---In House Valen, there were two daughters.One was cherished. One was endured.Amara was cherished. Soft-spoken, doe-eyed, fragile in a way that made people want to protect her.Elira was endured.Her parents never loved her. They believe she was a burden.Elira Valen grew up in a house where she was fed, clothed, and reminded daily that she was unwanted.When the letter arrived sealed with black wax and a single wolf fang, the entire pack house went cold.Alpha Kade Nightbane wanted a bride.The Brutal Alpha of the North. Twenty-four years old, sharp-jawed and clean-shaven, beautiful and merciless. A young Alpha who had bathed his lands in the blood of his enemies. An Alpha with no Luna because no family dared to give him their daughter.The letter said: Send me a daughter of Valen blood.It was meant for Amara. Everyone knew it.Elira's mother clutched Amara to her chest, tears in her eyes. "We cannot give him Amara. He will destroy her. She is too precious, too delicate."Her father didn't even look at Elira when he said it. He looked at her like she was a debt he could finally pay."We have another one."There was no hesitation. No guilt. Only relief that the burden could finally be discarded.They didn't push Elira to the brutal Alpha to save Amara. They pushed her because they never wanted her in the first place. This was their chance to get rid of her and call it an honor.Elira heard every word from the hallway. She didn't cry. She had stopped crying for them years ago.She walked into the great hall on her own, back straight, chin lifted, her long dark hair wild around her face. She was not the soft daughter. She was the storm they had tried to cage.At the end of the hall, Kade Nightbane waited.He was younger than the stories. Lean, not bulky, but power coiled under his skin. No beard, jaw sharp as glass, eyes like winter. He watched the family that was so eager to sell their own blood, and his gaze landed on Elira.He saw everything in a second — the way her parents leaned away from her. The hate they didn't even bother to hide. And the fire in her eyes that refused to die.He moved. Past the mother. Past the father. Past the beloved sister.He stopped in front of the unwanted one.His hand found her waist and pulled her against him, possessive and absolute. Elira buried her head in his chest for a second — not from fear, but from exhaustion — her face still turned up, fierce and unbroken.Kade looked down at her, then up at the parents who thought they had just tricked him."I'll take this one," he said, his voice low and final.Her mother smiled, victorious.She had no idea.She hadn't just sacrificed the daughter she hated.She had just handed the brutal Alpha the only woman in the world who was born to rule him.---

At twenty-one, Jason Reign had already become Canada’s youngest and most feared CEO. Cold, ruthless, and dangerously powerful, his name alone could silence a room. Yet behind his emotionless eyes lay scars hidden from the world.Then came Emma Stone—a calm, gentle girl whose quiet nature made people mistake her for weak. Her world revolved around her sick mother, mounting debts, and the desperate need to survive.Until one contract changed everything.Forced into Jason’s dangerous world, Emma had no choice but to accept.One feared man.One quiet girl.One contract neither expected.But beneath Jason’s cold exterior were secrets that could destroy everything, while Emma carried a strength she had yet to discover.Betrayal waited in the shadows. Family secrets threatened to surface. And dangerous lies stood between them.The contract was supposed to save Emma.Instead, it became the beginning of their chaos.