When you leave your heart behind
/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.
/0/29443/coverbig.jpg?v=ed170b01a8c633fef0d573a1847fb5b7)
Behind You
He is selfish and only think about himself. He doesn't care if it'll trouble the people around him. Jawad return from his journey when he gets the news of him getting married or he loses his position of being the heir to his father's company. Farah a beautiful and kindhearted woman, with a nice and
/0/46260/coverbig.jpg?v=2a5392930b4e4c88221a11eac3ebd0a2)
Behind you, Mate
"Behind you, Mate?!" Everything started when Darelia got transferred to a catholic school with supernatural creatures. Being known to be dumb from birth, no one knew her source, except that she grew up with her stepmother and stepsister. Bullied and tortured without any supernatural power, she be
/0/84181/coverbig.jpg?v=2a8125281d83d28de6595dd5e48301ce)
When Your Child Becomes Your Killer
The last thing I remembered was the bitter taste of the tea my daughter, Stella, had made for me. I died slowly, my body betraying me while my mind screamed, alone in a secluded D.C. apartment. Stella, the brilliant Yale graduate, the political commentator I had molded into a star, watched. Just
/0/18547/coverbig.jpg?v=e93b598bdee1b1cc96af35efde92af98)
Yearning For Your Heart
When Marilyn prepares a surprise for her husband, she finds out that he has been cheating on her with her best friend. To make things worse, it turns out that their marriage was nothing but a scam to steal her inheritance. In her despair, she runs into Ethan, an attractive man who has been drugged a
/0/63924/coverbig.jpg?v=20250421095901)
Teasing your wicked heart
Following her father's passing, Lady Sarah Jane is handed down to her inheriting uncles and cousins as the obedient ward who no one wanted to take care of. After the passing of her last surviving family members and the impending dissolution of the Rosenberg title, Sarah Jane had to figure out how to
/0/26203/coverbig.jpg?v=20221013033305)
When Calls the Heart
Lavender Del Castillo, is 24 years old and a successful young lady. This lady is sweet, kind, caring and a daddy's girl type. After her father died, he left a perfume company named Atmosphere Perfumes. She loved her father so much, she was eager to manage the company and continue to provide the qu
/0/24809/coverbig.jpg?v=3e17306e84bd89769cc8e580b0e688f7)
When I'm With You
Two not-so-ordinary people living in a completely different world met by accident. Two people having opposite personalities, collided by debt... ohh, let's just say 'fate'. And two unfamiliar faces in an unfamiliar relationship... *** "I want you to keep this in mind, Rafi, I married you not becaus
/0/44942/coverbig.jpg?v=4a8a94cbaaae364396e240c0f8c7b8f4)
WHEN I SEE YOU
"But why won't you kiss me back, wait don't tell me I didn't meet the standard of the girls you kiss and make out with" "Brianna your hand is bleeding come let's stop it and cover up that wound" there is no way am having this conversation with her. "I don't want to cover wounds, I want you to answ
/1/126321/coverbig.jpg?v=eff3e0ff5c41eec43913e896d8b2912f)
You Cheated First, Why Cry When I Marry Your Brother
Chantal was only one day away from marrying Kayden Cole, the man who supposedly saved her life after a tragic accident left her blind. But an anonymous text led her to a hotel suite, where her heightened hearing caught the unmistakable sounds of her fiancé in bed with another woman. Standing outsi
/1/102483/coverbig.jpg?v=393aea15a7831f7f99aa3699b7f219b9)
You Chose Her: Now Watch Me Leave
I was the Hayes heiress, the silent engine behind my husband’s startup, and the woman carrying his child. But while I sat in the waiting room, rubbing my six-month-pregnant belly, Michael was on Instagram posting a photo of his "friend" Selena’s baby with the caption: *My little Prince, Michael II.
/0/90584/coverbig.jpg?v=20260527122859)
The One for You Would Never Leave You
After a heartbreaking end to her two-year relationship, Rose is left shattered when her boyfriend abruptly tells her he's "tired" of the relationship and that she's become too uptight. What he doesn't mention is the real reason behind the breakup...he has been cheating on her with his flirtatious co
/0/37066/coverbig.jpg?v=45218d5c14e2a66a70c67a5dd7c9a95f)
When you are back
“The first thing that I feel as I wake up every morning is the pain in my chest. And sometimes I just don't want to fall asleep because I know that when I wake up, you won't be by my side."
/0/21102/coverbig.jpg?v=08cf95666efec396ff5226d3733d6532)
When Are You?
Celine is an assistant scientist to the genius but coldhearted Dr. Drake Cole. The doctor happened to specialize in quantum physics and time travel. He invented time travel gadgets that will allow humans to travel back and forth through time. It's a portable device compared to a bulky time machine.
/0/83693/coverbig.jpg?v=5c82a482d64f98c887cb44804da95483)
When Family Sells Your Soul
The first thing I remembered from my last life was the end: the chloroform, the burlap, and my mother' s voice selling me off for twenty grand. Then, the tearing, the brutal silence. I woke up, reborn, to the sterile smell of antiseptic. My mother, Brenda, lay frail in a hospital bed, diagnosed wit
/0/83993/coverbig.jpg?v=dc1d7035b6bd6e5bed1fa136808983f5)
When Loyalty Becomes Your Weapon
The emergency board meeting was a bloodbath, and I, Ryan Scott, was the designated lamb. Suddenly, my fiancée of six years, Jen, a senior partner and my future wife, threw me under the bus, blaming me for billions in lawsuits and our firm's ruined reputation. Her intern, Caleb, then piled on with
/0/70685/coverbig.jpg?v=603d1368e9b58c3760763bd7836a75e7)
THE BATTLE FOR YOUR HEART
"Hello , Nicholas" Eight years ago, Nicholas Chesterfield had made a wrong decision of choosing his father's attention and acceptance over Amelia and her father. He lost Amelia in the process and he regretted it ever since. Now as the CEO and partner in NW International, he needs to finalize a pr
/0/18566/coverbig.jpg?v=21b5dea44af8599198682c8bb6924f6c)
Press Me To Your Heart
Angela already had plans to marry the love of her life. However, when he came up with frivolous requirements like giving him a son, washing the dishes, becoming an ‘obedient little housewife’, she upped and left. After that, she made a promise to be a bachelorette her entire life. What she didn’t e
/0/40216/coverbig.jpg?v=6c6a8a59b2b9afcfd7d96108d0e147e0)
A Piece of Your Heart
Julia Simmons was a woman who worked hard for her family's future. In order to take care of her ailing parents and younger brother, she gave up college and began working multiple jobs to make ends meet. It was the day when she first met Nathaniel Adams that her life changed forever. Nathaniel Adams
/0/83268/coverbig.jpg?v=f9fc2adbbba67ab1da6feccff19f44f0)
When Your Home Isn't Safe
Thanksgiving Day in our brand-new, dream condo, and my wife Sarah and I were finally settling into our freshly renovated home. Everything felt perfect, a fresh start. But the holiday cheer vanished when an HOA email popped up: "Improperly parked vehicle." My car. In my own deeded parking spot. T
/0/86928/coverbig.jpg?v=44970da81940a1b6c54f6d2941a67bf0)
When Love Poisons Your Dream
Tomorrow was the grand opening of my dream restaurant, "Aura," a place I'd poured my life and soul into. As I stood there, taking it all in with my girlfriend and business partner, Sarah, a man from the Department of Health showed up for a "surprise inspection" based on an "anonymous tip." My blood
