Subtle Pride Wallpaper

Reader discretion advised. Adults 18+ only. Alisa Verene was the stain on her family's name—the illegitimate daughter of House Verene, forever living in the shadow of her perfect half-sister. No matter how hard she tried, no matter how much of herself she gave, she was never enough. Love, praise, and pride were reserved for Naomi. Until him. Victor Ravencroft, the second son of a powerful house, saw her—cherished her—and for the first time in her life, Alisa believed she could be wanted. Loved. But love, too, was a lie. Naomi destroyed her marriage with a single revelation: she was carrying Victor’s child. The affair hadn’t started after the wedding—it had never ended. Alisa had been nothing more than a pawn, a convenient gateway to the woman Victor truly desired. He married her not out of love, but proximity. A sister’s castoff. A wife in name only. Shattered, humiliated, and burned by betrayal, Alisa refused to fall quietly. She demanded a divorce—and with vengeance in her veins, she did the unthinkable. She turned to Leo Ravencroft, Victor’s older brother, the cold and untouchable heir. And with steady eyes and a broken heart, she asked him for a favor that would set the entire Ravencroft name ablaze: A fake marriage. A lie to rival the one that ruined her.

Selena Ashford was once the pride of the Ashford family, until they found their long-lost biological daughter, Olivia. Overnight, Selena was cast aside, banished to a room by the poultry shed, while Olivia, sweet and sickly, wormed her way into everyone’s hearts. But Olivia wanted more. When she drunkenly ran over the Harrington heiress and left her in a coma, she let Selena take the fall. With the Ashfords backing the lie and her boyfriend Mateo swearing love and marriage in exchange for her silence, Selena was sentenced for a crime she didn’t commit. Four years later, betrayed and forgotten, Selena finds work as a caretaker, ironically for the comatose Harrington girl. Wearing a veil and using a false name, she slips into their world and catches the attention of Dante Harrington, the cold and calculating heir. But when the truth erupts, Dante sees her as the woman who tried to kill his sister. Then fate strikes again: Selena isn’t an orphan, she’s the lost daughter of the powerful Lawson family, the Harringtons’ fiercest rivals. With her identity restored and her new family behind her, Selena rises from ruin to power. Now, it’s her turn. The Ashfords will beg. Mateo will regret. And Dante? He’ll have to fight for a woman no longer within reach.

BOOK #5 Wright-Petrov Series Nursing her broken heart and crushed pride, Abigail Marie Fuentebella Sandoval boldly gatecrashed her ex-fiance's engagement party. As she stood in the corner of the massive hall, she gritted her teeth in pure contempt while witnessing his betrayal. Worst, they looked so happy together. To assuage the searing pain drilling her chest, she drowned her sorrows in several glasses of champagne. Her boyfriend of eight years fathers her scheming stepsister's unborn child. Seeking retribution, she impulsively hooked up with a striking man from the crowd, convinced he was someone of importance. However, she was cruelly ridiculed after discovering he was a pauper, not the prince she had hoped for. She faced immense mockery for presumably "downgrading" from her wealthy ex-fiance, Justin Del Castillo, the President of F&D Group of Companies, to a struggling man who couldn't even afford to take her on a date at her family-owned luxurious hotel. Unbeknownst to everyone, especially to Abigail, she was not mistaken that night. The man she chose was not a mere millionaire, but a BILLIONAIRE. The shrewd business tycoon, CEO Lucas Alexander Montes Wright, the cherished firstborn of the world's richest family and the eldest heir of the Petrov Mafia.

“You disgust me.” I blinked back the tears that wanted to fall and forced myself to move forward. This was just another challenge I had to face, another hurdle in my mission. I couldn’t let Hunter break me, no matter how much he seemed to enjoy tormenting me. I would survive this. I had to. Even if it meant swallowing my pride and scrubbing floors until my hands bled. *** As an Omega from a rival pack, Faelen Earhart’s mission is clear: infiltrate the ruthless Howle Wulf Pack and pose as a servant. But blending in proves harder than expected, especially when she catches the eye of Alpha Hunter Blackethorn—a notorious who loathes weakness and makes Faelen’s life a living nightmare. Despite his cruelty, Faelen finds herself drawn to him, sparking a dangerous attraction that’s as thrilling as it is confusing. When Faelen uncovers an imminent attack from her own pack, she faces an impossible choice: remain loyal to her pack or protect the man she’s come to care for. Her warning changes everything, forcing Hunter to confront his own feelings. In the battle that follows, Faelen’s courage will redefine her loyalty, Hunter’s heart, and the future of both packs.

Katherine Dalton was once the pride of the Blackwood Pack. As the Beta’s daughter, she thought she had everything, a happy family and a bright future—to be Alpha Harrison’s Luna. She loved Harrison deeply for five years. But fate had other plans. Her best friend was claimed by Alpha Harrison as his fated mate, only to die shortly after, and Katherine became the prime suspect. Faced with the Beta rank and her brother’s future, her parents abandoned her. Alpha Harrsion threw her into prison, despite her countless repeated that she never killed Elisa. In prison, she endured endless torment and lost her connection with her wolf. She never thought she would be freed again by a stranger. But Harrison hasn’t done with her. He forbade any pack from taking her in, unless she became a slave or a whore. Katherine vowed she would never forgive him. Until the Moon Goddess played a cruel joke, binding them together as second chance mates. As the secrets behind the murder begin to unravel, Harrison regrets and refuses to let her go again. But is it already too late? And Harrison’s rebellious half-brother turned to be the very man who freed Katherine from the jail. Now we have a broken woman, two unwilling Alphas, and two mate bonds.

His hot breath fanned my ear and I nearly died the moment the straps of my dress fell away. Revealing a part of myself that left me vulnerable to his hungry gaze that moved over me. I pride myself on decency, to always be appropriate but the way he clenched his jaw and ran his large hands on my thighs made me go. . . to hell with decency. Reaching out, the need to touch him no longer bearable, I traced the outline of his torso through the fabric of his shirt. But even that wasn't enough as my hands moved underneath the fabric to trace the muscles there. He shifted slightly away triggering a fear in me that I had done something wrong. However, the fear diminished when he removed the fabric- granting my eyes the chance to feast on seeing more of his skin. He moved forward peppering light kisses all over my neck and torso only to latch onto my nipple tugging gently on the hard nub. I cried out at the movement of his teeth and tongue as his hands kept me close hindering any chance to reduce the contact to damn near impossible. Reducing the contact was the last thing I wanted, especially considering how far we had come. . .

I fell for Don Lorenzo Moretti the second I saw him. Hard. As a mafia princess, I wasn't supposed to chase anyone. But for him, I swallowed my pride and made him my mission. A year later, he finally had me, pinning me to the bed as he moved inside me. His eyes were pure fire, and in that mo ment, they saw only me. For ten years, we were electric. We fucked in five-star hotels all over the world. We just fit. I was his lucky charm at the poker table. I took shots for him until I bled from my stomach. I even took a bullet for him. Then came our engagement party. Lorenzo left me standing there alone. Said something "came up." I went back to our apartment, only to find him kissing my stepsister, Juliana. That’s when I knew. He had always loved her. I was just a stand-in. He tried to explain, words tumbling out in a panicked rush, promising a bigger, better party to make up for it. A laugh, cold and hollow, died in my throat. I turned my back on him, pulled out my phone, and called my mother in Sicily. "I'll marry into the Romano family."

They didn't want to marry each other, but when luck plays the game, no one can win against it. °°° "But I don't love you?!" "I don't love you either!" °°° Zahir and Hoor had to marry each other against their will, even if it was a drama of one year. One didn't want to spoil his life while the other didn't want to disappoint her father. It was nothing but a contract marriage. ***** Zahir Mathews is a successful businessman who is also a perfect person in the eyes of the world. In spite of touching the height of the sky, there was no pride in that person. He had respect for the elders, the values ​​taught by his father shone in him. Nothing was difficult for him except getting married and living a happy life with a creature named ‘Wife’. Although no one except his family knows about his weakness, it is necessary to break the illusion. Hoor Mizrahi is a hardworking girl who earns some money by doing petty jobs along with her studies.Whatever money she earns, she first uses it for her father who is a sick person, before herself. When another problem comes in such a difficult life, then she is left with no other option but to get into it. The problem was nothing but marrying her father's friend's arrogant son.

Dr. Kahlia Ford has spent a year putting her life back together after the painful betrayal of her ex-husband. Strong, calm, and independent, she refuses to be a victim again, especially to an Alpha male. But when Alpha Jaron Creed, once a strong and fearless biker now broken by a terrible accident, is placed under her care, everything she has rebuilt starts to change. His quick temper, harsh words, and stubborn pride test her patience every day. But under all that anger and toughness is a man fighting his own pain. As Kahlia helps him stand back up, she also begins to face the wounds she has been hiding, the scars left by her ex-husband, and the heart she swore she would never open again. Jaron starts to see that even the strongest healer has deep wounds of their own. Things become even harder when Kahlia’s ex-husband comes back into her life. Obsessed and unwilling to let her go, he is ready to ruin everything just to have her again. But when old secrets come out and the truth can no longer stay hidden, will love hold them together, or will the revelation of those truths break them even more than the past ever did?

There's this unspoken rule in werewolf high society: no matter how tight the mate bond is, business banquets mean booking a hostess. Six years into our bond, my Alpha mate—Brian Stormclaw—met one. Louise. A scrappy Omega with too much pride and not enough sense. When he offered her his black card, she pushed it back and said, "I'm not some Alpha's pampered pet." Brian? Instantly hooked. Like the Moon Goddess herself had dropped her in his lap. He chased her like he wanted her mark on every pack crest. But he forgot something—I was the Luna he wrote ninety-nine love letters to before I said yes. I didn't beg. Didn't snap. Every time he chose her over me, I lit another letter. First one burned on our anniversary—he bailed to wait outside Louise's flower shop, just to walk her home. Letter thirty-four? He left me stranded in a dangerous hunting ground to keep her company. Said she was scared of the dark. Fifty-two? Torched the second he replaced our wedding photo with some sketch she made on. ... And when the ninety-ninth turned to ash, so did whatever was left of us. I walked away. For good.