McKenzie Shinabery

“Starlight…” His voice was a rasp of pure need, rough with restraint. “You’ll undo me.”

“Then let me,” I whispered, kissing him harder, pouring every ounce of longing into his mouth.

His gaze devoured me, pupils blown wide, eyes glowing with his wolf. “Fuck, Starlight,” he groaned, his hands spanning my waist, possessive and trembling with control. “You’re exquisite.”

He rolled his hips into me, the thick ridge of his erection grinding against my core. The friction made me cry out, head tipping back against the wall.

“I want to worship every inch of you,” he rasped, teeth catching my earlobe. “To taste you until you’re begging me for mercy.” His hand slid up, cupping my breast, thumb circling the taut peak until I arched into him helplessly. “Tell me what you need.”

“Please, Toren,” I whimpered, my voice ragged. “I need you so badly it hurts.”

Kira was never meant to shine.
She was the twin her family despised—the silent, obedient wolf they mocked into invisibility. But when the Alpha Gathering brands her unworthy and casts her out, fate twists in the most terrifying way.

Because he steps forward.
Toren. The Alpha whispered about in fear, the predator who rules through blood and silence. He has never taken a mate. Never bent for anyone.
Until Kira.

With one claim, he binds her to him before the eyes of every pack:
“She belongs to me.”

Now, the girl who was nothing is trapped in the orbit of the most dangerous Alpha alive. His touch scorches, his protection suffocates, his desire is a cage she cannot break. And yet, every look, every whisper, pulls her deeper into his darkness.

Desired. Possessed. Marked.
Kira must choose—fight the bond that terrifies her, or surrender to the Alpha who could devour her whole.

She went undercover to expose a mafia empire.
He offered her thirty nights to save her life.

When investigative journalist Seraphine Vale steps into the glittering underworld ruled by billionaire crime lord Dante Vescari, she thinks she’s chasing a story about missing women and corruption.
Instead, she uncovers a secret older than blood—an empire built on fire, sin, and dragons.

Bound to Dante by a forbidden pact, Seraphine finds herself caught between fear and desire, truth and temptation.
Each night pulls her deeper into his world of power, passion, and danger…
and closer to the monster hiding beneath his perfect skin.

Thirty nights. One bond.
And a love that might just burn the world to ash.

I don’t work for Rowan Ashcroft.
I work beneath him.

From my desk, I decide who gets access to the most ruthless CEO in the city, and who never makes it past the lobby. I manage his time, his silence, his enemies. I keep his world running while my own quietly collapses under unpaid bills, a mother locked in rehab, and a brother who vanished without a goodbye.

Rowan Ashcroft is power wrapped in a tailored suit.
Cold. Untouchable. Merciless.
He doesn’t flirt. He doesn’t smile. He doesn’t see people, only usefulness.

And for a long time, I was just useful.

Until he started watching.

A shift in his attention is subtle at first. A pause too long. A look that lingers. Orders that pull me closer instead of pushing me away. The man who stands above my desk begins to control more than my schedule, and I realize too late that being noticed by Rowan Ashcroft is far more dangerous than being ignored.

Because men like him don’t crave affection.
They crave possession.

This was supposed to be a job.
Not a test of my limits.
Not a slow, deliberate descent into his authority.

But if Rowan Ashcroft decides I belong under his desk, then so be it.
Survival has a price, and the bills don’t care how I pay them.