Ava Reed

Aurora Crestwood has been in love with her best friend Liam for ten years. Ten years of being his shoulder to cry on, his late-night phone call, his emotional support through every breakup. Ten years of watching him chase the same toxic woman who keeps breaking his heart.

When Selena Beaumont announces her engagement to someone else, Aurora thinks she's finally free. But Liam has other plans. He wants to crash the wedding, make one last desperate play for the woman who's never truly wanted him. And he wants Aurora to help him do it.

Against her better judgment, she agrees. What she doesn't expect is to meet Kian Vance.

Liam's estranged brother is everything Liam isn't—dangerous, direct, and completely uninterested in playing games. He's also friends with the groom, which makes him the biggest threat to their sabotage plan. But when Kian looks at Aurora, he doesn't see Liam's reliable best friend. He sees a woman who's been hiding her true self for far too long.

"I'm going to steal her from you," Kian tells his brother with cold certainty.

When Kian proposes a wager—if the wedding falls apart, Aurora belongs to him—she should walk away. She should focus on helping Liam win the woman he's obsessed with. She should stick to being the good girl she's always been.

Instead, she shakes hands with the devil himself.

Now Aurora is caught between two brothers, a wedding that might not happen, and a dangerous man who sees right through her carefully constructed walls. Kian promises to show her what it means to be truly wanted, but his interest comes with a price.

As the wedding weekend spirals toward chaos, Aurora must decide: will she keep playing it safe, or will she finally embrace the fire she's been hiding?


Claimed By The Wrong Brother

"What are you doing in here?" I back away until I hit the cold tile wall. "This is the women's restroom."


Kian advances toward me, his movements predatory. "I own this building. These rules don't apply to me."


My heart hammers against my ribs. The bathroom suddenly feels too small, the air too thick.


"You can't just lock us in here." My voice comes out weaker than I intended.


"I just did." He stops a foot away from me, close enough that I can smell his cologne—something expensive and dark that makes my head spin. "No one will interrupt us."


"Liam is waiting for me." I try to sound firm, but my voice trembles.


"Is he?" Kian's mouth curves into a cruel smile. "He seemed pretty distracted by Jasmine. I doubt he's even noticed you're gone."


The truth in his words stings. "What do you want?"


"What I want..." He places one hand on the wall beside my head, caging me in. "Is for you to stop pretending."


"Pretending what?" I whisper, pressing my back harder against the wall.


A Savage Claim in the Shadows