
Introduction
For years, James Reynolds was just my stepdad—the guy who raised me after my mom left when I was seven. He attended all my school events, taught me how to drive, and told my first boyfriend he'd better have me home by eleven or else.
But lately, something's changed. And it scares me.
"Anna! Hello? What are you getting James for his birthday?" Daisy waved her hand in front of my face while we walked through the fancy store.
"No idea," I said, touching some silk ties. "What do you buy someone who could buy this whole place now?"
Three months ago, James sold his tech company for billions. We went from regular people to super rich overnight. We moved from our normal house to a mansion. He traded his old car for a bunch of expensive ones worth more than my college tuition.
All this money changed everything—except the empty feeling from when my mom abandoned us. Money can't fix that. I wonder if anything can.
"Maybe get him cologne," Daisy suggested with a grin. "Guys like that. Or something extra fancy since he's a billionaire now?" She gave me a playful look.
"Stop it," I said too harshly.
Daisy looked surprised. "Wow, touchy much? I just meant some fancy designer stuff, not whatever you thought."
What's wrong with me lately? When people talk about James, I get all protective feelings I know I shouldn't have.
Chapter 1
I never thought of him this way before.
For years, James Reynolds was just my stepdad—the guy who raised me after my mom left when I was seven. He attended all my school events, taught me how to drive, and told my first boyfriend he'd better have me home by eleven or else.
But lately, something's changed. And it scares me.
"Anna! Hello?" Daisy waved her hand in front of my face as we walked through the boutique. "What are you getting James for his birthday?"
"No idea," I said, touching some silk ties. "What do you buy someone who could buy this whole place now?"
Three months ago, James sold his tech company for billions. We went from regular people to super rich overnight. We moved from our normal house to a mansion. His old car got replaced by a garage full of sports cars.
All this money changed everything, except the empty feeling from when my mom abandoned us. Money can't fix that. I wonder if anything can.
"Maybe cologne," Daisy suggested with a grin. "Guys love that. Or something really nice since he's a billionaire now." She wiggled her eyebrows. "Spoil the man a little."
"Stop," I said. It came out harsher than I meant.
Daisy blinked. "Whoa, okay. I just meant designer stuff or whatever. What did you think I meant?"
What's wrong with me lately? When people talk about James, I get all protective feelings I know I shouldn't have.
"Sorry," I said. "Just stressed about dinner tonight. He's been acting weird lately."
Daisy squeezed my shoulder. "Money changes people, Anna. But James raised you. That connection doesn't just go away."
If only she knew how much I'd been thinking about that "connection" lately.
We shopped for another hour. Nothing seemed good enough for the man who gave up his young years to raise someone else's kid.
Then I saw it a vintage “Patek Philippe” watch. Simple but beautiful. James always liked meaningful things more than flashy ones. At least he used to.
"That's it," I said quietly.
The salesperson smiled. "Great choice. Want it wrapped?"
I nodded, ignoring the price. One good thing about being rich now I don't have to worry about money anymore.
When we got back to the mansion, Daisy looked up at the big entrance and huge light hanging from the ceiling. "This place is crazy," she whispered.
"Me neither." I led her through rooms I still got lost in sometimes. "Kitchen's this way. I thought we'd make his favorite lasagna."
Daisy laughed. "Homemade food for a billionaire? That's actually perfect."
We spent the next two hours cooking and setting the table with fancy dishes. I even put out fresh peonies James's favorite flowers.
By nine, he still wasn't home. I'd texted him twice. No response.
"He's probably just caught up with work," I said, even though we both knew better.
The lasagna went cold. The candles burned low. Eventually, even Daisy ran out of things to say.
"You should get some sleep," I told her. "Guest room's upstairs, third door on the left. Has its own bathroom."
"What about you?" she asked, looking worried.
I forced a smile. "Not feeling sleepy for now."
After Daisy left, I sat on the couch looking out the windows. When did James and I stop being close? Was it because of all the money? Or maybe because of these wrong feelings I kept having?
At 11:42 PM, the security system beeped. James stumbled through the door, his expensive suit wrinkled, hair messy. He smelled like scotch and someone else's perfume.
"Anna?" he squinted. "Why are you still up, sweetheart?"
That word made my heart flutter. I immediately pushed the feeling away.
"Your birthday dinner," I said flatly. "We waited for hours."
He ran his hand through his dark hair a gesture so familiar it hurt. "God, I'm sorry. New clients wanted to celebrate the deal and—"
Then I noticed the lipstick on his collar. Bright red against white.
Something broke inside me. I walked across the floor and grabbed his arm.
"You promised," I whispered angrily. "After you were in the hospital last time, you promised you'd stop drinking."
His blue eyes cleared a little. He put his hand over mine where I was gripping his arm.
"Anna," he said softly.
The warmth of his skin sent a shock through me. I pulled my hand away like it burned.
"Daisy's asleep upstairs," I said, stepping back. "Your gift is in the kitchen."
As I turned to leave, he caught my wrist. "Wait."
Our eyes met. For a moment, something passed between us something new and dangerous and impossible.
Then he swayed slightly, breaking the moment.
"We'll talk tomorrow," I muttered, pulling free. "When you're sober."
"Anna, please," he said, suddenly sounding clearer. "I know I've been... different lately. The pressure of everything—"
"Save it," I interrupted. "This isn't the first time, James. The drinking, staying out late, the women... You're not the same person anymore."
Pain showed on his face. "Is that what you think of me now?"
"What am I supposed to think? You disappear for days. You come home smelling like other women's perfume. The James who raised me wouldn't—"
"The James who raised you is tired!" he snapped, then softened. "Anna, I've been taking care of everyone else since I was twenty-three. For once in my life, I just want to..."
"To what? Destroy yourself? Because that's what you're doing."
He stepped closer, and despite everything, my heart raced. "I'm sorry about tonight. Really. But you're not my keeper, Anna. You're my—"
He stopped suddenly, something changing in his eyes as they dropped to my lips for just a second.
I didn't wait for him to finish.
I turned and ran up the stairs. My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears.
What was happening to us?
This wasn't just about him missing dinner or his drinking. This was about feelings I shouldn't have feelings for the only person who never left me.
I closed my bedroom door and slid down against it, hugging my knees.
James had been my rock, my protector, my father figure for fifteen years.
So why did I suddenly want more?
And worse did I imagine it, or did he feel it too?
Last Chapters
#41 Meeting the family 5
Last Updated: 1/29/2026#40 Meeting the family 4
Last Updated: 1/29/2026#39 Meeting the family 3
Last Updated: 1/29/2026#38 Meeting the family 2
Last Updated: 1/28/2026#37 Meeting the Family 1
Last Updated: 1/28/2026#36 Behind the curtains
Last Updated: 1/28/2026#35 The Long Game
Last Updated: 1/28/2026#34 Closing In
Last Updated: 1/28/2026#33 Close Call
Last Updated: 1/28/2026#32 Goodbye
Last Updated: 1/28/2026
You Might Like 😍
The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates
"Let me go," I whimper, my body trembling with need. "I don't want you touching me."
I fall forward onto the bed then turn around to stare at him. The dark tattoos of Domonic's chiseled shoulders, quiver and and expand with the heave of his chest. His deep dimpled smile is full of arrogance as he reaches behind himself to lock the door.
Biting his lip, he stalks toward me, his hand going to the seam of his pants and the thickening bulge there.
"Are you sure you don't want me to touch you?" He whispers, untying the knot and slipping a hand inside. "Because I swear to God, that is all I have been wanting to do. Every single day from the moment you stepped in our bar and I smelled your perfect flavor from across the room."
New to the world of shifters, Draven is human on the run. A beautiful girl who no one could protect. Domonic is the cold Alpha of the Red Wolf Pack. A brotherhood of twelve wolves that live by twelve rules. Rules which they vowed could NEVER be broken.
Especially - Rule Number One - No Mates
When Draven meets Domonic, he knows that she is his mate, but Draven has no idea what a mate is, only that she has fallen in love with a shifter. An Alpha that will break her heart to make her leave. Promising herself, she will never forgive him, she disappears.
But she doesn’t know about the child she’s carrying or that the moment she left, Domonic decided rules were made to be broken - and now will he ever find her again? Will she forgive him?
The Blackthorn Saga: The Heir (Book 1 & 2)
Pulled into a hidden world he never knew existed, Kruz is forced to face the truth—he isn’t just different.
He’s a vampire.
The transformation is only the beginning. Thrust from a life of survival into one of power, wealth, and expectation, Kruz is given a position no one his age should hold: District Elder.
With it comes authority. Responsibility. And enemies he doesn’t yet understand.
And then there’s the bond.
Forced into a connection he didn’t choose, Kruz is tied to a girl—whether he wants it or not. She’s a complication. A problem. A constant reminder that his life is no longer his own.
Because the one person he wants… is the one he can’t have.
As pressure builds and danger closes in, Kruz is forced to walk a line few survive—between duty and desire, control and instinct, the life he had and the one being forced upon him.
Because in this world, power isn’t earned slowly.
It’s given.
And if you’re not ready for it—
It will destroy you.
Kaged In
Follow Kage's journey as he tries to heal, falls in love and faces his inner turmoil.
From Substitute To Queen
Heartbroken, Sable discovered Darrell having sex with his ex in their bed, while secretly transferring hundreds of thousands to support that woman.
Even worse was overhearing Darrell laugh to his friends: "She's useful—obedient, doesn't cause trouble, handles housework, and I can fuck her whenever I need relief. She's basically a live-in maid with benefits." He made crude thrusting gestures, sending his friends into laughter.
In despair, Sable left, reclaimed her true identity, and married her childhood neighbor—Lycan King Caelan, nine years her senior and her fated mate. Now Darrell desperately tries to win her back. How will her revenge unfold?
From substitute to queen—her revenge has just begun!
Taste of Fate: The Vampire King's Human Mate
He reached for the back of my head and pulled me up just enough to reach my neck. When his fangs slid into me, the pain was instant, electric. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. My hands found his shoulders, clawing for something to hold. My legs kicked. Tears streamed down my cheeks.
He moaned against my throat as he drank, and the sound was devastating.
Mated To The Last Scribe
A missing woman is found exactly where her latest story said she would be.
A warehouse burns down hours after she publishes another.
Then anonymous messages begin appearing.
WE KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW.
The problem is that Iris doesn't know anything.
At least, she doesn't think she does.
When her stories attract the attention of billionaire Alpha Cassian Blackmoor, Iris is pulled into a hidden world of werewolves, secrets, and deadly conspiracies.
Cassian believes she may be connected to a mystery that has claimed the lives of powerful Alphas for years.
His wolf believes something else.
That she is his mate.
As enemies close in and events from her stories begin unfolding in real life, Iris must uncover the truth behind her impossible gift before she becomes the next target.
Because someone is watching.
Someone is waiting.
And someone will kill to keep the truth buried.
The Princess's Revenge
Alpha Logan is an illegitimate son whose mother disappeared when he was 10 years old. He grew up suffering from humiliation and lacking maternal love.
Alpha Logan saves Valencia at Marcus's funeral, which seems to be destined by fate—part of the Moon Goddess's grand plan.
As Valencia accidentally discovers prophecies in Logan's mother's diary that seem to be related to her, the truth gradually surfaces. Valencia appears to be merely a tool in a princess's revenge plot. How will Logan and Valencia navigate their path amid the national war and pack politics?
After One Night with the Alpha
I thought I was waiting for love. Instead, I got fucked by a beast.
My world was supposed to bloom at the Moonshade Bay Full Moon Festival—champagne buzzing in my veins, a hotel room booked for Jason and me to finally cross that line after two years. I’d slipped into lacy lingerie, left the door unlocked, and lay on the bed, heart pounding with nervous excitement.
But the man who climbed into my bed wasn’t Jason.
In the pitch-black room, drowned in a heady, spicy scent that made my head spin, I felt hands—urgent, scorching—searing my skin. His thick, pulsing cock pressed against my dripping cunt, and before I could gasp, he thrust hard, tearing through my innocence with ruthless force. Pain burned, my walls clenching as I clawed at his iron shoulders, stifling sobs. Wet, slick sounds echoed with every brutal stroke, his body unrelenting until he shuddered, spilling hot and deep inside me.
"That was amazing, Jason," I managed to say.
"Who the fuck is Jason?"
My blood turned to ice. Light slashed across his face—Brad Rayne, Alpha of Moonshade Pack, a werewolf, not my boyfriend. Horror choked me as I realized what I’d done.
I ran away for my life!
But weeks later, I woke up pregnant with his heir!
They say my heterochromatic eyes mark me as a rare true mate. But I’m no wolf. I’m just Elle, a nobody from the human district, now trapped in Brad's world.
Brad’s cold gaze pins me: “You carry my blood. You’re mine.”
There is no other choice for me but to chose this cage. My body also betrays me, craving the beast who ruined me.
WARNING: Mature Readers Only
One Weekend with the Billionaire
I open my mouth to respond, but all that comes out is a staggered breath and a small sigh. He chuckles, a low, rough rumble and then leans down and kisses the middle of my back.
I feel the tip of him again at my entryway. He pushes in slightly, and my body comes to life again. My muscles react to his presence, contracting and loosening, as if my body is trying to suck him deep inside.
He's my husband's boss, so this is supposed to be wrong.
So why does it feel so right?
Braxton Merriweather always gets what he wants. Now, he wants her--Julia Thompson, the wife of one of his workers. From the moment he first laid eyes on her, he knew he had to possess her in every way.
When Jeff Thompson takes him up on the bargain he proposes, Braxton is shocked. He's even more surprised when Mrs. Thompson agrees.
But now that he's had a taste of her, he wants more. How can he possess a woman who's already married to someone else?
Julia feels trapped by her marriage to her high school sweetheart. In the two years since they've been married, he's changed, and not for the better. When billionaire Braxton Merriweather shows interest in her, she's flattered. And intrigued. Is it possible that one of the richest men in the world could really want her?
And if so... what does she do about her husband?
One Weekend with the Billionaire is a sexy story for mature readers.
Pregnant by My Husband's Rival Alpha
Those words should have destroyed me, but the truth was worse: I'd been used as a broodmare by the man who swore to love me, set up in a hotel room with a stranger because My husband Alexander Cross couldn't father children himself, and now I carried the secret babies of Damon Lester—the most powerful and dangerous Alpha in San Loris—while my own family replaced me with the daughter they'd always wanted. But when that same stranger's doctor appeared at my door, when twenty million dollars exchanged hands over a fake perfume bearing my secret identity, and when Damon's gray eyes locked onto mine with recognition I couldn't afford, I realized my carefully hidden life as the legendary perfumer Vera was colliding with a pregnancy that could cost me everything.
Could I protect my babies from the husband plotting my death, hide my true identity from the Alpha who's been hunting me for years, and reclaim the freedom I'd buried along with my dreams—even if it means standing alone against the wolves who see me as nothing more than a womb to be used and discarded?
Oops. My Boss Was Seventeen
The Execution: Perfect. I brought him coffee, cheered at his games, and basically operated as his unpaid teenage executive assistant. He’s totally buying it.
The Problem: I was trying to network my way into the C-suite. I think I just networked my way into his bed.












