Introduction
After Sam gets pulled into rescuing the hero Thunder, he inherits a strange ability from her: the training system that taught Thunder how to become a top hero. Triple-A apparently holds the secret to leveling up one's power, a feat previously thought to be impossible. Not that it'll be easy to achieve...
A series of challenging missions and the occasional hero lesson from the system’s creator guarantee a lot of cuts and bruises in Sam's immediate future. But at least he finally gets the chance to go from zero to hero. Oh, yeah, there are also ghastly horrors and megalomaniac supervillains to contend with on Sam’s path to becoming the symbol of hope that humanity needs.
Chapter 1
“Excuse me!” Sam Shepard apologized as he slipped his way into the back of the crowd. “Media coming through!”
‘Media’ was a bit of a stretch, but being a twenty-one-year-old beat writer for the city’s number one newspaper had its perks. Namely being able to ignore the dirty looks people gave him as he shoved his way through the crowd of civilian onlookers and first responders.
In the distance, the thunderous booms of explosions going off one after the other rang in his ears, drowning out the police sirens and terrified screams. A horrific shriek shook him to his core, threatening to turn his legs to jelly.
“This isn’t how my first day in the Herald was supposed to go…” he sighed.
Soon enough, Sam managed to push his way into the very front of the crowd which was pressed tight together like a can of sardines right at the edge of the police line. He nearly choked at the sight before him, chilled to the bone from the image of such jaw-dropping destruction.
Ruined buildings on either side of a torn-up street gave one the impression that an earthquake had just struck this unfortunate part of New York City. There were fires everywhere, so many in fact that the night sky glowed with a fierce orange tinge.
Sam gulped. “Holy Zeus…”
Focus, Sam. He reminded himself. You have a job to do.
Blinking away his shock, the young reporter pulled out his smartphone from his pants pocket and started recording the view.
“What in Hades are you doing, Shepard?” came the growl from right in front of him.
Sam sighed right before he pocketed his smartphone and turned to confront the police officer who he imagined had a stick perpetually rammed up his butt.
“Just doing my job, sarge,” Sam replied.
Police Sergeant Andrew Graham glowered at him, his eyes like headlights pinning Sam into place. The glower was the thickset, black man’s most defining feature; one Sam didn’t enjoy being aimed at him.
“You know the rules, dumbass,” Sergeant Graham snarled. “No unauthorized video recordings of extermination zones!”
Sam flashed his press badge at the sergeant. “You know you’re impeding freedom of the press, right?”
Graham spared it the barest glance. He seemed unimpressed.
“I work for the Herald, man!” Sam complained.
This declaration only worsened Graham’s glower.
“I don’t have time for the whining of a little shit stain who was too cowardly to stick to doing the thing that really matters,” Sergeant Graham scoffed. “And as if you couldn’t go low enough, now you’ve joined the yahoos who put up headlines that make our heroes look bad!”
Sam couldn’t blame the sergeant for thinking poorly of him because he had a point. Being a hero was a duty that could never be forsaken and yet Sam had run away from it. Not because it was too tough a job or because he was scared, but because he'd failed at it so badly that his weakness caused the death of others.
“I didn’t do anybody any good on the front lines, Sarge…” Sam knew he deserved the ridicule but he couldn’t help but repeat the lines he’d used to defend his actions for months now. “I was a crappy heal—”
A scream cut through the clamor, shocking most of those watching into silence.
“H-healer!” a woman cried, desperation and pain stuttering her words. “I n-need a healer! P-please, somebody h-help me!”
The first responders standing just on the other side of the police line glanced nervously at each other. It was obvious to Sam that they could hear her too, but none of them jumped at the chance to go out there and help. Well, that wasn't true for at least one officer stepped up to Sergeant Graham looking like he was ready to do his job.
“I think we can get to her, sarge,” a young, brown-haired, gray-eyed police officer told Sergeant Graham. “She might not be too far from the line. The scream sounded close and I—”
“Officer Nolan.” Sergeant Graham turned his scowl on this policeman, cutting him off. “Are you a healer?”
“N-no, sir,” Nolan frowned. “But—”
“So what are you gonna do, Officer Nolan? Drag her through the rubble and fire?”
“I—”
“Did you just suddenly get super strength or flight? Is that how you were going to save her?”
“No, but—”
“Then we follow protocol!” the Sergeant barked. “And protocol says wait for more heroes! They’ll handle rescue operations!”
At the word hero, Officer Nolan glanced in Sam’s direction. The implication was clear: what are you doing? Sam scratched at the mess of dark brown hair atop his head.
What am I doing, Sam wondered. I can help, but that might finally kill me.
“But that woman needs our help, Sarge,” Nolan began, but his sergeant quickly cut him off.
“You think I enjoy hanging out here doing nothing but preventing idiots like Shepard here,” he pointed a thumb at Sam, “from wandering into an extermination zone and getting themselves killed?”
After a brief pause, Officer Nolan shook his head. “N-no, sarge…”
“That’s right,” Sergeant Graham huffed. “But I do it because I have to. I got a wife at home, you know? So I do what I can to get back to her. Besides, I’m not a gifted like Shepard... not that he’s been any use tonight.”
Sam was just about to reiterate that not being of any use was exactly the reason he quit his old job, but then the horrific screeching started up again. The sound of it was like sharp nails raking across a chalkboard, leaving Sam and everyone around him feeling more unnerved than they were a second ago.
“P-please!” the woman yelled. “S-someone, please! Help me!”
Through the scattered fires and widespread destruction of the extermination zone, Sam thought he could see a pale hand rising mere inches off the ground. It could have just been his imagination but…
“Sarge… I think I see her,” Sam reported. “Officer Nolan’s right. She’s not too far…”
Officer Nolan nodded, but Sergeant Graham ignored him, pointedly turning his back on the reporter.
“Sarge…” Sam’s tone was insistent now. “I really think—”
“I don’t care what you think, Shepard,” Sergeant Graham snapped. “You stand there and wait for the real heroes to come.”
Startled by the agitation in his tone, Sam looked his way.
Graham’s wide-eyed stare was glued to the carnage, sweat dripping down his forehead. Like most of the non-gifted around him, the destruction beyond the police line was too much for them to bear. It was a lot to take even for Sam. And yet, he found himself stepping forward, his legs trembling only slightly.
Shit, he thought. I can’t do this. I can’t risk my life that way again.
Contrary to Graham’s view of him, Sam was no coward. In fact, he was built to do the brave thing. All gifted were as it was one of the requirements for becoming a chosen of the gods. Sam’s problem wasn’t fear. Something graver held him back. But hearing that woman and her desperate plea for help, it awakened something in him that he thought he’d sufficiently suppressed by now — and that was the will to answer the call.
Don’t do it, Sam. You’ve already quit the hero life, you useless punk. He chided himself. You’d only make things worse for her and you!
A shrill cry sounded once more before abruptly cutting off. Throwing logic out the window, Sam ducked under the police line and jumped headlong into the heart of danger.
“Shepard!” Sergeant Graham yelled after Sam. “Get back behind the line, you idiot!”
Sam paused in his tracks, tempted to listen to the gravelly voice urging him to come back. No, he shouldn’t be going to play hero now when he ran away when things got too hard the first time.
But then Sam heard the woman’s voice a third time. It was much weaker. She was running out of time.
Despite the sweat dripping down his brow at the thought of risking his life yet again, Sam kept on running.
“Shepard! Get back here!” Sergeant Graham screamed.
His heart pounding in his ears drowned out the sergeant’s protests. Each beat, growing louder and louder as he grew closer to the center of the extermination zone.
Don’t worry, Sam. It’s just routine delta-level extermination. You’re here for experience! It’ll be just like a light jog. The ‘wise words’ of his editor fell short when faced with the task set before him. Yeah, right…What in Hades is routine about all of this?
He had a point. This wasn’t what usually happened — heroes lying on the ground bleeding from wounds they may never recover from, and a horror set loose on the city that no one seemed able to stop.
A heavy whoosh drew him out of his thoughts. On instinct, Sam dove forward and narrowly avoided decapitation via the wheel of a truck that had been sent flying his way. He scraped his palms on the broken asphalt and he cursed at the pain.
Raising his hands to check them, Sam cringed at the dark blood dripping down his sun-kissed forearms. There was too much of it to be his.
“Styx,” he breathed.
He looked down at the ground, aghast to see the pool of blood inching toward him. His eyes drifted to the source: a group of lifeless bodies surrounded by the thick red liquid. There was so much of it that the iron scent caused his nose to wrinkle.
“What in Hades am I doing?” he asked himself.
Sam glimpsed movement in the corner of his eye. His gaze snapped toward it, body tensing as he prepared to leap to his feet. But it was just a body stirring on the ground.
“Nothing to worry about… Don’t get spooked,” he reminded himself. “Wait, what?”
It was a woman. Her short blonde hair framed a bloody, heart-shaped face. Her eyes were a dazzling sky blue, and they were staring right at Sam’s own teal-colored irises.
“Help me,” she whispered, her weak voice barely carrying over the distance.
“Oh, man,” Sam breathed, shuffling over. “I found you…”
When he reached her side, Sam scanned her body, the state of it easily observable through her ruined costume. Her fair skin turned paler by the second, likely an effect of the blood hemorrhaging out of the huge gash on her side. There was a deep cut on her brow too. It leaked blood down the side of her cheek.
“Holy Zeus… You-you’re Thunder…” Sam realized.
Thunder — it was the name of the alpha-level hero who was ranked seventh in the national charts.
But there’s no way. Thunder wouldn’t go down like this, Sam thought.
Thunder was an unstoppable force of nature whose recent and sudden meteoric rise had made her legendary among this year’s crop of new heroes. So how could that woman, the gorgeous and brave hero whose face was on the poster plastered on Sam’s bedroom wall, be reduced to such a state?
“Help,” Thunder mumbled. Tears rolled down her cheeks, streaking through the drying blood that covered her.
The sight of his idol looking so uncommonly vulnerable forced Sam to get a grip.
“I-it’s okay,” he said as reassuringly as he could. “I’ve got you. It’s gonna be okay... I hope.”
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Last Updated: 3/3/2025#191 Chapter 191
Last Updated: 3/3/2025
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The Biker's Fate
I squeezed my eyes shut.
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He dragged his hands down his face. "Tell me what's on your mind."
I sighed. "You're everything my parents warned me against. You're secretive, but you're also honest. I feel wholly protected by you, but then you scare me more than anyone I've ever known. You're a bad boy, but when I dated a so-called good one, he turned out to be the devil, so, yeah, I don't get you because you're not what I expected. You drive me crazier than anyone I've ever met, but then you make me feel complete. I'm feeling things I don't quite know how to process and that makes me want to run. I don't want to give up something that might be really, really good, but I also don't want to be stupid and fall for a boy just because he's super pretty and makes me come."
Danielle Harris is the daughter of an overprotective police chief and has led a sheltered life. As a kindergarten teacher, she's as far removed from the world of Harleys and bikers as you could get, but when she's rescued by the sexy and dangerous Austin Carver, her life is changed forever.
Although Austin 'Booker' Carver is enamored by the innocent Dani, he tries to keep the police chief's daughter at arm's length. But when a threat is made from an unexpected source, he finds himself falling hard and fast for the only woman who can tame his wild heart.
Will Booker be able to find the source of the threat before it's too late?
Will Dani finally give her heart to a man who's everything she's been warned about?
From Substitute To Queen
Heartbroken, Sable discovered Darrell having sex with his ex in their bed, while secretly transferring hundreds of thousands to support that woman.
Even worse was overhearing Darrell laugh to his friends: "She's useful—obedient, doesn't cause trouble, handles housework, and I can fuck her whenever I need relief. She's basically a live-in maid with benefits." He made crude thrusting gestures, sending his friends into laughter.
In despair, Sable left, reclaimed her true identity, and married her childhood neighbor—Lycan King Caelan, nine years her senior and her fated mate. Now Darrell desperately tries to win her back. How will her revenge unfold?
From substitute to queen—her revenge has just begun!
The mafia princess return
Alpha Nicholas's Little Mate
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?
I Slapped My Fiancé—Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis
Technically, Rhys Granger was my fiancé now—billionaire, devastatingly hot, and a walking Wall Street wet dream. My parents shoved me into the engagement after Catherine disappeared, and honestly? I didn’t mind. I’d crushed on Rhys for years. This was my chance, right? My turn to be the chosen one?
Wrong.
One night, he slapped me. Over a mug. A stupid, chipped, ugly mug my sister gave him years ago. That’s when it hit me—he didn’t love me. He didn’t even see me. I was just a warm-bodied placeholder for the woman he actually wanted. And apparently, I wasn’t even worth as much as a glorified coffee cup.
So I slapped him right back, dumped his ass, and prepared for disaster—my parents losing their minds, Rhys throwing a billionaire tantrum, his terrifying family plotting my untimely demise.
Obviously, I needed alcohol. A lot of alcohol.
Enter him.
Tall, dangerous, unfairly hot. The kind of man who makes you want to sin just by existing. I’d met him only once before, and that night, he just happened to be at the same bar as my drunk, self-pitying self. So I did the only logical thing: I dragged him into a hotel room and ripped off his clothes.
It was reckless. It was stupid. It was completely ill-advised.
But it was also: Best. Sex. Of. My. Life.
And, as it turned out, the best decision I’d ever made.
Because my one-night stand isn’t just some random guy. He’s richer than Rhys, more powerful than my entire family, and definitely more dangerous than I should be playing with.
And now, he’s not letting me go.
The War God Alpha's Arranged Bride
Yet Alexander made his decision clear to the world: “Evelyn is the only woman I will ever marry.”
Invisible To Her Bully
My Possessive Alpha Twins For Mate
My drunk stepfather remained indifferent, his weight suffocating, making it hard to breathe as my heart raced.
Suddenly, the door slammed open, and two figures burst in.
"Get off her!" a deafening roar echoed.
I didn't expect the twin brothers who'd bullied me at school to come charging in like gods to save me.
After my grandmother passed, I had to move in with my mom and stepdad, who treated me like a servant. I prayed every day for my 18th birthday to come, so l could leave and escape this broken home.
However, on my first day at my new school, l encountered the legendary twins everyone feared.
To make matters worse, the Moon Goddess revealed they were both my mates!
After helping me out with my stepdad, my twin mate cornered me, played with my hair, and whispered possessively, "You belong to us, our little mate..."
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?
The Biker Alpha Who Became My Second Chance Mate
"You're like a sister to me."
Those were the actual words that broke the camel's back.
Not after what just happened. Not after the hot, breathless, soul-shaking night we spent tangled in each other's arms.
I knew from the beginning that Tristan Hayes was a line I shouldn't cross.
He wasn't just anyone, he was my brother's best friend. The man I spent years secretly wanting.
But that night... we were broken. We had just buried our parents. And the grief was too heavy, too real...so I begged him to touch me.
To make me forget. To fill the silence that death left behind.
And he did. He held me like I was something fragile.
Kissed me like I was the only thing he needed to breathe.
Then left me bleeding with six words that burned deeper than rejection ever could.
So, I ran. Away from everything that cost me pain.
Now, five years later, I'm back.
Fresh from rejecting the mate who abused me. Still carrying the scars of a pup I never got to hold.
And the man waiting for me at the airport isn't my brother.
It's Tristan.
And he's not the guy I left behind.
He's a biker.
An Alpha.
And when he looked at me, I knew there was no where else to run to.
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.
Thornhill Academy
A demon king who would burn realms for her.
A dragon-shifter whose fire worships her skin.
A hellhound bound to her soul.
A professor who is off limits.
And the man who broke for her long before he ever touched her.
Four men. Four obsessions. Four hearts tethered to hers by magic older than the Wall itself.
Hunted, haunted, and newly awakened, Allison is thrust into a rebellion built on blood and hope, the same rebellion her parents died to protect. As enemies close in and desire becomes as sharp as any blade, she must decide what kind of power she will become: A weapon forged by the Council.
Or the storm that destroys them all. When Allison rises, kingdoms kneel, and when she loves, she loves like war.
-Dark Academia
-Reverse Harem
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-Action Packed
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