Ember Of Hope
jade-wolfe · Ongoing · 68.1k Words
Introduction
Valiance D’evreux had lost all hope. He’d always prided himself for his optimism and open-mindedness. But it happens to the best of men – or in his case; a caged beast. Until that day. A ray of sunshine had finally shone upon his frozen heart, thawing him back to life. Could it be? It couldn’t…
Two worlds colliding to join two people sharing two halves of the same soul.
Chapter 1
She had packed a day before so she revised her mental checklist to see if she had missed anything. She was just about to grab a book when the door to her apartment banged open and in came Sarah like hounds of hell were chasing her. Raegan rolled her eyes at her best friend’s antics.
“Damn it’s cold outside today”. Sarah plopped down next to her after dumping the breakfast bags on her kitchen counter.
“Dude I think I need to confiscate the keys from you. I thought it was a thief. If I was anywhere near that door, I’d have clocked you”.
“Hah. Even if it was a thief, what’d he have found in here? Books?” Sarah laughed.
Raegan punched her in the shoulder. “How’d it go? What did your parents say?”
“Well, they weren’t exactly happy about you going with a bunch of strangers by yourself, but I managed to convince them that you’re a big girl, you’ll be alright. Besides, your parents would’ve let you go. They just care about you, you know.”
“Yeah I know. And I love them for it”. She sighed.
“Hey. Come here”. Sarah leaned forward and hugged her tightly. “Now you owe me Vegas”. She said in a singsong voice making her laugh.
“Yeah I know, I know”.
“I have something for you. You’ll love it”. Sarah said, reaching for her purse near her feet.
“Oh yeah? What’ve you got me?” Raegan grinned broadly. She and Sarah were almost telepathic in some matters. They always knew what to get each other for birthday gifts or what the other wanted to eat.
“Here, see for yourself.” Sarah extended a small gift bag towards her. And as soon as she peeked inside Raegan squealed with delight.
“Oh. My. God. This is perfect.” She said examining the Nordic locket with a dragon’s head dangling on an antique long chain. She was a sucker for Nordic jewelry. She already had one with a wolf’s head and that too was a gift from her best friend. “You are the best”.
Sarah laughed, “Yeah I know”.
“Let’s eat. I’m starving”. Raegan grumbled.
“Yeah let’s”. They didn’t bother for plates and dug in the boxes of food Sarah had just brought.
Raegan looked at the time and stood, “I think we should probably head out now if I want to be on time”.
“Let’s go Bilbo. Let’s get you to the company of James Hunt”. Sarah said; quoting The Hobbit. And off they went.
………………………………
Once Sarah had dropped Raegan off at the coffee shop where she was to meet with Chris and Taylor, the two with whom she’d then be going to the airport, she ordered herself another dose of caffeine because she believed in “you can never have too much coffee”, and waited. Chris was a new yorker like her while Taylor was actually from Texas but had been living in NY for 6 years now.
They had been introduced on a Skype conference call to get acquainted with one another before the trip. And now it seemed the wait was over as she saw Taylor entering the coffee shop with her luggage. She waved to let her know she was already here and the girl came over and sat down in the seat opposite her. She rubbed her hands together and blew into them; “It’s really cold today”.
“Yeah it is. How are you Taylor?” she inquired politely.
“Good, good. Chris isn’t here yet? We don’t have a lot of time before we have to head out for the airport, do we?”
“Nah we don’t so he better hurry”. And as if summoned, Chris entered the cafe and found them in no time.
“Hiya ladies”. He chirped.
They greeted him in unison. “We were about to leave you behind, you know”. Raegan grinned at him.
“Nah I don’t believe you. You couldn’t possibly leave me behind or you’d have been too bored on your tour without me. Besides, I’m too pretty to be left behind.” he grinned, flashing perfect white teeth, “Right Taylor?” Chris winked at her and she blushed. She actually blushed. Damn girl. Raegan looked at her phone to check the time and they only had enough to grab a coffee and hail a cab.
Chris was fun and Taylor was a shy little goat with big, thick rimmed glasses. She was pretty in a nerdy way. The flight went well with Chris cracking jokes and Taylor laughing shyly at every one of them, good or not. That girl had a massive crush on him but Chris was most definitely more interested in talking to Raegan about their journey ahead than being asked what his hobbies were aside from traveling to archaic sites. Too bad she wasn’t looking for a guy right now.
Their first stop was Jamestown. There, the whole group was to meet at the hotel where they’d be staying for the next three days and then travel to Jefferson via Richmond before heading for Shenandoah National Park at the end of their fortnight tour. They had settled in their respective rooms and now all they had to do was wait for the remaining team to arrive.
………………………………
The three day stay in Jamestown went by so fast that she couldn’t believe it had happened. When she first saw James Hunt, she was like a kid meeting his superhero for the first time in life… star struck and all awkward. On the other hand those three days were enough of a time for her to get friendly with the whole group. And she had a concrete belief now that Taylor was already in love with Chris. The girl had stars in her eyes whenever Chris talked or even looked at her. It was cute to watch her blush. But something told her that for whatever reason, Taylor didn’t like her very much.
Days passed as if in a blur and Raegan found herself in the Shenandoah National Park, about to fulfill a dream. Chris had become a dear friend on this tour and she was glad for his company. Sometimes she would catch Taylor eyeing them when they were laughing or walking together and she thought that Taylor was jealous of their easy friendship. Maybe it was only because Taylor herself wasn’t brave enough to befriend Chris on her own. He was very kind towards her but they didn’t have the kind of easy going friendship like he and Raegan did.
The trek started and only two days into their journey, people were starting to show their true colors. A fight barely fell short of turning into a flat out brawl and there were quite a few mean comments and ugly sneers. Poisonous insects and huge mosquitoes can do that to a person. But Raegan was in her own little piece of heaven… never having felt the kind of freedom she was feeling there in the wild. It called to her soul… like she was finally reaching a place she was meant for.
Last Chapters
#67 CHAPTER 72
Last Updated: 6/3/2026#66 CHAPTER 70
Last Updated: 6/3/2026#65 CHAPTER 69
Last Updated: 6/3/2026#64 CHAPTER 68
Last Updated: 6/3/2026#63 CHAPTER 67
Last Updated: 6/3/2026#62 CHAPTER 66
Last Updated: 6/3/2026#61 CHAPTER 65
Last Updated: 6/3/2026#60 CHAPTER 64
Last Updated: 6/3/2026#59 CHAPTER 63
Last Updated: 6/3/2026#58 CHAPTER 62
Last Updated: 6/3/2026
You Might Like 😍
Taste of Fate: The Vampire King's Human Mate
He reached for the back of my head and pulled me up just enough to reach my neck. When his fangs slid into me, the pain was instant, electric. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. My hands found his shoulders, clawing for something to hold. My legs kicked. Tears streamed down my cheeks.
He moaned against my throat as he drank, and the sound was devastating.
Bloodright
Ashveil University is not what it looks like in the photographs. The students here carry something that shifts their eyes at the edges of anger. The northwest trees hold an attention that trees should not be able to hold. And the empty chair at the council table, the one nobody sits in, the one nobody explains, has been waiting three hundred years for one specific person to arrive.
Nobody told Adaline she was that person. They classified her as Dormant. A blank space in a file. Nothing.
She is the opposite of nothing.
Beneath the campus, three ancient entities are waking up. Every house in the pack world wants to control what runs in her blood. The boy sent to assess her has stopped being able to do his job. And the woman who has been three steps ahead of everyone since before Adaline was born is not a villain. She is a warning. She is what Adaline would have become if nobody had found her.
The suppression field holding everything together is failing. The clock is running. And the only way to stop what is coming requires Adaline to give up the thing she can least afford to lose.
She already knows her answer. She decided before anyone told her the full price.
Luna On The Run- I stole The Alpha's Sons
But Axton is more than just a rival, he's her fated mate. And he's been searching for her not for love, but for revenge and a chance to destroy her father's pack. The next morning, Elena rejects him, walking away before he can trap her in his ruthless schemes.
But Axton does not take rejection lightly, and his retaliation is brutal: a leaked video, a ruined reputation, and a family that turns their backs on her drive her to flee the city in disgrace.
But when Elena disappears, she takes something Alpha Axton never planned to lose - his sons. Now, he'll stop at nothing to get them back. He wants his heirs, he wants his mate, and Elena will learn that no one runs from the Alpha.
Tango 2 the Alpha's Heart
My gaze snapped to his. He was smiling, causing my heart to skip a painful beat. Before I could respond, the music began, and my body instinctively reacted to the sweet melody.
I found myself molded to Lex's will, my feet irresistibly following the dance steps.
The crowd gasped as Lex pulled me into a more intimate position, his hands roaming over my body in a seductive manner.
The experience was both terrifying and magical, allowing me to feel every longing emotion through the dance.
I soon found myself lost in his arms.
When the music finally stopped, my arms were wrapped around his neck, his hands resting on my back, our noses almost touching. He gazed deeply into my eyes.
The ballroom fell silent.
Was he about to kiss me?
Lilly’s life was never easy; she lost her memory and family in a blazing fire. Angelica found and took her in—only to make her a slave to the household.
Years of torment and abuse left Lilly weak, vulnerable, and believing she was without a wolf, but that didn't mean that all hope was lost.
At night, in her dreams, he would patiently wait for her—the man who brought sunshine into her darkest moments.
They would dance the night away, but as dawn approached, he would vanish into the morning sun.
Lilly had given up hope of finding a mate, having a family, and leading a normal life.
But things are about to drastically change for her...
Secrets, lies, betrayal... and a baby on the way.
What if Lilly wasn't wolf-less? What if it was all a lie?
What if she had a living family? Would she stay and bond with them or make a run for freedom?
Ex-Wife, Current Wife
For three years, she lived in the shadow of a loveless marriage. She was the woman everyone loved to hate, the one who supposedly "stole" him from his first love. She endured his cold indifference, raised their son—who struggles with a speech impediment—in silence, and traded her own brilliant career for the thankless role of a trophy wife.
But when his long-lost love returns, she is unceremoniously pushed aside to make room for the "real" family.
Enough was enough.
After he publicly humiliates her and chooses the mistress’s daughter over his own son during a birthday party, something inside her finally snaps. She doesn't just want out of the marriage; she wants her life back. With a secret talent for design and a newfound resolve, she walks away from the gilded cage of his estate.
But as she rises from the ashes of her failed marriage to reclaim her status as a top-tier designer, he realizes the woman he treated as a disposable pawn was the only one who truly held his world together.
Now, the woman who once begged for his attention is no longer looking back. Will he be able to earn her forgiveness, or is he finally too late?
Letters to a Dark Prince
Thrown into Isteros Academy—a world of old money, blood money, and cruel social games—she's an outsider by birth and an afterthought by design. Her sister Solyn is the school's untouchable queen and Mara is her favorite target.
Everyone expects Atreus to treat his fiancée’s scholarship sister like everyone else does—as if she doesn’t matter.
Instead, his dorm room sits directly across from hers, close enough that she can see his light go out at night. Some nights, he climbs the old maintenance trellis just to check on her. He teaches her chess. He shows up exactly when something's gone wrong—and never once asks to be thanked for it.
"Don't fall in love with one piece," he warns her, over a board neither of them treats like a game anymore. "It punishes the person who only sees half of it."
Mara doesn't understand why the boy who's supposed to make her life harder keeps quietly making it easier—not until she realizes the anonymous stranger she's been writing to every week already has a name.
His.
He doesn't know he's writing to her, either.
By the time they find out, it's too late to stop what's already happening. Far too dangerous for anyone to find out.
In an empty studio, in the middle of a rainstorm, she asks him: 'Am I the kind of girl who kisses a boy engaged to my sister?'
He doesn't answer.
So she asks: 'What are we?’
He told her not to fall in love with one piece.
She fell anyway.
And he was never far behind.
Bride To The Werewolf King
Everybody is Guilty Here
Middlesbrough's underworld is a dangerous game, and Matthew Smith finds himself right in the middle of it. A once-feared gang leader, he is now forced to be a pawn in a deadly cat-and-mouse game. Matthew's only shot at freedom is helping the police bring down Mr. K, the elusive mafia boss of the city. The only problem is that the detective he is forced to work with is the same man who arrested him years ago.
Masahiro Payne is everything Matthew hates: cold, calculating, and relentless. But their only hope for survival is by pretending to be a happy couple, blending in amidst dangerous crime, deceit, and power struggles. The closer they find themselves to taking down Mr. K's empire, the more they are attracted to one another, an affair too potent to turn from.
As their undercover mission spirals into a web of lies and hidden desires, they face a growing threat from all sides. But the greatest risk is the one they can't control-their own feelings. With every touch, every stolen kiss, the line between their fake relationship and real emotions blurs.
In a world of betrayal, trust is a luxury, and falling for each other may be the deadliest mistake of all. Can they survive the deadly mafia games or will their passion be their demise?
Reborn and Unleashed: The Boss Lady Takes No Prisoners
Now reborn, Vivian refuses to hide her strength. She's revealing her true identity, claiming her power, and rewriting her fate. No more submission, no more misunderstandings—this time, she'll take control of her life and her love.
As regretful brothers beg for forgiveness and powerful enemies fall at her feet, Vivian has one goal: to rise without mercy and make the man she once loved fall for her all over again—on her terms.
MOONLIT CHASE
But no, I had to walk through the park at midnight like an idiot. Now I've seen something I can't unsee—a massive black wolf tearing apart three men, then shifting into the hottest guy I've ever laid eyes on.
Kieran Vaughn. Wealthy lawyer, werewolf, and apparently, he thinks I'm his mate.
Here's the problem: I don't do relationships. I definitely don't do supernatural things. I absolutely don't do rich guys who think they can control my life just because their inner wolf has decided I smell like home.
When hunters start targeting me to get to him, Kieran drags me into his pristine penthouse for "protection." Now I'm living with a man who looks at me like I'm his last meal, whose touch sets my skin on fire, and who's barely holding onto his control.
He says everyone he loves dies. I say that's not my problem except it is because I'm falling for this broken, dangerous man and his beast.
And in his world? Love will get you killed.
The MC Hacker’s Stolen Princess
She did not come to find out her father had promised her to another man.
As the only daughter of Shane “Rook” Rourke, president of the Lost Coast Renegades MC, Taryn has always known club business comes first. But when Rook signs a treaty with the dangerous president of Iron Mesa, he crosses a line even she never imagined.
Safe passage through Arizona territory comes with a price.
Her.
Kellan Stroud is thirty, powerful, ruthless, and already waiting at Sturgis to meet the woman he expects to marry.
Taryn wants no part of him, no part of the agreement, and definitely no part of a future chosen for her by two men who think a signature is enough to decide where she belongs.
Then she meets Bobby Fuentes.
At twenty, Bobby is one of the youngest fully patched members of the Sons of Doom MC. He is quiet until he has something to say, dangerous when he needs to be, and smart enough to get into places no one else can. Hacking is what he does best.
Until Taryn gives him a new problem to solve.
One reckless connection at Sturgis becomes something neither of them can ignore, and when Bobby realizes exactly what Rook has promised away, walking away stops being an option.
But stealing another president’s future wife is not a misunderstanding.
It is an insult.
A betrayal.
And in the MC world, it can mean war.
Taryn refuses to be anyone’s property.
Bobby has never been good at following rules.
And Kellan Stroud does not forgive what he believes belongs to him.
The road out of Sturgis may cost them everything first.
Love's Deadly Equation
I was sent to her.
To watch her. To protect her. And, when the order comes… to kill her.
My name is Keegan Caffery. I’m the Carter Mafia’s best hitman. I don’t miss. I don’t fail.
At least, I didn’t use to.
I don’t know what it is about her that got to me first—her mouth, her mind, or the way she looks at me like I’m not what she should fear.
I’ve had a gun to her head since I walked into her life.
She knows it.
And she still doesn’t run.
She just watches me back like she’s studying a problem she refuses to call impossible.
She’s the one variable I can’t control.
And God help me… I don’t want to.
I have an order. I have loyalty. I have a trigger.
But every time I imagine it—
I can’t stand it.
Her or me. That’s the math.
It’s a deadly equation I don’t want to solve.
⬥ Maisie ⬥
I’m not ordinary. I stopped pretending long ago.
My name is Maisie Seo. IQ 145. Clinical genius.
Which sounds impressive until you realize what it actually means: I don’t fit anywhere people expect me to.
I see patterns everywhere. Outcomes before they happen. People like equations I’ve already solved.
It gets lonely in a world you’ve already figured out.
So I dull myself down. Smoke the edges off. Pretend, badly, to be the kind of normal that lets people stay.
Then he walked in.
I knew what he was immediately. Dangerous. Intentional. Wrong in all the right ways.
I should be afraid of him.
I keep waiting for that to kick in.
Instead, I’m fascinated.
Because for the first time in my life… I’ve found something I can’t solve.
He is my deadly equation.
