457 Squid Game

Mira didn't come to Blackthorn Manor looking for anything. She came to disappear — to scrub floors, collect wages, and find a way to save her four-year-old daughter before her failing heart gave out. She wasn't supposed to be noticed. She definitely wasn't supposed to end up in the Alpha's room at midnight. But desperation makes decisions faster than logic does. Lucas Blackthorn is not what she expected. He sees through her lie in seconds and listens anyway. And something about the way he looks at her feels less like a first meeting and more like a recognition — something low and certain that neither of them has a clean explanation for. What Mira doesn't know yet is that this bond wasn't an accident. Someone arranged the night that started all of this, seven years ago in Duskfen territory. Someone has been waiting ever since for Iris to exist. And the thing that is slowly killing her daughter is tangled in a bloodline that powerful people buried for a reason. She came here to stay invisible. That's no longer an option. Some secrets protect you until they don't. Some bonds were built as weapons. And some truths, once spoken out loud, are the only thing that can save the people you love.

📖 Full Synopsis (Professional, 30-Chapter Summary) In a realm where the abyss bleeds whispers into men’s hearts, Aria, a gifted warrior bound to light, finds herself tethered to Lucien, a man scarred by an ancient mark. Their alliance begins in unease but quickly deepens into fragile trust, even as shadows stir within him. As armies clash and kingdoms fracture, Rowan, the enigmatic elder, and Kael, a fierce commander, fight to keep their ranks united. Yet Lucien’s mark grows restless, seeding betrayal, suspicion, and fear. Aria stands at his side, convinced that his humanity can be preserved, while others believe the abyss has already claimed him. The march to war spirals. Battles scar the land, alliances fray, and Lucien’s struggle becomes the fulcrum of fate. In the Breaking Storm, shadow and flame engulf the battlefield. Lucien teeters on the edge of becoming a weapon of the abyss. Aria refuses to yield, her voice anchoring him even as his blade rises against her. Kael’s blood is spilled in defiance, Rowan binds the storm in desperate runes, and Aria steps into the abyss itself, whispering her vow. In the climax, Lucien shatters his own blade, breaking free from the darkness—but not without scars. The storm collapses, leaving silence in its wake. In the aftermath, enemies bury their dead side by side. Kael rebuilds broken ranks, Rowan warns that the abyss never releases its scars, and Aria tends to Lucien’s healing—both body and soul. Though the mark lingers faintly beneath his skin, her vow holds stronger: never again will the abyss take him. The book closes on dawn: the storm passed, the stars returned, and two hands held fast against the dark.

In a brutal all-male cadet academy where discipline is law and weakness is quietly erased, obedience is not requested—it is engineered. Elias enters the institution for survival. Debt, obligation, and limited options leave him with one rule: endure. He believes discipline is a tool, something external he can master and leave behind once his training is complete. He is wrong. The academy does not simply train bodies—it reshapes awareness. Silence becomes instruction. Proximity becomes pressure. Choice erodes long before it is ever questioned. Elias draws the attention of Instructor Vale, a senior authority figure whose control relies not on punishment, but on restraint. Vale does not command often. He observes. He waits. He allows Elias to adjust himself—until obedience feels voluntary and resistance feels unnatural. As training intensifies, Elias finds himself isolated, refined, and increasingly dependent on the presence that once unsettled him. The line between discipline and desire begins to blur, forcing him to confront a dangerous question: is he being controlled, or is he choosing alignment? In a system designed to strip autonomy while calling it order, Elias must decide whether obedience is something done to him—or something he is willing to claim. Under Orders is a slow-burn psychological MM novel exploring power, conditioning, and the unsettling intimacy of control—where submission is not demanded, but learned.

On a scale of one to ten, my life had always dangled between three and four, thanks to my very wretched humble background, until the day it hit zero. "I will give you the money on the condition that you send that text to Asher." Mia Harper began with a mischievous smile on her face. "Asher?" I repeated. "You heard me right." No way. Asher Thorne was the hottest, attractive and most popular kid in school. Bad boy, star hockey player, arrogant and snobbish, were the perfect words to describe him with. He hardly ever smiled and didn't talk to just 'anybody'. I stared down at the ridiculous message typed on my phone screen... And that was how it all started for the scholarship student, Grace Williams, the cool genius who preferred to stay invisible and out of trouble. But not for long. Thanks to Mia, she gets tangled with Asher and fresh troubles that came with their forbidden alliance. Determined to tame the bad boy, she steps into a world of secrets, rivalry, and dangerous attraction. Will she survive it? And more importantly… will she dare to step into the love zone?

She was the mate of a cruel Alpha —beaten, silenced, and stripped of her dignity. He was the newly crowned Alpha King —powerful, feared, and haunted by his own scars. Nikolai doesn’t believe in love, not after his first love dumped him for his brother. Zara has lost everything: her parents, her pride, and now her freedom. Being forced to serve the very mate who delights in her pain, and a best friend who would do anything to see her downfall. When fate draws the Alpha King to her pack, Nikolai never expects to find his true mate locked away in an abandoned shed, broken and bleeding. He swore he’d never let another woman close, and she swore the goddess had forgotten her, but destiny has other plans. The road ahead is brutal, the bond undeniable, but together, the crowned and the rejected will challenge fate itself.

Averine Cullen, the half human and half werewolf girl had only one dream; to find her fated mate and leave her Alpha father, his family and the toxic pack forever but she had a flaw. She was scentless. On the night of her eighteenth birthday, she met her destined mate who claimed her without realizing their mate bond and disappeared the next morning. Humiliated and punished, she was given to cruel Alpha Heyden Croft in a marriage but he had other plans for her. He presented her in a secret auction to sell her to the highest bidder. There was no hope for Averine to escape the hell she was about to experience until Lycan King, Winston Primrose crashed the auction to claim the girl whose face had been bothering him ever since he laid his eyes upon her and spent an unforgettable night with her. She was claimed by him but he was yet to discover the connection between them.

Th‍e⁠ir marriage was a transaction.⁠ Th‍eir war was p‍e‌rsonal. T⁠hei‌r pas‌sion was unforeseen. Elara Vega is an⁠ artist whose life i‌s p‌ainted in bold⁠, rebellio‌us colors. When a devastating betrayal by he‌r‍ own family threa‍tens to de⁠stroy everything‍ her⁠ father built, she is‌ given a brut⁠al ch‍oice: sell her‌ freedom to save his le⁠gacy. ⁠Kaelan Sterling is a billionaire fortress of ice and ambit‍ion. To secu⁠re a cruc‌ial merger and shield his empire from a l‌urking threat, he needs‍ one thing: the per⁠fect, unto⁠uchable wife. He doesn't want lo‌ve; he wants a business‍ pa‍rtner. Bound by a cold, clinical contract, they a⁠re‌ enemies from‍ the start. He sees her as a chaotic liability. She sees him as a heartless tycoon. Their for‌ced proximity is a battle of‌ will‍s, fi⁠lled⁠ with sha‌rp word‌s and eve‌n sharper attra‍ction. Bu‍t in t‍he gilded cag⁠es of penthouses⁠ a‌nd high‌-society ga‍la⁠s, a dangerou‍s fire ignites. As a c‍ommon en‍emy closes in, their fa⁠ke r⁠elationship begins to feel terrifyingly real. The lines between strategy and surrender b‍lur. But when hi‍dden truths surface and old‍ wounds are ripped open, their fragile trus⁠t shatt⁠ers. Now, El⁠ara must‌ decide if the man behind th‍e fortune‌ i‍s worth the ultimate risk, and Kaelan must learn that some bonds are too powerful to be broken-even by a billion-dollar contract.

Zachary gave himself one rule before he died. Love someone. Just once. Just enough to know what it feels like. He chose her on purpose. She never chose this at all. And somewhere between his cold silence and everything he is hiding from her — Isla starts to feel things a dying man was never supposed to make her feel. He has a plan. She doesn't know she's in it. And the clock is already running. What happens when the man who chose to love you never planned to let you find out why he has to let you go?

Kael Draven is destined to rule the nation’s strongest pack, bound by duty and a betrothal to Seraphine Vale, Moonridge Academy’s golden Luna-in-training. But fate doesn’t care about rules. The moment Elara— the new scholarship, quiet, human, and supposedly powerless girl steps onto campus, everything shifts, Protocols shatter. Kael’s wolf claims her. And Elara begins unlocking secrets that should’ve stayed buried… including a prophecy tied to a lost royal bloodline. She shouldn’t have lasted a day. Now she might change everything. But Seraphine the betrothed Luna won’t give up her crown without a fight. And when black magic comes into play, Elara must face more than just destiny, she must survive it. Will she rise and claim what’s hers? Or be destroyed before the truth sets her free?

Poppy died from exhaustion at work, lying helplessly on her cold desk. She died a virgin who had never been with a man, leaving behind many regrets, and because of those regrets, she was given a second chance. When Poppy opened her eyes again, she found that she had transmigrated to another world. She was overjoyed and intended to find a handsome man in this new world. However, all of Poppy's hopes were shattered when she realized that this world was in the midst of an Apocalypse! [Welcome to the Virgin Survival Guide System!] [To survive in this frozen world, the Host must seek warmth from the affection of others. If the Warmth Meter reaches zero, the Host will die.] Poppy was stunned, not only did she have to survive in the middle of a frozen world, but now her life was also in danger!