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- Herausgeber: Mentality Press LLC
- Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
- Sprache: Englisch
He needed an heir. She needed love. Their contract demanded one… but fate had other plans.
Alpha Caelan Draven was ice—ruthless, commanding, and bound by duty. When he entered a cold-hearted contract with Rhiannon Vale, it was strictly business: produce an heir, and nothing more. But when she didn’t conceive fast enough, he cast her aside without hesitation… never knowing she was already carrying his child.
Six years later, Rhiannon returns—no longer the quiet, obedient Luna he discarded. She’s stronger, guarded… and hiding the truth that could shatter everything.
But danger brews beyond the walls of Blackthorn Keep, and the only way to protect their son is to face the past. Now Caelan must confront the mate he rejected—and the family he never knew he had.
Will this second chance heal their shattered bond? Or will pride, pain, and buried secrets tear them apart again?
🔥A gripping fated-mates romance packed with betrayal, redemption, and the ultimate test of love.🔥
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025
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Eva Hart
The Alpha’s Cold Contract
A Second Chance – Secret Baby Fated Mate Story
First published by Eva Hart 2025
Copyright © 2025 by Eva Hart
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
First edition
This book was professionally typeset on Reedsy Find out more at reedsy.com
Contents
1. Prologue: The Forsaken Vow
2. Chapter One: The Cold Contract
3. Chapter Two: The Night of Blood and Flight
4. Chapter Three: The Wolf in the Shadows
5. Chapter Four: The Alpha’s Den
6. Chapter Five: The Reckoning Begins
7. Chapter Six: A Debt of Blood
8. Chapter Seven: Secrets, Strategy, and a Fated Betrayal
9. Chapter Eight: Shadows of the Past and the Price of Survival
10. Chapter Nine: The Siege of the Rogues
11. Chapter Ten: The Cost of Surrender
12. Chapter Eleven: Into the Wild
13. Chapter Twelve: The Ruins and the Reckoning
14. Chapter Thirteen: The Aftermath of Betrayal
15. Chapter Fourteen: The Storm Before the Battle
16. Chapter Fifteen: Captive in the Lion’s Den
17. Chapter Sixteen: The Siege of Blackthorn
18. Chapter Seventeen: The Alpha’s Last Stand
19. Chapter Eighteen: Shadows of the Future
20. Chapter Nineteen: The Edge of Betrayal
21. Chapter Twenty: The Reckoning of Fate
22. Epilogue: A Future Forged in Fire
One
Prologue: The Forsaken Vow
chapter-seperatorThe storm howled through the high towers of Blackthorn Keep, rattling the stained-glass windows with merciless fury. Wind lashed against the stone walls, carrying the scent of impending destruction.
Rhiannon Vale stood before the grand oak table, her heart hammering against her ribs. The cold parchment before her bore the unmistakable seal of the Alpha. Her fingers trembled as she reached for it, but she already knew what it said.
“It’s over.” The words were final, like a blade severing flesh.
Her gaze flickered to the man across from her—Caelan Draven, Alpha of Blackthorn. The only man she had ever loved. The man who was about to cast her aside as if she were nothing. His jaw was tight, his ice-blue eyes void of emotion. Gone was the warmth she had once glimpsed in fleeting moments. All that remained was the cruel indifference of a ruler fulfilling his duty.
“Two years,” he continued, his voice like thunder. “Two years, and you have failed to produce an heir.”
Rhiannon swallowed the lump in her throat. Words failed her. She had fought for this bond, had endured the whispers, the judgment, the pain of being a contract mate in a loveless union. And yet, she had loved him. Foolishly, desperately.
She opened her mouth to speak—to tell him the truth.
I am carrying your child.
But before the words could leave her lips, Caelan’s hand moved, the quill scratching against parchment. A signature. The final blow. The official rejection.
“I, Alpha Caelan Draven, hereby reject you, Rhiannon Vale, as my mate and Luna.”
A cold silence filled the chamber. The air itself seemed to shatter, splintering around her like the breaking of a sacred vow.
Her knees wobbled, but she refused to fall. Not in front of him. Not in front of the court, who watched with greedy eyes, awaiting her downfall.
Lady Evelyne Morcant, the woman who had been lurking in the shadows, stepped forward, her painted lips curling into a victorious smile. “It is done,” she purred, placing a delicate hand on Caelan’s arm. “At last, our Alpha is free.”
Something inside Rhiannon snapped. Her hands curled into fists, nails biting into her palms.
She had loved a man who had never been hers. She had sacrificed everything for a bond that had meant nothing to him. And now, she was nothing.
A sudden wave of nausea hit her, forcing her to grip the table for support. No. Not here. Not now.
She turned on her heel, forcing herself to move, to escape before the truth surfaced. She couldn’t let them know. If they discovered the child she carried, Evelyne would see to it that neither of them survived the night.
Pushing through the heavy doors, Rhiannon ran. Through the halls, past the guards who did not stop her. Past the courtiers who whispered behind their hands.
She fled into the storm, her gown dragging through the mud, her breath coming in sharp gasps. You have to leave. You have to survive. For him.
Thunder roared overhead as she reached the edge of the woods. She stole one last glance at the fortress that had once been her home.
Then she disappeared into the darkness, carrying the secret that would one day bring an Alpha to his knees.
Two
Chapter One: The Cold Contract
chapter-seperatorThe wind screamed through the high stone towers of Blackthorn Keep, shaking the stained-glass windows as if the gods themselves wished to break through. Inside the council chamber, the air was thick with candle smoke and tension, the kind that clung to the skin like cold sweat.
Rhiannon Vale stood motionless before the long oak table, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. The firelight flickered across her pale face, shadowing the delicate arch of her cheekbones, the full lips pressed tightly together in defiance. Midnight-black hair tumbled down her back in soft waves, but no warmth remained in her storm-gray eyes. Not after this.
On the opposite side of the table, Alpha Caelan Draven lounged in his chair, exuding the effortless power of a man who ruled without question. His frame, all muscle and dominance, was clad in black leather with silver accents gleaming at his shoulders. Raven-dark hair fell just past his collar, framing a face carved from stone—sharp jaw, high cheekbones, and the coldest blue eyes she had ever known.
And tonight, those eyes held no remorse.
“It’s over,” Caelan said, his voice even, stripped of emotion.
Rhiannon felt the words lash across her like a whip, but she did not flinch. She would not break—not in front of him, not in front of the council who waited with eager eyes for her downfall.
For two years, she had been his contract mate, a pawn in a political game where love had never been part of the equation. Their marriage had been cold, filled with quiet nights and hollow touches. And now, because she had failed to conceive, he was throwing her away like an unwanted possession.
Her nails dug into her palms, but she kept her voice steady. “You never gave us a chance.”
Caelan’s fingers drummed once on the table before stilling. A muscle in his jaw ticked. “There was nothing to give.”
A bitter laugh threatened to rise in her throat, but she swallowed it down.
The parchment lay before him, the formal rejection decree, waiting for his signature.
And she had one last secret left to tell.
“I—” she began.
But before she could utter the words that would change everything, Caelan picked up the quill and signed his name.
Her stomach twisted. Her throat burned.
“I, Alpha Caelan Draven, hereby reject you, Rhiannon Vale, as my mate and Luna.”
The words shattered the last of her hope.
Behind him, Lady Evelyne Morcant, his intended, smiled.
And just like that, Rhiannon Vale became nothing.
Silence filled the chamber, stretching unbearably as the ink dried on the parchment. The council members, a cluster of aging men with calculating eyes, watched like vultures picking apart a carcass.
Rhiannon wanted to scream. To tell him he was making a mistake, that she was carrying his child. But what good would it do? Would he even believe her?
Caelan rose from his chair, towering over her, broad shoulders casting long shadows against the candlelight. He was every bit the warrior-king—fearless, untouchable, and entirely unshaken by the ruin he had just inflicted upon her.
“I will arrange safe passage,” he said, voice clipped, formal. “You have until dawn to leave Blackthorn.”
Her pulse roared in her ears. She wanted to slap him, to force him to feel even a sliver of her pain.
Instead, she lifted her chin, her voice deceptively calm. “May you rot in your throne, Alpha.”
For the briefest second, something flickered in his eyes—something dangerous.
And then it was gone.
Behind him, Lady Evelyne glided forward, her beauty as deceptive as poison in a goblet of gold. Her emerald-green eyes shimmered with triumph. “At last,” she murmured, trailing a finger down Caelan’s arm, “our Alpha is free.”
Rhiannon’s fingers curled into fists. The humiliation was complete.
And she had no choice but to turn and leave.
The heavy doors of the chamber slammed behind her. The hall beyond was cold, cavernous, lined with portraits of past rulers—men who had conquered, bled, and died for the land that Caelan now ruled with an iron grip.
She should be gone by now. She should be running, far from this place that had never been home.
