BLURB Wren Calloway knelt on a bar floor to beg for a shift she couldn't afford to lose — and got engaged-off, cheated on, and threatened before her shift even ended. Twenty minutes later, her brother had three hours left to live. She signed a contract she didn't have time to read, walked into a private fertility program she didn't understand, and let a stranger call her *candidate seventeen* while he decided, without ever learning her name, whether her body was worth sixty thousand dollars. She thought it was over the moment the check cleared. Six weeks later, she's fainting on shift, losing time she can't account for, and being hunted through her own city by things that don't look human — and know exactly what she's carrying. When Alpha Rhys Kade tears apart four attackers with his bare claws to save her, he doesn't ask if she's okay first. He asks if his pups are okay. Wren isn't just pregnant. She's carrying the first true-blood heirs the Kade line has produced in three generations — heirs powerful enough to end a decades-old war between packs, and valuable enough that an entire council wants them dead before they're born. The only man capable of protecting them is the same one who once looked at her like a line item and walked away without a second glance. Now his enemies want them all gone, his own family wants her erased from the bloodline, and Rhys wants something he has no right to ask for — a second chance to be the man he should have been in that cold room six weeks ago.

--- Aria’s life was ruined in 12 seconds. A viral video. A cheating fiancé. A pack that called her "wolf-less trash". 48 hours later, King Damian Blackwood dragged her into his SUV and put a contract in her lap. *_Marry me. Have my heir. Don’t fall in love.__ Easy. Until the bond ignited. Until her wolf awakened. Until she saw his darkest secrets in his blood. Damian is ruthless. Billionaire CEO. Killer King. The man who doesn’t believe in mates. He’s also the only one standing between Aria and the people who want her dead. Clause 9: _The bond cannot be denied once formed._ So why does the King look at her like she’s his biggest regret... And his only salvation? __He bought her body. The moon goddess claimed her soul. Now the war for the throne begins._* --- *CHAPTER 1 HOOK:* > I caught my fiancé cheating on our wedding bed. > The video hit 1 million views before midnight. > My pack exiled me for being "wolf-less". > > Then the Lycan King came. > "Marry me," he said. "$10 million. One year." > > I signed. > > The moment I did, a golden mate mark burned onto my wrist. > > His eyes went gold. > "Impossible," he snarled. "You’re not supposed to be my mate." > > Too late. ---