Zeus Shield Crossword Novels & Stories

On our wedding night, my husband didn't stay long enough to toast with champagne. He left me alone at the reception and retreated to the chapel. Because from the very beginning, this stoic, untouchable man had only ever loved my younger sister. For three years of my marriage, I poured myself into thawing a heart of stone, only to be met with glacial silence. "Claire," he said coldly, "I'd rather take vows of celibacy than ever love you." But when the truck came barreling toward me, the man who had resented me his entire life used his own body to shield mine. Just before I lost consciousness, I saw him gripping the paramedic's sleeve, blood staining his lips. "Don't tell that crazy woman who saved her… And don't let my family… make things difficult for her." Tears welled in my eyes. Only then did I realize I wasn't the only one at fault in this marriage. After coming back to life, I chose to join the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces and head straight to the front lines. If we were never meant to grow old together in this life, then let my final wish for him be this: A lifetime of peace, and an eternity of never crossing paths with me again.

I'm the human shield Daniela Falcone—the underworld queen—personally chose to protect her first love, Luca Bianchi. We're three years into our marriage, and this is already the eighth time her rivals have kidnapped me. Daniela arrives with her men to rescue me, but we're not even five minutes into negotiations when Luca calls. "Dani, I lost at Truth or Dare. I'm supposed to kiss some woman here, but I want to save my first kiss for you. Can you come over?" The second Daniela turns and walks away without a single backward glance, a knife plunges deep into my stomach, and blood splatters everywhere. Just like the last seven times, her right-hand man, Carlo Marino, tosses some cash around to clean up the mess. Then, he has me sent to the hospital. In the ambulance, I hear Daniela's men guessing whether I'll live long enough to see Luca stand on his own two feet. They roar with laughter. I'm the only one crying. The mission to save the underworld queen has failed, which means the System will wipe me out soon. I think to myself, "Daniela, I won't live to see that day."

Emma Reed never expected temptation when she stayed over at her best friend’s house—but she got more than she bargained for. Luca Carter, her best friend’s dangerously attractive older brother, is reckless, charming, and untouchable—or so it seems. But Emma soon learns his playboy image is a carefully built shield, hiding a past heartbreak that left him wary of love. For Emma, desire is confusing. Friends have long whispered she might be lesbian. Even she has wondered if something is “wrong” with her, because men never stirred her in the way they stirred other girls. And yet, Luca awakens something deep and undeniable in her. As they give in to forbidden passion, secrets begin to unravel: Hannah, Emma's Best Friend, is Lesbian and she has been quietly in love with her for years. Mia, Emma’s roommate, secretly envies Emma and Hannah connection, and has her own feelings tangled in the mix. And Luca? He finds himself protecting Emma in ways he never intended, struggling to reconcile his longing with loyalty to his sister. Every stolen glance, every private touch, every whispered name becomes a dangerous game. Can Emma and Luca cross the line without destroying the bonds around them? Or will desire force truths into the open—and hearts into chaos?

A cruel young man who witnessed the death of his parents at a tender age, Edem Demirai, harbored a simmering rage within him. And then there was Lavigne Kotobe, a girl condemned by the chains of addiction at the tender age of eighteen. When their paths collided, their meeting was nothing short of a collision of tempests, their anger a force of nature. In the midst of their tumultuous encounter, Edem's words cut through the air like a blade against porcelain skin. "I want you, Lavigne," he whispered, his voice laden with both desire and darkness. "First with kindness, then with the gentlest touch. I want to both hurt you and shield you from pain. I want your voice to echo and then fall silent. I want you to revel in pleasure and struggle to understand it. I want to kiss you until your breath escapes you, only to inhale it back again in a desperate gasp. I need you, and I want you to steal the very breath from my lungs." Their collision was inevitable, their connection fraught with danger and desire. As they embarked on their tumultuous journey, they would soon realize that their meeting was just the beginning of a fiery dance between two souls destined to either consume each other or ignite a blaze of passion that would defy the darkness closing in around them.

I am Ella Collins, the mate of the Darkshadow Pack's Alpha. Our pack was the strongest in Nomerika. Everyone knew Darkshadow was the top pack in the entire region. They had swallowed up countless smaller packs and made plenty of enemies along the way. After Adam marked me, he took me to every pack banquet and ceremony. He even introduced me to allied packs, proudly telling them I was his beloved mate. Everyone believed he loved me deeply. I believed it too. I was completely immersed in that love. However, I overheard him talking to his Beta one day. "There are so many packs that hate me. They'd tear me apart if they had the chance. "If I don't claim Ella and make her look like the one I love most, they'll target my real weakness—Amy." His words struck me like lightning. I finally learned the truth. I was nothing but a carefully chosen decoy. I was Adam's shield, designed to protect the woman he truly loved. I had foolishly mistaken his attention for affection and his betrayal for love. When I finally left Adam and disappeared into the distance… That was when he began to regret everything.

Her toxic stepsister is marrying her ex-fiancé. To survive the week from hell, she claims her billionaire best friend is her new fiancé. What could possibly go wrong? Hazel Sterling thought she had finally moved on from Dominic Reed—until her manipulative stepsister, Clara Westbrook, sends out her wedding invitations. Dominic is the exact same man who shattered Hazel's heart and walked away a year ago. Now, he belongs to her sister. The venue? A lavish, week-long winter celebration at an exclusive mountain estate in Aspen. The house is packed with high-society guests, and Hazel is trapped playing the bitter maid of honor. To protect her pride, Hazel recruits the perfect shield: Axel Blackwell. He is her drop-dead gorgeous, fiercely loyal childhood best friend who happens to rule the city's finance world. He owes her a massive favor, so acting like her devoted future husband should be a walk in the park. But when fake touches begin to ignite real heat, the boundaries of their friendship completely melt away. Now, Hazel is caught in a dangerous game—is she just putting on a show for revenge, or is she about to lose her heart to the one man who was always off-limits?

After I got back with Lily Reid, I finally had a chance to catch a breather. She no longer returned home late, and she no longer hid her social media posts from me. Finally, I no longer felt like an insecure madman in our relationship. It was as if nothing had happened before. Things were very peaceful. It seemed as though love could ease everything. One day, Lily got into a car accident. My childhood friend was with her, and he was found completely naked. The police passed the mediation letter to me and said sternly, “The surveillance footage showed that your girlfriend was driving distractedly and hit the car in the opposite lane.” I signed the letter numbly. Then, I collected the items from the car accident. There were a pair of sexy leggings, birth control products, and a guarantee letter that had been torn into pieces. [I, Lily Reid, promise to cut all ties with David Anderson, or I will rot in hell.] When I rushed to the hospital, Lily was struggling to sit upright and shield David. “I was the one who went to him. If you’re angry, direct it to me!” I shook my head and laughed in relief. It turned out no matter how hard I held on, I could not save the romance. The air tickets that I bought for our anniversary trip became my exit.

For ten years, I was Vincent's blood bag and his sharpest blade. I offered my rare blood to sustain his ancient power. I offered my loyalty to secure his throne as the Vampire Lord of this territory. I thought my devotion might earn me the eternal embrace of the turning. Instead, I received the announcement of his marriage to Lilith. A princess from a powerful European vampire clan. He said it was a necessary alliance. He said my blood was still precious. But when the sanctified silver tearing through the car,he used my body as a shield, to ensure his bride remained unblemished. That's when I knew. I was never his lover. I was just a consumable resource, a blood bag to be used and discarded. So, when I was ordered to become his blood servant under the title of his fiancée, I made a call to my father. “In seven days,” I said, my voice clear and final in the dark, “make the name Elena Rossi disappear from this city. From vampire’s world. Forever.” In seven days, when Vincent finds his precious living blood bank gone, he went insane. And this decade-long game of predator and prey… will have a new set of rules.

"You should be scared," I whispered, brushing my fingertips along her spine, slow and teasing, then down over the swell of her ass. My palm lingered, gripping one cheek possessively. "Because you've just given yourself to the devil." I leaned down, my lips brushing her ear. “And the devil? He doesn’t believe in mercy." .... I should have known better than to sign his contract. My new husband was never meant to be real. He was supposed to be a name on paper, a shield against the vultures circling my late husband's empire. An arrangement with an expiration date. But Killian Cross doesn't let go. He's ruthless, obsessive, and dangerously possessive. The kind of man who doesn't just own his empire. He owns everything in his grasp. And now, that includes me. I thought I could play his game and walk away unscathed. I was wrong. Because my contract husband has made one thing clear. I belong to him now. But what happens when the shadows surrounding him become my prison? What if love isn’t enough for the hell awaiting us? Will I be able to save him when he needs me? Or will we both drown in the raging tempest?

To celebrate his female student's birthday, my professor husband brought a group of people into my laboratory without permission. By the time I rushed there, birthday candles had been stuck into my culture dishes, and my research notes were smeared with cake frosting. The only pathogen sample in existence had already been knocked onto the floor. I tried to save it, but Zack Fenton stopped me. "Clean it up later. Let Cheryl make her wish first." Shaking with rage, I pointed at the wrecked laboratory. "Do you even know what that sample was?" He casually lit the birthday candles and barely glanced at the mess. "Wasn't it just the sample for your father's treatment? Your dad's already so old. Who knows if he'll even live long enough for you to succeed? Might as well let Cheryl enjoy her birthday first." Watching him carefully shield Cheryl Smith as she leaned forward to blow out the candles, I suddenly laughed. What he did not know was this: The medicine for my father had already been successfully developed last month. The sample destroyed on the floor was the only one capable of treating Zack's rare disease.