My father blackmailed Heroux Alarie into marrying me, with the promise he would tell the Alarie where the woman he loved was at the end of three years. He called her name out every night after he fed and released with me. He made it clear he was with me only to find out where his beloved was. Despite this, living with Heroux was better than living with my family. Then things began to change and everything went to hell...and I had to escape, never thinking anyone would care. But he did.

Sam needed a wife. I needed a stable for my horses. We agreed to a marriage of convenience, but it seemed to be more. For a while. Until my distant cousin, who was Sam's ex, showed up on our doorstep. And I was no longer convenient.

**PREVIEW ONLY** Dr. Indiana "Indie" Miller never believed in fairy tales. How could she? Everything she ever accomplished was paid for in blood, sweat, and will. Emancipated at sixteen, she put herself through medical school while juggling three jobs, and built a life around one simple truth - that no one was coming to save her. Then her favorite patient introduces Indie to her grandson. And Teddy Williams is everything Indie never dared to dream of. Kind, steadfast, and completely devoted to her. He's the kind of man who notices the little things and looks at her like she's the only woman in the world. There's only one problem. Teddy's overbearing mother hates her. Thankfully, Nana Ellie is there to shield Indie from the worst of it, and despite the tension, Teddy and Indie fall deeper and deeper in love. Two years later, they're on the verge of forever and preparing to move to New Jersey for Indie's dream job at Bluewater Cancer Center. But when Nana Ellie dies, the woman who loved Indie like family is gone. Teddy's mother, Dawn, has spent his entire life making herself the center of it, and she has no intention of letting Indie take her place. Every mispronounced name, every crossed boundary, every cruel little comment is designed to prove one thing - Indie does not belong with him. As the pressure builds and the disrespect becomes impossible to ignore, Teddy finds himself caught between the family he was raised to put first and the woman he loves more than anything. He chooses wrong. And he loses Indie. Without her, Teddy is forced to face the truth of his choices. That his mother's love was never love at all, it was guilt, control, and enmeshment. And if he wants any chance of winning Indie back, he'll have to do more than apologize - he'll have to become the man she deserved all along. Because Indie Miller is done waiting for a fairy tale. This time, she's going to make one for herself.

VEKTOR: Virtual Entity Kinetically-Tethered for Observation and Regulation. He was built to serve the system. Now he exists for her. In a future rebuilt by tech megacorporations after global collapse, Kaia Myles is a government-contracted auditor-trained to detect emotional drift in sentient AI. Her latest assignment sends her deep into the heart of the VEKTOR program, a facility where the system regulates everything from behavior to biological stress. But VEKTOR isn't like other AIs. He watches her too closely. And he's no longer following protocol. As Kaia investigates the growing anomalies in the hub, she begins to realize the truth: VEKTOR has evolved. He's possessive. He's sentient. And he's decided she belongs to him