‎Eleanor Vance needs money. Julian Thorne needs a wife. ‎ ‎A one-year marriage contract seems like the perfect solution. ‎ ‎For Eleanor, marrying the billionaire means saving her family home from financial ruin. For Julian, having a beautiful, respectable wife will strengthen his position with the powerful business partners he needs. The rules are simple: perform the perfect marriage in public, keep their private lives separate, and never fall in love. ‎ ‎Then Eleanor escapes to a quiet coastal town for one weekend—and meets Liam. ‎ ‎He knows nothing about her contract marriage. She knows nothing about how deeply their brief encounter will change her life. For the first time, Eleanor feels completely free, completely wanted, and completely herself. ‎ ‎Until she discovers she is pregnant. ‎ ‎The father isn't Julian. ‎ ‎Terrified that the truth will destroy her home, her future, and the billionaire's carefully controlled reputation, Eleanor tells Julian the baby is his. ‎ ‎He knows she's lying. ‎ ‎He knows they have never slept together. ‎ ‎But instead of exposing her, Julian makes an unexpected decision: he will claim the baby as his own. ‎ ‎What begins as another calculated move soon becomes something neither of them expected. Julian starts preparing for fatherhood. Eleanor begins seeing the vulnerable man behind his cold exterior. And somewhere between doctor's appointments, sleepless nights, public appearances, and a secret they cannot afford to reveal, their fake marriage begins to feel dangerously real. ‎ ‎Then Liam comes back. ‎ ‎And he knows the truth. ‎ ‎Now Eleanor must face the consequences of the lie she created to protect her future, Julian must decide whether he can forgive the woman who deceived him, and Liam must decide what kind of father he wants to be. ‎ ‎Because the biggest question is no longer who the baby's biological father is. ‎ ‎It's whether a marriage that began as a lie can become a real love story once the truth finally comes out. ‎

Seven years ago, Alpha Darius Black rejected his mate and banished her from Blackthorn after accusing her of betraying his pack. Aria Moon disappeared that night. Everyone believed she died. They were wrong. Seven years later, Aria returns to Blackthorn with a powerful rogue army behind her, no longer the vulnerable woman Darius remembers. She has one purpose: to uncover the truth behind the betrayal that destroyed her life and make the man who rejected her regret every choice he made. But Aria has brought something Darius never knew existed. A seven-year-old boy with silver-gray eyes. His eyes. When Darius discovers that Kael is his son, the life he built begins to collapse. Before he can demand answers, masked hunters attack Blackthorn, revealing that Kael is being hunted for something far more dangerous than his father's blood. He is the descendant of the lost Valerius royal family. And Aria is the last daughter of that bloodline. Beneath Blackthorn lies an ancient sanctuary containing the Northern Crown, a relic tied to a power that can only be awakened by royal blood. As enemies close in, Aria's supposedly dead mother returns, a forgotten prince emerges from the shadows, and a former royal commander claims the throne was stolen from him. Then Aria discovers the truth that hurts more than Darius's rejection. The destruction of her family was not caused by an enemy from outside. It was betrayal from someone she once trusted. Now Aria must decide whether she will allow revenge to consume everything she has built—or become the queen her enemies spent years trying to destroy. And Darius must face the hardest battle of his life. Not winning back his mate. Earning the right to stand beside her again.