Daisy Chain

Daisy Chain

Wendy Cheairs · Ongoing · 253.7k Words

891
Hot
891
Views
0
Added
Add to Shelf
Start Reading
Share:facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsappreddit

Introduction

The world is steeped in dark magic, where every individual possesses a fragment of power, but its strength varies greatly. Society's harsh judgment hinges on this magical ranking system, establishing a brutal caste hierarchy that determines one's place, opportunities, and wealth. Our heroine, Daisy, hails from the slums, born to a mother who once survived as a prostitute, each of her children fathered by unknown clients. With their mother now incapacitated by a curable disease and unable to provide for them, the family's desperation mounts. Daisy, the eldest sibling, takes on the perilous role of a pest hunter, earning scant coins by ridding local businesses of rats and pigeons, all while desperately seeking a way to save her family from starvation and disease.

When rumors of a mystical menagerie belonging to the high nobles reach her ears, Daisy resolves to risk everything. She embarks on a treacherous journey to the distant menagerie, stealing rides on carts and foraging for food along the way. Navigating the heavily protected forest that surrounds the menagerie proves challenging, but Daisy cleverly follows the small rats she once hunted, slipping through cracks in the wards that guard the enchanted realm.

Inside, she searches for creatures that might grant her a boon in exchange for her help in escaping their captivity. Yet, she soon becomes prey herself, hunted by fearsome beasts that threaten her very existence. In her moment of desperation, she hears a voice in her mind offering an escape—an opportunity to bond with a powerful creature. As the ground shakes violently and the tree erupts in chaos, she unwittingly frees an enormous dragon, dark red and nearly black, which devours the manticore in an act of vengeance for its long imprisonment.

Chapter 1

“Bloodlines have been guarded through noble marriages, hoarding high magic among the elite. That’s what the upper nobles want the lower classes to swallow. Yet, if a so-called pure-blood shows weak magic, they’re dropped as quickly as a mangy dog. Scooping up magical orphans and training them as nobles also keeps magic pure.” - Excerpt of the Ruby Queen Biography, 24th year of her reign.

Magic is rare among all citizens. Power never comes free. Whether born to the high houses or the gutters, any individual who summons magic must pay a precise price—life, blood, or memory, each a distinct currency within the arcane system. The cost intensifies with a spell’s strength. More ambitious enchantments become exponentially dangerous. The unique nature of this magic shows early for most: a flicker in the fingertips, feverish images behind the eyes, or a whispering ache in the bones. The Guild's examiners use artifacts crafted for this system alone—sand-filled hourglasses, calibrated to track power expenditure, and enchanted stones that glow with a mage’s unique resonance—to train and measure both raw force and precision. Without accepted Guild training, unregulated magic can drive a practitioner into collapse or madness long before true mastery. This uncompromising system is a fundamental law of the realm, shaping how all social classes view and hoard magic. For many, the cost of magic is inescapable. For nobles, it is a secret best kept unspoken.

A good morning in the slums was measured by what you didn’t step in—mud, trash, or worse. By that simple standard, Daisy's day had its best moment before dawn. Fog hung low, curling around splintered eaves and half-collapsed stoops like a gray blanket. It smothered the usual stink with its dampness. The quiet, heavy air weighed on Daisy, dulling any hopes she still dared carry at sunrise. Yet even beneath the fog and her exhaustion, something sharp remained: a wish not only for escape but for a future where she and her mother could survive beyond mere subsistence. Her central goal was simple. She needed to find a way out of the slums and secure a safer life for her small family. This hope was so delicate she kept it hidden, even from herself. Still, it glimmered every time she braved these streets. Daisy moved through the alleys with the care of a stray cat avoiding danger, always alert for chamber pots or magical objects flung from above. Her battered leather satchel, patched again and again, tapped softly at her hip with each step—a constant companion on her cautious journey.

The baker’s back door was blocked with a cinder block and a threatening sign scrawled in the proprietor’s best imitation of noble script. Flour-fine dust dulled every letter. Daisy bent, dragged the satchel over, and rapped the code against the wood. Two slow, one fast—a rhythm mocking the start of a noble parade, a pauper’s trumpet from the shadows. After a beat, the cinder block scraped. The door opened just enough for a doughy hand to beckon her inside.

She slipped in and let her eyes adjust. The storeroom looked like a graveyard, with rotting bread scattered and flour sacks piled up like drunken sentries guarding the corners—as if the heaps were careless guards watching over forgotten remains. The rats here were as big as terriers, with blunted teeth and a reputation for being mean. Daisy’s tools were simple—spring wire, sticky resin, and a nail-studded baton. She wound the wire tight, wishing for a moment she knew even a weak magical charm for protection. It might have scared off the rats or made her trap faster. But in the slums, wishes were useless. Magic was hoarded and became more legend than reality, so Daisy relied on stubbornness and sharp tools instead. She set the first trap by the sagging shelf and waited, kneeling quietly in the shadow beside a crate marked 'Yeast, Premium.'

“Be quick, rat-catcher,” the baker said, voice thick with yesterday’s grease.

A whisker twitched. Motion flickered. Daisy counted heartbeats: one, two, three. She snapped the baton. The rat gave no squeal—just shuddered, then slumped. Daisy checked for blood, wiped the baton clean, and moved on. Last winter’s fever pricked her memory—another illness, another rat, a missed kill. If she slipped, the disease would reach her mother first. Twenty minutes and four nests later, she bagged six rats. Her nerves stretched tighter with each strike. She stomped only once, a rat clinging to her boot. Flour dust coated her hair and arms, leaving her hands as pale as bone.

The baker paid her copper coins. Daisy counted the coins, spotting the shortfall, then looked up. He had already turned away, slicing dough, humming a noble’s anthem off-key. She clenched the coins until they left hot prints on her palm.

Outside, the fog dissolved to a fine drizzle. Carts rattled, children shrieked, and the grocer shouted after a street thief. Daisy’s breath misted in the air as she strode toward the avenue, mind tallying what meager coppers might buy: half a loaf, a swallow of cough tonic for her mother. Then, a commotion snapped her focus.

A noble’s carriage, gleaming black lacquer, rolled through the mud as if it had never heard of such a thing. Its wheels glowed. Faint blue sigils circled with each turn, each rim casting a halo as if an unholy sun had descended to these streets. The magic drove back the filth, pushing away slop and trash in an untouchable radius. For a heartbeat, the whole alley looked lit by some forbidden miracle. Daisy felt it burn her eyes. She blinked, gaze lowering. The scene was both mesmerizing and a sharp reminder of her exclusion. Beauty was cruel by the gulf it drew between those inside and the world outside. Daisy tightened her grip on her satchel, anchoring herself against that unwelcome distance. Beyond the glass, nobles believed the world outside their carriages existed chiefly to test their virtue. Their comforts felt justified as birthright. To them, the purity of privilege proved their worth. Filth belonged to those who had not earned magic's favor. Two guards flanked the carriage in uniforms with tunics shot through with silver thread. Both showed open disgust. To them, the slum was an infectious rash.

An old man with a matted beard and no shoes hobbled into the carriage’s path, hands out. The red-headed guard with icy eyes didn’t hesitate. He flicked his wrist. A ripple of greenish light tossed the beggar backwards. The old man hit the gutter, scraping his face on the cobbles. Daisy slowed, knuckles whitening around her bag’s strap.

The guard’s gaze swept the street, counting threats. It landed on Daisy. She knew he could sense her meager magic—probably not enough for a candle trick—and dismiss her in the same breath. But she didn’t look away.

The carriage passed. Its window uncurtained just long enough for Daisy to glimpse a child in silks—face pinched, eyes glazed from sleeplessness or too much sweet wine. She wondered how it felt to move through the city without ever seeing it.

The guards marched on. The beggar crawled to his knees and spat blood. Daisy watched until the noble's tail lamps vanished around the corner. As she stepped past him, she dropped a rat corpse by his elbow—a small, grim offering. It was not quite pity, nor quite charity. She knew the meat might buy him a day's survival or just remind him how people died here. Maybe it was defiance. Maybe she just couldn't walk by empty-handed. Without pausing, Daisy moved on.

The next stop was the market. The coppers in her palm burned hot. Bought with rat blood. And desperation. She clenched them until her knuckles whitened, as if the coins themselves carried the shame and effort required to earn them. A flash of metal—a knife or a hand in her pocket. Sometimes, before she’d even notice. Daisy hunched lower, a predator’s crouch, and cut through the rain-slick alley. A hush fell. Too sudden, as if even the morning birds had stopped, signaling danger coming. Her footsteps echoed farther than they should, the silence sharpening into a tense pause that prickled her neck, as if the alley itself warned her to be cautious. Even the rats, wiser than most, kept clear of these alleys after dawn. Something was coming. She kept moving, every sense stretched taut, uncertain whether she would reach the market or disappear into the quiet.

Last Chapters

You Might Like 😍

He Never Loved Me, Until I Left

He Never Loved Me, Until I Left

35.2k Views · Completed · Joy Brown
In order to rush to comfort his assistant whose apartment was leaking, Richard signed his name hastily without even glancing at the documents on the table.
I put away the divorce agreement with a wry smile.
When he and my son completely disappeared, he finally panicked.
Three months later .
He knelt down on the streets of Chicago in despair, begging me to remarry him.
My six-year-old son looked coldly at his biological father and said, "Get lost, you bad uncle! You don't deserve to be my dad!"
When I Disappeared, He Regretted It

When I Disappeared, He Regretted It

234.2k Views · Completed · Coralie Sullivan
I thought I was the happiest woman in the world... until I clicked on that video.

The moment the screen lit up, my entire world came crashing down.

The woman on the bed was Calista - that girl who grew up with us since we were kids. And that hand caressing her skin was wearing the wedding ring I had personally put on Matteo's finger.

"I've missed you so much..."
"You drive me crazy, baby..."

Those sweet words I knew so well completely destroyed me.

Everyone said we were the perfect couple, but who knew this marriage was built on nothing but lies?

Since he's so good at acting, I guess it's time I gave him a show of my own. I'm going to make sure everyone sees what this "perfect husband" really is...
I Loved You in Silence, You Betrayed Me in French

I Loved You in Silence, You Betrayed Me in French

33.9k Views · Completed · Joy Brown
I swear, I hate my husband.

At my birthday party, my husband whispered to his mistress in French that he missed her. His voice was low, but I heard it all—the black lingerie, the bit about how pregnancy makes you more sensitive. His French clients around us were laughing. He turned and put his arm around me, claiming he was just helping his clients come up with sweet nothings.

He doesn't know I understand every single word. Just like he doesn't know that inside my body, I'm carrying his other surprise. And his mistress—she's pregnant too. Two wombs, one secret.

Confrontation would be too cheap. Tears are worthless. I quietly started cataloging the hidden networks my father left behind, activating the Swiss accounts.

In seven days, Zoey Smith will cease to exist. And what will my husband's reaction be?
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother

Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother

2.2m Views · Ongoing · Harper Rivers
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother.

"What is wrong with me?

Why does being near him make my skin feel too tight, like I’m wearing a sweater two sizes too small?

It’s just newness, I tell myself firmly.

He’s my boyfirend’s brother.

This is Tyler’s family.

I’m not going to let one cold stare undo that.

**

As a ballet dancer, My life looks perfect—scholarship, starring role, sweet boyfriend Tyler. Until Tyler shows his true colors and his older brother, Asher, comes home.

Asher is a Navy veteran with battle scars and zero patience. He calls me "princess" like it's an insult. I can't stand him.

When My ankle injury forces her to recover at the family lake house, I‘m stuck with both brothers. What starts as mutual hatred slowly turns into something forbidden.

I'm falling for my boyfriend's brother.

**

I hate girls like her.

Entitled.

Delicate.

And still—

Still.

The image of her standing in the doorway, clutching her cardigan tighter around her narrow shoulders, trying to smile through the awkwardness, won’t leave me.

Neither does the memory of Tyler. Leaving her here without a second thought.

I shouldn’t care.

I don’t care.

It’s not my problem if Tyler’s an idiot.

It’s not my business if some spoiled little princess has to walk home in the dark.

I’m not here to rescue anyone.

Especially not her.

Especially not someone like her.

She’s not my problem.

And I’ll make damn sure she never becomes one.

But when my eyes fell on her lips, I wanted her to be mine.
Alpha Nicholas's Little Mate

Alpha Nicholas's Little Mate

1.1m Views · Ongoing · Becky j
"Mate is here!"
What? No—wait… oh Moon Goddess, no.
Please tell me you're joking, Lex.
But she's not. I can feel her excitement bubbling under my skin, while all I feel is dread.
We turn the corner, and the scent hits me like a punch to the chest—cinnamon and something impossibly warm. My eyes scan the room until they land on him. Tall. Commanding. Beautiful.
And then, just as quickly… he sees me.
His expression twists.
"Fuck no."
He turns—and runs.
My mate sees me and runs.
Bonnie has spent her entire life being broken down and abused by the people closest to her including her very own twin sister. Alongside her best friend Lilly who also lives a life of hell, they plan to run away while attending the biggest ball of the year while it's being hosted by another pack, only things don't quite go to plan leaving both girls feeling lost and unsure about their futures.
Alpha Nicholas is 28, mateless, and has no plans to change that. It's his turn to host the annual Blue Moon Ball this year and the last thing he expects is to find his mate. What he expects even less is for his mate to be 10 years younger than him and how his body reacts to her. While he tries to refuse to acknowledge that he has met his mate his world is turned upside down after guards catch two she-wolves running through his lands.
Once they are brought to him he finds himself once again facing his mate and discovers that she's hiding secrets that will make him want to kill more than one person.
Can he overcome his feelings towards having a mate and one that is so much younger than him? Will his mate want him after already feeling the sting of his unofficial rejection? Can they both work on letting go of the past and moving forward together or will fate have different plans and keep them apart?
Omega Bound

Omega Bound

1.6m Views · Completed · Veronica White
Ayla Frost is a beautiful, rare omega. Kidnapped, tortured, and trafficked to rogue clans and corrupt alphas to do with as they pleased.  Kept alive in her cage, broken and abandoned by her wolf, she becomes mute and has given up on hope for a better life until one explosion changes everything. 

Thane Knight is the alpha of the Midnight Pack of the La Plata Mountain Range, the largest wolf shifter pack in the world. He is an alpha by day and hunts the shifter trafficking ring with his group of mercenaries by night. His hunt for vengeance leads to one raid that changes his life. 

Tropes:
Touch her and die/Slow burn romance/Fated Mates/Found family twist/Close circle betrayal/Cinnamon roll for only her/Traumatized heroine/Rare wolf/Hidden powers/Knotting/Nesting/Heats/Luna/Attempted assassination
The Human Among  Wolves

The Human Among Wolves

649.1k Views · Ongoing · ZWrites
"You actually thought I cared about you?" His smirk was sharp, almost cruel.
My stomach twisted, but he wasn’t finished.
"You're just a pathetic little human," Zayn said, his words deliberate, each one hitting like a slap. "Spreading your legs for the first guy who bothers to notice you."
Heat rushed to my face, burning with humiliation. My chest ached — not from his words alone, but from the sick realization that I had trusted him. That I had let myself believe he was different.
I was so, so stupid.
——————————————————
When eigteen-year-old Aurora Wells moves to a sleepy town with her parents, the last thing she expects is to be enrolled in a secret academy for werewolves.
Moonbound Academy is no ordinary school. It's here young Lycans, Betas and Alphas train in shifting, elemental magic, and ancient pack laws. But Aurora? She's just...human. a mistake. The new receptionist forgot to check her species - and now she's surrounded by predators who sense she doesn't belong.
Determined to stay under the radar, Aurora plans to survive the year unnoticed. But when she catches the attention of Zayn, a brooding and infuriatingly powerful Lycan prince, her life gets a lot more complicated. Zayn already has a mate. He already has enemies. And he definitely doesn't want anything to do with a clueless human.
But secrets run deeper than bloodlines at Moonbound. as Aurora unravels the truth about the academy - and herself - she begins to question everything she thought she knew.
Including the reason she was brought here at all.
Enemies will rise. Loyalties will shift. And the girl with no place in their world...might be the key to saving it.
Accardi

Accardi

871.6k Views · Completed · Allison Franklin
“I thought we discussed this earlier, Weakness? I warned you. His death is on your hands.”
“I thought you said you were done chasing me?” Gen mocked.
“I am done chasing you.”
Before she could formulate a witty remark, Matteo threw her down. She landed hard on her back atop his dining room table. She tried to sit up when she noticed what he was doing. His hands were working on his belt. It came free of his pants with a violent yank. She collapsed back on her elbows, her mouth gaping open at the display. His face was a mask of sheer determination, his eyes were a dark gold swimming with heat and desire. His hands wrapped around her thighs and pulled her to the edge of the table. He glided his fingers up her thighs and hooked several around the inside of her panties. His knuckles brushed her dripping sex.
“You’re soaking wet, Genevieve. Tell me, was it me that made you this way or him?” his voice told her to be careful with her answer. His knuckles slid down through her folds and she threw her head back as she moaned. “Weakness?”
“You…” she breathed.


Genevieve loses a bet she can’t afford to pay. In a compromise, she agrees to convince any man her opponent chooses to go home with her that night. What she doesn’t realize when her sister’s friend points out the brooding man sitting alone at the bar, is that man won’t be okay with just one night with her. No, Matteo Accardi, Don of one of the largest gangs in New York City doesn’t do one night stands. Not with her anyway.
A pack of their own

A pack of their own

1.8m Views · Completed · dragonsbain22
Being the middle Child ignored and neglected, rejected by family and injured, She receives her wolf early and realizes she is a new type of hybrid but doesn't know how to control her power, she leaves her pack with her best friend and grandmother to go to her grandfather's clan to learn what she is and how to handle her power and then with her fated mate, her best friend and her fated mate little brother and grandmother start their own pack.
Game of Destiny

Game of Destiny

1.2m Views · Completed · Dripping Creativity
Amie's wolf hasn't shown herself. But who cares? She has a good pack, best friends and a family who loves her. Everyone, including the Alpha, is telling her she is perfect just the way she is. That is until she finds her mate and he rejects her. Heartbroken Amie flees from everything and start over. No more werewolves, no more packs.

When Finlay finds her, she is living among humans. He is smitten by the stubborn wolf that refuse to acknowledge his existence. She may not be his mate, but he wants her to be a part of his pack, latent wolf or not.

Amie cant resist the Alpha that comes into her life and drags her back into pack life. Not only does she find herself happier than she has been in a long time, her wolf finally comes to her. Finlay isn't her mate, but he becomes her best friend. Together with the other top wolves in the pack, they work to create the best and strongest pack.

When it's time for the pack games, the event that decides the packs rank for the coming ten year, Amie needs to face her old pack. When she sees the man that rejected her for the first time in ten years, everything she thought she knew is turned around. Amie and Finlay need to adapt to the new reality and find a way forward for their pack. But will the curve ball split them apart?
Surrendering to Destiny

Surrendering to Destiny

713.2k Views · Completed · Allison Franklin
Catherine is not only a rogue half-breed, she is also the result of mate-bond infidelity, was abandoned as a baby and, to top it off, she can only shift during the full moon. When Catherine left the only pack she'd ever known in order to escape the new alpha, the last thing she expected was to find her mate... let alone for him to be the mouth-watering, heavily tattooed, lead warrior of the most feared lycan pack on the continent.

Graham MacTavish wasn't prepared to find his mate in the small town of Sterling that borders the Blackmoore Packlands. He certainly didn't expect her to be a rogue, half-breed who smelled of Alpha blood. With her multi-colored eyes, there was no stopping him from falling hard the moment their mate bond snapped into place. He would do anything to claim her, protect her and cherish her no matter the cost.

From vengeful ex-lovers, pack politics, species prejudice, hidden plots, magic, kidnapping, poisoning, rogue attacks, and a mountain of secrets including Catherine's true parentage there is no shortage of things trying to tear the two apart.

Despite the hardships, a burning desire and willingness to trust will help forge a strong bond between the two... but no bond is unbreakable. When the secrets kept close to heart are slowly revealed, will the two be able to weather the storm? Or will the gift bestowed upon Catherine by the moon goddess be too insurmountable to overcome?
Shattered Girl

Shattered Girl

860.4k Views · Completed · Brandi Rae
Jake's fingers danced across my nipples, squeezing gently and making me groan in pleasure. He lifted my shirt and stared at my hardened nipples through my bra. I tensed, and Jake sat up and moved back on the bed, giving me some space.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. Was that too much?” I could see the worry in his eyes as I took a deep breath.

“I just didn’t want you to see all my scars,” I whispered, feeling ashamed of my marked body.


Emmy Nichols is used to surviving. She survived her abusive father for years until he beat her so severely, she ended up in the hospital, and her father was finally arrested. Now, Emmy is thrown into a life she never expected. Now she has a mother

who doesn't want her, a politically motivated stepfather with ties to the Irish mob, four older stepbrothers, and their best friend who swear to love and protect her. Then, one night, everything shatters, and Emmy feels her only option is to run.

When her stepbrothers and their best friend finally find her, will they pick up the pieces and convince Emmy that they will keep her safe and their love will hold them together?