ROSE its petals and thorns
/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:
"Emory Lambert is destined to be mine," Dessie Richmond, my sister, 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 had already seen 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, I saw a familiar silhouette on the bank tear off his heavy velvet cloak.
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.
/0/66623/coverbig.jpg?v=577f3c30b5c194d3127a7068a5bf8a09)
Thorns of the midnight rose
In the opulent kingdom of Vynthera, Lady Seraphine Caldris is a woman of unmatched beauty and cunning intellect. Born into a noble family, she is admired for her grace but feared for her sharp tongue and even sharper wit. Beneath her polished exterior, however, lies a secret: Seraphine is the true h
/1/113637/coverbig.jpg?v=cbac5cc0c5694326ee1f4205af0d108c)
BLOOD AND PETALS
She sells flowers. He spills blood. And he will stop at nothing to make her his. Elena Rossi has always lived quietly among roses and lilies, dreaming of love as gentle as the petals she arranges. She thought she found it in Daniel, the man she planned to marry. Until her wedding day when a dangerou
/0/71844/coverbig.jpg?v=8c6a820a9e552b2e0e157f1e224ce113)
THORNS AND ROSES
Joan has no choice as her parents accepts the marriage contract offer without even an approval from her, Damien had to fulfill his father's last wish. The alliance being an opportunity for the settlement of the debt Joan's parents had to pay. But the dark past and haunting experiences suffered by J
/0/57739/coverbig.jpg?v=105998ccd933ee7a55decf2344c6faf9)
Roses And Thorns
All the meek and ethereal Rose knows is a life of survival of the fittest at the brothel she's been sold to by her father. But all that changes when she's roped into the dysfunctional Williams family. An industrialist family in a subtle battle for the successor of the CEO title of their conglomera
/0/14747/coverbig.jpg?v=e851ce666f0fa6a1277d1716d83305e3)
/0/7859/coverbig.jpg?v=b76304e01142e28d125260d4c394f67b)
/0/3245/coverbig.jpg?v=3b17513b3bce7ab1d82b3631d2633005)
Crime and Its Causes
Today regarded as an important figure in the development of the field of study that is now known as criminology, William Douglas Morrison was one of the first scholars to attempt a systematic study of criminal behavior and to assess early theories about the origins of this type of social deviance. C
/0/15149/coverbig.jpg?v=99bb1f69e065f61d2d777c698c489a1f)
/0/17542/coverbig.jpg?v=47bef37860b7149af2d5228bddcc8c81)
Venice and its Story
THE History of Venice is the history of a State unparalleled in Europe for permanence and stability. For centuries Venice occupied that position of maritime supremacy now held by Great Britain, and time was when an English king was fain to crave the loan of a few warships to vindicate his rights in
/0/17410/coverbig.jpg?v=f57c7982c42f30c8118c7480b87e6dbf)
Tyrol and its People
"[...]was rendered impossible. In 101 B.C., the year following their appearance in the beautiful province of Venetia, where they created, so historians tell us, a terrible panic, the Roman arms triumphed at Vercelli, when the invaders, led by Bojorich, suffered a crushing defeat in one of the bloodi
/0/14985/coverbig.jpg?v=31e148def651fd7fba5aa038c988ae40)
/0/51444/coverbig.jpg?v=6ef4a04d23d9b2f639665add0928cf29)
SHATTERED PETALS
"In the shadow of towering affluence, Jake, a resilient gardener striving for a better life, finds himself entangled in a web of heartache and adversity. From the condescension of a wealthy employer to the heartbreak of a love gone awry, Jake's journey unfolds in the unforgiving streets of the cit
/0/14562/coverbig.jpg?v=ec2ebae01568ad95c806b443db69d15e)
/0/8889/coverbig.jpg?v=c319121faeec69a2d3a4efa3877a07bf)
Mohammedanism / Lectures on Its Origin, Its Religious and Political Growth, and Its Present State
Trajectory presents classics of world literature with 21st century features! Our original-text editions include the following visual enhancements to foster a deeper understanding of the work: Word Clouds at the start of each chapter highlight important words. Word, sentence, paragraph counts, and re
/0/86725/coverbig.jpg?v=edb6db1e92548186a3e65495b6ca8bf5)
Petals & power
She was trained to serve. But she plans to rule. In the empire of Elarith, girls are not born-they're crafted. Sculpted into obedient wives, loyal mistresses... or royal queens. Lily Everen radiant, and sharp as the thorns beneath her beauty, was raised with one purpose: to marry the king. But Lil
/0/13377/coverbig.jpg?v=8c2afe9b438303ff164bb37927cd30bc)
/0/15200/coverbig.jpg?v=b9d50969b14cb33f2505d9b1588f7764)
/0/17216/coverbig.jpg?v=f0ea2d170417eb9262d29eae61ace50c)
/0/9482/coverbig.jpg?v=e9d1c990a5e33b4e4df4df44761884fa)
Insanity: Its Causes and Prevention
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally impor
/0/14901/coverbig.jpg?v=3e6d0c8e6ccdedf34415cae6fa2d496e)
