A DEBT TO PAY
/1/130821/coverbig.jpg?v=7f74e3da9208fbd64237b41f638ad1f6)
Rejected By My Betrothed, Claimed By The Warlord Alpha
I was born a wolfless cripple in the Richmond Pack, but by royal decree, I was engaged to the kingdom's Champion Knight, Emory. During the winter banquet, my half-sister Dessie suddenly tilted backward into the royal ice pond, screaming that I pushed her. In my previous life, I reached out in panic to save her, only to be dragged down and framed for attempted murder. When Emory dove into the freezing water, he swam right past my sinking body to rescue her instead. Once ashore, my own father and my betrothed ignored my desperate pleas. They branded me a vicious, jealous traitor. Emory publicly broke our engagement to marry Dessie, while my father threw me to the executioner to wash away the family's shame with my blood. Until my head was on the chopping block, I didn't understand. Why did my own family want me dead just because I had no inner wolf? Why did the knight who swore to protect me conspire with my illegitimate sister to destroy my life? Opening my eyes again, I was back on the snow-dusted terrace, right as Dessie was setting up the exact same trap. "A wolfless cripple like you should crawl back to the gutter," she whispered, falling backward. This time, I didn't flinch or beg for help. Instead, my fingers shot out like iron clamps, grabbing her wrist, and I dragged her into the freezing depths with me.
Chapter 1
Kalea POV:
"Sister, Emory Lambert is destined to be mine," Dessie Richmond whispered, her voice a poisonous thread slipping through the frigid breeze of the Royal Lunar Garden. "A wolfless cripple like you should crawl back to the gutter where you belong."
Her amber eyes gleamed with malice.
Before I could even process the violent sting of the freezing air on my face, Dessie tilted her body backward, angling herself toward the black waters of the royal ice pond.
She was setting up the exact same trap from my past life.
She wanted the entire court to see her fall, to hear her screams, and to watch me take the blame for attempting to drown the favored younger daughter of the Richmond Pack.
In that past life, everything had favored her. I had screamed in panic and lunged to grab her, my fingers clamping hard around her wrist and leaving livid grip-bruises on her skin.
When we fell, I thrashed and begged Emory to save me, so when he swam straight past me to lift Dessie first, onlookers called it justice — the Champion saving the victim from her attacker.
The healers found my marks on her, and nothing of hers on me. That was enough for a charge of attempted murder.
Now, everything is different. The terrace is crowded with high-ranking nobles, and I know exactly where her nails will land.
I already saw through her act completely. I would play along — and turn her own trap against her.
I did not flinch. Instead, I calmly extended my left arm toward her, offering the loose silver-blue cuff at my wrist as if trying to catch her. Dessie, already falling backward to fake her accident, instinctively clawed out and seized my wrist hard to make it look real, her nails digging deep into my sleeve.
Dessie's smug grin instantly froze.
Her eyes widened in shock as she realized she had grabbed me first. Before she could let go, I stopped resisting. I leaned into her pull and let her own backward momentum drag us both off the marble edge together.
A chorus of shrill gasps erupted from the noble onlookers lining the snow-dusted terrace.
Then came the deafening crash of freezing water.
The shock of the sub-zero pond slammed into my chest, squeezing every drop of air from my lungs.
The weight of our velvet winter gowns pulled us straight into the dark depths.
Dessie thrashed wildly, her arms flailing like a dying bird as her silken skirts tangled around her legs.
Even as she thrashed, her right hand remained locked around my left wrist, her nails tearing frantically at my silk cuff.
Her mouth opened in a silent scream under the water, bubbles bursting around her terrified, contorted face.
Unlike my past self, I did not scream, did not beg, did not leave a single mark on her. I stared back at her through the murky blue, cold and completely still.
Pain tore through my limbs, but my mind was clearer than it had ever been in my two lifetimes.
Above the surface, muffled shouts vibrated through the water.
"Someone help! The Richmond ladies have fallen in!"
Through the rippling surface, a familiar silhouette tore off his heavy velvet cloak on the bank.
Emory Lambert.
The newly crowned Champion Knight of the Grand Royal Trials, and my betrothed.
He dove into the water with a clean, powerful slice.
His eyes scanned the depths, searching desperately.
He looked right past my sinking form.
Without a single glance in my direction, Emory swam furiously toward Dessie, wrapping his strong arms around her waist to haul her toward the light.
A bitter, silent laugh bubbled in my throat.
He was supposed to be my promised mate by royal decree, yet his body reacted purely on instinct to save my illegitimate half-sister.
I let my limbs go limp, allowing the darkness of the pond to drag me downward.
I needed this.
I needed every high-ranking noble on that terrace to see him choose her over me.
Darkness began to creep into the edges of my vision.
My lungs burned for oxygen.
Then, the water exploded behind me.
A massive shockwave ripped through the freezing depths, stirring a violent current that pushed the weeds aside.
A shadow moved with terrifying, predatory speed.
Before I could even register the beast-like force tearing through the water, a pair of scalding, calloused hands locked onto my waist.
The grip was unyielding, made of pure steel.
I was yanked violently against a broad, rock-hard chest.
Even submerged in ice, the overwhelming scent of crushing cedar and raw, wild musk flooded my senses, piercing straight through the freezing haze in my mind.
It was the aura of a dominant, top-tier Alpha.
Yet the moment his skin touched mine, the suffocating pressure of his command miraculously softened, wrapping around my freezing body like an invisible shield.
I forced my heavy eyelids open.
Through the distorted water, I looked directly into a pair of piercing, golden-amber wolf eyes.
Gaines Moss.
The notorious young lord of the Moss Pack, heir to the northern iron legions, and widely feared across the capital as an uncontrollable, violent rogue Alpha.
There was no cruelty in his gaze.
Only a dark, frantic intensity that bordered on madness.
The moment my wet shoulder pressed against his collarbone, a sharp, electric jolt surged from his palm straight down my spine.
My frozen muscles trembled beneath the sheer heat of his touch.
Gaines's jaw tightened.
His arm banded around my waist with possessive force, pulling me flush against him as his powerful legs kicked against the current, launching us toward the surface like an arrow.
On the other side of the pond, Emory was already breaking through the surface with Dessie clutched tightly against his chest.
The freezing air hit my face in a violent rush as Gaines hauled me out of the water, his long fingers instinctively cradling the back of my head to shield me from the jagged marble edge.
The deafening roar of the royal court swept over us in an instant.
/0/57381/coverbig.jpg?v=f094f91cf3d729cc162b858cfec10e24)
SUBSTITUTE BRIDE: A DEBT TO PAY
Andrea Silva was forced to marry her twin sister’s supposed boyfriend after her twin sister, Camila Silva ran away. Andrea was deeply heartbroken when she found out the man she had just wedded was in love with her sister and she was just a substitute till Camila was back. Andrea thought she could
/0/18715/coverbig.jpg?v=064b888bb115456d3cfbf68105b7abcd)
Please Pay Off Love Debt, My Sweetie
After being set up by her fiance, she suffered public humiliation once again. She couldn't tolerate it anymore. So, under everyone's watchful eyes, she walked towards the cold man with a smile. Without further ado, he took her hand and saved her from the turmoil. Finally heaving a sigh of relief, sh
/1/113857/coverbig.jpg?v=19d052b63d920ad4db4c53e0c73d81c4)
A Debt in Red
When gifted cellist Vivienne Aurel inherits her late father's catastrophic $4.2 million debt, she expects to lose everything. She doesn't expect the debt to be bought by Caspian Vane, the most feared private equity magnate in New York. Caspian doesn't want to ruin her; he wants her to work exclusive
/0/73806/coverbig.jpg?v=bc3f3fb57dbd72261fb92527e3e24396)
A Debt In Blood
Chapter 1: BLOOD ON THE DOCKS The scent of iron hung vividly in the air. Lorenzo De Luca stepped into the dimly lit warehouse, his gaze immediately locked onto the body lying lifeless on the cold concrete floor soaked in a pool of his blood. He was too late. His jaw tightened as he took in the bruta
/0/85440/coverbig.jpg?v=173e804e1e2213100889c42604d97eb3)
A Debt of Love, A Family's Curse
We moved into a new house in August, a fresh start my dad called the American dream. Bigger house, two-car garage-everything seemed perfect, a step up for our family. Then, the shelf in the garage collapsed, crushing Grandma' s precious altar, the one she' d used for protection for years. Soon af
/0/67487/coverbig.jpg?v=20250113174144)
A Bride as A Collateral for Debt
Kana was considered a burden to her uncle's family, which led to debts, and her uncle ended up dying. Kana was then forced to pay off those debts, but it turned out that her uncle had already used Kana as collateral for a loan to Ivander-one of the richest resort entrepreneurs in Europe and Asia. Iv
/0/53069/coverbig.jpg?v=bb36cc1142fc72675641a2c8b7da8dc0)
Gay For Pay
Carlos has landed the jackpot with his new job at Logan's porn company. Or so he thinks. Logan has an old score to settle, and Carlos just happens to be the missing link in that puzzle. After a calculated romantic getaway where Sparks fly and feelings combust, will the truth settle easily on eithe
/1/105402/coverbig.jpg?v=4aa09f23c1815b9999a88334ca61e5c8)
The Surgeon's Debt: Bound To The Beast
I was a surgeon on the most luxurious ship in the world, scrubbing my hands until they were raw to forget the name Ye Jiuting and the past I’d left behind. But at 2:15 AM, Room 404 became my graveyard when a federal agent flatlined on my table, and the world I’d built turned into a nightmare. The
/1/113797/coverbig.jpg?v=32dda49f0b3c53fff6ef03dd32716a71)
The Surgeon's Debt: Bound To The Tycoon
For three years, I served as Abraham Crane’s "Surgeon"—the secret fixer who managed his agonizing spinal injury and the even messier fallout of his billionaire empire. I thought the intimacy we shared behind closed doors meant I was the exception to his coldness, but I was just another line item in
/0/44459/coverbig.jpg?v=a8eeb1c62132357d2a06d5b9347b43ef)
Debt To The Mafia #1 Ties To The Mafia
This is a mafia dark romance book. There are four novels altogether. Debt To The Mafia Married To The Mafia On The Run From The Mafia
/1/120886/coverbig.jpg?v=0b58fa026a557e1dab9c7b99eb726b96)
Married To The Devil's Son (The Debt)
Scarlette Voss has spent her life surviving alone, trusting no one and needing nothing. Until the night a bleeding stranger collapses into her apartment. Lucien Morretti, heir to one of the most powerful mafia empires, a man of lethal control and dangerous obsession. She could have walked away,
/1/106623/coverbig.jpg?v=59411c46b2d782df12117e4f3202c05e)
The Fallen Heiress's Debt to the Billionaire
I was once the princess of the Upper East Side, but now I’m just "debt wrapped in pretty skin." To keep my father alive in a federal penitentiary, I signed a contract I didn't fully understand. I thought it was about restoring my family's name, but producer Barnett Orr treated it like a bill of sale
/0/85824/coverbig.jpg?v=18d755de84099e818ff634bc336976c6)
A Debt of Time and Tears
The flickering cursor on my screen was the only constant; my life, a developer' s dream turned broke reality, spiraled with every line of code that built debt instead of worlds. My wife, Chloe, a sharp, cold woman, shared my last name but not my life, her presence in our sterile home a constant remi
/1/108665/coverbig.jpg?v=169dcccecf0e45bcf4d403de9f769ed0)
The debt
In the world of the ultra-elite, everything has a price-but Abigail Sterling just discovered she is the currency. When her father's desperate embezzlement is unearthed by Adam Thorne, a verified billionaire with a reputation for cold-blooded acquisitions, the police aren't called. Instead, a black c
/0/53623/coverbig.jpg?v=eb91360503ab76fda2adb2b0c1c8d457)
A Mafia story: My father's debt
"I'm obsessed with your body Zola" he whispered into my ears, his hot breath brushing against my neck. He rubs both my nipples in between his fingers as the cold water runs down our body. " I'm going to fuck your brains out" he whispered… and I could feel the goosebumps all over my skin. Love b
/0/92598/coverbig.jpg?v=5c5ed232fc631ac4a5e49e1bc9c893da)
I Made Them Pay
On our fifth wedding anniversary, my husband compared me to my best friend. He used to nitpick everything about Hailee Baxter, but that day, he told me to learn from her. "You two grew up together. How is there such a huge gap between you? Grow your hair out, wear dresses more often, maybe spr
/0/40464/coverbig.jpg?v=d173766648e4d199e0451be222c2d283)
Pay The Price
Cristine was craving for justice to the death of her little sister who got hit by a car that she believe Aron Quizon was driving that night. Her heart was full of despair and anger and all that she wants was to take revenge. She got a mission that was fortunately, involve the Quizon’s family and she
/0/23996/coverbig.jpg?v=019333ce0edff709f2a4f4c0000766ef)
Pay for CEO's Love
After Roonie Moore’s mother died, her father married another woman in the twinkling of an eye. From then on, the little princess became Cinderella. Shannon Harris was cold-blooded, resolute in business and awed by everyone, but he never forgot Roonie after one night stand. So he offered a deal - th
/0/81121/coverbig.jpg?v=133e6be982b9e0193d90b8d756344b84)
The Wedding Bill: A Debt of Vengeance
The honeymoon glow was still fresh in our new condo, a symbol of my perfect new life with Kevin. That illusion shattered the moment a hotel invoice landed: a staggering $217,453.19 bill for a wedding reception my mother-in-law, Brenda, had turned into a free-for-all. My husband Kevin, whose dismis
/0/84043/coverbig.jpg?v=aad763b1ba4a2a62c2472b5891dab070)
The Inmate's Redemption: A Mob Boss's Debt
After six long years, I walked out of prison on my 30th birthday, ready to reclaim my life. Instead, my ex-husband, Ryan, arrived with his high school sweetheart, Gabby, who coldly informed me Ryan's sleek new Tesla had "Gabby's seat." My own son, Caleb, now ten, peered from the back, his eyes mir
