N K Jemisin The Inheritance Trilogy

“I will bathe in the blood of your mate and make you mine forever” he breathed down on her neck pinning her underneath, the fear in her eyes was perfect for him to subdue her entirely. *** After the death of his parents, Luke was trained to be next Alpha of the pack. With no other purpose than to lead his pack fairly in his father’s footsteps and cherish his mate who was working as the omega of the pack. Life was going smoothly until it took an unexpected turn when the Beta takes over his title of becoming the Alpha by winning a duel shattering his perfect life and turning him into a nobody. What happens when that same Beta claims his mate as his breeder?

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.

“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.

As I was about to leave The Crimson Curtain, my brother Corvus's elite vampire club, a woman who claimed to be the manager stopped me. "Ma'am, you just helped yourself to a priceless vial of Elder's Blood. You have to pay." I looked at the unfamiliar face, sensing the weak blood of a lesser vampire. She must be a fledgling, I thought, new to the club and unaware of who I was. "Your boss approved it," I said flatly. "Take it up with him." But the woman just sneered at me. "Plenty of women try to get close to our boss. If every one of you took what you wanted, how would we stay in business?" She shoved a copy of the club rules at me. Anyone who takes Elder's Blood without permission pays with three times the amount in heart's blood. Or they don't leave. Vampire guards started to close in, some even drawing silver blades, ready to take me down. I laughed, a cold, sharp sound. I couldn't believe Corvus's club had such an insane rule. "I am the Lord of House Volkov. Corvus's own sister. If he needs compensation, he can come to me himself." But her mockery only sharpened. "You look like some low-born stray. Claiming ties to a noble house? Pathetic. Hand over the heart's blood. Now." My patience snapped. I sent a message to the family elders through our bloodline. "Tell Corvus to either make this woman disappear forever, or I'm taking back ownership of this club. All of it."

“I Marcus Brennon of Shadowmoon, hereby reject you as my mate,” he declared with finality. “Not only are you a disgrace to me, but you are a curse to this entire pack. I do not wish to be associated with such bad luck.” Marcus stood before me, his voice extremely cold as if we didn't just share a special bond a few hours back. As Marcus turned to leave, the pain of his rejection sliced deeply through me. I stumbled to my feet, my limbs feeling weak under the weight of the broken bond. *** Bella had it all, a face card that never declined and curves in all the right places, excellent college grades, and a lovely, peaceful home. But when her father Alpha Derek was mysteriously murdered, everybody turned against her and her world as she knew it comes crumbling down. Everyone but her knows her real identity and how she came to be a part of Alpha Derek's family. In a cruel twist of fate, the woman she thought was her mother does the unthinkable casting her out with nothing to her name. Betrayed by her own family, with nowhere to turn, Bella seeks comfort in her mate's arms, only to be met with rejection. Just as Bella was about to lose hope a friend saved her life unexpectedly. A few months down the line Bella met a fine young man who effortlessly set her heart ablaze. Would her life take a turn for the better or, does fate have something more special or perhaps even darker, for her?

Born with the mark of the crescent, she was a blessed wolf—a wolf who was meant to bring prosperity to her kind and bring them to new heights. But at what cost? She was left to discover that on her own. Seraphine Williams, born a wolf, was raised by humans. She never got the chance to learn about her roots; to connect to her essence, her soul. That was until she met him. Alpha Alaris, feared by the most, was a force to reckon with. He ruled over one of the largest packs in all of Canada with an iron fist. Famous for being cold and ruthless, he was someone with a heart of gold but only for those he held dear to himself. What will happen when a clumsy girl with no knowledge of the werewolf world crosses paths with the most ruthless of the alphas?

Diana was murdered on the day of her Engagement anniversary by her fiance Gaston and her best friend Rebecca. They laughed as her car caught up in flames and she almost died. Luckily for her, she ended up in the hospital where she had plastic surgery, after fully recovering, she realized that Gaston and Rebecca had gotten married and were living her life. She swore to ruin their lives, exacting her revenge by working as a secretary for her Ex-fiancée Gaston, making him fall helplessly in love with her. But things take an unexpected turn when she has a one night-stand with a childhood crush who chases her to the ends of the earth to make her his.

Alpha Lennox Steele, nicknamed the Tryant Alpha, was cursed by the moon goddess to never know peace until he found his second chance mate, as punishment for murdering his first mate in cold blood because he saw her as a weakness. Because of the curse, he roamed the lands, forcing each pack to present to him a bride, and if she was unfit, Death, upon her and her pack. After several failures, he finally stumbled upon her, a feisty girl who trained all her life to be his bride. When he saw her, he didn’t have the guts to kill her as planned, the moon goddess had played a cruel joke on him, making him feel twice the bond between them. But her, she felt nothing for him but hatred. Hatred, he had never seen in the eyes of any man, Hatred that makes her want to kill him. Will he be able to make his Little Doll look past her hatred for him and love him despite her only mission to kill him? or will he have another mate’s blood on his hands?

After years of struggling to survive, Akayda Jordan finally lands her dream job — personal assistant/secretary in one of the best companies in the whole of California. To celebrate her new beginning, she decides to give one last “performance” at the elite club she’s about to leave behind. One night. One masked encounter. One forbidden act. But fate twists cruelly. The man she had danced for in the dark turns out to be her new boss — Damian Knight. He’s engaged. She’s desperate to keep her secret buried. But when Damian starts sensing something achingly familiar about his new assistant — the scent of her perfume, the way she looks away when he stares too long — the walls between them begin to crack. But he was sure the girl with the big glasses was not the girl with the mask and firefly tattoo who had woken up a hunger in him. Soon, professionalism turns into tension. Tension turns into temptation. And the closer he gets to the truth, the more dangerous her secret becomes. Because if Damian ever discovers she’s the masked girl he’s been searching for… she might lose not just her job, but her heart.

I was a genius alchemist, but my mate, Alpha Clark, engineered my failure 99 times, shattering my reputation. He siphoned my very soul 99 times to gift it to another she-wolf, Layla, molding her into the Alchemy Master I was meant to be. He claimed Layla was his savior, that he owed her his life. It wasn't until I uncovered his betrayal and severed our bond that he learned the truth: I was the one who had saved him. Those scars on my back—the ones he scorned? They were the price I paid for his life. After I walked away, he knelt for 99 days, begging for me to return. But some betrayals can never be forgiven.