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I spent five years by Casey Fusco's side, turning him from a beggar in the slums to a mafia Don. On the second day he put on the family ring, his first love came knocking on our door with an ultrasound report. Casey pushed the divorce papers toward me with a sorry look on his face. "She's pregnant. I have to give her the position of Donna." My brethren tried to talk me out of doing something foolish, since I had nearly lost my life while trying to help him climb up the ranks. But contrary to their expectations, all I did was sign the papers calmly without making a fuss. "Congratulations on having your wish come true, Don Fusco."

I was three months pregnant when our enemies ambushed me on a private drive in Manhattan’s East Side. A bullet punched through the window. Glass buried itself in my shoulder. With the last bit of strength I had, I hit the Moretti family’s encrypted distress signal and called my husband, Adrian Moretti, for help. He didn’t come. Later, I found out he had pulled the Moretti family’s best trauma surgeon and security detail away that night to stay with his old flame, Evelyn Langdon. She had just lost her husband. She was carrying his child. She said a nightmare had left her gasping for air. I lost our baby in the emergency room. When I woke up, the first thing I saw was Evelyn’s new post. [Some people don’t need to ask. He’ll still drop everything and come running. Thank you, A. You always know what I need most.] In the photo, Adrian was kneeling by her bed, fastening the ruby necklace around her throat. The same necklace he had promised me for our tenth anniversary. I didn’t cry. I didn’t make a scene. I called Professor Clark. “Professor, I’ll take the classified seat at the Artemis Northern Institute. Start the Black Ice Protocol. Wipe my public identity as soon as possible.”

In the fifth year of my marriage with Luca Salvatore, his older brother, Kendall Salvatore, suddenly passes away. As such, Luca becomes the new Don due to the circumstances. But the Salvatore family has one condition for Luca—he has to sire an heir with Kendall's widow, Cindy Newton, in order to maintain the marriage alliance between both families. I refuse to accept that condition. Luca turns it down firmly as well. He even takes my hand and makes a vow right in front of me. "Xandra, I will never yield to my family. You're the only woman fit to become the Donna of the Salvatore family. Our child can be the only one who inherits my position as the Don in the future." But gradually, he has been staying up late due to family affairs more and more often. There's also unfamiliar perfume clinging to his clothes. But today is the day when my suspicions are finally proven to be true thanks to a video sent by an unknown number. In the video, Luca can be seen accompanying Cindy to a prenatal check-up. As he caresses her baby bump, he says in a tender tone, "You must have suffered a lot, Cindy. Thank you for siring the heir of the Salvatore family." At that moment, I finally realize that Luca has already broken the vow he has made to me. Hence, I burn down our home and leave without hesitation. After all, my dad—the Don of the Caprese family—is already urging me to go home and take over the family as the new Donna.

When Adrian and I broke up, he knelt outside my door all night. When I finally agreed to get back together, he lit a bonfire in the main hall, invited the elders to witness it, and swore I would become his Luna. Then, right at the finish line of a racetrack, he hauled a trembling, sobbing blonde girl out of the “trophy,” draped his jacket over her shoulders, and turned gentle like he’d become a different man. He looked back at me and said, “Ann, don’t make a scene. She ended up like this because of us.” The next day, he said I should atone by pack law, kneel inside a vow circle drawn with salt and silver powder, and endure my wolf soul’s backlash under the moonlight. Later, he threw me into the basement she used to live in, forced me to survive the way she did, forced me to lower my head and apologize. What he didn’t know was that there was a little pup in my belly. And I wasn’t going to tell him. I’d wait until he was most off guard, slide the divorce papers in front of him, let him sign them with his own hand, then vanish cleanly and absolutely, with my child.

On the day of my bonding ceremony with Alpha Ethan Gray of the Moonstone pack, he suddenly receives a distress video call. It comes from Chloe Hale, the twin sister of his dead first love. In the video call, Chloe can be seen all bound in a wooden cabin. With a blade in hand, the kidnapper dares Ethan to rescue Chloe on his own. Ethan lets out a furious roar before shifting into his wolf form immediately. I know very well that this is another one of Chloe's tricks. After all, such incidents have happened 18 times in a row. Every time, our bonding ceremony will be called to a halt whenever we're about to perform the last step of the process. This time, I specifically order the warriors to keep an eye on Chloe. Alas, she still slips out when no one's looking. I quickly extend an arm before Ethan to stop him from leaving. But when I plead with him to stay, he just shoves me away. "Selena, I can't see Layla's only sister get hurt! Even if this turns out to be a trap, I'll still accept it!" As I watch Ethan's silhouette rushing into the woods resolutely, the last flicker of my love vanishes on the spot. Since Ethan still loves Layla, then I shall put an end to this relationship of ours.

When I'm seven months pregnant, my mate, Kayden Booker, brings me to a celebratory party hosted in the Darkwind pack. Vera Walker, a Beta warrior, purposefully splashes red wine onto my gown. She also accuses me of smelling like a Rogue. I shove her away, only for her to collapse to the floor. Kayden immediately picks Vera up before slapping me in the face. "You're just a plaything to warm my bed, and yet you have the gall to touch what's mine?" That night, the video of me doing a lap dance while heavily pregnant is projected to the pack's public monitor, all thanks to Vera. The comment section is filled with the wolves' lewd chuckles and mocking comments. As I hide outside the door, I listen to Kayden and his subordinates' conversation. "She's just a human being who's meant to carry my pup. I'm going to abandon her when I get sick of her." "Only the Moon Goddess knows if that pup inside her womb is a bastard pup or what." "Vera is right. Women like her should be groomed." The wolves laugh among themselves. "Alpha Kayden, that woman sure is hot! Will you give her to us and let us have a taste?" Kayden replies icily, "Once she gives birth to that wretched pup, you can do whatever you want to her." Laughter fills the conference hall once again. I pull out the silver dagger that I've been tucking under my pillow. Then, I scratch out the countdown timer on my calendar.

From dating to marriage, seven years together, Kevin Fletcher bailed on fifty-two trips with me. Every single time, he had an excuse. A project deadline. A last-minute business trip. An elderly relative who suddenly wasn't doing well. And every single time, he promised he'd make it up to me. I believed him. Fifty-two times. Until last month, when I found a travel planner tucked away in his study. Inside were fifty-two plane tickets to the same city. And fifty-two photos of him and his so-called childhood friend, Fiona Snow. Written on the first photo: [She said she wanted to see the ocean, so I cleared my schedule and took her.] On the thirty-third: [She got drunk and said her biggest regret was never starting a family with me.] The fifty-second photo was dated the same day he blew off our fifth wedding anniversary trip. On the back, he'd written: [She's pregnant. I'm going to be a dad!] I wiped my tears away, opened my laptop, and drafted the divorce papers. Then I booked a ticket to Antarctica. This time, I was going to see the view alone.

Everyone knew that the Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack loved his mate more than anything. I once thought I would be the luckiest Luna in the world. That was until six months ago, when my father’s illegitimate daughter, Ivy, returned from rogue territory. Caleb recognized her as the she-wolf who had taken a lethal blow to save him during a rogue ambush years ago. Everything changed after that. During every date, Ivy would have a "relapse" right on cue. Caleb would always offer a strained explanation about how he owed her his life. I endured it countless times, lying to myself that it was just a debt of gratitude. But at our mating ceremony, Ivy collapsed, knocking over the champagne tower. "Caleb... it hurts... my heart..." The usually composed Caleb panicked and stopped the ceremony. He looked at me with guilt. "Evelyn, Ivy’s wolf was severely injured saving me. She’s still so fragile. It’s an emergency. You’ve always been understanding—can you just let this go for now?" "Go ahead," I said calmly. "Take her to the Healer." Caleb froze, then promised hurriedly, "Once she's stable, I’ll make it up to you with an even bigger ceremony." He didn't even wait for my reply before rushing off with Ivy in his arms. I watched him leave and dialed a number I hadn't touched in years. "Alpha King Silas, I accept the five-year classified Silver Poisoning research project." When I finally disappeared, Caleb regretted everything, searching the entire world for a trace of me.

Even though I've been with Eric Blackclaw, the heir to the Alpha title, for three years, he's still unwilling to mark me. Later, he falls in love at first sight with my stepsister, Layla Talbot. Thus, he begins courting her in a grand manner in the pack. This time, I no longer throw a tantrum, nor do I question Eric like I did before. Instead, I just burn all the gifts he's given me and rip my gown for our marking ceremony into shreds. On Eric's birthday, I leave Northpine Woods on my own. Before I board the private jet bound for another continent, Eric sends me a message via the mind-link. "Avril, why aren't you here yet? Everyone's waiting for you." I don't respond to Eric at all. This time, I just sever my mind-link with Eric. What he doesn't know is that I've already accepted Alpha Marcus Howler's mating proposal to me half a month ago. Once the private jet lands in the new territory located in Frosthill Mountains, Marcus and I will become mates with the Moon Goddess as our witness.

On the day my love fades away for good, I've finally learned something about my mate, Ethan Langley. He's not hopeless when it comes to directions—he just can't remember which path it is that leads to me. Ethan is the Alpha of the pack, whereas I'm his mate. We've been mates for ten years. But whenever I need him, he always gets lost. On the day of our marking ceremony, Ethan got lost in the pack territory. Because of that, the ceremony was delayed for another three days. Every year on the marking anniversary, Ethan would always get lost. The food in the evening banquet I always prepared would always go stone cold. When I was eight months pregnant with my pup, I sent an SOS message to him through the mind-link after I suffered from a bad fall. While Ethan screamed at me that he'd be there through the mind-link, he was physically lost in the pack territory for five hours. By the time our packmates came to my rescue, my pup was already dead. As I lay on the stone bed in the healing center, my packmates came over to comfort me. "Ethan can't navigate at all to save his life. He didn't do this on purpose. Don't get mad at him, okay? You two will still have pups in the future." I could only nod in a daze. But on the day we were supposed to attend our pup's funeral, I realized that Ethan was familiar with the road when he was behind the wheel in the SUV. He even took a detour just to drop by the residence of Lyria Jeffries, a female Beta. "Elena, there's still some time before the funeral starts. I'm going to send Lyria home first so that she can visit her family." Before I could object, the car had already stopped right outside Lyria's residence. Lyria got into the front passenger seat as though it was the most natural thing to do in the world. She wore a bright smile as she said, "Look at how well I've groomed you, Ethan! If you ever forget the way to my place, I'll make sure to skin you alive!" Only then did Lyria notice me, who sat in the backseat. She pretended to be bashful as she stuck out her tongue. "I was just kidding, Elena." I endured Lyria's "harmless" quips with a stony expression. But right after Ethan dropped Lyria off, he forgot the way to the funeral immediately. Because of that, the funeral was delayed by half an hour. As I held my pup's tiny urn, I felt my heart sinking into the pits of my stomach. It turns out that there exists someone who can be exempted from Ethan's hopeless sense of direction. It's just that… my pup and I are never the exception.