A blind sculptor. A satyr bodyguard. A dangerous plan to expose a criminal empire.

Aceon doesn’t care for holidays—or humans. As a satyr bodyguard, his job is to keep his clients alive and his emotions out of the equation. But Satin, a blind sculptor with a biting wit and a deadly secret, isn’t like any client he’s ever had.

She’s stolen a list that could expose the corrupt empire that destroyed her family, and now assassins are closing in. From Moscow’s glittering Winter Galas to high-stakes casinos in Morocco, Aceon and Satin must outsmart and outfight a relentless enemy while navigating a connection that’s as dangerous as it is undeniable.

Their mission is clear: protect the list, expose the truth, and stay alive long enough to see Christmas.

But the real risk isn’t losing the fight—it’s losing each other.

No one survives hiring me. Not even her.

I'm a Nightmare, a creature that feeds on fear, and I'm capable of boundless cruelty—which is why my services come at a steep price: the life of the person who hired me. As such, the only people who hire me on are those brought to me by fate, like Mina, a woman so desperate for revenge that she's willing to spend her own life to get it.

I don't usually care why I'm hired. Human affairs don't matter to me. Food is food, and a job is a job.

Mina's enemies will get what they deserve—and I'll get what's mine.

Her beating heart.

A kraken, a scientist, and a love under pressure….

As a kraken bodyguard, I rarely get human clients. When I do, the only way to protect them is to form a telepathic bond. I don't like it, but after my wife's death years ago I've learned to build an impenetrable shield around myself and my emotions, until I meet my newest client. Shes a scientist investigating an ancient relic on the ocean floor. The abyssal plane is no place for humans, but the job is the job, so I shut off my soul, bury my secrets, and link our minds.

The flood of her emotions takes me by surprise. I thought I would be in charge, but our bond is stripping us both bare, layer after layer, until she can see my bleeding wounds, and I can taste her unspoken desires.

We cannot be together. We can't even touch. She breathes air, and I live at high pressure at the bottom of the ocean. Our feelings bring us nothing but torment, and I know once she's on dry land again, I'll have to sever our bond.

But when she's betrayed by the people she's working for, and her life is in danger–I will not rest until she's safe in all of my arms.

Power, Love, Money: Pick One

I'm her father's best friend. She's twenty years younger than me. He'll kill me if I touch her—but I'll die if I don't.

The last time I saw Lia Ferreo I was helping her with a skinned knee—and now she wants to run her father's company. She has no idea the dark lengths her father and I went through to build the mafia-financed hotel empire we currently run, or where any of the bodies are buried, but I know better.

So much better.

Lia's gentle, I'm cruel.

She's innocent, I'm a murderer.

She deserves to be free—all I want to do is control her.

And I don't think I can hold back my beast around her much longer.

Take Her: A Dark Wall Street Mafia Age Gap Romance is like if the movie Secretary met the TV show Succession, with a Beauty and the Beast themed twist. It is the first book in Cassie Alexanders The Moth and the Monster series, and marks her stunning contemporary debut.