Bailey , a fierce werewolf, made a tough choice to leave her pack and embrace her destiny. But when she returns, she's thrown into a world of danger, power, and forbidden love. As Bailey tries to find her place, a new pack king, Nathan Frost, emerges. Handsome and ruthless, he demands her obedience. But Bailey's not one to back down easily. She's determined to fight for her freedom and the love she truly desires. Just when Bailey thinks she has it all figured out, a shocking twist sends her world spinning. The mysterious stranger who took over the pack's throne might not be who he seems. Secrets unravel, alliances shift, and Bailey's life is on the line. Now, Bailey must navigate treacherous waters, facing enemies at every turn. She'll have to trust her instincts and rely on unexpected allies to survive. Will she be able to outsmart her enemies and find her true place in the pack?
I can't believe I did it.
Brushing my fingertips over the indentations of my words on the paper, I try to remember how I felt when I wrote them. Vague ideas like "exhilarated" and "terrified" come to me, but I can't experience that day again, no matter how hard I imagine.
It was the day my life completely changed. The day I invoked the right to leave our pack and live a mortal life for five years, instead of simply accepting the transformation and becoming a full werewolf.
The intercom chimed its gentle breakfast announcement and I put my old diary back in the bedside drawer, where it's awaited my return for the past five years. But I'm not the seventeen-year-old I was when I left. I'm a grown-up stranger in that girl's bedroom, with its soft pink canopy bed curtains and gleaming white furniture.
You just got home, I remind myself. Give it time.
I go to the vanity where I spent so many teenage hours practicing my eyeliner skills and contouring my face to Kardashian perfection. Things were much simpler then, before I heard of the Right of Accord. I hurry through my makeup routine-I may have arrived in the middle of the night, but Vivianne Dixon expects her children to look "acceptable" to her standards no matter the circumstances-and dig through one of my wardrobe trunks for a silk floral peasant top and dark wash jeans.
My childhood home is an outdated "modern" mansion my parents had custom built in the late eighties, long before I was born. Our kind-their kind, until I make my final decision-live long enough to make a lot of bad style choices. Mother and father have already tucked into their breakfast in the stark white, oblong dining room. The black Lucite dining table is set with square white platters of more food than we'll eat, and mother looks up from taking a helping of mixed fruits from one of them. The cold blue light of the early morning filters down from the octagonal skylight and creates a halo of silver around her gray hair.
"Darling, I didn't expect to see you this morning. Hudson said you didn't arrive until nearly four." She doesn't rise from her seat, but waits for me to lean down so she can kiss the air beside my cheek. "That's an...interesting top."
"Thanks." I pretend she means it, and round the table to put an arm around my father's shoulder in a half-hug. By the time he swallows his toast and dabs his mouth with his napkin, I'm already back to my seat. I shake out my own linen napkin and smooth it over my lap. "I did get in late."
"Well, it's a long flight from London," father says, and it's probably all he'll have to say for the whole breakfast.
Mother will make up for it. "Other than the delay, how was your flight?"
"It was fine." I take a croissant and some fruit, my stomach still roiling from the salmon I ate on the plane. It had not agreed with me. "I slept most of the way."
"Good. Then you won't be too jet lagged for tonight."
"Mother-" I begin, but she doesn't look at me, concentrating on buttering half of an English muffin. If she doesn't look at me, she can pretend I haven't objected.
"Of course, if your flight had arrived on time, we would have been able to get you something suitable to wear." She glances up and briefly purses her lips. "No matter. I had Tara send over a few gowns. From before she gained all that weight."
I may have been gone for five years, but I've seen plenty of photos of my sister on Facebook. She's gone up a single dress-size, maybe.
Totally unacceptable for a daughter of Vivianne Dixon.
"Look, I just got in and the ball is a lot-"
"A lot of work?" Mother interrupts me. "Yes. It is. It's what makes it an obligation. And it's also the perfect opportunity to make a fresh debut to the pack. To show them that your little...walkabout, as it were, is finally over."
"I haven't-" I stop myself. I've been in my parents' presence for minutes and my mother has already started making me feel bonkers. I'm not about to start my first morning back with an argument.
"You haven't had time to unpack or do anything with your hair," she says, waving her hand.
I self-consciously touch my freshly straightened blonde locks.
"I've booked Jonathan for two hours with you today," she prattles on. "Not enough time to fix those highlights, but I'm sure he can make something out of all..."
My fists clench under the table as she gestures vaguely at my problem areas. Which, to her, is all of me.
"Listen..." I begin tentatively. It will do me no good to sound argumentative. "I know what a huge deal the ball is and how long everyone has prepared for it. I don't want to drag you all down and make you look bad.""Nonsense, puppy," father says placidly, his eyes scanning his iPad the way he used to ignore us for the newspaper. "You could never make us look bad."
Mother chokes on her coffee and tries to pass it off as a gently teasing laugh. "Well. There was that one teensy little time."
The time I invoked my right to think for myself, to not accept the transformation as my fate. The time I dared put myself before the Dixon name.
"But that's all in the past. You're home now." Mother's smile is a warning. "And Ashton has been asking about you."
My stomach curdles in a way that has nothing to do with the first-class salmon. "Oh?"
"He's never given up on you," she goes on with a sigh. "Very romantic, if you ask me."
Or pathetic, if she asked me, but she didn't. I keep it to myself. There's nothing romantic about the idea of returning to my old life, my old fate, delayed by five years. I assumed that by rejecting the transformation, I effectively rejected Ashton Daniels.
"I thought he would have found a mate by now." Hoped. I hoped he had found a mate by now. But if he didn't...
"No. He's never renounced his claim on you, even after your little tantrum."
"It wasn't a tantrum, it was-" I stop myself, force another smile, and subdue my sigh of frustration. "I just hoped he would have moved on and found happiness, rather than waiting around for me."
"I suppose that's guilt you'll simply have to live with." Mother's words pointedly imply that my former fiancé isn't the only person I should feel badly about inconveniencing. "It's possible he's forgiven you."
"And it's possible he hasn't, and he'll mention that tonight, in front of everyone," Father adds helpfully.
Mother nods. "A bridge you'll need to cross when we come to it, Bailey. You publicly humiliated the poor man."
He was a poor boy, then, and at the time, I did feel terrible about invoking the right. But he had a choice. He could have invoked the right himself and come with me, if he really wanted to be together.
Thankfully, he didn't.
"And if he decides to humiliate me in return with a public rejection tonight, I can accept that." Besides, ending our engagement is the least he can do for both of us.
"He wouldn't dare," Mother reassures me. "The Fealty Rite is too important to risk making a scene."
Another warning. I'm not to fuck anything up for her, tonight. I already destroyed her carefully cultivated image in front of the pack.
Hudson, the thrall Mother and Father hired as our butler right before I left for London, enters, pushing a cart bearing two trays covered by silver domes.
It's a myth that werewolves can't touch silver.
Mother sits back as he places the plate in front of her and lifts the lid. A human heart, glistening with congealed blood, rest on a bed of lettuce. Mother gasps in delight and softly claps her hands in appreciation. "Bravo, Hudson. I don't know where you keep finding these perfect little morsels."
"A trade secret, ma'am." He retrieves the other platter and sets it in front of father, lifting the dome to reveal a nearly identical meal. Father mutters a thank you, and both my parents take up their silverware and tuck in, traditional breakfasts forgotten.
It's a sight I've seen hundreds of times, before every religious ceremony and full moon over the course of my entire life. But after five years living among the humans, I view the organs a bit more personally.
As in, they were once people.
Either I hide my disgust well or my mother ignores it. She cuts a slice from the heart in front of her and nods toward my plate. "Well. Eat up. We have a busy day."
I choke my down croissant. My dread at the thought of the ball, of seeing Ashton again? Much harder to swallow.
"Where have you been hiding, little wolf?" He stared at me with his amber eyes, a vicious smile on his lips. I faced him, chin held high. "Move out of my way." "I could kill you, you know..." His fingers dipped to my inner thighs before his hands came to rest at the joint between my legs and hips, and his fingers squeezed. His large hands moved over my breasts and stomach, running over my skin as if it was made from the softest velvet. His caresses were tender, unhurried, and appreciative, and I could feel myself swelling up with a strange emotion. My lips never left his skin as he slowly thrust up, nipping, kissing, and sucking on his shoulders and neck. I whispered sweet encouragements". _____ Hidden away by a cruel uncle for years, where she was kept prisoner, treated like a piece of trash in the basement of his house. Beaten, broken, neglected, hated and rejected by him for reasons she can't even understand. Sable's life takes an unexpected turn. A chance for escape leads her straight into the arms of a mysterious wolf shifter named Ridge, the alpha of the North Pack. As her world shatters, she discovers the shocking truth about the existence of shifters and the undeniable pull she feels towards Ridge The alphas of the East and West Packs step forward, claiming her as their mate too. Now, she finds herself torn between four powerful and captivating alphas, each with their own secrets and desires..The four alphas who’ve each claimed her as their mate kept their promise to protect her. They came for her. They saved her. For one beautiful, blissful moment, the five of them were united, joined more closely than she have ever been with anyone. As sable learns to navigate this new world of shifters, danger lurks at every corner. Witches threaten the borders of shifter lands, and insurrection brews within the packs. But the greatest danger of all may come from within herself. Will her potential mates accept her now that they know the truth? Can she trust them to protect her from the looming threats?
What happens when a hook-up gets complicated by a baby? Can she hide the secret from him? Or will he show her how possessive he can be when he learns she's carrying his child? "Seven years ago, I had a one-night stand with my brother's best friend, who also happened to be my lifelong crush. The next day, he vanished leaving me pregnant. Now, I am a single mom raising our son in the same small town. Recently, he returned to attend my brother's wedding and the truth about our son was finally revealed. As he reclaims his place in our lives, the sparks between us reignite. However, danger from his past threatens to shatter our newfound connection. I am torn between my love for him and my fear of getting hurt again, especially now that I have two hearts to protect - our son's and my own."
Introducing the "Billionaire One Night Stand Romance" series of standalone novels. This enthralling collection will take you on a journey of passion, power, and forbidden love. Brace yourself for a captivating experience that will leave you breathless across all of the spellbinding books. 1. Elizabeth is faced with a difficult decision. Desperate to start a family, she turns to her ex-lover, a billionaire who once broke her heart, for help. Despite her reservations, she agrees to one night of passion, hoping to conceive a child and move on with her life. But as the night unfolds, old feelings resurface, and she finds herself torn between her desire for a baby and the risk of getting involved with her ex again. Will she be able to keep things strictly business, or will love complicate everything? 2. I'm twenty-five, and I decide enough is enough. Family responsibilities have made dating impossible. Now I’m single and inexperienced. Like, completely. My virginity is a millstone around my neck. And I want to get rid of it. All I need is one night, with one stranger, so I don’t look like an idiot when I start dating for real. My sister convinces this country bumpkin to sign up for Tinder, and to head to the city. My first two matches are complete failures, and I’m about to give up. Then I see Kip’s profile. I swipe right, and so does he. We chat for ages, and agree to meet that evening for dinner. He’s gorgeous. Kind. Sexy. Wicked. Perfect. So I tell him I want him to teach me as much as he can before the sun comes up. I ask for one night. But it’s only the start of Alice’s adventures in Wonderland… 3. When the hottest one-night stand of my life turns out to be my new billionaire boss, I don’t think I can ever live it down. And to make matters worse, he’s pretending not to know who I am—and seems hell bent on making my life a living hell.
Oh, God Not again, but again. All that flashed through my head in the space when Gavril let me back down, and bang! Bang! He cursed, pulling up my panties, then fastening his own pants. He had a gun out, and where did he get that gun? But he had it pointed down, and he took my hand, pulling me to the back of the shed. _____ Naomi finds herself trapped in a nightmare she never asked for. Forced into a marriage with the monster of her nightmares, she struggles to reclaim her identity and freedom. With every moment, her spirit is crushed as her name is erased, and her life is shattered. Garvril Kirilenko, a relentless and dangerous billionaire Boss , refuses to accept no for an answer. From the very beginning, his rough hands tore apart her dreams, leaving her with a choice: submit to a life of torment as his wife or face a fate worse than death. Their marriage, built on lies, becomes a twisted web of secrets and manipulation. The truth, if revealed, could cost her everything. But remaining silent means enduring the unimaginable. In the depths of his depravity, he breaks her, claiming her body as his own. Night after night, she surrenders to his dark desires, her suffering becoming his pleasure. Yet, amidst the pain, a glimmer of hope emerges when she discovers she carries his child. Now, with the life of their baby hanging in the balance, she must navigate a treacherous path to survival. Will she find the strength to protect herself and her child from the clutches of this monstrous Billionaire Boss? Or will she forever be trapped in a loveless, torturous existence?
In a desperate bid to save her mother's life, Elena Rousseau finds herself at a crossroads she never imagined. Stepping into the dimly lit embrace of a gentlemen's club, she prepares to make a sacrifice she never thought she would have to make. But fate has a twisted sense of humor, as she comes face to face with a man she never expected to encounter in such a place - Alexander Kennedy. What starts as a chance encounter quickly spirals into a proposition that turns Elena's world upside down. Instead of selling her body, Alexander offers her a marriage of convenience. A deal that promises to save her mother's life, but at a cost she never anticipated. For hidden beneath his charming facade lies a web of revenge, and Elena becomes a pawn in his dangerous game. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Elena is left with an impossible choice. Does she embrace the devil she knows, Alexander, and risk losing herself in his twisted plans? Or does she take a leap of faith into the unknown, hoping to find a way out of the darkness that surrounds her?
Raven has been in love with Ares Windsor ever since she met him. He is a man of great wealth, power, and influence, and his enigmatic charm has always captivated her. Unfortunately, Ares has only ever had eyes for Raven's younger sister, his fiancée. Raven has always felt like she lived in her sister's shadow, but when her sister doesn't show up on the wedding day, Raven is forced to take her place and marry Ares. Despite her deep love for Ares, marriage to him is nothing short of torture for Raven. She can feel his disdain and resentment towards her, and the fact that he only sees her as a substitute for her sister only makes it worse. But Raven is determined to win him over and make him fall in love with her. To her, this is a war, and she's prepared to do whatever it takes to win. She's determined to use every weapon in her arsenal, from her intelligence and wit to her beauty and sensuality, to make Ares see her as the woman he truly desires.
After spending a night with a strange man on the day before her wedding, Arianna left the country to start her life afresh. The 22-year-old Arianna Jason lived her life pleasing those she loved the most, without knowing that she was simply a prey being nurtured for the day of her ruin. Her life has tasted the butter pill of betrayal. She wants to give back to the world what she's got but how can she change her good, innocent personality to fit into a cruel society and world? Can her sweet nature be contaminated, or will she make it through, paddling on the right path?
After three loveless years, Neil's betrayal deeply wounded Katelyn. She wasted no time in getting rid of that scoundrel! After the divorce, she devoted herself to career pursuits. Rising to prominence as a top designer, skilled doctor, and brilliant hacker, she became a revered icon. Neil, realizing his grave mistake, tried in vain to win her back, only to witness her magnificent wedding to another. As their vows were broadcast on the world's largest billboard, Vincent slid a ring onto Katelyn's finger and declared, "Katelyn is now my wife, a priceless treasure. Let all who covet her beware!"
To outsiders, Aileen was the adopted daughter of the Jefferson family, dismissed and scorned by all. Yet, in the underground racing world, she thrived as the dark rose, savoring the thrill and speed of night races. But her life took a new turn when Derek returned home, leading to a passionate night that diverted Aileen from the Jefferson family's path. Derek, the ruthless heir to the Jefferson legacy, tactfully steered the family's ambitions. Despite his control, he found himself captivated by Aileen-his adopted sister, business partner, and an exceptional racer-drawn to her enigmatic allure.
Rena got into an entanglement with a big shot when she was drunk one night. She needed Waylen's help while he was drawn to her youthful beauty. As such, what was supposed to be a one-night stand progressed into something serious. All was well until Rena discovered that Waylen's heart belonged to another woman. When his first love returned, he stopped coming home, leaving Rena all alone for many nights. She put up with it until she received a check and farewell note one day. Contrary to how Waylen expected her to react, Rena had a smile on her face as she bid him farewell. "It was fun while it lasted, Waylen. May our paths never cross. Have a nice life." But as fate would have it, their paths crossed again. This time, Rena had another man by her side. Waylen's eyes burned with jealousy. He spat, "How the hell did you move on? I thought you loved only me!" "Keyword, loved!" Rena flipped her hair back and retorted, "There are plenty of fish in the sea, Waylen. Besides, you were the one who asked for a breakup. Now, if you want to date me, you have to wait in line." The next day, Rena received a credit alert of billions and a diamond ring. Waylen appeared again, got down on one knee, and uttered, "May I cut in line, Rena? I still want you."
Two years ago, Ricky found himself coerced into marrying Emma to protect the woman he cherished. From Ricky's perspective, Emma was despicable, resorting to underhanded schemes to ensure their marriage. He maintained a distant and cold attitude toward her, reserving his warmth for another. Yet, Emma remained wholeheartedly dedicated to Ricky for more than ten years. As she grew weary and considered relinquishing her efforts, Ricky was seized by a sudden fear. Only when Emma's life teetered on the edge, pregnant with Ricky's child, did he recognize-the love of his life had always been Emma.
Rejected by her mate, who had been her long-time crush, Jasmine felt utterly humiliated. Seeking solace, she headed to a party to drown her sorrows. But things took a turn for the worse when her friends issued a cruel dare: kiss a stranger or beg her mate for forgiveness. With no other choice, Jasmine approached a stranger and kissed him, thinking that would be the end of it. However, the stranger unexpectedly wrapped his arms around her waist and whispered in her ear, "You're mine!" He growled, his words sending shivers down her spine. And then, he offered her a solution that would change everything...