Ivy Cole

"Will you come with me?"

I stood before Mother's grave, extending my hand to that silent, withdrawn boy.

At that moment, I didn't yet know this decision would change my entire life.

—

After Mother died, I lost my home.

My stepmother and stepsisters saw me as a thorn in their side, while Father watched my suffering with cold indifference, as if I had never been his daughter.

Everyone hurt me.

Everyone except Alden.

He was withdrawn, mysterious, never one for words, always standing apart from the crowd. Everyone called him a freak, yet whenever I was bullied, humiliated, pushed to the brink, the person standing beside me was always him.

He would light torches for me in the darkness.

Would silently repair Mother's vandalized tombstone.

Would hold me when I broke down, whispering, "Mia, I'm here."

Later I discovered that Alden harbored secrets that didn't belong to this world.

And I, too, possessed powers I couldn't understand.

As the door to the magical world slowly opened, truth after truth began to surface. Yet more than those unknown dangers, what concerned me most was—that boy who had always protected me.

Why could he always find me first?

Why did his gaze toward me always carry emotions I couldn't read?

And why was I becoming more and more dependent on him?

Until one day, I discovered Alden's deepest hidden secret.

Only then did I finally understand.

That from a very long time ago, he had been running toward me all along.

What I didn't know was, when the day of destiny arrived—

Would I lose him,

Or fall in love with him.

"What if I want to escape?"

I looked at the man before me.

He was Alexei Cardis, vampire prince, and the one who would sacrifice me with his own hands at the Eclipse Ritual.

"Then escape," he said, lowering his gaze to meet mine, his tone calm. "Just don't get caught."

—

At seven years old, I was brought into this vampire castle.

From that day on, I had the best teachers, and the most dangerous guardian.

Alexei taught me to read, taught me to calculate, taught me how to survive amid lies and conspiracies.

But he never told me—that the meaning of my existence was to become the offering on the altar.

As the Eclipse Ritual drew closer, I began searching for a way to survive.

Forging evidence, sowing discord among nobles, stealing weapons, planning my escape.

Everyone wanted to use me.

Everyone wanted me dead.

Only Alexei was different.

He stopped others from getting close to me again and again, yet pushed me toward my destined fate with his own hands.

I could no longer understand him.

Until later, when I discovered a secret hidden in a wooden box.

It turned out that behind all these years of what I thought was captivity and exploitation, there was another, more dangerous emotion.

But if he truly cared about me—

Why would he raise me only to personally send me to the altar?

And when the night of sacrifice arrives,

Will I kill him and escape to freedom,

Or will he, for the sake of the entire vampire race, kill me with his own hands?

"I didn't kill your father."

The man sat behind the desk, the dagger I'd personally driven into his chest still lodged there, blood staining his shirt, yet he didn't even furrow his brow.

"If I were the killer, you'd already be dead."

—

My name is Serena Belmont.

A week ago, I was the family heir. A week later, my father died mysteriously, my stepmother took control of everything, and my fiancé abandoned me without hesitation.

All evidence pointed to Carlo Morandi—the most dangerous man on Valdoro Island, the feared Mafia godfather.

For revenge, I broke into his estate.

But what he gave me was evidence my father had left behind.

Missing eight million euros, a mysterious university professor, secrets my stepmother had hidden for years... As the investigation deepened, I realized I'd never truly understood the truth behind my father's death.

And Carlo always stood behind me, clearing obstacles for me, blocking danger for me, yet never explaining why he did this.

Until later, when I discovered an old photograph taken secretly for six full years.

The person in the photo was me.

In that moment I finally understood—some people approach you to use you, some to destroy you, and some have kept you in their hearts since before you even knew.

But when the truth surfaces, I don't know whether I should fear the conspiracy behind my father's death...

Or the real reason Carlo protects me.

"Why did you marry me?"

"Because I had no other choice."

The day my grandfather fell critically ill, I was abandoned by my boyfriend of seven years and lost my last pillar of support.

To fulfill my grandfather's dying wish, I married Charles William, a man I had never met.

Cold, arrogant, dangerous—that was my entire impression of this new husband.

It wasn't until after my grandfather's death that I discovered the William family harbored a shocking secret.

They weren't ordinary people at all.

And Charles was actually the future leader of the werewolf clan.

Facing my father's greed for the inheritance, my shattered family, and one crisis after another, I could only fight back step by step on my own.

Yet that man who had despised me from the start always appeared by my side whenever danger struck.

I thought this marriage was merely a transaction.

Until one late night, when Charles trapped me in his arms, his golden beast eyes locked tightly onto me.

"Daisy, you're already my wife."

"Isn't it too late to think about running now?"

"Why won't you ask me for help?"

Vincent pinned me against the wall, his green eyes cold and dangerous.

"Because I want to destroy them myself."

I smiled anyway.

—

My name is Irene Perot.

Ever since my mother married into wealth, I've been the outsider no one wanted. My stepsister Johanna treated me like a stain on her perfect life. My fiancé betrayed me. Rumors spread through school like wildfire, and everyone waited for me to break.

But I've never been the helpless girl they imagined.

When they tried to ruin my reputation, I exposed every lie. When they tried to bury me, I climbed higher.

Then there was Vincent Green.

The most powerful man in the Green family. My ex-fiancé's uncle. Dangerous. Untouchable. A man who always appeared when my world was falling apart.

He wanted me to rely on him.

I refused.

Yet the deeper I dug into the secrets surrounding my family, the closer I was drawn to him—and to a truth neither of us could escape.

Because what began as a battle of wills soon became something far more dangerous.

And when Vincent finally offered me his protection, I had to decide:

Would I become the woman standing beside his throne...

Or the one who burns his empire to the ground?

"Why do you need money this badly?"

Lorenzo gripped my chin, his gaze arrogant and dangerous.

"For money, are you really willing to do anything?"

I bit my lip and didn't answer.

Because if my two daughters couldn't survive, self-respect was worthless.

——

My name is Scarlett O'Brien.

To pay for my twin daughters' heart surgery, I signed a humiliating contract and sold myself to the most dangerous man in New York.

Lorenzo Vittori.

Young, handsome, arrogant, and the most feared heir to a mafia family.

He was cruel and sharp-tongued, humiliating me until I had nothing left, yet time and again he reached out his hand when I had nowhere else to turn.

And I told myself there was only a transaction between us.

As soon as I saved enough for the surgery, I would take my daughters and leave his world completely.

But I gradually discovered that this cold-blooded and vicious man seemed to hide even more scars than I did.

When the contract was about to end, true feelings began to spiral out of control.

I didn't know whether what awaited me would be redemption...

or a mafia storm destructive enough to destroy everything.

“I’m not asking you to love me. I’m asking you to become my wife.”

I thought Reginald was just another wealthy man looking for a convenient marriage.

A blind date.

A contract.

A temporary arrangement.

That was all.

Until I moved into his world and discovered the man behind the perfect image.

He was powerful but surprisingly gentle.

Cold to everyone else, yet endlessly patient with me.

He remembered the little things. He protected me without hesitation. And sometimes, when he looked at me, I felt like he was remembering a past I had forgotten.

Then I found the painting hidden in his house.

A girl saving an injured wolf.

A memory from his childhood.

A secret he had carried for years.

Because the truth was impossible…

I was not just his wife.

I was the person he had been searching for his entire life.

And I had no idea I was married to a wolf.

“I have waited five years to find you. Do you really think I will let you disappear again?”

Five years ago, I saved a dying stranger in the darkness.

I never knew that one act of kindness would change my destiny forever.

Now my company is falling apart, my fiancé betrays me, and I am forced into a contract with Andrew Skin—the most powerful billionaire in the city.

He is arrogant. Controlling. Impossible to understand.

Yet somehow, he knows things about me no one else could know.

Why does he look at me like he has lost me before?

Why does my heart react to him like we have known each other forever?

When his secret finally comes to light, I discover Andrew is not just a billionaire.

He is an Alpha wolf.

And according to his world…

I am his destined mate.

But loving a wolf means entering a war I was never prepared to fight.

“I was never supposed to fall for him.”

I was only the invisible boy at the ice arena—the one nobody noticed, the one who hid behind a camera and wrote anonymous stories about the hockey captain I could never reach.

Curtis Glass was everything I wasn’t. Powerful. Admired. Untouchable.

When he discovered my secret, I thought he would destroy me. Instead, he stepped closer, protected me, and made me believe I finally mattered.

But I didn’t know the truth.

Before I became the person he cared about, I was only a bet he made with his teammates.

A challenge.

A game.

And I was foolish enough to fall in love with the man who planned to break my heart.

Now Curtis says he never meant to hurt me.

But how can I trust the person who made me feel special… when I was only his secret from the beginning?

"Why are you avoiding me, Riley?"

Theo gently touched my face, his voice as warm as ever.

Before I could answer, Eliot caught my wrist.

"Because he's afraid you'll discover who he really belongs to."

Then Julian smiled.

"The only question is… which one of us he'll choose."

—

I'm Riley.

A perfectly ordinary Beta—or so everyone believes.

After returning to Saint Vira Academy, my quiet life falls apart overnight.

The man who raised me watches me with eyes that no father should have.

The vampire ancestor who rejected my feelings suddenly refuses to let me go.

The cold Hunter Association president looks at me like I've always belonged to him.

The more I uncover the truth about my strange pheromones and hidden bloodline, the more dangerous they become.

But the greatest secret isn't who I am.

It's why three of the most powerful Alpha men would risk everything...

Just to keep me.