Winter Trees

Just because I refused to let my husband, Timothy Blackwood, bring his late friend's widow, Gracie Morgan, home to live with us, he started spreading vicious rumors about me everywhere. Overnight, my reputation was completely ruined, and scandalous photos of me barely dressed spread all over town. Customers stormed into my restaurant and dumped food on me in disgust. "You're disgusting! Who would dare eat here now? Who knows where your filthy hands have been?!" One shouted, "Restaurant owner during the day, sleeping around in God knows whose bed by night!" ... Timothy had hired all of these people just to make the rumors seem real. Crying, I finally agreed to let Gracie move into our home. I begged Timothy to clear my name, but Timothy kicked me hard in disgust and hissed coldly, "You made Gracie cry for three straight days. Her eyes are swollen from it, so how am I supposed to face my dead friend? This time, you need to learn your lesson." Later, I became exactly what he wanted, broken down into a harmless nothing who could never threaten Gracie again. Just when he was about to let up, he got a panicked call from his friend. "Alyssa Winter jumped off a building!"

Seven years ago, I broke his heart to save his life. I just didn't realize he’d grow up to be the man who owns mine. Ethan Hawke wasn't always the "Ice King of Manhattan." Once, he was just the boy from the wrong side of the tracks who promised me the world. But I left him in the middle of a winter storm, taking a secret with me that changed everything. Now, he’s back. He’s no longer that boy. He’s a billionaire predator with a memory like a steel trap and a heart made of frost. When my father’s debts come due, Ethan is the one holding the check. But the price isn't money. It’s me. The Deal: Move into his penthouse. Wear his ring. Play the happy fiancée until Valentine’s Day. The Catch: He hasn't just been waiting for me. He’s been watching me. As the line between his revenge and his obsession blurs, I realize the "Dirty Secret" isn't the fake engagement. It’s that even after all the pain, his touch is the only thing that makes me feel alive. But when the gala lights go down, I have to decide: Can I love the man who is determined to ruin me? And more importantly... what will he do when he finds out the secret I’ve been keeping for seven years?

For five years, Gideon—my brother's Beta—and I had a secret. We were supposed to announce our mating at the pack's Winter Solstice festival. Instead, he breathed hot against my ear. "Babe, we've been sleeping together for five years. I'm bored with you. Find someone else for the marking ceremony, alright?" I didn't cry. I just gave a calm, simple nod. "Alright." Only because in my last life, I had begged him through tears to complete the bond. After he finally marked me, he grew cold. He never again woke me by rubbing his stubbled chin against my forehead. Even when we made love, he kept his eyes shut, as if he were with someone else, just using my body. When I was in agony giving birth to our pup, fighting for my life, he left me. He was going to comfort his savior, Aveline. The old wound she suffered saving him had relapsed, sending her into a mental spiral. In that moment, I finally understood. A mark I had to beg for was nothing but a curse, a wound that would never heal. This time, I pulled away with a smile, removing his hand from my waist. "You're right. I'm tired of it, too. We're done."

WARNING: MATURED CONTENT "Every time you flinch when I get close, it burns me up inside. I’ll prove to you that whatever monster I was before… I’m nothing but yours now." — At twenty-four, Hera was a licensed agriculturist serving her hometown. She walked through life alone, yet found anchor in her father—the provincial governor—even as she remained his secret child. Her world was stitched together by nothing more than trees, earth, and the creatures that roamed the land. Then came the murder that shattered her peaceful existence. She watched in horror as a masked figure committed a brutal killing just steps from her home. The assassin turned to silence her next, but Hera struck first: one desperate swing of her shovel to his skull left him bloodied and still, lost to unconsciousness. Convinced she would be thrown in prison for what she’d done, she called her father. It was in that moment she learned the truth—the man she’d felled was no ordinary stranger. He was a dangerous mafia member. She had fought the mafia. And worse: he would not wake anytime soon. He had slipped into a coma. To escape the wrath of those who would hunt for him, Hera followed her governor-father’s stern command: “Hide him. Keep him alive. Never ask why.” He became her darkest secret—but secrets do not stay hidden forever. A year later, the man opened his eyes with no trace of his past. Fearing he would kill her the moment his memories returned, Hera spun a perilous lie: “I am your wife.” As days bled into months, he craved the warmth of her touch, while she prayed his mind would never piece together what was lost.

Run, Run, RUN. Don’t stop. The night was falling and like the creatures of the day, I needed to hide. My heart is thundering in my chest, echoing the sounds of the war that rage from the fields of my once loved home. That was before the coven came. Surprising us and taking my home and pack. The attack happened so quickly that no one was ready. We had no warning and after hours of waiting I was found. I had to run. Don't stop running. “CRACK” the current of magic shoots by and hits the tree to my left, my bare feet crunching the earth hard and fast. My small heart fluttering faster than a hummingbird's wings, my once sparkling beautiful dress is no more. It’s tattered, dirty, and torn. The edges burnt to a crisp and coated in blood from bodies of the battlefield that I raced away from. “Come here little wolfie,” a harsh raspy voice calls out cutting through the trees I hide quickly behind a tree to take cover to breathe, “I just want a little chat!” He calls singsong like, taunting me. He wants to find me to kill me. Ducking further behind my tree I hold my breath, my young body shaking with so much force my bones ache. Holding my breath and closing my eyes hoping for safety that surely won’t come. At only 11 years of age, I can’t fight this grown warlock... he will surely kill me like he did my parents... “Wolfie princess, where are you?” He mimics the rhythm of a child’s tune, as if I’d listen. Closing my eyes tighter I don’t want to die. I’m too young. My mind is racing, and my hearts bound t....

Sabrina Winters,the adopted daughter of the Winter family, was sent into the bed of a big shot a few days before his wedding. With the scandal circulating,he was forced to marry her and spend three miserable years with her along with a baby boy they had. She had loved him for three years, but ultimately it was him who sent her to prison. In between her suffering and pain, she had to witness her man fall in love with another woman... However,Sabrina woke up to a deadly accusation of being unfaithful and that the child did not belong to her husband. Because of this,Sean took away everything she had and ordered that nobody in the city was to help her . Left with no other choice,Sabrina decided to sell her body to arrange for her son’s hospital bills but Sean took her away before she could complete her mission. The next day,the child died and Sabrina died along with him in a fire. Five years later, she has made her comeback with renewed strength; she is no longer the same woman who he mocked all those years ago. She will use this recently discovered strength to rip apart those people who put on an act of holiness while stepping on the filth of this earth. But just as she is about to exact her vengeance on the man who wronged her, something unexpected happens: He was previously a callous psychopath, but all of a sudden he transforms into a man who is caring, warm, and loving! In point of fact, he goes so far as to kiss her feet in front of other people.

SYNOPSIS: THE ALPHA'S BILLIONAIRE ROGUE: HER TRIPLE REGRET; ​Sierra Miller was the Silverwood Pack’s greatest embarrassment, a "weak" Omega whose only value was her fated bond to the future Alpha. But on the night of his coronation, Kaelen Vane shattered their bond, rejecting Sierra in front of the entire pack for a high-status Alpha female. Branded a rogue and driven into a lethal winter storm, Sierra vanished, leaving behind a pack that assumed she would perish. ​They were wrong. ​Five years later, the Silverwood Pack is on the brink of bankruptcy. Their only hope is Miller Global, a multi-billion dollar conglomerate led by a ruthless CEO known as the "Iron Luna." When Kaelen travels to Manhattan to beg for a bailout, he doesn't find a corporate stranger, he finds the mate he left for dead. ​Sierra is no longer the shivering girl he discarded. She is a powerhouse who holds his pack's survival in her manicured hands. But the shock of her success is nothing compared to the secret hidden in her penthouse: three silver-eyed toddlers with an Alpha’s scent. ​Kaelen is determined to claim his heirs and win back his mate, but Sierra isn't playing by pack rules. She has the money to buy his lands and the power of an ancient, forgotten lineage waking in her blood. As the Northern Alliance moves to kidnap the gifted triplets, Sierra must decide: will she protect the man who broke her, or will she let Silverwood burn to keep her children safe? ​In this game of power, Sierra is no longer the pawn. She’s the Queen. And the Alpha is about to learn that some regrets come with a billion-dollar price tag.

For years, the witches and vampires of Shadowbrooke co-existed secretly, without much incident. Until one winter evening in 2002. Luca Delacroix was on a hunting trip when the monthly court hosted by his clan turned disastrous. What began as a normal night for the residents of the sleepy town ended horribly when fledgelings in blood-lust took Shadowbrooke under siege. It took a small coven of witches, a powerful spell, the Chaos Star and a virgin's blood to end the terror. But in the aftermath, Julian Delacroix, Luca's brother, along with several of their clan members, were eternally bound to the manor's cellar, forsaken to wither and perish from thirst. It's 2022, and Luca's returned to Shadowbrooke after two decades. His sudden reappearance threatens to destabilise the peaceful town again. He'll stop at nothing to get his brother out, and the Youngblood Coven will not hesitate to destroy him. While the witches scramble to get the missing piece of the Star of Chaos, the rune they once used against Luca's clan, he has to fight hard to stay one step ahead of them. But, his plans go awry when he meets and falls in love with Cadence Youngblood, the same woman responsible for his brother's infernal prison. Cadence is everything he shouldn't want, but for her, Luca is willing to take the backlash from his clan and risk her coven's wrath. © 2022 Val Sims. All rights reserved. No part of this novel may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author and publishers.

Rosemary couldn’t have expected what would happen the moment she walked into her father’s office that cold winter’s day. Standing beside her father was Justin Knight, a man known across the country for his cruelty and rage. And for Rose, a person her father promised she’d marry. Being used as her father’s pawn for greater power was a deal Rose couldn’t accept, so she did the only thing she could, she ran. Taking her chances and bolting from her guards her arranged husband ordered, Rose finds herself surrounded and trapped. Until one man appears. Taking the hand of a stranger, covered in tattoos with the brightest but most dangerous eyes she’d ever seen, Rose thought she was out of the woods, but she didn’t know what she’d just stepped into. Baxter was no hero; he was a predator, the most feared Mafia boss in the country. A man built on fear, blood and not an ounce of mercy, he had not one weakness, until Rose appeared. From that first moment, Baxter decides she was now his, and Baxter never releases the things he claims. Her father wants to sell her, her fiancé wants to own her, and the monster who saved her, wants to keep her forever. Can Rosemary escape the men who wish to control her… or has she already fallen into the hands of the one man who could fully destroy her? Read on to find out.

I died five years ago. Now my husband, the Don of our Mafia family, wants me to take the fall for his sister again—this time for accidentally killing a British noble's heir during an arms deal. He's holding a fake confession letter with my forged signature, storming into my old apartment in the rust district, only to find it empty. Frustrated, he grabs the corner store owner downstairs, demanding to know where I am. The owner pauses, wiping his hands on his apron, calmly tells him: "Serafine? She died five years ago." "Heard it was retaliation from a rival family during the gang war. They ambushed her in an alley... shot her over a dozen times. She died immediately." My husband, Lucien, refuses to believe it. Convinced the owner is on my payroll, hiding me to help me escape his reach. He scoffs, his eyes filled with scorn: "Oh, so what? Because I called her out for messing up that last job, now she's throwing a tantrum?" "You tell her, if she doesn't come back and take the fall in three days, I'll revoke her grandmother's 'special family protection'! Let the old woman rot!" With that, he storms out, his rage still simmering. The owner watches him leave and sighs, shaking his head. "There's no grandmother left to protect... That woman passed away not long after Serafine did... couldn't survive the winter without our family's medical supplies and protection..."