Knife Cuts

Kai writes the truth no one wants to hear. Especially not about Jax—the untouchable alpha captain who owns the rink and everyone’s attention. Kai’s articles tear Jax apart, call out the ego, the dirty hits, the way he plays like the world owes him. Jax should hate him. Instead, he watches. Remember. Because four years ago, one drunken night at a party locked them in a room, and Kai walked away pretending it never happened. Jax never forgot. Now the pull is back—violent, quiet, impossible to shake. Jax corners him, crowds him, makes him feel it all over again. But Milo’s there too—the steady defenseman who’s loved Kai silently since freshman year, who knows exactly what happened that night and did nothing. One secret could burn the team down. One choice could burn Kai down. In a world where the ice is thin and loyalty fractures, love isn’t clean—it’s a blade. And someone’s going to bleed. ***************** Trigger Warning: ‘Dark romance for mature readers only. Contains dubious consent, captivity, degradation, choking, knife play, violence, blackmail, and heavy emotional trauma. All characters are adults. Purely fictional.”

Ten years of love. Ten years of loyalty. And it all ends with a knife to her heart. Aria devoted her youth to Evan — a man who whispered forever but only craved her body. When he betrayed her for a rich heiress, she thought heartbreak was the worst pain she’d ever know… until the night he tried to erase her from existence. But fate has a twisted sense of mercy. Aria wakes up ten years earlier, lying in the same bed with the same man who will one day destroy her. Only this time, something’s different. Her body is the same, but her mind has changed — she can hear every filthy, selfish thought inside his head. This isn’t a second chance at love. This is a second chance at revenge. Now, with beauty, brains, and a new supernatural gift, Aria will play the game better than he ever could. She’ll make him fall, she’ll make him beg… and she’ll burn everything he ever wanted to the ground. But as she walks the dangerous path of vengeance, a mysterious stranger enters her life — someone who’s always been in the shadows, waiting for her to remember him. And his thoughts? Unlike the others, she can’t read them at all…

I was once the most respected female intelligence officer in the underworld. I controlled black market trade, port lockdowns, and risk assessments for every smuggling route. These were the basics every new recruit learned on their first day in the Mafia. But my intel was never reliable. As time went by, everyone caught on. In this city, whether the ports were locked down or open for business didn't depend on intel. It depended on whether Vincenzo's childhood friend was in a bad mood. I had just sent an order over the family's secure channel: "Level-one lockdown. All shipping routes are closed." A moment later, the ports were thrown wide open. My rival mocked me in front of everyone. "Isabella's supposed to be the queen of underworld intelligence, isn't she? What happened, did she lose her touch?" Other family members twisted the knife without a second thought. "Her husband changes the rules at a word from his precious Amelia. Who's going to listen to her anymore?" "She's on the hook for any losses from this. That route reopening is going to bankrupt her!" I clutched a stack of formal censures from the family. I said nothing. It didn't matter. I was done being a pawn in their games. Soon, I would be gone for good.

After working overtime at the company for an entire week, I finally finish the last project on my plate and rush home. Not wanting to wake my sleeping wife, Mia Lawson, I carefully push the door open as quietly as I can. But the house is nothing like the silence I expected. A man's unrestrained laughter cuts sharply through the air. "You're already pregnant and still this bold. Aren't you afraid your husband will catch you?" "Why would I be? He hasn't been home for almost a week. Besides, once I tell him I'm pregnant, he'll be over the moon. There's no way he'll notice anything." In an instant, my hands and feet turn ice-cold, and blood rushes to my head. I'm about to charge in and catch them in the act when my phone suddenly vibrates with a follow-up message from the hospital. "Mr. Brooks, thank you for choosing our hospital for your vasectomy. We wish you and your wife a lifetime of happiness." A lifetime of happiness? I stare at those words, let out a cold laugh, and regain my composure. Then I turn around and call my divorce lawyer.

My father loved silence. He believed noise was the mark of lesser people, so he installed a decibel meter in our home. Speaking above 40 decibels meant that we would have to pay him 10 dollars, laughing above 60 decibels meant 50 dollars, and crying or throwing a tantrum was a serious offense at 100 dollars per second. The year I turned four, I fell and broke my arm. I did not make a single sound. I bit down so hard that I cracked two teeth, but I saved thousands in noise fees. He praised me for it and called me a "high-value child," one that was worth the investment. I treasured that compliment and observed the rules carefully, keeping the house wrapped in suffocating silence. Then came the stormy night a thief broke in. He had a knife and was creeping toward my mother as she slept, and I watched it all from the gap in the wardrobe where I was hiding. I wanted to scream. I wanted to shriek and wake my father, to do something, anything. However, my eyes drifted to the decibel meter on the wall, and my hand found nothing but an empty pocket. I did not have enough allowance. One scream would cost hundreds, and I simply could not afford it.

* "I'm a fairy, the last of my kind. I'm not all rainbow wings and fairy dust. I am chaos and mayhem. Blood and death. I am here for revenge!" My mate holds me against the floor as she looks down at me defiantly. It's so cute! She even has a wee little knife to my throat as she yells at me. I can't help but get excited about how much fun this is going to be. "Fuck, that's hot baby doll." I say seriously as my dragon starts to purr for her.* The revolution began when a strong group of shifters known as 'The council' decided that magic wielders held too much power in this world. They have hunted and killed men, women and children alike, basking in their spot at the top of the food chain. They have no idea what is waiting in the shadows, hiding under their beds and ready to slit their throats. The resistance, led by one little dangerous fairy they call 'Slayer'. She is ready to lay down her life to bring back balance to the world and nothing will stand in her way. Not even the cinnamon roll dragon, broody vampire, smitten hellhound, loyal werewolf and cocky siren who all claim that she is their soulmate, and they won't take no for an answer.

Chloe Bishop was the city’s golden girl—the "First Lady" of high society. Wealthy, breathtakingly beautiful, and deeply in love, she was the envy of everyone. When Liam was a broken outcast who had lost everything, Chloe was the one who reached out, pulling him from the wreckage of his life. She gave him her heart, her family’s status, and six devoted years. But on the morning of their lavish, multi-million dollar wedding, the dream shatters. Instead of an "I do," Liam leaves her at the altar, delivering a cold confession that pierces like a knife: “The one I’ve always loved is Sara Jay.” Overnight, the city's golden girl becomes its biggest laughingstock. Betrayed by her fiancé and haunted by a dark secret involving her father, Charles, Chloe is expected to crumble. But as the world waits for her to beg for his return, Chloe wipes her tears and offers a chilling smile. "I know he’ll come back crawling eventually," she whispers, stripping off her silk veil. "But this time, I’m done waiting. It's time for the world to see what happens when a 'perfect' woman stops being nice." He broke her heart. Now, she’s going to break his empire.

A broken heart is the most perilous thing in the merciless realm of organized crime. Elara Vetrova never imagined that one visit would set off a sequence of betrayals that would cost her everything when she goes to the hospital to check on Leo Volkov, the strong and cold mafia kingpin and also the ex-lover of her sister. Recently involved in a near-fatal automobile accident, the volatile leader is released before she shows up and vanishes without a trace, leaving only questions and a terrible sense of abandonment. Elara finds her boyfriend, Dmitri Baranov, locked in a private hug with her sister Mara, at home. Especially as her family ignores her suffering coldly, the betrayal cuts more deeply than she could have expected. Elara's mother leaves her feeling more alone than ever before since she values family relationships above everything else and shows no reaction to her wrath. But when the dangerous Leo resurfaces in her life—unwillingly dragged back into a world of secrets and vengeance—Elara finds herself in the middle of a lethal game forced to face the demons of her past. Elara has to choose who she can trust between her broken family, a forbidden romance with the guy who still haunts her nightmares, and a deadly conspiracy endangering her own life—and if she is ready to risk all for a second shot at love.

My cousin, Isabelle Cox, dies of cancer. However, my adoptive parents, who have always loved her the most, don't shed a single tear. Instead, they go on an overseas trip with my adoptive brother, Cedric Cox. After they return, they give me an exquisite doll and ask me to put it right next to my bed every night. My adoptive mother, Vivian Mason, looks at my swollen eyes and smiles tenderly. "Why, you're such a grateful and sentimental kid. This is such a pretty doll. Let it stay by your side and accompany you like it's your sister, alright?" I agree. Later, my body becomes increasingly weak, and I sleep all day. One day, when I wake up, I am horrified to find that I am trapped inside the doll and can't move at all. My deceased cousin, Isabelle, became "me"! Beaming widely, she cuts my hair and also my limbs one by one. Then, she throws my mutilated body into the fire. As the flames engulf me, I see my adoptive family standing behind her. On their faces, they show happy and relieved expressions. When I open my eyes again, I am back to the day when they give me the doll.

“Reject me!” My voice is sharp, clear, and it cuts through the night like a blade. The entire pack freezes. Gasps ripple through the crowd. A stunned silence falls over the gathering, broken only by the crackling of the dying fire from the circus stage. Kane stiffens beside me. I don’t look at him. I can feel his anger, the sudden tension radiating from his body like a storm about to break. But I don’t back down. I lift my chin higher. “Reject me,” I say again, louder this time, making sure every single wolf in the pack hears me. Murmurs rise around us, whispers of disbelief. No one rejects an Alpha... Avery Lane, daughter of an Alpha gets kidnapped by her father's rival Alpha and she is forced to become his maid. A few days into staying there and working as his maiden, Avery turned eighteen and discovered that Her kidnapper, Alpha Kane was her mate and she immediately rejected him, not minding the repercussions. Alpha Kane has been on a search for his mate for so many years and when he finally found her, she rejected him and he vowed to make her regret her decisions.