A Trace of Crime (a Keri Locke Mystery--Book #4)

She broke their marriage. He walked away.

Neither of them knew she was carrying his child.

Emily’s affair didn’t just end her marriage—it erased the life she thought was guaranteed. Ryan left without looking back, carrying his anger like armor and leaving Emily alone with regret she would never outrun. Three years later, fate drags them back into each other’s world, along with a little girl who has Ryan’s eyes and a truth that shatters everything he thought he knew.

Old wounds reopen, grief masquerades as rage, and love refuses to stay buried. As parenthood binds them together and the past demands accountability, Emily and Ryan must face the question neither of them is ready to answer: is broken trust the end of their story… or the beginning of a love forged through loss, forgiveness, and brutal honesty?

Amie's wolf hasn't shown herself. But who cares? She has a good pack, best friends and a family who loves her. Everyone, including the Alpha, is telling her she is perfect just the way she is. That is until she finds her mate and he rejects her. Heartbroken Amie flees from everything and start over. No more werewolves, no more packs.

When Finlay finds her, she is living among humans. He is smitten by the stubborn wolf that refuse to acknowledge his existence. She may not be his mate, but he wants her to be a part of his pack, latent wolf or not.

Amie cant resist the Alpha that comes into her life and drags her back into pack life. Not only does she find herself happier than she has been in a long time, her wolf finally comes to her. Finlay isn't her mate, but he becomes her best friend. Together with the other top wolves in the pack, they work to create the best and strongest pack.

When it's time for the pack games, the event that decides the packs rank for the coming ten year, Amie needs to face her old pack. When she sees the man that rejected her for the first time in ten years, everything she thought she knew is turned around. Amie and Finlay need to adapt to the new reality and find a way forward for their pack. But will the curve ball split them apart?

A strange traffic jam hurls Chloe twenty-three years into the future.
 
The world she knew is gone.
Her husband, Nathan, is no longer the young man she left behind—he’s successful, respected, and living with a new family.
 
But when the woman who disappeared twenty-three years ago suddenly returns…
 
Can love survive the years that were lost?

𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐕𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞. 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐋𝐲𝐜𝐚𝐧.
𝐌𝐚𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧. 𝐖𝐨𝐥𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐀 𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞—𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐖𝐚𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐯𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬.

To survive the mating ceremony and compete against twenty candidates, Maeve ventures into District 3, seeking a vampire to teach her the art of seduction.

Instead, she stumbles into Nikolai’s room—a Crimson vampire who bites her.
He teaches her with his own body.

“Did you catch it? My name.”
He licks her throbbing bud.
“I spelled it with my tongue.”

He claims her virginity, makes her beg, makes her shatter beneath him. She falls hopelessly in love.

Then he rejects her.

Heartbroken, Maeve attends the ceremony—only for Prince Bastian, a Lycan, to discover she’s his fated mate.

His rough hand slides to her neck, finding his enemy’s mark.

“Tell me this wasn’t consensual,” he growls, his erection hard against her.

Vampire and wolf. Ancient enemies. Both want her.

“If I take you, I won’t stop.”

“If you choose him, I will hunt him.”

But Maeve is not weak.
Because when her blood awakens, choosing one man won’t save her—it will start a war, and only one of them will survive it.

❧ 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 · 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 · 𝐕𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐱 𝐖𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐥𝐟 · 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐦 · 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝 · 𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 · 𝐄𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜 ☙
🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥

"Tell me to stop, and I will," he murmured against my ear. "But if you don't..."
He didn't finish. He didn't need to.
I didn't tell him to stop.
Instead, my fingers curled into his shirt, clutching the fabric as though it was my only anchor. Something in him snapped—something he had been holding back for too long. His mouth found mine in a kiss that wasn't tender, but hungry, desperate.
I gasped into him, his hand sliding up to cup my jaw, holding me as if afraid I might vanish.
"You drive me insane," he breathed against my mouth, his lips trailing to my throat. "I can't lose you, Ella. Not you."
My head fell back, a soft sound escaping me as his fingers memorized my waist. My anger melted beneath his desperation.
"James..." I whispered, more plea than protest.
His hand caught mine, fingers threading together tightly. "I'll bring him back. I swear it. Just... don't turn away from me. Please."
The word please—low, ragged, almost broken—undid me more than anything else could have.


Ella never imagined she would marry the man she had secretly loved for years in such a way.
When her brother Theo faced twenty-five years in prison for massive embezzlement, the ruthless business tycoon James Lancaster offered her a deal: marry him in exchange for her brother's freedom.
This wasn't a fairy tale proposal, but a carefully orchestrated revenge. Because in James's heart, Ella was the culprit who had killed his sister Cecilia. He wanted her to pay the price—to atone with a lifetime of suffering.

Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother.

"What is wrong with me?

Why does being near him make my skin feel too tight, like I’m wearing a sweater two sizes too small?

It’s just newness, I tell myself firmly.

He’s my boyfirend’s brother.

This is Tyler’s family.

I’m not going to let one cold stare undo that.

**

As a ballet dancer, My life looks perfect—scholarship, starring role, sweet boyfriend Tyler. Until Tyler shows his true colors and his older brother, Asher, comes home.

Asher is a Navy veteran with battle scars and zero patience. He calls me "princess" like it's an insult. I can't stand him.

When My ankle injury forces her to recover at the family lake house, I‘m stuck with both brothers. What starts as mutual hatred slowly turns into something forbidden.

I'm falling for my boyfriend's brother.

**

I hate girls like her.

Entitled.

Delicate.

And still—

Still.

The image of her standing in the doorway, clutching her cardigan tighter around her narrow shoulders, trying to smile through the awkwardness, won’t leave me.

Neither does the memory of Tyler. Leaving her here without a second thought.

I shouldn’t care.

I don’t care.

It’s not my problem if Tyler’s an idiot.

It’s not my business if some spoiled little princess has to walk home in the dark.

I’m not here to rescue anyone.

Especially not her.

Especially not someone like her.

She’s not my problem.

And I’ll make damn sure she never becomes one.

But when my eyes fell on her lips, I wanted her to be mine.

Kaelani spent her life believing she was wolfless.
Cast out by her pack. Forgotten by the Lycans.
She lived among humans—quiet, invisible, tucked away in a town no one looked at twice.

But when her first heat comes without warning, everything changes.

Her body ignites. Her instincts scream. And something primal stirs beneath her skin—
summoning a big, bad Alpha who knows exactly how to quench her fire.

When he claims her, it’s ecstasy and ruin.

For the first time, she believes she’s been accepted.
Seen.
Chosen.

Until he leaves her the next morning—
like a secret never to be spoken.

But Kaelani is not what they thought.
Not wolfless. Not weak.
There is something ancient inside her. Something powerful. And it’s waking.

And when it does—
they’ll all remember the girl they tried to erase.

Especially him.

She’ll be the dream he keeps chasing… the one thing that ever made him feel alive.

Because secrets never stay buried.
And neither do dreams.

Five years ago, during a passionate sexual encounter, Freya Myers stole sperm from a mysterious and dangerous man, intending to have a genetically superior child. That man was none other than Declan Castle, the ruthless, enigmatic CEO of the globally renowned Castle Group.

Five years later, Freya Myers returns to the city with a pair of exceptionally gifted twins, desperately trying to conceal their existence from the world. But when she interviews for an internship, she unexpectedly encounters Declan Castle—the very same man from years ago—as her interviewer. From then on, Declan Castle becomes a persistent, demonic force haunting her!

Five years ago, a single, desperate mistake changed Freya Myers's life forever. Intending to secure a future with the man of her dreams, she ended up in the wrong room, stealing the 'seed' of the wrong man. That man was Declan Castle—the cold, ruthless, and enigmatic CEO of the world-renowned Castle Group.

Now, Freya has returned to the city as a struggling single mother, hiding a pair of genius twins from the world. When she lands an internship at the Castle Group, she hopes to remain invisible. But fate has other plans. Declan Castle, a man who has remained mysteriously untouched by any woman since that fateful night, instantly senses something familiar about the new designer. He has spent years searching for the woman who 'ruined' him, and now that he has found her, he has no intention of letting her go.

Forced into a high-stakes marriage of convenience with the domineering CEO, Freya must navigate the treacherous waters of high society while desperately guarding her children's true identity. Between a scheming stepmother, jealous socialites, and a series of deadly secrets, the walls are closing in.

What started as a game of cat-and-mouse and a quest for revenge soon ignites into a passion that neither can control. In a world where power is everything and betrayal is a way of life, can Freya protect her heart and her children, or will the relentless Mr. Castle claim everything she’s been trying to hide?

“Sign the contract. Be my incubator. And I will let you live.”
That was the deal I made with the tyrant named Damon Lexton.
I was his medicine. His prisoner. He did not love me—only the rare blood in my veins that kept him alive. When I died in the fire, he did not mourn his wife. He mourned the loss of his cure.
Five years later, I returned from the dead with a new face and a heart of stone, ready to watch him suffer.
Then my five-year-old son walked into his office.
“Hey, Old Man. Are you the one who made my mom cry?”
Damon stared at the child—the son he once called a bastard. For the first time, the tyrant fell to his knees.
He cornered me against the wall, his eyes burning with madness and obsession.
“You can run, Anna. But you and our son belong to me. I used to need your blood to live. Now I need your heartbeat to breathe.”

“You don’t run from me, Ira,” Ruel growls, rough hand caging me against the wall.
“Watch me,” I snap.
His icy gaze flicks to my lips.
I know I’m trapped.
I’m a stray fighting to keep orphans alive—until I’m caught and chained to the North’s most feared Alpha.
Xuaru Ruel is war-forged, ice-cold, bound to a king who owns him.
He was born to kill my kind. Instead, he keeps me close.
Calls it discipline. Lies.
The fated mate bond ignited, and his wolf won’t let me go.
He fights the pull, yet always comes back.
If he learns my secret…
He’ll choose: hand me to his king…
Or burn the world to claim me as his.

Loving him will cost them everything…

Not loving him will cost more.

Derek has one goal: survive high school without drawing too much attention or pissing off his pack’s alpha.

As the youngest son of the alpha, his life is governed by lycan hierarchy, tradition, and politics. With no signs of awakening a lycan spirit, his only value is what he can do for the pack’s image. He knows he’s only ever one misstep away from exile… or worse.

Then, he finds a boy trapped in a locker on orientation day, and everything changes.

Derek shouldn’t want Nikolias. He’s off-limits. A risk Derek can’t afford.

So why does it feel like he’s the only thing worth fighting for?

Nikolias has just lost everything: his parents, his home, and any sense of peace. Sent back to the town his family left years ago to live with his prejudiced and controlling uncle, who wants nothing to do with anything—or anyone—not human, he’s trying to do everything in his power to get out quickly.

But then he meets Derek again, and all of his plans vanish in the soft, yearning flecks of gold in Derek’s green-hazel eyes. He’s drawn to Derek in a way that’s impossible to deny, and he thinks Derek feels the same way, despite the danger their relationship holds for him.

As Moonshadow's politics turn deadly, Derek and Nikolai are caught in the crossfire of a war that had started long before they were born, and their bond becomes a threat and a lifeline that neither can afford to sever.

Because the heart wants what it wants….

And it never asks permission.

TW: Graphic Violence, Suicide Ideation, Suicide Attempt, Child Abuse, Cult-Like Behavior

Valerie accidentally forms a bond with Maxwell, a light demon, and begins seeing the dangerous supernatural world hidden around her. As the two constantly bicker yet protect each other, Valerie gradually discovers her own light-based powers and confronts many dark forces, including a serial kidnapper, the dark demon Zane, and other malevolent entities. Maxwell, haunted by the death of his former lover Juliana, repeatedly tries to distance himself from Valerie to keep her safe, causing both of them pain. Yet every time Valerie is in danger, Maxwell returns to save her, and their feelings grow deeper. The climax comes when they face Mason, a fire demon who hunts human–demon couples; Valerie risks her life in battle while Maxwell nearly collapses from exhaustion. In the end, Mason is destroyed, the threats fade away, and Valerie and Maxwell can finally stay together in peace.