Five years ago, Elena ran from her own wedding rather than marry the man her family had chosen for her, leaving her pack behind and swearing she would never return to that life.She kept that promise until a routine emergency call ended with her being kidnapped by armed werewolves and taken to Blackridge Heights, where she found herself standing before Kael Blackthorn, the ruthless Alpha who ruled the city’s most feared criminal organization.Elena expected threats, perhaps even death, but she never expected Kael to look at her as though he had finally found the one person he had been searching for.Then his wolf spoke inside his head.Mine.Kael had never believed in fated mates, and Elena had never even awakened her wolf. Yet from the moment they met, neither of them could walk away from the bond pulling them together.And when the secrets Elena left behind five years ago begin to surface, she will have to decide whether Kael is the danger she should escape from—or the only man capable of protecting her from the life she thought she had left behind.

Vivian Moretti was born to be a mafia princess, but on her twenty-first birthday, she knows her freedom is running out. Promised in marriage to Matteo De Luca, the ruthless future Don of one of New York’s most powerful crime families, she refuses to spend her life trapped with a man rumored to be a merciless killer. With no other way out, Vivian secretly sells her virginity to the highest bidder, determined to destroy the marriage agreement before her father can force her down the aisle. Her plan works, but the price is devastating. Her father disowns her, strips her of her privileges, and casts her out of the only home she has ever known.Six years later, Vivian has rebuilt her life from nothing. Working as an IT specialist for a security company recently acquired by the De Luca family, she keeps her head down and her past buried. But she has one secret she will do anything to protect: her five-year-old son, whose striking resemblance to the man who bought her virginity is becoming impossible to ignore.Matteo De Luca has never forgotten the mysterious woman who disappeared after one unforgettable night of passion. He has spent years searching for her, never imagining that the woman he finds working in his newly acquired company is the same woman his family once intended him to marry. When he uncovers the truth about Vivian’s identity and discovers the little boy who looks just like him, Matteo realizes the woman who vanished from his life left with more than the money he paid her. She left with his heir.But their reunion threatens to ignite a war between powerful mafia families. When the Morettis discover the alliance they abandoned could have secured their place at the top of New York’s criminal underworld, they begin maneuvering to reclaim what they believe belongs to them. With enemies closing in and danger threatening their son, Vivian and Matteo must decide whether their bitter past will destroy them or force them to stand together.As old wounds reopen and their buried passion resurfaces, the ruthless Don and the woman who once defied him must fight to protect their child, outmaneuver their enemies, and build a family on their own terms. In a world where loyalty is bought with blood and betrayal can cost everything, their greatest battle may be learning to trust the one person neither of them has ever truly forgotten.