Maki Zenin Burned

"One more step and I will make you regret" He hissed with his burning gaze on me. My body stiffened and I remained still at the same place. His threatening words choked me. I pitied myself for how helpless I'd become. But my intrusive thoughts said otherwise, what if I didn't listen to him and ran further away from him? I felt a pair of hands rise to my shoulder. My breath became unstable feeling his skin on me. "Good girl" he hushed in my ear letting out a silent gasp due the surprise act of his. I think I have just let my mind win over the fear I had for him. ~~~~~~~~~ Aster Di Fazio gets tangled into an arranged marriage with the heir of one the wealthiest families, Adagio Amato-the most feared and filthy rich. He never goes against his parents and hates the idea of commitment. As for Aster, she was a simple girl with a loving heart. She has always been under her parent's shield and was showered with love and comfort-a heart of generosity and happiness. They're opposite to each other in every way possible, but they carry the same last name. This marriage didn't look promising and every member of their family knew that. It is no more than a contract after which all of it will be burned and blown away with wind. Well, that's what everyone thought.

Aurora should have stepped back when Andrews glared at her with anger upon realizing she wasn’t who he expected. His gaze burned, but she held her head high, swallowing her tears and fear, moving forward toward the inevitable. She had no idea who she was truly facing, but Andrews was not her biggest problem. That’s why she was determined to see this through until she got what she needed. At the altar, before everyone, she said "yes" and bound herself to a marriage that was never meant to be hers. Janete, the real bride, had deceived him. She ran away, leaving Aurora in her place without a single explanation. But no one could know why Aurora was there, and now she alone carried the weight of that secret. Andrews, betrayed and humiliated, had no choice but to accept the union, but his heart was consumed by hatred. To him, Aurora was nothing more than an extension of the woman who had deceived him. What he didn’t know was that his new wife was much more than that—his enemy, just like Janete. But he, too, hid secrets about his true past with Janete. Trapped in a web of lies and resentment, how long will Aurora endure the scorn of the man she was forced to marry? And when will Andrews realize that perhaps he married the wrong woman… or the right one, the only one who can make him face what haunts him?

“Say it,” Kael growled, his hand tightening around her throat—not enough to hurt, just enough to remind her who he was. “I’m yours,” Maya whispered, trembling. His lips hovered near hers, breath hot. “Even after I left you to die?” She swallowed. “Even now.” He kissed her like a curse—hungry, dangerous, and full of things he’d never say aloud. --- Maya never believed in fate—until the night her skin burned with the mark of the most feared Alpha in the realm. Weak, powerless, and exiled for a bond she never asked for, Maya finds herself hunted by the same man fate chose for her: Alpha Kael of Silverclaw. He claims she’s a mistake. A curse. But Maya is more than just a fragile girl. She’s the second chance of a woman long thought dead. Kael once loved Andrea, a powerful and noble wolf who descended into madness under a deadly curse. Her death shattered him. But when Maya bears the same mark and stirs the same soul-deep bond, Kael believes it’s the curse reborn—and rejects her violently to protect them all. Now on the run, Maya is saved by Rowan—Kael’s former Beta and best friend turned outcast. As truths unravel and passions ignite, Maya becomes the center of a dark prophecy that could destroy everything. But fate doesn’t care who you love. And true mates never stay strangers for long.

“I’ll come back, Akiro,” Heli’s cold voice was calm, making him sound even more dangerous. The Crystal of Fate had appeared again after years of waiting. With it came the last chosen mate of the Regia Solaria royal family. The youngest prince—Helios—was the only one unhappy about the Crystal’s return because he hated having his fate dictated by anything or anyone. Determined to resist, he left, refusing to succumb to the Crystal’s power. But when things began to spiral out of control, Helios realised the Crystal was to blame. By the time he saw who his mate was, it was too late—he had already been tricked. And just like everyone else, he was instantly captivated by his mate's beauty. Akiro Valerian Freniere was a simple human being—perhaps too good-looking for his own good, too kind, and far too hormonal. He attracted attention and admirers everywhere he went but had never been in a relationship in his nineteen years of life. He knew where his interests lay, but society wasn’t always kind to people like him. So what would he do when, one day, a persistent and strangely intense man approached him, claiming they were mates? A man with near otherworldly visuals—platinum blonde hair and red eyes that burned with intensity whenever they looked at Akiro. Oh, and one more thing: the man was also a vampire.

The boy, George Larson, whom I once saved as a child, when he was struggling with asthma, repaid my kindness by imprisoning me for seven long years. "Luna, you're my everything. I won’t let you out of my sight," he said, his voice filled with obsession. He tied my hands and feet, keeping me bound to the bed like a helpless doll, but I did not love him; I wanted to escape. In his madness, he set fire to my family’s ancestral home. The last traces of the Sachs burned to ashes, disappearing into the wind. He said that since my home was gone, I could just live with him and that it would be my new home. However, because I refused to let him touch me, he found someone else—a girl with a beauty mark under her eye, just like mine. The girl, drunk on his affection, thought I was trying to imitate her by faking the same tear-shaped mark. In a fit of jealousy, she gouged out my eyes. My face was covered with tiny, bleeding holes, blood streaming down my body. When George came home, the girl gleefully stuffed me into a trash bag, proud of her handiwork. “George, look! I caught some trash that broke into the house!” George did not even glance at me. He just loosened his tie, his voice calm and detached. “Just toss it where trash belongs.”

Three days before my marking ceremony, someone set fire to the bridal shop while I was inside trying on my ceremonial dress. Alpha Marcus threw the arsonist into the pack prison, sentencing them to the harshest punishment our laws allowed. I lay in the hospital bed, my body covered in third-degree burns, refusing to wake fully as the reality of my disfigurement sank in. In my semi-conscious state, I heard Marcus speaking with the pack's healing witch. "Alpha, we can still heal her completely with the ancient magic. If we wait any longer, Sarah will bear these scars for life! You just want Miss Rachel to be your Luna at the marking ceremony. This is cruel beyond measure!" "Let her keep the scars. I'll provide for her for the rest of her life, but if she's healed, she'll definitely cause trouble at the marking ceremony." "I promised Rachel that her pup would be welcomed into the pack with full honors. Only when Sarah is completely disfigured will she be grateful enough to raise Rachel's child as her own. The scars are necessary - at least this way, she won't dare mistreat the pup." In the corner of the room, where no one was watching, a tear slid down my burned cheek. So this was the truth. The marking ceremony I'd dreamed of was nothing but a lie. The mate bond I longed for would be my death sentence. If that's how it had to be, I would give him what he wanted.

Then, with deliberate slowness, he reached for a small black bottle. “I thought you would prefer the gentle way,” he murmured. “Guess I was wrong.” The poison burned down my throat—Deadly Nightshade. It was once my favorite. I had used it to end others. Now, he was using it on me. “Sometimes,” he whispered, “the person you once loved is the one who finally kills you.” ~~~~~ Brinda Virginia’s life has always been a battle—against fate, against her own fire, and against a heart that beats too weakly to match the storm inside her. Abandoned as a child and raised by the only woman who ever truly loved her, she’s now facing her biggest loss yet. Her stepmother is dying. And the clock is ticking—seventy-two hours. That’s all the time she has to save her. But then he returns. Francesco Dante. Her past. Her ruin. A man cloaked in shadows, bearing a twisted bargain—submit to him, body and soul, or lose everything. To save the only family she has left, Brinda must surrender. But submitting, in a world ruled by power, lust, and betrayal, is never truly submission. Because this man doesn’t just want to own her—he wants to unmake her, unravel her, and turn her fire to ash. And the most devastating part? She might just let him. And love, in this kind of story, always draws blood.

~BOOK ONE OF THE LOVE SERIES. Love’s darkest spark. ❧ To my darlings who wants to be owned and dominated, here is a perfect chance to get on your fucking knees. ❧ Love didn’t save them, hate did. Nicole Daniels never imagined her world would fall apart so violently. Betrayed by her husband, backstabbed by her best friend, and left grieving a child she never got to hold. She's done pretending to be okay. When Rhett Otis, her ex-husband’s cold and infuriating stepbrother, offers her a contract marriage with an offer she can’t refuse, she accepts without hesitation. It’s not love, It’s not hope. It’s survival and revenge or so she told herself. Yet she didn’t fall for him. She crashed, burned, and never recovered. While Rhett told her they were just business but he kissed her like she was his. He was supposed to stay away from her but he married her instead. She was forbidden, but he craved her destruction— hated her for slipping under his skin and hated himself even more for needing her to stay there. What began as a business arrangement becomes a brutal tangle of secrets, yearning, and something neither of them dare name. Enemies. Pretenders. Liars. That’s all they were ever meant to be. But sometimes, pretend hate burns too hot and love becomes the darkest spark.

So you don't remember Lexi?" Piercing blue eyes stare in to mine, I watch as he licks his lips and he takes a sip from his whiskey. "You don't remember how you screamed our names that night?" The deep voice from beside me chuckles and I look in his direction, brown eyes, taking me in from head to toe. "We could always remind you Lex, you just have to say the word" *** 5 years ago after a drunken one night stand with two of the most eligible bachelors in town-Lexi ran away. There's two reasons why - one, they're her brother's best friends and two, it just absolutely can't happen. Now she's back in town and hopes to avoid them like the plague but Damien and Parker have other plans, they've had their share of fun but no one could ever top that night. Their little vixen ran off and they let her but she's back and they have no plans on letting her go again. That night is burned into Lexi's memory and soon these two men are everywhere she goes, in everything she touches and it's only a matter of time till she gives in. Now the only question she needs answered is how long can she avoid this fruit of temptation? And what could possibly go wrong?

“I am sorry, Mr. Thomas, but I am married—" "To an asshole," Thomas interrupted, his voice dripping with disdain. My eyes flashed with anger. "To my husband," I corrected. Thomas raised an eyebrow. "Your husband doesn't know or care that you're crying because he's in there flirting with another woman." My face burned with shame. "He's just socializing," I defended, frustration betraying my words Thomas snorted. "By trying to get into her pants." He smirked, moving closer while I retreated, the space between us shrinking with every step. "I am sorry, Mr. Thomas, but my marital life is none of your business." "Only I can decide that." He said, his smirk twisting into a snarl I opened my mouth to protest, but he cut me off. “Say one more word and I'll have you right here and now" he said, his voice a low, husky growl. His finger traced the curve of my face, my heart racing and I felt my defenses crumbling. In a lightning-fast move, his lips slammed into mine, crushing me with a kiss that was both savage and intoxicating. ****** Two people, different worlds, with just one thing in common - Secrets. What happens when formidable sparks begin to brew and secrets threatens to unravel?