Pride In The Pews

As soon as I receive my year-end bonus, I transfer 100 thousand dollars to my wife, Zoe Steele, so that she can prepare the holiday gifts for both families right away. I even tell her to buy the best quality gifts for our parents, especially the box of premium liquor meant for my dad. On New Year's Eve, I rush home to have dinner with my parents. But weirdly enough, Dad, who's an avid drinker, starts having tea instead of liquor at the dining table. This leaves me perplexed. "Dad, why aren't you cracking open a bottle of liquor for yourself during the holidays?" With a smile on my face, I get up to my feet so that I can carry the box of liquor over. "Zoe had someone buy the liquor for you, you know. I hear that the taste is exceptional." "Stop!" Dad slams his pipe against the table loudly, his face a starking shade of crimson. "Edgar, don't ever send such gifts home. I know that life is difficult for you in the city and that making money is hard. We Kennedys may be poor, but we are people with pride! "Now, everyone in the village is gossiping about us behind our backs! They claim that I've been boasting about your wealth!" Dad's words confuse me to no end. After I unscrew a bottle of liquor, I sip from it, only to feel thunderstruck. This isn't premium liquor at all! This is just mineral water packaged as liquor!

“You’re mine, Isabella. My untouched little girl. I will burn this whole world before I let another man get close to you.” Isabella Monroe lost everything. Even her parents. A fire took them when she was just a child, dark and sudden, leaving her alone in a cold, unforgiving world. But Sebastian Hawthorne, her father’s closest friend and the father of her only friend, never walked away. He stayed. He became her shadow. Her shield. The man standing between her and the edge. But Isabella is not the fragile girl everyone thinks she is. She is wild. Strong. She rides her motorcycle like she owns the road, wind in her hair, danger in her smile. She works as a waitress, earning every dollar with pride, refusing to beg, refusing to break. Sebastian tries to control her fire. To tame her reckless soul. But he soon learns something far worse. Controlling his own heart is the real war. He is forbidden in every way. Older. Married, even if the marriage is already dying. And he already has a mistress warming his bed. Every time they meet, the line starts to blur. Care turns into hunger. Protection twists into obsession. One touch from him is enough. Enough to spark something dark and hungry, something that aches low in her body and burns through his control. A need that should not exist. A desire that can ruin them both. Will Isabella give in to the man who once protected her, and now scares her the most… and calls to her in the darkest way?

The world snapped back into focus, the memories of my brutal end crashing into the present. I was back—right here, right now, the exact moment Jarrold Jameson was trying to hand me that obscenely expensive purse. In my past life, he'd had a nasty fight with his precious Cindy Mayford. To make her jealous, he decided to use me as his pawn. I'd been stupid enough to love him once, but my pride had revolted. I'd refused to be a stand-in. It didn't matter. He kept engineering "accidental" run-ins, crafting one public misunderstanding after another, all to get a reaction from Cindy. I had done nothing wrong. I gained nothing. But I became Cindy's enemy. Her jealousy festered until it turned lethal. She had me kidnapped. The men she hired left my body shattered and broken. And Jarrold? He held his sobbing darling close and whispered those unforgettable words, "She got what she deserved." In the end, they stepped right over what was left of me and walked off into their picture-perfect life. Now, staring into his smug face, a cold clarity settled over me. This time, everything would be different. I snatched the handbag from his grasp. "A present for me?" I asked, my voice sweet, a sharp, calculated smile on my lips. "I love it. But just so you know, for next time… I've always preferred the classic design from her family's brand. That's the one you should be buying me."

Raven Lopez, the estranged heiress of a powerful family, sacrifices her fortune and her pride to save her husband Viktor’s collapsing empire. She raises his children as her own and builds his success from the ground up only for his former lover to return and her world to fall apart. Blinded in a hospital accident and abandoned by the man she gave everything to, Raven is forced to depend on an arrogant doctor, Killian….the one man she should never trust. As she regains her sight, she uncovers shattering truths. Her amnesia, her failed marriage, and even her blindness were all part of a twisted plan set in motion by the two brothers who claimed to love her or rather three brothers. The last brother had always been a mystery,lurking in the dark and waiting for her to be most vulnerable before he possesses her. Now that she's been divorce,he returns to claim what has always been his. One brother wanted her wealth. One wanted to own her completely. One loved her, but broke her first to make her his. Torn between three brothers,Raven must submit to one of them or they all ruin her. ____________________ WARNING ⚠️ 🔞 For the girls that take interest in books with trigger warnings,May God help us.   :⁠-⁠) This book is not for the faint of heart. It's dark,contains stalking,forced proximity,sexual situations (quite a lot),violence , kidnapping, gory scenes,non/dub con, manipulation etc

{Book 1 of the 'Tamed Series'} Since time immemorial, two fore-standing Races of the beings that inhabit the Wisterne Continent, have been in an unending dispute. They say the Demons prowl the living, corrupting and enticing their souls into oblivion. And the Werewolves receive a gift at the dawn of every Healing Ritual, in the exaltation of their most venerated Moon deity.~~Himari Orion has dreamt of the Healing Ritual since she turned fourteen, hoping she can bring pride to the Pack’s Gamma family with the transformation into her wolf. On the night of the coveted ceremony that occurs once a decade, she’s pronounced an Omega, a derogatory title stigmatized by the rest of her kind. The impaling aftermath leaves her hollowed and left with a shriveled ambition.Wrongly accused of orchestrating the ‘Darkling’ sudden attack on her Pack, she’s forced to flee, having no other choice but to trust in whatever resides across the river that separates her race from the rest of the world.Zorien Virote is one of the last remaining High-tier Demons and a prodigal son to the Royal family; an uncontestable warrior set to guard the riverbank and eliminate all were-beings upon sight. He is driven by a ferocious distrust for women, forcing him to end the lives of all his mates until he stumbles into the runaway she-wolf he’s been observing since her conception.“You’re the goddess’ chosen, Himari. No harm will come to you, and you’ll live to fulfill your destiny.”An ancient Black Flame that incinerates all Demons into ashes…Will Himari be able to heal the wound inflicted upon this peculiar Demon? And will Zorien take on the responsibility to kill his final mate and choose the victory of his race over his tender love?

"Strip, Omega. My wolf doesn't care for your excuses, only your scent." The growl was like velvet over gravel, vibrating through the humid air of the VIP lounge. Samuel Cawson knew he should run. He was a half-blood, a "glitch" in the supernatural hierarchy, and the man looming over him was Adrian Stain—the Alpha King whose name was whispered in fear by boardrooms and blood-packs alike. But under the heat of a Blood Moon, pride was the first thing to burn. One night of feral, bone-deep surrender was supposed to be his escape; instead, it became his cage. Then came the twist of betrayal. When Samuel woke to an empty bed and a branded neck, he realized he hadn't just slept with a CEO—he had accidentally claimed a King. Fleeing across the globe was his only hope to protect the secret growing inside him. But five years later, the past has a way of tracking its prey. Samuel returns with a silver-eyed child who carries the Alpha’s lethal genius, only to walk straight into Adrian’s trap. The man he once feared is now a monster obsessed with reclaiming what’s his. Between the jagged shards of a broken heart and a conspiracy that threatens to bleed the pack dry, Samuel must decide: is Adrian his fated protector, or is he the very predator who will eventually tear his world apart? "You stole my heir, Samuel. Now, I’m going to steal your breath until you remember exactly who you belong to."

“You're nothing different from a rotten corpse if you don't have anything to prove." Origin Laurier is a young girl who was once an ally of an underground criminal organization called the Westside Dragons. She is hailed as the mafia’s killing machine, the Scarlet Beast, who only knew how to live as a tool for the mafia boss. Because of her deadly talisman ability, she never fails all of her missions. But the tables started to turn when she suddenly lost her ability and was kicked out of the mafia believing that she is not useful anymore. Origin is left homeless and scattered as she wonders how to regain her power and approval of the mafia boss she admires the most. On her path back to power, she stumbled upon a good-looking, yet emotionless guy who knew everything about her past, and stepped on her pride as a legendary assassin. He is W, the Student Council President of Greendale University, a school founded to protect the new generation of talisman users from being hunted down by scientists and evil organizations. W offered to help get Origin’s abilities back in exchange for forging an alliance with the Student Council who turns out to be members of a military agency called FEAR, Westside Dragon’s sworn enemy, secretly protecting and recruiting talisman users to Greendale. Upon joining the Student Council affairs, Origin will learn that there is more to humanity than she thinks. As her fate interconnects with the Student Council President who has a hobby of stalking her, how can she handle this new everyday life and her future that is uncertain of her relationship with the Mafia she grew up into?

Matt & Nicole have been married for 7 years, but during that time they have not had a child. It's not without reason that it all happened. They both knew that Nicole was infertile and the doctor had sentenced her to not being able to get pregnant. They love each other, of course, but love alone will never be enough, as an Alpha, pride comes first. Even though he never said it, deep down in Matt's heart he really wanted a child, who could later become his successor. But everything changed when Kate came into their lives, Kate worked as a maid in the big mansion. Not only Kate but there are two other maids working there, Mona and Raya. They are all Omegas, but the condition for being able to work there is that they do not work to serve the Alpha, but to accompany and fulfill the needs of Luna, Nicole. As time went on, Kate and Nicole became the closest, they spent more time together and made their two friends Mona and Raya a little jealous of that closeness. Until one day, Nicole deliberately brought Matt and Kate together somewhere. To both of them' surprise, Matt had seen Kate before but for Kate this was her first time seeing the Alpha. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss something very important, about children. Nicole wanted to rent Kate's womb so they could have children, the selfish attitude shown by Nicole was of course opposed by the Alpha, Matt. But Nicole was willing to pay, and give anything to Kate in exchange, Kate, who was silent at that time, finally agreed. She wanted to be pregnant with their child on one condition, they had to pay for her mother's cancer treatment and it was an easy request for Nicole.

In the shadowed kingdom of Nocturne, where ancient Lycans rule with iron claws and unbreakable wills, Omega Elara Thorne is offered as tribute from her indebted pack—a fragile sacrifice to secure their fragile peace. At the grand mating ceremony under a blood-red moon, fate cruelly binds her to the most feared ruler alive: Kael Draven, the Ruthless Lycan King. Towering and scarred, with storm-gray eyes that promise death to his enemies, Kael rejects her on the spot. "I will not be weakened by a low-born Omega," he snarls publicly, severing their sacred bond and shattering her soul. Cast out, disowned, and broken, Elara flees into the wilderness, only to be rescued by Ronan Hale, a kind-hearted Alpha who offers her sanctuary—and perhaps a love untainted by cruelty. But as Elara's hidden Silver Blood awakens, unleashing powers that could heal or destroy the Lycan throne, Kael begins to unravel. The severed bond haunts him with unrelenting rage and forbidden visions of the woman he cast aside. Possessive instincts he long buried surge to life, whispering that she was never a weakness... but his only salvation. When rebellion threatens Nocturne and an ancient prophecy names Elara as the key to the kingdom's fate, Kael must confront the monster he became. Will he claim the Omega he rejected before another takes her forever? Or will his ruthless pride cost him the one mate destined to tame his beast? A steamy rejected mate romance filled with betrayal, awakening power, and a king's desperate grovel. Weak to strong heroine. Possessive anti-hero. Second chance at fated love.

Labeled a "Dormant Omen" and sold into a Mate-Contract to the lethal Alpha of the Montgomery Pack, Avery has spent years as a shadow in Hudson Montgomery’s glittering, cruel world. She was the mute trophy, the wife who couldn't shift, the girl who loved a man who only saw her as a political necessity. But when Hudson’s favored mistress returns and the pack turns its teeth toward her, Avery realizes that staying in the Silver Ridge will cost her more than just her pride—it will cost her the secret life growing inside her. One final signature. One last look. One clean break. "You want your freedom, Avery?" Hudson’s voice was a low, terrifying vibration against her skin, his hand bruising the small of her back. "Sign the scroll. Walk out of my den. But remember—once the bond is severed, I stop being your protector. I become your hunter." Avery’s fingers flashed in the flickering torchlight, her eyes burning with a defiance he’d never seen. I would rather be hunted in the wild than forgotten in your bed. The pain is a jagged blade. The divorce is a death sentence. But the hunger... the hunger is a fever. As the Silver Ridge teeters on the brink of war, Hudson realizes too late that the quiet girl he discarded wasn't a sheep—she was the moon that held his tides in check. Now, he’ll tear the world apart to reclaim her, but Avery is no longer playing by his rules.