Starbound Cold Protection Novels & Stories

Celia Johnson, my boss's sister-in-law, joined the company as the finance director and announced that all reimbursements must strictly follow the standards. I spent an entire week running around for the company and finally closed a five-hundred-thousand-dollar deal. Because the client had used two extra packs of paper towels, the per-person amount for their meal ended up eight dollars over the limit. Celia folded her arms, glanced at the reimbursement form on my desk, and sneered. "Five hundred and eight dollars?" "Yes. Last night at The Peak Restaurant, where we closed Richard's deal. Zack was there too," I explained patiently. "Eight dollars over the per-person limit. Not reimbursable," Celia said coldly. I tried to reason with her. "This was a special case. The client is high-level, and the deal amount is large, and Zack personally said it would be fully reimbursed last night." She returned the reimbursement form to me. "I don't care who said that. Don't think closing a five-hundred-thousand-dollar contract lets you ignore company rules. Reimbursements must all follow policies. Everyone will follow them to the letter." I took a deep breath. I knew arguing with her head-on would get me nowhere, so I called Zack directly. Zack said, "I did say it would be reimbursed, but I never said company rules could be ignored. It's just five hundred. And you still get commission from closing the deal. You young people need to have perspective." I stopped arguing. I turned around and refused the delivery containing the hard copy of the five-hundred-thousand-dollar cooperation contract, smiling as I explained, "Company rules say all cash on delivery packages must be refused. "Also, today is my last day here. Starting tomorrow, I work for Richard's company. As the client, I will be setting the rules this time."

I bought an apartment during a market slump, $30,000 below what others had paid for the same layout. I had just finished moving in when Linda Carver, the neighbor across the hall, stormed over. "Same unit, same building, yet you paid $30,000 less than we did. You need to make up the difference!" I froze for a second. She took it as fear and raised her voice, "If you had the guts to snap it up cheap, you’d better be ready to compensate the rest of us. Otherwise, don’t expect to live here in peace." I looked at her, so self-righteous it was almost absurd, and I laughed. I had just been discharged from a psychiatric hospital. Threaten me? If anyone wasn’t going to live in peace, it was her.

He raised me like a daughter. Fate made me his mate. Rosie spent her life under Alpha Nicolas Hickman’s protection—the cold, powerful man she once called “Uncle.” She never expected the mate bond to tie her to him. She wants him to claim her. He refuses. Not because he doesn’t want her, but because danger follows her like a shadow—and loving her could get her killed. But Rosie is done waiting.

Calculating, cold, and cruel, Chiri Krane is the most infamously detestable witch imaginable in the history of the Alliance. A criminal, despised by her peers and cast out from her family; Chiri returns to the relentless political turmoil of the society that condemned her under the protection of a seemingly loveless marriage to Cazer. Made the target of a sinister conspiracy, she meets the valiant Legacy Hunter Allen Pierce. Through their unlikely partnership, they change the course of their fates and take on the power that threatens to tip the magical balance of their world. But will the villain, known to be the Alliance’s greatest abomination, become its savior or the key to its downfall?

“Mavros… please fuck me. Make me forget everything.” Eden took everything from me, stole my life and left me for his mistress. Now his golden boy step-brother wants to give me everything, including a love that could destroy us both. Laura lost it all when she signed those divorce papers. Her cheating husband took her inheritance, her dignity, her life. High society turned her into a joke, until Mavros Blackwood made her his own. Mavros is everything his step-brother isn’t: powerful, disciplined, dangerously controlled. He offers Laura protection while he dismantles her ex’s empire. But in a secluded villa, protection turns to obsession. His cold aura melts for her, and her broken heart now beats only for him. Then Mavros and Laura learns about the truth: her divorce was just the beginning of a conspiracy to destroy everything they know. Now Laura must choose whether to play it safe, or risk it all for a forbidden love that could end it all.

Aria Laurent was supposed to be the ghost in the Devereaux estate—a convenient substitute for a sister who fled, a nameless bride in a house built on secrets. But in the cold, suffocating grip of Luca Devereaux’s world, being invisible is no longer an option. Bound by a forced marriage and watched by eyes that never blink, Aria must navigate power and silent threats. In this house, walls have ears, and the man she calls husband is a shadow she can’t escape. As the line between protection and possession blurs, Aria discovers that the darkest secrets aren’t hidden in the cellar, they’re reflected in the eyes of the man who owns her.

Elena, betrayed by her husband and sister, dies filled with regret and hatred. Fate grants her a second chance when she wakes up three days before the wedding that ruined her life. Everyone expects her to plead for love again, but instead, she walks away from the groom and enters into a contract marriage with the cold, untouchable billionaire who has always been in her husband’s shadow. What starts as a calculated act of revenge evolves into something much more dangerous, protection, obsession, and an unexpected love. This time, she refuses to die quietly, and the right man will fall for the right woman.

Blurb: Paige Rimestone never got to choose her fate. She wakes up inside a book she once loved, cast as a girl who dies too soon. Her future husband wants riches more than he wants her alive. Survival means turning to someone feared by everyone. The cold Duke Noah Wingknight. He might be cruel, but he’s also the closest thing to protection in a world that already wrote her off. From memories of who she was before, she pressures the Duke into agreeing to a half-year fake engagement. He gives her protection under his name. In return, she follows his hidden plans without question. He looks nothing like the monster she expected, his charm slipping under her skin before she can stop it. While pretending to be the woman on his arm, someone else lingers just out of sight, eyes fixed and unblinking. A second player waits nearby, fingers tracing blade edges, patience wearing thin. Death was supposed to be outsmarted by Paige. Yet love arrived, carried in the arms of someone meant to ruin everything she built.

After half a month of nonstop overtime, I secured a contract worth over ten million, pulling the company back from the brink of collapse. My boss, Richard Gray, was overjoyed. At the celebration party, he called me the pillar of the company and announced that he would reward me with a bonus. However, when the end of the month came, and I opened my payslip, I froze. Negative 250 dollars. A negative commission? I actually owed the company 250 dollars? I immediately called the finance department, asking if there was a mistake on my payslip. They replied, "No mistake. This is the cost calculation formula that Mr. Gray personally instructed us to use. He said you'd understand once you saw it." I went straight to Richard for an explanation. He laughed. "The contract that you signed, after factoring in the concessions, upfront resources, and hidden expenses, left the company with a net loss of 150 thousand. Since the loss was due to your personal decisions, you're responsible for five percent. That totals to 7500. "Considering how hard you worked, we deducted it from your base salary first. But your salary wasn't enough, so you still owe the company 250. Don't worry. The company treats its employees well. We'll write that off." Soon after, he awarded 100 thousand dollars to the newly arrived intern. I watched the newcomer, probably connected to Richard, cheerfully treat the entire company to dinner with her bonus, and something inside me just snapped. From that day onward, I did the bare minimum. I clocked in. I clocked out. Nothing more. Later, when a critical project went catastrophically wrong and the company faced a colossal compensation demand, Richard came begging me to fix it. I just smiled and said, "Sorry, Mr. Gray. I've already resigned. If there are any problems, you can ask the intern who got the 100 thousand dollar bonus to handle it."

My husband and my best friend had seemingly vanished during my grandfather-in-law's funeral. As I searched for them, I passed Shawn Whitaker's coffin and suddenly saw a live chat window flash into view: [Oh goodie, we're finally dealing with a male lead with a 200 IQ! He dragged Best Girl straight into the coffin before that bitch could find out!] [Aww, he's comforting Best Girl because she's scared of the dark! Aaaaahhhhh!] [That annoying extra is still outside looking for Vincent. She's so dumb, oh my god. I'm right here cheering for Best Boy to cheat with Best Girl because I swear that bitch exists just to get in their way!] Fury surged through me. I moved to flip the coffin lid open, but Jasmine grabbed my arm. "Wait! He can't possibly be in there. I think he went to buy Grandpa coffin nails." [Get yourself a little sister who helps you find happiness like Jazzy, chat.] [And now, in the warm, cramped, humid darkness, two bodies collide and sparks fly. This is metal as hell.] [It's also dangerous as hell. I'm just glad our guy was smart enough to leave a crack for air.] I smirked. Oh, was he? I slammed the lid shut, dragged a nearby lounge chair over, and settled into it. "We've got an hour before the funeral begins, don't we? I think I'll keep Grandpa company." The audience was stunned. [An hour?! They're going to die in there!]