Aura Brushed

My eyes fell upon a woman lying naked on the cold floor, her face hidden behind a curtain of tangled hair. Her screams echoed through the room as pain wracked her fragile body. I rushed to her side and gently brushed the hair away from her face. Cuts marred her skin, blood oozing from her split lips. Dark blue bruises had formed beneath her swollen eyes. She whimpered softly, every sound a broken plea for help. “Hey… I’m here now,” I murmured. “Nothing will happen to you. Don’t worry—I won’t let anyone hurt you anymore.” I shrugged off my coat and wrapped it around her trembling body, preparing to lift her into my arms when Max stepped forward and placed a firm hand on my shoulder. “Don’t forget what Ella told you,” he warned quietly. “Get the car ready,” I muttered, ignoring him. “You’re saving her life today,” Max said again, his voice heavy, “and one day, this girl will destroy you. Remember Ella’s warning.” “I don’t know what my future holds,” I replied coldly, “but I won’t leave a girl in this condition.” I bent down and lifted her into my arms. She squirmed weakly before burying her face against my chest, clinging to me as if I were her last hope. Mate. Dominic’s growl thundered inside my head. My breath hitched. My eyes widened in horror. Richard’s wife… The woman whose husband I had killed— She was my mate.

On the anniversary of our Mating, my legs were wrapped around my Alpha, Adrian, as we shared a deep kiss. My fingertips brushed against the hidden pocket of my silk dress, my hand tightening around the pregnancy test I had concealed there. I felt the faint flutter of a new life inside me, planning to give him this surprise as the perfect end to our evening. Just then, Adrian's Beta, Ethan, spoke in a low, teasing tone, using the Old Tongue. "Alpha, that little sister-in-law of yours… the newly matured she-wolf, Zoe. How did she taste?" Adrian's low, suggestive chuckle reached my ears, quiet yet piercingly clear. He replied in the same ancient language. "You know a freshly ripened pepper? Hot, with a real kick." His palm was still caressing my waist, yet his gaze had drifted elsewhere. "Just keep it quiet. If my Luna finds out, it's all over." The other Betas let out knowing chuckles, raising their glasses in a silent promise to keep his secret. But a chill washed over me, and my inner wolf went still, as if it had died. He didn't know I had studied the Old Tongue for my research on werewolf trauma. I understood every word. I held back my tears, forcing myself to appear unfazed, maintaining the composure expected of a Luna. Instead of confronting him, I sent a magically shielded message to Elder Slone of the Werewolf Healers' Association, accepting the invitation she had extended to me. In three days, I would join a secure werewolf rehabilitation program as their new Lead Therapist and disappear from Adrian's world forever.

At my three-year anniversary dinner with Vincent Hartwell, his secretary deliberately poured red wine over my head. I finally reached my breaking point and slapped her in front of all the guests. That very night, the incident spread like wildfire through high society circles. When my mother saw the leaked bedroom photographs of the two of them, the shock triggered a heart attack. She collapsed and died on the spot. When I learned the news, I sank to the floor and cried all night. Meanwhile, Vincent stayed by his secretary's side, comforting her. When he came home, he brushed past my disheveled state without a glance, loosened his tie, and spoke in that careless tone of his. "I've already buried the story. Don't let it happen again. "I have a meeting tonight. Pull yourself together and get to the villa within thirty minutes. Madison needs you." As he walked toward the door, he added over his shoulder, "She's fragile right now because of the pregnancy. If you do anything to harm my only child, I won't forgive you." I listened without crying or arguing. However, after he left, I pulled the divorce agreement from my drawer that I had prepared weeks ago. Beneath it lay my own positive pregnancy test. 'Vincent, I'll leave to find my biological father in three days.' This time, I was really leaving. I would make sure my father paid for every grievance I had endured over the last few years.

I was eighteen when I left Italy for Chicago. My brother Leo handed me over to his most powerful ally for “protection.” Don Damien Volkov. His eyes locked on me the first time we met. They never looked away. By day, I was his private doctor. By night, I was the only thing in his bed. His seduction was a slow, deliberate hunt. The way his body brushed against mine during an exam. A stray kiss that landed behind my ear. The weight of his hand resting on the small of my back. I fell fast and hard for his dark charm. I gave myself to him, letting him claim me, again and again. For four years, our affair was a secret hidden in the shadows. In that time, he sculpted my body, teaching it to crave his touch, molding me into his perfect obsession. Then she came back. Isabella, his exiled ex-fiancée. He sent his private jet for her. I swallowed my pride and crashed his reunion. An hour ago, his hands, still smelling of blood, gripped my chin. He forced his kiss on me. But now, right in front of me, he was stroking another woman's hair. "Elara, you're the one who climbed into my bed four years ago." "You act like a whore, but you expect me to treat you like a Donna?" The way he looked at Isabella was so tender. The way he looked at me was pure scorn. Shame burned through me. Head down, I sent my brother a coded text. Accept the Moretti proposal. I looked up. A smile bloomed on my face. "Fine. Then this is goodbye, Damien."

I masterminded a half-billion-dollar art auction to wash money for Miles’s family. But at the celebration party, Miles gave all the credit to Rebecca. His childhood friend. The daughter of the family’s consigliere. I stormed into his study. “Miles, head curator was Rebecca? Are you sure about that?” He looked up from a cloud of smoke, pulling me into his arms. His voice was a low, soothing rumble. “Valerie, I know you want to prove yourself, but this was all Rebecca. Especially the Caravaggio. The real one, worth three hundred million. She’s the one who pulled it off.” His lips brushed my forehead, his breath hot. “I don’t love you because you can fix some old paintings. You’re my queen, always. My girl. You don’t have to worry about her.” I almost laughed. The anger was choking me. “She can’t tell the difference between oil and acrylic. How the hell would she know a real from a fake?” “Enough!” Miles cut me off, his tone leaving no room for argument. “I know what Rebecca can do. Don’t make a scene just because you’re jealous.” His hands tightened, trapping me in his smoky embrace. “Don’t disappoint me, Valerie.” But he already had. When I’d had enough of his favoritism and his blindness, I walked. And that's when he went crazy. Scoured the earth looking for me. Begging me to come back, saying he was blind, that he’d been wrong about everything.

On the eve of my engagement banquet, news broke that my fiancé had fathered a child with his mistress, and it spread like wildfire. Before I could confront him, Jayden Ford brushed it off casually. "It was just an accident. Focus on organizing the engagement banquet first. Besides, your dad’s in the late stages of stomach cancer. Calling off the engagement now won’t do either family any good." That night, he skipped the banquet but posted a photo of a swaddled newborn on social media. When I video-called him, he was bottle-feeding the baby. "I’ve been busy taking care of the kid. You know how it is. Our family lineage has always been sparse and dwindling, and the child takes priority." He wiped milk from the baby’s mouth. "But don’t worry. Once he’s a month old, I’ll send him to the overseas. Just show up on holidays and pretend to be his mom. The title of Mrs. Ford will always be yours." I stared at the matching diamond ring on his finger and couldn’t help but laugh. "Jayden, this engagement is off." He scoffed, "You're really throwing a tantrum over something like this? Don’t be so childish." I hung up on him and called his father—Charles Ford—directly. "I heard you’re looking for a new wife? Why not consider me?" I ran a hand over my belly and smiled. "After all, I’ve got a naturally fertile body. I can give you as many sons as you want." So much for being the sole heir. I’ll make sure he has plenty of brothers to keep him company.

His cold hand gently brushed my cheek as he turned my head to expose my neck. I flinched when his lips met my skin. "Relax," he murmured. "It will only hurt more if you are tense." I tried to steady my breathing just as his fangs sank into my neck. I gasped. But the sharp pain quickly melted into that same strange pleasure from before. The heat that flooded my entire body pooled in my groin. My teeth clamped down on my lower lip to stop myself from making any embarrassing sounds. But a soft moan escaped anyway. Jude pulled back slightly with blood—my blood—on his lips. "You seem to be enjoying this," he smirked before glancing down at my bulge. My face burned with shame as I realized then that I was hard. "It's not... I don't..." "Your body can't lie, Raymond." He leaned back and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "And neither does mine." *** All Raymond White wanted was a dream job, and he got a once-in-a-lifetime offer from the biggest company in the city. But he didn’t expect that it would come at a costly price—His blood, his body, and his sanity. His boss, Jude Perez, was no ordinary man—he was a vampire, and now that he had set his fangs in Raymond, he didn’t want to let go. Bound by a contract and a mystical pact, Raymond becomes Jude’s latest obsession, and Raymond is left to battle with the wave of arousal that comes with each bite, one that could only be quelled by the man he who stripped him of his freedom? Will Raymond resist the forbidden bond? Or will he succumb to Jude’s temptation?

Elisse Andres thought she had it all as the Luna of Clawstone pack until her Alpha husband, Harold Gutcheri, had used her so that he could take the position of the pack’s alpha. Feeling betrayed, followed by witnessing him cheated with another woman, Elisse’s whole world shattered. In her belief that her husband would come to regret if she would do everything to prove him she was more than enough to satisfy him in bed, however, it all became a nightmare as her sultry mistake leads to drunkenly sending her nude photos accidentally to the wrong man—and of all, her husband’s dangerously seductive Beta, Dominic Costales. Elisse’s life met a drastic change particularly when Dominic used her mistake to his advantage, and how Dominic reveals that he has no intention of keeping her dirty little secret without asking her something in return. With Dominic’s pursuit to entice Elisse deeper under his web, resisting Dominic’s pull had become too complicated for Elisse to accomplish, making Elisse got caught up in a risky game where Dominic dominates her entirely. Now trapped between her desire to avenge herself and their insatiable affair, Elisse now felt compelled to play with fire, and Dominic shall make her burn. “Let me fucking show you how it truly feels like to be wanted, Elisse.” Dominic said as he brushed his lips against my clit, enticing me to savor every moment and making me forget the fucking fact that I was actually about to make a forbidden affair to my husband’s most trusted beta.

When strifed brotherhood begets bloodshed, a tale of two brothers loving the same woman and fighting for the same title has never been more intense. (Excerpt) Emily cleared her throat. "You should go." Andrew didn't listen. He should, but he couldn’t. His senses swooned. Without meaning to, he moved closer and tucked her hair behind her ear. Her breath hitched at touch of his skin on hers and Emily gulped slowly. "Thank you." He whispered, enjoying the velvety feel of her skin as he brushed the back of his finger down her cheek. "I'm afraid that might not do. You owe me your life." She breathed on borrowed confidence. The look in Andrew's eyes blazed darkly with intensity. He leaned closer. "Yes, I agree, and I intend to pay you back." "When and how?" She asked, losing a step, trying to control her beating heart at their close proximity. He followed her, hovering like a predator over his catch. This time, she was the catch and Emily didn't mind. "Now." He closed the gap between them. "With this." Andrew grabbed her face and crashed his lips down on hers ~~~ Taking up the Bright Moon pack's Alpha title is what he has always dreaded. Andrew Levisay craves a normal life, but he's between a rock and a hard-place after being faced with a choice that would change his life for worse. Saving himself and his lineage of wolves by sacrificing the woman he loves or saving this woman and allowing a tyrant to have his way? What will Andrew decide as the clock is ticking?

+++✦+++ She looked up at me with those soft, damn eyes. I stepped in closer, my hand lifting before I even thought it through, and I brushed the tips of my fingers against her cheek. Warm. Delicate. Curious. I watched her mouth part slightly, her lashes lowering just a bit. "Can I kiss you?" I heard myself say. It surprised me. I don’t ask. I take. But she wasn’t like anyone else. With her, I found myself wanting permission...wanting her to want me back. She blinked, caught off guard, but something in her softened. And after a breath, she slowly nodded. I leaned in, brushing my lips over hers in a gentle and slow motion, like I was trying to memorize her taste, savoring the moment. But, that one kiss was enough to set my nerves on edge. I pulled back slightly, watching the way her cheeks turned pink, her eyes wide, her lips still parted like she hadn’t expected it to feel like that. And fuck, I hadn’t either. I leaned in again, but paused when I realized she was leaning toward me too, unconsciously. She didn’t even realize she wanted more. And this time, I didn’t ask. +++✦+++ In a city plagued by crime and violence, a young woman fights to stay hidden from her sadistic stepfather and his ruthless gang. In her journey to uncover the truth about her forgotten past, she crosses paths with a dangerous and mysterious stranger in the most unexpected manner. Together, they embrace their twisted fate by striking a deal and altering their lives through a tale of romance and mystery. +++✦+++ ✦ 𝐷𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑜 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛. ✦ +++✦+++