Burden To Bear

Preview:“Pin her to the ground. Dom, you keep those damn legs down.” Dante coughed as he stood up to regain himself. They wanted a weapon. They created a queen. Novalee Ashford had a simple life-a job she tolerated, a husband she adored, a future she believed in. Then Dante Santoro decided she was his. Ripped from everything she knew, Novalee is thrust into a world of violence, cruelty, and impossible choices. The Santoro family doesn't just want to own her body-they want to remake her soul. Under their brutal tutelage, she transforms from victim to weapon, from captive to bride. But Novalee has a secret: she remembers who she was. And she's planning something they never expected. Vengeance. With Atlas-the guard who was supposed to keep her caged-as her unlikely ally, Novalee plays the deadliest game of her life. Every smile hides a blade. Every submission masks rebellion. Every moment brings her closer to the reckoning they deserve. They wanted to create a monster. They succeeded. Marked, Broken and Carrying his Heir is a dark romance containing mature themes and graphic content. Reader discretion is strongly advised. ****WARNINGS**** Explicit sexual assault/rape Non-consensual sexual situations Explicit consensual sexual content Sexual degradation and humiliation Forced sexual performance Violence: Graphic murder Torture Domestic violence and abuse Blood and gore Beatings and physical assault Captivity & Control: Kidnapping and imprisonment Human trafficking elements Forced marriage Psychological manipulation and gaslighting Conditioning and breaking Loss of autonomy Trauma & Loss: Pregnancy loss Forced hysterectomy Suicide Grief and mourning PTSD symptoms Other: Forced drug administration Starvation/food control Sleep deprivation Isolation Death of spouse

The notice of my mother's layoff sat on the kitchen table. Rent was due in three days. My younger brother's tutoring fees were already two weeks late. And my little sister, Stephanie, clutched her acceptance letter to the local public arts high school like she'd done something wrong. None of this would be happening if it weren't for me. My illness had taken everything our family had saved. I stayed in my room, leaning against the door, wanting to tell them I'd drop out of treatment—but I couldn't bring myself to open it. "Why did he have to fall sick?" My mother was crying, her voice low and tight, like the words were being forced out of her. "If it were just you both, Stephanie and Jamie, we'd be fine by now." "Mom, please don't say that." My brother and sister held her, barely holding back their own tears. "He's a burden… but he's still my son." Her voice cracked. "I just… I can't do this anymore…" I stepped back and sank into my chair. It wasn't an accusation. It was a verdict.

I was born with a genetic disorder. My father left as soon as he found out, and my illness quickly drained all my mother’s savings. To afford my treatment, she moved me from one stranger’s home to another, until she chose to have a child for money. After giving birth to a baby boy and receiving twelve thousand dollars, she was about to leave, but the man asked her to stay. He promised to raise me as his own and cover my medical expenses. She agreed. They married soon after. She told me I would always be the one she loved most. To prove it, she rarely held my brother and almost never smiled at him. Until the day he accidentally swallowed my medicine. As she frantically tried to save him, she broke down and screamed at me, “Why are you still alive?” I watched them rush to the hospital. Then I went back to my room, picked up the scattered pills, and swallowed them all. Mom, I wouldn't be a burden to you anymore.

In the unforgiving kingdom of Daekhar, a wolfless servant is less than nothing. Gwenriel Huxley has spent her life scrubbing floors and surviving the cruelty of her stepsister. When a deadly lunar heat elixir is forced down her throat, she has only until dawn to mate—or die. Fleeing into the forest, she collides with a massive black-and-white beast twice the size of any alpha. The creature shifts into a dark, powerful man who claims her beneath the trees. By morning she is gone, believing she has escaped both death and consequence. She is wrong. The bite he left on her neck will not fade. His scent clings to her skin. And the stranger she left behind is no ordinary wolf—he is the cursed eldest prince the entire kingdom fears and hides. As Gwenriel’s body begins to change in ways she cannot ignore, enemies close in. Her stepsister will stop at nothing to destroy her. The royal court watches with hungry eyes. And the child she carries may be the only key to breaking a generations-old curse… or the reason she is hunted to the end. She was forced to survive him once. Now the beast has returned to claim what is his.

I don’t fall for clients. That’s the whole job. Five years, a dozen contracts, and a reputation as the best Conduit in the business. I carry heirs for Alphas who can’t conceive any other way, and I do it without ever losing myself in the process. Professional distance isn’t a rule for me. It’s survival. Alpha Kieran Ashwood’s contract is the biggest of my career: an heir for a pack under siege, a fiancée who can’t carry, and a border war closing in from the north. Strictly business. Strictly temporary. I’ve done this before. Except the moment his hands find my skin, something answers in me that’s never answered before, and it isn’t professional. It’s a claim. A real one. The kind neither of us signed up for, and the kind his pack, his enemies, and the woman he’s supposed to marry will tear apart everything to stop. I don’t fall for clients. I think it’s already too late.

Isabella’s Herrera’s world unravels when her father’s reckless dealings with the notorious mafia boss Lorenzo Castillo leave her family drowning in debt. With her younger brother’s life hanging by a thread, Bella is forced into a dangerous bargain: herself as payment for her father’s sins. Lorenzo Castillo is a ruthless and calculating man, hardened by the violent underworld he controls. Bound by a code of power and loyalty, he has no room for emotions—until Bella’s fiery spirit and unwavering determination begin to chip away at his cold exterior. As the contract between them deepens, so does the dangerous attraction that neither can ignore. But Bella’s past is riddled with secrets, and as she navigates the shadows of Lorenzo’s empire, she discovers that not everything is what it seems. A rival mafia leader, Gabriel Moretti, is hell-bent on taking over Lorenzo’s empire, and Bella becomes the key to his plot. With her life now at the mercy of two powerful men, Bella is caught between love, loyalty, and survival. In the world of betrayal and bloodshed, can a debt born from desperation ignite a passion that could either save or destroy them both? A Debt of Passion is a gripping tale of forbidden love, power, and redemption, where every choice comes with a deadly cost, and every heart is a battlefield.