Outcast werewolf

No Longer Mrs. Cooley: The Architect's Return

Xiao Xiaosu

I went to the City Clerk’s office for a routine copy of my marriage license to finalize a trust fund audit. I expected a simple piece of paper, but the clerk’s pitying look told me my entire life was a lie. "The license was never finalized, Ms. Oliver. In the eyes of the state, you are single." The three-hundred-guest wedding at the Plaza and the Vogue features meant nothing. My husband, Gray Cooley, had intentionally filed the documents with a "procedural defect" so he could discard me without a legal divorce. Moments later, an iCloud invite titled "Our Little Secret" popped up on my screen. It was a photo of my best friend, Brylee, holding a positive pregnancy test at our Hamptons estate. Gray’s text to her was the final blow: "Happy anniversary, babe. This baby is the best gift. Once the trust unlocks today, we’re done with the charade." I soon discovered they were even stealing my career, reassigning my architectural masterpiece to Brylee while preparing my eviction notice. Gray's mother called me a "barren mule" in a leaked recording, mocking the infertility I suffered after saving Gray’s life in a construction accident. I wasn't a wife; I was a three-year placeholder used to secure his inheritance. How could the man I bled for treat me like a disposable prop? How could my best friend carry his child while pretending to comfort me through my darkest moments? The betrayal burned until it turned into a cold, hard stone of fury. I didn't cry. Instead, I walked into the penthouse of the Barretts, the Cooleys' most powerful rivals. I signed a marriage contract with Kane Barrett, the man the tabloids called the "Beast of Wall Street." "I want a wedding," I told his father, my voice steady and lethal. "Bigger than the one I had with Gray." If they wanted me gone, they would have to watch me become the woman who owns their world.

Modern Revenge Divorce

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I didn't have time to think. Not even a second. Trees blurred around me as I tore through the forest, my boots were slipping on wet leaves, and my lungs burned like they were scraping fire. Something snarled behind me, it felt too deep and too rough to be human. I glanced back and saw a shadow move with the precision of a predator that already knew it was going to win.

Kaelen's shout ripped through the chaos.

"Lyra!"

"Don't stop! We can't hold them off!"

I listened and pushed harder. My shoulders were still messed up from last winter, it felt really painful....., an ugly pain, but I didn't care. Because for me, pain makes me feel I'm alive from the struggles I have been through.

I stumbled into a clearing so fast I nearly fell. Fresh blood painted the ground as something big already died here. Its smell was really awful. I was still studying it trying to figure out what killed it, then Mara screamed.

My whole chest seized because she was mine to protect. A childhood friend who is more or less like a sister to me. She is my responsibility. I sprinted towards her voice.

"Lyra!"

She was pinned under a massive shadow, some creature with eyes like coals and teeth meant for ripping. She clawed at the ground, panic wild on her face. I didn't have time to think at that moment, I just grabbed the nearest fallen branch and swung it like my life dependeds on it.

The creature hissed, jerking back just enough for me to drag her free.

"Run," I choked out.

The forest wasn't a shelter, not tonight. My pack was scattered as they were injured, bleeding and starving. We weren't warriors anymore, we were ghosts trying to stay breathing as something bigger and smarter was hunting us.

I sat trying to catch some breathe before I figure out where I and my pack would find shelter then a whistle blew from nowhere. I looked around and it was from Kaelen, Mara or anyone from my pack. That got me scared as we were already tired, I had less energy for a fight. My instinct screamed danger.

A man stepped out from the shadows like he had been carved straight from the night. He was tall with broad shoulders and also had an eye color that was really attractive. Ice-blue. I observed slowly, trying to figure out if he was out for a fight or something else. He wasn't walking like a prey or like a man. He moved like the forest moved out of his way.

"Lyra," he said

"Who can that be and how does he know my name?" I whispered as I hurriedly stood, posing in fight mode.

My stomach knotted so hard it hurt. I should've attacked him, or at least pretended I wasn't terrified. But he wasn't coming at me. I squeezed my eyes even more and my heart skipped immediately I recognized who he was.

It was Damian. The king's alpha. The name you never whispered too loudly. The man who could erase a pack with one order.

I forced my voice steady, trying to talk calmly but it came sharper than I meant. "You're far from your throne, leave before I make you."

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