She was everything that I wanted. He was everything that I despised. Until she wasn’t. Until he wasn’t. Killian Cornelii was a walking calamity. He reached inside of me and touched every single inch of my ruined soul, but he didn’t just touch it. He caressed, petted, and captivated it. He tailored me to fit into the palms of his hands. The same hands that possess so much cruelty were the very same that comforted me.

The Manipulator. I can manipulate the emotions of anyone who lets me. I will make you hurt, make you cry, make you laugh and sigh. But my words don't affect him. Especially not when I plead for him to leave. He's always there, watching and waiting. And I can never look away. Not when I want him to come closer. The Shadow. I didn't mean to fall in love. But now that I have, I can't stay away. I'm mesmerized by her smile, by her eyes, and the way she moves. I'll keep watching and waiting. Until I can make her mine. And once she is, I'll never let her go.

They say bad things happen in threes. The first was when I lost my parents. The second came when I had to leave behind everything I knew to move across the world to live with my only remaining relative. But what was life for, if not for living? So I kept moving. Then the third thing happened, just as I was about to begin my junior year at the prestigious Blackstone University. I caught the eye of not one, not two, but three of the most infamous guys on campus. The three guys from the wrong side of the tracks.

The first letter arrived the day my husband was buried. It was postmarked from the state penitentiary, and contained a single sentence: I’ll wait forever if I have to. It was signed by Dante, a man I didn’t know.

Once upon a time, there was a young girl who lived in a battered trailer, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks. One day, she fell down The Elite Kings’ rabbit hole. Sucked into a dark vortex of lies, hate, and deceit, and spat out by money, glitz, and power. There were things this little girl didn’t know, things she was about to find out and secrets that have been kept from her. Those secrets were guarded by the boys that were about to smash her world open and tear it all apart....

I caught the attention of a monster. I didn’t ask for it. Didn’t even see it coming. But the moment I do, it’s too late. Killian Carson is a predator wrapped in sophisticated charm. He’s cold-blooded, manipulative, and savage. The worst part is that no one sees his devil side. I do. And that will cost me everything. I run, but the thing about monsters? They always chase.

You’ll judge me. Hate me, and tell me I’m wrong. Refuse to see how my darkness is what she needs. While I don’t particularly care about your feelings in the matter, and while I pursue her - despite the wedding bells that rang for another - only I can see how she is drowning beneath mediocrity. He had his chance to make her happy. He failed. He didn't see how she was dying inside, because he couldn't know her. Not like I know her. I am her stalker. Her protector. And the only man that can bring her back to life.

My life was perfect. I had an amazing fiancé, a business I love, parties and balls every week, everything was wonderful…until that night. The night where everything changed. My world is crashing down around me. Everything I knew is a lie and the men, the men in the masks, tell me that as they steal me away into the night. I wake chained, scared, and alone with four criminals. Criminals who tell me I'm theirs now, theirs to steal, theirs to kill. But there is something they don’t know about me, my past shrouded in darkness. 

You would think that being forced into a loveless marriage to ensure an alliance would be unheard of in this day and age. And in most cases, you would be correct in that assumption. But not for me. A cartel princess has no vote on who she can or cannot marry—much less love. Any decision in my life was forfeited just by being born into the most powerful Mexican cartel there is.

Dark men. They are intriguing, and charming, and powerful. They are changing the world. They are changing themselves. They are playing with lust, and love, and fear, and loathing. Addicted to each other, to their secret, to the seduction, to the sex. It’s a crash in the making. And yes, it’s on purpose. These men are dark. And this is the story of how Nova Ryan loves them.

I can’t remember anymore if my grandfather’s eyes were blue or green, but I’ll never forget the way they wrinkled at the corners when he laughed at one of his own jokes. Or the way they sparkled with mischief when he told me tales about the magical creatures that dwelled in the forest behind his humble Irish sheep farm. As a child, I believed every fantastical word. But when he warned me about the mute boy who also lurked in those woods, the one the priest had declared to be the spawn of Satan himself, I refused to listen. 

He was the talented bad boy everyone wanted. I was the irrelevant geek everyone hated. He was the sun...drawing all of us in. I was a black hole...taking up space. He was destined to be a star. I was destined to remain an insignificant no one. Until he made me believe I was special...and then he destroyed me. I never thought I'd see Phoenix Walker again after he broke my heart, but fate had other plans. One tour. Eight weeks. Forty shows. Countless opportunities to make him pay. The world thought he was a god...but I know the truth.

I rejected my fated mate, and didn’t regret it for a second. Until now. Shipped off to Ravenscroft University, a graduate school for the supernatural elite, I have a lot to live up to. As heir to America’s most powerful pack, I was locked away. Not to be protected, but because I was born broken. A disappointment. A wolf who couldn’t shift. This is supposed to be my fresh start, but my past won’t leave me alone. Not when he’s here. 

I thought it was a joke. Some pompous high-society game meant to play with the children of the elite. But then people started dying. Including the one who invited me to attend. Now I’m the one they all suspect. Because I have blood on my hands. Their blood.

My whole life, no one has had my back. My parents are dead, my adoptive mother is a drug addict, and the mean girls on campus mock me for my scars. So when I end up desperate for money and out of options, I agree to sell the one thing I have left: my innocence. On the night I’m meant to give my body to a brutal Russian mobster, three men storm into the room like dark shadows and kill him before he can claim me. When they drag me from the blood-soaked bed, I’m certain they’re going to kill me, too. They don’t…but they don’t forget about me, either.

She was everything that I wanted. He was everything that I despised. Until she wasn’t. Until he wasn’t. Killian Cornelii was a walking calamity. He reached inside of me and touched every single inch of my ruined soul, but he didn’t just touch it. He caressed, petted, and captivated it. He tailored me to fit into the palms of his hands. The same hands that possess so much cruelty were the very same that comforted me.

I was two years old when he saved me. I didn’t understand much at that age, but I remember the pale boy with hair as dark as ink, saving me from two evils. He said he would protect me; I just didn’t know he meant from himself. I was raised in the arms of evil, tailored for the Devil like a custom Armani suit, and every day he wore it like a weapon. Brantley thought by keeping me locked in his manor that it would protect me, and it did.

He held a darkness that could never be touched. She carried a light that could never be seen. Not by anyone. Only by each other. Simply two halves of the same soul, Brantley and Saint were fused together with equal parts wrath and peace. Nothing could break through their bond. Nothing. Until now.

Nothing is going to make sense once you listen to this first chapter. You’re going to wonder why the f**k I made the decisions I did...why he did what he did. I’m not going to make this easy for you. I’m going to guide you through loops that you’re going to wish I had just skipped, but I’m not going to do that either. You’re going to feel my pain, my loss, and my heart breaking in my chest. You’re going to watch me trip and fall, and get back up again.