Behind Him
/1/123931/coverbig.jpg?v=46b935087d4d152420a06e58e4a55ce1)
Rejected by My Family, Claimed by the Galactic Commander
I woke up to the stench of rust and rotting flesh, no longer a master botanist who commanded life itself, but a D-class exile dumped on a wasteland planet. Memories that weren't mine flooded in. I was framed by my stepsister, betrayed by my fiancé, and banished by my own family to the Ashfall Peninsula to die. The original girl actually starved to death in despair. The moment I opened my eyes, a scavenger tried to smash my skull with a rusty pipe just to eat me. After I killed him to survive, I discovered a harsher truth: in this universe, plant seeds are classified as A-level strategic resources, completely monopolized by the Imperium. But the universe had a sick sense of humor. A mandatory background scan suddenly triggered a galactic broadcast: I, the exiled trash, was a perfect genetic match for the Imperium's top war hero, General Alexander Orr. The family that ruthlessly erased my existence instantly saw me as a golden ticket. My cheating ex-fiancé was dispatched to drag me back, furious that his "property" was matched with someone else. They all thought I was still that weak, naive girl they could manipulate. But as I held the pure, glowing Life Source Crystals I had secretly extracted from the scrap heap, a cold smile crept onto my face. "I didn't come here to die. I came here to build an empire." I turned my back on the galactic broadcast and stepped into the deadly wilderness.
Chapter 1
A sharp scraping of metal on metal sliced through the fog in Janae's mind.
A second earlier, she was still in deep darkness, feeling death slowly erase her consciousness; but now she woke up again, though not in her original body—the body of another Janae.
A blinding headache—another Janae's dying scream still rattling inside her skull.
Then memories—not hers, but another Janae's—flooded in.
The Bennett estate.
Marble floors.
A ceiling so high it could swallow the sky.
"From today, you are no longer a Bennett."
Another Janae's father—Preston—sat on the highest seat.
He didn't look at another Janae. Like she was a defective product he was finally discarding.
"Father—" another Janae began. "I can prove myself."
"It's too late." Camilla was there. Leaning against the sofa, smiling. The smile she always wore when she had already won. "Janae, you still don't understand, do you? Your ability rank determines your value. D-Class. Even having you as my sister is embarrassing now."
The memory shifted.
A colder one.
Donnell.
Another Janae's fiancé.
The man she had given everything to.
"The engagement is canceled." He didn't hesitate. "I can't marry a failure."
He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I need a mate who can awaken her beast-soul, Janae. Not someone who barely flickers."
He threw the betrothal token at her feet. It shattered against the marble. "Don't beg. It's pathetic."
The memory broke apart.
Janae opened her eyes.
The sky was wrong.
Not the high, clear sky of the Bennett estate.
A bruised, festering gray, choked with smog.
The air was thick with rust and oil and something rotting.
She was lying on a pile of debris.
Broken metal.
Corroded wiring.
The ground beneath her was soft, gray-black dust that smelled of sulfur.
She tried to sit up.
Pain lanced through her ribs.
Her hands were scraped raw.
Her clothes—what was she wearing?
Rags.
Someone else's clothes.
She looked inward.
The vast, forest-like dimension of her personal storage space—gone.
A dead, silent void.
She tried to summon the life-giving energy that had once made emperors kneel—a pathetic trickle.
Weak as a dying ember.
Cold panic seized her.
She was nothing.
Less than nothing.
A shadow fell over her.
She looked up.
A man stood there.
Skeletal.
Ragged.
His eyes gleamed with a hungry, knowing light.
In his hand, a rusted metal pipe.
He grinned.
Yellowed teeth.
Filthy fangs.
"Fresh meat," he rasped. "I know your type the moment I see you." He circled her slowly, pipe tapping against his palm. "Soft skin. Clean neck. No scar on your face."
He laughed. "A noble. Clan-born. Some little princess who got flushed down the Imperium's toilet."
She said nothing.
"Let me guess," he continued. "Daddy kicked you out? Or was it a fiancé who couldn't wait to trade you in for a better model?"
The words hit like a physical blow.
Janae's jaw tightened.
He leaned closer.
"I've seen that look before. The 'I used to matter' look. You know what happens to people like you here? Nothing. You just die slower than the rest."
"You're wrong," she said.
Her voice came out rough, unfamiliar.
"Am I?" He laughed. "This place doesn't care whose daughter you were. On the Ashfall Peninsula, there's only one law: you're either holding the pipe, or you're getting your skull caved in."
The Ashfall Peninsula.
The name triggered something.
A memory from another Janae.
The Imperium's dumping ground.
Where they sent the broken.
The disgraced.
The unwanted.
She was here because of them.
Because of Camilla.
Because of Donnell.
Because of every person who had decided she was worthless and thrown her away.
Jed crouched down, bringing his face close to hers. "You can scream if you want. No one's coming. The Imperium doesn't patrol here. Doesn't send rescue. They dump their garbage, and we clean up the scraps."
Something inside her snapped.
Not fear.
Not despair.
Anger.
She remembered Donnell's cold voice.
"I can't marry a failure."
She remembered Camilla's smile.
"Even having you as my sister is embarrassing now."
She remembered another Janae's father's face.
Like she was nothing.
Like she had always been nothing.
"You don't know anything about me," she whispered.
Jed chuckled. "I know enough. I know you're going to die here. I know you're going to cry. I know—"
She moved.
Not away.
Not to run.
Forward.
She saw a piece of sheet metal.
Sharp.
Jagged.
She grabbed it as she rolled, the edge biting into her palm.
Jed raised the pipe.
It whistled down toward her skull.
She threw herself sideways.
The pipe slammed into the ground where her head had been.
Gray dust exploded.
"Still fighting?" He lunged. Kicked her in the ribs.
Pain.
White-hot.
Her organs felt like they were rearranging themselves.
The copper taste of blood filled her mouth.
But she didn't fall.
She didn't cry.
She thought of Donnell.
She thought of Camilla.
She thought of every moment they had made her feel small.
Jed bent down.
Grabbed her by the hair.
Yanked her up.
"See?" he said. "In the end, you're all the same. Just meat for the grinder."
His face was inches from hers.
She could smell his rotten breath.
See the veins in his bloodshot eyes.
"No," she said.
Then she struck.
The metal shard drove deep into his throat.
He froze.
Blood—dark, hot, arterial—gushed over her hands.
His eyes widened.
He made a sound, a wet gurgle.
She pulled the shard out.
He collapsed, clutching his neck.
His mouth opened and closed.
Like a fish gasping for air.
"Not meat," she said, her voice steady. "Never meat."
She watched him die.
His eyes stayed open.
Staring up at the gray, festering sky.
Janae fell back against a pile of old tires.
She was gasping.
Her ribs screamed.
Her hands were slick with blood.
She looked at the corpse beside her.
She didn't feel triumph.
She didn't feel horror.
She felt something else.
Cold.
She was alive.
That was all that mattered.
She forced herself up.
Checked her injuries.
Bruised ribs.
Scraped hands.
Nothing broken.
She would survive.
A howl echoed in the distance.
Some unseen beast, maybe miles away.
But it reminded her: danger was everywhere.
She needed shelter.
Food.
Information.
She needed to find the Reclamation Center.
The only settlement on the Peninsula.
The only place where she could trade, barter, survive.
She looked at Jed's corpse.
A cold, practical thought formed.
Even the dead were resources here.
She started searching his body.
/0/74126/coverbig.jpg?v=46f5f947023f4e89b6c523e84ee5a878)
Behind Him
Ezra Slain Velleoti is a man that everyone wants to avoid. He's a tough enemy. A mafia boss who disapproves of almost everyone. Anyone who gets in his way will never make it out alive. Khione Louelita Silay is a woman who is socially awkward. A person who has socially anxiety and dislikes crowds an
/0/38122/coverbig.jpg?v=f64030d947de1fa798bf156c495775db)
Left Behind
❤️ Left 😘 Behind 😥 Amazing and Maxwell met in the stadium where they represented their each schools, they exchanged numbers ever since then they have been communicating. Amazing is from a poor background, where they hardly eat three meals a d
/0/50178/coverbig.jpg?v=bc970e0f8772e683473e448e874dc929)
HIM (I WANT HIM)
Blessing met himself in a situation where he had to choose between two ladies; A lady who was adopted by his grandparents at his request, who became his step-sister, and whom he fell in love with becoming his first love. Someone who changed his world and everything about him. Someone who made him r
/0/29443/coverbig.jpg?v=ed170b01a8c633fef0d573a1847fb5b7)
Behind You
He is selfish and only think about himself. He doesn't care if it'll trouble the people around him. Jawad return from his journey when he gets the news of him getting married or he loses his position of being the heir to his father's company. Farah a beautiful and kindhearted woman, with a nice and
/0/80119/coverbig.jpg?v=a35c86ceeb9a898d177e81005d8d6be0)
Worshiped Him, Whipped By Him
I was just a 20-year-old NYU art history student, interning at my dad’s real estate firm. But my world privately revolved around Marcus Thorne—my father’s handsome, brilliant business partner. My crush on him was pure, all-consuming, utterly naive. He’d always been so kind, a true gentleman. At a c
/1/101569/coverbig.jpg?v=9bdb867482765b0ee643a9d9b3e3565d)
Sexy Behind The Mask
She hides behind ugly suits and fake names. He's done trusting women. When they meet in a masked sex club, neither realizes they've been fighting each other across boardroom tables for eighteen months. At Taylor Industries, she's Joy Smith-the frumpy CFO who drowns her curves in shapeless polyester
/0/86986/coverbig.jpg?v=20250815212307)
Scar Behind Luxury
"Wounds heal, but scars remember everything." Anita Callister was never meant to survive betrayal-let alone become the fierce, brilliant CEO and mother she is today. But life was shattered when she gave her heart to billionaire Zan Benson, and he left her pregnant and alone. Years later, she's rebui
/0/38538/coverbig.jpg?v=b3a69c7d6840450a5673619be9893653)
Behind Her Mask
"I'll run away from this place. I won't come back. They've all left me." 12 years old Kimberly muttered, sadly. At first sight, little Kimberly would look like an innocent bundle of joy but if you looked deeper, you'd realise she had a bold, daring and carefree side to her. "We need your hel
/0/46260/coverbig.jpg?v=2a5392930b4e4c88221a11eac3ebd0a2)
Behind you, Mate
"Behind you, Mate?!" Everything started when Darelia got transferred to a catholic school with supernatural creatures. Being known to be dumb from birth, no one knew her source, except that she grew up with her stepmother and stepsister. Bullied and tortured without any supernatural power, she be
/0/65004/coverbig.jpg?v=45534e54ad36109b6f207435dbe4052f)
Behind Closed Door's
To the world, he's a ruthless CEO with an iron grip on his empire. To her, he's the man she cleans for every day. Beneath the polished veneer of his office doors and high-rise windows lies a story they never meant to write-a story of two hearts from vastly different worlds. But when his secrets begi
/0/63491/coverbig.jpg?v=20241121180506)
Betrayal Behind The Scenes
Dragged into betrayal, Catherine Chandra sacrificed her career and love for her husband, Keenan Hart, only to find herself trapped in a scandal of infidelity that shattered her. With her intelligence as a Beauty Advisor in the family business Gistara, Catherine orchestrated a thunderous revenge, sha
/0/45745/coverbig.jpg?v=5d7423cc698c4698e12e9e40d4310033)
Agreement Behind Her Marriage
"Will you, Drew Walton, take Lilian Rose Martin, to be your lawful wedded wife, to share your life openly, standing with her in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, in hardship and in ease, to cherish and love, now and forevermore?" Lily believed she had no purpose within her family. She h
/0/31278/coverbig.jpg?v=89fc016152c0ce4f3b80e2694c06d224)
HIS MISTAKES BEHIND FORGIVENESS
After being cheated on by her boyfriend Gabriel, Alice ran away to start a new life without saying she was pregnant. Six years later she comes back to Mexico where her past stood still waiting for her to say the truth. But what she didn't know is someone else was waiting for her, Ian, the one whom
/0/13197/coverbig.jpg?v=50a682079755bed86974c8c0750fee08)
From the Car Behind
The Shelf2life History of the American West Collection is a unique project that provides opportunities for researchers and new readers to easily access and explore works which have previously only been available on library shelves. The Collection brings to life pre-1923 titles focusing on a wide ra
/0/90885/coverbig.jpg?v=bdf86e777e937711bde16ffa3c5b5363)
Behind the billonaire's mask
"Be my woman and warm my bed," he said, a smirk playing on his lips. "Don't worry; to everyone else, you'll be my wife. It's only for eighteen months, as stated in the contract." He leaned back, his gaze unwavering. "And you have to follow the rules." I glanced at the contract I was clutching.
/0/56405/coverbig.jpg?v=20260526084408)
Behind her innocence
Who would have thought that the innocent Face was hiding something? In her charming beauty, there are Secrets that only she, she and only she knows. She has an Innocence face but what is hiding behind it? She used to kill bad human being. Yes, she is like a goddess but she is a villain. A villain th
/0/46887/coverbig.jpg?v=3a69b964dc1ab737f798242327743a74)
Behind The Billonaire's Mask
"I am Isabella Sterling, and I'm telling you right now, Dad, that I'm not going to spend even a day with that monster, let alone marrying him." Isabella walked out of the house. ------------------------------------- After Mr. Charles had lost all his wealth and was at the verge of loosing
/0/79520/coverbig.jpg?v=af4e275bd2424f9f1909886652f82ed2)
Behind the Alpha's mask
Amber's life changes completely after crossing paths with Oblivion-the mysterious and masked Alpha of the Sypher pack. Earlier, her fated mate, Alpha Cedric denies her pregnancy and rejects her on the eve of their anniversary. As if that wasn't enough, she catches him cheating on her with her best f
/0/20023/coverbig.jpg?v=20221108183155)
Behind Their Veneers
A love found in the most unusual of places—between a mafia Don and his one-time therapist. ***** Emerald Maree Pearce is a 25 year old woman with the body of a siren but a painful past that still haunts her. Influenced by a situation in her past that had left her broken, she becomes a psychologist
/0/47363/coverbig.jpg?v=db0c113fa094e0c37775d32206e281dd)
Behind The Salesman's Eyes
Eyes are the window to the heart. For helping a mysterious old man, Ardhan Aji Pradiptio was rewarded with a mysterious object that changed his life for the better. So far, bad luck has always haunted him, starting from his career faltering and being insulted and belittled by his superiors to the
