Debi B

"For years, I belonged to him. Not his mate. Not his love. But his bedmate. His Gamma. His shadow in the night. Alpha Calhoun made sure no man dared touch me, no wolf dared look at me. I was his possession, his secret, his sin wrapped in skin. And I endured it all—his rough hands, his dark devotion, his kisses that tasted like fire and chains because at least, for a while, he was mine. Until she returned. His destined mate. His so-called true love. And suddenly, I was nothing. Cast aside, silenced, left to wither in the shadows of a love that had never been mine to claim. But the thing about being claimed by a man like Calhoun… is that he never truly lets you go. ""Try to leave me, Elodie,"" his voice had been a snarl against my throat, his grip bruising my waist. ""I'll burn down every border, tear apart every wolf that stands in my way, until you crawl back to me. You're mine, even if the Moon Goddess herself wants to rip you away."" He didn't know then that I already had one foot out the door. And when I finally left his pack… I took more than just my broken heart with me."

"No woman leaves his bed alive." "But I will survive." I whispered it to the moon, to the chains, to myself—until I believed it. They say Alpha King Maximus is a monster — too big, too brutal, too cursed. His bed is a death sentence, and no woman has ever left it alive. So why did he choose me? The fat, unwanted omega. The one my own pack offered up like trash. One night with the merciless King was supposed to end me. Instead, it ruined me. Now I crave the man who takes without mercy. His touch burns. His voice commands. His body destroys. And I keep going back for more. But Maximus doesn't do love. He doesn't do mates. He takes. He owns. And he never stays. "Before my beast consumes me completely—I need a son to take the throne." Too bad for him…I'm not the weak, pathetic girl they threw away. I'm something far more dangerous —the one woman who can break his curse… or break his kingdom.

“I, Julius Armstrong, reject Doris Charles as my mate.” The laughter came right after. This was the second time my mate rejected me because I cannot talk. In the pack, they call me dumb not because I am stupid, but because I am mute. When I turned eighteen, my first mate rejected me for that reason. Today, it was the Gamma. He is twenty-one, the same age as the Alpha and Beta. This was his third rejection. The first girl was too fat, the second was too short and now, I was dumb. I never wanted to attend the mating ceremony. I knew how it would end, but my stepmother forced me to go, and my stepsisters came just to watch me get mocked again. The next day, wolves who had found their mates returned to officially claim them before the Alpha and pack leaders. I went only because I was forced, just to stand there and watch my stepsister get chosen. Then something happened that no one expected. The Alpha claimed me as his mate in front of everyone. Was I shocked? Yes. Did I believe him? No. Did I think it was a cruel joke? Absolutely. Because no Alpha would choose a rejected, mute girl like me.