
Introduction
Those who bear the light within their hearts often seek the refuge of darkness, for an excess of light can scorch the soul
Haunted by the Dark One in her dreams, Everly Fernandez finds no choice but to move to her mother's hometown Shadowbrook.
Unaware that the darkness she ran from is actually waiting for her there, she finds herself being drawn toward her History teacher, who has an enigmatic and charming personality.
Torn between her extreme attraction toward the darkness and her teacher Logan Darkwood, Everly must find a way to stop herself from succumbing to darkness and defeat the dark one who wishes nothing more than to have her at any cost.
Chapter 1
It all started before I was even born, back in my mom's hometown, it is called Shadowbrook.
She was just coming back from her doctor's appointment, bursting with joy to tell my grandma that she was pregnant.
But as the rain poured down and my mom sat in the car, she noticed a helpless woman caught up in the rain.
This woman wore a blue bandanna and a loose button-up shirt.
Out of kindness, my mom offered her a ride and the woman accepted, sitting beside her.
Everything seemed fine until they reached the woman's destination. Just before getting out of the car, she grabbed my mom's hand and looked into her eyes.
"You are carrying a girl who belongs to the darkness," she whispered urgently. "Kill her or give her to me, for I will protect her from her dark fate!"
My mom was terrified and quickly pulled her hand away. But the woman continued, saying, "The claws, the bite, the cries! When you see these three signs, you'll know where to find me!" She left her card on the car's front desk and disappeared.
At first, my mom brushed off the encounter. But as time went on, she noticed the woman stalking her, watching silently from a distance. That's when my mom made the decision to leave Shadowbrook for good.
Leaving that town was a fresh start for us. I grew up like any other kid, attending a private school where I was perfect both academically and socially.
My parents, Eleanor Fernandez and David Fernandez, may be separated, but they are both successful professionals who have always been protective of their only daughter.
They shielded me from the harsh realities of the world. However, it was my own choice to never have a boyfriend or experience any meaningful romantic relationships.
Yeah, it's true. I'm Everly Fernandez, and even though I'm turning 18 this winter, I've never been in a relationship. I guess I'm just waiting for someone special, someone who I can really connect with, whether I want to or not.
According to my friend, it's impossible for a girl as attractive as me to stay single.
I have long, black wavy hair that falls down to my waist, and a delicate face with unique hazel-colored eyes that I don't see around me very often.
I'm taller than Willow and just as slim as her. People say I'm smart and compassionate. I'm definitely not a crybaby. I'm confident and have good communication skills.
So as I was saying, everything was going pretty smoothly until my 16th birthday. That day changed everything.
It was a wonderful day, and after my birthday party, I was so tired that I decided to go to bed early.
I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, but this night was different. It was the worst night I could ever remember.
That night, I saw him for the first time. The thing that woke me was his warm breath against my neck, and it made me feel both uneasy and pleasurable at the same time.
I moaned and opened my eyes, and there he was. The most beautiful face with burning hot red eyes.
He seemed strangely intoxicated yet incredibly attractive. His seductive eyes and muscular body were more than I could handle.
I lifted my head to get closer to him, wanting to feel his breath on my skin. But he slowly backed away and whispered, "Oh, not yet, my love!"
My breath came in a gasp as I pushed myself up toward him, my palms slick with sweat.
Beneath me, the twisted, lifeless forms of countless bodies lay stacked, their empty eyes staring up in eternal horror.
Burning in the middle of high wild flames these bodies were fresh. A scream clawed at my throat, but fear choked it back.
Yet what mattered to me was his eyes they were hypnotizing me in a way I can't describe.
His beautiful reddened black eyes fixed on me, this pile we sat on was under a tree, a twisted wide-branched tree, with millions of tiny leaves.
He once again approached me and licked my neck, I squeezed the sheet under my hands without knowing, my breath rising with each passing second.
“My Everly, I am coming to find you!” He whispered in my ear, his breath driving me crazy.
But I realized that there’s another sense that is pulling me away from him, a sense of unease. I forced my eyes open.
But as I opened my eyes, I found myself alone in my own dimly lit room, the air heavy with an oppressive sense of dread.
The room is filled with strange, unsettling whispers that seem to echo from every corner, making my skin crawl with unease.
As I explored the room, I noticed shadows flickering across the walls, shifting and twisting into horrifying shapes but not of creatures, but rather of human engagement of all sense, a couple, kissing each other, a man, stabbing another one, a body, hanging from the fan.
The temperature dropped suddenly, sending a shiver down my spine as an icy chill gripped my bones.
Suddenly, a figure materializes before me, the same man, his seductive gaze once again locked with mine.
His voice was a low, haunting whisper that sent chills down my spine as he spoke to me.
His words are like honeyed poison, "Surrender to me, and the power and pleasure beyond your wildest dreams shall be yours!".
My heart raced with fear and curiosity at the same time, but I found myself drawn toward him despite the terror.
I had no idea this was a dream still, as the dream progresses, my body begins to respond unwillingly, my heart pounding in my chest and my breath coming in shallow gasps.
I felt a strange sensation coursing through my veins, a mixture of fear and exhilaration that left me trembling with curiosity.
Suddenly, the room began to spin wildly around me, the walls closing in as if to swallow me whole.
My screams echoed through the darkness in reality against my dream as I struggled to break free from the grip of this nightmare.
He approached me as his shadow on the wall shifted and twisted into countless creatures.
He was above me, his fingers sliding up my bare legs.
Last Chapters
#240 Third Temptation: The Hunger
Last Updated: 4/29/2026#239 Second Temptation: The Lust
Last Updated: 4/29/2026#238 First Temptation: The Greed
Last Updated: 4/29/2026#237 Only a spark burned so much
Last Updated: 4/29/2026#236 Grave of Shadows
Last Updated: 4/29/2026#235 When Earth Fractured
Last Updated: 4/29/2026#234 In The Barrier
Last Updated: 4/29/2026#233 Preparations for the impending battle
Last Updated: 4/29/2026#232 A step we had to take
Last Updated: 4/29/2026#231 Silence before the storm
Last Updated: 4/29/2026
You Might Like 😍
The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates
"Let me go," I whimper, my body trembling with need. "I don't want you touching me."
I fall forward onto the bed then turn around to stare at him. The dark tattoos of Domonic's chiseled shoulders, quiver and and expand with the heave of his chest. His deep dimpled smile is full of arrogance as he reaches behind himself to lock the door.
Biting his lip, he stalks toward me, his hand going to the seam of his pants and the thickening bulge there.
"Are you sure you don't want me to touch you?" He whispers, untying the knot and slipping a hand inside. "Because I swear to God, that is all I have been wanting to do. Every single day from the moment you stepped in our bar and I smelled your perfect flavor from across the room."
New to the world of shifters, Draven is human on the run. A beautiful girl who no one could protect. Domonic is the cold Alpha of the Red Wolf Pack. A brotherhood of twelve wolves that live by twelve rules. Rules which they vowed could NEVER be broken.
Especially - Rule Number One - No Mates
When Draven meets Domonic, he knows that she is his mate, but Draven has no idea what a mate is, only that she has fallen in love with a shifter. An Alpha that will break her heart to make her leave. Promising herself, she will never forgive him, she disappears.
But she doesn’t know about the child she’s carrying or that the moment she left, Domonic decided rules were made to be broken - and now will he ever find her again? Will she forgive him?
First Taste in a Century
But Lysander’s arrival spells disaster. In a clumsy accident, he doesn't just ruin dinner; he obliterates her state-of-the-art scientific instruments. With her life’s work destroyed and her synthetic supply cut off, the scent of his living blood overwhelms her engineered senses. Forced to break a century-long abstinence, she takes what she needs, only to find herself addicted not just to his taste, but to the man himself.
Using the equipment as a flimsy excuse to lure him back, Vivienne battles a terrifying new obsession. She craves his body despite believing he’s taken, despising her own weakness. Meanwhile, Lysander’s initial terror curdles into a forbidden fascination. Can a relationship survive when one person feels everything, and the other only hungers?
Survival Island
Zane, a powerful vampire and the island's owner, has spent centuries unable to feel desire for any woman. But when he notices Zara's intelligence, resilience, and determination to survive, she awakens something in him that no one ever has. For the first time in his vampire life, he is interested in a female, and his member is also starting to come to life. Who is this woman and why does he suddenly crave her and not just for her blood?
Diaries Of A Hybrid And Her Mate
Beautiful Aubrianne Ivanov, raised by her single mom, had a tough childhood. With low self-esteem, she became an outcast and was alone one too many times for her liking. Time spent at her part time job, she eventually grew into a brave, confident, and determined young woman who walked right into an opportunity that would change her life forever.
Will Aubrianne truly feel whole? Will she find what has been missing in her life? Will she allow herself happiness and joy? Will she find love, and most importantly, will she survive what's to come?
Join Aubrianne on her journey as she discovers who/what she is and navigates all the heartbreak, betrayal, drama, and exciting and thrilling events that come her way...
Excerpt:
She lay before him in all her magnificent beauty draped across his king-size bed in the most compelling and provocative way known to man or beast. And for Alpha Zayne, it was the most captivating view he had ever had the pleasure of seeing with his own eyes.
She stared at his every movement, lips slightly parted, her stunning brown eyes scanning every inch of his gorgeously toned and glorious body while heat radiated off of hers. He was HERS.
Her body trembled in delight and anticipation; she was ready and wanted to be with him in every way.
As innocent as she was, she wanted him to...no need him to take her in the worse ways, bringing her to heights of pleasures she had never experienced before.
Fuck she is beautiful, one fine specimen, and she is all MINE, MY MATE. A wave of pure unbridled possessiveness vibrated through Alpha Zayne. He thanked the Divine Moon Goddess, for she has truly blessed him.
He drank her in, eyes trailing up her toned sexy legs spread wide for him, and she gave him that come-and-get-it look.
Cursed Fates
The Alpha King's Human Mate
“I have waited nine years for you. That’s nearly a decade since I’ve felt this emptiness inside me. Part of me began to wonder if you didn’t exist or you’d already died. And then I found you, right inside my own home.”
He used one of his hands to stroke my cheek and tingles erupted everywhere.
“I’ve spent enough time without you and I will not let anything else keep us apart. Not other wolves, not my drunken father who’s barely holding himself together the past twenty years, not your family – and not even you.”
Clark Bellevue has spent her entire life as the only human in the wolf pack - literally. Eighteen years ago, Clark was the accidental result of a brief affair between one of the most powerful Alphas in the world and a human woman. Despite living with her father and her werewolf half-siblings, Clark has never felt like she really belonged in the werewolf world. But right as Clark plans to leave the werewolf world behind for good, her life gets flipped upside down by her mate: the next Alpha King, Griffin Bardot. Griffin has been waiting years for the chance to meet his mate, and he's not about to let her go anytime soon. It doesn't matter how far Clark tries to run from her destiny or her mate - Griffin intends to keep her, no matter what he has to do or who stands in his way.
A Queen Among Darkness (Book 4 in the Gods' Saga)
For centuries, she has been on the run, helping the supernatural community under the cloak of anonymity while she works to clear her name and save the very people after her from destruction.
Enemies are closing in, but an unexpected complication befalls her when she realises she’s been fated to someone who wants her species exterminated. After all, an evil chance seldom comes alone.
A Queen Among Darkness is the 4th book in the Queen Among Series/The Gods' Saga. This is an interconnected series. To see how it ends, I recommend reading the full series.
Books in the series in order:
A Queen Among Alphas - Book 1
Bite-Size Luna - A Queen Among Alphas Prequel (available under book 1)
A Queen Among Snakes - Book 2
A Queen Among Blood - Book 3
A Queen Among Darkness - Book 4
Whole Again - A Queen Among Alpha's spin-off (available under book 1)
A Queen Among Tides - Book 5
Valor, Virtue, and Verve - Tides Prequel Spin-off (will be available under book 5)
A Queen Among Gods - Book 6
Runaway Empress - A Queen Among Snakes Prequel (will be available under book 2)
A Queen Among Tempests - Book 7
Dark Vocation - Darkness spin-off (will be available under book 4)
A Court of Arcane Souls Anthology (side character short stories exclusive to Ream)
Royal Shadow Series (Next Generation Coming Soon)
Accidentally Crossing the Tycoon
Four years ago, the Bailey family faced a devastating financial crisis.
Just when bankruptcy seemed inevitable, a mysterious benefactor emerged, offering salvation with one condition: a contract marriage.
Rumors swirled about this enigmatic man—whispers claimed he was hideously ugly and too ashamed to show his face, possibly harboring dark, twisted obsessions.
Without hesitation, the Baileys sacrificed me to protect their precious biological daughter, forcing me to take her place as a pawn in this cold, calculated arrangement.
Luckily, in those four years, the mysterious husband never asked to meet in person.
Now, in the final year of our arrangement, the husband I've never met is demanding we meet face to face.
But disaster struck the night before my return—drunk and disoriented, I stumbled into the wrong hotel room and ended up sleeping with the legendary financial mogul, Caspar Thornton.
What the hell am I supposed to do now?
King of the Underworld
However, one fateful day, the King of the Underworld appeared before me and rescued me from the clutches of the most powerful Mafia boss's son. With his deep blue eyes fixed on mine, he spoke softly: "Sephie... short for Persephone... Queen of the Underworld. At last, I have found you." Confused by his words, I stammered out a question, “P..pardon? What does that mean?”
But he simply smiled at me and brushed my hair away from my face with gentle fingers: "You are safe now.”
Sephie, named for the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone, she's quickly finding out how she's destined to fulfill her namesake's role. Adrik is the King of the Underworld, the boss of all bosses in the city he runs.
She was a seemingly normal girl, with a normal job until it all changed one night when he walked through the front door and her life changed abruptly. Now, she finds herself on the wrong side of powerful men, but under the protection of the most powerful among them.
Where The Ice Gives Way
Blake Atlas scents his mate the moment Charlotte arrives. The bond hits hard and unmistakable, but Charlotte doesn’t recognise it. She doesn’t know why her chest keeps pulling toward the one boy she absolutely cannot afford to want. Blake is Charlie’s new hockey captain. Charlie’s chance at making something good. Charlie makes it clear; his sister is off-limits and Blake tries to do the right thing, but secrets don’t stay buried forever. Rogues prowl the edges of town. The ice cracks. The bond tightens. Then Charlotte’s rare white wolf awakens, the very thing that makes her powerful, also makes her a target.
Shanti needs Shakti. (Peace needs strength.)
Where the Ice Gives Way is a slow-burn YA paranormal romance filled with fated mates, protective alpha energy, fierce sibling loyalty, found family pack bonds, hurt/comfort, and quiet, aching tension. It’s a story about first belonging, learning to be cared for, and what happens when the girl who has always held everyone else up finally falls, and someone catches her.
The Princess's Revenge
Alpha Logan is an illegitimate son whose mother disappeared when he was 10 years old. He grew up suffering from humiliation and lacking maternal love.
Alpha Logan saves Valencia at Marcus's funeral, which seems to be destined by fate—part of the Moon Goddess's grand plan.
As Valencia accidentally discovers prophecies in Logan's mother's diary that seem to be related to her, the truth gradually surfaces. Valencia appears to be merely a tool in a princess's revenge plot. How will Logan and Valencia navigate their path amid the national war and pack politics?
Bella and Her Beast
.
Locked in her frozen tower, Bella dreamed of warmth, of touch, of freedom and of love. Cursed with the power of ice and snow, she’s spent her life alone. A secret they tried to protect the world from. Her only escape comes in the form of the books she reads. Stories of heat, desire, and the kind of love that could melt even her frostbitten heart.
Damien is the Beast. A dragon King with a temper forged in flame and a soul hollowed by duty. The world fears him. The people call him a monster. But beneath the scales and the rage lies a man who has never been touched by love.
When frost meets fire, the world shatters. She was never meant to leave her tower. He was never meant to find her. But destiny doesn’t bow to kings or care for cages and now the question burns through them both: Can Bella have her Beast? Or will the girl of snow melt in the heat of his desire?
.
"I’m keeping her."
"What?"
Before I can react, he scoops her up. Her small body fits easily in the cradle of his talons. For a split second, she looks startled, but not afraid. Her hand rests against one scaled finger, and she stares up at him with that same curious wonder, as though she’s already forgotten she was ever meant to fear me.
"Put her down," I try to command, panic threading through my thoughts. "You’ll hurt her."
"She’s ours," the beast insists, possessive and fierce. "Our snowflake."












