Thousands Wounded by My Broken Alpha: A Fated Rejected Mate Secret Baby Human-shifter Romance

by Flora R. Leigh

My werewolf husband hurt me 999 times.
For the thousandth, he demanded I kneel to his omega mistress.
So I left him with signed divorce papers—and a secret growing quietly in my womb.

Elena
Caius Graves. Alpha billionaire. My husband.
As a fragile human, I spent years hoping I was his fated mate.
But he admitted the truth too late.
I thought my devotion could thaw his hatred.
Instead, he shoved me aside to cradle another woman.
So I wiped my tears, built a ruthless syndicate, and said yes to a dangerously charming vampire.
Five years later, I'm back.
And the Alpha who threw me away is staring at the little boy holding my hand.
Caius
I rejected my human mate to avenge my family.
I never thought she would be the one to walk away.
She severed our bond.

My wolf shattered—and took my legs with it.
For five years, I’ve been a broken king, haunted by her lost scent.
Until I see her again—fiercely guarded by a vampire who dares call her his wife.
And standing behind her—a boy with my exact eyes.

She thinks I’m too proud to beg.
She’s wrong.
I broke her heart a thousand times.
I will spend ten thousand lifetimes winning her back.

100% HEA (Happily Ever After)
No Cheating / Complete Standalone
Trigger Contains themes of past emotional abuse, toxic family dynamics, bullying, and emotional neglect. Reader discretion is advised.

Genres: Romance, Shapeshifters

250 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 14, 2026

About the author

Flora R. Leigh writes love stories for readers who like their romance with a twist—where fake dates turn real and enemies turn to bedmates.

Her books are all about:

• Mates who shouldn’t work—but do anyway

• Alpha bosses, fake dates, and oops-there’s-a-baby moments

• Heroines who don’t back down (even when the wolf is hot)

• And second chances that hurt a little before they heal

If you like your paranormal romance steamy, messy, and impossible to put down, welcome to the pack.

Reviews

[Jetscarbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another reviewer said that this book felt like it was written by 2 separate people. I agree.
(Possible spoilers ahead)

I’m fully convinced that one person wrote the first half which I’ll call “betrayal”
The betrayal was heartbreaking. I’d rate that 4 stars. ✨ H absolutely demolished the h. There’s no coming back from what he did to her.

H hated the h because he thought her parents killed his parents. Some dumb pack issue requires him to marry h. She was actually so happy to marry him because she would get away from her abusive family. Plus, a long time ago he stood up for her when she was being bullied. She had a CRUSH.
She walks down the aisle and he says *disgusting* when she stood before him.
Such a Prince. Did she get red flags? Nope, not yet.

Over the course of a year, this monster hero physically and emotionally abused her. He actually terrorized the poor woman.
Hero has this “friend” OW and naturally she wants to hump him like a dog in heat. He’s kind of oblivious about OW and thinks she’s just timid, sweet, and weak. 🤪

Just a few of the things hero did or he allowed to happen to the heroine. It’s was a proper cOuRtiNg! :/s

📍he pushed her down rushing to OW
📍fed her burnt food
📍fed her spoiled food
📍made her be a maid
📍locked her in
📍crappy clothes
📍made her wash OW’s feet
📍made her kneel for OW
📍flaunting OW
📍making her think he was boinking OW
📍made the heroine wait on them while they ate and flirted
📍called her disgusting names
📍let the pack treat her like trash
📍gRaped heroine 🙇‍♀️

So, after a year, the hero couldn’t stand it anymore. He was so horny. 🫣 He forced her, marked her, and it was a rough boink. Yes, she got pleasure, but the whole scene left me so uncomfortable and he was so hurtful to her before, during, and afterwards.

The heroine had enough. She’s been keeping score and he’s hurt her over 100 times. She divorced him, then left.

The way they do divorce in shifter books makes me 😂😂. It’s like if you just say it, it’s done.

Ofc, there is OM that is heroine’s friend and he helps her. Lmao

Something like a day or two later, heroine is marrying OM when hero interrupts the wedding. OM informs the hero that the heroine is pregnant with OM’s baby (it’s not OM’s baby)

Now, this is when the hero tells her “you’re my fated mate” and he knew she was his fated mate THIS WHOLE TIME. (She didn’t know because she is human)
Hahaha. Then heroine says something like this “ohhh really? Well, then that makes this very easy. I reject you”

BaHahahahahahaha

Girrrrl, yes 🙌

Slay queen!

The best part of the whole book- the hero is hit with unimaginable pain. His wolf completely disappears and his legs no longer work.

Yessssss
Finally, a shifter gets PUNISHED for rejecting his mate.

Unfortunately, I celebrated way too soon because that’s when this whole amazing build up collapsed.

Whomp whomp whomp 😭😭😭😭😭

5 years later. The heroine is very successful and has a son. She’s still married to OM, but we know it’s just a business arrangement. OM definitely has feelings for her and everytime she’s around him, her ears burn or she feels dizzy. I could tell he was a vampire.

It’s no surprise that the heroine decided to meet up with the hero over a business deal.

We know the hero has been miserable over the years. He’s in a wheelchair. He found out OW was a snake. Did he get rid of her? Nah! That dummy demoted her to “punish” her. Now she’s a maid.

Yeah, that will teach her! 🤡

As soon as the hero sees the heroine again, his wolf returns and he starts to get feelings in his legs again.

The heroine resisted for like 8.2 minutes, but that wetness between her legs started to make her quiver.
One positive about the hero is he told the heroine he didn’t care that the kid wasn’t his kid- he wanted them both. That is…until he saw the kid. The kid looks just like him.

At some point, h divorces OM. 🤷‍♀️ idk. It never went into details. She just told him it was over.

The hero bonds with the kid and works on trust with the heroine. OW makes a final appearance by kidnapping the kid. Hero gets 🔪 saving the kid

Then hero’s funeral. 😱

Sike! It was just a trap to catch OM. We find out the MCs *mated/marked* each other off page. Apparently, it makes you immune to vampire powers.

The epilogue is the MCs getting married. Then smex.

Blah! The author almost had it, but the second half “redemption” was not good. This hero was just too awful and his redemption was lacking. The author had the characters do complete 180s of their personalities.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm the biggest fan of the rejected mate-secret baby trope. I live for the drama like you wouldn't believe. Thousands Wounded is one of the better ones. I have no clue if the nod to TVD was on purpose, but I loved it nevertheless. This book is chock-full of tropes. Fated mate, arranged marriage, and fake marriage all in one. Can you feel the drama? MFC Elena has endured her family's abuse for her entire life, only to get trapped in an arranged marriage with an alpha that despises her for reasons out of her control. I liked Elena's progression from abused, sweet, and hopeful to a boss and finally taking control of her life. Elena was clever, and I was elated when she realized she had a little fire after all. I am not a Caius fan. He was an ahole. Sure, he was going through something, but his behavior was uncalled for. The rudeness and disrespect that were shown to Elena by pretty much everyone were unreal. I'm beyond mad on Elena's behalf. And the idiot kept doubling down. He didn’t do enough groveling in my opinion, but he did pay for his actions in a way, so there's that.


I really enjoyed the plot. It was entertaining in that soapy kind of way. There was a twist to the OW trope that I enjoyed. Mostly, Caius was just emotionally stupid and didn't know how to handle his feelings. This was the first time that there was another guy who was not only in the picture but also a decent part of the story. I didn't know how the author would handle it when I first started, but it wasn’t bad. Damian Salvador was intriguing. I didn't know what to make of him at first. Having another guy in the mix certainly was a twist to the typical trope. The addition of business mergers, manipulations, and OG drama made things good. The ending was a little unexpected and certainly one of the unique endings I read in this trope. Thousands Wounded is just one more reason why I enjoy this sub-genre.

[Lenna Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some moments are extremely heavy, and the cruelty can be difficult to read, but the story delivers exactly what it promises: a dark, painful fated‑mate romance where healing has to be earned.
An emotional, painful, and deeply character‑driven story that follows Elaina Ross, a human girl who has never known kindness. From the moment she was born, she became the scapegoat for her father’s guilt and her stepmother’s cruelty. She grows up beaten, starved, forced to eat spoiled food, and dressed in rags even in winter. Her only value to her family is as a bargaining chip — a way for her father to protect his favored daughter and secure money through an arranged marriage to a powerful werewolf.

What makes Elaina’s journey even more heartbreaking is that she already loved Caius long before the arrangement. Years earlier, he saved her from bullies, and she held onto that moment as proof that he had goodness in him. So while her family sees the marriage as a transaction, she sees it as a chance to finally be wanted.

Caius Graves, however, is nothing like the boy she remembers. Now an Alpha CEO, he carries the trauma of losing his parents in a car accident and believes Elaina’s family is responsible. The arranged marriage — set up by his own parents — becomes a prison for both of them. From the moment he sees her, he turns cold, distant, and openly hateful, choosing instead to favor his fragile omega “sister,” Silvia.

Their first year of marriage is a relentless cycle of emotional wounds. Caius shuts Elaina down at every turn, ignores her pain, and allows Silvia’s lies to paint Elaina as the problem. He never shares a wedding night with her, never offers comfort, and never questions why she’s being fed the same spoiled food her family once forced on her. Even his wolf knows the truth — that Elaina is his fated mate — but Caius refuses to listen.

The “999 wounds” she endures are not just physical or emotional moments; they’re the accumulation of every dismissal, every cold stare, every time he chooses someone else over her. And yet, Elaina keeps trying, keeps hoping, because she has never been given permission to want anything for herself.

Just when she reaches her breaking point, a new threat/scapegoat appears in the form of Damian — a charming stranger whose intentions are far darker than she realizes. His presence forces Caius to confront the bond he’s been denying, but it also pushes Elaina into hating him more. Divorce and a new marriage for Elaina but what about Caius when the bond breaks and his wolf goes silent and his legs force him to be a cripple???

[Starbubbles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have some mixed feelings on this one. It kind of skirted on the brink of cheating. I couldn't tell if the second marriage was legal or not. Also, these dissolution of marriages, family and business ties happened fast, like in days instead of months and years like real life.

Anyway- let's get back to the book. The title is misleading. Thousands were not wounded by Caius. It should read "A Thousand Wounds from my Broken Alpha." That would have been the most accurate.

I kept pronouncing Caius as Cassius. I guess if I was a "Twilight" fan, I would have had a clue to the one of three pronunciations. A mini explanation before or in the book would have been nice for which one the author had in mind.

I like that Elena gave the relationship a real shot. I even like that she stood on business, and left when her boundary was met, for both Caius and Damian.

I can see why people have issue with her taking Caius back at all. Some of the stuff that was going on, he didn't know about. For example, the spoiled food. Once he found out, he had it corrected. He did passively let that go own by not intervening when staff or others treated her as less than. But again, he made the correction when it became known.

Then there was the Sylvia of it all. Again, Caius didn't know or realize a lot of what was happening with her. I think we can chalk it up to boy brain. Poor, dumb boy brain.

I know some had commented on the punishment not being enough. I kind of thought it was fitting to let her stew in her stripped status. However, I was disappointed that her revenge plot was not solely her own. But whatever, it made for an interesting plot point.

All in all, this was pretty good and had some really good groveling. My absolute favorite was when Elena called Caius her dog, and his response was, "woof woof." Just loved it and the banter in trying to win her back.

[Kimberly Gordon-Bercich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wrong Title

18+, XXX. Adult content, reader discretion advised. The title should be, 'A Thousand Wounds by My Broken Mate'. This is Elena and Caius' story. The dates are confusing! Cauis' parents die in a car accident. The next day he is married to Elena by contractual obligation. At the wedding a mate bond kicks in. Cauis spends a year blaming Elena and the Ross family for his parents death. He never announces a bond. The entire year is spent protecting and doting on an Omega orphan his family took in. After one thousand offenses, hurts and abuses Elena asks for a divorce. During those thirty days of prepping for the divorce, Caius claims and impregnates Elena. Damage was done over the course of a year and Elena files for divorce. Five years later she returns as an International business mogul. She returns to find Cauis wheelchair bound and begging her company for a partnership. He lost his legs when he lost his wolf when he lost her. Now she has returned, his wolf is returning. Now he just has to earn her forgiveness, trust and love back.

[Lindsay BusyMom · Rating 4 out of 5]

So overall this book was a good storyline, you hurt for the female main, Elena, and you’re angry, annoyed, exasperated with our male main, Casius. I enjoyed seeing Elena putting her foot down and standing up for herself since literally no one else tried or cared.
Now I believe Cassius really was let off to easily, seriously it wasn’t much of an effort. That wretched Selena needed to pay a lot more and Casius needed to bring that up, that he was a blind fool, because he absolutely was.
Here’s a big rub for me, and maybe you too, the timeline is sometimes off. So we are to believe, easily actually, that in that 1 year of marriage that 1,000 things had hurt/wounded Elena but in months Caius had made up 1,000 moments? Yeah I’m not buying it. And when Caius was injured, days and even weeks went by, but it was glossed over in less than a sentence. Timeline issues. There were more but you’ll see.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

disappointed with the 5 year reunion

After the five year time skip I was really expecting a continuation of the backbone display Elena had when she rejected Caius. Unfortunately, she folded like a piece of paper as soon as their first reunion meeting. She even got irritatingly childish pulling stupid “pranks” on him that backfired and only showcased how desperate she still was for him.

If I’m being honest, she came off immoral here. Yes her marriage to Damian is fake, but in the eyes of the public she’s still a married woman. Yet she has no qualms entertaining the very ex that pushed her into a fake marriage to begin with. Made it hard to consistently like her character. In fact the only time she was likeable was when she first grew her backbone and rejected Caius the doofus. Anytime after that she was well and truly a masochistic push over. So she can run a successful business but still fall for the crappiest option for a partner possible? Make it make sense.

[Ginger's Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, this book was pretty weird and made little sense. The author had a weird fixation on spoiled food. Is that a thing people do to each other they don't like? Serve them weird food? Also, the MMC became wheelchair bound for inexplicable reasons? Just because? The FMC became rich from collecting dog hair and then doing something with the money? Why did she have to marry Damian again? And, before she was even actually divorced? Things happened within like days of each other. I don't even know what this was. Best way to describe it is this was a book with a bunch of really interesting non sequiturs spliced together. And YET - I dug it, haha. I love a strong FMC and a MMC that has to grovel. It's my jam. Nonsense plot, though. 100% plot free, lol.

[Brandy Rice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fated mate romance is dark, emotional, intense and heartbreaking. Cauis is an absolute jerk. I hate the way that he treated Elaina throughout the story. My heart broke for Elaina and that she went through. I loved how she took her fate in her own hands and walked away from Cauis. I do feel like Cauis should have grovelled a little more but I did enjoy his character growth as he had to reflect on what he did to her. Overall I really enjoyed this shifter romance.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Meli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Caius + Elena
Absolutely loved Elena from beginning to end. While she does suffer she also knows her worth. Elena was clever and took her fate into her own hands. Her resilience throughout the book was admirable. Caius had a different kind of love. Yes I was mad at him in the beginning but that just means it is going to be a good rejection book. It leaves you excited for the groveling to come. Caius's groveling was so well done and absolutely redeemed him in my opinion. He was in the end a worthy mate and father.

[Darlette Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Author Surprised Me:

I enjoyed reading this book. The characters were very good to read about. I was torn about the rating to give this book. Then a big Twist happened in the story, and it shocked me. I started reading faster to see will happen. But, the Author Surprised me. I find Elena gets the justice she deserves!!! I recommend reading this book.

[Melissa Renteria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by 2 people?

This book felt like it was written by 2 people. 1 with a thorough grasp of English, the other with English as a second language(very choppy and not complete sentences). That being said, the story line was good.

[Lady S · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok, but I felt there was a part in the story that seemed like it missed a bit of the story out.

Also, the author lacked some attention to detail as the fml had 3 different hair colours.

The fml dad was called Albert throughout the book, but in the last chapter his name was Robert

[denise trainor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very predictable

I've read several of this writer's books. Sadly I've never finished any of them. I skip several pages at a time, rushing to get to the last page.
I wish her well, but I won't be reading any more of her books.

[Angelia Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this happily ever after!

[Carol Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this!

I loved this FMC, she fought tooth and nail and came out a winner. I prefer the stronger characters. Another winner for Flora.

[Michelle Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rejected mate without a ton of bullying.

Fun short story between human and wild fated mates. He messes it up, she thrives, bad guys go down, HEA.

[Mona · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ridiculous but I’m not mad at it. 2.5

[Victoria Golby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second chance romance

A shifter romance with fated mates, rejection, second chances, betrayal, kidnapping, secrets, attempted murder, a determined woman, a sweet little boy, twists and a HEA.

Elena had never had love from her family but hoped she might have found someone with Caius when he rescued from bullies. She's happy to be told she's marrying him but at the wedding he abandons her for an omega who collapses and though for the year following he has nothing to do with her. She'd promised herself she'd allow him to hurt her 1000 times but after that she'd leave. I was pleased that she'd set up her own business and was able to support herself, though she does accept help from Caius's business partner.

Caius had known she was his fated mate but rejected her believing her family were to blame for his parents death. But losing her and finding her marrying another breaks him.

It was good to see him getting a second chance to win her trust and love back.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.