Simone, a fiery young woman who had been kidnapped by the very beings she despised is now queen of the vampires. Jackson is a mysterious hybrid, a missing brother who had been hidden away by his mother from the three princes. He leaves them questioning everything they thought they knew. A dark secret is waiting to be revealed, one that will turn the whole vampire world upside down. A soulmate no one knew existed will be found... and a new hybrid who is meant to rule.
Previously.....
"You shouldn't speak in such a manner to vampires, you little human." His ghostly white eyes were the most haunting sight she had ever seen.
"You wouldn't have to mind my manners if you hadn't approached me in the first place, vampire."
He moved too fast for her to track and panicked when she felt him behind her. He yanked her hair back, and she forced herself to endure the pain, so she wouldn't scream.
"You know, creatures like us love a challenge; therefore, Jack and I would love to cool down that fire of yours."
"I'd just end up burning you instead."
He jerked her hair again and she winced.
"Such a sharp tongue," he leaned in and took a whiff of her body fragrance. She couldn't escape, getting out of a vampire's grip was the most useless action in the world for a human.
Before she could deem herself defenseless, both men dropped to their knees. Their hands flew up to their heads, and they yelled out in agony.
Simone searched for her savior and saw Darius blazed with vengeance. She had never seen his eyes so dark and concentrated on one thing, pain. He smirked as he praised his work of having both men crying out for their lives.
"My prince, please." They both begged.
"Was that any way to treat a potential queen to the throne?" Darius' heated voice rang with fiery.
"No, no my prince. We had no idea."
Their petty pleading made no difference. Darius possessed no sympathy. He was blinded to any justification for their cruel intentions towards Simone. Watching Darius torture the defenseless vampires frightened her; not for her safety. She truly believed with all her heart Darius would never purposely hurt her ever again. She could sense his sick enjoyment of their misery, and that was a side of him she had never witnessed before.
"Darius stop," she warned him as Aurora and Luca approached them. "Dar, please."
Darius' facial features relaxed, and the haunting male cries stopped. Two security cops came forward from the crowd that had gathered around due to curiosity. Most were struck with fear and disbursed as quickly as the shock wore off.
The car ride back to the castle was cold and quiet. For once, Simone's tongue was caught. There was nothing she could say with the kids present. She felt him wondrously glancing at her occasionally but she didn't dare look back. How would she react? She couldn't connect all the emotions running inside her head.
Athena was at the entrance to greet them. Simone couldn't have been more pleased to see her.
"Can you get them ready for bed? The kids are exhausted."
Athena bowed and pushed the two little bodies towards the stairs. "Of course, my lady."
Simone watched their tired little bodies drag their feet upon the stairs. Even after they were gone, she had nothing to say to him. Simone causally took her leave, but even her maneuvered light steps were laced with controlled anger. She was upset with him, therefore; he closely followed her into the study room. Darius slid the French wooden door shut and awaited her wrath, but she remained silent. Never in his life had he yearned to hear her voice than at that moment.
"You're mad at me." He stated, hoping to dissolve the tension. "Simone I'm sorry if I scared you. I didn't mean to-"
"That's not it," she finally turned to look at him.
"Then what is it? Something is definitely upsetting you." He took a step closer because all he wanted to do was hold her and tell her he would never hurt her.
"You...you enjoyed that, didn't you? You enjoyed torturing those men." She crossed her arms over her chest for leverage.
Darius exhaled his willpower. He could never win with her.
"What was I supposed to do? Let them get to you. I stopped them the only way I saw fit. They are extremely lucky. The pain I caused them was a fraction of what I could have done."
"Wow!" Even his tone was insincere. There was no indication of remorse. "Do you hear yourself?"
He finally saw it in her eyes: disgust. She was the only one to cause him to hate himself and almost his very existence. Nothing ever felt good enough.
"Simone they were going to kill you," his heightened rage grew louder.
"I understand that, Darius, but my problem is not them. Yes, I am genuinely grateful you showed up when you did, but my concern is you. You thrive off their pain."
It wasn't right. She wouldn't let him convince her otherwise. Darius' darkness was powerful. He couldn't deny it.
"You are complaining about my method of punishment?"
How could he make her feel so foolish? He was justifying his actions by procuring her safety. He did it for her.
"No. The way you find pleasure in others' misery is what I have a problem with."
"Oh Simone, will you ever be satisfied?" Protecting her was going to be the death of him; he already knew it. "You always have to find something about everyone and make it into something completely out of line."
"This isn't about me," she fumed. Darius' menacing look was starting to make her question if she should challenge him.
"No it's about me and my flaws. Yes, Simone, I have a past. I have tortured and killed more men than you could count. Is that what you wanted to hear?"
She knew all this. Why was she constantly reminding him of what he was?
"Is that what you want me to do? Do you want me to scare you off because trust me, any sequence of my past will have you running for the hills? I never claimed to be a saint Simon. I have done so many gut-wrenching things in my life I'm not proud of, but that is not who I am anymore."
"Then who were you when you were torturing those men?" She spat viciously, and it honestly tugged at his heart.
He wanted so badly to please her, but how could he give her the answer she wanted? "Yes I enjoyed it," he shamelessly yelled. "You want to know why because for a split second, I thought about what if I haven't been there in time. What would have happened to you then? I was afraid." Afraid he'd never see her again.
"Afraid?"
He groaned. Darius believed no amount of torment he had endured in his life amounted to the torture she was forcing him into now. "I did it because I love you. I'm afraid of losing you."
His conflicted confess rendered her speechless. Perhaps she hadn't heard him correctly.
His eyes melted to pools of compassion. "You make me feel alive again, Simone. You drive me crazy, but I love every second of it." He crept closer to her. Her shallow breathing was scaring him, but he figured she was just overwhelmed. "I love your every form of crazy, even the one that wants to kill me."
He chuckled, and Simone still couldn't concentrate on anything but breathing and the sound of his voice.
"I have never loved or cared for someone so much in my life."
The silent seconds after his proclamation felt like lifetimes.
Simone's eyes began to water as she whispered, "Say it."
Darius knew instantly what she wanted to hear. "I love you."
She strutted with determination. "Once more."
"I love you." The words effortlessly flowed off his tongue.
Simone crushed her lips against his with so much bent up passion, she rocked him back. Her arms closed in around his neck and he lifted her up off the floor.
"Again," she brushed against his lips.
"I love you, Simone Rose Regan."
She claimed his lips one more time, not wanting to let go of the piercing feeling running through every fiber of her body. He parted from her luscious, demanding lips and rested his forehead against hers.
"You mean every word, don't you?"
He nodded. "Yes sweetheart. I mean every word. I love you and only you."
Nine human girls are brought before three vampiric princes to compete in a grueling trial. Their price? The crown itself. However, one reluctant candidate stands out; Simone, a fiery young woman determined to self-sabotage her chances of winning no matter the cost. But nothing is strong enough to shield her heart. The twisting and pulling tear at her guard so much it hurts. One brief moment of vulnerability is enough to lead her down a dark, winding path she was never ready for or wanted. Love, supernatural princes, and a crown turn out to be just the tip of the iceberg. How cruel fate could be to make someone queen when they never wanted it? And when the iceberg cracks what happens next?
When Zora was sick during the early days of her pregnancy, Ezrah was with his first love, Piper. When Zora got into an accident and called Ezrah, he said he was busy, when in actual fact, he was buying shoes for Piper. Zora lost her baby because of the accident, and throughout her stay at the hospital, Ezrah never showed up. She already knew that he didn't love her, but that was the last straw for the camel's back, and her fragile heart could not take it anymore. When Ezrah arrived home a few days after Zora was discharged from the hospital, he no longer met the woman who always greeted him with a smile and cared for him. Zora stood at the top of the stairs and yelled with a cold expression, "Good news, Ezrah! Our baby died in a car accident. There is nothing between us anymore, so let's get a divorce." The man who claimed not to have any feelings for Zora, being cold and distant towards her, and having asked her for a divorce twice, instantly panicked.
6 years ago, Lydia suffered a brutal betrayal orchestrated by her own husband and step-sister, who drugged her and framed her. In a twist of fate, she ended up having a one-night stand with a stranger. Don't even remember what he looked like. Later, in the throes of death, she discovered the truth about her mother's death all those years ago. In the blink of an eye, she lost everything. 6 years later, Lydia returned with her genius son, vowing to exact revenge on all her enemies! Little did she know, she encountered an incredibly familiar man at the airport! *** The man was briskly pushing open the door to the restroom, heading to the urinal. Even with such a mundane action, he did it with unparalleled elegance and grace. Lydia, following him in a daze, saw his fierce lower body and suddenly snapped back to reality. She let out a high-pitched scream, instinctively covering her eyes with her hands, her cheeks flushed, and stood there stiffly, unsure of what to do. Lambert furrowed his brows slightly but remained calm as he continued to relieve himself. The sound of water hitting the urinal made Lydia's face even redder. She angrily shouted, "You pervert!" Little did Lydia know that Lambert, seeing her in this state, had a flicker of recognition in his eyes. Memories from many years ago flashed through his mind, and his heart couldn't help but stir. It was her!
After my family's sinister plots collapsed, they lashed out at me, taking their rage to a violent level. Cornered and desperate, I married Jaxton—the town's most sought-after bachelor—due to an unplanned pregnancy. Love had no part in this marriage; I assumed he married me purely out of responsibility, his heart belonging elsewhere. The moment I chose to let him go and turned to leave, he grabbed me and pinned me down hard. "Jaxton, you promised you'd never touch me!" I snapped, glaring fiercely. His eyes flashed arrogantly as he leaned closer. "You're the one who started this!"
Due to the plight of her family, Phoebe had no choice but to embark on the path of selling herself. In an accident, she had a tangled night with Alexander. Everything began to derail, and even if she fled to the ends of the earth, she would still be found by him and entangled... *** Phoebe screamed in frustration, "What do you want from me?" What was this supposed to be? He raised an eyebrow wickedly. "What do I want? You'll find out soon enough." With that, he hoisted her up and carried her back into the office. The door slammed shut with a kick, and he cleared the desk with a sweep of his arm before laying her down on it, his body pinning hers in place, completely trapping her in his grasp. Every cell in his body was telling him he wanted her. He wanted to claim her again. This time, there would be no escape for her-he wouldn't let her slip away. Never again. If he had suffered for five years, then this woman wouldn't get off easily either!
"You're mine, little puppy," Kylan growled against my neck. A soft gasp escaped my lips as his lips brushed my skin. My mind screamed at me to push him away-the Lycan Prince who had humiliated me again and again, but my body betrayed me, leaning into him before I could stop myself. He pressed his lips against mine, and his kiss grew more aggressive, more possessive as I felt my legs weaken. What was I doing? In a split-second, I pulled away and slapped him hard across the face. Kylan's eyes darkened, but the smirk on his lips exposed his amusement. "You and I both know we can't fight this, Violet," he said, gripping my wrist. "You're my mate." "And yet you don't want me," I replied. "You told me you were ashamed of me, that l'd never be your queen, that you'd never love me. So please, accept my rejection and let me go." "Never," he whispered, his grip tightening as he pulled me closer. "Soon enough, you'll be begging for me. and when you do-I'll use you as I see fit and then I'll reject you."
When they were kids, Derek saved Norah's life. Years later, after Derek ended up in a vegetative state from a car crash, Norah married him without a second thought and even used her medical knowledge to heal him. For two years, Norah was devoted, seeking his affection and looking to settle her life-saving debt. But when Derek's first love returned, Norah, faced with divorce, didn't hesitate to sign. Despite being labeled as forsaken, few knew of her true talents. She was a race car driver, a famed designer, a genius hacker, and a renowned doctor. Regretting his decision, Derek begged for her forgiveness. Just then, a charming CEO intervened, embracing Norah and declaring, "Back off! She's my wife!" Taken aback, Norah blurted out, "What did you say?"