Dakota County Library Hours Novels & Stories

Just because I forget to bring my mate's lover back—leaving her alone in the wilderness for three hours—he flies into a rage and throws me into an abandoned well in the desolate countryside. "You need to experience the torment that Belinda was put through." The well is deep and narrow, forcing me to curl up in my wolf form. I struggle to breathe. I plead for mercy and beg for forgiveness. However, all he does is tell me off icily. "Stay there and repent for your sins. You'll only understand the dignity required of a Luna once you learn your lesson from this." He orders his men to seal the well with a large boulder. I let out anguished howls and roars as I claw my way upward. However, I only fall back down over and over again. The walls of the well are covered in my claw marks. I continue like this until I can't make a sound through my parched throat. … Half a month later, my mate's heart softens when he sees the birthday gift I've prepared in advance for him. He decides to end my punishment. Unbeknownst to him, worms and snakes have already gnawed my body beyond recognition at the bottom of the well.

One bitter breakup, one nasty, impulsive decision, a few hours in a secret club, and a mystery lover is all it takes for Tamara Yevgeniy's life to go to shit. — Bold and sassy Tamara Yevgeniy is plagued by a severe cramping for the longest time now, and is evading the doctors. It would be fine if it was just the cramps bothering her, but her boyfriend of three years, Viktor Kozlov is not being understanding of her situation and is demanding for his rights in bed. And when Viktor moves on with a new girl, she's left heartbroken. In the heat of the moment and heartbreak, Tamara stops at a secret club for a night of drinks and fun to escape her misery. Thick, velvet curtains, no names exchanged, no consequences. Until he walks in. Sergei Sidorov. The most dangerous crime lord in the city. Tamara knows she should walk away. Sergei is dangerous and would bring her nothing but trouble. But within these club walls, he's hers even if it's just for a fleeting moment. Hers to touch. Hers to taste. And hers to love. But nothing is ever that easy. And when Tamara finds out she's pregnant for him one month later, she's faced with an impossible choice. Reveal her identity to Sergei and get destroyed? Or run away, like she should have done in the first place, and take the secret to her grave?

Anna Russell thought she had found her forever in Derrick Martinez, the man holding the Silverfang Pack together while their Alphas were in seclusion. She gave him her innocence and her heart, only to find him in the arms of another woman hours later. Humiliated, rejected, and cast out into the rain by the very pack she called family, Anna decides she is done playing the victim. She trades her tears for a leather jacket and her heartbreak for a handgun. She rides to the Silverfang palace to end the man who betrayed her, but a single bullet intended for the Beta hits the wrong target. Ryker Reed, the most ruthless of the legendary Twin Alphas, doesn't even flinch when her bullet pierces his skin. Instead, he looks at Anna with a dark, hungry smirk. He and his brother Ronald have returned from eight years of exile to find their pack in shambles and their fated mate standing before them with a smoking gun. Now, Anna is caught between two powerful Alphas who want to claim her and a past that wants to destroy her. With the Silverfang Pack riddled with traitors, fake bonds, and hidden assassins, Anna must decide: Will she run from the destiny she never asked for? Or will she seduce the twin kings and take the throne she was born to rule?

When I see Reese Chapman again, it is exactly three years after I sever our mate bond. It is also the third year since I completely seal my wolf and hide at the edge of the Shadow pack territory, living as an insignificant healer. Tonight, the air in the clinic feels heavy and icy under his overwhelming aura. He carries a lightly injured female companion in his arms and forcibly takes over the best VIP ward in the clinic. During my shift, he summons me three times through his guards. The first time, he coldly orders, "There are wolfsbane fragments on the bedsheets. Change them." I send an apprentice herbalist to handle it. Two hours later, he has a nurse relay another order. "The smell of medicine is too strong. Change it again." I suppress the urge to suddenly break down and arrange for someone to take care of it. At 2:00 am, he reaches me through our mind-link. "The sheets are dirty. Come up and change them." I instinctively block him and refuse calmly. "Sorry, Alpha Reese. The staff responsible for cleaning have already gone to rest." In the darkness, a cruel chuckle comes from the man. In a tone that allows no refusal, he murmurs, "Then you come and change them yourself."

Lena Martinez has forty-eight hours to save her sister’s life, or watch her die from a failing heart. When a stranger offers her five million dollars in exchange for one impossible task—impersonate another woman and marry billionaire Nathan Blackwood—Lena knows she should walk away. But desperation leaves her no choice. Thrown into a world of wealth, power, and carefully buried secrets, Lena becomes Mrs. Blackwood overnight, stepping into the life of Nathan’s missing fiancée, Kimberly—a woman who looks exactly like her. She discovers that Nathan is nothing like the cold, ruthless CEO she’d braced herself to meet. And she soon finds herself falling for the husband she was never meant to love. But living a lie comes at a cost. As Lena grows closer to her husband, the lie becomes more dangerous. Enemies begin to close in. And just when she starts to believe she can survive the deception, the real Kimberly returns to reclaim her life. What happens when Nathan realizes he’s been deceived all along? Will he forgive the woman he’s come to love… or will the truth change everything?

"Tell me you don’t feel the same way," Xavier murmured, his dark eyes locked on mine. "Tell me you don’t feel your heart racing every time you see me. Tell me you don’t think about me for hours, imagining things… imagining me touching you. Tell me you don’t feel jealous when you see me with another girl who isn’t you." He stepped closer, his lips curling into that infuriating smirk. "Tell me, Princess," he whispered. My throat went dry. My words stuttered. "I… I don’t feel anything for you," I barely managed. "You're such a terrible liar," he said, his grin darkening. ••• Everything changed the night my father died. Six months later, my mother’s whirlwind engagement brought me here — to his mansion, to his world, to him. Xavier Knight: arrogant, reckless and rebellious. The one person I shouldn’t want. The one person I can’t stop noticing. He’s not supposed to be mine. I’m not supposed to want him. And yet… every glance, every word, every heartbeat pulls me closer to danger.

After my husband picked up his secretary and our son, they went into the hotel for a business meeting. Photos of them were trending online. I gave him a call to ask him about it, but he hung up on me impatiently. “I’m meeting a client. Obviously, we’re meeting at the hotel! Can you stop being unreasonable?” I was busy contacting IT support to retract the trending topics. Two hours later, I received a call from the emergency department of the hospital. When I reached the hospital, my son was already dead. In his hand, he was still holding a staff ID tag. The secretary’s name was on the tag. I broke down crying. My husband, Zac Davis, had blocked my number so I could not reach him. After I completed the hospital procedures, Zac finally returned my call. He sounded very angry and impatient, “Did you fetch our son? Why didn’t you inform me? Don’t you know that we’re all waiting for him to pass us the agreement? Just send the document over now!” After that, he immediately hung up and blocked my number again. I stared at the notification on my phone and sneered. I was going to snatch your clients and force you into a dead end!

My boyfriend, Simon Hepworth, gets down on one knee for the 66th time. Moved by his persistence, I finally say yes. But on the eve of our wedding, he drops a bombshell on me. He tells me he wants to have a child with his stepsister, Fiona Hepworth. I find it ridiculous and get into a huge fight with him. But I never could've imagined what would come next. On our wedding day, I wait at the altar for three hours, bouquet in my hands, only for him to dismissively tell me that the wedding is postponed. All because he and Fiona have an IVF appointment that very day. "Fiona was abused by her father growing up. She'll never be able to marry," he explains. "I just want to help her fulfill her dream of being a mother. It's just IVF. It's not like we're actually sleeping together. Stop being so sensitive." He then hangs up, leaving me alone at the wedding under the gaze of countless guests and flashing media cameras. The shock sends my father into the ICU. Standing by his bedside, I make a vow. "Dad, you were right. I won't marry Simon. Next week, I'll come home and take over the family business."

Trapped in a sweltering 40-degree sauna room, I overheard my older brothers talking outside. My second-oldest brother, Sean Lambert, remarked, "This kid is too stubborn. We need to teach her a lesson." My third-oldest brother, Jacob Lambert, replied, "The temperature has been adjusted. She won't die." I was locked up alone for 72 hours. It was their way of punishing me because of my stepsister. Yet, they were the ones who used to love me the most. My father was a business tycoon, my eldest brother, Axel Lambert, was skilled in finance, Sean was a legal expert, and Jacob was a medical prodigy. My mother passed away after fulfilling her mission, leaving these four men to look after me. They once showered me with love like I was their precious gem, until I turned five. That's when my stepmother and her daughter came into the picture, and I was banished to the housekeeper's room. Their attention shifted entirely to my stepsister. Whenever she cried, my father would bring out the punishment box for me to draw lots. 72 hours passed, but no one came to open the door. Before I blacked out, a few lines of small text popped up before my eyes: [The minor character is about to die. Once she dies, she can be reunited with her mother.]

Ethan Carter, a socially awkward and bookish young man, moves into a run-down apartment in the city, hoping for a quiet and uneventful life. But his world is turned upside down when he meets his neighbor—Sienna, a mesmerizing, confident woman with an intoxicating aura. From the moment he lays eyes on her, he's smitten. She’s everything he isn’t—bold, beautiful, and effortlessly seductive. As Ethan struggles with his feelings, he begins noticing strange things: the way men come and go from Sienna’s apartment, the way she dresses provocatively at odd hours, and the soft, intimate sounds that seep through the thin walls at night. But he convinces himself that it’s all in his head. One night, however, the illusion shatters. When Sienna forgets to fully close her door, Ethan sees the truth with his own eyes—she’s with a client. The shock leaves him reeling. But instead of disgust, his fascination deepens. Why does she do this? Is there something more beneath her exterior? And most importantly—can love exist between two people from such different worlds? Ethan’s desire soon turns into obsession, and as he delves deeper into Sienna’s life, secrets unravel that neither of them are prepared to face.