The undead Prince of Canada's capital city has disappeared, and his second-in-command, Eden Corliss, wants you to find out why. You've been loyal to Corliss since she Embraced you and made you a vampire, but this could be your chance to take her place. Will you defend your sire from the accusations flying, or join forces with her rivals to bring her down? Ottawa's court of immortals is tight-knit and merciless, with tensions between clans that go back centuries. The Prince has been missing for four days, and old alliances are starting to crumble. How will you leverage the political chaos to your advantage? The authorities are already on high alert against a new group of Anarchs in the city, who have been breaching the Masquerade by revealing their true nature. You'll have to gather evidence to demonstrate which suspects deserve punishment, and you can't afford to guess wrong. One careless word could get you stabbed in the back-staked through the heart, and left to burn in the sun. Who will you save when the knives are out?
In this moment of pure animal desperation, all you can think of, all you want in the world is to brush your lips against hers and banish the eternal cold of un-death, even if only for a fraction of a second, to relive some of what has been lost, to heal your mind as well as your body. This unearthly desire proves too great to resist, and you draw forward, embracing your lover and pulling her close. She struggles at first, but eventually yields to your touch, a deep groan of pleasure on her lips. The feeling is euphoric.
Hot tears stream down your cheeks and your chest constricts with gut-wrenching emotion as your embrace spans what feels like hours of pure bliss. And then there is pain. You're able to ignore it at first, but it returns with a vengeance as your lover is torn from your arms, a sad smile etched on her lips.
"No!" the word rips its way out from the bottom of your black and shriveled lungs. "Not again!" Your eyes shift to the demon pulling your lover away, and you recognize yourself in its face once again. Not as you once were, but as you are now-soul twisted and shriveled, a gaping maw with protruding fangs. You leap forward, ripping your doppelganger away from his prey before plunging your teeth into his neck. "Not...ever...again!" you grunt against his flesh, crimson bubbles flowering at the edges of your mouth as you scream defiance even while you drain your personal demon dry. When at last he breathes no more, you fall back, triumphant exultation fading as your body finishes knitting itself together again. Reality settles around you again, and you feel a biting sting of dread as you turn to take in the true scene.
The mutilated body of a young man lies sprawled on the ground, his neck torn open and hanging at an unnatural angle, expression locked in sheer terror and disbelief. He's tightly grasping the hand of a young woman-he'd somehow held on even as you drained the life from his body. Unlike her partner, the young woman has yet to succumb to oblivion-irregular breathing causes her chest to rise and fall and her eyes drift listlessly until they alight on you, your lips and chin slathered in a mix of blood from both your victims. She tries to scream, but finds herself unable to summon the necessary breath, and all that comes from her lips is the pitiful squeak of a prey animal. She's dying. She knows it. You know it.
"I don't want to die here," she rasps, her knuckles going white as she clutches her dead partner's hand.
Your head is spinning as you sink to your knees before the woman, unable to banish the vision of your lover's face. Her expression of betrayal was not at all dissimilar to the gaze of this young woman, soft eyes searching for answers and wondering why-how you could have done such a thing.
"Please," she whimpers.
What doesn't kill you...kills someone else, and leads you down an ethical rabbit hole. In the near future, paying users can rent the "virtual experiences" of other people. These "feeders" sublet their own bodies, at the risk of their own lives, so that customers can safely enjoy extreme, potentially self-destructive vices, like binge eating, cliff diving, or worse.
While Sienna reached the pinnacle of her success, Julian remained the forgotten son of his family, the one who had secretly stolen her first kiss in the shadows of the night. As Sienna hit her darkest moment, Julian returned home, leaving his life behind, only to witness her tears glistening in the moonlight as she reluctantly accepted another man's proposal. When Sienna needed Julian more than ever, he had risen to a position of power and had become her most steadfast pillar of support. "Please marry me." There was no one else in the world who could love Sienna as deeply as Julian did.
Ethan always viewed Nyla as a compulsive liar, while she saw him as aloof and insensitive. Nyla had cherished the notion that she was dear to Ethan, yet she felt coldly rejected when she realized her place in his heart was insignificant. No longer trying to break through his coldness, she stepped back, only for him to alter his approach unexpectedly. She challenged him, "If you trust me so little, why keep me around?" Ethan, who had once carried himself with pride, now stood before her with a humble plea. "Nyla, I've made mistakes. Please don't walk away from me."
Daisy is the illegitimate daughter of Mr. Hubert. His company went bankrupt, so he asked for help from Drkov's house. They agreed to help Mr. Hubert but with one condition. One of his two daughters must marry their nephew - Atlas Drkov. Atlas Drkov is a billionaire but he is disabled and uses a wheelchair. Yaretzi - daughter of Mr. Hubert's official wife - does not accept marrying a disabled man. She and her parents made a plan. They kidnapped Daisy's mother, threatened her, and forced her to marry Atlas. To save her mother, she accepted. However, after getting married, she fell in love with this man, and so did he. Difficulties start from here.
Three years ago, the Moore family opposed Charles Moore's choice to marry his beloved woman and selected Scarlett Riley as his bride. Charles didn't love her. In fact, he hated her. Not long after they got married, Scarlett received an offer from her dream university and jumped on it. Three years later, Charles's beloved woman fell terribly ill. In order to fulfill her last wish, he called Scarlett back and presented her with a divorce agreement. Scarlett was deeply hurt by Charles's abrupt decision, but she chose to let him go and agreed to sign the divorce papers. However, Charles seemed to delay the process deliberately, leaving Scarlett confused and frustrated. Now, Scarlett was trapped between the consequences of Charles's indecision. Would she be able to break free from him? Would Charles eventually come to his senses and face his true feelings?
It took only a second for a person's world to come crashing down. This was what happened in Hannah's case. For four years, she gave her husband her all, but one day, he said emotionlessly, "Let's get divorced." Hannah's heart broke into a million pieces as she signed the divorce papers, marking the end of her role as a devoted wife. Within Hannah, a strong woman awakened, vowing never to be beholden to any man again. Embracing her new life, she embarked on a journey to find herself and command her own destiny. By the time she returned, she had experienced so much growth and was now completely different from the docile wife everyone once knew. "Is this your latest trick to get my attention?" Hannah's ever-so-arrogant husband asked. Before she could retort, a handsome and domineering CEO pulled her into his embrace. He smiled down at her and said boldly to her ex, "Just a little heads-up, mister. This is my beloved wife. Keep off!"
She thought she was the love of his life, and he became the love of her life that fateful day she had seen him at the pack's party. Selene Grace was only a replica of Alpha Leo's real mate, and when he spotted her, Leo immediately claimed her as his Luna in order to suppress the rumors of him being mateless. Being unable to conceive turns Selene's marriage into a nightmare, and as if that wasn't enough, Alpha Leo finally reunites with his long time lover and mate, rejecting a pregnant Selene as a result. 5 years later, Selene, a now successful doctor, receives an invitation to the moon shadow pack in order to rid the pack of a deadly disease which has struck it. Will Selene return back to the pack which had caused her so much pain, and what would she do when she realizes that she is mated to the Alpha who had betrayed her in the past?