MeghanG

I sit on a throne of sins. Silent in the shadows, untouchable like the King of the Underworld himself. Few even know the sound of my voice, but those who fear me call me Monster. My men just call me Pakhan. To her, I am Nikolai. Her savior. Her captor. Her lover. With hair as bright as the sun, a face that could sink a thousand ships, and more curves than I can handle, Cassiopeia. Is. Everything. But she’s in danger. And safety comes with a price tag.

Mia's a curvy, nerdy cam girl. I’m a professional hockey player who just got traded to the New York Stars. She's also the best one-night stand I’ve ever had and I sure wouldn’t mind making her a permanent fixture in my life. But we have a problem—she betrayed a mutual friend and I just can’t get past that. Yet, every single J/P gene in my body roars to life when I find my baby brother paying to watch her on a cam-girl site.

I’m a curvy sports geek. Liam’s a hockey god. He’s way out of my league… My brother’s best friend is acting really weird. Flowers keep showing up. He sends me Cameos and concert tickets. Then, there’s the job offer… Well, first, there was the fact that he tracked me down to NYC. It’s really complicated, okay? But so are my feelings for him. I’ve been ignoring them for so long that they became a wall I’m comfortable hiding behind.

According to the FBI, I was considered a serial murderer after three kills. What do they call me after fifty-two? They call me the Silencer. One final bullet would have been all it took to stop me from taking another soul, and I would have been doing Meridian City a service by pulling that trigger. An angel crying for help stopped me, and that night, I took three lives for her. Then three turned into eight. Then eight turned into twenty. Twenty turned into twenty-one. Twenty-one turned into twenty-three.

"I want a divorce." That's the first thing she says to me after a decade of silence. And we're not even married yet. Her demand, the way her grandmother talks to her, and how she's treated by the town trigger me. This is just a business arrangement that'll save both our ranches, neither of us want this marriage, but I'll keep her safe by making her my wife. My wife. Those words are as powerful as her first ones to me. The rings on her finger are temporary, so tell me why I want them to remain there permanently?

When my father tries to force me to marry one of his cronies, I run away to my half-brother's home. He's the black sheep of the family, a biker, not an Irish mobster. At the Satan's Sinners' MC compound, I find more than I bargained for. Not my brother, ironically, but a man who gives a whole other meaning to "white knight." He's dark and mysterious, a seeker of answers and a finder of truths. Even better? He offers me an out, a shotgun wedding in Vegas.

Conor's my lifeline. He doesn't know it. I need him to find me. I need him to chase me. I need him to love me. If I haven't already destroyed what we might have had, he's crazy enough to take me on. My Fecker. Mine.

Star's my penguin. She doesn't know it. She took off. Sure. I'm mad at her. Sure. But that's her charm. She's ornery. Difficult. Impossible to love, but I see her BS. And I call her on it. I'll chase her from the North Pole to Antarctica. This Fecker isn't about to lose his soul mate.

Sex comes with a price tag. One I’m quite willing to pay. In fact, I prefer it. It’s easier that way, and in my life, I prefer ease. Prefer for most things to be transactional.

Phoebe Whitehouse is not just my student—she's my obsession. I eat, sleep, and breathe her. One day, she slips up, and I have my in. At long last, I can own her. She's mine to punish and to pleasure. I don't care if I lose my job as a tenured professor over her. I don't care if I destroy my life or hers. I'm obsessed, and she doesn't know it yet, but I'm never letting her go.