The Marked Ones

The Marked Ones

alexanderobasi2002 · Ongoing · 140.3k Words

1.1k
Hot
1.1k
Views
0
Added
Add to Shelf
Start Reading
Share:facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsappreddit

Introduction

Vandal dies betrayed by his fiancée and allies, only to awaken in another world as a chained child marked for sacrifice. His captor, Elizabeth, eerily resembles his mother, but a monstrous power in his left eye turns her nightmares against her and grants him escape.

Alone in a brutal wilderness, Vandal learns he can devour Echoes of living beings, gaining their strength, though the sentient eye hungers endlessly. Driven to find his lost sister, he uncovers fragments of memory suggesting his rebirth and powers are no accident. To survive, he must master the eye, uncover the truth behind Elizabeth, and cling to his humanity before the hunger consumes him completely.

Chapter 1

The cave trembled violently. Rocks tumbled down in a chaotic rush.

Vandal, his fiancée Sandra, his best friend Darius, and his business partner Harland ran, dodging debris.

At one point Vandal realized the ceiling was on the verge of collapsing. There was no time for rational thought. Acting purely on instinct, he pushed Sandra toward Darius just as they neared the exit.

"Get out quickly!" Vandal shouted.

For a split second their eyes met. Something in her gaze felt off, cold, almost relieved. The thought flickered and vanished under the roar of collapsing stone.

Then the ceiling gave way. Massive slabs crashed onto his shoulders, back, and legs. Bones snapped. He screamed as he fell. Heavy rocks buried him in seconds. Blood filled his mouth.

From somewhere beyond the rubble he heard voices.

"Darius! Is he..." Sandra's voice cracked with terror.

"Yes, Sandra, I am certain he is more than dead, buried six feet under," Darius replied, calm as ever.

"I... he was not meant to die. This was not part of the plan," she said, hysteria rising.

"We just committed murder. I am not going to jail, Darius."

"You are not. The company is now ours, and Mr. Harland will finally uphold his part of the agreement and back our takeover, will he not, Harland?"

"Yeah, yeah. Let us just leave this place. I am filthy, and that was a narrow escape."

Footsteps receded.

Vandal heard every word. He knew those voices better than his own heartbeat. He coughed up more blood, eyes wide with disbelief.

Why?

Pain lanced through his skull, but memories flooded in, bright and merciless. Sandra's smile at their favorite spot on campus, palms shaped into a heart. "I love you. I will always love you." The way she used to trace the family heirloom necklace he wore, the eye encased in a triangle, and call it "cute" even though her fingers sometimes lingered too long, too curiously.

The small lies he had ignored because loving her felt safer than doubting her. The way she had started insisting they explore this remote cave system "just the two of us" for weeks, even though she hated dirt.

All of it clicked into place now.

A bitter, broken laugh tore out of him despite the blood gushing from his wounds. The sound echoed wetly in the dark. Rage and grief collided so hard inside his chest that the only release left was laughter, maniacal, unstoppable.

He had given her everything, trusted her with his life, and she had sold it for a company and a future with his best friend.

A massive slab broke free above him and hurtled downward. As it filled his vision, Vandal kept laughing, tears mixing with blood. He did not notice the necklace glowing an eerie red, soaking up the blood that spilled across the eye design.

Squish

Endless darkness. Eternal rest.

Then a bright red, flaming metallic blob hurtled toward his face like a meteor and plunged into his left eye.

His skull ignited. A silent scream ripped through him. Consciousness shattered.

The sweet embrace of nothingness.

A sharp slap jolted him awake. The sting compelled his eyes to flutter open. He was no longer in a cave.

"Wake up. I did not give you permission to sleep."

He was small, perhaps too small, gazing at his tiny hands and feet, bound in shackles. A woman loomed over him, exuding an air of elegance mixed with cruelty. Her cheekbones were sharply defined as if sculpted from a block of flesh.

Memories crashed in like a relentless tide. His mind flooded with waves of recognition that reflected in his pale blue eye.

This was her son. The boy she had brought here to complete what she had begun with the sister. The sister who had fled three months prior, leaving only screams and blood upon the altar.

The mother's name in this world was the same: Elizabeth. And she was smiling, a maddening grin, one that was strangely familiar to Vandal's own mother from Earth, the one who went insane when she told her own son she wanted to beat him into an early grave because he reminded her of all she lost.

She leaned closer. "Your sister ran. But you... You are perfect. So much purer. Once I take your Mark, the Nocthra clan will fear me."

Her fingers dug in. Purple light pulsed brighter.

Vandal's left eye burned.

Not metaphorically. Literally. She was attempting to pry his eye out.

He convulsed. Vision splitting. Trying desperately to move but his weak body betrayed him. The room sharpened to impossible edges. Each shade of shadow had weight. Every flicker of fire carried regret.

Within him was the same terror he felt when his own mother would lock him in a dark room at the slightest provocation. And in this mother's face, layered over her features like translucent scars, he saw flashes:

A younger Elizabeth weeping over a grave.

A knife in her hand, trembling, as she cut into something, someone, in a candlelit chamber.

The moment she first tasted another's Resonance and felt power flood her veins like wine.

The exact instant she realized she could consume her own children to ascend to a higher being.

Anger rose slowly, drowning his terror. Anger at the world, always taking, taking, taking everything from him.

Elizabeth's palm pressed harder onto his eye flesh. "It will be over soon, my gentle child."

"Get off me! Get off me!" Vandal thrashed beneath her weight. But when her nails scraped the rim of his socket the pain was white-hot lightning straight into his brain.

The eye answered with a savage spasm. The iris split wider. Obsidian black shot through with crimson threads like ruptured veins. It became a black hole in his skull, ancient and ravenous.

His pain turned his anger into rage. Vision turning monochrome red.

Something stirred behind the vertical pupil, something vast, patient, starving.

A voice, not his, not hers, whispered inside his skull, soft as a final breath:

I feeeast...

The vertical pupil dilated. The iris cracked wide like a chasm from hell.

The air around Elizabeth curdled. Shadows thickened into living tar, slithering up her ritual robes like starving worms. From the blackest pits of her soul, her own nightmares tore free and turned on their creator. She recoiled in terror.

First came the ghost of her slaughtered daughter, the sister who had escaped three months earlier.

Last Chapters

You Might Like 😍

The Rogue King II

The Rogue King II

1.5k Views · Ongoing · MishanAngel
The hole left by Aelia’s death has a ripple effect through the world. The Alpha King retires, ushering in a new era. The Rogue King title now left vacant for the time being. Silas losing his sister, again. Nate losing his mate. Finn and Noah losing their Alpha and their lover.
Under the weight of his grief and pain, along with of the uncertainty of the new mate bond forged between Silas and Nate, Silas decides that he needs help. The weight of being Alpha that nearly just lost his pack if his little sister hadn’t been there, Silas decides to push everything away to be a better and stronger Alpha. Using magic is father gave him, Silas loses so much more than his way.
Nate, struggling with the mate bond, what the bond means for him, has continued to fight Silas, his Alpha, his best friend, and now his mate. When their fight goes too far, both Silas and Nate must deal with the consequences. It both pulls them together and tears them apart. Eventually leading to a full break in any relationship they had ever had.
On his own, Silas has to navigate through the next chapter alone. Coming to realize his actions, the consequences, and just how much it’s going to take to repair the damage he has done.
Nate, also on his own, works through what it means to step up in more ways than one. Somehow, even after her death, Aelia is still reaching out and helping Nate navigate the world on his own. He vows to grow and step up into the wolf that she knew he could be.

Book 2 in The Rogue Kings following immediately after The Rogue Kings I - Solaris' Reign. Trigger Warnings. Rated 18+.
Bound by Fate, Freed by Choice

Bound by Fate, Freed by Choice

5k Views · Completed · Nafisatuu
When Lyla's fated mate is revealed as Alpha Kaiden—her sister's ruthless ex-husband—the only thing he offers her is public humiliation and a brutal rejection. Heartbroken and branded as unworthy, she flees her pack, determined to uncover the truth behind her sister's mysterious disappearance.

Her escape leads her to Alpha Rowan, the commanding leader of the Blackwood Pack, who offers shelter, protection, and an unexpected chance at a new life. But Rowan’s fierce and jealous fiancée sees Lyla as a threat, and the pack’s charming Beta is drawn to her quiet strength.

As a dangerous attraction simmers between Lyla and Rowan, they begin to unravel a dark web of secrets that implicates Kaiden and threatens both their worlds.

With her hidden power awakening, Lyla must navigate treacherous loyalties, face the alpha who shattered her, and decide: Will she follow the destiny fate forced upon her, or claim the love and strength she has chosen for herself?
The CEO's Unspoken Love

The CEO's Unspoken Love

209.8k Views · Completed · Lily Bronte
"You want my forgiveness?" he asked, my voice dropping to a dangerous timbre.

Before I could answer, he moved closer, suddenly looming over me, his face inches from mine. I felt my breath caught, my lips parting in surprise.

"Then this is the price for speaking ill of me to others," he murmured, nipping my lower lip before claiming my mouth in a real kiss. It began as punishment but quickly transformed into something else entirely as I responded, my initial rigidity melting into compliance, then active participation.

My breathing accelerated, small sounds escaping my throat as he explored my body. His touches were both punishment and pleasure, drawing shudders from me that I thought he felt reverberating through his own body.

My nightgown had ridden up, his hands discovering more of mine with each caress. We were both lost in sensation, rational thought receding with each passing second...

Three years ago, to fulfill the wish of his grandmother, I was forced to marry Derek Wells, the second son of the family that had adopted me for ten years. He didn't love me, but I had secretly loved him all along.

Now, the three-year contractual marriage is about to end, but I feel that some kind of sentiment has developed between Derek and me that neither of us is willing to admit. I'm not sure if my feelings are right, but I know that we can't resist each other physically...
Avery and the Cursed Alpha

Avery and the Cursed Alpha

2.6k Views · Completed · Lyra Lupine
After losing her mother to cancer and drowning in crushing debt, Avery Wellesley is running out of options. Her house is about to be seized, her job is hanging by a thread, and every door she knocks on seems to slam shut in her face.

Then a mysterious billionaire offers her a deal that sounds too good to be true.

Alexander Ravenswood is powerful, wealthy, and feared throughout Tenebrous City. Behind his perfect public image lies a deadly secret. He is the Alpha of the Nocturne Pack, cursed by an ancient bloodline that is slowly driving him toward madness and death. His only hope lies in finding the legendary Aethon Orb—or the prophesied mate destined to save him.

When Alex discovers that Avery can draw symbols connected to the long-lost artifact, he offers her a contract she cannot refuse: become his fake fiancée for six months in exchange for enough money to erase her debts and save her home.

What begins as a business arrangement quickly becomes something far more dangerous.

As they search for the missing Orb, Avery is drawn into a hidden world of werewolves, ancient prophecies, and deadly pack rivalries. Powerful enemies want Alex's throne. A jealous Alpha heiress wants Avery gone. And a ruthless rival Alpha will stop at nothing to claim the Orb for himself.

But the greatest secret of all may be Avery herself.

Because the closer she gets to Alex, the more impossible truths begin to surface about her past, her strange abilities, and the destiny that has been waiting for her all along.

With a curse threatening Alex's life, enemies closing in from every side, and a forbidden bond growing stronger by the day, Avery must decide whether to walk away from the dangerous Alpha who needs her—or risk everything for a love written by fate itself.

In a city where secrets kill and destiny cannot be escaped, can a fake engagement become a love powerful enough to change the future?
To protect what’s mine

To protect what’s mine

525.2k Views · Completed · Winter Rowe
Amalie is more special than she ever thought possible. Why would the twenty-two-year-old think any different after she has been told she’s nothing for her whole life by her family? Adoptive mother of a three-year-old, Ama has been locked up by her family for the past seven years. But everything changes when her old friends, the Alpha twins, Markus and Calyx, take over the Moonstone pack. Finding out that the twins are her mates, she is a white wolf, and has a connection to the Moon Goddess, is just icing on the cake of her life is a huge mess. Ama just wants a normal life with her mates and protecting her pup, but life rarely gives us what we want. She is thrust into world that she no longer remembers and has forgotten her. Amalie is charged with protecting those closest to her. But she has her own past to overcome as she heals and attempts to move forward. Will she come out alive or lose herself along the way? After all, someone has to be pulling the strings, why not pull her along for the ride?
Bound by the Dragon Mafia

Bound by the Dragon Mafia

7.1k Views · Ongoing · McKenzie Shinabery
“No, no, no,” she said, pointing at a platter. “If it’s called ‘Goth Girl French Toast,’ then it has to be black. I don’t care how you do it. Activated charcoal. Blackberries. Food coloring. Demon blood. Whatever.”

The head chef looked like he was silently praying for death.

I rushed forward. “Amara. Stop traumatizing these poor people.”

She spun around, delighted. “Sera! Good, you’re here. Taste this. It’s missing despair.”

The chef’s face morphed into existential crisis.

I grabbed her arm. “Put the spatula down.”

“But—”

“Down.”

With exaggerated offense, she dropped the spatula and muttered, “Fine. But if no one here has artistic vision, that’s not my fault.”

She went undercover to expose a mafia empire.
He offered her thirty nights to save her life.

When investigative journalist Seraphine Vale steps into the glittering underworld ruled by billionaire crime lord Dante Vescari, she thinks she’s chasing a story about missing women and corruption.
Instead, she uncovers a secret older than blood—an empire built on fire, sin, and dragons.

Bound to Dante by a forbidden pact, Seraphine finds herself caught between fear and desire, truth and temptation.
Each night pulls her deeper into his world of power, passion, and danger…
and closer to the monster hiding beneath his perfect skin.

Thirty nights. One bond.
And a love that might just burn the world to ash.
Bound By Power, Torn By Love

Bound By Power, Torn By Love

2.1k Views · Ongoing · Cynthia Adama
She is the only daughter of a notorious mafia boss, but she is forced by her father to marry a hateful bastard in a contract marriage. To avenge her father, she has a one-night stand with a charming man, but unexpectedly falls into the trap of another terrible man, who is her father's enemy and another mafia boss. His mission is to make her father disappear.
She regards him as her only salvation, but he regards her as a pawn for revenge. When two enemies dance on the sharp knife, what will be the final outcome?
Vengeance of the Forsaken Luna

Vengeance of the Forsaken Luna

14.3k Views · Completed · Sherry
"How thoughtful."
"Bella." Ethan's tone shifted, taking on that warning edge I knew too well. "Faye is vulnerable right now. She's terrified you'll resent her, that this will divide the pack. The last thing she wants is for this baby to come between us."
"Then you shouldn't have done it." I met his eyes squarely, letting him see the ice in mine. "Go back to your son."
"For fuck's sake." He dragged a hand through his hair. "How many times—it was artificial insemination. They used my sperm, yes, but Faye and I never—"
Bella let out a cold snort. Such brazen lies. Her mate had an affair with his brother's partner, and his entire family helped force her out with nothing, all to make way for the mistress to take her rightful position. Poor fool—he thought she was just an unwanted adopted daughter, easy to dismiss and control. He never knew the computer genius he'd been searching for was his own Luna.
Since he'd tainted himself, Bella was done. She rejected him and reclaimed what was hers, rising to the top with help from Victor, who'd been secretly in love with her for years.
When Ethan tried winning her back: "You don't want our child growing up fatherless."
Bella smiled mockingly. "The child's father isn't you."
The Hockey Alpha's Fake Girlfriend

The Hockey Alpha's Fake Girlfriend

12.6k Views · Ongoing · midaspen78
Vivienne has always felt small. At home, she’s trapped in pain she can’t escape. At school, she hides in the shadows, counting the days until she can finally be free. But one choice shatters everything, leaving her broken and more alone than ever.

Then there’s Rafael. Dark. Untouchable. The boy everyone talks about but no one really knows. He should be the last person Vivienne gets close to, yet she can’t look away. He pulls her in with a kind of danger that feels both terrifying and safe, like he sees the parts of her no one else can.

But Rafael carries secrets—secrets that could destroy them both. And the closer Vivienne gets, the harder it is to tell if he’s her way out… or the reason she never escapes.
Aphrodite and the Cursed Mate Bond

Aphrodite and the Cursed Mate Bond

2.8k Views · Ongoing · June Calva
In a werewolf pack that despised weakness, Aphrodite learned to survive by staying quiet, keeping her head down, and enduring cruelty in silence. The Alpha heirs hated her. The future Beta and Gamma made her life unbearable. When she finally breaks and seeks freedom at the Moon Goddess temple, she does not find release.

She finds truth.

Aphrodite is not human at all. She is a rare white wolf, descended from an ancient Direwolf bloodline long believed extinct. The ritual meant to sever her ties awakens her wolf instead and with it comes the scent of five mates bound to her by fate.

The Alpha twins who once scorned her now cannot stay away. A human hunter walks beside her and proves that strength is not born of fangs or dominance. A cursed Wolf King holds the key to her past and her father’s imprisonment. And watching from the shadows is one who was never meant to interfere at all.

As gods fall, packs fracture, and war reshapes the world, Aphrodite must decide what destiny truly means. Is it submission to fate or the courage to choose her own path.

Love does not come in one form. Neither does power.

In a world ruled by gods and wolves, Aphrodite will become something neither ever expected.

Not a queen.

But the axis upon which the world turns.
HER ALPHA, HER SAVIOUR

HER ALPHA, HER SAVIOUR

2k Views · Ongoing · Iris
I sold myself to a monster to save my mom—and walked into a cage.

Kane Hellboud, charm and wealth personified, wanted only me in exchange for her treatment. No cameras, isolation, or noose-like rules were part of the deal. Behind his smile? Cold, violent possessiveness that destroyed our fake marriage.

Most of all, I didn’t know the supernatural walked among us, hiding in the cracks of ordinary life. Not until Abel Stone stepped into mine—dark-eyed, sharp-tongued, and oozing dangerous promises. He’s my new boss. He shouldn’t make my skin tingle or my pulse race. I shouldn’t feel this primal pull, this illogical recognition that tugs at something deep in my bones.

Around him, lights burst, electronics fry, and something ancient in me awakens.

Kane feels it. His grip tightens, punishments turn brutal, and he hides the truth of what I am.

Trapped between two powerful men, I’m no prey, no pawn—no helpless victim.

Prisons burn. Monsters bleed. As for me? I'm the storm in skin—deadly beyond suspicion.
From Sacrificed Slave to the Dragon King's Obsession

From Sacrificed Slave to the Dragon King's Obsession

2.5k Views · Completed · Ellis Carter
"Ten years of atonement, and you flee?"

His fangs glinted as he gripped my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. Dragon scales shimmered along his neck, breath scorching my skin.

"Your Majesty... I beg—" He shoved me onto the bed. Silk tore with a sharp rip, cold air rushing over my exposed body.

"Scared?" He smirked, palm sliding down my waist, fingers tracing slow, burning circles. "Yet you shiver... not from cold."

I lunged for the candlestick, but he caught my wrist, pinning it overhead. His knee forced my legs apart.

"When your father gave you to me," his lips brushed my ear, voice a dark rumble, "you were already mine."

On the eve of freedom after ten years of servitude, Lina Valeria stood one night away from reuniting with her betrothed. But Dragon King Augustus condemned her to the Abyss Mines on false charges—a trap forged from obsessive desire.

Augustus Ashenwing, Supreme Sovereign of Skyhold Citadel, is ruthless and feared by all races. His obsession stems from ancient grudges and dragonkind's most dangerous instinct: possessive desire. He demands her submission, binding her to his throne as his consort.

From prisoner to queen, Lina battles him through court intrigue and twisted passion—fighting for her mother, her freedom, her dignity.

Yet this cold-blooded tyrant reserves all tenderness for her alone. He indulges her temper, bends his pride, compromises without limit—anything to see her smile. Gradually, her heart wavers. But loving him means betraying Kain, who waited eleven years. Torn between duty and desire, she drowns in agonizing guilt.

Love and hatred intertwined—a forbidden dragon romance in a realm of oppression.