Fake Or Real
His Discarded Luna, the Rival's Obsession
"No wolf. No family. Harmless. Useful. The second I am done with her, the Luna title is yours." Eira Crawford heard those words through her husband's office door. For four years, she had been Sebastian Vale's hidden mate. She managed his household, entertained his relatives, cleaned up his messes, and lived on the three thousand dollars he gave her each month like charity. Even buying a new coat required an explanation. But for his first love, he casually prepared three hundred thousand dollars in research funding. To Sebastian, Eira was nothing more than a wolfless Omega from an orphanage. A quiet, obedient wife with no pack, no power, and no value beyond being useful. He had never introduced her publicly as his Luna. His family treated her like a servant. His sweetheart mocked her as a woman who could only survive by clinging to an Alpha. So Eira stopped crying. She recorded the affair, filed for mate dissolution, and placed the divorce papers in front of Sebastian. Even then, he thought she was throwing a tantrum. He signed without hesitation, certain she would come crawling back once she realized no one else would want a discarded, wolfless Omega. He was wrong. The woman he left at home washing dishes was a Stanford-trained electrical engineer. The "useless" wife he ignored was the hidden chief engineer behind a national self-developed chip project. Her movements were classified. Her disappearance could alert the federal authorities. Her name, once revealed, was enough to shake the entire scientific community. And Sebastian knew nothing. After walking out of his house with nothing but her freedom, Eira crossed paths with Killian Sterling, the coldest and most powerful Alpha in the north. He did not know her name yet, but his wolf recognized something in her that everyone else had missed. Meanwhile, Sebastian finally realized that Eira was not bluffing. He searched the entire city like a madman. For the first time in four years, he publicly called her his wife. He demanded she return. He begged for another chance. But by then, Eira was no longer waiting in his house. She was seated at the Sterling Pack's dinner table, dressed with quiet confidence, while the most feared Alpha in North America stood beside her. In front of everyone, Killian Sterling placed his hand at her back and said coldly, "Eira is not anyone's discarded Omega." "She is my Luna."
Chapter 1 Serpent's Coil
The main screen flashed green.
SUCCESS
For one stunned second, the clean room went silent.
Then the lab exploded.
"We got it!"
Cheers broke out across the room. Someone slapped Eira on the shoulder as Professor Davies pushed through the crowd and pulled her into a quick hug.
"Eira, look at those numbers. This is huge. We just changed the game."
A researcher behind him let out a low whistle. "National pride, military contracts, and enough money to make half the country lose its mind. Not bad for one night, Dr. Crawford."
Davies leaned closer so she could hear him over the noise.
"Your husband is Alpha Sebastian Hale, right?"
Eira nodded.
"This could give Hale Pack a serious edge," he said. "If they get access before the other Packs, they'll leave everyone else in the dust."
His words hit harder than she expected.
She pictured Sebastian opening the certification report. His face would go still first. Then his eyes would sharpen. Maybe, just maybe, he would look at her with something close to respect.
She had wanted that look for four years.
"I'll tell him tonight," Eira said.
Davies grinned. "Good. Let him see what you've been up to."
Eira smiled, but her fingers tightened around the folder.
[No, ]she thought.
[I'm giving him the biggest advantage of his life because I'm his wife.]
She cleared three security checkpoints, changed out of her clean-room suit, and collected the final certification documents.
Her name was printed across the first page.
Dr. Eira Crawford.
She ran her thumb over the title.
This time, no one could call her useless. No one could brush her off as a wolfless omega. No one could say she had nothing to offer an Alpha.
She had built something powerful enough to make entire Packs fight for access.
And tonight, she was going to put it in Sebastian Hale's hands.
--
The VIP elevator took her straight to the top floor of Hale Tower an hour later. Alpha Sebastian used the private suite for late business meetings, and sometimes he slept there when he claimed Hale Group's work ran too late. Eira had brought him dinner there more times than she could count.
This time she brought him a future.
She stepped out of the elevator with the folder held against her chest. The hallway was quiet, thick with expensive carpet and soft yellow wall lights. She was twenty feet from his office when her steps slowed.
Her nose knew before her mind did.
Cedar. Sharp, familiar, warm in the way only Alpha Sebastian's scent could be. It was the scent she had fallen asleep beside for four years, even when his side of the bed stayed cold too long.
But under it was something else.
Sweet. Floral. Not hers.
Eira stopped.
The office door was not fully closed. A thin line of light spilled through the gap, and with it came the mixed scents of two people standing too close.
Then Alpha Sebastian spoke.
"Serena, you know I've always loved you. She means nothing."
The folder slipped slightly in Eira's grip. She caught it before it fell.
Serena's voice came next, soft and wet around the edges, but there was a thin blade of amusement underneath. "If you love me, why did you let that Omega orphan become your Luna? Why didn't you come after me when I left?"
Alpha Sebastian gave a low laugh. Eira knew that laugh. He used it when he wanted someone to feel foolish for doubting him. "You're jealous?"
"Shouldn't I be?" Serena asked.
"I chose her because you left," Alpha Sebastian said. His voice softened, but the softness made it worse. "I needed a Luna. The elders wanted the position filled, and Eira was harmless. No family. No wolf. No one to challenge me."
Harmless.
Eira stood outside the door, unable to breathe.
Serena made a small sound of disgust. "And now?"
"Now she's useful." Alpha Sebastian sounded almost bored. "She runs the house, handles Pack accounts, keeps my mother from turning every dinner into a war. Why would I throw away a tool that still works?"
The word sank into Eira slowly.
Tool.
Not wife. Not Luna. Not partner.
Tool.
Serena was silent for a moment. When she spoke again, her voice had lost its tears. "I don't want to stay hidden forever."
"You won't." Fabric shifted inside the room. "When the time is right, the Luna position will be yours."
"And the heir?"
Alpha Sebastian's answer came without hesitation. "My heir will only come from you."
Eira closed her eyes.
For four years, Alpha Sebastian had avoided touching her. He told her she was young. He told her the silver poisoning he suffered years ago might still affect his body. He said he did not want to hurt her. She had believed him because she wanted to believe there was kindness inside the distance. She had thought he respected her. She had thought patience was love wearing a quiet face.
No.
The truth was simple.
She was not Serena.
Through the crack in the door, she saw Alpha Sebastian lower his head to Serena's neck. His nose brushed her skin, and his expression changed in a way Eira had never seen directed at her. Desire made his proud face almost drunk.
"I missed you," he murmured. "Your scent. Your voice."
Serena leaned into him. "Then divorce her."
"Not yet."
"Why?"
Alpha Sebastian's tone cooled, turning into the voice he used in board meetings. "Because she still serves a purpose. Give her a little attention, and she'll do anything for this family. Don't touch the tool before I'm done using it."
Eira's fingers tightened around the folder until the edge bent.
Inside it was a certification that could have changed Hale Pack's future. She had imagined placing it on Alpha Sebastian's desk and watching pride finally dawn in his eyes. She had imagined him saying her name like it mattered.
Instead, she heard the truth.
For a moment, pain emptied her completely. Then something colder moved in.
She took out her phone with steady hands and pressed record. The screen captured the gap in the door, the angle of Alpha Sebastian's face, Serena's hands on his shirt, the kiss that followed, the way he whispered her name like a vow. Eira recorded until her soul felt far away from her body. Five minutes. Enough for any lawyer. Enough for any Council hearing. Enough for any fool who later tried to call her dramatic.
Then she stopped the recording.
She walked back to the elevator without making a sound. The doors closed around her, cutting off cedar and flowers at last.
In the polished steel, her reflection looked calm.
So calm it felt like a stranger was staring back.
***
Outside Hale Tower, the cold air hit Eira's face. She did not cry. Tears felt too small for what had happened.
She called the legal division of the National Research Institute. Susan answered on the third ring.
"Dr. Crawford?"
"I need a formal mate separation agreement. I have proof of my mate's affair. I want the bond ended and my name removed from all Hale Pack records as soon as possible."
"Standard filing or protected status?"
"Full protection. Highest level. Sebastian must not learn about my security clearance."
Susan paused. "That process will cost you."
"I don't care how much it costs." Eira looked up at Hale Tower. "Get his signature before he figures out what he's losing."
She ended the call and walked away without looking back.
FAKE MATE, REAL BOND
Blurb. Gina, an omega, was born with the cruelest fate, a mate bond with Alpha Brandon, the future leader of her pack. But instead of claiming her, Brandon hides their bond to maintain his status and parades another she wolf as his chosen mate. To him, Gina is a secret someone to use and discard. B
Fake Amnesia, Real Betrayal
The call came at 7:05 PM on our tenth wedding anniversary. My husband, David, was in an accident. At the hospital, he was awake, but a young woman, his assistant Chloe, was holding his hand, acting like his wife. When I walked in, he looked at me, a blank stranger' s stare, then asked, "Who are y
Fake Marriage, Real Baby
Ryder grabbed Regina's chin firmly, his fingers curling around her jaw as he pulled her closer, his eyes burning into hers. He leaned in, his lips brushing against her ear as he whispered, "You belong to me, Bunny. Every inch of you. No one else gets to touch you, to claim you like I do. You're mi
Fake Divorce, Real Betrayal
"Let' s get a divorce, Ava." My husband, Mark, said the words so calmly, pushing the papers across our dining room table, the morning light making the black letters sharp. He quickly added, "It' s a fake divorce. It' s for Clara. Lily needs to get into the school district here, and she can' t un
His Fake Wife, Her Real Voice
The call came from my half-brother, Andrew, offering me a lifeline: marry a comatose heiress for $150,000 a month. I, Ethan Clark, the black sheep of the family, agreed instantly, eager to escape my cramped apartment and dead-end life. My new wife, Nicole Anderson, was a "Tech Princess" in a persi
The Fake Wedding, A Real Betrayal
Six years with Olivia Hayes, and we were finally making it official. I clutched our marriage certificate, crisp and new, ready to file the final paperwork at the city clerk' s office. Then, the clerk told me the document was fake. My heart sank. Olivia Hayes, my fiancée, had been legally married tw
My Fake Boyfriend Is The Real Boss
I spent two years being the perfect girlfriend. Baking birthday cakes. Planning surprise parties. Never asking too many questions-until I walked in on my boyfriend Kevin and my best friend Natalie in my bed. No tears. No screaming. Just the cold clatter of my keys hitting the floor and the final swi
His Fake Death, Her Real Power
The call came on a Tuesday, the day before my wedding. My fiancé, David, was dead, killed in a gang shootout. My world shattered; I was five months pregnant, and the grief choked me so completely I tried to take my own life six times. Why was this pain so absolute, so suffocating, when his mother
His Holiday Girlfriend: Fake Love, Real Christmas
When Emma Walsh catches her boyfriend cheating just days before their holiday getaway, she's left heartbroken, homeless and jobless. Stranded in New York City with nothing but her luggage, she wanders into a bar where one reckless night with a brooding stranger changes everything. Liam O'Connor, an
Fake Vows, Real Love: The CEO's Wife
For three years, I hid my identity as a billionaire heiress to build a life with the man I loved. I gave up everything to support Ben's career, believing we were creating a future together from the ground up. The day before our engagement, I overheard him with his boss, Haylie. He called me a "step
Her Fake Memory Loss, His Real Goodbye
One phone call shattered a seven-year-long dream of love. Holden Campbell believed his fiancée Avery's amnesia was a wound that needed patient healing. He used all his connections, booking appointments with the best neurologists on the East Coast, convinced that science and love could bring back th
A Fake Marriage With The Real Tycoon
Alayna was working a grueling catering shift in worn-out heels to support her broke college boyfriend, Caiden, who claimed to be studying at the library. But through the crack of a VIP suite door, she saw him wearing a bespoke suit and a Patek Philippe watch, sipping expensive liquor. "It's a little
From Fake Divorce to Real Fortune
It started with a casual scroll through a Facebook parenting group. My husband, Jack, came home that evening, his face alight with an excitement I hadn't seen in years. He spoke of a monumental career opportunity with BMW in Germany, a chance to elevate our family's future. Then came the chilling
Fake Amnesia, Real Betrayal: I Left, He Crawled Back
In the fifth year of Irene Shaw's marriage to Ethan Hart, he was involved in a car accident and lost his memory. No matter how she tried to prove that they had once loved each other, Ethan still insisted on a divorce. His reasoning was hard to refute. "If I really loved you as much as you clai
Fake Wife, Real Revenge: I Married His Billionaire Uncle
For seven years, I loved Aiden Mcmahon. For two years, I believed I was his wife. Then a county clerk told me the truth. "Your marriage certificate is a forgery, Miss Buchanan." My blood ran cold. "Then who is Aiden legally married to?" "Ember Rowland." His widowed aunt. While I hid behind a
Trading A Fake Marriage For A Real Vow
Bryson once gave Helena his whole heart, yet betrayal followed when he wed another. He claimed her absence forced his hand, insisting the other woman was only a substitute. Helena refused to accept this false marriage or any more of his excuses. She gathered evidence, secured much of his fo
Fake Wife, Real Heiress: My Billion-Dollar Revenge
Natalie discovered her three-year marriage was a lie when she learned Waylon was legally wed to the woman who had nearly killed her in a staged crash. As the heiress to the nation's richest tycoon, she could have walked away. But threats against her family forced her to stay and play the devoted
The Solitary of Juan Fernandez, or the Real Robinson Crusoe
The Solitary of Juan Fernandez, or The Real Robinson Crusoe by Joseph Xavier Saintine
Real Identities
"Well, that's where I want to go" she yelled. "Camila!" Her dad called in a warning tone and she sighed. Camila, a teenage girl is excited to join the prestigious institution owned by the Governor but schooling became unbearable as Chloe, the Governor's niece is hellbent on bullying her. She kept ge
Real Folks
Adeline Dutton Train Whitney was an American poet and prolific writer who published more than 20 books for girls. Her books expressed a traditional view of women's roles and were popular throughout her life.
