Smoke Cat

A sizzling, modern reimagining of Beauty and the Beast – with a billionaire twist!Lily Frazer would do anything to save her father’s struggling arts center - even take on the infamous billionaire Calder Cunningham.When Lily breaks onto the Cunningham estate, she only wants to find and reason with the arrogant, brooding Calder. Then the worst happens, and she finds herself trapped with him, stranded at his palatial mansion during a terrible storm.As it turns out, Calder is willing to give her the money he promised, but there's a catch: she must win it from him. And the games he has in mind aren't exactly . . . innocent.Can Lily survive his wicked games of cat and mouse?Due to explicit scenes, this steamy romance is rated 18+.His Wicked Games is created by Ember Casey, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

By our sixth year of marriage, Derrick hadn't touched me in three months. Said he was swamped at work. Always tired. After everything, I still believed him. Then on my birthday, I caught his friend talking in Garmenian—a language Derrick didn't think I understood. "You cut off the side piece yet? You were with her nonstop. Surprised you didn't drop dead. Your wife cool with that?" Derrick let out a smoke ring. "Haven't touched Audrey in months. Sabrina's insane in bed—I'm not over her yet. Sucks she got pregnant. Audrey doesn't want kids, so I gave Sabrina some cash. She'll have the baby overseas." My hands curled into fists. Silent tears streamed down my face. He glanced over, nervous. "What's wrong?" I smiled. "The cake you made is amazing. I'm really touched." It was sweet—but when you understand Garmenian, all you taste is betrayal.

Kill or be killed: That was the motto of a predator and a prey. Turns out that was the same motto in love and relationships. Walking in on my fiancee making out with someone else was the last straw it took for me to break but to save myself the humiliation, I couldn't let the huge proposal I had planned out go to waste. What happens when the stranger I had forced a ring on turned out to be the Capobastone of the Ndrangheta Clan? Even worse, my ex boyfriend was involved in the mafia and the stranger was his boss. Fate twisted and lies were uncovered and I was caught up in a little cat and rat chase with a Mafia boss and there was no hope for me getting out. His words sealed my fate: "Now i didn't force this ring on myself, you did. Might as well add more meaning to it.”

Amanda Monroe’s life went up in flames three years ago and she can’t rest until she finds the ones responsible. Kevin and Martha Monroe had taken her into their home and treated her like family when she was found abandoned the day she was born. They hadn’t deserved to die that way. Someone would pay. They would all pay. Cole Vasco had always enjoyed his life exactly the way it was. He loved his beer, he loved his whiskey, and he loved his women. He was a bachelor for life, and he liked it that way. And then she walked into the bar. Even over the beer, the smoke, and the odor of too many people packed into a too-small building, he could smell the scent of her, and it called to him in a way that nothing had ever done before. All the while somewhere out there, a group of men in a beat-up old pickup truck drove down the road drinking cheap whiskey and loading their guns and hunting for the little bitch that had been asking too many questions in too many towns along the way.

I've been married to Derek Gunther for many years. Every anniversary, he tells me the airline scheduled him for a flight, then sends an expensive pair of earrings to smooth things over. But on our ninth anniversary, I accidentally overhear him joking with his friends. "Derek, you spend every anniversary with Ivy—and Sienna still hasn't caught on?" "No wonder she can't get pregnant. After all, you give all to Ivy." Derek exhales a stream of smoke and says, "Ivy gave up everything to be with me. I owe her a real home. As for Sienna, I stopped loving her after she miscarried. When the time's right, I'll file for divorce. It's unfair, sure—but I'll make it up to her with money." What Derek doesn't know is that he won't get that chance. It's on our anniversary that I'm diagnosed with late-stage ovarian cancer. Since he stopped loving me long ago, I'm ready to walk away on my own terms. Derek, from now on, we're done.

Vivian Kane is a ghost in the digital underworld, slipping into Alessandro Costello’s world like she’s always been there. She lifts his wallet with a swipe of her fingers, and just like that, she’s not only hacked his systems—she’s hacked his life. Alessandro Costello doesn’t do forgiveness. She’s made it personal, and now he’s out for blood. He’s ready to turn her life into a living nightmare, using every dirty trick he knows to make her regret ever crossing him. What starts as a simple theft quickly spirals into something far darker. They’re trapped in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse, where every touch and taunt turns up the heat until it’s a steamy, no-holds-barred battle of lust and dirty games. In this twisted mind-fuck, trust is a luxury neither can afford.

A week after getting into a cold war with Alexander Griffin, his friends drag me to a private room. They drink and smoke inside, not caring that I have asthma. My breathing speeds up and it starts to get difficult for me. My hands tremble as I call Alexander and tell him I'm about to die. However, he's with his childhood sweetheart. He doesn't answer my calls. He finally answers when I'm about to pass out, but all he does is berate me. "You're old enough to know not to be so childish, Isabelle. Why would you think of joking around with your life? "Sasha's injured, and I'm tending to her wound—it's my duty as a doctor. Don't tell me you're jealous over that! For the last time, there's nothing between Sasha and me. It's up to you whether you believe it!" Later, I die in that private room. His friends throw my body into the sea to cover up their crimes. One day, Alexander finds my journal. That's when he loses his mind…

On the day the true heiress and I swapped places, my childhood sweetheart, bound to me by a promise made in youth, gripped my hand before our families and declared, "I chose you, not your title." Anna Pedersen, tears brimming in her eyes, enveloped me in a trembling embrace. "Joanne, we'll always be family. I'd never take what's rightfully yours." Everyone assumed I'd turned misfortune into fortune. Though I lost my status as the Pedersen heiress, I gained a steadfast lover and a selfless sister. But three years after fate corrected itself, photos of Calvin Thomas escorting Anna to a prenatal checkup flooded the internet. When I confronted him, he exhaled a plume of smoke and said coolly, "Anna is my true betrothed. This is just setting things right. Why are you so worked up?" He seized my wrist and dragged our engraved engagement ring across the back of my hand, leaving a bloody gash. "This scar will remind you of the twenty years of life you stole. Your life and I belong to their rightful owner."

After being forced to donate the blood from my heart to my Alpha's beloved witch, I die in the cottage that he'd built for me. Before my death, my five-year-old daughter runs to the castle in the forest to beg him thrice. The first time, she runs into the study and tells him I'm coughing up blood. My mate, Alpha Alaric sneers. "Is this one of Clara's new tricks? I can't believe she taught a child to lie!" He orders his attendant to take our daughter away. The second time, she knocks on the door cautiously and tells him I'm trembling all over. Alaric snorts contemptuously. "What's with the act? All I did was take some of her blood, not gouge her heart out. She'll heal on her own soon enough!" Once again, his attendant chases our daughter out. The third time, she kneels by the study door and weeps, saying that I'm already unconscious. She begs Alaric to save me. This time, he gets mad. He grabs her by the arm and throws her out of the castle. "I told you your mother won't die! Lie to me again, and I'll kick her out of the Wolffang Pack. She can die at the hands of those Rogues!" He breaks her arm in the process, and she clutches it. She has no choice but to pass the family heirloom—a ring—that represents her identity as the Wolffang Pack's heiress to a passing merchant. "I can give you everything valuable I have, Mr. Merchant! I don't want to be an heiress—I just want my mother to stay alive!" The merchant accepts the ring and soon brings a herbalist. However, Alaric's beloved witch, Elena has him taken away. "Sorry, but your father is worried that I'll be upset because my darling black cat is sick. He's ordered all of the herbalists in the pack to focus on treating my cat first." She snorts. "Your mother can wait."

A heartless Alpha King, Valle, is bound by a centuries-old curse that fuels his ruthless ambition. Unbeknownst to him, his destined mate, Alexa, holds the key to breaking the curse. Sold into marriage by her greedy father, Alexa finds herself entangled in a web of power struggles, ancient prophecies, and forbidden love. As Valle's cruelty intensifies, Alexa flees to the human world, where she finds solace in a new life and an unlikely ally, Leonard. But when Valle discovers her whereabouts, a dangerous game of cat and mouse ensues. As the stakes rise, Alexa must confront the darkness of her past and the secrets that surround her. With the help of unexpected allies, she must choose between reclaiming her rightful place in the wolfdom and forging a new future with the man she loves. Will Valle overcome his cursed fate and claim his true mate, or will the forces of power and deception tear them apart forever?