Forsaken by My Mate, Chosen by the Tyrant

My stepmother’s bodyguards were seconds away from dragging me back to a life that was essentially a prison cell wrapped in silk. I couldn't even scream for help because the words always died in my throat—a clinical condition called selective mutism that felt like drowning on dry land. I had just discovered the sickening truth: my father was planning to sell me to a sleazy investor named Sterling to cover his company’s bankruptcy. They were going to drug me, ship me off to a private island, and strip away the only thing I had left—my late mother’s multimillion-dollar art trust. When I arrived at the manor, my stepmother Lydia handed me a glass of wine laced with bitter sedatives, her smile sharp as a razor. "Drink up, darling. It’ll make the transition to Mr. Sterling much easier." My stepsister Harper stood in the corner, wearing a dress bought with my mother’s stolen money, mocking my inability to speak. My father didn't even look me in the eye as he calculated my price tag, treating his own daughter like a piece of damaged, mute inventory. They thought because I didn't speak, I didn't hear them laughing about the "accident" that killed my mother or how they planned to burn her final restoration work. They assumed my silence was a sign of surrender, a white flag waved by a broken girl who would never fight back. How could the people who were supposed to be my family treat me like a commodity to be traded? Did they really think my silence meant I was weak, or that I didn't know every dirty secret they were hiding in their ledgers? I didn't drink the wine. Instead, I burst into the VIP suite of Carlisle Pierce, the most cold-blooded billionaire in New York, and slammed a crumpled napkin on his table with a desperate, last-second gambit. "MARRY ME. NOW. $1 MILLION."

I was an Omega born into a family of fierce werewolf warriors. My fated mate, Vance, was a high-ranking fighter who always despised my weakness. In my dreams, I saw our future. Our carriage was attacked by bloodthirsty Rogues. Vance shifted and ran ahead to fight, leaving me behind in the fragile wooden box. The violent crash over the rocky earth caused me to lose our unborn child in the freezing winter snow. Instead of comforting me, Vance used our sacred Mind-Link to pour his disgust directly into my brain, blaming me for being too fragile to protect our pup. He publicly complained about my weak scent and humiliated me in front of the entire pack, making it clear he only truly wanted my strong Warrior sister, Lyra. When I demanded a severance of our bond, he agreed with sheer relief. I was left to die a slow, miserable death in a forgotten, drafty corner of the pack. As I bled out in the cold, I felt nothing but absolute despair. Why did my endless submission and quiet obedience only earn me disgust and a pathetic end? Three times the Moon Goddess sent me that vision. Three times I woke with the taste of blood in my mouth. The third time, I knew it was not a nightmare—it was a warning. And when I opened my eyes, I was back in the Great Hall on the exact day my nightmare began. Vance was looking at me with pure resignation, arrogantly announcing to the crowd that he supposed an Omega was good enough for breeding, and he would accept me as his consolation prize. This time, I didn't lower my head. "I, Elara, reject you, Vance, as my mate." I turned my back on him and packed my bags for the Royal City. I was going to enter the deadly Luna Selection. But there was one detail in the vision I had never told a soul. In every replay of that nightmare, when the dream showed me a throne room soaked in blood, a pair of golden eyes always found me through the fog. And a voice—low, resonant, certain—spoke three words that followed me into waking: "There you are." I didn't know what they meant. I only knew that when I finally reached the Royal City, the King who ruled with blood and silver would already know my name—even if I had never spoken it to him.

Hallie Wade sat in her bridal suite, the delicate lace of her veil cascading over her shoulders as she waited to marry Ethan Carlisle. But minutes before she was supposed to walk down the aisle, the best man burst in with a devastating email. Ethan had abandoned her at the altar for his fragile ex-girlfriend, leaving behind only a cowardly message that his wealthy family would compensate her. Instead of an apology, Ethan's mother and sister cornered her in the hallway. They blamed Hallie for driving him away, viciously mocking her ordinary background. "A teacher from a no-name family, trying to be a princess?" They demanded she keep her mouth shut, swallow her humiliation, and fake her way through the ceremony just to protect the Carlisle family's precious public image. Hallie's heart froze. Her three years of love, devotion, and dignity had been reduced to a cheap transaction. Why should she be the victim buried under their mess? Why should she let them walk all over her while the man who betrayed her got exactly what he wanted? Staring at her reflection, her sorrow shattered into a white-hot rage. She raised her hand and slapped Ethan's smug sister across the face. Then, she pulled out her phone, dialed a discreet number, and ordered a tall, handsome stranger to her suite. If the groom was gone, she would simply hire a new one. Today, she was going to burn the Carlisle family's perfect reputation to the ground.

After I was diagnosed with infertility, my husband insisted on divorcing me, but Makenna stopped him. She said: "You can't lose out on the wedding gifts you spent to marry her; why not sell her and recoup some of your investment?" So, Makenna sold me off into the mountains, where I endured humiliation and was tortured to death. When I opened my eyes again, I found that I had returned to the time before I was trafficked. In this new life, I would no longer tolerate it; instead, I sold Makenna out.

I was bound in a two-year contract marriage to NHL superstar Beckett Carlisle to save his ruined reputation. I foolishly thought time might change things, until his childhood sweetheart sent me a photo of him at a bar. "He's with me. -C," the text read. When he came home drunk, reeking of her perfume, he smashed my phone against the marble table just because I ignored him. The next morning, when I handed him our prenuptial agreement and demanded a divorce, his icy eyes darkened. "We have a duty to fulfill spousal obligations," he sneered. He pinned me to the bed and brutally forced himself on me while I sobbed, using his strength to remind me who was in charge. Later, when his grandfather had a heart attack, his mother publicly humiliated me in the hospital hallway. "A Puck Bunny who tried to trap my son deserves to talk to me about respect?" Candice stood right beside him, parading around as if she were the real wife, telling me I was just in the way. I had spent two years playing the perfect, invisible Mrs. Carlisle, swallowing my pride, only to be treated like a pathetic, disposable joke. My heart died completely in that cold hallway. I stopped asking for his permission. I took the limitless black card he had given me, went straight to Fifth Avenue, and bought a new laptop. Since he refused to let me go, I was going to use his money to build my own career and leave this gilded cage on my own terms.

I was forced to replace my sister and marry Lord Gideon Carlisle, a crippled Dragon Lord rumored to be a monster whose brides always ended up dead. But the real danger wasn't my terrifying husband. It was Audrey, the fragile, innocent girl he took in and fiercely protected. She lured me to a cliff, confessed to murdering his first two brides, and tried to shove me into the abyss. When her clumsy attack failed and she nearly fell herself, Gideon's shadow guard rushed in to save her. But he only saw the aftermath. Audrey immediately burst into tears, pointing a shaking finger at me. "It was her! She pushed me! She tried to kill me!" Without hesitation, Gideon chose to believe his precious ward. He looked at me with cold, golden dragon eyes, condemning his own wife without a trial. He threatened me with dragon's flame and locked me in my chambers, while Audrey smiled triumphantly behind his back. I couldn't believe a supposedly brilliant Dragon Lord could be so utterly blind, protecting the very monster who had cursed his life while treating me like the villain. But I wasn't the weak, original bride who would just accept this injustice and die quietly. I calmly walked back into his study, pulled out a vial of Truth Serum, and forced it down Audrey's throat so my blind husband could finally hear the truth.