Tragic Temptress

After setting a date with my online boyfriend to meet in person on New Year's Eve, I prepare a dress that will drive him mad. I also prepare a gift for him. To my surprise, he brings his twin brother with him. That's not all—he's only reserved one hotel room. I laugh when I see the identical faces before me.

While I try on various wedding rings, my fiance, Don Demetrio Farese, who has tagged along, suddenly snatches the ring from my fingertip. "You already lost a finger, Lucia. The ring will look ugly on you. Carlotta, on the other hand, looks beautiful with a ring on her finger." Then, Demetrio fishes out a photo featuring him sinking down on one knee while sliding a ring onto Carlotta Rini's finger. My chest tightens. "What are you trying to say?" "Let Carlotta wear the wedding ring. You've already lost a finger anyway—you don’t need it." Pain slowly spreads from my chest to the rest of my body. For a moment, I almost lose my balance. The truth is, Demetrio's mortal enemy is the one who severed my finger by shooting at it. Back then, I only got shot because I had shielded Demetrio from the bullet.

Because I had a face that screamed 'pick-me girl', I became the target of my mother's deepest hatred. She claimed that just seeing me made her sick, bringing back memories of my father's affair. In retaliation, she channeled all her affection into helping a child from a poor village, praising her for being kind and genuine while insisting she loved her hundreds of times more than she ever loved me. But then that same girl went behind my back and seduced my boyfriend, and my mother reacted by hitting me across the face repeatedly. "How did I end up with such a shameless daughter? You're the third wheel, and you're accusing her of being the other woman!" Yet when I fell gravely ill with cancer, she was beside herself with grief, begging for forgiveness while praying earnestly. "How could I not love you, my dear? I've made such terrible mistakes…"

I was eight months pregnant and had just gone into labor, but my Alpha mate, Damien, locked me in a silver cage in the basement to delay my labor. When I cried out for help, he just told me to wait. Because his late brother's mate, Victoria, was also giving birth that day. The Pack Seer had foretold that only the firstborn pup would be blessed by the Moon Goddess and become the future Alpha. "The title belongs to Victoria's child," he said. "She lost Marcus. She has nothing. You already have all my love, Elena. The silver cage will make sure you deliver after her." The contractions were torture. I begged him to take me to the clinic. He grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him. "Stop pretending. I should've known you never loved me. All you've ever cared about is wealth and status!" "To force your labor early, just to steal what belongs to my nephew… You're truly wicked." Pale and trembling, I whispered: "The pup is coming, I can't stop it. Please, I'll make a blood oath. I don't care about the inheritance. I only love you!" He scoffed."If you loved me, you wouldn’t have forced Victoria into that contract to give up her pup’s birthright. I'll come back for you after she delivers. After all, that's my pup in there, too." He stood guard outside Victoria's delivery room. Only after he saw the newborn pup in her arms did he remember me. He ordered his Beta to release me. But the Beta's voice trembled. "Luna… and the pup… they're dead." And in that moment, Damien went feral.

The day after I gave birth to Alpha Albert’s pup, while our son was still fragile and my own wounds still fresh, he demanded I give up the Luna Suite. For his old flame, Chloe, and her unborn child. His reason? Chloe was close to her due date, and the suite’s unique moonlight energy was known to soothe expectant mothers and their pups. I stared at him in disbelief. "But that's the Luna's suite. And our son? Doesn't he need that energy?" Albert’s expression was hard as stone. "I owe her." His voice was ice. "If I hadn't been forced into this mating with you, she never would have married that abusive bastard out of spite. You're the Luna. A small sacrifice won't kill you." A small sacrifice. He’d used that excuse to hurt me countless times since our union. He missed our anniversary to play nursemaid to a sick Chloe. He forced me to give up my position as the pack's Head Healer for her… This time, I didn't scream or fight. I just looked at him, my voice eerily calm. "Fine. I'll move." Then I sent a message to my father, the Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack: Father, come get me. I'm rejecting my mate bond with Albert.

My love story with my Don husband was once the model relationship for couples all across Edale. But after his sudden death, the notary informed me that I was not the first in line to inherit his estate. I froze. Christian Fuzio was an only child. His parents had long passed away. We had no children. If I wasn't the first in line, then who was? That was when the boy walked in. His face was a perfect copy of Zoe Sgotti, Christian's assistant. The boy crossed his arms and sneered. "Mrs. Fuzio, the person my father loved most in his life was my mother. Of course, most of the inheritance belongs to us." Rae… Ray… Only then did I realize that the name he had whispered on his deathbed was never mine. I lunged forward to question Ray, but he shoved me into the traffic. The moment my head slammed against the ground, darkness swallowed everything. When I opened my eyes once more… I stared at my young, strong hands. Feeling the life that I had once lost growing inside me, I finally understood that I had been given another chance. Christian, this time, I no longer wanted your fake love. I would grant the three of you all the happiness that you wanted.

While I'm poisoned with wolfsbane, a female Omega named Rita Thorne has accused me of being a traitor of the pack. But my husband, Fenrir Grimm, refuses to listen to my explanation. As he holds Rita in his arms, he tells me icily, "Cynthia Huntley, you're no longer worthy of being my Luna. From today onward, Rita shall replace you as the Luna. You, on the other hand, shall be exiled from the pack." Not only does Rita brand a mark of humiliation on my face, but she also secretly swaps out the antidote for the wolfsbane with something else. She wants me to die as a disfigured she-wolf. I don't want to, nor am I willing to accept this fate. The moment before Death embraces me fully, I pray to the Moon Goddess desperately. When moonlight illuminates the land, I hear the Moon Goddess's loving voice. "Cynthia, you're given 48 more hours to live."

Three days into the silent treatment, Derrick—my fiancé and CEO—greenlit his assistant's pitch for a self-driving road trip. He expected me to flip, like always. I didn't. A month later, he came back and saw it—I wasn't the same. He backed Molly, stole my project, and thought I'd explode. I didn't. I just helped her draft the proposal. He trashed everything I built, just so she could snag her year-end bonus. I didn't fight back. Took the blame, took the hit. Molly was all smug. "See? Told you. You can't go at Yara head-on. Give her the silent treatment—she folds. She's scared of losing you. That's why she's playing nice." Derrick ate it up. Called her smart. Then he pulled me aside—offered a raise, a promotion, even a fancy wedding. First time he'd ever brought it up. But he missed one detail: he'd already signed off on my resignation while he was off playing road trip king. And I'd already dumped him. That was it. Clean cut. Nothing left.

I am Alpha Asher's fated mate. His Luna, blessed by the Moon Goddess. But when I started bleeding out, our pup's life hanging by a thread, Asher was at a party for her son—Seraphina's son—celebrating his first shift. I cried out to him through our mind-link, begging for help. He just sounded annoyed. "Bleeding? How long are you going to keep up this act? Last time it was a headache that turned out to be nothing. Now it's bleeding. Aurora, enough is enough. I'm at Leo's first shift party. This is a huge day for him. I can't just leave." Then I heard Seraphina's child call him "Daddy," and Asher's voice, so full of love, answer him. Before I could say anything else, he ruthlessly severed the link. Three hours later, the doctors declared my pup dead. I sent Asher the wolfstone that held our pup's shattered soul, then went to the pack elders alone. "Asher has betrayed me. I demand the severing of our mate bond."

My best friend, Mila Clarke, falsely accused my father and my family for betraying the pack and killing the warriors. I kneeled before my husband, Alpha Leon Black, and begged him to have faith in my father. But he merely gazed at me coldly no matter how hoarse I've gone from crying. Even my own pup, Lucas Black, berated me. "I feel ashamed of you and your family! You're not worthy to become my mother!" Later on, I got cast out to the barren plains surrounding the border. Six years later, Leon and Lucas want to take me home. But I already have a new pup, a new mate, and a new home here.