Painted Scars

"You shouldn't have kissed me," I whispered, heart racing. "But why did it feel like home?" Stanley had spent his whole life running from fate—rejecting mates, hiding his scars, and burying the wolf inside him. Until Joshua, a Alpha pretending to be a human with soft eyes and a voice like calm after a storm, crashed into his world. There was no bond. No mark. No reason. Yet, one kiss under the pulsing lights of the club shattered everything he thought he knew about destiny. Suddenly, the lines between wolf and man, strength and softness, began to blur. Now, hunted by his own kind and torn between instinct and emotion, Stanley must choose: reject what his heart wants… or rewrite what the moon once decided. A story of forbidden love, soul-deep longing, and the kiss that changed everything.

I was the Alpha's lost bloodline, raised far from home. I was thin, pale, and covered in ugly scars no one wanted to look at. Lucia Abbott was the pack's jewel, carefully raised and fiercely protected. She was beautiful, powerful, and loved by everyone. Before she fell from the cliff, her soul scream tore through the entire pack. "Lyla joined the enemy! She tried to kill me!" No one questioned it. After all, who would believe a filthy lone wolf over someone as pure as moonlight? My fiancé chained me to the ritual altar. My father lit the Moonfire Trial fire with his own hands. The flames burned through my wolf spirit, ripping my memories apart and forcing them into the sky for everyone to witness. It was a public execution offered to the entire pack. But the truth was worse than death. It was slow destruction, carved piece by piece.

"I will take her in exchange," Alpha Dante declared, and the ball room instantly quieted down, and all eyes turned to the said girl. Whispers filled the ballroom, although it was rather useless since everyone could hear them clearly with their heightened senses. Rhea, the object of discussion, stood there in tattered clothes, confused and seemingly lost. She never wanted to draw so much attention to herself, but here she was with everyone's eyes on her because of a single statement from one man. "I am sorry, Alpha Dante, you must be mistaken, that is not my daughter..." Alpha Collins said but was rudely interrupted by Alpha Dante. "She is the one I want,” Alpha Dante said coldly. “Give her to me or forget about our deal.” ***** Born a mix of blood, half vampire, and half werewolf, Rhea was neither considered a werewolf nor a vampire. Just someone who wasn't needed. Someone who shouldn't exist. Someone whose existence was an abomination. Her father's absence in her life and her mother's passing rendered Rhea homeless, nowhere to go, and no one to turn to. She is forced to fend for herself from an early age, serving as a maid in the packhouse despite being hated and scorned by all. Dante, an alpha whose path had always been painted Scarlet, cursed by the moon goddess, walked a lone and bloodied path. He never asked for a mate and never wanted one after all. He was cursed by the very entity their race worships. He never thought he needed one until he met her. For the first time, he felt his heart waver, his silent beast stirred in the presence of another and definitely not out of hostility.

Dionysus finds sanctuary in the human realm, stowing away from the heavenly gates of Olympus. He wears the scars of defeat, melancholy, and betrayal in his heart the moment he set foot on earth, vowing never to return until he has regained his pride and honor. However, at love's playful coincidences, The wine god alias Kim Yeojoon, secret CEO of Victoire Wine Company, dreams of an unfamiliar face that had not only awakened his cold heart, but has left him chasing for more answers. With a few pulls of power in his midst, he finally was able to put a name to that face. Behind that otherworldly beauty is Charon, a famous model under the name Han Sejin, the ferryman of Styx that guides the souls of the dead to the afterlife. Will the stirring of his heart's desire be a sign of a new beginning? or will it be the cause of his misery, with an unknowable prophecy looming over him?

I went to sleep a nobody. I woke up a Queen. One night I was just a broke, exhausted college girl. The next, I opened my eyes in silk sheets, with strangers bowing and calling me Luna Queen. The face in the mirror is mine. The body is mine. But the life isn’t. The bruises on my wrists tell a story I don’t remember, and the King I’m bound to doesn’t love me—he loathes me. They whisper that his mistress rules the palace. They say the Queen was weak. Silent. Broken. But that was before me. Now I must survive a palace that wants me dead, a King whose touch burns as much as it scars, and a kingdom waiting for me to fail. The old Luna Queen bowed to cruelty. I am not her. And if this King thinks I’ll kneel, he’s about to learn what a true Queen is made of.

Bliss Carnap's life has been a tumultuous journey. Orphaned at birth, she was raised by her aunt, Deaconess Patricia, in Dakota. However, Aunt Patty's desperation for wealth led her to exploit Bliss, introducing her to prostitution at just 13 years old. Bliss was forced to grow up too quickly, learning to numb herself to the trauma. By 18, she had lost count of the men she had been with. Her life was a mere existence, devoid of emotions. That was until Zeke Kian, a charming soccer player from NYU, entered her life. Zeke is determined to win Bliss over, but she is unwilling to open up, fearing the vulnerability. As Zeke pursues Bliss, she must confront her dark past and the emotional scars that haunt her. Will Zeke's persistence break down Bliss's defenses, or will she remain trapped in her shell of numbness?

Chloe Bennett thought she had it all — a loving husband, a beautiful home, and a life built on trust. That illusion shatters the night she discovers her husband, Chris, is having an affair with her former best friend, Molly Turner. Then comes Lucas Sterling, a magnetic and dangerous man, who's hiding scars of his own. He's a billionaire with a shadowed past, he offers Chloe something she’s forgotten how to feel. “Let me show you what real desire feels like,” he tells her, and against her better judgment, she lets him in. But as Chloe begins to rebuild, the past refuses to stay buried. Old wounds, new temptations, and vengeful enemies and rivals threaten to destroy the fragile life she’s piecing together — and this time, her heart might not survive the fallout.

Alpha Liam and I were never fated mates. However, to win me over, he did countless reckless things. Because of that, his body now bore sixty-six scars, each from a battle he fought for me. He finally moved my heart on the sixty-seventh time. During our marking ceremony, I swore before the Moon Goddess that I would grant him sixty-six favors, no matter what. Throughout our seven years together, he never misused that privilege. That was until my stepsister, Isabella, returned six months ago. Suddenly, he burned through sixty-four of them. For Isabella, he humiliated me in public and skipped the birthday celebration I spent weeks planning. Now, only two remain. Once Liam used them up, that was when I’d leave him for good.

She was a Rogue with a buried past. He was a Crowned Alpha with everything to lose. But fate has its own cruel plans. Alera only wanted a quiet life—far from the world that once turned her childhood into ashes. But her unexpected reunion with Rayvan—the arrogant Alpha who once shattered her pride—awakens the scars she thought she had buried for good. Rayvan never imagined his mate would be a lonely, poor, insignificant girl. A Rogue? To someone of noble blood like him, that’s the ultimate disgrace. Alera swore she would never fall for his charm. Rayvan, too, fights the bond with pride and bitterness. But one by one, the veils of truth begin to fall—about Alera, about the Bloodveil Pack, the most powerful in Moonvale… and about who Alera truly is. Can they defy a fate neither of them asked for, or will they be trapped in a bond written by blood and vengeance?

Bella existed as little more than a servant, her worth reduced to scrubbing toilets and enduring the whims of Jace, the Alpha's privileged heir. But when fate intervenes, revealing Bella as Jace's destined mate, the game changes drastically. Jace, accustomed to taking what he wants without consequence, is blindsided by the realization that Bella is meant for him. As the mate bond ignites a fiery passion within him, he's forced to confront his own shortcomings and the depth of his feelings for the girl he once saw as disposable. Yet, winning Bella's trust proves to be an uphill battle, the scars of her past interactions with Jace running deep. Even as he pledges his love and devotion, doubts linger—can she ever truly forgive him? And even if she does, can they carve out a future together in a world where power and pack politics threaten to tear them apart?