188 Book(s) Related to marlin santana

What could go wrong if your prison pen pal ends up being the son and heir of the head of the Castillo cartel? What more could go wrong when your overprotective dad is a DEA agent who is determined to take him down?

When Elena Torres, the daughter of a DEA agent, lost a bet and decided to write a prisoner, she had not expected to get in contact with the son of a cartel boss, Marvin Castillo.

What she also didn’t expect was for him to get released from prison or for him to take an interest in her.

She was known to be the good girl. He was known to be a monster.

It was clear that fate didn’t want them to be together, but what the universe did not know was that these two were destined to determine their own path.

I was on the streets, until I wasn't. They took me, fed me, clothed me. For a time I was happy, until he came back. I had five years to accept his chains, my monster. He owned me, until I met the Enforcer of The Satan Snipers.

His name was Zero.

He wasn't just an enforcer. He was a stone blooded killer.

Meet the girl-

Beggar:-

I've never known a day of being normal or having a hot plate of food to eat. I don’t even know what it feels like to have a bath. The streets of Washington has been my home since the day I was born. As the years went on by, I learnt to survive on these streets, I even learnt to smile.

Now meet

Zero:-

I know I should let it rest, but I can't drop it. I need to know her name. My gut is riding me hard. My instincts are telling me it's important.

I'm the enforcer. If there's even a thread that she's a danger to my club I need to know.

When Beggar saves Falon, she passes the biggest test of a Satan Sniper. Taken as a prospect, Beggar can finally get the life she wanted.

She gets more than she ever hoped to. A mans heart. But with secrets from her past and the man in question set of uncovering the dark that's plagued her. Will she learn that the enforcer of the Satan Snipers is more than able to handle anything. Even the reason she calls herself Beggar.

What makes a hero?

They say a hero is someone that has given his life to something bigger than himself.

I say a hero is no braver than an ordinary man, he is just braver for five minutes longer.

All soldiers are brave, it's what they do with their bravery that makes them heroes.

Am I a hero?

I am a soldier that put my life on the line to save my squad. It is my job, doing my job should not make me a hero.

Clayton Jackson is a First Lieutenant in the Marine Corps. He joined the Marines at the tender age of eighteen and has never dreamt of doing anything else. After a fateful accident during deployment, Clayton becomes disabled and gets his ticket back home.

Isabella Jones, previously married to a Marine, runs away to the town where Clayton lives to get away from her past.

Clayton and Isabella meet one day as they both seek the comfort of the outdoors to clear their heads. The connection is immediate, and their relationship is off to a quick start.

When Clayton gets the opportunity to return to the Marine Corps, Isabella is left to decide if she will go with him or stay behind.

Will Clayton become the ultimate soldier, and will he have Isabella by his side?

After being reborn, my cousin and I swapped mates.
Last life, she married Kaelen Thornfield — the coldest Alpha in the West. Fifty years together and he never marked her. Not once. His childhood "friend," an Omega with a PhD in crying on command, made sure of that. My cousin faded into nothing. Unmarked. Unloved. Invisible.
Me? I married a man who couldn't stand the sound of my voice. Eleven months. Done.
This time, I took the western contract. Drove three days across the country in a beat-up truck, blew a radiator in the middle of nowhere, and rolled into his pack's territory covered in engine grease and smelling like a gas station.
His little Omega took one look at me and wrinkled her nose.
She has no idea what's coming.
I don't do tears. I don't do subtle. And when some girl sobbed at my mating ceremony about how jealous she was of me — I grabbed my Alpha by the collar and sank my teeth into his neck.
In front of the entire pack.
Without asking.

Amara Snow hates Christmas with every fiber of her being. For sixteen years, December 25th has been a day of grief, not joy—the anniversary of the car accident that killed her parents. While the world celebrates, she works double shifts and avoids the holiday like a curse. When she loses her job on Christmas Eve and collapses in the snow, she's ready to give up. But a mysterious stranger with impossibly warm hands and eyes like starlight saves her life. Noelle Krystov seems too perfect, too kind, too good to be true. That's because he is. He's the immortal son of Santa Claus, sent to Earth to protect the dying spirit of Christmas. Falling in love with a human is forbidden—it will cost him his immortality. But when Noelle discovers that Amara isn't just any human, that she's the Yuletide Child born at the exact moment Christmas magic was created, their love becomes the key to saving or destroying Christmas forever. As dark forces rise to extinguish belief and hope, Amara must choose: continue hating the holiday that took everything from her, or become the woman who saves it. Sometimes the greatest magic isn't in believing in Christmas—it's in believing in yourself.

This book has been rewritten and is dedicated to my Grandmother, Marie Valerie Perrett. Her flesh and bones now lay as ash, while her spirit glows within the ones fortunate to have breathed her air, as memories, and moments from the past become those that define our future. In my life some of those are memories and lessons that she has taught me, not just by words, but by actions.

She gave me the tools to be a strong woman, and at times I admit I struggled to stand, but my grandmother held me by both hands at those times and lifted me up. Then she let me go, because she knew, she knew all along that one day I would need the strength to stand on my own. To lift my own daughter by her hands and learn to let her grow so she can become stronger.

Who you were or the way you felt, my Grandmother loved without judgement.

When she looked at me, spoke to me I never doubted her love, it was always an invisible beam between us. When I was younger we used to lay on her bed and she used to read to me stories from the bible while I used her arm as a pillow. I remember when I got a bit older and she read to me then I asked her, "Gran why does a story always start with Once Upon A Time?" She said because now it is a fairytale but once upon a time it was true. It was then I imagined life, I convinced myself that aliens were real. That I could be anything I want.

There is never a moment that is perfect to let the one you love go and she was one of the very few who I have loved and still do. I took my books off the pre-order today and I am glad I did. Because I get to share her memory with you guys. And dedicate this book that she waited so long to read but barely started. On Tuesday, December 4th 2018, I read the first chapter to her.

I wish I knew that it was the last day, but we never really know when death comes naturally, do we.

Cassian Vane doesn't break.
He wins. He endures. He hides.

Dominic Costello doesn't feel.
He smiles. He teases. He lies.

Years of rivalry and one library night that changes everything.

When Dominic throws a challenge just to make Cassian gold, he uncovers something else. Their bickering turns into something they didn't even realize. Late nights turn into almost-kisses. Almost-kisses turn into something dangerous.

Then Dominic's family destroys him. The smile disappears.

And Cassian realizes how imperfect Dominic's smile actually is.

In a dystopian America in the year 2040, women have been stripped of their rights and forced into subservience under the draconian Liberty Control Act. The nation is a surveillance state, cloaked in the illusion of order and morality—but beneath the surface, rebellion simmers.

Daniel Sheridan, a brilliant but cautious woman, hides her identity behind the digital persona of LibertyRose, a masked OnlyFans model. Through her seductive but anonymous livestreams, she maintains independence in a society designed to cage her. But everything changes the night she joins a secret chatroom and meets Eric—a mysterious rebel leader—and Trevor, a wealthy and dangerous man who becomes obsessed with claiming her.

When Daniel’s identity is exposed, and she narrowly survives Trevor’s brutal attack, her world shatters. But from the ashes, a new purpose rises. With Eric's help, Daniel steps into the heart of an underground resistance. As she uncovers horrifying government secrets and learns the truth about Eric’s past, Daniel becomes the reluctant face of a revolution.

Blending dystopian tension, high-heat romance, and emotional resilience, The Mask of Liberty follows one woman’s journey from survival to leadership, as she ignites a movement that could bring an empire to its knees.

Alone and broke in Italy Rome responsible for a little sister who urgently has to undergo a very expensive operation- this is the situation Lisa Saunders finds herself in. A accedental ecounter with the blind, arrogant billionaire Allesandro Mancini suddenly offers a way out-
A very strange one, but Lisa accept the proposal. That's how Lisa's life comes apart with the arrogant, unreachable Allesandro and his former fiancée Bianca Lombardi, who is determined to make his marriage fall apart and palm him and his money in.

What happens when the gritty and clandestine world of the Mafia collides with the cruel and gruesome world of vampires?

Francesca Falcone ever since she could remember had always been told what to be. The beautiful charming princess of the Falcone crime family.
The rules were simple; never forget who you are, never speak when you shouldn't and always be where you should be at the right time.
But like every simple rules, they were bound to be violated.
Francesca needed the breath of spring, she had to know how it felt to be without shackles binding her being. She needed to feel what true freedom was like, not the strict rules in a family that wasn't built to hold a pure heart, nor the perfectionist father in a house not worthy to be called home.
That fleeting moment of relief brought in something beautiful yet dangerous into her life. Something that would inevitably change the course of her life either for the better or worse.
Follow the journey of Francesca as she traverses the fantastical world of vampires and warewolves and the brutal world of the Mafia in hopes of finding love and freedom in a five century year old broken vampire struggling to maintain his humanity while having to embrace the monster that he is to overcome his malevolent father.

Dawn Swan is an ambitious Omega and takes over her father's delivery service the moment he passes away.
She rescues a wealthy businessman from a fire accident and hence he rewards her with a scholarship at Venus Luna Academy.
Dawn was glad she was able to move from her cruel uncle's house into the dorm and planned to live a plain and regular lifestyle, but things got more interesting when she got entangled with the captivating Trio of the school.
Three popular hot guys that had their eyes on her began to bully and tease her but on her eighteenth birthday, they found out she was their mate and they were determined to keep her to themselves for as long as it takes……
But being with them, made Dawn to realize there was more to her life than she thought. Mysteries lurking and paths only she can unlock.

It was written a long time ago that there would be a great and powerful supernatural being, That his power would be unmatched by all supernatural creatures known to mankind. His sheer dominance would make creatures tremble in their boots, Every alpha known to man would bend to his will. He's the one true Alpha King. Malachi Mercy had no idea what he was or what he's destine for. All he knew was that his power was unmatched by anyone.
Hayden Trop is the next alpha to rule over The Blue Crescent Pack, but there's just one tiny flaw to this situation. Hayden is no leader and couldn't lead the pack into the next era.
Malachi and Hayden are polar-opposite, but like people always say, opposite attracts.

Book 1:- Alpha Hybrid Chronicles.
There's going to be a series of stories stemming from the first book (Alpha hybrid). I will likely be focusing on main characters to continue the Chronicles.

SIDENOTE: This is a GAY story that will contain sexually explicit material suitable for the legal age of 18,
(READ AT YOUR OWN RISK)

Sloane Mercer has made it her mission to test every limit Professor Dalton Avery sets. Sharp-tongued, fearless, and irresistibly defiant. She turns his lectures into a battlefield of wit and willpower.

Dalton prides himself on control. Of his classroom, of his reputation, and especially of his desires. But when Sloane pushes one time too many, the tension between them finally ignites.

What begins as a battle for dominance becomes something far more dangerous. An illicit affair burning with passion, power, and the threat of exposure. The closer Dalton gets to losing himself to her, the more he realizes he never had control at all.

I have 3 mates!

I’m Faye. Today is the day. The day I have been waiting for for 18 years now. The day my pack banishes me for being an omega. They will send me away like I am some sort of trash, as if I am the absolute worst thing on this planet. I didn’t ask to be born, as an omega no less. I didn’t ask for any of the abuse it brought, nor the sleepless nights and the aching body that comes with it.


In the pack on the West Coast, they hate omegas. They only want to breed the strongest alphas and betas because of the prophecy known around the world. Thus when Faye was born, the first omega in decades, they were very unhappy. At 18, she was banished from her pack for being an omega, causing her to be on the run in order to stay safe. Halfway through her journey, she meets her first mate. Running into trouble with his pack, they head out on the run together until they eventually end up in the world's strongest, most popular pack, finding their other two mates. When the four are all together, the prophecy finally makes sense. And their adventure begins.


I look at Kautious, “Should we do one at a time and share or do we want to each do one?” Kautious tilts his head slightly as he thinks, “I think I’d like to start off sharing, then move to individual, is that okay?” He looks very nervous so I give his hand a reassuring squeeze, “That’s perfectly fine! We can start with Scorpius then!” I look at the alphas who are looking at us with lust and curiosity in their eyes. I blush and answer their unasked question, “We’re going to blow you both until you cum, and then we are going to let you fuck us senseless.”

***Please keep in mind this book has mentions of physical, mental, and emotional abuse as well as violence between packs. Also contains sexual content. If you are easily triggered by any of this, please do not read. ***

A crime. A love from the past. A woman torn between guilt and the truth.

Fernanda seems to live a perfect life: she is the wife of a powerful real estate mogul. But when he is brutally murdered, she becomes the prime suspect.

The detective assigned to the case?
Hermes—her unforgettable, passionate love from the past.

They once shared an intense romance that neither could forget. But fate tore them apart. Now, they meet again under the shadow of a crime with dark motives and buried secrets.

Is Fernanda a cold-blooded killer, capable of eliminating her own husband?
Or is she the victim of a cruel conspiracy?

Amid twists, long-hidden truths, and desires that never died, Hermes will have to face both his feelings—and the truth.

“Y….you….just what are you?” the young woman staggered back in fear as she yelled looking at the demoness in front of her.
The silver-haired woman laughed so eerily that those that were around were struck by fear. This person was not human, how can anyone look so terrifying and emit such a scary aura?
“I once told you that I am your worst nightmare but I guess your curiosity still got the best of you!
Now my darling sister, how should we continue this game?”
Someone once said that revenge is sweet and surely for her, it was indeed sweet. Her ignorance and her mother’s got them both killed. Even though it was already too late for her to amend and beg for forgiveness, she didn’t deserve the way she died.
As if her life wasn’t torturous enough, she found herself awakened in an era that made her regret everything that she had ever done and became something more demonic than human. When she thought that her torture will come to an end, she found herself back in that world again.
Since a new chance had been given to her, won’t it be best if she does something sweet?

This is the complete collection of all 11 books in the War Girl Series. War Girl Ursula is the bittersweet love story between a German woman and a British pilot. The eldest Klausen daughter, Ursula, must choose between morality and obedience when the wounded man asks her for help.   War Girl Lotte: the nestling Lotte is impulsive and outspoken, and a passionate fighter for justice. When she discovers four Jewish children on the run, her life finally has a purpose. But her act of humanity may cost her and those she loves dearly.   War Girl Anna: middle daughter Anna wants to be a human biologist, but when she discovers a horrific secret, she must choose between career and morality. Hidden from the world, gruesome things are happening - and Anna is soon caught in the middle.   Reluctant Informer: Sabine Mahler, the Klausens' lodger, is not who she claims to be. Her husband's survival depends on her willingness to cooperate with the Gestapo.   Trouble Brewing: Richard is a soldier. He obeys orders, until he sees her. She works for the Polish resistance, saving her life is a crime against Führer and Fatherland. When fate reunites them at his most vulnerable time in life, he must choose: Fight for his country or become a traitor of conscience.   Fatal Encounter: Lotte Klausen and her Polish brother-in-law Piotr Zdanek are both in Warsaw on the eve of the Uprising — on opposing sides. When they meet during the heat of the battle will they be able to save each other’s lives or does the war between their countries tear the family apart?   Uncommon Sacrifice: Held captive in a notorious Nazi camp, Peter clings to the dream of freedom. But when his wife Anna stages an escape for him, he has to leave his injured brother Stan behind.   Secrets Revealed: Officially employed as a radio operator for the Wehrmacht, Lotte is, in fact, a spy for the British service, risking her life to defeat the Nazi forces. When her contact in the Norwegian resistance is captured, a race against time begins.   Together at Last: Loving her is a crime that could ruin his entire military career. RAF pilot Tom is desperate to find the woman he left behind in Nazi Germany. When he finally does, he discovers he can never be with her.   Endless Ordeal: Surrendering to the Russians is Wehrmacht Leutnant Johann Hauser’s only option. Whisked away into the vast lands of the Soviet Union, he and his comrades cling to life by a thin thread. The fighting never stops, but their new enemies are hunger, cold, and exhaustion.

Plot

Maureen and her brother Lancelot were the children of the Beta male and female both love each other like every sibling. Suddenly things changed when Lancelot turned eighteen, he began acting strange and wanted his sister to stay away from him which broke his sister's heart. In an angry frenzy, he nearly killed his sister while trying to make her stay away from him.
He had to insist and told his parents he wanted to go to a nearby pack to train further in order to be a good Beta.
While in coma from her brother's attack, Maureen had a strange dream where she was told both her and Lance had a great destiny ahead of them. Lancelot returned years later shortly before his sister's eighteenth birthday. On the day of his sister's eighteenth birthday he called her 'Mate' in the presence of everyone.

It caused a lot of frenzy as they became the talk of the whole pack. The color of Maureen's wolf also became a concern. Her wolf was pure gold, so much that if she stood without moving, she would be taken for a golden statue.

Seeing Lancelot in so much pain, the Beta female and Luna decided to tell both Lancelot and Maureen the truth about Maureen's true birth.

The Luna was raped during one of their many trips by an unknown person who kidnapped her from right under their nose. Because Luna was against abortion, she had to keep the baby against everybody's will.

Knowing the truth that they weren't really siblings, Lancelot and Maureen decided to find Maureen's real root and why she was different from all other wolves.

A lot of other hidden truths were revealed and their true purpose was revealed and achieved but not without a lot of pain.

Angela Leventis is one of the most notorious assassins in the criminal underworld, earning her the nickname "Angel of Death." She's infamous for her ability to carry out hits without leaving a trace behind.

One night, she hits up a club in Las Vegas with her sister and unexpectedly crosses paths with mafia heir Nikolai Vasillios. To her shock, she wakes up the next morning in his hotel room, with a ring on her finger.

Nikolai Vasillios is the most feared mafia boss out there, known for treating women like disposable items. What chaos will ensue when he discovers he’s married to the woman he partied with the night before? And what about the fact that his father has already picked out a bride for him?

Can Angela escape this drunken marriage and keep her true identity under wraps? Will Nikolai stand up to his father and reject the bride chosen for him, or will the assassin and the mafia don find themselves falling for each other?

Everyone used to say Ryan Scott loved me more than his own life.
I used to believe that too.
Then I found out I was pregnant with Ryan’s child—
and that’s when my adopted sister told me she was pregnant with his child as well.
So I chose revenge.
I emptied his accounts, staged the perfect accident, and planned my own “death.”
On the day I “died,” Ryan completely broke down, clutching my urn like it was the only thing keeping him alive.
While he sobbed his heart out in front of my photo, I was already holding another man’s hand—the man who never let go of me when I was at my lowest—
and walking toward the brand‑new life that truly belonged to me.

At twelve, I lost my parents and was taken in by the Brooks—our families had a marriage pact. For a decade, everyone expected me to marry their son Conner, a future I'd accepted as duty.
Then Conner's tabloid scandal with another woman destroyed the engagement. Chaos hit our family businesses—until Dylan, Conner's uncle who barely spoke to me, offered: Marry me instead.
It was the only way to save everything. I said yes, no time to fear marrying a stranger.
What stunned me? The wild side of Uncle Dylan I never saw. It hit fast, hot—pulling me in until I was hopelessly falling.
And my best friend? She's about to find a chaotic, twisty romance of her own. Turns out, life's best gifts are the ones you never see coming—even if they start with a marriage of convenience.

Saving his grandmother’s life came with an unexpected price: a marriage of convenience to Ethan Wentworth.

Fresh out of college, buried under my father’s medical debt, and foolishly drawn to him from the first glance, I agreed. I built a home, gave him twins, and loved him quietly, even as his heart remained fixed on another.

Then he whispered her name in his sleep.

The spell broke.

I walked away from the loveless marriage, determined to build a life and career of my own. The children stay with him—for now—while I find myself.

He’s only just realizing he doesn’t want to let me go.
But I’m no longer the girl who waited.

This time, he’s the one chasing.

My eyes traced the curve of Cedar's porcelain skin, and something primal ignited deep in my chest. Before I could stop myself, I was moving toward the bed—drawn by an instinct I didn't recognize.

She pressed herself against the wall, eyes wide with fear.

But when my fingers closed around her delicate ankle, all rational thought abandoned me. Her skin was impossibly soft beneath my calloused hands, and the way she trembled sent heat coursing through my veins.

"Mr. Sterling... please... let me go..." Her whispered plea cut through the haze like a blade.

Christ. What was I doing?

I released her as if burned, my jaw clenching as reality crashed back. I'd crossed a line I never cross—touched her without permission, without reason. The moment her restraints were gone, she clutched the sheets to her chest, those doe eyes watching my every move.

The air between us crackled with something dangerous. Something I couldn't afford to explore.

But as I turned to leave, one thought echoed in my mind: I wanted to touch her again.


I'm Cedar Wright, raised by adoptive parents who seemed to value me more for what I could do for them than for who I am. As I struggle to break free from their toxic hold, a six-year-old boy suddenly enters my life, calling me "Mommy." It's surreal—I'm still a virgin! Yet his presence brings warmth and hope to my otherwise mundane existence.

Soon, two more children come into my life, each wanting me to be their "Mommy" too. They're like little Cupids, bringing an unexpected romance into my life—one that involves their domineering father. I find myself drawn to him, despite my better judgment, but our relationship is fraught with uncertainty.

Just when I've completely fallen for him, he starts pulling away. Is it because his first love has resurfaced, or is his true nature finally emerging?

She never imagined her life would come to an abrupt end over of a poisoned 30ml of jelly, but it did, and it was the start of a new one.
M awakened in the body of an abandoned child who had been loathed by everyone and had a criminal record, having been given a new life and a second chance in life.
M got blessed and received a Tycoon System that would lift her to a higher level, enabling her to do things she couldn't in her previous life.

How far will she go in order to accomplish her goals and dreams? Will she be able to protect those that she failed to protect in her past life?

Annika Smit is a child psychologist and has worked hard to be the best out there. She gets a job offer in Milan, Italy, at one of the best hospitals, which she accepts with open arms, but that also means leaving behind her family in South Africa. Two weeks after her arrival, she finds a little boy lost in the park, unaware of whose child she is talking to.

Raffaele Cattaneo is the handsome king of the mafia. His ex-wife cheated on him, making him heartless. He doesn't have time for children—well, his children—since they remind him of his failed marriage. He had hired many nannies only for them to turn out clingy to him instead of his children, that is, until he meets Annika. He offers her the job as his nanny, leaving her no choice but to accept his offer.

What will happen if they find themselves falling for each other? Will Raffaele be able to trust a woman again? Is he willing to forget about the past?
He finds himself falling for the feisty red head that somehow managed to steal his children’s hearts every second, and he is afraid that he will take away her innocents with his lifestyle.
And Annika? What will she do once she finds out that the man she fell in love with is the mafia Don? Will she be able to accept the dangerous world he lives in?

Allison is her first year of college when she is surprised to learn that her long-widowed mother is dating billionaire Malcolm Kent. Although she wants her mother to be happy, Allison mistrusts his intentions and is soon drawn into a web of intrigue as Malcolm enforces his unusual form of discipline on all those around him.

All it took for him to have her in palm was a marriage proposal threateningly done by him. In order for her to keep the secret she had been keeping from her adoptive parents, Enchantia didn't hesitate to give herself to the man who made her heart skip and sent shivers down her spine.
So what if he was dangerous? Enchantia believed that between the two of them, she was more dangerous than him but for the sake of her beloved ones, she wouldn't mind attaching herself to this devil.
What could she fear when she can be herself around him?

It all began because of loneliness but as time pass by, that changed into something much more.
It all began with a teasing kiss one day and one day it let to something much stronger.
A relationship that was supposed to remain as platonic and familial grew deeper to become something treacherous, forbidden and scandalous.
The two step siblings found themselves fall deep for each other and do everything that they can to remain in each other's arm

"Didn't know a clumsy girl would be sent to me?" He said, and I felt a ripple go through me.

His voice!

It was the deepest one I have ever heard. His aura screams power but I don't know why I kept on looking at his face as if I was under a love spell.

"You keep looking at me, did you find me too pretty?" He asked, and his deep voice jolted me awake, goosebumps traveling down my skin when I realized he grabbed my ass cheek.

Fuck!

Now, I wasn't expecting that.

"Sorry, I don't think I heard you well," I said in a calm voice, averting my gaze. And thanks to the mask, he would have seen my cheeks red with blush.

"What music would you want me to dance to?" I said as I stood upright, my heart beating wildly against my chest.

"I think another person should be brought in, don't you think?" He asked, his head cocked to one side and I swear, his words hit a nerve in me.

No client has ever belittled me before and his rude remark felt like a blow to me.

"I don't think you will be needing another girl," I said and touched the collar of his shirt.


Valeria seems like a regular omega on the surface but beneath that perfect smile lies a great secret. Driven by vengeance and revenge, she works as a stripper at night to find her parents' killer.

Her thirst for vengeance ultimately makes her cross paths with a mysterious masked man she feels holds the answers she seeks.

But what will happen when Valeria is arranged to marry the Lycan King, who seeks an open marriage? She is forced to live a double life to keep her secrets.

I've married sixteen dead men for a living. My seventeenth husband just opened his eyes.
I was born knowing one thing: the dead can speak one last time — but only to a spouse.
So I marry dead men. Rich families pay me to wed their fresh corpses, carry the last words sealed inside me, and read the testament out before the heirs. Then I burn the marriage certificate, and the marriage ends at the grave. Starting price: six hundred thousand dollars.
This morning, the Crane heir drowned in his own pool. Twenty-eight, obscenely rich, not one word left behind. The family offered five million and a private jet. By my count — my seventeenth husband. By a wide margin, the handsomest.
I said "I do" to a corpse for the seventeenth time. Then I called for his last words.
Silence. Sixteen weddings, sixteen voices. Husband number seventeen had nothing to say.
Because my seventeenth husband just opened his eyes.

Eight times. That's how many boyfriends my best friend Sera has "tested" for me. Eight times she's proven they weren't good enough by stealing them away with her perfect smile and fake concern.
"I'm just looking out for you, Lia," she always says. "If he really loved you, he wouldn't be tempted by me."
But this time is different. This time, it's Ryan—my boss, my almost-something, the first man who's ever made me believe I might be worth loving. When Sera comes back to town asking about my love life, I panic and lie. There's no one, I tell her. Nothing happening at all.
Big mistake.
Now she's got her sights set on him, and I'm watching her work her magic all over again. The late-night texts, the red lace lingerie, the hotel room invitation. I should just accept it like I always do. Let her prove once again that I'm not worth fighting for.
But I'm done being the girl who hands over everything she wants. This time, I'm fighting back.

"Baby, lend me Stella for the movie."
When my fiancé Damon said this, I thought it was the most romantic thing ever. My guide dog starring in his Oscar-worthy film—what a perfect love story.
I'm Aria Sinclair, 26-year-old blind film producer with perfect pitch and endless money, but no eyes. So when he said "The press will go crazy for our story," I stupidly agreed.
Three weeks later, in the editing room:
01:47:23—Dull impact.
01:47:31—Familiar whimper.
01:47:35—Silence.
My perfect pitch never lies. That wasn't CGI—that was real impact. Worse, I knew that whimper. That was Stella, my guide dog, my eyes, my most loyal companion.
They killed her. For a goddamn trophy.
On premiere night, when Damon walked the red carpet with a strange German Shepherd, when I touched her paw and found no white star-shaped mark—
"This is not my dog!"
I broke down in front of hundreds of reporters.
"Honey, you're under too much stress," Damon said gently. "Maybe you need rest."
Whispers from the audience: "Poor blind girl..." "She really needs help..."
Just like that, I became the crazy one.
Abandoned by the world.
Betrayed by the man I loved most.
But they made one fatal mistake—they thought stealing my eyes would silence me.
Now it's time to let them hear what despair sounds like...
[Click to watch me destroy them both...]

"Where is my son?"
My husband wouldn't look at me.
I had just come out of anesthesia. The bassinet next to my hospital bed was empty — except for a stack of cash, a christening card, and a ring pinned to the corner of the card.
The card had another woman's name in the godmother box.
That woman walked in behind my husband. She picked up the ring and slid it onto her own finger.
"He's safe, sweetheart. We've been talking about this for months."
My husband is Damiano Marchetti. He runs the family that runs this city. The woman wearing the ring is his father's young widow.
The baby on that card is my son.
For four years now I have been the woman this house pretends not to see. The wife told to use the servants' entrance. The mother of a boy who calls another woman Mommy.
Last night I asked my husband for a divorce.
He laughed in my face.
He has no idea how much that's going to cost him.

To stop the merfolk from being slaughtered, I went ashore to seduce the boy I grew up with — Lucian Voss, now one of the world's top scientists.
He still had feelings for me. He kept me in his bed for seven days and seven nights, refusing to let go.
I woke from the haze of pleasure to a pair of pliers prying the scales off my back.
Lucian watched me arch in agony, his expression ice-cold.
"Mermaid scales can repair genetic defects. You don't mind sharing a few, do you?"
"After all, what your kind owes me is worth far more than a handful of scales."
Two years. For two years I watched him marry another woman.
He held my kind's lives over my head and forbade me to leave. Every few days, he'd pry the scales from my spine, grind them into powder, and feed them to his new wife Vivienne to strengthen her body.
He shackled my ankles and ordered me to stay up all night washing his bedsheets. I had to kneel outside their bedroom door, motionless, listening to them together until dawn.
When Vivienne got pregnant, she started complaining about the color of the scale powder.
"Honey, these last few have been so dull. Is she running out?"
Lucian glanced at me.
The look on his face — he was counting. Calculating how many scales I had left.
He hated me to the bone, yet every time I nearly passed out from the pain, he was the one who pulled me off the floor. Forced medicine down my throat, fingers clamped around my jaw until I swallowed.
"You're counting on the fact that I still care about you. So tell me — where are my parents?"
I stayed silent and let the contradiction hang there.
It wouldn't matter soon. I wouldn't have to keep that secret much longer.
A mermaid who stays on land for three years without returning to the sea will die. No exceptions.
And I had three days left.

I woke up the morning the contract was due, picked up the pen, and crossed out my own name.
Wrote my sister's instead.
Last time, I packed away every leather jacket I owned and let Stefano Mastroianni's stylist dress me in things that needed dry cleaning. I sat straight at his family dinners and smiled until my face hurt. I let him correct my posture in front of his mother like I was something he hadn't finished training.
I did all of it, and I still ended up in the ground.
So this time I gave him Chiara. Took Pier Nine from my father as the price, and got out.
He thought he was getting his perfect bride.
On the wedding day, he reached for her hands—and felt it immediately. Smooth palms. Not a mark on them. Not the hands of a woman who'd been gripping a steering wheel since she was sixteen.
He pulled the veil up.
Chiara looked back at him, flushed with triumph.
Stefano stripped the Mastroianni ring off her finger in front of every powerful family in the city, kicked over the altar, and put one question through the cathedral walls:
"Where is Tessa."

The night Declan Ashford announces his chosen mate, everyone in the pack expects me to show up and fall apart.
I don't go.
What I do instead: I'm sitting on the floor of Cael Voss's dorm room in a training jacket that isn't mine, asking whether his mattress is filled with rocks. Cael is Declan's packmate at the academy. His equal in rank. His roommate. The last person I had any reason to call tonight.
I called him anyway.
Here's what he doesn't know: I'm not actually Beta. My real rank was sold before I was old enough to understand what that meant. I've been suppressing it for years.
Here's what I don't know: he's had something of mine under his pillow for two years. Something small. Something I spent three days looking for before I gave up.
Neither of us has said anything about it yet.

My roommate put a Blood Binding Curse on me — my own bloodline power, along with every resource I receive, gets automatically rerouted straight to her.
My ex helped her set it up. For six months she lived off my bloodline playing noble princess, him always on her arm, while I walked around hollow. The harder I fought to prove myself, the more I fed her.
Then I died. Came back knowing everything.
Here's what I figured out: the curse reroutes everything I receive.
Including debt.
I went to a guild and borrowed a batch of elixirs. Opened the contract.
The debtor on the line wasn't me.

For six years, I wore Pack silver. I sold my blood. I scrubbed silver out of Pack den floors. I slept on a basement floor — all to pay off my mate's Pack debt and buy my brother's wolfsbane antidote.
Today, with the receipt finally signed, my brother looked at me and said:
"Seren, I was never poisoned. Our parents aren't dead either. The Rogue raid six years ago — I arranged it. The only wolf hurt that night was you."
My mate stepped up behind him: "I never lost my Pack rank either. I've been at the estate the whole time."
Then my parents — the ones I'd buried seven years ago — walked through the door.
The Pack physician had given me forty-eight hours left to live.
They were going to remember every single one.

I just got out of prison after three years, and my family wants me to go back in.
"It's only three days," they said. "You survived three years—what's three more days?"
What they don't know: I'm dying. The only thing keeping me alive is my mate bond. Three days away from Everett means death.
For three years in prison, someone sent me food every week. No note, no name. I thought it meant my family still loved me.
I was so grateful.
I didn't know it was my twin sister. I didn't know what was inside.

I spent five years loving Beckett Calloway.
When his ex-girlfriend died saving his life, I held him through every nightmare. When he said he "wasn't ready" for marriage, I waited. When he whispered "soon," I believed him.
Then her sister showed up. Crying about some terminal illness. Begging him to take care of her.
He let her move onto our private island—the one he promised would only ever belong to us.
He introduced her at the gala where he was supposed to announce our engagement.
He got her pregnant.
And when I told him she was lying about everything, he looked at me like I was the monster.
Then came our wedding rehearsal. She walked down the aisle in my dress. He slid his ring onto her finger. The chapel caught fire. I collapsed, bleeding.
He scooped her up and ran. Didn't even glance back.
So I burned my vows, deleted every trace of myself, and vanished.
This time, I wasn't coming back.

There are no unmated males in our pack.
Every she-wolf in Hollowfen is promised to someone when she turns eighteen. We just don't get to know who until we walk into the Choosing Hall.
Girls go in wearing white. They come out flushed, shaking, barely able to stand. Some laugh. Some cry. None of them talk about what happens inside.
My sister Thessaly turned eighteen this spring. Gran told her she couldn't attend the Choosing.
She went anyway. She came back on shaking legs, with blood between her thighs and a smile she couldn't wipe off her face.

I took a bullet for my husband five years ago. He married me in the ICU before the anesthesia wore off.
Raffaele Santoro—heir to the most powerful mafia family in Italy—told me I was his everything. He bought a castle and named it after me. He reserved a grave beside his parents so we'd lie together for eternity.
While I was pumping my body full of hormones for our fourth round of IVF, he was across town watching his childhood sweetheart give birth to twin boys.
He named one of them Dante—the name I'd chosen for our future son.
The night I found out, I was seven weeks pregnant with his child.
I didn't tell him.
I called my best friend and said: I need everyone to think I'm dead.

The ultrasound photo caught fire slowly, curling at the edges before the flame swallowed it whole.
I watched it burn in front of my mother's grave.
Eight weeks. That was how far along I had been.
Three days ago, on the anniversary of her death, I came here to talk to her. To tell her she was going to be a grandmother.
Instead, I found my husband fucking his ex-girlfriend against the oak tree twenty feet from her headstone.
I lost the baby that night.

My husband never wore condoms with me. Said they ruined it for him. So I swallowed birth control pills for four years until they made me sick.
Then I found a half-empty box in his glove compartment. And a thong under his backseat.
That wasn't even the worst part.
The necklace I'd made from my mother's ashes—the one I'd been grieving over losing for a year—was dangling between his twenty-three-year-old trainee's tits. He stole it from our bedroom and gave it to her.
She caught me staring. She smiled.
When I confronted him, he slapped me. Then drove off with her crying in his passenger seat.
Her friends came to my hospital with a livestream, demanding I apologize for "bullying" her.
I led them straight to the parking garage.
They found her on a stretcher. Legs wrapped around my husband. No condom.
The whole internet watched.

After the wedding, my husband moved his dead fiancée's mother into our guest room. The whole town called it the kindest thing they'd ever seen.
Every morning, Dione made me a green smoothie. Her grandmother's recipe, she said. Good for the nerves.
I never drank a single one. I poured them all into the chicken feed.
In my last life, I drank them. One a day, for thirty days.
Then I started losing time. I would blink at breakfast and come back at dinner. I found notes in my own handwriting that I never wrote.
I begged Julian to take me to a doctor. He held my shoulders and smiled. "You're just tired, baby. Drink your smoothie."
On the thirtieth night, I fell asleep in my own bed, in my own body.
I never woke up. Someone else did.
This time, every glass went to Nugget, the smallest of my backyard hens.
And one night, a hen crowed in my backyard.
Hens don't crow. And we don't have a rooster.

In my last life, my boyfriend's childhood best friend handed out jars of homemade sunscreen on the boat ride to the island. I'm a marine bio major — one sniff and I knew the mix had something in it that could drive the island's feral hogs into a frenzy. I told everyone to throw them out.
They did. But Brynn didn't look at the group. She looked at me. Eyes red, jaw tight. "You just can't stand seeing people appreciate anything I do, can you?" She turned and ran into the woods alone.
We searched for her all night in a storm. By morning we found her body at the bottom of the cliffs.
A week later, at her memorial bonfire on the beach, every person who'd gotten hurt during the search turned on me. My boyfriend ripped off his bandage and showed his stitches. "If you hadn't humiliated Brynn in front of everyone, she'd still be alive."
Someone said I should burn for what I did to her.
Then hands on my back. The fire. I burned alive on the sand while seventeen people watched.
I opened my eyes. Salt air. Engine noise. I was back on the boat — the morning of the trip.

My brother Soren is a figure skating prodigy. Every dollar in our house, every hour, every scrap of attention — all his.
Me? I'm the kid who doesn't need to be seen.
The night before Nationals, I told my mom my stomach hurt so bad I could barely stand. She said I was making trouble. Dad told me to take a painkiller and tough it out. Then they loaded up the car and drove two hundred miles to watch Soren skate.
They didn't come home until Sunday night. By then, I'd been dead for over a day.
I called her. Again and again. She had her phone on airplane mode.
Now I'm a ghost, drifting behind their car on the highway home. They're laughing, complaining I didn't even text Soren a congratulations.
I wonder what their faces will look like when they walk through that door.

My husband told me our daughter was brain-dead. He put a pen in my hand and told me to sign the organ donation form. He said it was the merciful thing to do.
I signed.
Then I watched her heart get cut out and transplanted into another child — his mistress's son.
He'd been planning it for months. The fake diagnosis, the doctor who happened to be his college girlfriend, the night his mother lured me away from the hospital so they could drug my little girl.
When I found out the truth, he killed me for it.
But somehow, I woke up back at that desk. Same pen. Same form. Same lying face waiting for my signature.
This time, I'm not signing. This time, they pay.

My daughter died on her fifth birthday.
Her first real wish—the first one she was old enough to make herself—was to go to the beach with Daddy.
Gideon promised he would take her.
She waited for him all day. She was still asking for him when she took her last breath.
He never came.
I brought her ashes to the beach she'd always dreamed of. Let her finally see the ocean.
That's when I heard it—a woman's moan, low and breathy, coming from behind the rocks.
Then his voice. Then his name on her lips.
"Between me and Lily, who do you love more?"
"You. Obviously."
He was fucking his mistress on our daughter's dream beach—while I stood there holding her ashes.
When I finally confronted them, I didn't get an apology. I got a slap across the face.
And when his mistress caught my eye and smiled, I realized something.
She knew exactly when my daughter would die.

I was a scholarship student with thirty extra pounds. Del Ashford had two hundred thousand followers and her family's supplement brand on every wall of the athletic center. First week of school, she decided we were going to be best friends.
She said she wanted to help me get in shape. What that actually looked like: I carried her product shipments up three flights of stairs, drafted her emails, and picked up her lunch from the place across campus that didn't deliver.
My roommates started calling me her errand girl behind my back. I let them.
She also introduced me to Beckett Hale. After that, things went the way they went.
She knocked my protein shake over and said I'd burned her. She planted her limited-edition earphones in my bag and told everyone I'd stolen them. The school opened a conduct review. My roommates stopped talking to me.

Beckett said I was the kind of girl who got a little attention and started thinking she deserved more of it.
I couldn't prove any of it. By spring, I was gone.
Some people just aren't built for this, Wren. You know that, right?
Del hadn't even been looking at me when she said it.
Then I opened my eyes and I was back at the party. The night she introduced me to Beckett.