Jeff Ward

"Ouch, that hurts!" Underneath the bright lights, the man makes me lie facedown on the bed. Then, he pushes my waist down from behind, seemingly looking for the best spot. I feel something odd press against me and cry out, telling him to stop. He doesn't, though. In fact, he grabs hold of my belt.

At the award-giving ceremony of the end-of-the-year gala, my boss, George White, suddenly announces that he will be adding a bonus round on a whim. "This is the annual department evaluation! The department that comes last shall come onto the stage and receive a tiny encouragement from me!" The huge screen lights up at that moment. The sales achievements accumulated by all departments are being shown in a ranking system. The sales department is ranked first. The operations department comes second, and the marketing department gets third place. As for the administrative department, the sales achievements shown on the screen are none. After all, that department has no KPI to achieve at all. George beams at us from the administrative department. "Everyone from the administrative department, come on up and receive your prize!" Two people can be seen carrying a basket of brooms up the stage. Everyone bursts into laughter instantly. "Come now, sweep away your bad luck with the brooms! Try not to come up as the bottom-ranked department again next year!" George personally thrusts the brooms into our hands. Camera flashes go off beneath the stage—people are clearly taking photos of us. The people from the sales department are the ones laughing the hardest. "Finally, the peeps from the administrative department are getting the recognition they deserve!"

To encourage overall development, the kindergarten had asked each student to create a hand-drawn poster. My daughter Holly refused my help and insisted on doing it all on her own. Little did I know, most of the other children had their parents do the artwork for them. In comparison, Holly's delicate strokes were quickly dismissed. Not only was her work discarded into the trash, but her teacher also called her out in the parent group, criticizing her for being careless with the assignment. As I racked my brain trying to figure out how to help Holly regain her confidence in drawing, I was surprised to see Holly's artwork among the winning entries in the state-level children's art competition. But the signature wasn't hers—it belonged to another student from her class.

Azra Kononovich and her two best friends are about to have the ultimate experience in New York City. They're going to spread their wings and live like the wild girls they dream to be. Now all they have to do is just say yes to everything: new adventures, new jobs, and probably new sweethearts. Easy, right? Wrong. Little did they know that being an adult takes more than just being one. It takes experiences and talent. But where do they get the experience without having experienced it? And none of them have any talents. That's the problem. To top it all, they fall for the same girl. So what is going to happen next to the three musketeers?

When Elara Monroe flees a toxic entanglement with Damien Hale, the charming but deadly heir to a criminal empire. She believes she’s finally escaped the shadows that nearly ruined her life. But the past follows her to Los Angeles, where an unexpected protector steps from the darkness. Lucian Ward, Damien’s former right-hand man and the only person Damien fears. Lucian is cold, disciplined, and as dangerous as the man hunting her… yet he shields her with an intensity that steals her breath. What Elara doesn’t know is that Lucian once spilled blood to break free from Damien’s control and that secret ties him to her in ways neither of them can outrun. As Damien closes in, the city becomes a battleground of hidden motives and forbidden longing. Elara must choose between the man who destroyed her and the man who might destroy everything else to keep her safe. But when the truth finally surfaces, she learns love may not be what saves her. It may be the very thing that kills her.

Signe, an orphaned she-wolf, is training to take over as Gamma of the Crescent Moon Pack. However, when the powerful, sexy and albeit intimidating Alpha Asher of the Blood Moon Pack visits to form an alliance with Signe’s Alpha, she comes to realize that he’s more than just another Alpha. He’s her Fated Mate. Only, Alpha Asher has no want of a Mate; somebody who can be used against him as a weapon and seen as a potential sign of weakness by his enemies. But Signe isn’t ready to take no for an answer. After all, she hasn’t been training to fight her whole life to not be willing to step up and fight for a chance at a life with her Mate. Determined, Signe visits the Blood Moon Pack to work on war strategies, but that’s not the only strategy she plans on putting into play as she convinces Alpha Asher to give their Mate Bond a chance. What she discovers on their journey has her questioning more than just who they are together, but who she really is and where she truly came from as they fight for their lives in a war that will change everything.

*TLPA Book 2* (To understand the events in this story, you must read Book 1: The Luna's Possessive Alpha. Note that there will be spoilers for the first book if you read further.) * To establish a balance in the supernatural realm, the two most powerful packs in North America formed a political alliance. This was achieved through the union of Princess Saskia and Alpha Mikael. However, the infection among the werewolf packs has only grown stronger since the ascension of the new Alpha. The supernatural world is currently on the brink of falling apart. War is closer than ever as corrupted werewolves escape the grasps of their vampire lords; chaos is bound to ensue. * Saskia accepted her fate in her new pack and was willing to do all that was needed of her as Luna until she had her title stripped away by the new Alpha. Still, she'd be damned if she accepted defeat from the werewolf who claims to own her. One thing is certain: she has a debt to repay. An eye must be taken for an eye. And a life must be claimed for another.

Every Omega bound to Alpha Ethan dies. They call it a curse, they call him a monster. When Noah signs a survival contract to serve the Alpha whose mates never live long enough to warm his bed, he believes he’ll be different, not because he’s special, but because he plans to leave alive. Ethan never touches his Omegas, never keeps them, never loves them. Not until Noah came into his life. Drawn into a bond that should kill him, Noah discovers the truth behind the curse is far darker than fate, and far more dangerous. And the Alpha who everyone fears might not be the executioner, but the next victim.

I didn’t just lose my mate on the night of our Ascendance Ball. I lost my dignity. Standing in the center of the gilded ballroom, in a dress that cost more than my life, I watched Drail choose her. My best friend. He didn't just reject our fated bond; he laughed while doing it, his hand resting on her pregnant stomach. Cast out. Humiliated. Rogue. I ran into the storm and straight into the chest of a monster. Derek Montenegro. The Ruthless. The exiled Prince of the European packs. A man with tattoos crawling up his neck and a reputation for breaking bones as easily as he breaks hearts. He’s cold, commanding, and dangerously beautiful. He offers me a deal. A contract. "Marry me, Raya. Wear my mark. Become the Queen of the underworld, and I will give you the power to crush the people who broke you." I thought I was signing a deal with the devil to get revenge. I didn't know the devil had a twin. And I certainly didn't know that the rejection wasn't an accident—it was the first move in a war between brothers, and I am the weapon they both intend to wield.

Harrison Monroe has been secretly in love with his best friend, Rhett Langley since they had an "experimental" affair between their junior and senior year of high school. They agreed to remain best friends and not let anything change between them, but everything changed for Harrison. Now older and leading their own lives, Harrison is yet to forget that steamy summer they spent together. When he gets asked to be Rhett's best man in his wedding to a woman named Rebecca, Harrison is put in an awkward position and goes through a journey to put his personal feelings aside and support his best friend. Then comes the bachelor's party where Rhett pulls Harrison away and they share another steamy moment. Harrison asks himself if it was only the alcohol in his system or if Rhett truly has romantic feelings for him as well, and with the wedding just around the corner, he's too fearful to ask. Now Harrison has more questions than answers and has to decide whether to swallow his pride and let Rhett marry a woman he may not truly love or take his chance at his own happily ever after and object at the altar in front of everyone.