Scarlett O'hara Gone With The Wind

My wife, Jolene Stephens, and I both cheated. The difference was that she chose to betray me while I had been made to cheat. She got me blackout drunk the same night her affair with Leon Homes came to light. Then, she stripped me naked and left me in a hotel room with a stranger. She posed my unconscious body in degrading positions and took photos to create evidence of my "affair." Both our cheating photos were exposed consecutively, and the public outrage against her little lover was offset. A huge wave of nausea rolled over me, making me dry-heave over the sink. My body was covered in red marks. The thought of what the stranger had done to me drove me to fits of terror. My wife watched as I scrubbed my skin until it split and bled before saying quietly, "I didn't have a choice. Leon's from a conservative family. It would destroy him if word got out that he was a homewrecker." The internet tore me apart overnight. My grandfather, Bruce Tillman, the only kin I had left, suffered a heart attack after seeing the news and was rushed into the emergency room. I had to protect her just to protect myself. So, I repeated the lie she needed me to tell under a wall of flashing cameras and microphones. "Neither of us cheated. Ms. Stephens and I had already separated long ago."

At a company party, Taylor Kennedy plays a game of mouth-to-mouth cookie biting with his female assistant as everyone watches. I blend into the crowd and laugh along. The room instantly falls silent. The assistant bursts into tears and plays the victim. Taylor lets go of her, turns to me, and coldly scolds me in front of the entire company. He berates me for not knowing how to read the room and being a buzzkill. Then, without hesitation, he wraps his arm around the assistant and kisses her deeply as I watch. If this were before, I would've stormed over in a rage and ripped them apart. Then, I would've humiliated her in front of everyone, not caring whose pride I trampled. But now, I feel nothing. Not even as I watch them kiss. Not even though today marks my ten-year anniversary with Taylor.

When I first caught Miles cheating on me, I pinned him down at the entrance whenever he came home every day. I would pull down his pants and spray high-concentration alcohol all over his nether regions. He always went along with it with teary eyes because he knew he had been in the wrong. He would only look at me with a pitiful gaze and coax me to stop. One day, he came home two hours late. I became mad when I smelled the perfume on him. I started taking off his belt forcefully and yelled, “Last time, when you had your fun with one woman, you came home half an hour late. “Now you’re two hours late. Talk! Did you sleep with four?” Even though he apologized to me for the twenty-ninth time, I pushed him away repeatedly. He finally raised his hand to show me the IV mark on the back of it. He snapped and screamed at me, “Enough! I was dying with a high fever, yet you haven’t even asked how I’m doing. You just fly off the handle every single day. When are you going to stop? “Fine, I got drunk and slept with someone once. Big deal. You’re not so innocent yourself. “It’s no wonder you got dragged into an alley at sixteen, stripped, and assaulted. Jenna, you’re a paranoid wreck. You may have even deserved it.” The spray bottle shattered at my feet, and the smell of alcohol caught in my throat. I was speechless. I felt exhausted when I saw his disgusted expression. I did not want this broken relationship any longer.

I knew there was no fighting it. I was done for. My father was a wicked man, and now that he was dead, I would pay for his crimes. I was taken from the south to the north by my father's Beta. I was supposed to be their Alpha, but they had plans for me, and being their leader wasn't a part of it. My father's Beta took me to the Alphas or the north, where my father was hated the most and left me at the mercy of mates I did not know existed. The worst part was that they did not want me. This is a dark romance book not for the faint of heart.

The Ivanovas and the Vitales are well-known aristocratic families who have maintained everlasting friendship through generations. My name is Anastasia Ivanova. I have been the daughter of the Ivanovas for twenty years, only to discover just now that I was switched at birth. When I was swept out of the Ivanova’s mansion like rubbish, Lorenzo, the youngest son of the Vitale family, firmly picked me up in spite of all objections. Lorenzo always acted cold and distant toward me. I didn’t know why he came to take me into his car at that time. He whispered in my ear again and again, ‌"I’ve wanted you for a long time."‌ He pinned me against the leather seat, making me cry until my voice was hoarse. At that moment, I finally understood his coldness over the years was not indifference but restraint. Soon after, Lorenzo overrode all objections to marry me. His parents were vehemently against me, but Lorenzo directly stripped them of power and became the youngest godfather. Scarlett Montgomery tried to stop us from getting married, but Lorenzo canceled all her credit cards and threatened to send her away. I thought we would have a happy life. Three days before our wedding ceremony, he planned to send me abroad, claiming enemies might retaliate. But, I accidentally overheard him talking to Scarlett in the hallway at night. "Thank goodness. You tricked her into leaving until after I give birth. You’re so good to me!"‌ He kissed her cheek, ‌"I don’t want Anastasia know our affair. You must keep it secret."‌ Their dialogue made me devastated. But I didn’t confront him immediately. Instead, I quietly completed my immigration paperwork as a way to make a clean break with him.

At only 5'2", it's hard to believe that Scarlett Lobo is an Alpha. Yet she is. Scarlett is the Alpha of the Crimson Snow Pack. In fact, she is one of the only female Alphas in the country. Leading her own pack, combined with the fact that as an Alpha her fated mated can only be another Alpha, and despite her petite stature people find her intimidating (okay, some people find her intimidating. Other people still resent the idea of a female Alpha), she has yet to meet her fated mate. She's nearly given up, tempted to take a chosen mate, but every time she brings it up, her family talks her out of it. So, she waits, having the occasional fun with her warriors or with unmated Alphas from other packs. That, along with the satisfaction she gets from being a powerful Alpha, leading her own pack is nearly enough for Scarlett to accept the idea that she may just go unmated. Except for that pesky little problem of needing an heir. But, then the Congress of Werewolves and Shifters (COWS) call their first national conference in nearly a quarter of a century, ordering all Alphas to attend. Annoyed to have to leave her pack, but curious as to why this conference is being called, Scarlett attends expecting several days of rather dull meetings, debates and workshops, thinking her only enjoyment would come in the form of her occasional bed buddy, Raul Farkas the Alpha of the Dark Sun Pack. What she doesn't expect is for Ruby, her wolf, to begin driving her nuts on the plane on the way to the conference. And she really wasn't expecting the overwhelming scent of leather, tobacco and parchment to hit her as she checked into her hotel. Enter Alpha Grey Badar.