Novels by whitney obazuaye

Scarlett pov He died at our feet.Collapsed mid-aisle, eyes still wide with terror, mouth parted in that last breathless word—“Rogues.”His blood soaked the floor in thick rivulets, trailing from the doorway to the stone beneath his body.No one moved. No one spoke.I stared at the broken warrior—barely more than a boy. I knew him. His name was Ashen. He used to sneak me apples from the kitchen when I trained late. He once cried after accidentally stepping on my foot during a festival dance.Now he was dead. Torn apart. Bleeding out in front of us.Because of me.A cold wind pushed through the broken window behind the dais. It carried the scent of something fouler than death.Rot. Fur. Blood.A low, distant howl pierced the silence.Followed by another—closer.And then—Crash.Glass rained from above as a rogue burst through a side window in a flash of teeth and claws.Screams fractured the room.One heartbeat of stillness.Then everything exploded.More rogues surged through the bro

Scarlett pov The silence that followed Reed’s words was thunderous.Darius stood frozen, fists clenched, his chest heaving with restrained rage. Across the room, my stepfather said nothing, but his narrowed eyes screamed fury.The council shifted uncomfortably. Some looked at each other, others down at their hands, like they didn’t know whose side they were supposed to be on now that the royal seal was involved.I didn’t wait for anyone to speak.“This wasn’t just an attempted power grab,” I said calmly. “This was a coordinated betrayal. You planned to crown someone outside the Monroe line without rite, without council vote, and without even the basic respect to notify the royal house.”Reyes scoffed. “Don’t pretend you care about rites or law.”I turned to him. “You married into this pack, Reyes. You don’t speak for its legacy. You don’t understand it—and you never could.”Lucian stood to my right, silent but watchful. Kael was somewhere near the dais, his body still and unreadable.

Reed pov I smelt her before I saw her.Juicy, fresh, floral. Crisp apple, lush jasmine, and creamy vanilla. It hit me like a storm—wild, warm, and maddening.Then I saw her.And before I could stop myself, I said it.“Mate.”The room froze.Scarlett Monroe looked as if she had been struck. Her eyes widened, lips parted, breath catching. Her reaction was irrelevant to my purpose here.I approached the center of the hall with measured steps. The scent of lies and ambition lingered here more than any perfume.“Prince Reed,” Alpha Reyes said, his tone polite but tense. “We are… honored by your unexpected arrival.”I nodded once. “Then perhaps you can explain why the Royal House received no formal notice of a succession ceremony in your territory.”A beat of silence.“That’s—” Reyes glanced toward the council members. “We hadn’t finalized—”“You initiated the ritual of succession,” I interrupted. “You called a gathering of Alphas. You allowed your son to take the dais in the absence of th

Scarlett pov The sky had already started to dim when I woke, the light outside tinted with gold and bruised blue. I barely remembered falling asleep—only Lucian’s voice, steady and warm, and the weight of safety pulling me under.Now I stood in his kitchen, brushing sleep from my eyes, when he walked in with a strange look on his face.“You’re up,” he said.“Yeah,” I murmured, stretching my arms. “I needed it.”He nodded slowly. “You should probably change. I was going to take you to the estate. Thought we’d see what kind of storm your return stirred up.”I gave him a look. “A storm?”He smirked, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “More like whispers. People are talking. Wondering if the ghost of Scarlett Monroe really came home.”I sighed. “Let them wonder.”Ten minutes later, I was dressed in one of Lucian’s oversized hoodies and a pair of leggings that didn’t quite fit but worked well enough. My hair was a mess. I didn’t care.We stepped out into the cooling air, walking down the grave

Scarlett povThe road home looked nothing like I remembered.Maybe it was the way the trees had grown taller, or how the shadows stretched longer across the gravel path. Or maybe it was me. Everything looked the same—but I wasn’t.Lucian drove like a man with something to prove, one hand on the wheel, the other clenched tight on the gearstick. The silence between us wasn’t awkward. It was heavy. Familiar. Like he didn’t know where to begin, and I didn’t want to ask him to.We passed the old riverbank where we used to skip stones as kids. The clearing where I first shifted. The training grounds where I was taught to fight like an alpha, not just a girl.I felt like a ghost passing through my own memories.“You’re quiet,” Lucian said finally.I shrugged, eyes still on the window. “I forgot what quiet felt like.”He glanced at me, something soft flickering behind his golden eyes. “You don’t have to talk. Just… you don’t have to go back there alone.”Back there. He meant home. If it still

Scarlett pov“I, Kael Heart, reject you, Scarlett Monroe, as my mate.”The sentence echoed in my skull like a gunshot, even now—five years later—as he stood in front of me, the same eyes that once promised eternity now filled with something else. Guilt? Regret? I couldn’t tell, and I wasn’t sure I cared to know.The sound of the prison gates groaning open was louder than it should’ve been. Like they were announcing my release to the gods—and mocking me at the same time.Funny. Five years locked in a cell, and the memory that still hurt the most wasn’t the cold floor or the iron chains.It was the way he said my name when he rejected me.He hadn’t even looked at me when he said it. Just stared straight ahead, like I was a duty he’d finally washed his hands of.I’d bled for him. Loved him when there was nothing left of me to give. And when I needed him the most, he stood beside my mother and stepfather—silent—while they buried me alive.Now he was the one waiting for me outside the pris