Perched between branches and shadows, we watch, we scheme, fighting for a kingdom forgotten and forlorn. Until we rip her away with our claws, our prisoner, our pawn, our plaything. She’s innocent and pure, fragile and helpless…but oh so guilty by blood. She calls us beasts, wicked and evil, vicious and cruel. We are all that and worse. One of us offers her shelter beneath his wings, whispering promises of pleasure, seeking redemption. The other longs to shatter her into a million pieces, whispering promises of pain, seeking revenge.

The Omega War made every omega the property of the government. Now, my body doesn't belong to me. I need permission to eat, to sleep, to breathe. The only thing I have left is my heart, but when the winter pack save me from a dangerous situation, they might take that from me too. For Harper, joining the winter pack is a risk, one she doesn’t have a choice in. Being owned by an alpha pack means following the omega creed, a set of laws to prevent omegas from having any influence.

When Nikolai Romanov came looking for my brother, I emptied my savings hoping I could pay off his debt. But I didn't have even close to enough, so the bastard decided to take me instead. I didn't expect a Russian mafia boss like him to be gentle with me...and he wasn't. Not when he spanked me for daring to wear panties under the dress he chose for me, and certainly not when he stripped me out of that same dress and made me scream in his bed.

My dad is in big trouble. He owes money to the most powerful man on the East Coast, and he can't pay. When I approach Mr. Connolly and try to take over the loan, he has a different idea. He's willing to wipe off the debt if I submit to him. I have to do what he commands, when he commands it. I think this over-the-top alpha male is a little obsessed with me. Good thing I love every second of it...

Maximo Giovanni Santaro is a king. A real king, like in the old days. The kind I didn’t know still existed. The kind who commands obedience and punishes any hint of defiance from his subjects. His Majesty doesn’t take no for an answer, and refusing his royal command has earned me not just a spanking that will leave me sobbing, but a lesson so utterly shameful, that it will serve as an example for anyone else who might dare to disobey him.