"You smell like them," Aurelian growls, his hands burning through her dress as he backs Liora against his desk. "Every. Single. One of them." Her fated mate, the Alpha who rejected her in front of the entire pack, kisses her like he's drowning. Three days ago, she was bound to his elite warriors as punishment. A ceremonial mating meant to erase her claim and keep her alive. But Caelan's gentle hands, Kieran's wicked mind, and Riven's silent devotion are rewriting everything she thought she knew about desire. Now Aurelian appears in the darkness, possessive and desperate, while his perfect Luna watches from her throne. And liora just discovered the truth: her rejection wasn't cruelty, it was the only way to save her life from danger. But some secrets are more dangerous than death. And the mate bond that should have broken? It's only getting stronger.

She was built to destroy him. He knew it before she arrived. Isabella Moretti spent eighteen years becoming the perfect weapon, trained in seduction, combat, and the art of righteous vengeance. Then Adrian Volkov stole her war before it could even begin, kidnapping her with a smile that said “I've been expecting you.” He knows her mission. He knows her training. What neither of them knows is that Isabella isn't a Moretti at all, she's the biological daughter of the man who engineered the slaughter that started their war. And he's still alive, watching, waiting for her to unite two criminal empires under his control. If she chooses Adrian, her father burns both families to ash. If she runs, he kills everyone she loves. Now she's falling for her captor. He's falling for his enemy. And somewhere beneath eighteen years of carefully constructed lies is a woman who has never once been allowed to simply choose. When your entire identity is a weapon someone else forged, is love liberation, or just a prettier cage? She was never the weapon. She was always the trap. And Adrian just walked straight into her.

"Every touch drains my immortality," he whispers against her throat, his shadows caressing her skin. "Every kiss shortens my lifespan. But I can't stop reaching for you." Liora Ashenveil has killed three mates. Her wolf turns murderous the moment anyone tries to claim her. Her pack calls her cursed, until the Shadow King bids for the bride designed to destroy him. He kneels before her throne. Calls her his lost queen. Shows her memories of a past life she can't remember but her wolf recognizes with violent certainty. He orchestrated every death to bring her here. Now she's trapped in a palace of living shadows with an immortal who's been dying for centuries, waiting for her return. He manipulated her fate. Engineered her suffering. And he'd do it again, because loving her is worth the cost. But the curse only kills when she resists desire. And gods help her, she wants the monster who made her.