67 Steps Tai

After failing to get her fiance, Austin Langford, to sleep with her for the 99th time, Cara Reyes calls up her best friend, Jessica Hogan, and says, "Jess, I'm coming to Spark City to find you." Almost immediately, the sound of a chair slamming on the ground comes through from the other end of the line. Jessica's excited voice is then heard. "Cara! You've finally thought it through! I've told you a long time ago that Austin isn't good for you! He looks too weak!" Cara's red-rimmed eyes light up a little as she smiles. "Yeah. I've thought it through." "Don't be sad, Cara. Once you're in Spark City, I'll introduce you to a new foreign boyfriend with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and perfect body proportions. Their genes here are all top-notch, and you will definitely have a beautiful baby with them!" Nodding, Cara says, "Alright. Let me go and get my marriage certificate back first." After ending the call, Cara lies down in bed and falls asleep with a heavy heart. Sometime during midnight, someone pulls back the covers and slides in next to her, his warm body settling down just about an arm's length away from her. A short while later, Cara hears the rustling of clothes and the man panting softly beside her. Cara's body goes numb like she's just been electrocuted. However, she still slowly turns her head back to take a closer look.

They say nuns are off-limits. I call that a challenge. They say obsession is a sin. I stopped counting sins when blood became my business. She says I’m a sinner. She’s not wrong. But when I have her whispering confessions against my skin that would make Lucifer himself blush, what does that make her? A firecracker wrapped in a habit. All rosaries and rebellion, thinking she can drive me away with Scripture and that ice-cold stare. Amusing. Her holy water won't wash away what I do to those round tits. She's not a bride of Christ yet. And the harder she prays for salvation, the more determined I am to show her what real worship feels like. They say God answers all prayers. But in my city, prayers come to me first. Her vows or my empire. Heaven or my hell. The choice was never really hers to make. God may forgive me, but she won’t.

Chloe is a scientist with a secret, she is a mermaid...without a mermaid, or so she thinks. She is a hybrid, half human and half mermaid whose father is disgusted and left her mother when he found out she was pregnant. With the help of her best friend Kari, who finds out she is Royalty in the Werewolf Kingdom, she finds herself fitting in with the Werewolves when the King of the Sea finds her. He is disgusted with her father for abandoning her and pulls her into their world along with her werewolf mate but she finds out that she is special and she is hunted for her mermaids scales

Selena Matthews is used to being a quiet student, She studies hard, stays out of trouble, and keeps her heart guarded. After losing her parents as a child, she learned not to expect much from people. Then she meets Jake Gordon, the popular hockey star. What starts as study sessions turns into kisses and secret moments. Jake says it’s better to keep their relationship private for now, and Selena foolishly believes him. But weeks pass, and he still won’t tell anyone about their supposed relationship. Selena starts to wonder if she’s really someone special to him or she's just being played by him. And when Cullen, the captain of the hockey team, begins asking questions, the secrets start leaking out. Selena must decide, will she keep hiding for a love that doesn't really exist, or finally choose to be seen?

After the cruise ship strikes a hidden reef, panicked passengers shove me and Kristen Langford into the sea. My boyfriend, Elijah Jensen, is the ship's captain, so he plunges into the water. But instead of saving me, he grabs Kristen and boards the last lifeboat. I thrash and cry for help, but he slaps my hand away. "You can swim. Stop pretending for attention!" Elijah snaps. "Kristen's body temperature is dropping. I have to get her to a hospital!" The waters around me are pitch-black, and his words feel like a death sentence. When the tracking bracelet I always wear is discovered inside a shark, Elijah dives alone into shark-infested waters, searching for three days and nights. In the end, the brilliant captain who once ruled the oceans can never sail again.

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” Imani whispered, her voice trembling more from want than from fear of her brother barging in and catching her leaning in to kiss his ex-best-friend now turned enemy. “Then stop me,” he murmured back, his fingers brushing her jaw, his breath hot against her skin. But neither of them moved. The distance between them had already disappeared, along with every rule she’d promised not to break. *** When Imani Grayson, a quiet psychology major, is assigned to mentor the university’s star hockey captain, Nicolas Jameson, she expects arrogance not the kind of chemistry that keeps her up at night. What begins as a simple assignment spirals into late-night tutoring sessions, stolen glances, and kisses that blur every boundary she’s ever set. But with jealous teammates watching, old wounds resurfacing, and a love too intense to hide, the game they started might be the one that shatters them both. Imani will soon learn that some games can’t be won without losing everything, and Nicolas, that even in the game of hearts, the strongest player can fall to his knees.

Alzna Romanov was sold under a false name, and forced into a life she never chose. When the ruthless mafia Don Marcello Montavelli purchases her, Alzna realizes he’s even colder and more ruthless than she imagined. Worse, he knows her true identity and plays along, making him more dangerous than she ever anticipated Marcello has his reasons for keeping Alzna close, reasons he guards as fiercely as his empire. In the depth of their contentious relationship, a forbidden attraction festers As Alzna and Marcello are drawn closer, buried secrets surface, turning their deadly game into something unexpected. Trust becomes a weapon, and love is a gamble that could cost them everything. Will they destroy each other or find the one thing they never thought they needed? Disclaimer: This book contains mature themes, including strong language, graphic violence, dubiously consensual situations, and emotionally intense scenarios. Reader discretion is advised.

Sierra Bennett thought she was doing her father a favor—fake dating his star hockey player to buy him time with the pack elders. One dinner. A few public appearances. Simple. Then she touched rival alpha Sebastian Crane and had a vision of blood on ice. Suddenly, Sierra discovers she's not human. She's a late-blooming wolf with psychic abilities, and Asher Kane isn't just her fake boyfriend, he's her destined mate. But Sebastian knows her secret. He knows she's actually his niece through her mother's hidden Silvermoon bloodline. And he's willing to use pack law, blackmail, and a death challenge to claim both Blackpine territory and Sierra for himself. Now Sierra has four days to master her wolf abilities, learn to play college hockey, and decide if she's ready to complete a mate bond that will change her life forever. Because when Sebastian moves the challenge up and her own mother's betrayal puts everyone at risk, Sierra must choose: run from the destiny she never wanted, or fight for the mate she's falling for. Some bonds are worth fighting for. Even if it means facing the monster who shares your blood.

Eight months pregnant, a contraction tore through me like a blade. But my husband, the Mafia boss Darren, refused to take me to the hospital. His sister-in-law, Angelina, his late brother's widow, was also due. To ensure she gave birth before me, she produced so-called proof of my infidelity, insisting the child I carried was no true Falcone. Because the heir to the Falcone family had to be the firstborn grandson. Darren believed her. He locked me in an abandoned wine cellar. “Don't think for a second I don't know what you've been up to.” “Let me tell you, you're not giving birth to that bastard until I've verified its bloodline myself.” “Angelina’s boy is of pure blood. I have to make sure her boy is the family's firstborn grandson.” I tried desperately to explain. “My water is about to break! Please, take me to the hospital! He’s your son, I swear on my life!” “I’ll never fight for the position of heir! I just want my baby to be safe!” Darren simply kicked me and shot me a glance. “Who knows if you’ll change your mind later? Don’t worry. I’ll come for you after Angelina gives birth. When the baby is born, I’ll see for myself whose it is.” Later, as he gazed at the crying infant in Angelina's arms, he finally thought of me. But one of his men informed him, his voice trembling: “Boss, the Madam… and the child… they're both dead.”

The deal was simple. Fake-date Tyson Blackwood, the campus's most insufferable Alpha, hockey captain and the man personally responsible for my first heartbreak, or watch my scholarship disappear overnight. He needed a girlfriend to make his ex jealous and I needed to stay enrolled. So we shook on it. Terms stated cold and clean: no feelings, no complications, strictly business. The no feeling part was going great. Right up until my heat hit, his rut triggered, and we spent five days in his suite while his rut burned through every wall between us. Now he's looking at me differently. His scent patch fails everytime I walk into a room and the pack that spent years treating me like a joke is watching the hockey captain lose his mind. The hockey captain who chose me as a pawn is now knotting me like I'm the only thing he's ever wanted to keep.