Chapter: chapter eight Lila The safe-room door opens onto a world of smoke and silence.It looks like a bomb hit the estate almost like a scene out of an action movie. The estate is a skeleton of glowing embers. Ethan’s arms are still locked around me, his heartbeat a steady drum against my spine. We step over charred beams and melted marble, the wedding band on my finger catching stray sparks like mini fireworks. “Day eight,” I whisper. He kisses the raven tattoo on my wrist. “I love you.” He whispers The helicopter waits on the pad, its blades slicing into the cool night air. Marco, Ethan’s pilot, nods once at me. We lift off and the Hamptons shrinks into a tiny dot by the minute. After a while we land at Manhattan.The penthouse helipad is lit with bright lights, the city is glittering around our tower. We land softly and The elevator drops us into the foyer. Ethan carries me like we’re newlyweds again. I laugh into his neck. “We already did this.” “Not like this.” He sets me on the kitchen islan
Last Updated: 2025-10-31
Chapter: Chapter sevenLilaThe sky is still very darkwhen we leave the house. I’m in Ethan’s black hoodie, its sleeves are pushed to my elbows, the raven on my wrist still wet from the spray paint. He’s in black cargo pants,black boots and a shoulder holster with two guns. I'm taking in the view and I love it, i smile to myself and giggle a bit, the goal was to seduce him and now I'm shooting at bad guys with him. Take that Celeste.We take the Mustang and the engine snarls awake, gravel crunching under the tires. Ethan drives with one hand on the wheel, the other on my thigh, his thumb stroking the bruise he left there last night. I don’t move it. I need him, he's like drugs.The pier in is a rotting skeleton twenty miles east. We’ll be early. Good. Let them think we’re desperate.We’re not.“Rules,” Ethan says, eyes on the road. “You stay behind me. You see a weapon, you shoot. No hesitation.”I check the Glock he gave me. Safety off. Mag full. “I hesitate, I die. Got it, You're quite the bad Influenc
Last Updated: 2025-10-31
Chapter: Chapter sixEthanThe blood is still warm on my knuckles when I carry my Lila upstairs. Lila’s legs are locked around my waist, her mouth is fused to my neck, sucking my bruises like she’s trying to brand me back. The gun is on the kitchen counter, Viktor’s blood drying in a dark comma on the marble. I don’t look back. I don’t need to. The house is wired with cameras; I’ll watch the footage later, frame by frame, until I memorize every second of how close I came to losing her.She bites my earlobe. Hard. “Bed,” she growls. “Now.”I kick the bedroom door shut behind us. The fire is dead again; the room is cold enough to see our breath. Doesn’t matter. We’re burning.I throw her onto the mattress. She bounces once, and the shirt rides up to her ribs, her thighs are spread. The sight of her,wild hair, split lip, my marks on her skin,hits me like a fist to my tummy. I strip fast, shirt tearing at the seams. I crawl over her. Pin her wrists above her head with one hand. The other slides between
Last Updated: 2025-10-31
Chapter: Chapter 5LilaI stand at the kitchen island slicing strawberries, the knife flashing red, red, red. My hands don’t shake. Not anymore. Six months ago they would have. Six months ago I would have cut myself just to feel something other than the hollow where his voice used to live.Now I feel everything.The ache between my thighs. The ghost of his teeth on my throat. The faint nausea that started yesterday and hasn’t left.Ethan is upstairs on a call. I heard the low rumble of his voice through the floorboards, Russian syllables, clipped and furious. He thinks I don’t speak enough to follow but udo. Enough to know the word thief,keeps coming up. Enough to know someone is bleeding somewhere and it isn’t us. Yet.I set the knife down. Wipe my hands on the shirt I stole from him again. It smells like cedar and gunpowder now. I like it.The front door opens without a knock.I freeze.The footsteps are heavy and deliberate and they are not Ethan’s.I grab the knife,my heart slamming against my ribs.
Last Updated: 2025-10-30
Chapter: chapter fourEthanThe power snaps back at 4:17 a.m.The sudden flood of light from the LEDs is brutal, clinical, exposing every bruise, every scratch, every smear of sex on the sheets. Lila flinches beside me, burrows deeper into my chest like she can hide from the truth in the glare. I tighten my arm around her waist and stare at the ceiling, counting the cracks in the plaster I never noticed before.She’s still asleep, with her lashes fanned against her cheeks, one hand curled over my heart like she’s afraid I’ll vanish if she lets go. The raven tattoo on her arm looks alive in the harsh light, its wings are spread, beak open in a silent scream. I trace the fresh ink with my thumb. She added it after she left. I want to ask what it means. I don’t.My phone buzzes on the nightstand. Itd the unknown number again. I silence it without looking. Celeste has been blowing up burner phones since the gala photos hit Page Six.Billionaire’s Ex Crashes Engagement Party, Kisses Groom in Front of Fiancée.T
Last Updated: 2025-10-27
Chapter: chapter threeLilaEthan must have slipped out while I slept, because the sheets beside me are cold. I hate that I notice. I hate that I reach for him anyway.The power’s still out. The only light is the orange flicker dancing over the walls, painting shadows that look like us, tangled, fighting and fucking. My body aches in places I forgot had names. Between my thighs is a sweet, brutal reminder: he was here. He took And I let him.I sit up, sheets pooling at my waist. The lace bra is gone, i guesss it got torn off sometime after round two on the stairs, maybe round three against the hallway mirror. My skin is a map of him, his fingerprints on my hips, bite marks on my collarbone, a bruise blooming where his thumb pressed my throat. I trace one with a fingertip and feel my pulse kick, traitor that it is.The door creaks open and Ethan steps in carrying two mugs. He’s shirtless, sweatpants riding low, the scar on his eyebrow catching the firelight. His knuckles are split. He must have found the hea
Last Updated: 2025-10-27
Chapter: Chapter Twenty : Shadows of the Past
The villa was quiet, deceptively calm. Serena moved through its halls like a predator circling her territory, her fingers brushing against the walls, her mind racing with possibilities. Elena Romano’s name burned in her memory, every whispered rumor, every hidden lead forming a web that seemed impossible to untangle.Matteo had been silent since breakfast, following her with careful eyes, his presence constant and commanding. He had tried to argue for patience, for caution, but Serena refused to wait. Every hour wasted was another opportunity for enemies to tighten their grip on the city, on her, on the secrets she was determined to uncover.She entered the strategy room, maps spread across the large oak table, and began marking points of interest, locations where Elena had been rumored to have appeared, safe houses, abandoned warehouses, and known Romano allies. Her fingers traced lines connecting names and places, drawing invisible paths through the past, and through the dangerous p
Last Updated: 2025-09-28
Chapter: Chapter Nineteen:Bloodlines of Fire
The fire in the study had burned low, its embers glowing faintly against the shadows that draped the De Luca estate. Serena Vale sat rigid in her chair, the photo in her hand trembling though her grip was iron. Elena Romano. The name pulsed in her mind like a drumbeat, each thud heavier than the last.Her real mother.Not Isadora, the woman who had raised her, lied to her, betrayed her father in the name of protecting her. But Elena,another ghost, another secret pulled from the ruins of the Valentino war.Serena swallowed hard. Her throat ached as though she’d swallowed shards of glass. She traced the faded image with her thumb. Elena was beautiful in the way fire is beautiful with sharp features, hair as dark as midnight, a gaze that burned even in the still photograph. She looked nothing like Isadora. And yet, there was something in the angle of her jaw, the tilt of her eyes… Serena could see herself staring back.It hurt more than she could explain.Behind her, the door creaked ope
Last Updated: 2025-09-28
Chapter: Chapter Eighteen : Into the Wolf's Den
It was raining heavily. It fell like a hailstorm on the convoy of black SUVs moving in silence through the Apennine foothills. Five vehicles. Twenty-seven soldiers. Three objectives. Capture. Extract. Eliminate. Serena sat at the head of tge convoy.She was silent, focused, she seemed like a shadowed fury beneath a bulletproof vest and matte-black gloves. They were headed for Castello Lupo, an abandoned fortress once used by the Romanos before their purge. According to intercepted comms, it was now Aureliano’s command post and ground zero for the rising resistance. Serena didn’t flinch as the mountain road twisted beneath the tires. She had no room for fear. Not anymore.The road was rough and bumpy but it didn't seem to bother her at all. She'd stared death in the eyes, and she was done blinking. --- In the passenger seat, Mara adjusted her headset, scanning the terrain. “We’ve got thermal movement. Twenty-plus heat signatures ahead. Perimeter guards, probably snipers on the
Last Updated: 2025-07-07
Chapter: Chapter Seventeen : Blood at the Gates
The warning came just before dawn.A single flare fired from the watchtower.Crimson against the lavender sky.It wasn’t a call for help.It was a call to arms.Serena was already dressed when Mara burst through the west hall doors.“Movement on the ridge. Fifteen to twenty men. Armed. Black Sons.”Matteo swore, already buckling his shoulder holster.“How close?”“Close enough to smell the blood they plan to spill.”Serena tightened her gloves. “Then let’s show them what a legacy smells like.”They moved fast.No time for second-guessing. No time for fear.The estate's interior guards mobilized in seconds—rifles slung, armor thrown over cotton. Every man knew what was at stake.The Valentino name.The De Luca stronghold.And her.---By the time Serena reached the outer wall, the first wave had already descended.Black masks. Submachine guns. Tactical vests marked with a Roman numeral: II.She didn’t wait for orders.She climbed the southwest turret, picked off two intruders with dead
Last Updated: 2025-07-04
Chapter: Chapter Sixteen :The Queen Rises
The villa smelled of gunpowder and roses.A strange combination of death and beauty. But perhaps fitting, Serena thought, as she stood alone in the grand southern wing of the estate, the silence wrapping around her like a funeral veil.It had been three days since the incident.Three days since she had ended Victor Romano’s life with her own blood-stained hands.Three days since she’d looked into the eyes of the man who claimed to be her father—who had held her mother in chains like a trophy—and watched the truth split her in half.Since then, she hadn’t slept.Not because she couldn’t.Because she didn’t want to.Sleep was for the safe. She was no longer safe.Victor Romano was gone.But his war had only just begun.---The courtyard garden—once filled with sun and serenity—now stood drenched in shadow and silence. The stone paths were slick with morning dew, and the roses she had once admired were trimmed back with brutal efficiency, their thorns sharper than ever.Serena stood whe
Last Updated: 2025-07-01
Chapter: Chapter Fifteen :A Daughter of War
The clock read 3:07 a.m. Serena Vale stood alone in front of the mirror, lacing her boots with trembling hands. Dressed in matte black from throat to heel, she looked nothing like the pampered bride the council once underestimated. She was lean. Silent. Sharp. And for the first time, completely untethered. The message had said come alone. And she would. Because if the photo was real—if her mother was still alive—then no trap, no ambush, no army would stop her from getting her back. Matteo was still asleep. She left no note. Only a single dagger on his bedside table. It had been her father’s. If she didn’t return, he’d know what it meant. --- She took the Ducati. Fast. Silent. Deadly. The coordinates led her to the outskirts of Taranto, near the crumbling ruins of an old watchtower once used by the Black Dagger syndicate,a place Matteo had told her to never go near. A place that now glowed in the dark with low lights and the pulse of movement. Serena ditched the bike tw
Last Updated: 2025-07-01
Claimed by the Alpha's Curse
Abused. Rejected. Powerful.Nineteen year old Lyra Thorn has spent her entire life at the bottom of the pack hierarchy,an omega orphan, abused by her foster pack and branded unworthy of love. But on the night of her first shift, everything changes.She discovers that her fated mate is none other than Alpha Kaelen Draven,the cruel and cursed Alpha of the Nightshade Pack, a man whispered about in terror, a monster said to have slaughtered his own family.Kaelen is forbidden to take a mate, his wolf unstable, his soul teetering on darkness.But fate has other plans.When war looms between rival packs and ancient secrets rise, Lyra must embrace a dangerous power buried in her bloodline and risk everything for the mate she was never supposed to have.In a world where betrayal is survival and love is a death sentence…Will they break the curse—or each other?
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Chapter: Chapter nineteenSmoke still lingered in Lyra’s lungs, even days after the return from the sea. Not the acrid stench of battle, but the cloying, electric residue of ancient magic,it was a scent that clung to her hair and skin no matter how many times she bathed. It had followed them back to the Accord like a shadow that didn’t know when to leave.The Council chambers were quieter than usual.There were no arguments amongst the council members.No raised voices. Just the unease that hung between the leaders like an unspoken pact. Kaelen stood behind her, arms folded, gaze fixed on the massive stained-glass window at the back of the hall. It depicted the first moonrise after the Great rising—a historical myth more symbolic than true. And yet, something about it felt... prophetic now.“They’re afraid,” Lyra said softly.“They should be,” Kaelen replied, his voice low. “The second Gate was sealed. But sealing it wasn’t the same as destroying it. They know that.”Lyra turned toward the Council, where Eld
Last Updated: 2025-07-09
Chapter: Chapter eighteenIt wasn’t the smooth silver mirror described in stories, nor the playful tides painted on childhood murals. It was vast and hungry, its waves were blackened by storm-winds and haunted with the breath of ghosts. They reached the coastline in three days, riding under the banner of the Accord, but even that sacred emblem did little to calm the villagers that greeted them.“Stay off the eastern shoals,” a toothless old woman warned as they secured the boats. “That sea remembers the old ones. It remembers who bled into it.”Kaelen thanked her politely and moved on.Lyra paused longer, staring into the foam-crusted surf. The wind tangled her cloak, sent her hair whipping around her shoulders like strands of moonlight caught in a gale. Behind her, Iris stood quietly, her gaze locked not on the horizon, but on the seabirds flying inland as if they were fleeing something they couldn't name.“Is this where the second seal is?” Lyra asked the girl softly.Iris didn’t look at her. “It’s undernea
Last Updated: 2025-07-06
Chapter: Chapter SeventeenThe Gate was sealed. The Sovereign was gone.But Lyra couldn’t sleep.She sat by the dying embers of the Accord’s victory fires, her cloak wrapped tightly around her shoulders. The scent of ash and blood still clung to the air. Even with the sky quiet and the land no longer weeping shadow, something inside her refused to settle.Not fear. Not even sorrow.Restlessness.Kaelen had fallen asleep not far from her, curled around the small Seer child, whose name they still didn’t know. The girl had wandered into the Gate’s chaos barefoot, fearless and then simply stayed, curling beside Kaelen after the battle as though she’d belonged there all along.Lyra watched them now, trying to understand what the child was. Who she was.Because the girl didn’t speak. She only watched. With eyes too ancient for her face.And now, even the stars felt like they watched through her.A soft voice stirred the air.“You should rest, too.”Lyra turned.Elder Ysara stood at the edge of the firelight, her shad
Last Updated: 2025-07-04
Chapter: Chapter sixteenThe moment the Gate fully opened, the world bled.Reality twisted. The valley howled. Darkness didn’t pour from the tear—it poured into it, like a mouth inhaling, ready to consume. Lyra stood at the center of a vortex of wind, magic, and bone, her silver-flamed hands stretched wide, anchoring the protective stakes the Vowbound had carved into the ground.“Hold the circle!” she shouted over the chaos.Veera’s voice came from somewhere behind her, breathless. “One of the wards just snapped! We’re exposed on the west flank!”Kaelen snarled, his wolf tearing through a pair of Hollowed beasts slithering on limbs far too long to be natural. Blood sprayed the earth. His eyes glinted silver beneath the full moon.“Lyra!” he shouted. “They’re breaching faster than we can kill them!”“I know,” she ground out, voice ragged. “But we’re not trying to stop them—we’re trying to draw him out.”As if summoned, the Sovereign’s laughter cut through the storm like glass across skin.“You think I’ll fight
Last Updated: 2025-07-03
Chapter: Chapter fifteenThe Gate pulsed.Not with life but with memory.Each beat was a cry from the dead, echoing through the frost-choked air as if the earth itself mourned what had once been buried and now begged to rise. Lyra stood at the edge of the valley, wind whipping her cloak around her legs, eyes locked on the iron-bone monolith that stood crooked in the center of the desecrated grave field.She couldn’t look away.Because it was looking back.The air was heavy with old magic that was older than the Hollowed, older even than the Rift. This was ancestral. Primeval. A kind of quiet madness stitched into soil and sky.Kaelen stood beside her, hand resting near the hilt of his blade. “It’s... watching.”Lyra nodded, her voice thin. “It remembers me.”“You’ve never been here before.”“I don’t have to be,” she whispered. “I was born from what it holds.”Behind them, Veera and the scouts had set perimeter wards. Halden crouched near the treeline, muttering tracking incantations, while the child—the Seer
Last Updated: 2025-07-01
Chapter: Chapter fourteenThe snow began to fall again when they left the ruins of the Archives.Not the kind that signaled storm or danger. It was soft,haunting, almost beautiful but Lyra couldn’t feel it the way she once might have. The cold didn’t bite her. The wind didn’t chill. Ever since the vision, ever since the truth had settled in her bones, she felt half fire, half shadow. As though she no longer belonged entirely to the world that had birthed her.Kaelen rode beside her in silence, eyes alert to every crunch of snow beneath hooves. Behind them, Veera and Halden whispered between themselves. The two scouts, trailing at the rear, remained tense—uneasy ever since the vision at the archives had triggered a magical surge that split the ground like a wound.They didn’t ask questions.But Lyra could feel it.They feared her now.“South pass up ahead,” Kaelen murmured. “Two days’ ride to the Accord’s northern post.”She didn’t respond.He looked at her sideways. “You’ve barely spoken.”Lyra turned toward t
Last Updated: 2025-06-30
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