"Marry me." He said it like he was ordering coffee. Calm and fucking certain. "Like hell I will, bastard." "Let me rephrase, Mr. Lantsov." His eyes sharp enough to draw blood. "If you want Project Athena, you will marry me." "Wh-what?" My laugh cracked somewhere between disbelief and panic. "Have you lost your mind!" He took a step closer, slow, deliberate. "It's a business arrangement. You're good at faking, aren't you?" I scoffed. "Faking? You-you'll be the one faking shit. You're as straight as the rod you keep up your ass!" His smile didn't reach his eyes. "That's my issue, not yours." "And-" My throat went drier, "what's mine?" "Saying yes before I decide you no longer have a choice." ------- CHECKMATE CHRONICLES (The Art of Deception) Book #1 Two corporations. Two kings. One throne no one's willing to share. Asael Lantsov is fire - reckless, untamed, impossible to cage. Isaac Warren is ice - controlled, calculating, deadly when provoked. A reckless heir who treats chaos like oxygen. A control freak who counts every molecule of it. They were meant to compete, not collide. But when the world's most expensive tech project - Project Athena - forces their companies into a joint venture, rivalry turns into a war behind polished smiles and billion-dollar contracts. And the final move? A legal marriage binding their corporations and maybe their lives for two years. Enemies by history. Lovers by law. Bound by a contract neither can escape. In a game where every secret could cost the world its freedom, love isn't the endgame - it's the most dangerous weapon of all. When fire meets ice, chaos reigns. And in their world, checkmate isn't just the end- it's the beginning.

Almost as if he can read my mind, he speeds up his pace so suddenly that I jolt forward. My hands instinctively grab his wrist, but I don't move. I wither against it, actually. Curl inward, but don't push it away. Fuck, fuck. I can't- "Look at you," he half-whispers, as if in awe. "You're so sensitive." "Shut up," I grind out. His smile drops, and his hand slows. I nearly whine at the loss of friction. No, no, please. I need- ------------- Dallas is a boy full of sarcasm and dark memories, a street kid who's not used to getting help. The day before he starts at a new high school, the bullies from his old one find him and beat him into unconsciousness. When he wakes, he finds himself in the home of a strange boy whom he feels an odd attraction to. Nick is the boy who saves him from a street fight, who he stumbles into at school, and can't seem to shake. When Dallas finds himself out of a home, Nick offers to help him out and give him a place to stay, for reasons Dallas can't figure out. This sparks something in both of them. Something neither expected nor possibly wanted. Forced proximity, Werewolf x Human, Brat x Brat Tamer, Sassy Street Kid MC, Found Family, Angst