Yule Ball Dress

I waited for my boyfriend for three hours at his birthday party. Sean Ziegler was supposed to show up dressed as the star of night. However, his secret lover, Josie Sullivan, called him to the hospital. She had pretended to sprain her ankle. There, she recorded a video of her and Sean kissing. In the heat of the moment, Sean stood up and pushed her against the door. But he was supposed to be paralyzed. “Sean, why haven’t you told Wendy that your legs are fine now?” “If she knows, she’ll pressure me to marry her. Seriously, who does she think she is? Wendy’s just a free maid. She’s not good enough to be my wife,” Sean said in a muffled voice. After that, he continued to kiss Josie intensely. Wearing the wedding dress I had designed, Josie looked provocatively into the camera. The video then ended with the sounds of them kissing. It turned out that Sean had been lying to me all along. I threw the cake that I made for him into the trash. Then, I texted my mom. [Mom, I’ll go on that blind date.]

I caught my husband cheating on Valentine's Day. Hours later, a stranger knocked on my door and changed everything. Five years of marriage. Gone in one night. I found Bryan with another woman in our anniversary suite. The red dress I wore for him suddenly felt like a joke. The apology I rehearsed felt stupid. I ran to a different room, broken and alone. Then Julien appeared. One night with him made me forget five years of pain. His touch was gentle. His eyes saw me. Really saw me. For the first time in my life, I felt alive. But someone was watching us. Now I have a message on my phone. Someone has photos. Someone wants something from me. My husband wants me back. A stranger wants to destroy me. And Julien might be the only person I can trust. But can I trust anyone after what happened? One Valentine's night. Two men. And a secret that could ruin everything. What happens when the person who breaks you isn't the one who saves you?

For seven years, I thought Declan was just an ordinary Beta. That was until I secretly traveled a thousand miles to his pack, wanting to surprise him. Only to find other werewolves calling him Alpha. And more importantly, he already had a Luna. The wolves around me started whispering. “Is that the Alpha’s secret lover?” “The nerve of her, showing up here… so shameless.” I wanted to argue, to tell them they had it all wrong. I was his real girlfriend. His Fated Mate. But then, a woman in a gorgeous dress walked over. The wolves bowed their heads respectfully. “Luna.” She was on the phone, her voice a sweet, playful pout. “The blessing ceremony for the heir is about to start, and the Elders are getting antsy… I know you’re busy, but this is our child. You have to be with me.” The man’s voice on the other end was deep and gentle, a voice I knew better than my own. “I know, my Luna.” Just a few nights ago, he had whispered loving words into my ear with that same gentle voice, his body moving powerfully inside mine, holding me so tight. It was my lover, Declan.

My wedding was a trap. My fiancé’s plan? Strip my power, claim my throne, and break me into submission. But I don’t break. I traded my wedding dress for combat boots and infiltrated the one place I was never meant to survive: the brutal, all-male Alpha Academy. Disguised as a boy, I fight where bones snap before breakfast and dominance is earned in blood. And sleeping three feet away from me? Donovan—my traitorous ex. The same man who murdered my brother. With a lethal enemy who suspects my secret, a teacher who wants more than obedience, and three fated mates who could either break or build me, I’ve got one mission: survive. To do that, I’ll have to master my wolf, outwit every alpha in my path, and prove I was never meant to be just someone’s bride. Because the Academy’s deadliest secret? They have no idea what I really am. And by the time I’m through, the Alpha Academy will remember exactly why you never corner a she-wolf like me.

In my last life, my sister Serena Vega ran to Monaco the night before her wedding, and my family shoved me into her dress before dawn. Damian Lucchese, the young Godfather of New York, had been waiting at the altar for her. The moment he lifted my veil and saw me instead, the warmth in his eyes went cold. For five years, I was his hidden wife. The underworld knew he was married, but no one knew to whom. My parents blamed me for stealing Serena’s place and still failing to keep his heart. Then Serena came home. That Christmas, Damian took her and my parents to his mountain estate. When a blizzard hit, his men rushed everyone onto the helicopter. No one remembered me. I died in that frozen house, three months pregnant with Damian’s child. When I opened my eyes again, Serena had just returned to New York. This time, I would not beg for love. Only when I truly walked away, none of them had the right to regret it.

My secretary replaced me on my wedding day, walking down the aisle in a white wedding gown. The man I had loved for ten years threw the bridesmaid dress in my face and ordered me to wear it instead. "She is the bride now. You'll be next," he said coldly. My grandmother was so furious that she fell ill on the spot. Meanwhile, he and the secretary smiled brightly as they completed the wedding ceremony. After the grand wedding, the secretary posted photos of herself in her wedding gown on social media. The comments were overwhelmingly congratulatory. [Today is such a beautiful day, I finally got what I wanted. I hope those who try to ruin someone else's relationship will wake up soon.] She wrote. Chester Morrison replied to her post: [It is a great day. Don't ruin your good mood by some trash.] When I returned home, holding my grandmother's photo, who had passed away, I found them tangled together on the bedspread my grandmother had lovingly sewn for me, the one with a pair of Swan that symbolizes eternal love.

Survival taught Elon Rivers that his body could be a weapon—just not in the way his stepfather intended. Now he works the con: dress pretty, play helpless, drug them, and disappear with their valuables. It's not honest work, but nothing about Elon's life has ever been honest. When he targets the wrong mark—Fort Thorne, a mafia enforcer with eyes like a winter grave—his carefully constructed world shatters. Fort knew exactly what Elon was from the moment he walked into that hotel room. The briefcase Elon stole contained information worth killing for, and Fort wants it back. There's just one problem: Elon's roommate has already stolen it from him, and now Fort is out two million dollars. Fort's offer is simple: return what was stolen, or work off the debt. Every single Penny. Trapped in Fort's world of violence and power, Elon discovers that his captor is as damaged as he is, and that the line between hatred and desire is thinner than he ever imagined. But in a world where trust is a luxury neither can afford, falling for the enemy might be the most dangerous con of all.

On the day of my wedding gown fitting, a stranger burst into the VIP suite and stabbed me with a knife. “You think you deserve a dress this expensive after stealing someone else’s man?” She tore at the delicate fabric of my skirt. Then, with a twisted smile, she hurled a bottle of acid at me. The blade was buried in my lower abdomen. The pain drove me to my knees. She grabbed my hair and yanked my head up. “Gerald’s my husband! What are you? You’re nothing but a mistress who can’t even be seen with him in public!” Blood dripped down my fingers. That was when it finally sank in. The man I had been with for seven years had been keeping another woman by his side. “What’re you staring at? Even if I kill you, with my husband’s influence, no one will dare touch me!” Staring at her smug face, I pulled out my phone with hands slicked in blood and called my brother. “Matt…” My voice was unnervingly calm. “Come pick me up at the bridal shop. And please inform the Hoover family that the engagement is off.”

On my wedding day, my boyfriend, Theodore Gunther, suddenly stops the wedding ceremony—all because Gwen Lithgow has updated her social media to say she's back. Theodore throws away the wedding ring he designed. He leaves me at the altar without another look back. I'm dumbfounded as I stand there in my wedding dress. My brother, Alvin Chilton, who's supporting me, lets go. "You've always been strong, Joycelyn. I know you can handle this alone. Gwen needs me more now." With that, he also leaves. He and Theodore have both left me for the same woman. They abandon me alone. That night, after dealing with the fallout of the failed wedding, Gwen sends me a photo. In it, Theodore and Alvin are standing by her bedside. She wears the necklace Theodore made himself and the wedding dress Alvin designed. Those were supposed to be mine. The image makes me lose hope in them. Tears stream down my face as I make a call. "Mom, Dad, I've changed my mind. I want to go home."

Adrienne prides herself for being smart, prim and proper. She doesn’t go against the rules of society and refuse to even take a shot of Tequila. In other words: Conservative. Boring. For just one night, she let lose. She left her eyeglasses, flat shoes, long skirt and knitted sweater behind. In high heels and a dress that accented her long legs and curves, she went to a club by herself and decided to find out what it was like to have a good time. Her night couldn’t even be more perfect when Justin Adams, the city’s most sought after bachelor, a.k.a. most notorious playboy fell prey to the charms she didn’t even know she possessed. Justin was every girl’s dream boat, but he never committed to a woman. He didn't date and didn't do relationships. But what was supposed to be just a one night stand with the City's most wanted playboy became a full-blown secret affair. Soon, she will find out that she's been living her life with all the right intentions... but for all the wrong reasons.