Smoke Symbolism

The news that Angelo Rizzo was becoming the new Don of Brucklin District had spread throughout the entire family. Everyone knew except me, Lila Bennett, his fiancee. He had always thought I was childish, like an irritating tail he couldn't shake off, sticking to him wherever he went. "I've only managed to bag Brucklin District all thanks to Cyrus." The study door was ajar as the scent of cigar smoke drifted out along with his voice. "Lila? Why bring her up? She's annoying. Like a piece of gum stuck to your hair." I crouched on the hallway carpet, lost in thought. Before, it was always Angelo leaving first and me realizing it too late. This time, I wanted to surprise him by going to Brucklin ahead of him. When he saw me there first, he'd realize that I was smart. But the next day, at the bus station, when the driver asked where I was going, I mixed Brucklin and Mannattan up. The driver grew impatient. Afraid he'd call me an idiot like Angelo would, I hurriedly shove the money at him. "To Mannattan! I'm going to Mannattan District!"

When my older brother, Ivan Goldsmith, gets drugged, I'm forced to strip down and use my body as an antidote for him. After I get pregnant, Mom and Dad tell us that we're not blood-related siblings at all. They then ask him to marry me. Ivan nods in agreement. But on the same day, he gets into a car accident after he goes racing. I don't mind him having crippled legs. In fact, I insist on becoming his bride. I thought Ivan would be touched upon hearing my declaration and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. On our wedding night, our villa goes ablaze. After waking up choking on the thick smoke, the first thing that pops into my mind is to save Ivan from the inferno. Unexpectedly, I see him smashing a vase right into my head. Before I pass out, I hear his icy voice. "You, Mom, and Dad have ruined my love life! I've given all of our assets to Vicky just to make amends to her! Since all of you have ruined my life, then you might as well die!"

A forgotten bite. A fake bond. A power no wolf was meant to command. Twelve years ago, Kira watched her home burn under a blood moon. Smoke in her lungs. A mother’s scarf in her hand. And a golden-eyed boy who bit her—not to mark her, but to silence her. He told her to stay quiet. To wait. Then he left. Now, Kira is back. Not to forgive. Not to forget. But to survive. To infiltrate the pack that destroyed her people. To find the boy who abandoned her and burn his world from the inside. But things have changed. That boy is now Alpha Ronan Vale—cold, ruthless, untouchable. When Kira is captured during the sacred Pack Trial, the Council calls for her execution. Ronan claims her instead, announcing a trial mating bond that isn’t real. At least… it’s not supposed to be. As secrets unravel and an ancient power stirs in her blood, Kira discovers she’s not just an omega. She’s something the world thought extinct—a Royal Omega, born to command alphas and destroy empires. And the fake bond? It starts to feel terrifyingly real. But the past has claws. The Council has plans. And someone is still hunting her—someone who once paid a killer to make sure she never lived long enough to be chosen. The bond was a lie. Until it wasn’t.

"Why did you buy me? Someone like me can't possibly be your mate." He chuckled low, exhaling the toxic smoke from his cigarette. "Darling, I'm not looking for a mate. I am looking for a slave." ---- After the tragic massacre of her pack, eighteen-year-old Alora Augustus was forced to enter an auction block, bruised and beaten. With her hopes washed down the drain, she decided she wouldn't go down without a fight. Mysteriously, she found herself bought by Alpha Conrad, the feared leader of the Ironfang pack, and a man whose heart is said to be as cold as ice. Even so, rumor has it that he has the charm to make every woman he beds to fall for him. If he thinks that she'd become one of his collections, then he's dead wrong. But little did she know, Conrad did not choose her randomly. He has secrets connected to the murder of her family. He thought she'd be a submissive and obedient slave. He didn't expect to see the fire in her eyes and the stubborn courage she carries with her like a crown despite being ripped off of dignity. In a world where power is everything, Alora struggles to survive while playing the dangerous game of love and trust. Is falling for her heartless captor be the end for her?

" I thought...I..owe you a child only..", Katherine whimpered in pain, several shreds of glasses making their way deeper into her skin. " Yes but now... you owe me your body too, Principessa.", Ace replied with a sly grin, the dark layer of smoke hiding the demons behind his hazel eyes. ********* Twenty years old, Katherine Harper had everything in her life, a perfect grade,sweet boyfriend and an unfulfilled dream of becoming the next top international fashion designer. Returning to her homeland after years spent abroad, Katherine was all ready to settle down with her long time boyfriend, Nathaniel Cooper. But on the day of her engagement ceremony,she never expected to meet her ex-boyfriend, Ace King who had now become the next billionaire in town. Ruthless, Cold, arrogant, Ace wasn't the same like her childhood lover from the past.When she accepted the bitter destiny that they let go of their past, Ace started to influence her emotions mentally and sometimes physically. Secrets were yet to reveal, hatred was yet to turn in love and Katherine had yet to fall in his Devil's Trap. At the end, Katherine had yet to learn that you can never hate a person whom you loved once.

I was a princess of the sea. And the moment I saw the werewolf Alpha, Dominic, I fell. Hard. I wanted to be his mate. To be part of his world. So I sacrificed everything I was to the Moon Goddess. But he locked me in the pack's isolation room for three days. To "think about what I'd done." All because I didn't rush to help his childhood friend, Harper. She took a dive at the pack banquet, and the room erupted in laughter. Harper cried and collapsed into Dominic’s arms. "Marina must be jealous of how good you are to me. She used her outsider magic to make me fall in front of everyone!" As he locked me away, Dominic's eyes were full of disappointment. "I've spoiled you, Marina. And now you're using my love as a weapon against my own people. Three days. When you're ready to submit, you will contact me through the mind link and apologize. Only then will I let you out." But he didn't know the truth. Burning sage soothes a werewolf's spirit. But for a mermaid, it’s poison. The smoke scorched my lungs. The poison flooded my veins. I suffocated in that sealed room. And no one ever knew.

Marked under a moon that should have killed her, Luna Eclipse is taken from her human life and thrust into Silverwood Academy, a hidden world where wolf shifters rule, magic breathes, and survival is never guaranteed. Torn between the boy she loved as a human and the dangerous pull of a new world, Luna is chosen by a goddess who grants her power, prophecy, and a fate no one else can carry. As rival packs rise, dark magic spreads, and ancient enemies return from smoke and shadow, Luna discovers that destiny is not a gift. It is a debt. Cursed with two true mates, hunted by a demon who feeds on grief, and forced to lead before she is ready, Luna’s journey is one of love, loss, and impossible choices. Friends become family. Enemies become allies. And some bonds are so strong they survive death itself. But power always demands payment. As war consumes the academy and the goddess turns away, Luna must decide what she is willing to lose to save the world she never asked to belong to. This is not a story about becoming a legend. It is a story about surviving one. A dark paranormal academy series filled with wolf shifters, forbidden love, rival queens, tragic fate, and a heroine who refuses to disappear.

Seventeen-year-old Elara Ward has spent her life being forgotten and shuffled between foster homes and small towns that never remembered her once she’s gone. But the dying town of Willowmere is different. The air hums with whispers, the lake no longer reflects the moon, and something ancient is stirring beneath the willows. When Elara follows a strange light into the woods one blood-red night, she crosses the veil and a boundary between the human world and the Lumenwild, a realm of living moonlight and haunted shadows. There, she’s marked by an ancient power known as Moonfire, a symbol burned into her skin that pulses with the rhythm of the twin moons above. Saved by four mysterious men who are named Cael, their golden-eyed Alpha; Kian, the lightning-tongued rogue; Auren, the silent watcher; and Nyx, the shadow who walks between worlds and Elara learns that her arrival has reignited a prophecy buried in legend. The Riftborn, creatures of bone and smoke, are returning, and the mark she bears is both a weapon and a curse. In the heart of the Lumenwild’s glowing forest lies the Sanctum, a stronghold where wolves walk in light and the Moon’s will is law. There, Elara begins to uncover the truth, her crossing was no accident. The veil didn’t just let her in but it had called her home. As the moons draw closer and the bond between Elara and the wolves deepens, she must choose whether to embrace the power that could heal a broken world… or unleash the one that could end it. Because the Moon is awake again and she remembers her chosen.

“He pressed me to the wall with one hand tight around my throat, the other sliding beneath the thin silk clinging to my skin. I should’ve been begging for help. Instead, my knees went weak when he leaned in, his mouth hot against my ear. ‘Does it hurt, darling?’ he whispered. I shook my head, even as his fingers left bruises. ‘Good. I like it when you take it.’ God, I hated him. God, I wanted him to never let go.” A DARK, EROTIC TALE OF OBSESSION, HUMILIATION, AND HUNGER. They called him the Devil, a sadist with a crooked smile and hands built for breaking men. In the underworld’s most perverse auction, Luca Ruelle is nothing but trembling prey, sold for a price no soul should fetch. Silk-wrapped, bare, choking on shame and smoke, he should be praying for rescue. But Kain Astor doesn’t rescue. He claims, corrupts, and devours. He teaches Luca how it feels to be owned. How pain can bloom where fear lives. How pleasure is just another kind of cruelty. Every command is a dare, every punishment a promise. Under Kain’s hands, Luca learns the exquisite agony of surrender, and the terror of how badly he needs it. He should be fighting for his life. Instead, he’s sinking to his knees, eyes glazed, lips parted, whispering the one word that seals his fate— “Please.”

Carina Sullivan believed in fairy tales…until hers shattered in the most humiliating way possible. She was abandoned by her fiancé just days before their wedding, Carina is left broken, jobless, and drowning in shame. One reckless night with a mysterious stranger was supposed to be her escape. But that man, He disappears like smoke…leaving nothing behind but a memory and a secret growing inside her. Two years after, Carina is barely surviving as a single mother working two jobs. When a powerful billionaire suddenly walks into her life, she realizes he’s the same man from that night…the father of her child. But he doesn’t recognize her. Dante Moretti is ruthless, rich, and dangerously attractive. He’s back in New York to claim revenge on the woman who once cost him everything. What he doesn’t know is that the woman he wants revenge on... isn’t Carina. As their worlds collide in passion, secrets, and betrayal, Carina is pulled into a whirlwind of emotions and lies. Love isn’t just a risk…but it’s a war. And Dante may not be the hero she needs... he might just be her greatest lesson. She gave him one night. He gave her a child. But can she ever trust him with her heart? Heart-wrenching. Fiery. Addictive. This is a story of pain, secrets, and a woman rising from her ruins to find her voice, her power, and maybe... her second chance at love.