iLma

[R-rated]

Celeste was an omega without a name, a girl who has been abandoned by her father. The only thing she had mastered all her life was survival. 

Until survival turns into murder.
 At midnight, she took a life. Or so she believed. The only witness to her sin is a painting… and the man behind the brush. When Celeste seeks to destroy the damning canvas, she finds herself face-to-face with the Alpha Prince of Windslor Castle, a man with too many scars and far too much power.

She wasn’t supposed to sneak into the castle, she wasn’t supposed to hear the words that never leave its walls.

Now, it was her turn for retribution, to pay for what she did. But instead of tossing her to the rogues, he gave her a cruel choice: sell herself to him for a fortune… or submit to death.

Death? That was the easy way out. So, she made the harder choice. She sold herself to the monster.

They say he is mercilless. They say he doesn’t leave the castle. They don’t say what he does to the people inside it. No one’s ever seen him. She hadn’t either.

But he had seen her even before she ever stepped into his world. On his canvas. Because the night she spilled blood, his painting watched her do it. 

The moment she realized, it all made sense—she was either his obsession… or his vengeance.

Celeste needed to know the answer. Even if she is terrified of the way he looks at her. Even if her body betrays her every time he gets too close.

When truth reveals and she finds out who she really is, would she be able to tame the monster?

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The Lycan’s Retribution: Sold to the Alpha

Tristan released me the second I regained my balance, like the contact itself offended him.

"Alpha!" I straightened quickly, giving a small bow before I spoke my mind. "What… was all that noise? And the woman? Where did she go?" My breath had gone ragged.

"You don't ask questions in this place, Celeste," Tristan said. "I would suggest you follow me quietly."

I remembered what Riggs said last night. So, I swallowed every question buzzing in my head and nodded. This place… these people… nothing made sense. Everything felt off, like I had walked into a nightmare.

Tristan led me into a room that felt like part office, part interrogation chamber. A blonde man in a neat black suit stood there. He was the warden and Tristan's trusted beta. I saw him a few times before.

He looked me up and down as he asked my height, my weight, writing everything down like I was livestock.

Then he looked me in the eye and asked, "You are the girl from the eyot. The one who lives alone. The unmarried girl. Isn't that you?"

I nodded slowly, wondering where this was going.

His pupils dilated. "Are you sacred at all?"

He stared at me like I was the odd one. But Tristan was faster to cut in and ask me again, "Are you a virgin?"

I wanted to disappear. Really. Right there. My cheeks burned. But I didn't lie. I didn't even try. I just shook my head.

"Do you have a man at home?" Tristan asked again, now gripping a long sword that had just been handed to him by a young man through the second door.

The blade caught the light, sharp and polished. I would not lie. It scared me a bit.

Clearing my throat, I turned back to Tristan. "No." I answered.

Tristan said nothing. He looked toward the swordsmith who was leaving and tested the blade's edge with a few flexes, pointing it at him. Before I could even guess what he was doing, he flung the sword.

The blade flew past the man's face, just a hair's width between his shoulder and his ear and slammed into the stone wall. The sound echoed, and I swear I stopped breathing.

The swordsmith stood frozen. His face drained of color. And I? My heart felt like it had leapt into my throat.

The sword fell to the ground seconds later.

Tristan frowned. "Make something that can cut through boulders," he said coldly. "Not just some pathetic human bones."

The swordsmith bowed and rushed out. Probably happy to still be breathing.

I stared at Tristan in disbelief as he turned back toward the desk and started sifting through papers. "Have you prepared her contract and oath statement yet, Conor?" he asked the warden.

"I am on it. But… are you sure, Alpha? She is unmarried and not sacred."

I clenched my jaw. There it was again. That sacred nonsense.

Tristan didn't even flinch. "Even so, she is not sacred enough, Beta Conor."

I clenched my jaw. So that was what this was about? My worth measured by some old belief about purity? And they want a sex slave or what?

"You need a sacred person for slavery?" I asked. Brave.

Conor nodded seriously. "That's the rule here. You need to join us sacred."

Another rule. Of course. This kingdom was drowning in them.

I was about to respond when Tristan's voice cut me off.