Novels by Vera’s Adventure

10th and Lark was a forgotten part of the city, abandoned warehouses, rusted fences, and a streetlight that flickered like a warning.James stood there alone, hands buried in his coat pockets, pulse ticking in his throat. The air smelled like salt and rust, and shadows moved quicker than they should.A black car slid out of the darkness and parked across from him. The door opened.Selene stepped out, no longer in her designer heels or cocktail dress. She wore combat boots, tight jeans, and a leather jacket. Her face was bare, no makeup, no pretense.Just a cold calculation.“You came,” she said simply, her voice echoing slightly off the cracked pavement.“You said she wasn’t who I think she is,” James replied. “Talk.”Selene tilted her head, studying him like a puzzle piece she couldn’t quite place. “You’re not stupid, James. You’ve just always wanted to believe the best in people, especially women who seem fragile.”He didn’t rise to the bait. “What do you want?”“I want you to under

Melinda didn’t sleep that night.The image of Selene’s sharp smile haunted her, a phantom behind her closed eyes. James had held her hand on the way home, reassuring her with a quiet, tense strength but the silence between them afterward spoke volumes. There were things unsaid. Things Melinda couldn’t ignore anymore.The morning light filtered through the large windows, golden and gentle, but it did nothing to ease the tightness in her chest.James was already awake, standing shirtless by the window, coffee in one hand, phone in the other. His jaw clenched as he read something, and for the first time, Melinda noticed how tired his eyes looked. Not physically James Morrell never seemed physically tired. But emotionally? He looked like a man at war with himself.She sat up in bed slowly, the sheets slipping off her bare skin. “Who is she?” Her voice was soft but steady.James didn’t pretend not to know. He turned slowly, placing his phone on the table. “Selene.”“Yeah,” she said, foldin

Melinda stood frozen, her chest tightening with every beat of her heart. Her hands trembled at her sides, her robe suddenly feeling too thin, too vulnerable. She couldn’t meet James’s eyes not after that name had been spoken aloud.Louisiana.Court case.Debt.Words she had fought so hard to bury had just been dug up and thrown between them like shards of glass.“I can explain,” she whispered, her voice raw.James didn’t say a word at first. He stared at the door Selene had just walked through, his jaw clenched so hard the muscle twitched.“You should have told me,” he said finally, his voice low. “Not because I’m judging you but because I’m standing next to you in this.”Melinda blinked.That wasn’t anger. That was... disappointment.And for some reason, that hurt more.She stepped forward, wrapping her arms around herself. “I was going to. I just didn’t know when… how.”His gaze finally landed on her, stormy and searching.“Tell me now.”She inhaled, her lungs tightening like she wa

Morning came too soon, sunlight spilling across Melinda’s face like a cruel reminder that nothing was as it seemed.James was already dressed, buttoning his crisp white shirt in front of the mirror. His reflection caught her eye, and for a moment, she simply watched him carefully, cautiously.The man who had once made her feel safe now seemed wrapped in questions she hadn’t dared ask.“You slept like a rock,” James said, his voice warm and teasing as he adjusted his cufflinks. “Did you even hear the thunder last night?”She gave him a faint smile. “Didn’t notice.”He leaned over, kissed her forehead, then her lips. “I’ll be late tonight. Board meeting with the East Coast investors. You remember Thomas, right?”She nodded slowly, committing the name to memory. “Of course.”He kissed her once more before leaving, and as the door clicked shut behind him, the silence roared to life. She waited ten minutes long enough for him to get into the elevator and drive off before grabbing her bag a

Melinda stood in front of the nondescript address the message had led her to an old warehouse tucked behind the rusted edge of the city’s forgotten district. No cameras, no streetlights, and no witnesses.She checked her phone again.8:03 PM.Another message blinked on screen."You're late. Come to the back entrance. Alone."She swallowed hard and pulled her coat tighter around her. The darkness behind the building felt alive, the kind that clung to your skin and whispered threats in your ear. But she kept going. She had to.When she rounded the corner, a figure emerged from the shadows hooded, tall, male. But he didn’t move like someone who wanted to hurt her. He moved like someone who had been waiting.“You came,” he said.His voice was muffled but familiar. Her hand tightened around the pepper spray in her pocket, just in case.“Who are you?” she asked, keeping her distance.The man pulled his hood back slowly, revealing a face she hadn’t seen in years. Her knees nearly buckled.“N

The echoes of the gala still clung to the inside of Melinda’s skull like an expensive perfume that wouldn’t fade. She sat in James’s penthouse now barefoot, her dress discarded on the chaise, wrapped in a silk robe. The city stretched out beneath her, glittering like nothing had happened. Like she hadn’t just exposed years of pain with a few razor-edged sentences.James stepped out of the shower, towel wrapped low around his waist. “You didn’t have to say all that,” he said, not accusing just observing.Melinda looked at him from the balcony seat. “Maybe not. But I wanted to.”He approached her slowly, water glistening on his chest. “You burned Andrew alive in front of everyone. His reputation won’t recover.”She gave a half smile. “Good.”James studied her. “You’re dangerous.”Melinda tilted her head, gaze sharp. “And you like that.”A small smile curved his lips. “I do.”But beneath the charged silence, something in James’s eyes had shifted. Subtle. Flickering. As though her words

I was curled up in a chair by my bedroom window, watching the Moon when I felt his presence behind me.Unintentionally a smile spread across my face without me even noticing and I felt his arms wrap around me.“Can’t sleep?” he asks and I nod my head with a sigh.“I was thinking about my parents,” I reply honestly. Aiden remains quiet for a moment before he speaks.“Do you want to speak to them?” he asks gently and I turn my head to him in surprise.“Seriously?” I ask. I was sure he would be annoyed by the fact I was even thinking about my old pack.“Well, I learnt my lesson about trying to keep you separate from them.” He smiles against my cheek and I can’t help but smile back.“Maybe tomorrow,” I say with a yawn, “it’s too late to call them now”.Aiden doesn’t say anything and before I can react, he wraps his arms underneath my thighs and lifts me in his arms before walking us over to my bed. He gently puts me down and pulls the cover over me. I’m starting to feel drowsy now and my

Kate was trying to explain what had happened but I found is hard to believe, I was in so much doubt and shock.“He went mental. I mean all this...” she gestures around as we pass through on of the dining rooms, “was a complete disaster zone.”I roll my eyes at her exaggeration but Kate looks at me with enlarged eyes. “No, I’m being serious. Aiden went full wolf/Alpha mode and destroyed everything he could get his hands on.”I’m in shock and it forced me to stop in my tracks.“Are you serious?” I ask and Kate nods her head frantically.“Deadly serious”.I breathe out a deep sigh and start walking, Kate at my side. I can’t believe it. If it wasn’t for Kate telling me I wouldn’t have guessed that he had been as affected as I was.“We had to cage him down,” Kate admits in a whisper and it’s so quiet I miss what she said at first.“What?” I ask and her eyes remain guilty and she looks around uncomfortably, her arms wrapped around herself.“He shifted after the second day into his wolf and

I lifted my hand from the underneath him and ran it through my knotted hair, suddenly feeling self-conscious. I gently tried to pry myself from underneath his arms, ‘tried’ being the key word, because the moment I shifted, his eyes shot open and his arms tightened, pulling me flush against him. My hands flattened against his bare chest and I quickly pulled away from his warmth. “Trying to escape?” he growls as lowly as his face goes straight into the crook of my neck, inhaling deeply. “I wanted to go to the toilet,” I reply, trying my hardest to talk slowly and control my breathing – because you know morning breath is not a joke. He smirks and leans in closer; my breathing stutters. “Are you desperate?” he asks slyly. I shake my head. “Then stay for a bit longer,” he says, “It feels good to wake up with you in my arms.” It feels good to wake up in your arms, I think but don’t say as a blush, spreads across my cheeks, making me resemble a ripe tomato. I can’t help the sm

Before I could even react, Aiden was in front of me in a flash, one arm wrapped around my waist pulling me flush against him and then one gripping my chin tightly, forcing it up to meet his dark gaze. I grabbed onto the thin fabric of his black shirt to steady myself.“You're playing a very dangerous game Aria,” he warned, his lips practically inches away from mine. “Coming into my room, pleading so sweetly to sleep with me.”His words sparked something within me and I couldn't help it when my stomach churned in excitement, anticipating whatever was going to happen next.“I couldn't sleep,” I whispered, my tongue flicking across my suddenly dry lips.“And you think I can sleep with you curled up next to me - in my bed?” His voice was gruff, igniting feelings I had that I had never felt before.I went to shrug my shoulders but I could hardly move, his body trapping me between him and the door. Talk about being trapped between a rock and a hard place.“Say it again,” he suddenly ordered

“Fuck's sake Aria, you took your bloody time didn't you.” Aiden groans, his lips moving against the nape of my neck, sending tingles throughout my body.I smile, just revealing in the comfort of being in his arms, his chiseled body hard against mine, his warmth surrounding me.I pull away slightly, still in his arms, just enough to look him in the eyes.“You knew I would come back?” I ask, my eyebrows furrowed.“When I left, I was sure you would come back but then when you didn't, I'll be honest Aria you had me scared out of my mind.”“You’re the one that left,” I whisper, laying my head back unto his shoulder. I feel his hands tighten around me.“Believe me, the moment I got back I had a mind to go back, throw you over my shoulder and bring you back with me, whether you wanted it or not.”The words left my mouth before I could stop them, “so why didn't you?”Aiden is the one that pulls away this time, he tries hard to conceal the surprise in his eyes.“I had enough of forcing you int

I was sitting at the dinning table, swirling my spoon in the bowl of chicken soup, but not actually eating. I didn’t have any appetite and even if I did, I lacked the energy to even raise my hand to my mouth.“This isn't good,” my mother said out loud; she wasn't speaking to me but more to my dad who was also sitting across from me, a serious look on his face. I knew deep inside he was seriously regretting the way he treated Aiden, part of him blamed himself, thinking he was the reason Aiden had left.“Aria.” Somewhere in the back of my mind I could hear my father calling me, but I wasn't listening. Instead I was transfixed the bowl of soup, stirring the spoon continously in a trance.“Aria.” His voice was stronger and accompanied by his large hand that reached over and curled over my own hand holding the spoon. It broke me away from my daze and I looked up.“You’re withering away, Princess,” he said sadly, his eyes glazed as they looked over me.In the past few days I had eaten littl