremony, I blushed and trembled as he sank his teeth into my neck. But the moment we were bonded, his true love Scarlett, his childhood Beta, went mad with jealousy. She tried to poison me, and for her crime, the Elders exiled her. She died on the road. And I? I used my prophecies to help Kane win the war, to put him on the throne. After his coronation, he plunged a silver blade into my heart. He murdered me. "Why didn't you save her?! Why didn't you save her?!" Only then did I realize. He'd hated me all along. I opened my eyes again... and I was back. Back on the day I had to choose my Alpha mate. He stood before me, arrogant as ever. He didn't lose his mind until he found out I chose a cursed Alpha. I watched him kneel, begging for my forgiveness. But this life, there would be no prophecies from me. Let’s see how he survives the war now.

Despite being the Alpha’s firstborn, Emily is mostly ignored by everyone in her family and pack. She’s given up on finding her mate and never expects to escape her dreary life until one fateful night when her mate shows up. He’s not what she expected, and if the rumors are true her life with him would be even bleaker than her current life, but she decides to find out for herself what kind of mate she was given.

“You know you want me too” He said, his voice was soft and deep sending a sensation through her wet body, his eyes keened on her as he kept her close in his arms. The water dripping down their body soaking them and revealing everything single thing under the thin dress she was wearing. Despite the cold water, she felt hot, she felt it was the place she ought to be. “You are mine” he whispered and tried to cave in but how could she, her time was him was gone, she was his ex-wife and now she had a husband and he also had a wife. What they were doing was an abomination but yet it felt so good, to be with him, to be in his arms, to kiss those lips again.