Three years ago, Elena Rose spent one reckless night with a mysterious stranger she never expected to see again. She left with nothing but a painful memory—and a secret she intended to keep forever: a son named Noah.Now, after losing her job and struggling under the control of her cruel family, Elena finally gets a chance to rebuild her life. But everything changes when she walks into a job interview and comes face-to-face with the man from that unforgettable night.Lorenzo De Luca is no ordinary man. He is a billionaire businessman, the ruthless head of the city's most feared mafia empire—and he has just discovered that Elena's three-year-old son is his.Lorenzo wants his son. Elena refuses to give him up.When danger begins closing in on Noah, Lorenzo offers Elena a deal she cannot easily refuse: marry him for one year, and he will protect her and their son.Forced into a marriage neither of them planned, Elena and Lorenzo soon discover that their attraction is harder to control than their hatred. But while they struggle with their growing feelings, dark secrets from both their families begin to surface.Their one-night mistake was never as simple as they believed.And someone has been waiting three years for their secret to come back and destroy them both.

Six years ago, I was branded a traitor and left to freeze in the wasteland by the man who was supposed to be my fated mate: Malakor Vane, the feared, unyielding Monarch of the Shadow-Spire Pack. I survived the cold, but the betrayal left permanent scars—and forced me into hiding with the secret heir born in the dark.Now, Malakor’s cursed bloodline is devouring him from the inside out. Without his true mate’s bond, the crimson madness is tearing his mind apart and threatening to burn his empire to ash. Desperate to survive, he strikes a dark covenant with a veiled, mysterious apothecary who appears at his fortress gates. I promise him the cure to his frenzy; he promises me absolute authority within his domain.He has no idea that the woman standing in his hall—the woman he just bound to his side through a blood-pact sealed in fire—is the very mate he condemned to death. I entered his lair for one reason only: to dismantle his reign piece by piece and take everything he holds dear.But control is an illusion when dealing with a monster.When a sudden surge of his wolf’s madness drives Malakor to slam me against the obsidian pillars of his throne room, his fingers crush my jaw, his golden eyes blazing with crimson fury as he traps me beneath his weight."I know that scent," he growls, his voice a dangerous rumble that vibrates straight through my ribs while his wolf claws wildly at his chest. "Who are you?"I force a slow, lethal smile, letting my veil slip from my face as I slide a concealed silver dagger against his beating heart."Your cure, Your Majesty... or your executioner."