Novels by Azeez Oladimeji

Chapter 5POV: KaelSomething was wrong with me. I stood at my office window, watching the training yard below where Leo sparred with Marcus. Three days had passed since I'd assigned the rogue to my personal guard, and in those three days, I'd found myself watching him far too often.It was for security reasons, I told myself. The boy was a mystery, showing up wounded and alone with a story full of holes. I needed to keep an eye on him, figure out what he was hiding. That was the logical explanation.It didn't explain why my wolf prowled restlessly every time Leo was near. Or why I'd caught myself staring at the curve of his neck during morning briefings. Or why the scent of him, faint beneath the dirt and sweat, made something in my chest pull tight.I was Alpha of the Nightbane Pack. I didn't get distracted. I didn't lose focus. And I certainly didn't feel drawn to scrawny male rogues who could barely hold a weapon."Alpha?"I turned to find Vera, my head guard, standing in the door

Chapter 4POV: LioraCold water hit my face like a slap. I jolted awake, gasping, my body screaming in protest. Everything hurts. My shoulder, my wrist, my jaw where Kael's fist had connected. The world spun in nauseating circles."Wakey, wakey, little rogue."Laughter echoed around me. I blinked water from my eyes and found myself surrounded by warriors. Six of them, all massive, all looking at me like I was dinner. We were outside now, in what looked like a training yard. Dirt beneath me, weapons racks along the walls, the afternoon sun beating down.How long had I been unconscious?"Look at him, barely bigger than a pup," one warrior sneered. He was built like a bear, with a shaved head and arms covered in scars. "Alpha's gone soft, letting something this weak live.""Maybe he's keeping him as entertainment," another said. A woman this time, tall with braided red hair. "See how long the runt survives before someone accidentally breaks him."I tried to sit up. My broken wrist scream

Chapter 3POV: LioraThey dragged me through corridors that smelled of pine and smoke and power. My feet scraped against polished wood floors as Marcus and another warrior hauled me deeper into the building. Every wolf we passed stopped to stare, their eyes tracking me like I was prey.Maybe I was.The hallway opened into a massive room. High ceilings, dark wooden beams, windows that let in streams of morning light. At the far end, a chair sat on a raised platform. Not a throne, exactly, but close enough.And in that chair sat death itself.Alpha Kael.I'd heard stories about him. Every wolf had. The Alpha who united three warring packs through blood and brutality. The leader who killed challengers with his bare hands. The man whose territory no one dared cross because those who did were never seen again.He was younger than I expected. Maybe thirty, with dark hair that fell past his shoulders and a face that looked carved from stone. Scars marked him everywhere I could see. A thick o

Chapter 2POV: LioraThe golden eyes blinked once, twice, then vanished into the darkness. I didn't wait to see what they belonged to. Adrenaline overrode the pain screaming through my shoulder. I scrambled to my feet, my hand clamped over the arrow shaft, and ran. Behind me, I heard snarling, the sound of flesh tearing, more screams from hunters I couldn't see. My pack's howls had gone silent, replaced by an eerie stillness that was somehow worse.Run. Just run.My human form was slower than my wolf, but shifting would take energy I didn't have. Blood ran hot down my arm, dripping from my fingertips. Each breath felt like swallowing glass.The forest grew thicker, darker. I couldn't hear pursuit anymore, but that meant nothing. Whatever killed that hunter could be stalking me right now, silent as death.A sound reached my ears. Water. Running water. I crashed through a final wall of undergrowth and nearly fell down the embankment. A river stretched before me, wide and fast, the curre

Chapter 1POV: LioraThe scream tore from my throat before I could stop it. Alpha Declan lay sprawled across the wooden floor of the meeting hall, his silver hair matted with blood. His eyes stared at nothing, wide and empty, while crimson pooled beneath him like a grotesque shadow. The smell hit me next, iron and death, so thick I could taste it."No." My legs buckled. I crashed to my knees beside him, my hands reaching for his throat where the wound gaped open. "No, please, Alpha, please."His skin was cold. Too cold. I pressed my palms against the gash, trying to hold the blood in even though my brain screamed that it was useless. He was gone. Our Alpha was dead."Someone help!" I shouted toward the open door. "Please, someone help him!"The drums still echoed from outside, the festival continuing in oblivious celebration. The Blood Moon cast everything in shades of red through the windows. Red moon, red blood, red staining my hands as I tried desperately to save a man already beyo