The Verochka Pride Series by Nikki Winter

Kamali Oriade is in over her head and terrified for both herself and her son. After watching her father murdered before a significant portion of her pride was wiped out by a merciless rogue lion, she soon finds her terror transforming into cold, unerring determination to survive. Not just for herself but for the cub who means everything to her. Her son is wanted dead and she’s wanted as a trophy for a man who craves taking everything her surname is attached to... moreKamali Oriade is in over her head and terrified for both herself and her son. After watching her father murdered before a significant portion of her pride was wiped out by a merciless rogue lion, she soon finds her terror transforming into cold, unerring determination to survive. Not just for herself but for the cub who means everything to her. Her son is wanted dead and she’s wanted as a trophy for a man who craves taking everything her surname is attached to. Just when her battle begins and running seems to be the most viable option she stumbles into the presence of one pushy, overbearing, food obsessed tiger who doesn’t seem too interested in letting her go… Kaisal Verochka is a typical pride male. He torments his sibling and younger cousin, pisses off his parents and sleeps when he isn’t hunting or listening to classical music to stem his baser…urges. With a shadowed past full of mistakes that haunt him daily, he never expects for someone—least of all a lioness with an itchy trigger finger—to come along and silence his demons using only the power of her smile. He never expects the laughter of a cub to lift the weight of regret from him. And he never expects one chance encounter to leave him so in tune with two individuals that he can’t find it in himself to separate from them. But it happens. It happens, and he refuses to give up that smile, that laughter. Even if it means massacring those pursuing what he now considers his… less

Asha Shankur had been careful and strategic from the time that she learned what it was to truly be an asset rather than a hindrance in her pride, cultivating the skill of diplomacy and grace. Not once did she believe that her role amongst her people would be yanked from beneath her. Or that they would sell her to the highest bidder. And the day she met her soon-to-be husband, a man whose brutality was infamous for its inability to be curbed, was the day she knew she was terribly, terribly wrong... moreAsha Shankur had been careful and strategic from the time that she learned what it was to truly be an asset rather than a hindrance in her pride, cultivating the skill of diplomacy and grace. Not once did she believe that her role amongst her people would be yanked from beneath her. Or that they would sell her to the highest bidder. And the day she met her soon-to-be husband, a man whose brutality was infamous for its inability to be curbed, was the day she knew she was terribly, terribly wrong. Scarred in ways that she'd rather not examine, cold and able to kill without so much as a flicker of remorse, Taras Verochka is what she considers to be an utter nightmare. And no, the beauty of his face doesn't make up for that. Nor does his lovely hair. Or those sharp, intelligent but frigid eyes. She is in no ways interested in the breadth of his shoulders. Nor the starkness of his mocking smile. Asha doesn't care in the least bit when layers of a man she so ardently thought to be an absolute beast begin to peel back bit by bit to show her a softness she never knew existed; a boy who'd been broken down and built into a toy for his father's purposes. It definitely doesn't bother her to see him manipulated into acting on base urges. No. No. No. She doesn't... She can't... All right, perhaps she cares a little. But it's totally against her will! When things begin to unravel amongst the Verochka pride, revealing treachery that runs deeper than she could have ever imagined, Asha unearths a side of herself that is eerily similar to her mate as she begins to understand his affinity for following the savagery in his blood. And as their bond grows stronger, so do her long buried animalistic instincts. less

“You can’t fix this. You can’t save me. You don’t have the strength to. So, let me go.” Words, no matter how simple or softly spoken, could gut. And the verbal blow dealt by Naresh Verochka's very own mate had left him sewing himself up just to keep from spilling all over the floor. He'd had very few struggles in his lifetime. With the privilege of his looks, his wealth, and the sharpness of his mind, facing an adversary that thought to level him was never a concern... more“You can’t fix this. You can’t save me. You don’t have the strength to. So, let me go.” Words, no matter how simple or softly spoken, could gut. And the verbal blow dealt by Naresh Verochka's very own mate had left him sewing himself up just to keep from spilling all over the floor. He'd had very few struggles in his lifetime. With the privilege of his looks, his wealth, and the sharpness of his mind, facing an adversary that thought to level him was never a concern. Then again, who could have predicted that adversary would be his better half? A year after Kissa Malachi's departure from his fairly tidy life, he finds himself going quietly mad in the privacy of what used to be their home, trying to silence the taunting of his own self doubt. Was he truly not strong enough to aid in the healing of the scrappy little leopardess with the candid wit, blinding grin, and deeply wounded soul? Or was she simply so damaged that there was no reaching her no matter his dedication to the task? When she comes tumbling back into their small, sleepy town looking for refuge from her demons, and obviously determined to avoid him at all costs, Naresh attempts to fight the basic instinct of his own selfish desires. Yet with every chance encounter, every rake against the cage of the animal beneath his skin by enemies who think him weak, he discovers that there simply is no outrunning his very beastly urges. less