Dark Power
/1/129726/coverbig.jpg?v=d952b45e9b05aae9f5803a8b2c8d4fc6)
The Hockey Prince's Secret Ice Queen
All I wanted was to find a computer genius to process the non-linear dynamic equations for my ecological model. Instead, I found myself cornered by Julian Andrews, the university's hockey prince, trading a public, staged kiss for his academic support. To finalize our "deal," I was dragged to the campus ice rink. The cheerleaders and puck bunnies immediately swarmed him, mocking my plain clothes and treating me like a pathetic joke. Brooke, the head cheerleader, even set up a figure skating competition with a date with Julian as the grand prize. She performed a basic spin, blew him a kiss, and smugly waited for me to fall flat on my face and humiliate myself. His hockey teammates laughed from the sidelines, watching me try to support Julian as he stumbled around the ice like a newborn giraffe. But as I held his warm hand to keep him from falling, I couldn't help but feel something was terribly wrong. Why was a top-tier athlete faking such awful balance? And why did his ice-blue eyes stare at me with such knowing anticipation, as if he already knew about the professional figure skating past I had spent years trying to bury? "Just let go and skate." He whispered, slowly releasing my hand. I took a deep breath, glided to the center of the rink, and landed a flawless double Axel. As the entire rink fell into a dead, shocked silence, I realized I had just exposed not only my own hidden past, but also the biggest secret of the campus god.
Chapter 1 No.1
Sage POV:
"Let me kiss you."
The request was a low, hurried murmur—warm, quiet, and laced with the faintest edge of mortification.
Stunned, I snapped my head up toward the sound.
Julian Andrews filled my vision. He easily towered a head over me, his lean, athletic frame silhouetted against the bright morning glare, casting a long shadow across the cobblestones. Briar University's star forward. Team captain. The athletic department's untouchable golden boy.
Campus rumor had it that Julian was notoriously indifferent, never sparing anyone a second glance.
Behind him, a solid wall of navy-and-gold varsity jackets blocked the brick path. His teammates were whistling, shoving each other, and effectively cutting off my only exit.
The sudden commotion immediately bottlenecked the morning foot traffic. Whispers rippled through the crowd, and within seconds, a dozen students reached into their pockets out of sheer muscle memory, black camera lenses catching the light as they aimed squarely at us.
Julian's sharp eyes tracked the movement, his jaw tightening into a hard, irritated line.
Before I could take a single defensive step back, he closed the distance between us. Leaning down into my space, his broad shoulders shifted in a subtle, fluid maneuver—throwing up an impenetrable physical wall that completely shielded my face from the intrusive glare of the cameras.
His sharp, striking face hovered breathtakingly close. His deep baritone brushed against my ear, lost to the autumn wind, meant for me alone:
"Sorry to drop this on you," he whispered, his pale blue eyes disarmingly earnest, holding a quiet heat that sent a tremor straight down my spine. "The guys backed me into a locker-room dare... but I'm not here to use you as a joke. We can fake it. Angle it so it looks real—whatever you're comfortable with. Just help me get them off my back, and I owe you one."
It was only then that my brain finally rebooted.
What on earth? He's actually trying to kiss me?
A sharp flare of pure absurdity hit me, and my gaze dropped to my reflection in the dark glass door of the adjacent building: an oversized, faded gray hoodie that swallowed my frame whole, soft, thin jeans worn at the knees, bare-faced dark circles carved beneath my eyes from forty-eight hours of non-stop coding, my dark hair hastily twisted into a cheap plastic claw clip, and a pair of oversized, thick black-rimmed glasses sitting heavy on the bridge of my nose, completely hiding my face.
I looked like a refugee from an all-night disaster. How had Briar's golden prince ended up in front of me?
When I looked back up, my breath trapped in my throat anyway. He was too close, his clean scent of winter mint and cedar wrapping around my senses. Having those pale blue eyes staring straight down at me made my chest tighten in a way I really didn't want to acknowledge.
"Clock's ticking, Cap!" Landon howled from the sidelines, hands cupped around his mouth as the rest of the players lost their minds laughing. "Plant one on her, or enjoy the five-AM bag skate!"
A raucous chorus of barks and chest-thumping went up from the team.
A few yards away, two girls heading toward the dining hall froze in their tracks, pointing their phones.
"Wait, who the hell is that?" one of them laughed loudly, zooming her camera in on my face. "She looks like she just crawled out of a dumpster. There's no way Julian's actually kissing her. Post it on Sidechat right now—this is going straight to number one."
The cruel words hit like a splash of ice water, snapping me out of my daze and instantly killing the stupid flutter in my chest.
I hated the attention.
Four years ago, after my family and my former training partner framed me and destroyed my competitive skating career, I swore I would never be public entertainment again. I buried my name, switched majors, and hid behind oversized fleece and thick glasses just to live an invisible life. If I ended up on the campus forums with Julian Andrews, the internet vultures would dox me before noon—and drag up the toxic scandal I had bled to walk away from.
My research was already on the verge of falling apart. I didn't have time for this circus.
I locked my grip around my heavy binders, my knuckles straining white.
"Find someone else for your dare, Andrews," I said coldly, taking a step back to put distance between us, my voice tight with adrenaline. "I'm not interested in being part of your game. Move."
I kept my head down, attempting to brush past him.
"You're Sage Kelley, right?"
The sound of my name brought my boots to an immediate halt.
I blinked up at him, caught completely off guard.
"Professor Beaumont's senior research student," Julian straightened up slightly, his cadence measured and even, carrying an intellectual sharpness that seemed impossible beneath a varsity jacket. "I saw your Havenwood Creek senior capstone proposal sitting on his desk over Sunday dinner."
My heart gave a hard, hollow thud. Professor Beaumont was my academic advisor—and the guardian of the final research endowment my late father had left behind.
Julian leaned in slightly, his voice dropping to a near-whisper against the whistle of the wind. "I spent an hour going over your codebase."
My lips parted. "You... read my proposal?"
"Your simulation keeps crashing because your core fluid algorithm strategy is flawed," Julian murmured, his pale blue eyes deadly sharp. "And Uncle Des mentioned that if you don't deliver a working version by this Friday, the department is pulling your grant—which means you don't clear your senior thesis, and you don't graduate in May."
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
Friday was the deadline. If the funding was pulled, the project died, my senior capstone failed, and I would be forced to stay another semester without my degree. Worse, my father's final ecological legacy would be reduced to scrap paper.
I had been panicking over that exact deadline for two days straight, and Julian had just laid it out like it was nothing.
Worse, I couldn't even brush him off. I had heard the rumors about Beaumont's nephew—the CS prodigy everyone in the department talked about. I just had never realized it was him.
"I know how to fix your algorithm," Julian stated plainly, laying his cards on the table, his gaze locking onto mine with an unshakeable, quiet certainty. "Help me get through this bet. In return, I'll rewrite your boundary calculations tonight. Deal?"
/0/71732/coverbig.jpg?v=ba4093895520c44dfcbeac380b66aa04)
The Dark Rings of Power
Kaiden Toliver's life is shattered when he is accused of involving the company in fraudulent activities. Vowing revenge, Kaiden returns five years later, wealthy and determined to destroy those who wronged him. He takes over Macaulay Industries, but his rise to power sparks the wrath of Caleb Monten
/1/106599/coverbig.jpg?v=36cba2fcedb0de543ae1feff4b50fccd)
Billionaire's Power
I only needed the job. I didn't expect the man who owned the building... to own my future. When my world falls apart, I accept a one-year contract as the personal assistant to Grey Franklin-cold, powerful, and dangerously irresistible. He has rules. No emotions. No attachments. No crossing lines. Bu
/0/78087/coverbig.jpg?v=9df7c724358ee9f3c492d772c9fa9e58)
Power Lines
Ethan Voss is a 34-year-old CEO of a billion-dollar tech firm. Polished, brilliant, and emotionally distant, he built his empire from the ground up-but at the cost of his personal life. Trusting no one and keeping relationships strictly transactional, Ethan has made it clear: no dating at the office
/0/86725/coverbig.jpg?v=edb6db1e92548186a3e65495b6ca8bf5)
Petals & power
She was trained to serve. But she plans to rule. In the empire of Elarith, girls are not born-they're crafted. Sculpted into obedient wives, loyal mistresses... or royal queens. Lily Everen radiant, and sharp as the thorns beneath her beauty, was raised with one purpose: to marry the king. But Lil
/0/67111/coverbig.jpg?v=02bc5c5c0820f2e6f194e9209e8a5444)
Power play
Sophie, an ambitious, hardworking intern at a prestigious marketing firm. She's tasked with working under the company's demanding CEO, James Carter, known for his ruthless, authoritative leadership. Their first meeting is tense but sparks fly when Sophie challenges his idea in a meeting. Read and fi
/0/68610/coverbig.jpg?v=8129e08c5be673a953fc32d0071ef17d)
Silent veins of power
Axel Devereux has always walked the fine line between chaos and control. At 25, he's a secret agent with a dark, turbulent past. Born to Helena, a woman forced into a life of despair, and Victor Devereux, a grieving billionaire oblivious to his illegitimate son, Axel was abandoned at St. Gabriel's O
/0/66652/coverbig.jpg?v=d8cdfa5e7a90e64d6099c42dcd6521b2)
Falling Into His Power
It has never been easy for Evelyn Albert. She experienced the harsh realities of life after being abandoned as a child and left to fend for herself. She hopes to break away from the bonds of poverty while working as a secretary for the wealthy and enigmatic billionaire Peter Austin. But Evelyn's lif
/1/123217/coverbig.jpg?v=93ae78ef2997a07b795c418e5216e0e0)
The Alpha's Power Play
Marlowe Hale needed a job, not a miracle. When the Blackwood Harbor Wolves hire her as their new athletic trainer, she tells herself it's just a paycheck, and definitely not a chance to dig into the eight-year-old accident that killed her father and ended her career before it started. She didn't ex
/0/73685/coverbig.jpg?v=27f2a74181df514f2a55f57f4ba4d982)
Dark Chemistry
"Everything of you is a non-existing dangerous drug, Natalia. And I'm addicted to it." He rasped beside my ear then slowly but seductively brushed his nose on my neck and then my hair like he was smelling my body and my hair. I stopped breathing as I started feeling like I was going to pass out.
/0/31201/coverbig.jpg?v=1255536fd43b2cb11e44995799e0b444)
Dark Goddess
( 18➕ ) Hadria Blake went from living in a group home to being whisked across the country to the most prestigious school of the USA, Deitus Academy, school for deities. Until her seventeenth birthday she had believed herself to be a normal human girl. Her biggest worry being what she would do in a
/0/42747/coverbig.jpg?v=c9ed3231749133673b0d8958678d7cfe)
DARK OBSESSION
Obsessed with awaking his wife, Augustine vowed to sacrifice anyone in order to bring her back to life, be it his daughter. Is it because of his immense love for his wife or is there a hidden motive behind it? Celine, a young 18 year old maiden vows to protect 'the vessel' from her father. Will she
/0/65204/coverbig.jpg?v=20241127113905)
DARK PARADISE
What happens if the King of all Demon Kings falls in love with a human? That's what Alarik Bruce Skyler, the devil Lucifer who has the strongest and greatest throne among demons, feels. The immortal creature accidentally falls in love with a pure human who is the eldest daughter of one of his foll
/0/64222/coverbig.jpg?v=c5070d35e2eb253d5cadd125c3ab8f7d)
POWER AND PASSION
A helpless woman, cheated on by her husband, after being broke and heartbroken, finds love and support in a man much older than her. A millionaire gentleman, who will not only give her a shoulder to cry on but will also make her feel the most loved and desired woman in the world.
/0/17954/coverbig.jpg?v=07bda456619ccaf5c26848ec1bb987a9)
Cassy, Awakening Power
Cassy is a coming of age story about a young girl who discovers that she is a witch. Cassy is a fantastical fiction story that deals with issues faced by some teenagers as well as more imaginative problems. The magic within the story intensifies the conflicts so that even the mundane can seem strang
/0/30148/coverbig.jpg?v=afead4e2e7f01c28957059d377df6ec7)
Power Beyond the Blue
It's such an amusing story how my life turns upside down, one time I was a princess then the next time I was dying in hunger while wondering alone in this cruel world and all of it happen because of once stupidity, those terrible things happen because of too much trust... I over come those hardshi
/0/52845/coverbig.jpg?v=2178da486bf5293c84e074c924fd8ebf)
Eclipse of Power
In a world where magic and superpowers collide, Landon, a skilled warrior with a mysterious past, finds himself entangled in a deadly game of power and deception. As a member of an ancient order tasked with maintaining the balance between humans and non-humans, Landon must navigate treacherous allia
/1/130960/coverbig.jpg?v=e9187aacbdb82ee1a7a31bfb9127d1ea)
RING OF POWER
Alphonsus Jameson had nothing left. Exhausted, divorced, and utterly broken by the system, he was at his absolute rock bottom. Then, his mother dropped a truth she had hidden for decades. "You are the sole remaining heir of the fallen Williams Dynasty." Years ago, his father didn't just die, he
/0/66478/coverbig.jpg?v=16c16c83d0347a9d0064cae9340d81de)
Dark Hearts.
Melia Rixe's life is seriously flatlining. Between being abused by her addict mother, working multiple jobs and paying off her debts, she's more than fed up with her life. A night of drunken confessions and passionate kisses brings Bastian Monroe into her world. The hot Manhattan elite billionaire C
/0/20488/coverbig.jpg?v=fb5c6848491d64da39ea3437177b680b)
Dark Love
Sweet Aphrodite Villegaz is a girl who has a simple life. Scholar of the Ruther University and an independent woman who lives her life alone. But then everything changed since that day she met a man wearing a black mask. He saves her from danger. But it included chaos... Secrets began to unfold Her
/0/51645/coverbig.jpg?v=885678c795c9d44a690d159b08e5201d)
Dark shadows
In the heart of a forgotten forest, where ancient spirits whisper ecrets and moonlight dances among leaves, lies a village haunted by a dark and mysterious curse. Legends speak of a creatures that transform under the pale light of the full moon, their bodies consumed by the primal instincts of the
