Sourdough By Robin Sloan

“Nothing hurts more than being hurt by the single person you thought would never betray you.” Twenty-one-year-old Ariella Davenport learned this cruel part of truth when the man she sacrificed everything for, her fated Mate, Vaughn Collins, shattered her heart with betrayal. Three years ago, she walked away from her family, her status, and her legacy to be with him. But what did she get in return— betrayal? Choosing vengeance over heartbreak, Ariella seeked an alliance with the last person Vaughn would ever expect. Vaughn’s enigmatic stepbrother and sworn rival, Zach Killian Winchester. When Ariella proposed a partnership, Zach countered with something far more dangerous: marriage. With Zach’s cunning and unwavering presence, Ariella took away everything that she had given to Vaughn till now. But when the dust of vengeance began to settle, she found herself ensnared in a web she never saw coming. She thought she was using Zach. She didn't realize he was setting a trap of his own. For her it was a revenge game while for him it was a love game. He married her to make her his. **** “Why did you marry me, Zach!” Ariella's voice was low, steady, yet threaded with uncertainty as she looked him in the eye. Zach’s hand found her cheek, his eyes glowing with a quiet, dangerous intensity. A faint smile curved his lips as he whispered, “Because we were always meant to be. The Moon Goddess made a mistake, and I'm correcting it.” *** Book 2 : of Davenport Family Series. Book 1 : Alpha Alexei's Remorse.

On the night of her eighteenth birthday, Zara Ashlen expected to be chosen. Instead, Damon Wells the Alpha she was fated to love rejected her in front of the entire pack. No reason. No apology. Just cold, certain words that tore the bond from her chest and left her with nothing. So she ran. Five years later, Zara has built a quiet life far from pack territory. A job. An apartment. A daughter she would burn the world down to protect. She doesn't think about the bond anymore. She doesn't think about Damon. She almost believes she's free. Then the summons arrives a mandatory pack summit she cannot refuse and Zara is dragged back into the world she escaped. But something is different this time. Something ancient and unstoppable stirs the moment she walks into that room. And it has nothing to do with Damon. Kael Drevon is the Lycan King. Ruthless. Untouchable. A man who has never once failed to take what he wants. He has spent years waiting for a mate the bond refused to show him. Until now. Until her. Zara has no intention of belonging to another Alpha not after what the last one cost her. But Kael didn't build a kingdom by accepting no. And the closer he gets, the more she realizes her daughter's rare blood has made them both a target. Running once saved her life. This time, her only chance at survival might be the King she's desperately trying to resist.

Liana Hart gave everything to her marriage—her youth, her heart, and ultimately, her child. But when she went into labor, her husband Damien Cross walked out, choosing his career over their growing family. Alone and rejected, Liana rebuilt her life brick by brick, raising her daughter, Emma, without a penny of support or a whisper of regret. Four years later, Damien returns with a glamorous fiancée and an eye on the daughter he left behind. Desperate and cornered, Liana accepts an offer from Ethan Wolfe, Damien’s enigmatic billionaire boss: a marriage of convenience in exchange for protection, power—and the resources to fight for her daughter. But Ethan has his own secrets. He’s been watching Liana for years. And when Damien begins a legal war for custody, the lines between arrangement and obsession blur. As Ethan and Liana pretend to be husband and wife, desire erupts, loyalty is tested, and buried truths surface. What Damien didn’t know is that he was never the one meant to have Liana’s heart—or her child.

"I am your Alpha," Liard growled, his body pressing dangerously close to hers. "You will not run from me." Helena’s breath hitched, her fingers trembling as they gripped the edge of the infirmary table. "You made a vow," she whispered, voice laced with fury and longing. "No mates. No love. Or have you already forgotten?" His jaw clenched, but his hands found her waist, heat radiating between them. "I tried to forget. I tried to fight it. But every time I close my eyes, I see you. I feel you." His voice dropped lower, a rough, desperate plea. "Damn it, Helena. You were never supposed to be mine." Helena shoved against his chest, her own emotions warring within her. "And I was never supposed to love you, Liard. But fate is cruel." She turned away, biting down the pain in her voice. "Do you know what they’ll do to me if they find out? Do you know what Rhider will do?" Liard’s grip on her tightened. "I don’t care." His breath ghosted against her ear, sending a shiver down her spine. "Let them try to take you from me. I will burn this world before I ever let you go." ********* For years, Alpha Liard Stormbane has ruled with a heart of ice, swearing never to take a mate, never to fall into the same weakness that destroyed his father. But when he is gravely injured and taken to the pack infirmary, fate shatters his control—his mate is none other than Helena, the pack’s healer…and his Beta’s mother.

“I, Alpha Damon, reject you, Kaima, as my mate. You are a stain on my pack, a weakling who offers nothing but shame.” Those were the words that shattered Kaima’s world. Cast out into the Forbidden Forest to die, the low-status omega expected the shadows to claim her life. Instead, they whispered her name. Betrayal has a way of waking up the ancient things that should have stayed buried. Deep within Kaima’s blood, the First Fang—the original primal wolf spirit—stirs. It doesn't want her to survive; it wants her to reign. When she is found by Rowan, the lethal Alpha of the Black-Ridge Pack, he doesn't see a broken girl. He senses a power that hasn't walked the earth in five centuries. Bound to Rowan by a dangerous Soul Resonance, Kaima begins a meteoric rise. She is no longer the girl who hides; she is the girl whose scent makes Alphas drop to their knees in terror. As she masters her new dominance, she must navigate a world of "face-slapping" revenge, pack politics, and a second-chance bond that is as erotic as it is deadly. From the ashes of a public rejection, a Queen is born. The Council wants her dead, her former mate wants her back, but the Beast? The Beast wants blood.

At 11:00 pm, I've just locked my car and am about to walk away when rows of bright red comments appear right in front of my eyes. "Warning! Your husband, whom you're still in a 30-day cooling-off period with, wants to kidnap you! He'll take nudes of you while livestreaming the entire process before mutilating you into chunks and flushing you down the sewers!" "Well, this gold digger keeps swindling money from her husband while toying with his feelings relentlessly. Now, she even wants a portion of his assets by getting a divorce from him. Serves her right for being a target of revenge!" I'm left feeling shell-shocked. After all, I'm single as a Pringle. How the heck did I even have a husband, to begin with?

My sister pulled a knife during a robbery attempt, and we got into a brutal fight. My mom, an auxiliary police officer, arrived at the scene but totally ignored my injury. As I lay in a pool of blood, begging for help, she just cradled my sister and yelled at me, "You're so desperate for attention that you'd hurt your sister? How did I raise a heartless monster like you?" She branded me as the aggressor, ignored my pleas, and rushed my sister, who had mere scratches, to the hospital. I was left alone to die miserably in that deserted alley. When the news of my death arrived, my mother dismissed it as another one of my lies, pointing at my body and demanding I get up to apologize to my sister.

Born into a powerful pack but cursed with a fatal flaw, Elara never shifted. In a world where rank is decided at twelve and futures are carved in strength, she became something worse than low-born—she became nothing. Ignored by her high-ranking family, denied education, and treated as little more than a servant, Elara survives in the shadows of a system that was never meant for her to exist. When the Moon Goddess finally intervenes, choosing her as the fated mate of the future Alpha Prince, it should have changed everything. Instead, it ruins her. The prince rejects the bond without hesitation—casting her aside for her perfect, powerful sister. But breaking a divine match comes with consequences, and Elara is the one forced to pay the price. Given away in her sister’s place, she is bound to the prince’s uncle—Alpha Darius, the most feared wolf of their kind. Ruthless. Unforgiving. A brute whispered in fear. Everyone expects her to break. But Darius doesn’t destroy her. He claims her. As Elara is pulled deeper into a world of power, politics, and dangerous desire, the girl no one wanted begins to change. And when the prince who discarded her comes crawling back, he finds something no one expected: The weakest omega in the pack now belongs to the most dangerous Alpha alive. And this time, she won’t be cast aside.

“Oh God…” she moaned, arching into him as his lips branded a trail along her collarbone. She fumbled with his buttons, tearing open the last of them. Her hands caressed the expanse of his bare chest, every inch as firm and sculpted as she'd fantasized since that absurd, embarrassing moment he’d walked in on her naked on her very first day in Terra Lucida. His abs twitched beneath her fingers, taut and hot to the touch, like he was barely holding himself back. Elias let out a shuddering breath as his lips grazed her shoulder, trailing slowly down. He pulled the thin straps of her nightdress down, kissing each newly revealed inch of skin. Trapped in a strange world where people ride carriages instead of Ubers. Lyra Beckham is horrified to learn she is the spitting image of a missing (possibly dead) woman named Lirae - who also happens to be the secret lover of a dangerously brooding prince named Elias. But things get messier when Lyra discovers Elias was the main suspect in Lirae's mysterious disappearance. She desperately plans to find a way back to her own earth before she ends up 'missing' too. Elias proposes that Lira pretend to be Lirae long enough for him to uncover what really happened. In return, he will help her find her way back home. Sounds simple right? But then, they had to fake an engagement that was quickly starting to become real. But when they stumble upon the truth, they realise that the only way out... is together.

"You're too weak to be my Luna." Those were the words that shattered Erin Arckwight's world. Rejected publicly by her mate - the Alpha of her own pack - she did what any broken wolf would do. She ran straight into the Forbidden Forest, the one place most wolves never venture into. But what most people do not know is that the Forbidden Forest doesn't break you. It remakes you. When Erin descends into the feral state that all werewolves fear, she doesn't lose herself. Instead, she awakens an ancient power that's been sleeping in her bloodline for three thousand years. And she's not alone. Kade Thornhart, the scarred and dangerous leader of the feral pack, doesn't trust the stubborn, sarcastic girl who stumbles into his territory. But he can't deny the fire in her amber eyes or the way his wolf claims her as his. She was rejected by an Alpha. Now she'll be claimed by something far more dangerous.