After betraying the covert Agency that made her, fugitive operative Grace Sumer is hunted across Europe, until the football star she loves finds her, drawing them into a deadly conspiracy that threatens not only their lives, but the future they are desperate to build together. ◈ ◈ ◈ Grace Sumer is on the run from the Agency that raised her to be a weapon, moving across borders to stay out of reach. Hermes Mansi is not a man who gives up. Using every resource at his disposal, he launches a relentless search for the woman he loves, the one who walked away to protect him and his six-year-old son, Drax. Grace has taken refuge in Naples with a powerful Italian mafia family, trying to stay hidden as new dangers close in. When Hermes finally finds her at an elite event in Rome, their reunion sparks more than old feelings. It pulls them into a deadly investigation that exposes corruption at the highest levels of the Agency. With enemies closing in and allies shifting across borders, Grace and Hermes are forced into a race for the truth. But for Hermes, this has never been just about survival. He wants more than to save her. He wants a life with her. And he will chase her across the world until she believes she deserves it. ◈ ◈ ◈ Book two in the Grace Sumer series, sequel to "The Nanny Protocol."

A covert government operative sent to surveil a famous footballer accidentally becomes the nanny to his six-year-old son, forcing her to choose between completing the mission that could destroy him or protecting the unexpected family she has begun to love. ◈ ◈ ◈ Grace Anna Sumer has always craved freedom. That hunger is what led her into the shadows, working as a covert field operative for a little-known government agency. Officially, she gathers intelligence. Unofficially, she removes problems. Pulled from a coveted assignment in the Congo, Grace is reassigned to Paris to surveil the family of Hermes Mansi, an international football (soccer) star whose career is tightly controlled by a powerful and corrupt league that profits from obedience. Grace is told to watch him. To observe. To wait. What she does not expect is a twist of fate that places her inside his home, hired accidentally as the nanny to his six-year-old son, Drax. Under the safest cover imaginable, Grace enters Hermes' life with one objective, gather evidence and prepare for a quiet takedown. But the longer she stays, the harder it becomes to remember where the mission ends and her feelings begin. As secrets unravel and loyalties fracture, Grace must choose between completing her assignment or protecting the fragile and unexpected family she has found. ◈ ◈ ◈ This novella was written for the Open Novella Contest 2026, based on Prompt #33: "It doesn't take long before everything in your life spins out of control. One moment you're a secret assassin, and the next you've somehow been hired as a nanny and you're not entirely sure how it happened."

When Ashley Jones learns that her ex-boyfriend is dating her ex-best friend, her hopes for a fresh start in college come crashing down. The payback? Making a fake dating deal with the beloved defenseman of Wellsfield Eagles, Kris Argent, to get revenge. Standalone in the Wellsfield University Series *** Ashley Jones is eager to put the past behind and start afresh at Wellsfield University. However, when she sees her ex-boyfriend kissing her ex-best-friend at a party, her hopes are dampened. Betrayed, hurt, and cornered by the two worst people from her past life, she strikes a fake dating deal with Kris Argent, Wellsfield Eagles' beloved defenseman, to keep up appearances and get revenge. After all, Kris has his own difficult ex and prying hockey teammates he's trying to get away from. But as Kris and Ashley spend more time together, fake starts to feel a little too real and emotions run high. Soon, Ashley faces a bigger dilemma than before. Can she get her happily ever after with Kris, who has given up on love? Or will she be heartbroken all over again?

When Evelyn and her long-term enemy, star hockey captain Atlas, are forced to work together on a university media project, sparks fly as resisting their attraction becomes a far bigger challenge than their opposing opinions. Standalone in the Wellsfield University Series ***** Evelyn Hayes has hated Atlas Griffin, the golden boy of their university hockey team, since their very first conversation three years ago. To Evelyn, he's the womanizing, arrogant epitome of rich privilege and everything she despises. So when a university-funded media project for the hockey team throws her into Atlas' orbit, she fully expects them to be at each other's throats. What she doesn't expect is for the snarky comments and daring glares to turn into sparks of undeniable attraction. With Atlas' sights set on the NHL and Evelyn desperate to keep the media lead position she's worked so hard for, neither is interested in anything complicated. Soon, a heated one-night stand leads to an enemies-with-benefits hookup pact. But is either ready to face the consequences when the lines blur and strings start to get attached?

So... Riven kidnapped the magnanimous King of the Aer Folk because a magical book containing the soul of his deceased sister told him to, but that does not make him crazy, not at all. After all he only wants to revive his sister, since her death is (sort-of) his fault. Where does Vlad land in all of this, you ask? Well he is that poor, kidnapped King who is now curse-bound to a freaking lunatic. But our wonderful King Valadrius is not sad, not at all. And he is definitely not falling in love with his kidnapper, or kissing him, no matter what the curse tells him to do. --Temporary Cover-- An extended first draft of the long-listed 2026 ONC novella 'Vlad is Not Sad' Rated MATURE due to depictions of violence, strong language, diverse sexuality (BL), and/or other mature themes. 17+ Genre: Fantasy-Romance Copyright © Since 2026 short_flame

Day or night... rain or shine... Dee and Katie never stop bickering. The siblings get along about as well as oil and water do. It's no wonder. The brother is a Millennial with a go-with-the-flow attitude toward life, while the sister is Gen Z with a ten-year life plan and a backup plan just in case. To make things worse, they spontaneously swap bodies. Sometimes he's her. Sometimes she's him. What chaos! "𝘐 𝘈𝘮 𝘔𝘺 𝘚𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘔𝘺 𝘚𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐𝘴 𝘔𝘦 / 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘔𝘺 𝘒𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘥, 𝘔𝘺 𝘒𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘥 𝘐𝘴 𝘔𝘦" 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨-𝘰𝘧-𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢, 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘺, 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱, 𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴, 𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳! Available in two editions: 𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙑𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 "I Am My Sibling, My Sibling Is Me" - written in English with a few chosen Tagalog words 𝙁𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙤 𝙑𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 "I Am My Kapatid, My Kapatid Is Me" - written in Taglish (Tagalog & English) Feel free to choose whichever version you'd like to read! [Ranked 3 in #sunandmoon (6/30-7/14)] [Ranked 3 in #bodyswap (6/30-9/1)] [Ranked 8 in #siblingrivalry (7/5-7/6)]

Playboy billionaire Aiden Grayson is being blackmailed and when he meets his handsome new bodyguard, Julian, he's slowly overcome by feelings he can't deny. ***** Aiden Grayson is a child of privilege. He's a bachelor and a billionaire who's never had to work for anything. However, he's left a trail of destruction in his wake and someone from the past is coming back to haunt him. He's being blackmailed, and soon he's assigned a new bodyguard: the handsome, Julian McAndrew. At first, the two men are opposites, forced to work together, but after a drunken kiss, Aiden can't deny his feelings. He throws himself into his vices, trying to sort himself out, while Julian continues to keep him safe. With a blackmailer one step ahead, can Julian protect Aiden from danger? Or more importantly, can Julian protect Aiden from himself? [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]

Time heals all wounds. When you have the power to rewind it, you begin to wonder whether it's too much responsibility for one person to hold. ***** Sometimes, walking away is the scariest, yet the bravest thing one can do. Iris Fox would know; after returning to the coastal town of Emelle Bay, Oregon, and finding her life in shambles, it's hard to ignore the voice in the back of her head that beckons her to stay. Days turn into weeks, which turn into months, and Iris finds herself drawn to the heartbreaking reminders of how it all went wrong. Echoes of unfinished business and painful memories wash up, awakening the dormant power to rewind time, and Iris realizes she has a choice to make--she can either use her power to try and fix what has been stolen from her, rewriting her past, present, and future, or she can tuck the past where it belongs. Either way, there's only one conclusion. All actions have consequences. ***** Open Novella Contest -- prompts 24, 33, & 54 [[WATTPAD FEATURED STORY X2]] [[OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2024 ROUND 1 AMBASSADORS' PICK, LONGLISTER & SHORTLISTER]] [[THE AMBYS 2025 AMBASSADOR'S PICK IN CONTEMPORARY NOVELLA]] © 2024 caterina george // all rights reserved

A group of urban explorers go out for one last expedition in their small Appalachian town--their destination; a mysterious red manor tucked away deep in the mountains. What starts as the perfect find, soon turns into a nightmare, however, as visiting the house roused something ancient, binding all involved to a terrible, unknown curse. Now fighting for their lives, the group of five must bide their time while attempting to unravel the mystery and free themselves; a hard burden to bear when they're also the only ones stopping the horrors of the manor from bleeding beyond its crimson walls.

Men are dying one by one; their bodies drained of blood under mysterious circumstances. No one knows how, when, or why it starts-but the symptoms are always the same: weakness, fear, and then silence. Why are only men affected? Is it a strange disease? A curse? Or something even more sinister? And why are the newlyweds the first to fall? As the village descends into terror, the answers lie buried beneath centuries of secrets. But once unearthed, can they ever be forgotten?