Carnival Stalker

In the once-quiet town of Willow Creek, my life was a steady beat, a rhythmic routine, until the carnival stormed in, a whirlwind of chaos and danger. Under the neon lights and haunting melodies, Cade's eyes found mine—piercing, intense, sending shivers through my soul. He was a dark storm, a looming shadow over my every move. Cade's obsession was relentless, his desire a madness that knew no bounds. Like a predator, he stalked me, every step a calculated move in his sinister dance.

I signed away my freedom for seventy-two hours, agreeing to be hunted through a maze by fifteen masked men. The Hallow's Hunt—the Blackwood brothers' most closely guarded secret. As an investigative journalist, I thought this was my chance to expose their criminal empire. I never expected Xavier Blackwood to know exactly who I was from the start.

Thrown in a cage and stripped of my dignity, I was auctioned to the highest bidder, but I never imagined that I'd end my night in the home of Killian DeLorenzo—head of the Romanian Mafia and the most powerful man in the country.

I think I hate my husband, but I’m trying very hard not to. He leaves me for hours, days on end. His friends don’t know I exist, and even after three years of marriage, we’ve still never been intimate… Does he keep me close just so he can hurt me? So he can show me he owns me like my father used to? When I take him to therapy I expect it to help, even if I forced him into it, but that’s the true beginning of our end. My therapist makes me feel things my husband never has, watches me, thinks about me, worries for me, his blue eyes following wherever I go.

The night my sister died, a piece of me died with her. So I made a vow to enroll at Spine Ridge University just like her, find the person responsible… and make them pay. Until I meet three sick boys of the Skull & Serpent Society: Felix, Dylan, Alistair. Rude, heartless, vicious guys who are obsessed with making me regret I ever stepped foot on campus. They make me a deal: My body in exchange for a glimpse at their violence.

The yearning for our passions is the reason we breathe. I've devoted my life to my pursuit of ballet, my escape from the dark underworld I was born into. As the daughter of a made man, I've accepted certain traditions, but after I'm promoted to principal within a prestigious dance company, I'm so close to escaping that world. Until a devil with blood on his hands and an Irish curse inked into his skin tears into my world.

Murderer. Unhinged. Remorseless. Insane. I’ve been called it all while rotting away in a maximum security psych ward, imprisoned for my crimes. When I’m given a chance to escape this hell, it’s an offer I can’t refuse. I’m transferred to Blackwood Institute, purgatory for the dangerous and disturbed. The deal is simple. Complete the three-year experimental program and you’re free to leave. I have no such intentions. People like me; we’re born to die. There’s no life for me out there. I’ll do whatever it takes to end my pitiful existence.

The last time I spoke was eight years ago when my best friend tried to kill me. I never dreamed my silence would break with a scream. Being sent to Chapel Crest after my new stepfather deemed me a heathen seemed like a blessing compared to staying with him and my mom. I was a mute demon in his eyes, and when the rod didn’t beat the evil out of me, he prayed Chapel Crest could. I envisioned the religious academy would become my sanctuary. I was wrong. So very wrong. Chapel Crest was an asylum moonlighting as a religious school.

One minute I’m cleaning toilets for minimum wage. The next, I’m waking up from a drug-induced nap with a monster staring down at me. Kidnapped and seconds from death, I think I’m done for. Until masked men burst in, murder my attacker, and turn my world upside down. They call themselves Murder Squad. A secret brotherhood of broken men who only kill the worst of the worst. And one of them thinks I’m his wife.

In the dark underbelly of the mob, Tristan Caine has been an anomaly. As the only non-blooded member in the high circle of the Tenebrae Outfit, he is an enigma to all. His skills are unparalleled, his morality is questionable, and his motives are unknown. He is lethal and he knows it. As does Morana Vitalio, the genius extraordinaire daughter of the rival family. What Caine does with weapons, Morana does with computers. When a twenty-year-old mystery resurfaces, Morana infiltrates Caine's house, intent on killing him, unaware of a tie that binds them together.

The first year of college is supposed to be the best time of your life, right? Partying, discovering yourself, getting your heart broken… all that bullcrap. My cousin once told me I had a talent for attracting trouble. And screw me sideways, he was right. Instead of discovering myself, I discovered something much worse. I suck at college. Oh, and I am in love with my rival and former best friend’s boyfriend. I wish I could say that’s the extent of it. But drama and trouble find me everywhere I go. Not only was he my rival and enemy’s boyfriend. He was my stepbrother.

I loathe Alastor Shaw. The city of San Francisco thinks we’re rival artists. In truth, we’re predators battling for hunting ground. We never chased the same prey. Until the night we both laid eyes on Mara Eldritch. Shaw wants to use her as a pawn in his twisted game. I’m fixated on her for a different reason.

Maddox, a tattooed giant of a man, a fugitive turned recluse, has been living in the shadows. But his obsession ignites when he sees a photo of me online after booking his cabin, the golden girl with a silver spoon. He’s dangerous and unstable, and yet I’m drawn to him. The rugged man in front of me is nothing like the polished lawyers and businessmen I’m used to. Maddox is raw and real. In the isolated cabin, the icy Alaskan wilderness becomes our playground. Maddox, the man obsessed with masks, pulls me into his twisted game of obsession and desire.

I hated the gangs that ruled my city. After my friend was killed and my father vanished, I had no choice but to infiltrate one to figure out why. Entering their infamous club quickly showed me I was in over my head. Then the most feared gang leader took an interest in me. Arran was corrupt, deadly, and his searing gaze both terrified and tempted me. In my search for answers, I stumbled into his dark and dangerous game. The result? I belonged to him, with no chance of escape. In a heartbeat, I became Arran’s obsession. And in a terrible twist, I think he’s becoming mine.

I always thought I’d start the apocalypse. Instead I’ve been asked to help end it. How does one stop the end of the world, you might ask? You gotta knock up Lucifer’s vessel before he does. I know, I know. I was surprised too. But let me tell you, if ever there was an incubus made for the job, it’s me. With a name like Sin, you’d think this should have been the easiest task I’d ever been assigned. And you’d be correct. Except said vessel is a beautiful and dangerously powerful succubus in her own right. Oh, and she’s not interested.