Once Hunted (A Riley Paige Mystery—Book 5)

I never applied to the Academy for Magical Beings and Creatures.

Which is why it was more than a little confusing when a letter arrived with my name already printed on a schedule, a dorm waiting, and classes picked out as if someone knew me better than I knew myself. Everyone knows the Academy, it’s where witches sharpen their spells, shifters master their forms, and every kind of magical creature learns to control their gifts.

Everyone except me.

I don’t even know what I am. No shifting, no magic tricks, nothing. Just a girl surrounded by people who can fly, conjure fire, or heal with a touch. So I sit through classes pretending I belong, and I listen hard for any clue that might tell me what’s hidden in my blood.

The only person more curious than me is Blake Nyvas, tall, golden-eyed, and very much a Dragon. People whisper that he’s dangerous, warn me to keep my distance. But Blake seems determined to solve the mystery of me, and somehow I trust him more than anyone else.

Maybe it’s reckless. Maybe it’s dangerous.

But when everyone else looks at me like I don’t belong, Blake looks at me like I’m a riddle worth solving.

The last thing Amelia expected was to be told she’d be the fifth bride of a man who killed his first four wives…

Bodhi Singh wanted the quiet dorm.
The safe dorm.

The boring dorm.

What he got instead was Maverick Hale campus menace, underground street fighter, walking bruise factory, and the last person he ever wanted anywhere near his neat piles of textbooks.
Maverick doesn't care that he's broke.

or in arrears with his fees.

Or one wrong move away from getting kicked out.
He’ll graduate out of sheer spite—he refuses to give his estranged, homophobic father the satisfaction of calling him a failure.
He definitely doesn’t care about the determined, overachieving half-Indian nursing major he’s stuck sharing a room with…
Until Bodhi becomes the only thing keeping him in school.

His tutor.

His healer.
His undoing.

And when Maverick stumbles into their dorm one night with a knife wound and Bodhi stitches him up with shaking hands and a breaking heart…

no longer can that be denied.

Opposites weren’t supposed to collide this way.

But they did.

Hard.

"Come here."
"What?" It was out of my mouth before I could stop it. I did not wait for him to answer me, I walked toward him.
"Dance on my lap."
My head screamed at me to turn around and run. But my whole body responded to his command.
"Yes, Alpha," I pulled my dress over my body, it dropped over my head and fell to the ground behind me. I was left in nothing but my matching bra and thong. My hands covered my chest on reflex.
"Let me see."
My hands dropped to my sides.
I lowered myself into his lap, facing him. His eyes peered into mine, and I could feel his hot breath fan my face. His dick responded to all my moves, hardening against my now-moist vagina. I swallowed hard, allowing my lips to part in a ragged breath. His hands trailed up to my waist.
"No touching."


At the tender age of eleven, JoJo Wyatt was forced to grow up far sooner than she should have. Born to a cruel father and a weak mother, she quickly realized she had to become the breadwinner for herself and her sister. Nothing else mattered to her, not even the hottest men. In fact, she despised them. After one horrific night, she swore never to have any contact with the male species again. That was, until she started working for him as his stripper.
Meanwhile, Alpha Lake Rush, thirty, was the most feared Alpha in the country. Burdened by his own share of life's struggles, he had learned only to be cruel and reckless, rejecting not one but two mates. But what happens when he discovers yet another mate, and she turns out to be his stripper?

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?

"Show off." I scoffed, the words coming out airy.
"You're fucking killing me, Laura." He groaned.
There were several ways to celebrate her best friend getting hitched off to the man of her dreams. Having sex with a stranger wasn't one of them—at least Laura didn't plan on it. But when an opportunity presents itself in the form of an incredibly sexy tattooed man, who was she to say no?
Laura doesn't do relationships, or dates, or anything related to the subject. She is strictly a one-night-only type of girl and doesn't go back on that rule no matter what.
So what happens when this sexy stranger Laura hooked up with, turns out to be a close friend of Jack—her best friend's husband—who had actually been at the party that day, and now wants more than one night from her?
A game of wills ensues.
Will Laura succumb to the sexy stranger under his top-notch seduction skills?
Or will she go the extra mile and beat him at his own game?

“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.”

“I am Maya Blackthorn, the first daughter of Alpha Darius of the Ashbourne Pack, and I am damned… damned by the Moon Goddess. And destined to bring kingdoms to their knees.”
Cast out by her pack for being wolfless and plagued by uncontrollable heat, Maya has spent her life surviving humiliation in silence.
Fate drags her into the path of Kael Draven, the ruthless Lycan King who claims her… only to reject her.
But Kael is not the only Alpha bound to her.
Finn, her childhood best friend and the rising Alpha, loves her with a devotion so fierce, he spends four years locked away in the most ruthless dungeon only to keep her safe.
Xander, a rogue wolf who can make even Alphas bow to his will, has waited centuries for her to be reborn, and he has no intention of losing her again.
Three Alphas.
Three claims.
One cursed destiny.
They called her wolfless. They thought she was weak. But she is done hiding, and this time, she's rewriting the rules.

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 ☙
🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥

A ruthless vampire king, a hidden hybrid, and a centuries-old secret ignite a forbidden love amidst a brewing war.

Chained and rejected by my pack, I thought I was just an ordinary werewolf. But the Vampire King's rescue reveals my true nature and a shocking past. Now, as shifters and vampires clash, I must choose between my heritage and my destiny.

Will I surrender to the King's dark desires, or forge my own path? In this world of ancient power struggles, one thing is certain: my blood will decide the fate of all.

Tiyanna, born of two Alphas, is a member of the Red Dawn Pack though her parents were not the Alpha and Luna. They came from another pack and when it was destroyed, they left and joined as the new Betas. Her life was great as she and the Alpha’s daughter were best friends and were practically inseparable until a rogue attack took the life of her parents while they were protecting the Alpha and Luna. Jealousy of her beauty as well as greed for her parents’ fortune that was left to her upon their deaths took hold and they treated her as a slave. She dreamed of turning 18 so that she could finally claim her inheritance and leave this god-awful pack. She never anticipated that when she found her mate, he would reject her for her ex-best friend or that she would get a second chance mate in the form of the most feared Alpha of the strongest pack in America, Alpha Cameron of the Black Diamond Pack. Will he reject her as well or will he take her as his mate?

Alpha Cameron is the strongest Alpha in America and the most feared, but he has a secret. He doesn’t want a mate because of this and has decided to take a chosen mate to become his Luna in name only. His mother, sister, and beta urge him constantly to rethink his decision as the woman he has chosen is a nightmare. They believe that he should wait for his fated mate, but their pleas fall on deaf ears. What happens when he visits the Red Dawn Pack for the Alpha daughters’ coming of age party and finds his fated mate being beaten? Will he save her or reject her?

For three years, Sable loved Alpha Darrell with everything she had, spending her salary to support their household while being called an orphan and gold-digger. But just as Darrell was about to mark her as his Luna, his ex-girlfriend returned, texting: "I'm not wearing underwear. My plane lands soon—pick me up and fuck me immediately."

Heartbroken, Sable discovered Darrell having sex with his ex in their bed, while secretly transferring hundreds of thousands to support that woman.

Even worse was overhearing Darrell laugh to his friends: "She's useful—obedient, doesn't cause trouble, handles housework, and I can fuck her whenever I need relief. She's basically a live-in maid with benefits." He made crude thrusting gestures, sending his friends into laughter.

In despair, Sable left, reclaimed her true identity, and married her childhood neighbor—Lycan King Caelan, nine years her senior and her fated mate. Now Darrell desperately tries to win her back. How will her revenge unfold?

From substitute to queen—her revenge has just begun!