Iu South Bend Bookstore

"Please, don’t do this here” Donald cried, his white shorts were soiled. He trembled greatly and his breathing was ragged. “Donald, you stepped on toes. Toes which you couldn’t even bend over to buckle a shoe on it. The powers that be want to take a pound of their flesh” The man grabbed the blade and knelt on one knee. He caressed Donald's neck with his finger. “Don’t do this in front of my wife and kids. Let’s go elsewhere and talk” Donald sounded like he had resigned to his fate. “Any last word” The man ordered his men to lift Donald. “I don’t want to die like this, in front of my daughter” He whimpered. “If we wanted to kill you outside, it would have been easy. But we maneuvered our way through for a reason” the Man said, as he got up, and beckoned for a blade. ***************************************** In a world where crime rules, a world compromised by powers that be. A weak Alicia finds herself in such realms. The night her Dad is murdered is the beginning of her destiny. She is torn between two worlds; two twin brothers who are crime lords. Making a decision is difficult as she is only in the lowest chain of power. Weak, confused, and dejected, she must rise to the occasion. Vengeance, Sex, betrayal, and death are the order of the day. Alicia is faced with two twins who seek to kill each other. Will she ignite emotions in the very one who denied the existence of love? Watch out for "Taming His Big Monster"

Three days before my wedding, I found out that Shane Dawson had changed the venue from Grandma Mae’s home in the South to Castillo de Sol, the Spanish castle that Tania Collins, his childhood sweetheart, adored. I confronted him, only to overhear him complaining to his friend, "Thank God Tania has taste. Otherwise, I’d be laughed at for life." His friend reminded him, "Didn’t you promise her you’d hold the ceremony at her grandmother’s house? Aren’t you afraid she’ll get angry and refuse to marry you?" Shane just laughed, sharp and dismissive. "The Quinns are on the verge of bankruptcy. Marrying me is her only way out. She can’t afford to gamble. I’ve already asked the planner to call her. She’s probably scrambling to change her flight right now." Anger and humiliation burned in my chest. I bit down on my lip and, in the end, turned away. Three days later, the castle wedding went on as scheduled, but I didn’t reschedule my flight. I didn’t show up. Instead, I stood in Grandma Mae’s old courtyard and exchanged rings with another man. To this day, Shane doesn’t understand. I never married him for some so-called escape route. I married him for a love that lasted ten years. However, once the dream was over, it was time for me to choose a different path.

Everyone in the pack envies how devoted Kingsley Laurent is to me. After getting appointed as Alpha, he turns down every she-wolf who throws herself at him and vows to wait until his position is fully secure before marking me. The mate bonding ceremony he promises is the most sacred of all, one that would place me beside him as Luna and establish our pup as his rightful heir. Kingsley openly despises my rebellious sister, Heather Johnson. His eyes harden whenever her name comes up. "Don't let your train wreck of a sister ruin our ceremony." Until one night, when I find a voice message on Heather's phone and hear his voice—hoarse, ragged with desire. "Will you shift for me tonight, baby? I want to see you in chains." While he claims he's on a business trip down south, he's actually spending the night with my sister at a couples' hotel. Over the phone, he swears his devotion to me. "If I ever betray you, may I be punished by losing you forever." At the same time, he grabs Heather by the chin and says coldly, "I will only ever have one Luna, and that's Eliza Johnson. You're just a plaything." Since he made that vow, I'll fulfill it for him. I fake my death, burn down our home, and vanish from his world with his pup growing inside me.

Laila Jones has spent eight years building a quiet, beautiful life for herself and her daughter, Malaya. After her high school boyfriend caved to his racist grandfather and chose football and family approval over her and their unborn baby, Laila left Ohio, moved south, and raised Malaya on her own. Now Malaya is eight, there’s a daddy–daughter dance coming up, and her one Christmas wish is simple—and heartbreaking: she wants to meet her dad. Going home for the holidays was hard enough. Running into Jordan Hall, now the golden-boy quarterback of the Cincinnati Bengals, is worse. He’s famous, gorgeous, and acting like he has the right to look at her with regret. Laila is ready to avoid him, yell at him, or both. What she doesn’t know is that after his grandfather’s death, Jordan discovered every letter she ever sent—proof that she kept their baby, begged him to come, and raised their daughter without him. The truth wrecks him, and this Christmas, he’s determined to fight for the family he should have had all along. But Laila isn’t interested in being anyone’s redemption arc. Especially not while his nasty fiancée is calling her a liar to the press and the internet is tearing her apart. As secrets unravel and emotions explode in front of cameras, Laila and Jordan have to decide what matters more: anger, pride, and old wounds…or the little girl who still believes Christmas wishes can come true.

“You really think a chrome leash makes me yours?” Timothy’s voice was a jagged shard of glass, his pulse thrumming frantically against the cold metal of the Blackwell collar. Kan leaned in, the scent of expensive bourbon and gunpowder clinging to him. He captured Timothy’s chin, forcing those defiant lavender eyes to meet his own. “It doesn’t make you mine, little ghost. It just keeps you still long enough for me to show you why you’ll never want to leave.” Behind him, Gideon’s shadow fell over them both, heavy and suffocating. “Careful, Kan,” the enforcer rumbled, his knuckles still stained with the blood of the men who’d tried to stop them. “He’s a reaper. He doesn't want a home. He wants a body count.” One Ghost. Two Predators. No Escape. Timothy Gal is a shadow. A high-level operative for the Nash Rebellion, he’s spent his life as a nameless tool in the war-torn Sopttyi District. He doesn’t feel, he doesn’t miss, and he certainly doesn't belong to anyone. But when a routine surveillance mission in Saati Town goes south, he catches the eye of the two most dangerous men in the Blackwell Mafia. Gideon Blackwell is the muscle—a man of controlled violence and territorial hunger. Kan Nelblack is the mind—a predator with a silver tongue and a taste for absolute submission. They don’t just want Timothy’s secrets. They want his soul.

"You have no idea how badly I want to make love to you," he responds with a shake of his head. "I love you so much," he continues and my heart melts. "I love you," I whisper back. "Okay, I'm going to make love to you now, Angel. It will hurt a little, so let me know if it hurts too much," he says and leans down to kiss me. "I'll be gentle," he tells me. Keeping his eyes locked on mine he shifts his hips forward slightly and enters inside of me. My mouth widens as he enters, and I feel a slight pinch. He was right, it does hurt, but it's not terrible. "Christ! You're the sun!" he calls out. I watch his face crumble. He buries his face in my neck and then he's above me again, his hands on my cheeks again. ... For 20 year old Alison Scott, love was never something she deemed herself worthy of. Not until he came along. With his tousled brown hair, lean muscular body and smile that ignited everything south of her body; he was unbearably attractive and intimidating to Alison. She thought he could never be interested in someone like her, until he was. Was living in the same household together with someone you want and need such a great idea? As they embark on this journey together, Alison discovers her own desires as well as all the secrets Isaac keeps.

Miguel has built his life around the land. Born of indigenous Costa Rican ancestry, he believes ownership is stewardship, not control. High in the mountains of Monteverde, he struggles to preserve his farms and a failing eco-lodge sustained by pristine mountain springs that carry life-giving water for the entire valley. Bobby, a kindergarten teacher from Ireland, arrives in Costa Rica carrying a private grief. A genetic diagnosis has ended her hopes of motherhood, and leaving Ireland for Costa Rica is the only way she knows to start a new life. Vulnerable and unmoored, she falls under the influence of Sean, a charismatic expatriate who offers work, protection, and belonging—while quietly binding her to his business interests. The springs beneath Cabinas Las Nubes become the fulcrum of their collision. To Miguel, it is sacred. To Sean, it is a commodity to be stripped and laundered through shell companies tied to South American narco networks. When Miguel refuses to legitimize the illegal extraction, intimidation escalates into violence, culminating in the kidnapping of a child—Christopher—to force his compliance. Bobby recognizes the danger too late but refuses to run again. Risking her life to save Christopher, she confronts the man who once controlled her and exposes the depth of her courage. Her choice strengthens Miguel’s resolve. Working from within, he dismantles Sean’s operation and reclaims the land before it is destroyed. Set against Costa Rica’s ancient waters and living terrain, the novel explores grief, integrity, and the quiet ferocity of love chosen under threat.

Elelira, forced by her uncle into a marriage alliance with the rumored monstrous alpha of the south, was surprised to find on her wedding day that he was actually her mate. Due to a secret she and her late mother kept, he wouldn’t feel the mate bond for two more years, until it was too late. Elelira, on the day she turns 20, the day Lachlan can feel the bond, she rejects him before escaping into the sea. Her freedom is short lived as her quest to find her real father takes her back to her abusive Uncle’s pack, where she is captured and tortured until her death. She hopes that is the end, but as soon as her eyes close, they open again and she is back at the beginning; the beginning of her suffering. She traveled back to the day of her wedding, and has to live through all that pain and torture again. Or so she thinks….. Lachlan was against the marriage to the conniving Alpha Wayne’s niece, fearing he was being trapped and leashed, but he had no grounds to refuse. Elelira was like a temptress from hell, or so he thought. He desired her, but he thought that was just a trick from her uncle. He fought against the desire, holding out for the day he could annul the marriage and find his true fated mate. By the time he realized it was her all along, it was too late. To correct the mistakes of his past, he sacrificed greatly to get a second chance. What he didn’t expect, though, was for her to come back with all her memories of the future from the past as well.

It's been three years since I went against my family to be with my boyfriend, Marvin Stuart. At last, my parents have finally agreed to let me marry him. I rush back to our place at once, eager to share the news with him—only to end up overhearing his conversation with his childhood friend, Camellia Hough. "They're redeveloping the area where my family home is, and we're going to get a huge buyout payment! You can finally abandon that loser and officially be with me now," she declares. "You wouldn't have had to settle for being with her if my family hadn't gone bankrupt back then." Marvin agrees to it right away. "I'll lie to her, saying that my family is in debt, so that she'll break up with me. Let's get married right after that." I swallow down the words I'd been prepared to say and calmly enter the house. Marvin turns to me with a sorrowful expression. "My family owes a debt of five million dollars. I don't want you to have to suffer with me. Let's break up." I nod. "Sure." Soon after, I sent my parents a text. "You don't need to transfer the three buildings to Marvin anymore. Also, call off the redevelopment project on the south side of the city." Since Marvin wants to break up with me, I'll grant him his wish. As it stands, we've always been from two different worlds.

“I want you on your knees," I whispered, closing the distance between us as I continued, “with your mouth open to take my meat. I want to see your lips wrapped around my cock as you suck it and — Fuck!” I gasped when he stomped his right foot on my left, knowing no one could see it. “Fuck you!” “Oh, I'd like to see you try that.” He folded his arms, his eyes narrowed to a glare as he watched me. “I don't know what you think you are, but I'm not gay. Don't forget we are ENEMIES,” he emphasized the last word, letting me know just what he thought about me. I knew he felt that way because that was also how I felt, that was if you exclude the desire to bend him on the rail and fuck him until he screamed my name. … Alexander "Lex" De Luca, a 25-year-old alpha werewolf and underboss, and Aithan Lyker Kael, a 23-year-old beta werewolf and enforcer, are from feuding Mafia families. Their families' centuries-old vendetta intensifies after their mothers' tragic deaths. Despite the animosity, Lex develops feelings for Aithan. Desperate to have the feisty Beta as his, he formed an unlikely alliance with him, to uncover the truth behind the attempts on Aithan's life. As they navigate their forbidden love, they confront family secrets, loyalty, and redemption. Their love conquers the hatred and violence surrounding them, but will it be enough to overcome the darkness of their families' past?