Iver Amana is a simple wolf shifter. All he wants is to promote good nightclubs and liven up the New York City party scene. He doesn’t want a mate or a family. His older brothers have a monopoly on that anyway. Of course, all that changes when he sees a bachelorette dancing in his club. He has to let her, his mate, go before he ever has a chance to be with her.

Jovi Duke hasn’t had a good year. After catching her fiancé cheating with her maid of honor the night before her wedding, she rebuilds her life. She focuses on her teaching career. How was she to know that her student’s uncle – the one interested in funding a community outreach program would be the sexy stranger she once danced with?

Iver and Jovi are destined to be together – if only they give into the attraction between them. But more, their stubborn streaks threaten them. Before their romance has a chance to bloom, secrets and jealousy might take away their opportunity at the love of a lifetime.

Chapter 1

Iver

Iver Amana settled on the black leather couch and crossed his arms as he scanned the VIP section. Loud music vibrated the floor and colored lights flashed around the large, open space. Bottles of the best liquors were artistically placed along the bar at the back of the room behind the bartender.

Everything was in place.

The long sectional on which he sat had a perfect view of the club’s main area below. The place was packed. Full of people dancing, drinking, smiling, having a good time.

This new club was going to be a success. He could feel it.

Iver grinned to himself, letting the pride settle in his belly. This was the kind of business he knew. Ask him to write up a financial report on the stock market, and he was more stuck than a pig in shit. He knew how to do it all just fine. It just bored him to tears.

Iver also wanted something that was his own that had no ties to his family’s expansive businesses.

Give him a rundown bar that was tanking quicker than the Titanic, and Iver could turn it around.

All it took was new decor, the best booze money could buy, a good DJ, and a few celebrities who wanted to make a name for themselves as trendsetters.

That’s what Iver did.

He set trends in the bar world.

Good thing New York City was full of clubs and even more full of famous people who were never quite famous enough to please their own egos.

Iver didn’t judge them. Not even a bit. He made a lot of money because of those types of people. He was hardly going to rag on them for wanting to have a good time. He understood that need for escape. That desire to enjoy themselves.

There was something magical and almost primal in a bar. The dancing and drinking were liberating to humans, and they let their inhibitions go, all because Iver was one hell of a visionary.

And one hell of a club promoter.

Tonight, nightclub Stuff was opening to the general public. 

Rumor had it was going to be a busy night. His plan was genius. For the last two weekends, he had exclusive parties here with only the rich, the famous, and the chatty. There were already quite a few pictures on social media touting Stuff as the club.

Every young person within a fifty-mile radius would want to party here in case they ran into their celebrity crushes or favorite makeup influence.

Those people would have to settle for getting a glimpse of the famous folks having a different kind of good time in the VIP section.

Iver knew to lure the general population with the rich and famous but keep them separate. The second too much mingling happened, the second the celebs left. They liked their privacy. They didn’t exactly want their face plastered all over social media while they were grinding up against some hottie or doing a line of blow.

Bad for the image.

Good for the rep.

Iver understood the club scene on a deep, profound level. Did he condone drug use? Nope. Not at all. He didn’t exactly understand drugs, anyway. The stuff had little to no effect on his wolf shifter constitution, but humans? Well, they sure were dumb for being such fragile creatures. If they wanted to poison their bodies with chemicals, that was on them.

Iver preferred a good bourbon or whiskey, anyway.

The booze never got him drunk, but he enjoyed the taste.

He also really liked that he could drink his business partners under the table. They didn’t know he was a shifter nor that booze didn’t affect him, so he had won many bets by drinking them into a stupor.

Did he feel bad?

Maybe a bit, somewhere deep down.

But once again, he looked at the humans like silly and frivolous beings who didn’t understand their own fragility. He wasn’t their dad or their keeper. If they wanted to bet that they could outdrink Iver Amana and put their property on the line? He wasn’t going to stop them.

Make better choices, kids.

“Yo,” Aaron, his best friend and wolf shifter, said, sitting beside him. “This place looks amazing. I can’t believe it was a dive bar a minute ago. You’ve got talent, my friend.”

“I think we should have gone for the darker paint, but I’ll know for next time.” Iver shrugged as he accepted a glass of bourbon from Aaron. The men clinked their tumblers together in celebration.

“You’re never satisfied, Iver. For fuck’s sake. You just opened this place. How about you wait a month before you start looking for your next project?”

Iver laughed. “Can’t. I already have a good idea for the next bar.”

Aaron chuckled into his drink. “Of course, you do. Now, are you gonna come down to the dancefloor with me and try to get some tail? Or do you want to stay up here and watch the humans dance while you gloat?”

“I wanna gloat,” Iver answered immediately.

Aaron rolled his eyes. “You’re an ass. You could at least pretend to be a little bit modest.”

Iver’s laugh was deeper this time. “What is modest? I’m not familiar with the concept.”

“You’re the biggest, most arrogant ass in New York City. Probably the whole state, which is saying something given that there are a lot of shitty humans working on Wall Street.” Aaron raised his glass to him before taking a long pull. “But you make me a shit ton of cash, so who the fuck am I to judge you? The bouncer told me there’s a bachelorette party here tonight. You know how wild those get. Think I can get with the bride?” Aaron snickered and wiggled his brows.

Iver shook his head. “And you call me the asshole? Leave the poor woman alone.”

“What if she’s my mate and is making a serious mistake by marrying a man who isn’t me?” Aaron pretended to be all torn up, twisting his face into a scowl. 

Iver flipped off his best friend. “If fate gave you a mate, I feel bad for the woman.”

“Right?” Aaron agreed. “Never gonna settle down.”

“I really fucking hope you mean that,” Iver grumbled.

“Ah, yes. Are your sister and mother still on your case to settle down?”

Iver nodded. Why shifter mothers were so obsessed with marrying off their sons was beyond him. Iver’s older sister, Jewel, was married with a bunch of kids. His two older brothers were both recently mated.

Mom and Jewel insisted this meant that he was going to meet his mate soon. That’s how fate worked, apparently. She set her evil sights on a family and then took them out one at a time with matrimony and kids.

That wasn’t for him.

Iver knew that a mate and kids wouldn’t be good for him. How in the fuck could he continue opening all these badass clubs if his mate was constantly asking him to stay home or change diapers?

He shuddered at the thought.

He changed his nieces' and nephews' diapers, and that was enough for him.

“You are just physically repulsed by the idea of meeting your mate,” Aaron laughed. “You’re just as bad as me. I feel terrible for Jewel and your mom.”

“Let them focus on their own lives. Or better yet, on Banks and Navy. They’ve just met their mates. That’s enough.”

Aaron downed his drink. “Then come to the dance floor. Help me show that bachelorette party a good time.”

Iver emptied his own drink and grinned. “Fine. But the bride is off-limits, my friend. There’s not a chance in hell we’re gonna intervene with some poor woman’s shitty life choices. If she wants to tie herself down to some loser who will give her a couple kids, fuck his secretary on the side, and leave her for a newer model in about ten years, that’s on her.”

Aaron chortled, shaking his head. “Your view of marriage is so heartwarming. Your next business venture should be a bridal boutique. Or better yet, a wedding chapel. Screw Vegas. We could become the new spot that fuels the country’s divorce rates.”

Iver shrugged and hopped to his feet. He leaned over the black railing and looked down at the dancefloor. Aaron was right. There was a group of women clearly there to celebrate a bachelorette party. Five women dressed in bright neon pink dresses danced around a woman in a skintight white dress. Her black hair was long, nearly reaching a delectably bubbled ass and wide, curvy hips that were made to be gripped hard and fast. The bride-to-be spun around in a dance, throwing her arms up with a giggle.

And there, in the middle of his crowded and loud bar, Iver Amana’s world ended.

Mine.

His wolf growled and shouted the word over and over.

All Iver could do was watch as his mate celebrated the fact she would soon marry another man.

He didn’t even think. He just let his feet move toward her.