Barely Synonym

Blurb: "You're going to operate on me, Dottoressa Bianchi. And you're going to make damn sure I live." Damiano Valentini'e voice is low, commanding and terrifying. But as Dr. Alessia Bianchi stands over the infamous Mafia King, her scalpel trembling, she realizes this is no ordinary patient. Damiano is cursed. Bound by an ancient blood pact that keeps him alive, but in torment, barely alive. Every life he takes feeds his power and fractures his soul. A soul now hanging by a thread. Alessia's world is torn apart when her twin brother vanishes during a secret investigation into the deadly Moretti family. Her only lead? Damiano, the man whispered about in both criminal and supernatural circles. She should run. She should fear him. But instead, she's drawn to him... To his shadows, his secrets, and the darkness behind those sliver eyes. As the delve into the Mafia underworld to uncover her brother's fate, Damiano and Alessia must face bloodthirsty enemies, unravel a deadly curse, and resist a magnetic passion that threatens to burn them both. He is the monster she should hate. She is the light he never thought he'd deserve. But together, they maybe the only ones who can survive the storm.

My beautiful savior's eyes blazed with fury as he leaned in, his voice low and rumbling. “Little one, how do you envision their deaths?” he asked, his words dripping with power and command. I swallowed hard, my mind spinning. Their deaths? I have never thought about the end of this, They are my family. “I...I don't know,” I stammered, my voice barely audible. Fear constricted my throat, making it hard to breathe. Maybe I was blowing this out of proportion. My savior's expression softened as if he could feel my fear. “Take your time, little one,” he whispered, his voice gentle. “Their fate is now in your hands.” Fiona had always faced cruelty at the hands of her father, stepsister, and her stepmother. Tagging her as the unfortunate one of the family who had killed her mother. Until the day when her father sold her to the alpha king to pay for his debts. Fiona thought life would be better anywhere away from home and took the chance but how can a human girl survive in a werewolf world with lots of enemies? Her hope for freedom suddenly becomes blurry and now she has to fight even harder for love and respect.

Marley and Jeremy have been together since her freshman year of college. He’s the only man she’d ever dated and though he’s abusive to her, she can’t bear to leave him. After a particularly rough night, she runs into a man named Bryce who takes her home in the pouring rain. She finds her father, who has a gambling problem, being held captive by an intruder. As the intruder goes to assault her, Bryce bursts into the house and whisks her away to his home. There, she meets his two brothers, Cody and Jake. There’s something off about these men, but she can’t figure out what. Every time they touch her, sparks fly, and she soon finds herself spending all her extra time with them. Marley is unable to leave her abusive relationship with Jeremy and soon finds herself cheating on him with these three men who make her feel bliss she’d never felt before. Can she move on from Jeremy and have a real relationship with not one, but three men she barely knows? Fast Paced/Contains Cheating Trigger Warnings: DubCon NonCon Sexual Assault Abuse/Assault Language Blood/Blood Play DISTURBING CONTENT

Ravenna had always been the black sheep of her pack—an omega with no wolf, no power, and no protection except for the promise of a mate bond with Lucas, the Alpha’s heir. But that promise shatters the night of the mating ceremony, when Lucas publicly rejects her and secretly sells her to a group of rogues. Drugged, betrayed, and left for the rogues literally—Ravenna is saved by a stranger whose face she barely remembers but whose touch awakens something wild and forbidden inside her. What begins as a desperate, heat-fueled encounter leaves her broken, ashamed… and haunted by the memory of a man whose name she doesn’t know. Until she meets her new college professor. Professor Greens is cold, feared, and untouchable. But one look into his eyes tells Ravenna he’s the man from that night. He knows who she is. He knows what happened. And he’s hiding a truth that could get them both killed—he’s a Lycan, and he’s her true mate. As Ravenna struggles with the humiliation of rejection, the danger of her pack's laws, and the brutal truth about her own identity, she must decide whether to walk away from the one person who might make her stronger to protect him or risk everything to claim the power buried deep within her blood.

I'm a nationally certified animal trainer running the Lion King, Caesar's final assessment. I've barely stepped into the enclosure corridor when the steel guillotine door slams down behind me. My wife's laughter crackles over the loudspeaker. "Everyone, we're doing the ultimate challenge today! We're locking the so-called number-one animal trainer in the Lion King's enclosure and taking bets on whether he wets himself in ten minutes!" Caesar crouches low and rumbles a warning. I reach for my tranquilizer gun but stop cold. The liquid isn't the right color. In a phony sing-song voice, the veterinarian, Hugh Archer, says, "Lucian, I forgot to mention, I swapped your tranquilizer darts for pepper spray so you won't hurt Caesar by mistake. "You two are so close. Just win him over with love!" I look at Caesar, his eyes bloodshot from the stimulant, and it clicks. Hugh still resents that I stopped him from touching a tiger with his bare hands a few days ago. I tune out the trash blaring over the loudspeaker, pull a remote from my pocket, and hit the button. It's the master switch for the electric fence gates around every predator enclosure in the zoo. If I don't make it out, no one does.

I ended up with the person who used to bully me in school. As the morning sunlight seeped into the room, I barely moved my arm when the arm wrapped around my waist tightened, pulling me closer. Ethan Chambers lowered his head to kiss my neck, his deep voice tinged with a husky tone from just waking up. "Did you fall asleep last night?" I froze for a moment before nodding obediently. In the past, I might have resisted, but three weeks with him taught me a simple lesson to be compliant. He took my hand, which rested at my side, and interlaced his fingers with mine, playing with them as if amused. Leaning close to my hair, he let out a low chuckle full of interest. "This time, you didn’t throw away the ring I gave you?" He was referring to the diamond ring on my finger. There had been two others before this one—one I hid in the freezer, and the other I threw into the fountain in the garden downstairs. I didn’t want to think about the consequences of losing the first two rings for now, but the result of the third ring was clear: I was going to marry him, the person I once feared the most.

Ava: Nine years ago I did something terrible. it wasn't one of my best moments but I saw an opportunity to have the guy I've loved since I was a young girl and I took it. Fast forward to years later and I'm tired of living in a loveless marriage. I want to free both of us from a marriage that should never have taken place. They say if you love something.... It was time to let him go. I know he'll never love me and that I'll never be his choice. His heart will always belong to Her and despite my sins, I deserve to be loved.Rowan: Nine years ago, I was so in love I could barely see right. I ruined it when I made the worst mistake of my life and in the process I lost the love of my life. I knew I had to step up in my responsibility and so I did, with an unwanted wife. With the wrong woman. Now she has once again flipped my life by divorcing me. To make matters even more complicated, the love of my life is back in town. Now the only question is, who is the right woman? Is it the girl I fell head over heels in love with years ago? or is it my ex wife, the woman I never wanted but had to marry?

Two alpha males. One forbidden siren. A bond that breaks every rule. Althea Lake has always known she was dangerous. As a siren, her beauty and voice were crafted by nature to lure powerful mates—and in a world ruled by dominance and legacy, sirens are both coveted and feared. Desired by kings, claimed by titans, and whispered about in secret, they are walking temptation. But Althea isn’t hunting for power. She’s hiding from it. That is, until fate brings her face-to-face with the two most dangerous—and unclaimed—males in the supernatural world. Cassian Morningstar, the Demon King of the underworld and a cold-blooded CEO by day, built his empire with ruthless control. Xanden Moon, a deadly fae warrior and Cassian’s co-ruler, is known for his loyalty, precision, and barely leashed violence. Neither has ever found their fated mate. Until her. Althea is theirs. The bond is undeniable. But a siren having two mates? Unheard of. Forbidden. And potentially catastrophic for the balance of power in their world. Torn between her fear of being claimed and the impossible heat pulling them together, Althea must decide whether to resist her nature—or surrender to a destiny that could consume them all. In a world of magic, power, and primal instincts… some rules were made to be broken.

Dante Moretti, the ruthless Billionaire CEO, hungers for power and control. Cold, calculated, he sends shivers down his rivals' spines with his cold, calculated way into any business deal that might pop up in his way. But inside the steely exterior of this man, a traumatic past torments him to have left him detached and numb as regards love. His goal is simple: solidify his control and paramountcy and build on an empire. Lyra Caine grew up privileged in a family that had disintegrated; the fortune of her father, Richard Caine, once a strong king of finance, had shrunk due to a number of bad investments. She needed to be married off to Dante Moretti, a man rumored never to have shied away from getting ruthless in whatever business dealings he had, so that their name would not be utterly ruined. Lyra had lived her whole life by what this great shadow of a father expected from her: fragile, with this inner fire barely apparent in herself. But here is the kicker that makes it even more twisted: Dante isn't marrying Lyra out of love or even because of business needs. He has an ulterior motive linked to her father's long-buried secrets, one that could totally unravel her family should it come to light.

I was just eighteen when I mistook a business deal for a fairy tale, letting a schoolgirl crush blind me to the truth. My prince charming? He turned out to be more of a wolf in an Armani suit. Now, five years and a thousand broken pieces later, I've rebuilt myself into someone I barely recognize, a CEO, a survivor, and most importantly, a mother to my beautiful son Griffin. I thought I'd buried the naive girl who once dreamed in a garden. Apparently, the universe had other plans. My ex-husband's back, claiming he's changed and wanting a second chance. And then there's James Drake, a billionaire with scars that match my own, who makes me wonder if my heart remembers how to beat for something other than revenge. Between poisoned flowers showing up at my office and threats creeping too close to my son, I'm learning that success is the best revenge, if I can stay alive long enough to enjoy it. They say love is sweeter the second time around, but can I trust it when betrayal wore the face of love once before? One thing's certain: I'm not that naive wife anymore. And this time, I'm playing for keeps.