Substitute

Charles Jansen's true love returns to the country in my seventh year with him. The first post on her social media after she lands is an intimate photo of them together. She captions it, "I'm glad we've come full circle." Only then do I find out the ring hidden in the living room isn't for me. Charles' proposal isn't for me, either. Suddenly, I feel exhausted.

"I don't do business with monsters!" Mino sarcastically exclaimed, glaring fiercely at the lady with a thin cloth covering her face. "So was I with a pathetic human," Vreihya grumbled angrily. They both despised one other's kind because, in their own views, they were both monsters. Vreihya is the strongest vampire, fated by prophecy to bear a child who will substitute the Goddess of the Moon, yet she cannot live freely without the human who is her only remedy for her illness, and when the human perish, she dies. Their foes will object to having a half-human blooded vampire as their new Goddess, thus they will go to any length to slay the mortal and dominate the most powerful vampire in the vampire world.

"I just want to love my husband every day, even though it seems impossible for him to love me back. We're married, but the painful truth is, Audric doesn't feel the same way about me. How could he ever love me? Especially now, with Ivony, the woman he truly loves, back in his life. She should rightfully be his wife. They'll be a happy family together. And me? I have to step back and distance myself, even though I'm carrying Audric's child from a night he claimed me. I need to move away even though it feels like my soul is being torn apart from the pain."

Everyone in Eimport knew Ethan as a ruthless tycoon. Yet this same man humbly loved me. When his enemies kidnapped me for revenge, he charged bare-handed into an inferno so fierce even firefighters hesitated. I was unconscious but unscathed, while Ethan's right arm bore grotesque burns that would never fully heal. Unbothered, he even declared to the world that these scars were proof of our love. I was touched and browsed positions for couples online while he worked late. But everything shattered when I stumbled onto a video. The man's face was blurred, but the scar snaking up his wrist was unmistakable. The woman trapped in his gilded cage bore a striking resemblance to me. My heart hammered, torn between terror and devastation. That very night, I decided to leave and not ever see him again.

I arranged a lavish dinner cruise in Alpha Lucien Grimfang's honor. However, I mistakenly wore the ceremonial gown that had once belonged to his late Luna, Sylvia Wilder. In front of all the guests, his ten-year-old son, Rhett Grimfang, suddenly rammed me into the champagne tower. The shattered crystal glasses left deep cuts across my skin. "Don't think that you can replace my mother just because you're wearing her sacred gown! You're nothing but a dog—obedient and always at my father's beck and call! Don't you dare dream of claiming a Luna's honor!" His cold, scornful expression mirrored Lucien's perfectly. "I can make you leave anytime I want!" I forced myself to look up at the pup I had raised. "Don't trouble yourself. Tomorrow, I'll submit my resignation to the Elder Council and leave for good."

Sophie is delighted to be marrying Sebastian, the billionaire heir to the Castillo line, who has always been her childhood crush. She counts herself one of the few amongst her peers, who wouldn't have to deal with the unpleasant ordeal of a loveless marriage, But all that hope is crushed when she's jilted at the altar by her intended groom who doesn't show up. But worse than being the jilted bride, is the crushing reality that the wedding is expected to go on. Only, instead of marrying Sebastian, she would be marrying his cold hearted, arrogant recluse of a half-brother; Dante Castillo. And in her opinion, that was the worst fate any young lady could ever be sentenced to. Or was it..?

Stellina did not expect that her life would change drastically when Diego, an Underboss of the Pacnozzi mafia clan, asked her to be his wife. Of course the request was not based on love. Because Diego only wanted to use Stellina to replace his wife, Vellina, who died in a car accident. Stellina, who look similiar to Vellina, could not refuse Diego's request when the life of the father she loved so much was at stake. When Stellina finally joined the Pacnozzi family to replace Vellina, she seemed to bring a warmth that had never filled the mansion until now. Arianna, the daughter of Diego and Vellina really loves her current mother because Stellina treats Arianna with great affection, unlike Vellina who always snaps and scolds her all the time. But somehow, Vellina's cousin Matteo finds out about Stellina's identity and blackmails her. Stellina could not tell Diego for fear that Diego would stop her father's health treatment if Diego found out that someone else knew Stellina's true identity. How will Stellina deal with this situation and save herself in the mafia's lair? Will Diego let the woman who has slowly stolen his heart fight alone?

Everyone in the social circle of Kingsford said I was nothing more than a lapdog raised by Charles Mankin. I was always at his beck and call. I did every filthy, ludicrous thing for him under the sun. When he street raced, I rode shotgun. When he drank himself senseless, I made him hangover soup. When he chased girls, I prepared protection for them. Over time, everyone knew: Charles had a dog who never ran, never bit back, no matter how hard he kicked. They all said I must be madly in love with him. Even Charles started to believe it. So he pushed further, more freely, more cruelly, crossing lines as if they never existed. Then came my twenty-fifth birthday. He, in a rare stroke of mercy, said he'd celebrate it with me. But instead, what he got was the news that I was leaving the country. He went berserk, charging through the airport like a man possessed. I peeled his fingers off my wrist one by one, smiling like I'd never been happier. "Don't be stupid," I told him, still smiling. "That was never love." That night, Charles smashed apart his family home like a rabid dog.

Without warning, Ezra drags me over to his desk in the corner of the study room and shoves me towards it. There, he rips my dress and pulls my arms behind me, tying both my wrists with the torn cloth. It hurts. I shake my head and a strangled sob escapes my lips. “Part your legs, Alayna.” he growls I try to free my hands but this results in him tightening the cloth further. Ezra presses his himself against my back. “Spread. Your. Legs.” *** The black sheep. The unwanted one. The second choice. Those were the names I grew up with. But when my sister mysteriously vanished on her wedding day, I was forced to take on another name, the Luna. “I never loved you. You’re nothing to me but a substitute.” Ezra's words burn in my mind every night as I lay in his bed, letting him ravage and abuse my body. Tears spring to my eyes with every thrust, with every slap, with every bite of his wolf fangs. It was never meant to be like this, I was never meant to be his Luna, I was never meant to be his whore. He was meant to marry my sister, the beautiful, strong and brave she-wolf of our family. Instead, he ended up with a mute omega; me. My name is Alayna Morningstar. And this is my story.

Lyra’s birthday party was supposed to be her usual drinking and partying night, but that night, it was different. She spent her 26th birthday party, having a one-night stand with a handsome stranger, Harrison Monroe, with an assumption that they would never meet each other again. However, they met again. In a hopeless bid to protect her family's reputation, Lyra stood at the altar as Harrison’s runaway bride’s replacement. An unusual contract was created between these two strangers, bound by a shared secret and a plan to dissolve their union once the timing was right.