Novel-novel oleh Gbemiè

TheoThe weekend had been nothing like what we had looked forward to. It stretched longer than it should have, weighed down by uncomfortable situations.Naeva’s reaction to everything—the confusion, her kidnapping. Everything kept playing in my mind, twisting me up. I had almost started questioning the prophecy.I sat staring at my palms, empty now. The latest traces of light from the spell were gone, faded.Each of us had two. That was all. I had used my first on Camden, when we almost lost him. And the second, the last one, I spent to drag Naeva out of that darkness to bring her back from where she was held.There was nothing left to use. That was all.I should have been afraid. But a strange calmness wrapped around me instead. Like maybe it was worth it. Maybe she was worth it. I couldn’t leave her helpless.“Hey, what’s going on?” Cassian’s voice came from the inn

Naeva QuinnI fell back to the floor, my palm throbbed in pain from the impact of the fall. My breath came out ragged, clouding the air before me. I pressed my injured hand against my chest.And realisation hit me, that this place was far more dangerous than I thought.“Theo,” I called again, my voice, a plea more than anything.Silence answered me.I swallowed, tried again, this time louder. “Theo!”Nothing.The room itself answered back—a voice that didn't feel human. low, taunting, followed by a ripple of laughter.“You still don’t understand, do you?” The voice said, dripping with mockery. “No one is coming for you. No one can hear you. Anyone here will only hear what I allow.” My heart sank as the new realization; the entire place was sound-manipulated. My voice won't leave here.Hope crumbled inside and melted inside me like ice.I slid back against the floor, my chest thudding, Was this how it ended? “What will you do now?” the voice came again, coaxed.Anger burned through t

Naeva Quinn When the car finally jerked to a stop, my chest dropped with the sudden silence. The noise from the road died and with it, the biting cold that had followed me all along seemed to disappear. The air here was different. Warm. Like the very walls were breathing heat back at me. Rough hands gripped me, dragging me from the back seat. My wrists burned against the rope, the knot too tight, unforgiving. I kicked out, my legs thrashing against solid bodies, but it did nothing. My feet scraped against hard ground, boots against gravel, then wood, then something smoother. I gave up the fight. Not because I wanted to, but because it was pointless. They were stronger, and I was wasting strength I might need later. Dialogue, I thought. Words could do what force could not. “You’ve got the wrong person,” I said, my voice sharp, stern, trying to hold steady against the storm building in my chest. No answer. Not even a whisper of acknowledgment. The warmth grew heavier the further th

Naeva QuinnTheo was left with no other choice but to let me go. I could see it in his eyes that he wanted to come with me, to keep me. But I had insisted. My heart was set on moving, and he respected it, even if I could feel his gaze burn into my back as I was walking away.The air was colder away from the mansion, sharper, like it wanted me to go back. But I didn’t stop. Step after step, I knew I would get home. Finally, I took a taxi, just as I turned the corner of my street, barely a stone’s throw from my house.My eyes caught a car parked. It wasn’t the one I had left in the morning. No, this one was familiar.“Wow.” I gasped, My breath hitched. It was Mrs. Ivy’s.“How?”“Why?”“What's she doing here?”That’s how I just knew I made the right decision, a voice whispered in my head. She was here, waiting for me, right at the moment I needed reassurance. That means she's who I needed.I hurried toward the car but it was empty. She wasn’t inside. She must be somewhere around or even

Naeva QuinnMy lips trembled. That face was impossible to mistake. It was her.I’d seen her before—once, twice, maybe more. Always in my dreams. The ones that clung to me long after I woke. She terrified me then, and seeing her now, real and solid, chilled me to the bone.What unsettled me most was how I couldn’t remember the dreams themselves, yet her face was carved into my memory like a scar.She crossed the space between us and pulled me into her arms. Her embrace was firm enough that I pushed her back, just enough to show I wasn’t accepting it. She steadied herself, smiled like she’d expected that, like she knew more than I did.“She’s the one,” she said, voice sharp and certain. “The Blessed One. Neava, you came just at the right time.”Blessed one? Me? The words didn’t even surprise me, it just felt wrong.I looked at the boys. None of them met my eyes. They fidgeted, pretending the air wasn’t thick with tension. I sat too, but my body refused to relax.The woman reached for the

Neava Quinn “That was a nice play for a newbie,” Theo said when I finally caught up with them. He threw a weak smile over his shoulder before he and the others disappeared around a corner. I stood there, blinking at the empty space where they had been. They didn't even wait to speak to me That’s when I saw Malik. He was standing with Mrs. Ivy. They were having a serious talk, too private for me to interrupt. Not like I would anyways. I wasn’t ready for another confusing talk or one of Mrs. Ivy’s mysterious smiles. So I changed direction fast, pretending I hadn’t seen them. The rest of the day moved slowly after that. I didn’t see the boys again, not even in the hallways before school ended. When I finally got home, Malik was already there. He was sitting stiffly at the desk across from my father. Both of their faces were serious, making the air in the room thick. “Sweetheart.” My mother came out of the kitchen. Her voice was gentle. “You must be hungry. You didn’t eat your breakf

Dante’s POV“Mr. Moretti,” he said, glancing between Reed and me, I still didn't understand why he called me that .“Chelsea is cleared for discharge. We just need a signature.”“I’ll sign,” I said, already turning.Reed stopped me with a hand on my arm. “I will,” he said quietly. “You should stay with her. She just woke up, right?”The doctor nodded. “She’s alert. A bit weak, but conscious.”I hesitated for half a second, then exhaled. Reed was right. “Okay,” I said. “I’ll be with her.”

Dante’s POV I felt it before I understood it, I mean the way Chelsea’s weight went slack against my arm, the way her breath hitched and then vanished. One second she was mid-sentence, color already draining from her face, and the next she was folding in on herself like a marionette with its strings cut.“Chelsea,” I said, too calmly at first. Then louder, then desperate but she didn’t answer.I don’t remember deciding to pick her up, only that suddenly she was in my arms and I was moving. The hallway blurred, doors flew open, and someone shouted after me as I barreled outside. I laid her in the passenger seat, my hands shaking so badly I fumbled with the seatbelt twice. Her skin was cold. Too cold. I kept talking to her as I drove, like my voice could anchor her to the world.Don’t you dare leave. Not like this.In the hospital, they took her from me the moment I skidded to a stop, wheeling her away while I stood there with my hands still curved like I was holding her. I paced. I ar

Dante's POV I couldn’t stop asking myself the same question that has been running through my mind. Why did Nicho want Clarissa to hate me?It wasn’t love. I was certain of that. Nicho had never loved Clarissa and had never looked at her the way men did when they were willing to risk something real. There was something he was looking for, which meant she was valuable.I moved to my desk and opened one of the court case files I’d been putting off all evening. I told myself I needed the distraction, the normalcy of routine. But my eyes skimmed the text without understanding it. I read the same paragraph again and again, and every time my thoughts drifted back to Nicho and then to Clarissa.To the distance that had grown between us so quietly I hadn’t noticed it forming.Someone had been planting doubt in her mind. I felt it in the way she hesitated before speaking and the way she had left.It was evident that Nicho had done that. He’d wanted her unsure, suspicious primed to believe t

Dante's POV The call ended with a soft click that sounded far too weird for my liking. I stared at my phone for a long second, my reflection faintly visible on the dark screen, before lowering my hand.Chelsea was watching me like she was afraid to blink.“What happened?” she asked. “Is she okay? Are you still leaving?”I drew in a slow breath, forcing my shoulders to relax even though my chest still felt tight. “I’m fine,” I said. “And Maya’s fine too.”Her eyes narrowed slightly. “That’s not an answer.”“It is,” I replied, softer now. “There was a connection issue. She’s safe and nothing’s wrong.”That wasn’t entirely true, but it was close enough to pass as comfort.Chelsea searched my face, clearly unconvinced. “Then why do you look like that?”“Like what?”“Like you're hiding something from me.”I turned away from her and slipped my phone into my pocket. “You’re exhausted,” I said. “You should go rest. Everything’s under control.”She didn’t move.“Chelsea,” I said, keeping my ba

Dante's POV Chelsea stopped me at the foot of the stairs, her hand wrapping around my arm like a sudden shackle.“Where are you going?” she asked.I froze and for half a second I considered lying, but my chest was already too tight for that. The air felt thickly charged, like the moment before bad news was released.“I have to leave,” I said, pulling my jacket on. “Maya’s in trouble.”Her brows knit together slowly. “Maya?” she repeated, saying the name like it didn’t belong to any language she knew. “Who’s Maya?”I cursed under my breath. I didn’t have time for this. Every second was important and I couldn't afford to waste any more time.“She’s Clarissa’s housekeeper,” I said, sharper than I meant to. “She helps run the house.”Chelsea blinked. “Okay… but what kind of trouble are you talking about?”“That’s the thing,” I said, raking a hand through my hair. My pulse thudded loud in my ears. “I don’t know exactly. I just—” I stopped, searching for words that didn’t make me sound ins

Dante's POVI still didn’t understand why she had left the house the way she did. One minute she was standing there, tense and unreadable after seeing Chelsea, and the next minute she was gone, walking out with a look in her eyes I hadn’t been able to catch or stop. I replayed the moment over and over, searching for the exact second I lost her. Was it jealousy? Or something I’d failed to say?“She didn’t even let me explain,” I muttered to myself.I turned down the heat and reached for the salt, my chest tightening.“Dante?”Chelsea’s voice

~A Bullet In The Head~Carlos’s mansion blazed like a fortress. Spotlights beamed across the vast estate, casting shadows over the marble statues lining the driveway. All the guards were dressed in all black, they had rifles slung across their chests as they paced along the perimeter watching out for danger.Back in the house, Carlos Hugo stood before his mirror, strapped a bulletproof vest beneath his designer shirt. Sweat glistened on his temples. He wasn't sure of how the night would play out but he needed to be more than ready for it. He picked up a silver pistol from his dresser and loaded it with enough clicks. He was about to sip his glass of whiskey when his phone buzzed on the table beside him. He snatched it up."Where are you?" he barked.There was no reply, everything was static."Coward," he muttered, realizing his lawyer had fled.Unknown to him, there was something going on downstairs. One of the guards rushed in, "Sir... it's him."Carlos's face twisted instantly. "A

~Take Over~Carlos Hugo was feeling untouchable. The evening air hummed with music from the courtyard below his sprawling estate. He reclined in a velvet chair, his thick fingers were wrapped around a glass of twelve-year-old whiskey, a smug grin was etched across his aging face.Two of his men lounged near him—Rico and Benito, his most trusted bodyguards. They chuckled at a tasteless joke Carlos had just told about Andrès, completely oblivious to the fight coming.Carlos raised his glass. “To finally getting what I deserve. That empire will be mine. The boy never saw it coming.”As if summoned by karma itself, his phone buzzed relentlessly on the table beside him. The screen flashed with a name—Silvio.Carlos answered with a lazy tone, “This better be good.”But the moment Silvio’s panicked voice cracked through the receiver, his posture shifted. The color drained from his face.“Boss, he knows.”Carlos sat up. “What?”“Andrès. He knows everything… about Don Simon. The lawyer tipped

~Call Bruce~ Elena turned abruptly, her pulse quickening, heart thumping in her chest. For a brief second, fear clouded her eyes—until she recognized the man standing behind her. “Bruce,” she exhaled, placing a hand on her chest. “Did I scare you?” Bruce asked with a crooked smile. She let out a soft laugh, the tension easing from her shoulders. “Just a little.” Bruce was one of her most trusted legal informants, a discreet but sharp-minded ally who had helped her navigate the complex web of documentation surrounding her latest investigation. Without him, she wouldn’t have gotten half as far but this time, she owed all the credits to Clara. Moments later, Elena was dialing the secure number given to her by the person who’d hired her for this job. The meeting was arranged quickly, as usual, in a secret location—a dimly lit layout known only to a handful of operatives. When she arrived, two men were already waiting, disguised as always. They never introduced themselves, and

~I've Got Good News~ Elena stood frozen, her eyes fixed on the door Carlos had just disappeared through. Her pulse raced, her breath shallow. She hadn’t expected to see him here—at least not so suddenly, not without warning. There had been no exchange of words, no confrontation, just the fleeting moment when their eyes met before he turned and walked away, as if he’d seen a ghost. Clara approached, cutting through the club’s smoky haze with the ease of someone who belonged there. Though to others she appeared just another waitress, her role ran much deeper. Clara had been Elena’s eyes and ears inside this place for months now—discreet, reliable, and sharp as a blade. She leaned in close, brushing a hand lightly on Elena’s arm. “We can leave,” she said quietly. Elena nodded, still processing the moment that just happened. Together, they slipped out of the club and into the night, the cool air outside pressing against Elena’s skin like reality reclaiming its hold. The two women ma

~Touchè~ Elena sat curled up in the amber colored armchair of her small study, the rim of her coffee cup hovering just beneath her lips. The bitter liquid had long gone cold, but she didn’t notice. Her eyes were fixed on the antique wall clock that ticked steadily in defiance of her rising anxiety. It was already past nine, and there was still nothing. No documents, no message, no confirmation—nothing from Bruce. She was extremely worried and the thought of him calling her sent shivers down her spine. The lamp on her desk cast a soft golden halo over the scattered papers and open folders. In the dim light, the sharp angles of her face were more pronounced, her tired eyes shadowed with worry. Her gaze fell on the worn photograph pinned to the corkboard above her desk—her sister, smiling beside a man whose face had been hastily scratched out in black ink. It was the only thing Elena hadn’t brought herself to throw away. With a weary sigh, she leaned back and rubbed her temples.

~24hrs~ Mateo sat hunched over in a leather chair, a glass of Grappa half-finished on the table beside him. His tailored black shirt was unbuttoned at the collar, and his Sleek black hair hung in front of his eyes as he stared at the silent screen of his phone as if expecting a call. He rubbed his eyes hoping he didn't look as bad as he looked whenever he had sleepless nights. The silence broke suddenly with a sharp buzz. A name flashed across the screen: Elena. He answered without hesitation. "Well?" Mateo's voice was clipped, low, and impatient. On the other end, Elena sighed, tired but composed. "Still working on it." Mateo gritted his teeth. "Elena, you already have enough time.I need results, not excuses." "I'm not a magician,Mister. I'm really trying my best but you have to trust me." Mateo stood up abruptly, pacing the room. His bare feet padded across the cold wooden floor as he ran a hand through his hair. "You’ve got twenty-four hours? After that, I will fin

Sapphire’s PovAn hour later, I stood at the top of the dungeon stairs, well aware that Alberto was no longer within the palace walls. He had left with a few men, not explaining what exactly he was off to do, leaving me worried. The way he had handed me his signet ring, like he expected to die on this mission of his—I did not like that.I shook my head. Why did I even care? I should want him dead so that I could finally be free, right? I sighed against the silence, wishing my thoughts would be as still as the air. I glanced around again, half-expecting someone to materialize behind me—by "someone," I meant this "Vane" that Alberto had spoken of. What did he look like? Why was he a threat to me?"You cannot pass, my lady," the guard at the dungeon entrance said as I approached. His voice was firm, and he gazed right into my eyes. I looked down at the signet ring. It was too big for my fingers, so I had threaded it onto a silver chain around my neck, feeling the full weight of its resp

Alberto’s PovI blinked against the bright light streaking in through the curtains disoriented for a moment. From what I could recall, I was not supposed to be in my room yet. I was sparring with Alberto, then scared stiff by the cold feeling in me before I passed out. How did I get here? And most importantly, what...I glanced at my side in shock, feeling the pads of fingers pressing into my palm. The sight of the owner jolted me into full consciousness. Alberto He was slumped in the armchair beside the bed, still in his tunic from yesterday. Was it just me, or was his sun-warmed skin unusually pale now? His head was tipped back, dark curls clinging to his forehead, slick with sweat.Unlike the last time I saw him resting, he looked absolutely exhausted. "Alberto," I whispered, sitting up, not taking my eyes off him.What happened to him? Just as the question flashed through my mind, I chided myself. He was the Alpha of the entire pack. Of course he was exhausted.Every decision la

Alberto’s PovI watched her lunge at me, her movements a blur—smooth and determined. Honestly, I was a bit impressed; I hadn’t expected her to actually take up the challenge to fight me. More than half of my men were scared to do so, and yet here she was, making the bold move.I didn’t move until the last possible second. I sidestepped with an ease that I hoped looked more effortless than it felt. Don’t get me wrong, normally Sapphire was no match for me, but my mind was a jagged landscape of thoughts: council threats, border reports, predictions of my brother’s next moves, even fatherhood responsibilities.She attacked again, and all the noise seemed to move to the background, my gaze sharpening on my opponent. If she could keep me grounded, then I would stay with her. I had to give it to her—she was fast, faster than plenty of female wolves I had ever sparred with, and perhaps even a few of the guys. I wonder if that has something to do with the Moon Goddess.She let out a frustra

Sapphire’s PovI groaned, turning over the page of the book I was reading. I wasn't much of a reader; I’d never brought myself to like art when I was young. So, me reading was a clear sign that something was wrong—and "wrong" being that I was bored out of my skin.I hadn’t seen Alberto in days, and the maidservant he had provided to keep me company was, well, uninteresting. I glanced in her direction, where she was seated on a chair near the bay window, sewing something. She was always either sewing, scrubbing, or cleaning, and I wondered if she really had that much work to do all the time, or if she was just doing it to keep herself busy.I sighed again, returning my attention to the book. My suite felt more and more like a prison every day that passed—a reminder that I had failed my escape mission once again. If this was punishment, it was a mighty good one. Impossibly cruel too. I mean, he won, and he had my friends in custody in his dungeons. What more could he want from me?Aga

Kael’s PovI leaned my back against the damp masonry wall, counting the rhythms of the torch splutter in the hall. It had been days since I saw the sky. I had no idea how many, or what time of day it was, but from the small window in the hallway, I could see that it was sometime around evening.I hated being confined to a space like this, especially when I was already used to living out in the wild. But what I hated the most was that my mother was separated from me. The moment we got here, they took Elira and I apart, and I would give anything to have an idea of her whereabouts. I doubted if I asked Alberto about it he would give me a response, but I made a mental note to do so the next time he showed up here. Elira had better not been hurt, because if anything happened to her, I would make this whole pack burn—regardless of who was Alpha.Speak of the devil. Right on cue, the sound of measured thuds of feet echoed down the corridor heading my way. I didn’t need to look up to know

Alberto’s PovThe air was cold in the war room, matching the frost that lingered in my mind from Sapphire's mirror. Only the day before yesterday, I was terrified that I was about to lose her when I heard her screams. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed that there was no one and no immediate threats to find when I entered her room. The evasiveness of this demon was starting to piss me off. I needed something to fight that I could touch—something tangible enough to drive a sword into.What I was most scared of was the probability of the tangible form of this demon being my brother. "Damn it, Gonzalo," I cursed under my breath, shifting my stance. He just had to invite that demon into his body. Will he ever be free and recover from this experience? I shouldn't care; it was his choice not mine. But still, he was my brother—my twin brother."Report, Cedric," I said finally to my Beta. He stood rigidly on the other side of the map. I couldn't count how many times I had come here after the