Sham Ki Haveli Mein

Shortly after we said "I do," the Family sent my husband, Dario, down to the Mexican border. He told me it was a meat grinder down there—cartel territory. where guys were zipped into body bags every day. He said he had to go—to expand the territory, for the glory of the Family. He claimed it was too dangerous and that his enemies would paint a target on my back, so he wouldn't take me with him. I believed him. I stayed behind in his old, rot-infested house in New Jersey, taking care of his bitter, spiteful parents. I spent my days and nights in the Family's moldy laundromat, washing bills stained with blood. He told me he sent every dime he made down there to the widow of a brother who took a bullet for him. He asked me to be understanding. I never complained. Day after day, I pressed expensive suits in that humid laundromat, waiting for him to come home. It wasn't until the eighth year that a mobster came back drunk. When I asked about Dario, he froze, then sneered at me through a haze of alcohol. "Dario? Are you kidding? He’s been a King in Manhattan for years. He’s the youngest Underboss of the Corleone family." I stood frozen, the iron in my hand burning a hole right through a shirt. "And he got married seven years ago. Biggest cathedral in New Jersey. Half the mob was there to toast the groom..." He pulled a crumpled photo from his leather jacket. Snuggled up against my husband was a woman in a high-end couture gown—the very same "poor, widowed sister-in-law" he had told me about. The next day, I contacted a fixer who specialized in fake IDs. On the application for a one-way ticket to Europe—a ticket to vanish off the face of the earth—I filled in the fake name I had prepared long ago. He trapped me for seven years with a sham marriage. From now on, I’d be done with this damn loyalty.

“Your body is mine. Still, you aren't perfect to be my Luna. I haven't mated or marked you, and that means there's no bond between us.” “A-A-Alpha Kane. Please.” No. It's not happening. The way he touches me, holds me, breathes me in… made me think otherwise. Was he really serious? Destined to become the Luna and Fated Mate to Alpha Kane of the Ridgewood pack. Among many mates in this world, why Alpha Kane, the one who can have hundreds of concubines at his hand, be my mate, and then the one to reject me? ~~~~~ His words pierced Anya’s heart deeply. “Rejection.” The least she could expect from her boss who turned out to be her mate. He adored her beauty and bravery, but that was just for his bed. This was going to be the end of it, she said to herself, after being used like a tissue paper. He had chosen one of his whores over her. He didn't feel an ounce of love for her. Why then did he always want her—or her body? He was really disgusting. He stood before the crowd holding another lady’s hand. Meena—his past lover. Cast aside with nowhere to go, Anya flees from everything including her pack, and decides to start over as a lone wolf. When the Alpha Larry finds her, he is smitten by the stubborn wolf that refuses to acknowledge his intentions and existence. He fights to be her second-chance mate, latent wolf or not. She became his obsession, protecting her. ***** Follow Anya as she discovers her true identity and ability, navigates her love life even as Kane tries to get her back after finding out that Meena’s loyalty is a sham and that she is a spy plotting to destroy him from within.