Katsudon Sauce

As I lay limp in the man’s arms, my face flushed red. I could not help but let his oil-covered hands move over my body. “No… That tickles…” I whined and shuddered because the oil felt hot on my skin. His hands tightened around my thighs as he leaned in and whispered in my ears, “Be good, Claudia. Repeater students face a lot of pressure. Spread your legs. I’ll help you relieve your stress.”

After a sudden, brutal breakup, I unexpectedly ran into Pierce Donovan at a hotel—with another woman in his arms. He coldly told me he wasn’t interested in my body. But that all changed when I knocked on his door late at night, wearing something a little more daring. Before I could react, he pulled me into his arms, his voice low and commanding, "Don’t cover yourself. I want to have a good look at you."

I catch the eye of a stranger on the bus. Then, I'm lured into his trap…

In the biggest bar of Gryndon, my younger sister, Evonne Bradford, is tossed onto the middle of the stage like a plaything. The men beneath the stage keep arguing with each other. At the moment, Evonne's complexion is as pale as a sheet. She can only stare at her fiance, Simon Scottman, in disbelief, who's sitting in the middle of the bar. "Simon, I'm your fiancee! How could you treat me like this?" Simon leans over to kiss the dainty-looking woman in his arms on the lips. Then, he shoots Evonne a cold look. "You don't even know who took your virginity, yet you still have the guts to question me?" The woman in Simon's arms just titters delicately, but the contempt in her eyes is plain to see when she looks at Evonne. Meanwhile, I sit in my booth, my gaze already icy. All it takes is three years of my absence in this country, and already someone dares to harm a member of the Bradford family.

For three years, I was the unrecognized genius bleeding for Marcus’s empire. On the night he was crowned the city's youngest billionaire tycoon, I stood in the shadows, waiting for the proposal he promised. Instead, I watched him pull my treacherous step-sister onto the stage, sliding a six-carat diamond onto her finger while presenting my life’s work as their joint masterpiece. When I confronted him, his sneer was dripping with disgust: 'You belong hidden in a sterile lab, Elara. She belongs in the spotlight. Know your place.' ​Stripped of my legacy, my reputation, and my dignity, I was discarded in the freezing rain. That was where the bulletproof Maybach found me. ​Alexander Thorne. The ruthless tyrant of the business world. An apex predator who viewed human emotion as a disease—and the only man with the power to crush Marcus overnight. He rolled down the window, his gaze lethal. 'I need a brilliant doctor to keep my sister breathing, and a wife who knows how to submit in public. You need a weapon. Get in.' The contract was absolute: Two years of marriage, total obedience before the cameras, and absolute silence regarding his family. In exchange, he would grant me the unimaginable wealth and power to destroy the parasites who ruined me. ​Marcus thought he had buried a pathetic, obedient lab rat. Alexander thought he had bought a desperate, easily controlled doctor. As I signed the marriage certificate and became the untouchable Mrs. Thorne, they both failed to realize one fatal truth. I didn't just want my research back. I was going to burn their empire to the ground.

Because of a last-minute business trip, my husband missed the Thanksgiving family dinner. I spent the entire day helping out at my in-laws' place in the countryside with our five-year-old son, only to receive a complaint from the downstairs neighbor just before dinner. "Ari, could you please close your kitchen window when you're cooking? I can smell the hot sauce from all the way here. My husband has a lung condition—he can't handle it." My neighbor's words shocked me, and I immediately called my husband, who was allergic to chili peppers. "Honey, did someone break into the house? The neighbor said there was smoke coming from the kitchen." His breathing hitched for a second before he let out a casual laugh. "No break-in. My flight got canceled, so I was home alone cooking. When are you two coming back? I really miss you." I smiled and told him we'd stay a couple more days, but in the middle of the night, I packed up our son and drove straight home.

Daisy Thompson works at Sneakz Burger Emporium under the protection of Uncle Mateo, living within a werewolf territory while hiding her true identity. When suspicious customers arrive asking about the restaurant's dangerous "Volcanic Sauce," Daisy's instincts are triggered. A male voice at the drive-through raises alarm bells, causing Daisy to retreat to a hidden safe room with a guard named Thomas. As Alpha Maison, son of Alpha Logan and heir to the local werewolf pack, enters the restaurant, tension mounts. Though Maison has always shown hostility toward Daisy, his wolf senses she's in danger. Meanwhile, in the safe room, Daisy realizes Thomas is not one of Uncle Mateo's loyal guards but an infiltrator sent to capture her. Thomas reveals a shocking truth: Daisy's wolf pendant marks her as "royal blood" and "the last surviving heir of the Northern Territories"—information completely unknown to her. When Thomas attacks, Daisy defends herself with hidden silver blades until Maison bursts in. After a brief confrontation, Maison kills Thomas, and Daisy leads them through a secret tunnel back to pack territory. As they emerge near Alpha Logan's pack house, questions loom large. Daisy must confront the possibility that everything she knew about her identity was a lie, while Maison must decide how much to tell his father about this mysterious young woman who has been living at the edge of their territory. Just as they begin to discuss their next steps, Luna Mara appears, expressing relief at finding Daisy safe. The story sets up a larger mystery about Daisy's true heritage and royal lineage and why she's been hidden within a witness protection program all these years.

Alternate Universe to "The Fate of the Alpha's Orphaned Daughter" and "The Lost Graystone Princess" TRIGGER WARNING: This novel contains scenes depicting physical and emotional abuse Daisy Louise Harmony Thompson lives a carefully constructed lie. Hidden within a human community under witness protection, she works at her Uncle Mateo's Sneakz Burger Emporium while concealing a truth that could get her killed—she's the orphaned daughter of a murdered Alpha wolf, protected only by a mysterious pendant she must never draw attention to. When strange wolves begin appearing at the diner—including a suspicious couple ordering the potentially lethal "Volcanic Sauce"—Daisy's carefully maintained world begins to unravel. The Steel twins, Alphas Maison and Jackson, frequent the diner with their pack members who mock and torment Daisy, unaware of her true identity. But Maison's inexplicable fixation on her suggests something deeper at play. As rogue wolves increasingly breach territory boundaries and whispers of a "rogue king" circulate, Daisy finds herself caught between warring wolf factions. When an unexpected physical connection with Maison triggers dormant wolf instincts she's spent years suppressing, Daisy discovers shocking truths about her lineage and the pendant she carries. Forced to flee her adoptive home, Daisy must navigate brutal pack politics while confronting years of abuse at the hands of those meant to protect her. The bonds forming between her and the Steel twins—particularly the enigmatic Maison—complicate her plans to remain hidden. With enemies closing in and her identity exposed, Daisy must embrace her heritage and the power she's denied for so long. Only by forging new bonds under the moonlight can she hope to survive a conspiracy that reaches back to her parents' mysterious deaths and threatens to ignite an all-out war between packs.