Chapter: Chapter Twenty-Five: "Contingency"CALLUMTuesday, 9:14amGeoffrey Marsh had an office on the thirty-eighth floor of a building in the Financial District that he had occupied for eleven years.Callum had been in that office many times. Quarterly meetings. Drinks after difficult quarters. Conversations that started professional and ended personal because thirty years of knowing someone does that eventually.He knocked once. Opened the door without waiting.Geoffrey was at his desk but not working.The document in front of him was closed. His hands were folded on top of it. On the corner of the desk a glass of whisky, barely touched, at nine in the morning. His lawyer's business card was beside the phone with a number written on it in fresh ink.He didn't look up immediately.When he did there was nothing in his face that resembled surprise.Sit down, he said.Callum sat.You found the document, Geoffrey said.Yes.Richard brought it.Yes.Geoffrey nodded once.How much does she know, he said.Everything.He absorbed tha
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด: 2026-06-19
Chapter: Chapter Twenty-Four: "The Name"ZARAMonday, 11:47pmSix blocks. Neither of them said anything.Richard was in a car somewhere behind them. His idea. Separation. Three people leaving together told a different story than two people on foot.Her bag on her shoulder. Inside it thirty pages and her mother's handwriting. Your father asked me to.She'd been keeping herself moving since the hotel room. Making herself look at the street ahead and think about where they were going and not think about page fourteen and not think about her mother packing quietly in the night and not think about a man she'd never met who had moved money through three holding companies between 2001 and 2003 and died before she was born.She was doing it successfully.Then Callum's hand found hers.Not saying anything. Just there.She let herself stop.She stood on the pavement in November with the city going past and let herself feel the weight of it for exactly thirty seconds.Her father had been in it. Not peripherally. As a principal.Her mot
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด: 2026-06-18
Chapter: Chapter Twenty-Three: "Eleven O'Clock"ZARAMonday, 11:03pmThe hotel was the kind that had existed since the fifties and stopped trying to be anything other than what it was. Dark wood panelling. Carpet that had been good once. A bar off the lobby that served decent whisky and didn't ask questions.Richard Arch was already there.Third floor. A room booked under a name that wasn't his. He opened the door when they knocked and stood back without saying anything.Small room. A desk, a chair, a bed that hadn't been touched. On the desk a glass of water and a manila envelope, thick, sealed, placed there with the care of something carried a long way.Richard looked at them both.He looked older than he had at the West Village restaurant. Not in the way of a man who had aged. In the way of a man who had put something down that he'd been holding upright for a long time and the effort of it was now visible.Sit down, he said.They sat. Richard stayed standing.He looked at the envelope.I've been deciding how to begin this for tw
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด: 2026-06-17
Chapter: Chapter Twenty-Two: "The Investigator"ZARAMonday, 7:48pmHer name was Helen Marsh and she worked out of a one-room office on the fourth floor of a building on West Forty-Fourth Street with no directory listing and a door with no nameplate.Callum had called ahead from a payphone two blocks away.She was waiting when they arrived.Mid-fifties. Dark hair threaded with grey. The same woman Zara had met weeks ago when she'd gone to read the Reyes addendum. She registered that without showing it.Helen looked at both of them. Then at the door behind them.Come in, she said.The office was small and deliberately so. One desk. Two chairs across from it. A window facing a brick wall. A filing cabinet with a combination lock. On the desk a legal pad, a pen, and a manila folder placed there recently enough that the edges were still crisp.They sat.Helen sat across from them.She looked at the folder. Then at Zara.I was going to call you tomorrow, she said. I've been sitting on something for nine days.Nine days, Callum said.Sin
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด: 2026-06-11
Chapter: Chapter Twenty-One: "The Street"ZARAMonday, 6:11pmThe three of them stood on the pavement outside the building and the city went past them like nothing had happened.Callum was on his phone. Richard's flight. Arrival time. Voice low, turned slightly away.Isla stood beside Zara with her coat pulled closed and her eyes on the middle distance.You knew, Zara said quietly. That someone would take the folder.Isla looked at her.I suspected, she said. I brought copies because I suspected.And the message this morning, Zara said. Telling you to wait.I've been receiving messages for three weeks, Isla said. Different numbers. Different phrasing. All of them telling me to hold off. She paused. I stopped asking who was sending them and started asking why they needed me to wait.And, Zara said.My waiting served someone else's timeline, Isla said. Not mine.Zara looked at the building behind them. The glass doors. The lobby visible through them, the event still continuing inside.She thought about the grey suit. Thirty-sev
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด: 2026-06-10
Chapter: Chapter Twenty: "The Reception"ZARAMonday, 5:44pmThey were still twenty minutes away when Bri called.She answered on the first ring.It's already happening, Bri said. Someone's livestreaming it. Z it's everywhere.Zara looked at Callum.He kept his eyes on the road.She put the call on speaker and Bri sent the link and she opened it and held the phone between them.The video was shaky. Shot from someone's phone across a crowded room. Marble floors, round tables, the particular lighting of an event that cost more to attend than most people made in a month. And in the centre of the room a woman in a dark dress standing at a microphone she hadn't been invited to use.Isla.Her voice came through the phone speaker slightly distorted.My name is Isla Cole, she said. My father's name is Edward Cole. Before that his name was Edward Reyes. He was the principal broker of a financial arrangement conducted between 2001 and 2004 that involved at minimum three of the companies represented in this room tonight.The room in th
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด: 2026-06-09
INSTINCTLESS: A Scentless Bloodline
Nyxara Vale is a living anomaly a woman with no scent whose very presence silences the primal mate bond that rules hidden werewolf society. Rhydian Blackthorne is the ultimate Alpha, a creature of absolute instinct and control, until he meets her. For the first time in his long life, the fated bond doesn't trigger. There is only a profound, unsettling silence... and an obsession born purely of his own will.
When Rhydian defies ancient law to claim her by choice, not fate, he makes them both targets. To his pack, she is a blasphemy. To the ruthless Elder Council, she is a disease to be eradicated. Trapped in a gilded cage of corporate intrigue and ancient power struggles, Nyx and Rhydian must fight not just for their lives, but for the validity of a love that was never supposed to exist.
INSTINCTLESS is a slow-burn romance with an explosive payoff, exploring whether a love that is chosen can be stronger than one that is destined. It’s a story about defying biology, burning down old worlds, and forging a new one where the greatest power isn't instinct it's choice.
อ่าน
Chapter: EPILOGUE: FIVE YEARS LATERThe manor had changed.Where once there were walls and guards, now there were gardens and open gates. Wolves came and went freely not just Blackthorne pack, but visitors from across the territories. Some came to learn. Some came to heal. Some came just to see the place where the war ended and something new began.I stood on the balcony overlooking the courtyard, watching the morning activity. Children chased each other through the snow. Healers moved between small buildings that had been added over the years. A group of young wolves sat in a circle, listening to an elder tell stories."You're supposed to be resting."Rhydian's arms wrapped around me from behind. I leaned back into his warmth."I'm fine. The baby doesn't come for another month."He pressed a hand to my growing belly, and I felt the tiny flutter of life inside. Our third child. A boy, the healers said."The healer said you need to rest more," he murmured against my hair. "Something about Bond Singers and pregnancy being
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด: 2026-02-27
Chapter: CHAPTER 30: THE FINAL STANDOne month passed.Winter deepened. Snow covered the manor, the forests, the mountains. Inside, life continued. The pack healed. Prisoners became workers, then trusted helpers. Even Viktor, still chained but treated with dignity, began to change. He spoke little, but when he did, it was with a growing confusion about the life he'd led."They never showed me kindness," he said one day, watching Nyx heal a young wolf's broken bond. "Only fear. I thought fear was respect.""It's not," Nyx said softly. "But you're learning."Rhydian spent his days training, rebuilding, planning. Scouts reported no sign of Selene. She had vanished into the northern wastes. But everyone knew she would return.Nyx trained with her mother daily. She learned to weave bonds between unlikely wolves enemies who became friends, strangers who became pack. She learned to sense threats before they came, to feel the ripple of hostile intent across miles."You're ready," her mother said one evening. "For whatever comes.
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด: 2026-02-26
Chapter: CHAPTER 29: THE VICTOR'S PRICEThe battle raged around me, but I stood frozen.Selene was gone. Disappeared into the dark tunnels of the mountain. Viktor was trapped, his wolves fighting desperately, but their leader's flight had broken something in them. They fought without heart now.Rhydian appeared at my side, bloody but standing. "You did it.""I showed her the truth. She ran from it." I looked at him. "Is that winning?""It's a start."Kellan fought through the chaos to reach us. "Viktor's down. His wolves are surrendering. What do we do with them?"Rhydian looked at the battlefield. Dozens of enemy wolves were laying down weapons, raising empty hands. They looked tired. Scared. Lost."Prisoners," he said. "We take prisoners. No executions."Kellan nodded and ran to spread the word.I watched as our wolves rounded up the survivors. Some resisted, but most just collapsed, relieved the fighting was over. The cavern slowly quieted.Then I saw Viktor.He was on his knees, surrounded by our fighters. His empty eye
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด: 2026-02-25
Chapter: CHAPTER 28 : THE RECKONINGI stood in the tunnel entrance, frozen.The sounds of battle had stopped. No snarls. No growls. Just the rush of the underground river and my own ragged breathing.My mother grabbed my arm. "We have to go. The passage""No." I pulled away. "Rhydian is still out there.""If you go back, you die. He saved you for nothing."I knew she was right. But knowing and feeling were different things.Then, a figure stumbled out of the snow.Rhydian.He was barely standing. Blood covered his chest. His arm hung at a wrong angle. But his eyes, those gold eyes were open and looking for me.I ran. I caught him as he fell, lowering him gently to the ground."You're alive," I whispered, tears freezing on my cheeks."Told you," he gasped. "Always find you."My mother was there, pressing cloth to his wounds. "He's bad. The arm is broken. Ribs too. And he's lost a lot of blood.""Can you heal him?""Not here. Not now." She looked at me, grim. "We need to get him to the passage. Now."Kellan and Leo appear
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด: 2026-02-24
Chapter: CHAPTER 27: THE MOUNTAIN PASSThe tunnel was endless.Darkness pressed in from all sides. The only sound was our breathing and the crunch of ancient stone underfoot. My mother led, her hand never leaving the wall, guiding us through passages she hadn't seen in nearly three decades."How do you remember this?" I whispered."I walked it every day for a year. It's carved into my bones." She paused at a fork, choosing left without hesitation. "The Bond Singers built this place to last. To hide. Every tunnel leads somewhere useful or somewhere deadly."Behind us, Rhydian moved with quiet strength, his wound slowing him but not stopping him. Kellan and Leo flanked the group, watching for threats. We were down to fifteen now the last survivors of sixty who marched north.The guilt was a stone in my chest.My mother stopped suddenly. "Wait."We froze. She pressed her ear to the stone."What is it?" Rhydian murmured."Running water ahead. An underground river." She turned, and in the dim light from a crystal she carried, I
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด: 2026-02-23
Chapter: CHAPTER 26: THE SANCTUARYThe cave went deeper than I expected.My mother led me through narrow passages, her hand never leaving mine. The darkness was absolute. Only the sound of our breathing and the crunch of ice underfoot told me I wasn't alone."Here," she whispered.A door. Ancient wood, banded with iron, half-hidden in the rock. She pushed, and it swung open with a groan.Beyond was light.Not firelight something softer. Glowing crystals embedded in the walls lit a large chamber. Shelves lined the stone, filled with scrolls and books. A hearth sat cold in the corner. Bedrolls were stacked neatly. Someone had lived here once."Welcome to the last sanctuary of the Bond Singers," my mother said quietly. "I haven't seen it in twenty-eight years."I stared at the space, trying to take it in. "This is where you hid? Before I was born?"She nodded, moving to the hearth. She knelt and touched something hidden beneath a stone. A spark, and flames leaped to life. The warmth was immediate, welcome."I came here wh
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด: 2026-02-22
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