Northern Lights

The city lights of Valenfort burned bright against the suffocating dark like a gem tainted by blood. Beneath that glittering surface lay nameless alleys where the scent of iron and the echoes of screams intertwined into a symphony of hell. No one remembered the last time they saw a real sunrise for this city had long belonged to the night. Evelyn Cross , a fourth-generation vampire hunter of the secretive order known as The Order of the Thorn , was born in blood and sworn to die for her mission. She had once watched her father torn apart by a pureblood vampire, a creature so fearsome that humans dared only whisper its name in prayer. Since that day, Evelyn lived like a blade cold, unfeeling, and driven by the hunt. Until she met Lucien Draven , the Blood King of Valenfort who ruled the shadows with a calm smile and eyes that could stop a heartbeat. Lucien did not kill Evelyn upon their first encounter. Instead, he saved her from the very comrades who had betrayed her. A vampire saving a hunter such a thing had never happened in the history of either world. Evelyn despised him… yet could not kill him. Lucien desired her… yet knew his love was her death sentence. In Valenfort, a war of blood is rising. The ancient vampire houses are clawing for dominance, while the hunters’ order fractures under betrayal and deceit. Amidst gunfire, betrayal, and desire, Blood War is not merely a battle between species but between the heart and fate itself. “In the world of darkness, truth isn’t written in ink… but in blood.”

My Alpha mate, Dominic, rules the entire Stormfang Pack, but in our ten years together, he has never once given me a gift. Even our bonding tokens—a pair of rare healing crystals that cost me an entire year's savings—were taken by him without hesitation. He claimed that as Alpha he needed to appear frugal and understated, which is why he marked me in secret without hosting a proper mating ceremony. Because of this, most pack members don't even know I'm his mate. Yet when Sylvia, his childhood sweetheart, returned to Stormfang territory, he publicly announced their mating plans. He even dipped into the pack's long-term savings to throw her an extravagant celebration. When my mother was attacked by rogue wolves and left critically wounded, I begged Dominic to return my healing crystals—the only things that could save her life. Instead of helping, he denied knowing me in front of the entire pack and ordered his guards to drive me away with burning torches. Later, my mother died during the Blood Moon Festival. I lost my only family during what should have been our most sacred celebration. I renounced my Stormfang membership that same night and accepted the Northern Shadow Pack's Chief Healer position. While packing my belongings, Dominic returned from his honeymoon with Sylvia. He found me and assumed I was merely sulking. For the first time ever, he made a generous offer: "Come on, what could possibly happen to your mother? At worst, I'll give you that fancy mating ceremony you've always wanted. That should satisfy her desire to be an Alpha's mother-in-law." What he didn't realize was that from the moment my mother died, I had already sworn to the Moon Goddess that our mate bond would be broken forever.

This Christmas was supposed to be quiet. My boyfriend cheated earlier, bluntly, and I was left with nothing but heartbreak and resentment which now reeked from within me. I planned to spend the holidays curled on my couch, watching Tik Tok, scrolling through my social media accounts, anything that wouldn't make me cry. But then Chloe, my best friend, invited me over. Her family's place was warm, full of life and exactly the escape I needed. I never expected anything. Definitely not him. Dominic Callahan. Chloe's father. I've always noticed him, strong, distant, way too captivating for someone his age though he never looked twice at me.... until now. I noticed the change. His eyes lingered longer. His words slower, even his stare. The air between us became tighter. I assured my self it was greif.... My emotions were taking a better part of me. But when he kissed me, I didn't refuse. When he pulled me into his room, I didn't say no. And then it became a normal thing. Everything in me flagged it wrong. Chloe didn't deserve this betrayal. But my desires didn't care about rules. And neither does her elder brother. Now, before Christmas lights go down...I'm with child. I only came for peace. But I found obsession, dirty secrets and something way too dangerous to name. This was supposed to be my holiday escape....so why does it feel like the beginning of my doom? Will you read on?

In my final year of high school, my parents died, leaving me nothing but a crumbling brick house. And yet, I somehow got myself a younger brother. He was a second-year student at our school, at the top of his grade. But no one respected him. Even when he was bullied, the teachers turned a blind eye. Why? Because even if others didn't beat him, his drunken father did it every day, while his cowardly mother never dared to fight back. I dragged him home with all my strength, patched up his wounds, and kept him with me for several days. Later, when his mother was beaten to death, I called the police and had his father arrested. "Hey," I told him, "from now on, live with me. I don't have any family left. Call me sister, and I'll put you through school." He dreamed of getting into a prestigious university. So I dropped out, set up a street stall, sold my own blood, and even took illegal jobs just to support him. When he graduated, he said he wanted to start a business. I gave him every cent of my savings. And then one day, I watched him stand beneath the dazzling lights, a radiant girl at his side, holding a trophy for a youth entrepreneurship award. I looked down at the cancer diagnosis in my hands. A bitter smile tugged at my lips. In the end, I had raised him into someone I could no longer reach. It was time for me to leave the stage.

I was perfect at everything. I have perfect beauty, perfect at school, etc. I can do a lot of things. Everyone envies me. And everyone adores me. But, there’s no such thing as perfect in this ugly world. Everyone has their own darkest secrets that are kept hidden from everyone else. I had mine and none of these people who envied and adored me knew how hard it is to keep them hiding in my closet. I had to be tough to survive. But, when I started getting along with the long-haired 33-year-old man, I realized how flawful I am in my perfect world. He made me realize my imperfections, that I can do sinful things, that I can also be a rebellious daughter, that I can also be an ordinary girl, that I can show off my true identity in front of him without being judged. He understands me because just like me, he’s also a broken soul. He embraced my imperfections. Little by little, my heart recognized him as a lover. I let him get into me, not just through my body, but through my heart, too. Princes do come in unexpected ways, isn't it?! But, behind actions are devious intentions. How did I fall into such a trap of destroying me and my whole clan? How did I not see the red lights? Oh wait, maybe because he's a master of deception. I thought he was the prince, the prince who's going to save me from the poisoned apple. He was the poison I should've run away from the first time he showed me the apple and said that it will grant all my wishes. I was the princess and he was the monster in disguise.

After a decade of chasing Carter Worthington, I'm finally worn out. Letting go of my unrequited love, I choose to embrace the man who has quietly loved me all along. His name is Eli Loxley. Not only is he a skilled surgeon, but he's also Carter's stepbrother. Although Eli spent his childhood living in Carter's shadow, he's the one who has captured my heart. On the night I accept his heartfelt confession, he lights up the entire Marrowfield sky with fireworks. He even buys a private island by the sea, where he proposes beneath a blanket of stars. I believe this is the start of my happiness. But before our wedding, Eli disappears without a trace. I end up finding him on a private yacht on the Redridge River, laughing and chatting with his friends. "The only reason I pursued Anya was to get back at Carter. "She's only enticing when she's out of reach. After sleeping with her, I realized she's nothing special. "Marriage isn't what I'm after. But using it for payback? Now that's the real temptation, wouldn't you agree?" I don't shed a tear. I slip the ring off my finger and toss it aside. On the day of the wedding, the venue would stand empty. The entire city of Oakmont would mock it. After everything, I've decided to be the one who runs away as well. But why is the one who didn't love me then now frantically pleading for me to return? I'm afraid this chapter has closed. I won't turn back.

"Take off your clothes. Spread your legs." "...What? Why?" The voice cut through the silence, and my heart seized. I instinctively covered my stomach. It was the first anniversary of my marriage to Alessandro, the Don of the Santoro family. I was pregnant and had wanted to surprise him. But his secretary, Liliana, had blindfolded me and brought me to this unfamiliar place. "Donna, stop playing the victim. Seducing men is your specialty, isn't it?" "Tonight, in this underground auction house, you are the final item on the block." A chill shot down my spine, and my voice trembled. "Are you insane? I'm the Donna of the Santoro family! I'm carrying his heir! Alessandro will kill you..." Liliana scoffed and ripped off my blindfold. Blinding lights bore down on me. I squinted, and gradually, a man sitting in the VIP section came into view... It was Alessandro! I stared in disbelief as he slowly extinguished the cigar in his hand. "Pregnant? Whose bastard are you carrying?" "It's yours!" I cried out. "Liar!" He raised his hand, and a report was tossed at my feet. The bold letters "PROBABILITY OF PATERNITY: 0%" burned my eyes. He came closer and gripped my chin. "Liliana was right. Women like you are rotten to the core." "My love was never enough to satisfy your greed." "And I, Alessandro, will never raise another man's bastard." Later, he finally learned the child was his. For the first time, the man who was always so composed, arrogant, and in control knelt before me, his voice trembling. "Celeste, I'm begging you... even if you can't forgive me, please, let me make it up to you." But I felt nothing for him anymore.

Ciara Mendes is a talented and captivating journalist at Flare Magazine, the best, where she tirelessly chases compelling stories while grappling with the emotional fallout of a recent heartbreak. Her journalistic prowess is matched only by her determination to heal personally, as she balances the demands of her high-pressure career with her pursuit of emotional recovery. Meanwhile, Giovanni Haynes, a strikingly handsome and enigmatic CEO of Anton Industry, captivates everyone around him with his undeniable charm and affluent lifestyle. Widely regarded as L.A.'s ultimate womanizer, Giovanni embodies a magnetic confidence that conceals a haunted past filled with betrayals and unfulfilled desires that linger like shadows in his life. As fate intertwines their paths, tensions rise, and the undeniable chemistry between Ciara and Giovanni ignites a spark that neither can resist, drawing them into an intoxicating whirlwind of passion and vulnerability. Their lives grow increasingly intertwined as they confront unresolved issues from their pasts, leading to a cascade of secrets surfacing that reveal a world rife with deception, lies, and hidden agendas. Each revelation pulls them deeper into the complexities of their connection, forcing them to navigate a maze of ambition, longing, and trepidation. Torn between their professional ambitions and the burgeoning attraction they cannot deny, Ciara and Giovanni find themselves at a crossroads where love becomes both a beautiful gift and a perilous gamble. Ultimately, they will come to understand that the most powerful stories are the ones that unfold in the depths of the heart, guiding them toward a reckoning that could change everything they thought they knew about love, trust, and forgiveness. In a city beautiful city defined by ambition and allure, where the glimmer of neon lights often masks the shadows of hidden agendas, Ciara Mendes and Giovanni Haynes find themselves at a crucial juncture.

Alexia’s life has never been easy. Raised in an orphanage after her mother — tormented by emotional disorders — took her own life without ever revealing who her father was, Alexia grew up knowing only instability and loss. Now, all she wants is a sense of safety she’s never had. But what should’ve been just a night of fun at Nox Trium, the most exclusive club in town, turns into a descent into the forbidden when she’s shot and crosses paths with two men as enigmatic as they are irresistible. Caelith, with his magnetic presence, and Samiel, dangerously charming and impossible to ignore, are not human. They are the cursed sons of fallen angels and mortal women — doomed to wander the earth, dependent on a rare kind of blood that only a few, like Alexia, can provide. Between glances that burn hotter than they should and a tension that threatens to consume her reason, Alexia finds herself torn between an inevitable attraction to Cael and the dangerous chemistry she shares with Samiel — one that stirs both fury and desire in equal measure. But Nox Trium hides secrets far darker than flashing lights and late-night excesses. Secrets that tie her to enemies capable of ending her life — and to a buried past now clawing its way to the surface. After being targeted by Azrion, another one of their kind, Alexia needs Cael and Samiel’s protection. She must decide whether to run… or surrender to the lethal fascination of the one who provokes her most. In the end, only two questions remain: How far is Alexia willing to go to uncover the truth about her origins? And how far will they go to keep her bound to their clan?

The nights in Vicente were a coexistence of order and gunfire. Tonight was the wedding, ten years overdue, between Anthony Oliver, the don of the Oliver mafia family, and Mabel Samson, the woman who had stood beside him through bloodshed, betrayals, and underworld wars. A top-tier luxury hotel had been cleared by the family's soldati. Below them glittered a sea of city lights; above them bloomed fireworks commissioned for the future Donna alone. The man known for his ruthlessness knelt on one knee with a rare diamond ring, his eyes filled with rare tenderness. "Mabel," he said, "you walked through hell at my side. Let me give you peace for the rest of your life." It seemed that all the sacrifices and patience had finally led somewhere. However, just as Mabel's fingers were about to touch the ring, a piercing scream came from above. "Don't! Anthony! Save me!" That single cry drew all of Anthony's attention away. The girl was not unfamiliar to Mabel. Two years earlier, Anthony's twin brother had been tortured to death by a rival mafia family while covering his retreat. His body was never recovered. And Cheryl Reyes was the fiancée he had protected with his life. Mabel watched as the man she loved abandoned everything without hesitation and ran toward another woman. She stepped forward and tried to stop him. "Don't go. The wedding isn't over." However, when their eyes met, the Don accused her coldly of being heartless and selfish. And in that moment, Mabel felt tired. Perhaps it was time, just once, to choose herself over the Family.