McKenzie Shinabery

“Starlight…” His voice was a rasp of pure need, rough with restraint. “You’ll undo me.”

“Then let me,” I whispered, kissing him harder, pouring every ounce of longing into his mouth.

His gaze devoured me, pupils blown wide, eyes glowing with his wolf. “Fuck, Starlight,” he groaned, his hands spanning my waist, possessive and trembling with control. “You’re exquisite.”

He rolled his hips into me, the thick ridge of his erection grinding against my core. The friction made me cry out, head tipping back against the wall.

“I want to worship every inch of you,” he rasped, teeth catching my earlobe. “To taste you until you’re begging me for mercy.” His hand slid up, cupping my breast, thumb circling the taut peak until I arched into him helplessly. “Tell me what you need.”

“Please, Toren,” I whimpered, my voice ragged. “I need you so badly it hurts.”

Kira was never meant to shine.
She was the twin her family despised—the silent, obedient wolf they mocked into invisibility. But when the Alpha Gathering brands her unworthy and casts her out, fate twists in the most terrifying way.

Because he steps forward.
Toren. The Alpha whispered about in fear, the predator who rules through blood and silence. He has never taken a mate. Never bent for anyone.
Until Kira.

With one claim, he binds her to him before the eyes of every pack:
“She belongs to me.”

Now, the girl who was nothing is trapped in the orbit of the most dangerous Alpha alive. His touch scorches, his protection suffocates, his desire is a cage she cannot break. And yet, every look, every whisper, pulls her deeper into his darkness.

Desired. Possessed. Marked.
Kira must choose—fight the bond that terrifies her, or surrender to the Alpha who could devour her whole.

“No, no, no,” she said, pointing at a platter. “If it’s called ‘Goth Girl French Toast,’ then it has to be black. I don’t care how you do it. Activated charcoal. Blackberries. Food coloring. Demon blood. Whatever.”

The head chef looked like he was silently praying for death.

I rushed forward. “Amara. Stop traumatizing these poor people.”

She spun around, delighted. “Sera! Good, you’re here. Taste this. It’s missing despair.”

The chef’s face morphed into existential crisis.

I grabbed her arm. “Put the spatula down.”

“But—”

“Down.”

With exaggerated offense, she dropped the spatula and muttered, “Fine. But if no one here has artistic vision, that’s not my fault.”

She went undercover to expose a mafia empire.
He offered her thirty nights to save her life.

When investigative journalist Seraphine Vale steps into the glittering underworld ruled by billionaire crime lord Dante Vescari, she thinks she’s chasing a story about missing women and corruption.
Instead, she uncovers a secret older than blood—an empire built on fire, sin, and dragons.

Bound to Dante by a forbidden pact, Seraphine finds herself caught between fear and desire, truth and temptation.
Each night pulls her deeper into his world of power, passion, and danger…
and closer to the monster hiding beneath his perfect skin.

Thirty nights. One bond.
And a love that might just burn the world to ash.

“You think she needs you,” he says.

“I know she does.”

“And what if she doesn’t want this kind of protection?”

“She will,” I say, my voice lowering slightly. “Because she needs a man who can give her the world.”

“And if the world burns?”

My hand tightens subtly at Violet’s waist.

“Then I’ll build her a new one,” I reply. “Even if I have to burn the old one down myself.”

I don’t work for Rowan Ashcroft.
I work beneath him.

From my desk, I decide who gets access to the most ruthless CEO in the city, and who never makes it past the lobby. I manage his time, his silence, his enemies. I keep his world running while my own quietly collapses under unpaid bills, a mother locked in rehab, and a brother who vanished without a goodbye.

Rowan Ashcroft is power wrapped in a tailored suit.
Cold. Untouchable. Merciless.
He doesn’t flirt. He doesn’t smile. He doesn’t see people, only usefulness.

And for a long time, I was just useful.

Until he started watching.

A shift in his attention is subtle at first. A pause too long. A look that lingers. Orders that pull me closer instead of pushing me away. The man who stands above my desk begins to control more than my schedule, and I realize too late that being noticed by Rowan Ashcroft is far more dangerous than being ignored.

Because men like him don’t crave affection.
They crave possession.

This was supposed to be a job.
Not a test of my limits.
Not a slow, deliberate descent into his authority.

But if Rowan Ashcroft decides I belong under his desk, then so be it.
Survival has a price, and the bills don’t care how I pay them.

Everyone at Crestwood High knows Jaxon Reed’s reputation.
Bad boy. Trouble. Walking red flag.

So when he asks Ellie Marrow out—quiet, rule-following, and painfully invisible—it’s obvious to everyone that it has to be a joke.

Except Ellie knows the truth.

Jaxon made a bet. A stupid, reckless one. And she’s the prize.

Instead of saying no, Ellie makes a choice no one expects: she agrees to fake date him—for her own reasons. With rules. Boundaries. And an expiration date. What starts as pretending quickly turns complicated as Ellie sees the side of Jaxon no one else does.

As rumors spread and lines blur, Ellie must decide who she wants to be when she stops playing it safe. And Jaxon has to face the truth about himself—and the damage a single lie can cause.

Because when pretending feels this real, someone is bound to get hurt.

Knox’s hand closes around the collar of my cut, tugging me back just enough that I feel the heat of him at my spine.

“You keep looking at trouble like that,” he murmurs against my ear, voice rough and low, “and one day it’s going to look back.”

I tilt my chin, meeting his gaze over my shoulder.

“Good,” I whisper. “I’m counting on it.”

His mouth curves slowly, dark and dangerous.

“Careful, Shade,” he says. “The Reapers don’t play nice.”

“Neither do I.”

I grew up around the Reaper’s MC.
The roar of bikes, the smell of gasoline and leather, the kind of loyalty that runs deeper than blood. It was never supposed to be my world though. That belonged to my brother.
Ghosteye.
He wore the patch. He lived by the Crown. He believed in the club with everything he had.
And then one day… he was just gone.
Everyone says it was handled.
Everyone says the club took care of it.
But something about it never felt right.
So I did the one thing no one expected—I stepped into the Reapers myself.
Prospecting. Proving I belong in a world where men like Knox, Lucian, and my own father rule with iron fists and blood-stained loyalty.
Digging graves. Running jobs. Surviving men who think I shouldn’t even be here.
The deeper I go, the more I realize this club is built on secrets… and Ghosteye was buried with one of the biggest.
But if the Reapers taught me anything growing up, it’s this:
You don’t wear the Crown unless you’re willing to bleed for it.
And I’m ready to burn this entire kingdom to the ground if that’s what it takes to learn the truth.

Valentina Kane doesn’t believe in love… not really.

As the fierce founder and CEO of Kane Publishing, she’s poured every ounce of herself into building an empire from the ground up. Years of relentless hustle, sleepless nights, and sacrifices have left no room for distractions, no space for heartbreak. Love, to her, has always been a luxury she couldn’t afford.

But now, with her father’s health fading fast, everything changes. His final, desperate wish pierces her steel heart: he wants to see her married before he dies.

The problem?

Valentina doesn’t have a fiancé.

Hell, she doesn’t even have a boyfriend.

Panic claws at her chest, and in a reckless act of desperation, her loyal assistant takes matters into their own hands, secretly posting an advertisement searching for a husband.

Then comes the last person Valentina ever expects to answer.

Jace Walker.

Feared CEO of Walker Foundation Construction Group. America’s most eligible bachelor. The man every woman dreams of, and the man who couldn’t care less about being wanted.

Jace has his own demons, his own battles, and maybe, just maybe, they both need something more than what either of them dared to admit.

Detective Elena Cross has spent twelve years hunting killers.

She never expected one to start exposing the people hiding behind the law.

When a respected judge is found dead inside an abandoned courtroom, his hands stained red and a confession pinned to his chest, Elena is assigned to lead the investigation. The evidence reveals that the judge accepted bribes, buried violent crimes, and protected dangerous men.

Beside his body is a note addressed to Elena.

Then another corrupt official dies.

And another.

With every murder, the killer uncovers a network of police officers, lawyers, doctors, and judges who have spent years silencing victims and destroying evidence. His notes warn Elena about the people surrounding her, reveal secrets no outsider should know, and guide her toward crimes her own department is desperate to conceal.

When Elena follows one of his clues, she catches a powerful attorney falsifying documents. But the evidence vanishes, and the man walks free.

Hours later, he becomes the Confessor’s next victim.

I gave him to you alive. Your people gave him back to me.

Now Elena must choose who to trust: the officers who swore to uphold the law or the murderer who has never lied to her.

But when an innocent witness is killed using the Confessor’s methods, Elena realizes someone inside her department is copying his crimes.

To expose the truth, she may have to work with the killer she was sworn to arrest before the people closest to her silence them both.