Neven Fael, heir to a powerful dynasty, lives behind a mask of luxury and cynicism. His world is one of curated perfection and hidden unease, shared only with his sister, Anna. But whispers of ancient powers lurking beneath reality echo in his family's shadowed history. After a cryptic warning at a glittering gala, Neven returns home to a nightmare: his father is dead, Anna has vanished, and his ruthless Uncle Darius has seized control, throwing Neven out with nothing but his name. Stripped of everything, Neven vows revenge. He must navigate the city's dangerous underbelly to uncover the truth behind his father's death and Anna's disappearance. Was it simple greed, or is Darius entangled with the dark forces his family has long kept secret? Pursued by enemies and haunted by unanswered questions, Neven must confront the legacy of "The Ones Beneath" and reclaim his birthright, even if it means embracing the darkness he was born from. Can he survive the truth?
Who are they?
The ones who crawl between the blank pages of history, the ones who slip through the cracks in the stone foundations of the world-unseen, unrecorded. Not kings. Not leaders. Not gods. Something else entirely. The architects in the dark. The ones who truly control.
Do we hold power?
No. I don't believe we ever did.
We wear crowns of metal and paper and pretend they grant us dominion. We cling to titles and gold, to bloodlines and bloodshed, as if those things mean something as if they shield us. But even the most powerful men wake in sweat. Even the emperors lock their doors at night. Even the rich hire guards. And kings-yes, even kings-fear the will of their people.
So, where does power really lie?
Is it in the hands of the one who rules? Or the many who obey-but with teeth bared, just waiting for the moment he stumbles?
Or does it lie with the ones the people themselves dread?
The criminals? The outcasts? The things hiding beneath the skin of the world?
Tell me-if everyone is afraid of something, and no one is free from fear... who is left holding the leash?
You might call this paranoia. Madness. Maybe it is.
But I've seen things. I've felt them breathing just behind the veil of what we call "reality."
I see further than most. That isn't a boast. It's a curse.
Sometimes, I feel like a man seated above kings, high on some invisible throne of thought and observation-watching, understanding, knowing too much. And knowing is dangerous. Knowing too much unravels the world. You begin to question whether the ground beneath your feet is stone or just the surface of something else, something alive, pretending to be still.
Is that delusion?
Absolutely.
Do I care?
Not at all. Because once you've seen it-truly seen it-it-it-you can't return. You can't blink and pretend it was the dark playing tricks. You can't wipe it away like fog on a window. No. You remember.
So I ask you... Do you believe in the supernatural?
You probably don't. Most don't. Most can't.
You think yourself rational. Grounded.
A creature of facts, not fables.
But you would be mad to think the world ends where your senses do.
Where do you think the legends come from?
The myths?
The tales of wolves walking like men?
Of eyes glowing in the thickets?
Of doors that open to nowhere?
Of gods and demons hiding in plain sight?
Do you believe all that just spilled from the mouths of drunk peasants and desperate priests?
No.
There is a reason every culture has monsters.
There's a reason every child instinctively fears the dark.
It's not imagination.
It's memory.
Inherited memory.
We've forgotten what we once knew: that the world is not safe. It never was. We've covered it in concrete and wire and convinced ourselves we're in control. But beneath the steel and glass, under the soil, behind the veil of civilization-something ancient waits.
I saw it. Or something like it.
I don't know what it was exactly. I don't pretend to.
But it wasn't human.
And it wasn't just animal, either.
It watched me. Not like prey. Not like predator.
Like it remembered me.
You think monsters live in stories. I used to believe that too. That all the old names-Lycan, shapeshifter, Beast of Gévaudan-were metaphors, the psychosis of frightened people trying to explain the unexplainable.
Now? I'm not so sure.
Those knights didn't fear the woods for the wolves.
They feared what they couldn't explain.
They feared the forest remembered things long before man walked on two legs.
There are bones under every city. Whispers in the cracks of stone temples. In every culture, there's a word we try not to say. In every tongue, there is a name we bury. But names have power. And those names? They remember.
Do you understand what that means?
We never ruled this world.
We were allowed to believe we did.
And that permission? That illusion of control? I think it's fading.
Whatever crawls beneath our feet is starting to stir. Maybe it's hunger. Maybe it's boredom. Maybe it's curiosity. But something is waking. And it remembers us.
I intend to find it.
I intend to dig deeper than any man ever dared. I want to scrape through the crust of this safe little world and uncover the rot underneath.
Not because I'm brave. I'm not.
I'm obsessed.
I need to know what walks beside us, veiled by the thinnest shadow, never blinking, always watching. The ones in the corners of old paintings. The silhouettes in the eyes of dying men. The watchers in the dark.
Maybe they're beasts.
Maybe they're gods.
Maybe they're the true rulers of this world.
And maybe, just maybe, if I go deep enough... I'll find out the truth.
Even if it breaks me.
Even if I never come back.
So if I vanish-if you hear nothing more from me, no final confession, no note scrawled in blood or madness-know this: I didn't lose my way. I found it. I walked into the dark, and something... walked with me.
Maybe it speaks in dreams. Maybe it wears skin. Maybe it's been whispering through the trees since before language crawled from a throat. I don't know what it wants.
But I think it remembers.
And if I never return, don't come looking. Not out of fear. But because it won't want to be found again. It let me find it once. That's enough.
Lock your doors. Burn your offerings.
Because some truths aren't meant to be uncovered.
Some monsters don't live in the forest.
Some live beneath your house.
And some are already awake.
Waiting.
Listening.
Smiling in the dark.
"I, Erika Blackwood, stand before you, Alexander Robertson, with a heavy heart. I hereby reject you as my mate. The bond we once shared has grown fragile, and my soul yearns for a different path. May you find solace in the love of another, and may we both find the happiness we seek." Alexander didn't say a word and looked at me. But he refused to accept. *********** Erika Blackwood is the next Alpha in line of the Ironclaw Pack. She hides her identity and gets mated to the Alpha of the Moonforest Pack, Alexander Robertson. Three years passed, but Alexander is still unwilling to let go of his childhood sweetheart. Erika is mistreated and eventually framed by the same childhood sweetheart. Now she leaves with that humiliation, and goes back to her pack, swearing vengeance on those who hurt her. They all waited for her to return and beg, but what happens when they realize that the famous Ironclaw Pack that was going to help in the rogue war, was ruled by a woman named, Erika Blackwood. Now her Ex mates want her back. Other Alphas want this woman.. But will she accept any of them? Or will she stay independent forever?...
Blurb "Part your legs for me, princess" Alpha Damian humored huskily like he was intoxicated, I whimpered as he voice sents a jolts of emotions round my body. An emotion that I wasn't supposed to feel. Selene was 18 years old when she found out that Alpha Jasper of the Silver Crescent pack was her mate at her Awakening ceremony. Being a reject with no parents she lived with him for over one year as a slave and he never acknowledged her as his mate because he couldn't accept a reject as his mate. On her 20th birthday, her mate not only rejected her and chose her best friend; Imogen, as his new mate, but he also sold Selene to the most feared Alpha; Alpha Damian of the Crimson Moon pack whom everyone referred to as a beast. Not knowing why Alpha Damian chose to buy her, she can only resign herself to fate. What has the moon goddess installed for me again? Is this the freedom she solely crave for? Will she be tied down with the shackles of the unknown?
Bailey seems to be never destined to fit in, a little geeky, but under it all, a hidden beauty that so many seem to miss, but still not what her pack Alpha is looking for in a fated mate... so he is determined to reject her and make her life hell. Bailey, knowing her life will likely never be the same focuses on what she can control, her future, and heads off to study; becoming a teacher. Asher is the Beta of Autumn Valley Pack, a neighbouring pack. A broken man having suffered the loss of his mate after a rogue attack, Asher is slowly crumbling. Falling to pieces. A shadow of his former self, and not a man that anyone wants to be around anymore... Until, Autumn Valley Pack require a new teacher, and Bailey finds herself there and pushed together with the Beta. Is there a connection building or is that in their imaginations? And what will happen when Bailey's mate comes back to claim what is his?
What happens when an all business Alpha planning his chosen's mating ceremony, smells the most wonderful fruity scent that belonged to his curvy mating ceremony planner. Confident plus size Ji'lahni, her two cousins, and friend owns a successful Wedding planning company along with a dance, and self defense workout studio, get hired by their new friend who is like a mother to them to plan her sons wedding I mean mating ceremony? What will happen when the sassy plus size women step into the world of werewolves? Read to find out.
Everyone was shocked to the bones when the news of Rupert Benton's engagement broke out. It was surprising because the lucky girl was said to be a plain Jane, who grew up in the countryside and had nothing to her name. One evening, she showed up at a banquet, stunning everyone present. "Wow, she's so beautiful!" All the men drooled, and the women got so jealous. What they didn't know was that this so-called country girl was actually an heiress to a billion-dollar empire. It wasn't long before her secrets came to light one after the other. The elites couldn't stop talking about her. "Holy smokes! So, her father is the richest man in the world?" "She's also that excellent, but mysterious designer who many people adore! Who would have guessed?" Nonetheless, people thought that Rupert didn't love her. But they were in for another surprise. Rupert released a statement, silencing all the naysayers. "I'm very much in love with my beautiful fiancee. We will be getting married soon." Two questions were on everyone's minds: "Why did she hide her identity? And why was Rupert in love with her all of a sudden?"
He told her to call him Daddy. Not because he earned it, but because he fucking owned her. The moment she signed that contract, she stopped being a woman with dignity and became his filthy little plaything. His holes to use. His mess to ruin. He didn't just fuck her, he rewired her. Stripped her clean of boundaries and filled her with sin. Every punishment made her scream. Every game dragged her deeper into his twisted world. And the way he praised her... Good girl. She should've run the first time he said it. But Daddy doesn't let his toys leave. He breaks them until they beg to stay. ** Mia's life changed the night she let a stranger ruin her. One night. She never expected to see him again. Until she walked into her new job... and her boss turned around. Ace.Her one-night sin in a thousand-dollar suit. Only this time, he wasn't asking her to be his assistant. She was to be his wife.