Two weeks. One villa. A dangerous game of seduction and lies.

My job is simple: get close, get the intel, get out.

Then Locke Maris walks into my op.

He’s cold. Controlled. Heir to a billion-dollar shipping fortune. And so aggressively straight he doesn’t even look at me twice…

Until he does.

Locke makes me an offer: play his assistant by day, be his secret lover by night, at a house party where the world’s elite will gather to sip champagne, enjoy the Italian sun… and play a dangerous game called Paxis.

In this ancient variation of chess, humans are pawns and each coded move could start or stop wars. I should report this to my agency immediately. Walk away clean.

But I can’t walk away.

Because in the privacy of his suite, the moves Locke makes are just as dangerous, the words he murmurs in my ear as devastating, and the growing devotion I feel as destructive as any global war.

At the end of this, I’ll have to disappear like I always do.
I don’t get to want things that could ruin my cover—or my career.

But Locke Maris is ruthless about protecting what’s his, and as far as he’s concerned he owns me.

When everything falls apart, I’ll find out exactly how far he’ll go to keep me.

My frat enemy pulled me deep into reckless obsession.
Weston’s the perfect college golden boy.

The rule follower ‘Frat Dad’ of Onyx Society.

I call him the campus sheriff, because his rigid, lawful attitude gets deep under my skin.

But on the night we collide, Wes surprises me… and I like it far too much.

I see him on his knees for me and I crave more.

He says I’m chaotic.

Dark and violent, just because it’s fun.

But I watch as he breaks all of his rules for me, one by one.
He’s never slept with a man, and I’m a lone wolf...

But this twisted thing between us is quickly becoming a need.

But now I’m playing for two sides.

My frat has me gathering info on Wes, as our societies reignite a war that should have died years ago.

Violence erupts, and my loyalties should belong elsewhere.

But Wes is opening up to me. Giving me all of him, still needy for more.

And I will recklessly protect what’s mine.

Sometimes when I think back, I wonder how I got here. How did the sad, scared thirteen-year-old boy forced to move across the country to live with an aunt he barely knew end up married to his best friend and raising seven kids together?

Sure, the marriage is for the benefits, and the kids are Riot’s siblings, but still. It’s a life I never imagined, but one I wouldn’t change for the world.

Except for one thing.

I love Riot a little more than a best friend should. Or a lot more. Sometimes I imagine what his lips feel like pressed up against mine, or how it would feel if he calls me husband and truly means it.

It’s a secret I kept for years, terrified that if Riot found out, it would ruin everything. Because having him in my life in any way I could get him is better than no Riot at all.

Lately, it’s been harder to keep my feelings to myself. And when one secret is revealed, all the others start to unravel.

All I could do at this point is be honest and hope I don’t lose my best friend in the process.

My main goal for sophomore year is to survive with my bruised, rejected heart intact. That looks a lot like avoiding anything that could hurt me, at least until Callum Cross shows up. He’s so quiet, it’s like he doesn’t want people to notice him, but Callum is too tall, too built, and too damn good-looking to hide from anyone, especially me.

​

Sure, all signs point to Callum being straight, but nobody’s had his back before, and there’s nothing stopping us from just being friends. What makes things complicated is that Callum is exactly my type, and when he ends up crashing on my couch, there’s no escaping how much I’d rather have him in bed.

​

Callum

A thousand miles isn’t enough distance between here and home, not with nineteen years of baggage. I’m trying to keep my head down and stay out of the way where I belong, but Ian Scott doesn’t get the memo. I’m a shell of who I want to be, but that attractive, out-of-my-league baseball player talks to me like we’re friends, and then…we actually are.

​

Ian noticed me, but I can’t let him notice how I really feel—someone like him could never like me back. The only problem? He takes me in with open arms when I’m at my lowest. I know I’m not supposed to crave him, but he cares for me like nobody ever has. Ian gives me so much, and all I want is for him to take something back and take me apart.

I wasn’t planning on making out with him. I’m straight. I just…got bullied into it by a talking parrot, okay? Please, you have to believe me…

ACE
None of what happened was my fault, and I’d rather not explain how I ended up in Devon’s bed.

First, I’d have to tell people I’m straight, and that would already raise questions. Then I’d have to explain why I set his bar on fire, and then got bullied into making out with him by a talking parrot, and—
You can see how that would be an awkward conversation.

In my defense, it was all for charity. The making out part, I mean. Pucks for Paws and all.
Well, technically it wasn’t, but it was during this thing for charity. I didn’t actually have to make out with him, I just…
I’m not really making my case, am I?

DEVON
Some say December’s the busiest time of the year, and it definitely is for me.

This one started with two dozen oversized penguins (also known as a hockey team in formal wear) trashing my bar. And by “my” bar, I mean a bar I work at. Since—checks watch—earlier today.

But that’s okay, because I got to lie on top of one of them (the hottest one, thank you)for a minute, so all is well in the universe.

Speaking of hockey players… Have you seen a warm-up skate? Because if you haven’t, you definitely should. The way they drop down on the ice, spread their legs, and pump their—

Actually, I can’t talk right now. I have an animal shelter to save, a parrot to thank, a warm-up to catch, and an unfairly hot hockey forward to try to convince to let me lie on top of him again.

Like I said, December’s super busy.

Mason has always known one truth: as an omega, his life is never fully his own.

So when two struggling wolf packs decide to merge, and promise Mason in marriage to secure the deal, he knows exactly what waits for him. A future owned by a man who sees omegas as property, not people.

Refusing to accept a bond he never chose, Mason makes a reckless claim—he’s already promised to his human best friend, Kip. It’s supposed to be a lie, to buy them time. But the packs demand proof, and suddenly, Mason and Kip are forced to play the part.

What begins as a desperate deception turns into something neither of them expected. Kip becomes the steady, protective Dominant Mason never thought he’d have. Mason becomes the one thing Kip didn’t know he was missing.

For the first time, love feels safe—until Mason is attacked and left for dead.

As danger closes in and secrets refuse to stay buried. Mason’s bond is tested by blood and fear, and survival is no longer guaranteed.

And Kip?
He’s been hiding something powerful—something that could change everything between them.

If it doesn’t destroy them first.