Novel & Cerita The Land Before Time Ali

I merely brought up the wedding decorations, and my fiancé's first love ran out of the room in tears. Ian Murray slapped me so hard I fell to the ground. His face twisted in fury, teeth clenched with hatred. "Daphne, are you that desperate to get married? Afraid no one else will want you, so you're clinging to me, forcing me into it? Our wedding next week is postponed!" I held my face, but not even a ripple stirred in my heart. This made the eighth time he'd postponed it. I had been waiting for him since I was twenty-eight. Now, in my early thirties, I was still getting nowhere closer to being married. So this time, I quietly packed my things and chose to leave. Maybe this marriage didn't need to happen after all.

After her mother's death, Mara Weber reluctantly returns to a remote island off the North German coast—a place she has repressed since childhood. What begins as a brief trip to settle the affairs of an old house quickly evolves into a nightmare of memories, secrets, and voices from the depths.

I dated my lawyer boyfriend for five years. He canceled our wedding. Fifty-two times. First time? His intern messed up some paperwork. He ditched me at the beach to fix it. I waited all day. Alone. Second time, we were mid-ceremony when he bolted. Heard that intern was getting heat from another lawyer and left me to face the guests and their stares. After that, every time we tried again, there was always some "emergency" with her. Always. I finally hit my limit. I was done. Packed up and broke it off. But the day I left Ainsley? He totally lost it trying to find me.

The explosion wiped out my parents—and their company. All I had left was some insurance cash and a pile of patents nobody cared about. I begged their old partners to back me. Crickets. Then Alex Ross strolled in, played the hero no one asked for, and proposed. Five years deep into our marriage, after my 99th FDA rejection, I finally cracked. I was in the garage when I heard his phone on speaker. Mark's voice came through: "Dude, you're still handing Lily Emma's blueprints before she even files? How many times has she flopped now? Girl's relentless, huh?" Alex? Straight-up ice. "Ninety-nine. She'll quit soon." "You're really tanking your wife to boost Lily's brand? Worth it?" "Lily's launching her new product tomorrow at the Boston Medical Summit. Patent number 100. Watching her blow up from nothing... makes me proud." "But it's all Emma's stuff. Your dad made you marry her for her brain, didn't he?" "Don't bring up my father." His voice turned sharp. "He forced me to dump Lily. I just played along." I sank into the driver's seat, frozen. I wasn't a partner. Just a pawn—revenge bait for his dad and backup fuel for his ex.

Betrothed before she was even born, Mel finds herself bound to the Chief of the bear tribe. Winning his affection is the least of her worries when she learns the real reason for the arranged marriage. A reason that might make her stay in Orion not so welcoming, especially when she is to wed a beast.

I had given up the Luna position six times for Silas Blackthorn. The first time, I shattered every moonstone lamp in the master bedroom and threw his clothes into the rain. The second time, I cried until my wolf went hoarse, asking him why I had to be the one who stepped aside. The third time, I begged him to leave at least one suitcase behind, because I was terrified he would never come back. By the fifth time, I had learned to fold his coats, pack his luggage, and stay silent so he would not get angry. Every time, he kissed my forehead and promised, “Seven days. Then everything goes back to normal.” And every time, I believed him. Until the sixth time. This time, when Silas handed me the document and asked me to step aside again, I signed without crying. He thought it was another temporary Luna authorization form. He did not know it was the mate bond release agreement. Seven days later, while he waited for me to return to the main house and reclaim my title, the bond between us broke. And by then, I had already left Blackthorn territory for good.

I've planned seven wedding ceremonies in total, and not once has my fiance, Zachary Gardner, ever shown up for it. The first time, his adopted younger sister, Louise Foster, bursts into tears because she lost her passport at the airport. It was the dead of winter, but he dumped me by the side of the road and left me. The second time, Louise's dog sprained its ankle. Zachary stuffed the ring back into its box and rushed to the animal hospital to accompany her. Every time I argue with him about it, he declares nonchalantly, "We can get married anytime, but I can't let Louise be upset." Everyone around us agrees with him, saying that we're all family anyway, so I shouldn't be so petty. None of them has seen Zachary and Louise kissing fiercely on the dance floor. Today is the seventh wedding ceremony. Once again, he turns to leave after getting a call. I grab the corner of his shirt and say in a choked voice, "If you leave this time, Zachary, I won't marry you anymore." He stops in his tracks and peels off my fingers. "Wait for me," he says before rushing off. What he doesn't know is that this time, I won't be waiting for him any longer.

I had lost count of how many times Aaron and I had dissolved our mate bond. He always said it was temporary. Vivian was the only she-wolf from Blackridge Pack who had made it into Hollywood. Her father had died saving Aaron during a rogue ambush. From then on, Aaron treated Vivian like a debt he could never repay, and I became the easiest thing to sacrifice for that debt. Whenever Vivian returned, Aaron took me to the Bonding Hall and dissolved our bond. Whenever she left, he came back and let the elders write our names into the bond ledger again. In Blackridge Pack, Aaron could take me to the Bonding Hall, dissolve our sanctioned bond, and come back for me when Vivian no longer needed him. At first, I cried and begged. Later, I learned to pack quietly, sign quietly, and hand back the Luna position along with whatever tenderness he had left for me. But this time, when Aaron waited at the Bonding Hall to renew our mate bond, I never came.

The heir to the Vitale family gave me thirty thousand dollars a month to be his mistress—all to get back at my mother. I needed the money. And secretly, I’d always loved him. So I let him humiliate me. Later, during a heavy snowfall, he made me kneel at the funeral of my love rival’s mother. That was when I finally let go. Enzo asked, “You think leaving New York will solve all your problems?” I answered, “It won’t solve them, but at least I won’t have to see you.” For that, he trashed the immigration agency that was helping me leave the country.

I gave my husband five years of loyalty, he repaid me with betrayal in my own bed. So I walked away with my pride, silence, and a secret that could ruin him. I thought that was the end with that family until another Weston stepped into my life. Xavier Weston offered me a deal I couldn’t ignore: his name, his protection, and a chance to watch my ex-husband lose everything he ever fought for. All I had to do was become his wife. It was supposed to be that simple. A contract to sign and a role to play. But nothing is ever simple about the Westons, and Xavier is the most dangerous of them all. Escaping might not be an option for me. Because the man I thought was just a mistake, a cold arrangement I thought I would one day walk away from… is slowly becoming the only place I feel safe. And when the truth finally came out, I had to face the one thing I never planned for, What if the man I married for power and protection… turns out to be the one I was always meant to love?