Homecoming (A Chloe Fine Psychological Suspense Mystery—Book 5)
Blake Pierce · Completed · 62.9k Words
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Introduction
Chapter 1
PROLOGUE
Sherry Luntz wasn’t much for sentiment, but she was one for celebration. It was why she was slightly breaking the speed limit on her way home from work. She had two steaks in one bag in the passenger seat and a bottle of red wine in another. Tonight was her anniversary; she’d been married to Bo Luntz for twenty-one years now and this was the first anniversary they’d be sharing without their son in the house. She’d hoped not having Luke live with them any longer would have spiced things up in their marriage, but it had not. If anything, it seemed to have drawn a wedge between her and Bo.
It had been two weeks since they’d last slept together, and that had been a very quick non-event in the morning before work. But dammit…it was her anniversary and she was going to get some tonight. If he didn’t come for her, she had ordered an especially slutty little thing online last week that she was going to use to essentially attack him.
She arrived home at 5:25, about five minutes earlier than she usually arrived home from work. Bo’s truck was in the driveway, which meant he was already home, too. This was nothing new, as he usually arrived home before she did.
As she parked the car and got out, it occurred to her that Bo might not even realize today was their anniversary. He was pretty good with remembering special dates, but he’d seemed off lately. Ever since Luke had left for college, Bo seemed distant and simply not himself.
Still…if he somehow forgot that this was their anniversary, she was going to be pissed. But because she also wanted to jump his bones quite badly, she figured she could wait until tomorrow to be mad.
She went inside and found the house quiet. Entering the conjoined living room and kitchen area, she saw that Bo was not there. This was odd because almost every afternoon, he was either at the kitchen table answering last-minute emails from work, or sitting on the couch catching up on the day’s news.
She was confused at first but then a smile touched her lips. Perhaps he not only knew it was their anniversary but was just as excited as she was about it. She set the steaks and wine on the kitchen counter and slowly made her way up the staircase that was situated between the living room and kitchen. She knew Bo was not the type of man to use rose petals or soft music to seduce her. Neither of them were particularly romantic.
And Sherry was fine with that. Honestly, she’d be just as happy if he jumped out at her from behind the bedroom door and took her right then and there against the wall. The mere thought of this got her excited, causing her to speed up as she neared the top of the stairs.
“Bo?” she asked, putting a bit of playfulness into her voice.
She passed the bathroom and came to their bedroom door. It was closed and she tried to remember if she had closed it upon leaving that morning. Too excited to even think about it clearly, she opened the door, fully expecting to have him grab her or, if she was really lucky, for him to be spread out on the bed naked and waiting.
She got neither of those things. She frowned and turned back to the hallway.
Where the hell is he?
It then dawned on her that she had texted him to let him know she was bringing steaks home. She’d almost ended the text with
“for our anniversary”
but had decided against it, hoping he remembered on his own. Given that he knew she was bringing steaks, he was probably out on the patio, firing up the grill.
A little let down by not getting a surprise in the bedroom, Sherry walked back downstairs. She nearly went ahead and started getting together the spices and seasoning for the steaks but decided she’d rather see Bo first. Maybe she’d give him a juicy kiss to plant the seeds for what she expected later in the night.
She opened the patio door and stepped outside. She was closing the door behind her when she saw Bo. And at first, it made no sense.
He was lying on the patio, facing the door. His eyes were wide and unblinking and there was something dark sticking out of his mouth—something soft and round. She tried to make sense of what was in his mouth but that’s when she realized that there was a pool of blood around his head. It was a very dark shade of red and it was still wet.
“Bo…?”
Of course, Bo did not respond.
Sherry felt a scream crawling up out of her throat. When it finally came out, she realized that she could smell lighter fluid and warming charcoal. Bo
had
come out to start the grill. Suddenly, the smell of the charcoal was the only thing she was aware of as she fell to her knees, screaming in agonized wails next to her dead husband.
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GO ON YOUR KNEES, ALPHA.
He was wrong.
Six years ago, Pete Leadsilver had everything an Alpha could want. Power, a respected pack and a future already written for him.
Then he met me.
What began as a game became a mistake I would spend years trying to survive. When I told him I was carrying his child, Pete chose not to believe me. He rejected me, humiliated me, and allowed the people around him to make sure I understood that there was no place for me in his world.
So I disappeared.
I took the secret of my pregnancy with me and built a life far away from the Alpha who had broken me.
Six years later, Pete finds me again. Only this time, he isn't the man with all the power. His pack is dying, his people are running out of time, and I may be the only person capable of saving them.
But I'm no longer the woman Pete remembers. And beside me is a little boy who carries far too much of Pete's face to be a coincidence.
Our reunion should have been about a cure, but instead, it becomes the beginning of a war neither of us saw coming.
Because Pete's greatest danger isn't outside his pack.
It's inside his own family.
Old resentment turns into manipulation. Loyalty becomes betrayal. And the people Pete trusts begin hiding secrets that threaten to destroy everything he's built.
Then someone comes for the people I love.
Suddenly, this is no longer about whether Pete can earn my forgiveness.
It's about whether he can keep me alive.
Whether he can protect the son he never knew existed.
Whether he can uncover the truth before the people closest to him destroy everything he has finally learned to value.
Along the way, we'll lose people we thought would always stand beside us, I'll be forced to confront wounds I've spent six years trying to bury, and the family we're slowly building will be tested in ways neither of us could have imagined.
Because sometimes love isn't the hardest thing to find. Sometimes it's the hardest thing to survive.
Pete once believed power meant never needing anyone and I once believed surviving him meant leaving him behind.
We were both wrong.
Because some bonds refuse to die, some betrayals cut deeper than rejection and some people don't come back into your life to give you a second chance.
They come back to show you exactly what you almost lost.
Pete Leadsilver lost me once.
This time, he'll have to fight to keep the family he never knew he needed.
Ex-Wife, Current Wife
For three years, she lived in the shadow of a loveless marriage. She was the woman everyone loved to hate, the one who supposedly "stole" him from his first love. She endured his cold indifference, raised their son—who struggles with a speech impediment—in silence, and traded her own brilliant career for the thankless role of a trophy wife.
But when his long-lost love returns, she is unceremoniously pushed aside to make room for the "real" family.
Enough was enough.
After he publicly humiliates her and chooses the mistress’s daughter over his own son during a birthday party, something inside her finally snaps. She doesn't just want out of the marriage; she wants her life back. With a secret talent for design and a newfound resolve, she walks away from the gilded cage of his estate.
But as she rises from the ashes of her failed marriage to reclaim her status as a top-tier designer, he realizes the woman he treated as a disposable pawn was the only one who truly held his world together.
Now, the woman who once begged for his attention is no longer looking back. Will he be able to earn her forgiveness, or is he finally too late?
Omega Bound
Thane Knight is the alpha of the Midnight Pack of the La Plata Mountain Range, the largest wolf shifter pack in the world. He is an alpha by day and hunts the shifter trafficking ring with his group of mercenaries by night. His hunt for vengeance leads to one raid that changes his life.
Tropes:
Touch her and die/Slow burn romance/Fated Mates/Found family twist/Close circle betrayal/Cinnamon roll for only her/Traumatized heroine/Rare wolf/Hidden powers/Knotting/Nesting/Heats/Luna/Attempted assassination
BROKEN TRUST
Neither of them knew she was carrying his child.
Emily’s affair didn’t just end her marriage—it erased the life she thought was guaranteed. Ryan left without looking back, carrying his anger like armor and leaving Emily alone with regret she would never outrun. Three years later, fate drags them back into each other’s world, along with a little girl who has Ryan’s eyes and a truth that shatters everything he thought he knew.
Old wounds reopen, grief masquerades as rage, and love refuses to stay buried. As parenthood binds them together and the past demands accountability, Emily and Ryan must face the question neither of them is ready to answer: is broken trust the end of their story… or the beginning of a love forged through loss, forgiveness, and brutal honesty?
Let Them Kneel
Cast out by her pack. Forgotten by the Lycans.
She lived among humans—quiet, invisible, tucked away in a town no one looked at twice.
But when her first heat comes without warning, everything changes.
Her body ignites. Her instincts scream. And something primal stirs beneath her skin—
summoning a big, bad Alpha who knows exactly how to quench her fire.
When he claims her, it’s ecstasy and ruin.
For the first time, she believes she’s been accepted.
Seen.
Chosen.
Until he leaves her the next morning—
like a secret never to be spoken.
But Kaelani is not what they thought.
Not wolfless. Not weak.
There is something ancient inside her. Something powerful. And it’s waking.
And when it does—
they’ll all remember the girl they tried to erase.
Especially him.
She’ll be the dream he keeps chasing… the one thing that ever made him feel alive.
Because secrets never stay buried.
And neither do dreams.
Fated to the Enemy: The Alpha's Witch Bride
My touch tames his inner beast.
… Until I find another woman’s bite mark on his neck.
As a holy witch, I shouldn't be sneaking out for Zuri—a cursed shape-shifter from a rival clan.
But our forbidden heat is intoxicating.
When his monstrous Primal breaks free, slaughtering everything in its path, even his fiercest warriors cower.
I don't.
I walk straight to the blood-soaked beast, press my body against his, and tame him with a single, desperate embrace.
There’s just one problem: his clan betrothed him to a Shaman’s daughter.
I tell myself it's purely political. I tell myself his heart is mine.
Until tonight.
He sneaks into the woods for me. We share a deep, hungry kiss under the moonlight.
But as I pull back, my blood runs cold.
Right there, on the neck of the man I just risked my soul to save...
Is a fresh, undeniable bite mark.
Where The Ice Gives Way
Blake Atlas scents his mate the moment Charlotte arrives. The bond hits hard and unmistakable, but Charlotte doesn’t recognise it. She doesn’t know why her chest keeps pulling toward the one boy she absolutely cannot afford to want. Blake is Charlie’s new hockey captain. Charlie’s chance at making something good. Charlie makes it clear; his sister is off-limits and Blake tries to do the right thing, but secrets don’t stay buried forever. Rogues prowl the edges of town. The ice cracks. The bond tightens. Then Charlotte’s rare white wolf awakens, the very thing that makes her powerful, also makes her a target.
Shanti needs Shakti. (Peace needs strength.)
Where the Ice Gives Way is a slow-burn YA paranormal romance filled with fated mates, protective alpha energy, fierce sibling loyalty, found family pack bonds, hurt/comfort, and quiet, aching tension. It’s a story about first belonging, learning to be cared for, and what happens when the girl who has always held everyone else up finally falls, and someone catches her.
The Legacy Game
When scholarship student Chris Linds stumbles onto a mystery someone has killed to protect, she becomes the next target. The only person standing between her and death is Ashen Ford, the academy's cold, untouchable Student Council President—and heir to one of Corvain's founding families.
As anonymous invitations summon twelve students into the legendary Legacy Game, alliances fracture, secrets surface, and every challenge brings another deadly truth to light. But the greatest secret isn't who will win.
It's why one winner vanished without a trace... and why someone will do anything to make sure history repeats itself.
Mission: Steal the Male Lead
But the more Morwenna changes the story, the stranger the world becomes. The heroine seems to know the future, unseen spectators begin commenting on her life, and the gods watching from above grow obsessed with the drama unfolding before them. Trapped in a story where fate has already decided the ending, Morwenna must choose whether to follow the script or rewrite it entirely. But if the world itself was never meant to belong to its characters, can she steal the male lead before fate steals her freedom first?
Everybody is Guilty Here
Middlesbrough's underworld is a dangerous game, and Matthew Smith finds himself right in the middle of it. A once-feared gang leader, he is now forced to be a pawn in a deadly cat-and-mouse game. Matthew's only shot at freedom is helping the police bring down Mr. K, the elusive mafia boss of the city. The only problem is that the detective he is forced to work with is the same man who arrested him years ago.
Masahiro Payne is everything Matthew hates: cold, calculating, and relentless. But their only hope for survival is by pretending to be a happy couple, blending in amidst dangerous crime, deceit, and power struggles. The closer they find themselves to taking down Mr. K's empire, the more they are attracted to one another, an affair too potent to turn from.
As their undercover mission spirals into a web of lies and hidden desires, they face a growing threat from all sides. But the greatest risk is the one they can't control-their own feelings. With every touch, every stolen kiss, the line between their fake relationship and real emotions blurs.
In a world of betrayal, trust is a luxury, and falling for each other may be the deadliest mistake of all. Can they survive the deadly mafia games or will their passion be their demise?
Tango 2 the Alpha's Heart
My gaze snapped to his. He was smiling, causing my heart to skip a painful beat. Before I could respond, the music began, and my body instinctively reacted to the sweet melody.
I found myself molded to Lex's will, my feet irresistibly following the dance steps.
The crowd gasped as Lex pulled me into a more intimate position, his hands roaming over my body in a seductive manner.
The experience was both terrifying and magical, allowing me to feel every longing emotion through the dance.
I soon found myself lost in his arms.
When the music finally stopped, my arms were wrapped around his neck, his hands resting on my back, our noses almost touching. He gazed deeply into my eyes.
The ballroom fell silent.
Was he about to kiss me?
Lilly’s life was never easy; she lost her memory and family in a blazing fire. Angelica found and took her in—only to make her a slave to the household.
Years of torment and abuse left Lilly weak, vulnerable, and believing she was without a wolf, but that didn't mean that all hope was lost.
At night, in her dreams, he would patiently wait for her—the man who brought sunshine into her darkest moments.
They would dance the night away, but as dawn approached, he would vanish into the morning sun.
Lilly had given up hope of finding a mate, having a family, and leading a normal life.
But things are about to drastically change for her...
Secrets, lies, betrayal... and a baby on the way.
What if Lilly wasn't wolf-less? What if it was all a lie?
What if she had a living family? Would she stay and bond with them or make a run for freedom?
