Blurb：
Dive into the breathtaking world of Elara, a young queen destined to reclaim her throne in the Forgotten Realms. As dark forces led by the sinister Lord Malakar threaten to engulf the land, Elara must unite ancient allies like the wise mage Kaelen and the fierce warrior Riven. With the mystical artifact, the Starstone Amulet, she embarks on a journey filled with magic, betrayal, and redemption. Will Elara master her powers and save her kingdom from eternal darkness? Discover a tale of courage and destiny that will keep you on the edge of your seat!
Content：
After the war between humans and shifters, an alliance was formed to keep the peace.
The price? Daughters of the human nobility had to choose a shifter as their mate.
The first half-blood born from this union would become the new ruler, ensuring that peace would last.
As the eldest daughter of the Morrison family, I was the first to be chosen.
But right after I chose the wolf Alpha, Calvin, I saw a vision on our engagement day.
Because I failed to conceive after six months, Calvin locked me in a cage, determined to use me as a vessel for his pure bloodline.
After I finally gave birth to the prophesied hybrid, my sister, Trina, appeared, claiming she wanted to take care of me.
But the truth was, she hated me for being able to bear the perfect bloodline, while her own mate, that beautiful Elven Chief, was making her life a living hell.
Driven by jealousy, she seduced Calvin, and together, they had me brutally murdered.
After my death, the world saw Trina as the new hope, as the one destined to bear the future ruler.
Only one person fought for me: Caleb, the leader of the bear clan. He was the only one who demanded justice.
A sharp pain lanced through my chest, and I snapped out of the vision.
Before me, Trina begged me to give Calvin to her, revealing he had already marked her.
I nodded. To everyone’s shock, I walked past them all, my eyes fixed on the one person no one ever seemed to notice: Caleb, sitting in the corner.
“Caleb Thorne, will you accept my proposal?”
Chapter 1
The war between humans and shifters was over. To maintain the fragile peace, an alliance was formed, sealed by a blood bond: a daughter from a noble human family must choose a shifter mate and bear their hybrid child.
Around a massive round table sat the representatives from both humanity and the various shifter clans.
Werewolves, werebears, dragons, elves… every pair of eyes in the room was fixed on me.
The war was over, but peace had a price.
And I, as the eldest daughter of the Morrison family, was the first part of that price.
“According to the alliance treaty, today I will choose a mate from the unmarried shifter leaders present.”
“Helena Morrison,” the wolf Alpha, Calvin, stood up. A predatory glint shone beneath his handsome exterior. “On behalf of the wolf clan, I formally ask for your hand.”
Everyone knew that marrying the strongest Alpha meant status, power, and safety.
“I accept.” My voice, though quiet, echoed in the great hall.
But on the day of our engagement ceremony, I couldn’t stop my hands from shaking.
I have to do this, I told myself. It’s for the future of humanity.
I was standing in the grand hall of the Morrison estate. All the dignitaries and shifter leaders were there for the political union.
“Miss Helena, Mr. Calvin has a special gift for you.”
A servant entered, holding an ancient ebony box.
Inside lay a blood-red gemstone pendant. It gave off an ominous glow.
“It’s a Calvin family heirloom,” the servant said. “He wishes for you to wear it now.”
I reached out and touched the gem.
In an instant, the world vanished.
Darkness swallowed me whole.
I saw myself trapped in a gilded cage, my belly swollen with child.
Calvin stood outside, his eyes filled with nothing but a desperate hunger for a pure bloodline.
“Try again, Helena. It has to work this time.”
The vision shifted. I was on a cold operating table as doctors performed horrific procedures on my body.
“This pain is a small price for the purest bloodline,” Calvin said, his voice as cold as ice.
Then, the most horrible image of all appeared.
I saw Trina, my own sister, wearing my clothes and holding my child.
“Thank you, sister,” she said with a sweet, wicked smile. “Thank you for giving me the chance to have all of this.”
“You… you betrayed me…” I managed, using the last of my strength.
“Betrayal?”
Trina laughed. “I’m just taking back what should have been mine all along! You got everything…the strongest bloodline, the highest status. And what did I get? Married off to that damned Elven Chief! His endless affairs made my life a living hell. If you hadn’t married Alpha Calvin first, all of this would have been mine!”
Her eyes gleamed with madness. “After Calvin kills you, I’ll be the mother of the child with the strongest bloodline!”
The final image was my death.
Not from sickness or an accident, but at Calvin’s own hands.
But in the darkness, I saw a figure.
Tall and silent, with a fire of rage burning in his eyes.
Caleb, leader of the bear clan.
He was massive, and just by sitting there, he made the air around him feel heavy.
“Her death was no accident,” he roared at the others. “I want the truth!”
Only him.
When everyone else stayed silent, he was the only one demanding justice for me.
“Miss Helena! Miss Helena!”
My eyes flew open.
The gemstone pendant fell to the floor with a clatter.
The images were still burning in my mind. It wasn’t a hallucination. It was a warning.
“Helena?”
The door opened and Trina walked in.
She looked so innocent and beautiful, but now I knew what hid beneath the surface.
“Sister, I have to tell you something,” she said, her voice trembling.
“I… I love Calvin.” She fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face. “I know it’s selfish, but I truly love him.”
She pulled down her collar to reveal a bright red bite mark on her neck…a wolf’s claiming mark.
“We’ve already… mated,” Trina sobbed. “Please, just let me have him.”
I watched her performance, my heart turning to ice. In that terrible future, she had cried and begged just like this, right before stabbing me in the back.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” I asked calmly.
“Yes!” Trina nodded eagerly. “I’ll give him everything, bear him the noblest heir!”
“Alright then.” I stood up. “You can have him.”
Trina looked at me in disbelief. “Really?”
“Really,” I said, walking to the door. “But I have a choice of my own.”
I pushed the door open and walked out into the grand hall.
Every head turned toward me, including Caleb’s, who sat unnoticed in a corner.
“I have an announcement to make,” my voice rang out. “I, Helena Morrison, refuse the union with Calvin Blackwood.”
Gasps erupted through the hall.
Calvin shot up from his seat. “Helena, what are you talking about?”
“I’m exercising my right to choose,” I said calmly. “According to the treaty, I have the right to choose the leader of any shifter clan as my mate.”
I turned to Caleb.
“Caleb Thorne, leader of the bear clan, will you accept my proposal?”
The entire hall fell silent.
The bears were considered the lowest-ranking clan in the shifter world, seen as little more than savages by the others.
Caleb slowly rose to his feet.
The moment he rose, a hush fell over the great hall. He didn’t need to speak; his presence was a statement in itself.
A flash of surprise in his eyes, followed by deep understanding.
“Helena Morrison, I would be honored.”
“No!” Trina burst into the hall, her eyes wild. “Helena, are you crazy? The bears are violent brutes! You’ll be killed!”
“Better that than to be killed by betrayal,” I said, looking coldly at her.
Calvin’s face twisted with rage. “Helena, you can’t insult me like this!”
“Insult you?” I laughed. “Then why don’t you explain the mark on Trina’s neck?”
The color drained from Calvin’s face.
“I’ve chosen Caleb,” I said, walking to the bear leader’s side. “And you, Calvin, you can have my ‘dear, sweet’ sister.”
Trina’s expression shifted between horror and ecstasy.
“Is this your choice, then?” she sneered, as if I’d already lost completely. “The bears are the lowest of the low! Savages! They live in the forest like animals. It almost makes me feel sorry for you, thinking of how miserable your life will be.”
I took Caleb’s arm, feeling the warmth and strength flowing from him.
“You’re wrong about one thing, Trina,” I said, looking back at her. “A true beast would never harm its mate.”
Chapter 2
Three days later, I was settling into my new life with Caleb in the bear clan’s territory.
“Twenty-seven missed calls.”
I put my phone down and looked at Caleb, who was sipping tea across from me.
We were in a modern city hidden deep in the forest.
This wasn’t the “slum” Trina had described, but a technologically advanced utopia, inaccessible to ordinary people.
“All from Trina?” Caleb asked.
“Her and the media,” I shrugged. “They all want the ‘truth’.”
A second later, my phone rang again.
A video call this time.
Trina’s face appeared on the screen, but she looked completely different.
Her face was perfectly made up, adorned with expensive jewels. Behind her was a lavish bedroom.
“Helena!” Her voice was sickly sweet. “Look at my life now!”
She held up her hand, showing off a massive diamond ring.
“Calvin’s wedding gift! Twenty-five carats!”
I watched her show off, my face a blank mask.
“And this!” She spun around to show off a priceless gown. “Chanel haute couture! Only three in the world!”
“Congratulations,” I said, my voice flat.
“Congratulations?” Trina’s smile twisted. “Helena, do you know what I’m going to do? I’m going to give birth to the noblest bloodline in the world!”
She caressed her flat stomach, her eyes gleaming with a feverish light.
“Calvin has the purest Alpha genes, and I… I will give him the perfect heir. Our child will rule the world!”
My blood ran cold.
Those words… they were exactly the same as in my vision.
“Trina,” I probed, “how can you be so sure?”
“Because I know!” she shrieked with laughter. “I know the secrets of this world! I know the value of the strongest bloodline!”
She leaned into the camera, her eyes full of hate.
“In my… in my past life, you had all of this. The strongest bloodline, the highest status. And I was married off to that Elven Chief, tortured to the point that I begged for death!”
So, Trina has lived this life before.
“But this time,” she went on, “the tables have turned! You married the lowest of the bears, and I will have everything!”
“Trina…”
“Just you wait!” she cut me off. “Calvin will give me the most powerful child, and your bear husband will only give you violence and death!”
The video cut out.
I sat there, my hands trembling slightly.
Trina’s words confirmed my fears. In a past life, I had married Calvin and borne the strongest heir, only to be killed by him and my sister.
“She’s been reborn,” I told Caleb.
Caleb put down his teacup, his eyes glinting. “I know.”
“You know?”
“An ancient gift of foresight runs in the bear clan,” he said, walking to the window. “We can feel the ripples in time. The moment you walked toward me, I felt the path of fate shift. I knew this wasn’t the first time you’d made that choice.”
“Then why did you still accept?”
Caleb turned to look at me, his eyes full of love.
“Because this time,” he said, “I will protect you.”
He moved closer, and I felt a powerful current flow between us…the pull of a true mate bond.
I closed my eyes, ready for his kiss, but a sharp knock at the door broke the spell.
Caleb frowned. “I wasn’t expecting anyone.”
The door flew open and Calvin stormed in, his eyes red and his clothes a mess.
“Helena! You were supposed to choose me! Why did you choose him?” he roared.
I stood up and sneered at him.
“You’ve got Trina, isn’t that enough? What are you doing here?”
“What am I doing?” he laughed coldly. “I’m here to tell you the truth. Do you know what the bears are? They’re failures! Outcasts, abandoned by all the other clans!”
“The ancient families,” he sneered, “they value bloodlines and raw power. The bears threw all that away to dabble in human business and technology. They’re traitors to all shifters!”
“And you,” he pointed at Caleb, “you’re just a savage from the forest! You don’t deserve Helena!”
Caleb didn’t answer, just watched him calmly.
“What do you have that I don’t?” Calvin continued to rage. “I’m the strongest Alpha! I have endless wealth and power!”
“Wealth?” Caleb finally spoke, his voice calm as a still lake.
He pulled out a tablet and set it on the table.
A long string of numbers filled the screen.
Calvin leaned in to look, and his face went white.
“That’s… that’s impossible…”
“Thorne Industries 2024 estimated net worth: eighty billion dollars,” I read aloud calmly. “The world’s largest renewable energy company, three aerospace firms, and several gene-splicing technology start-ups.”
“And your wolf pack’s assets,” Caleb added, “one-point-five billion.”
Calvin started to shake.
“But none of that matters,” Caleb said, coming to my side. “What really matters is that I would never treat Helena like a broodmare.”
“A broodmare?” Calvin forced a laugh. “I would never…”
“Then explain this.”
I pulled out my phone and played a recording.
Calvin’s voice came through the phone’s speaker, crisp and clear: “Trina is just an appetizer. Once I have Helena, I’ll keep her pregnant until she produces the perfect heir.”
Calvin’s face turned ashen.
“How… how did you get that!”
He looked at us, his eyes filled with desperation.
“I can explain, Helena. It’s all a misunderstanding.”
He extended his claws and moved toward me, as if he planned to drag me away right then and there.
“A threat?” Caleb took a step forward.
Instantly, the temperature in the room plummeted.
Calvin felt the pressure of the Bear King’s bloodline and began to tremble involuntarily.
“If you ever try to harm Helena again,” Caleb’s voice was terrifyingly calm, “I will rip out your throat.”
Calvin shot us one last, hateful look, then fled like the coward he was.
“He’ll be back for revenge,” I said.
“I know.” Caleb took my hand. “But this time, we’ll be ready.”
My phone buzzed again.
It was a picture from Trina. She was in a wedding dress, smiling brightly, but her eyes held a manic glint.
The caption read: Just you wait and see my perfect bloodline, sister. This time, my child will be the one who rules the world.
I stared at the picture, a chill running down my spine.
In my vision, Trina got everything she wanted in the end.
But what was the price?
I had a feeling I was about to find out.
Chapter 3
A few days later, news of the “wedding of the century” between wolf Alpha Calvin and human noble Trina Morrison was everywhere.
Calvin seemed to have given up on me completely.
The television screen showed the lavish wedding ceremony.
Crystal chandeliers, a sea of roses, a multi-million-dollar wedding gown.
Trina stood beside Calvin, her smile as perfect as a doll’s.
“Turn it off,” Caleb said, wrapping his arms around me from behind.
We were in the bear clan’s sanctuary, having just completed our own simple, sacred bonding ceremony. No media, no politics, just two souls bound together.
“No,” I said, watching Trina’s triumphant smile on the screen. “I need to see this.”
On TV, a reporter was interviewing the bride.
“Miss Trina, what are your hopes for the future?”
Trina caressed her flat stomach, her eyes gleaming with that familiar, manic light.
“I’m going to have the most powerful child,” she said, her voice sweet, but her words dripping with ambition. “A perfect bloodline, capable of ruling the world.”
Beside her, Calvin nodded, his own eyes full of greed. “Our heir will rule over all the clans,” he declared.
I turned off the TV.
Those words brought back the horrifying images from my vision.
It wasn’t long before Trina, emboldened by Calvin’s power, showed up uninvited at our doorstep.
She was still in her priceless wedding gown, but the smile was gone from her face.
“Let her in,” I said.
Trina walked in, her eyes scanning the room.
The decor was simple, with no lavish ornaments, but every detail was tasteful.
“This is your new home?” she sneered. “It looks… plain.”
“I like simple,” I replied.
“Simple?” Trina scoffed. “Helena, do you know how much my wedding cost? Fifty million dollars! Every dignitary in the city was there to congratulate us!”
“Congratulations.”
“And you,” she looked around, “you married a savage who lives in the woods.”
Caleb stood up, a cold light in his eyes, but I gently touched his arm, telling him to stay calm.
“Trina, you didn’t come here just to compare weddings,” I said, looking her straight in the eye. “What do you want?”
Her mask shattered, revealing pure malice.
“I want you to watch me win!” she shrieked. “I want you to know that this time, I’m the winner!”
She touched her stomach, which, despite the recent wedding, already showed a subtle swell.
“I’m already pregnant,” she announced proudly. “I’m already carrying Calvin’s child. This child will have the purest Alpha bloodline!”
I looked at her overly excited expression, a sense of unease washing over me.
“So soon?”
“We used… special methods,” Trina said, a wild look in her eyes. “To ensure the most perfect bloodline, we underwent an… enhancement.”
“What kind of enhancement?”
“You don’t need to know.” Trina turned to leave. “You just need to wait and watch my child become the king of the world!”
She paused at the door and looked back at me.
“By the way, Helena. No matter where you run, I promise you one thing. I will make sure your life is a living hell compared to mine.”
With that, she swept out.
For three months, Trina’s Instagram was a constant stream of her supposed happiness.
But a photo she posted after the third month shocked me.
She was wearing a tight maternity dress, and her belly was huge.
The size was all wrong.
At only three months, she looked like she was at least six.
“This isn’t normal,” I frowned.
What was even stranger was the background of the photo. A faint black mist seemed to hover in the air behind her. It was subtle, but I could feel the corrupting energy radiating from it. My intuition screamed a warning.
I looked down as my phone buzzed with a new message.
It was a video from Trina.
“See, Helena!” she waved at the camera, her belly grotesquely large. “Look at my little prince! He’s so active in my belly!”
She caressed her stomach, but I noticed her hands were shaking.
“Calvin says it’s a sign of the strongest bloodline,” she continued, though her voice sounded weak. “Our child will have power beyond any clan!”
In the video, I could see cracks forming on the wall behind Trina, as if something was exerting pressure from within.
“Trina…” I was starting to worry.
“Don’t worry about me!” she cut me off. “Worry about yourself! When my child is born, he’s coming for you!”
The video ended abruptly.
Some time later, a late-night call jolted me from my sleep.
“Helena!” It was my father, his voice thick with panic. “Get to the wolf territory now! It’s an emergency!”
“What happened?”
“It’s Trina… she’s had the baby. But…” his voice trembled. “There’s something wrong with the baby. Something very wrong.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“You’ll see when you get here. And bring Caleb. We might need his strength.”
The line went dead.
Caleb and I left immediately. My heart pounded the whole way there.
The wolf territory was on lockdown, all media driven away.
That level of secrecy told me just how serious the problem was.
We were led to a mansion deep within the territory.
Even before we entered, I heard a terrible sound.
It wasn’t a baby’s cry. It was a sound caught somewhere between a human scream and an animal’s shriek.
Calvin was standing in the middle of the living room, pale as a ghost. His eyes, when they met ours, were filled with despair.
“Helena… thank you for coming,” he rasped.
“Where’s the child?” I asked.
Calvin pointed upstairs. “Trina’s up there, with… it.”
“It?”
“Just go see,” Calvin shook his head. “We… we created a monster.”
Caleb and I went upstairs, the sound growing clearer.
I pushed open the bedroom door and saw a horrifying sight.
Trina was sitting on the bed, cradling a bundle of blankets. Her hair was matted, her eyes were vacant, and she was muttering to herself in a strange, singsong voice.
“Trina?” I called out carefully.
She looked up, and a mad light flashed in her eyes.
“Helena! You’ve come to see my masterpiece!” she laughed. “Behold the perfect heir I’ve created!”
She pulled back the blanket.
My blood froze.
It wasn’t a human baby.
Its skin was a sickly, blue-tinged white, and a thin, wet sheen of scales was visible in the light.
But the worst part was when it cried, I saw several faint slits on the sides of its neck, like gills, pulsing weakly.
And when it saw me, it spoke.
In a raspy, ancient voice that didn’t belong to a newborn, it said:
“Mother… I smell sweeter blood…”
It reached out a tiny hand, pointing at me.
“I want that woman’s blood… and the one inside her womb…”
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