Oranges By Gary Soto Novels & Stories

Rejected. Humiliated. Broken. On the night she was meant to find love, Aria lost everything. Publicly rejected by her fated mate and cast aside like she was nothing, she fled into the darkness—wounded, alone, and hunted by the shame she couldn’t escape. But the forest didn’t offer safety. It offered him. A man more dangerous than any rejection. A King feared by every pack. A predator who doesn’t ask, doesn’t hesitate… and doesn’t take no for an answer. He didn’t save her. He claimed her. Bound by a force she doesn’t understand, Aria finds herself trapped under the rule of a ruthless Alpha King whose presence ignites both fear and something far more dangerous. He is cold, dominant, and impossibly powerful—and he’s decided she belongs to him. Now, there are rules. Rules she must follow. Rules she must survive. Rules that blur the line between control and desire. But Aria is not as weak as they believe. Beneath her pain lies something rare. Something powerful. Something that could either destroy her… or make her unstoppable. As her past refuses to let her go and her rejected mate begins to regret the biggest mistake of his life, Aria is caught between two worlds—one that broke her… and one that threatens to consume her completely. And the deeper she falls into the King’s dark world, the more dangerous the truth becomes: She is no longer just a rejected wolf. She is something far more powerful. Something worth fighting for. Something worth destroying kingdoms for. And when her true strength awakens… She won’t just survive. She’ll make them all kneel.

Nothing on earth could have prepared Keira Ashford for her fated mate's betrayal on their one year anniversary. Dominic Crane didn't apologize or offer her an explanation when she found him in bed with her own step sister. He just stared at her with cold indifference and called their bond a mistake. Broken and humiliated, Keira takes matters into her hands and does the unthinkable. She severes the mate bond herself. But Dominic's cruelty didn't end there as he is upset at being rejected. He vows that no wolf in the territory would ever dare claim her as their partner as long as he remained the Alpha's heir. Her step-family mocked her weakness and spewed rumours to the pack, whisperinh of how she was now damaged goods. Everyone was forced to believe that she had failed as a mate—they were wrong. Keira has a plan for revenge. She would acquire a mate before the next three months was up, one that could stand on par with her ex mate. Who better than his father, the one wolf Dominic fears above all others. Alpha Matthias Crane, the most powerful wolf in the Pacific Northwest. Kiera starts a game of hide and seek using seduction as her only leverage. But what she doesn't expect is for Matthias to see through her and second her actions. Matthias has been watching Keira and knows exactly what she's doing. And he has plans of his own. Soon what begins as a calculated game of seduction quickly spirals into something that is remains: Who is really playing whom?

I was married to one of the city's richest billionaires, but inside his home, I was just a ghost. Damian never once looked at me with love. Never did he touch me with kindness. He didn't see me as a woman, or even a person. I was just… a stand-in. A stand-in while he waited for someone else to come and my heart broke in silence. But the day he walked into our home with his first love, Vanessa, hand in hand it finally broke for good. I found my strength and I placed a signed divorce papers on his desk. Damian scoffed, his eyes cold. “You’ll regret this. You’ll crawl back. Women like you always do.” I thought he was right. I thought I had no one, nowhere to go, and nothing to live for. Until the black car stopped in front of me. That night, three powerful men stepped out, calling me by a name I didn’t even know was mine. Adrian Valehart, a ruthless tycoon whose eyes were as sharp as steel and silenced a room. Nathaniel Valehart, the cold, brilliant lawyer who never lost a case. And Leo Valehart, the superstar adored by millions. They told me I was, their long-lost sister, the only daughter of a billionaire family. I thought they were wrong. But when Adrian gave me shares worth billions, Nathan vowed Damian would walk away with nothing but shame. Leo wrapped his arm around me and declared to the world, “This is my sister, my one and only.” Everything changed And Damian… Damian refuses to let go. He came crawling back, begging for a second chance. “Please, give me another chance,” he said. But my three overprotective brothers wouldn't let him touch me and his pride will not die quietly.

“A Luna is meant to be graceful and elegant not…” His mother sniffed, her nose up in the air, “not this.” Disdain and disgust dripped from her words. Every word felt like a blow to my heart, I kept still, waiting for Roland to come to my defense like a good mate. I sent a pleading gaze to him but all I got was an icy stare in return, but I still held faith in my heart. He sighed and his gaze softened with something that looked like self-loathing, “I'm sorry Selena, you're not just Luna material,” His gaze shifted to the person beside me, “And I'm in love with another.” There was a ringing in my ears as time slowed and my world came to a standstill, “W-what?” I choked out, dazed. Selena was the fat unwanted twin, the one her mate rejected for her prettier, slimmer sister. Once rejected, betrayed and left for dead, she almost gave up on life itself. When she stumbles into the arms of two alpha werewolves the world fears, she doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. Four years later, she returns, stronger and fiercer, a queen in her own right. The weak fat wolf is dead and in her place is someone they would never see coming. A weapon. Vengeance.

SYNOPSIS Aurora Sinclair is a broken Omega who's never shifted until her fated mate, the ruthless Alpha Damon Blackwood, publicly rejects her at the Mate Revelation Ball, destroying her in front of hundreds. But rejection awakens something ancient inside her. She's not just an Omega. She's the lost Lycan Princess with a bloodline powerful enough to shake the werewolf world. And she doesn't have one mate, she has two. When the mysterious Lycan King Kai Thorne claims her, Aurora must choose: accept the Alpha who shattered her heart, embrace the King who saved her, or forge her own destiny as the Silver Queen who answers to no one. One rejection. Two fated mates. A queen's rise from the ashes.

On the night Ava expected to be chosen as the Luna, Alpha Damon publicly rejects her- without explanation. Humiliated and broken she finds herself in the arms of a stranger who rescued her who has secrets of his own Dante Blackwood, he is Damon’s banished brother. Ava is the key to breaking a generational curse that haunts the bloodline of two brothers Now both brothers want her One controls the past One controls the future Ava must choose between the Alpha that rejected her for some unknown reason and the Alpha that saved her One will burn the world for her, the other will burn himself for her

"You're released, Lila." Three sentences from Alpha Lucian tore my Moon Bond apart, leaving me broken in the rain. They thought they destroyed a useless Omega. They were wrong. Three years later, this Weak to Strong Girl Power icon returns as Aurelia Chen—the brilliant CEO running a billion-dollar tech empire. Driven by cold Revenge, I step back into my ex-mate's territory. Lucian is consumed by toxic Regret when he sees my stunning transformation, begging for a second chance. But it's too late. The air shifts as a true predator steps out of the glass-walled Office. Damon Kincaid—a ruthless, dominant human Billionaire who secretly carries an ancient, mythic Alpha lineage. Our professional contract quickly ignites into a deeply passionate, Steamy Office Relationship. Damon doesn't just want my tech; he wants me. "He threw you to the wolves," Damon whispers, his thumb lingering on my knuckles. "But I rule the shadows they hide in." Enter a dark world of Pack secrets and Dark Romance where empires clash. Lucian wants me back, but Damon will burn the world to keep me. This time, the rejected Omega holds all the cards.

Amelia Blackwood has spent the last two years as an outcast, serving the pack that once claimed her as family. Her crime? She didn't shift on her 16th birthday, leading to her family treating her as less than a servant. After she turned eighteen... everything changed. Whether for the better or the worse would depend on the ruthless Alpha King, Lukas Volkov. As Amelia navigates a treacherous path between servitude and sovereignty, she must confront her painful past and the brutal pack dynamics that threaten her very existence. When danger lurks in the shadows and betrayal seeps into every corner of the kingdom, Amelia must decide whether to bend to the Alpha King's will or fight. With the bond to her mate stronger than she ever imagined, will she embrace her fate as queen, or will the darkness of her past consume her once more?

Selene Carey believed the Bloodhowl mating ceremony would be the night her life finally began. Damon Bloodhowl was her fated mate, the Alpha heir, and the one wolf she thought would choose her when no one else ever had. Instead, he rejects her in front of the entire pack and claims her stepsister, Mira, as his chosen mate. Humiliated, heartbroken, and abandoned by her own family, Selene expects the night to end with her shame. Then Alpha Ronan rises. Damon’s father. Bloodhowl’s ruthless Alpha. A wolf feared, obeyed, and never questioned. Before Selene can accept Damon’s rejection, Ronan places his Alpha ring in her hand and claims her as his chosen mate. Now Selene is trapped between the mate who rejected her, the Alpha who chose her, and a pack waiting to see whether she will break. Ronan’s protection is dangerous. His attention is impossible to ignore. And the more Selene stands beside him, the more enemies begin to circle. She was rejected by the heir. Chosen by the Alpha. But the choice that matters most may be the one Selene makes for herself.

On the night she discovers her fated mate, Aurelia Nightbane expects love. Instead, Alpha Kael publicly rejects her before the entire pack. Humiliated. Broken. Cast out. But rejection does not weaken her, it awakens something ancient. When the ruthless Lycan King Lucian Viremont senses the rise of a long-lost royal bloodline, he finds Aurelia the girl no Alpha wanted, and he claims her. Now caught between a regretful Alpha and a dangerously possessive Lycan King, Aurelia must uncover the truth about her heritage, survive political betrayal, and decide whether she is merely a rejected mate, or the Queen destiny has been waiting for. Because this time she will not be rejected, she will be worshipped.