The Imperial Wolf Series
The Hockey Prince's Secret Ice Queen
All I wanted was to find a computer genius to process the non-linear dynamic equations for my ecological model. Instead, I found myself cornered by Julian Andrews, the university's hockey prince, trading a public, staged kiss for his academic support. To finalize our "deal," I was dragged to the campus ice rink. The cheerleaders and puck bunnies immediately swarmed him, mocking my plain clothes and treating me like a pathetic joke. Brooke, the head cheerleader, even set up a figure skating competition with a date with Julian as the grand prize. She performed a basic spin, blew him a kiss, and smugly waited for me to fall flat on my face and humiliate myself. His hockey teammates laughed from the sidelines, watching me try to support Julian as he stumbled around the ice like a newborn giraffe. But as I held his warm hand to keep him from falling, I couldn't help but feel something was terribly wrong. Why was a top-tier athlete faking such awful balance? And why did his ice-blue eyes stare at me with such knowing anticipation, as if he already knew about the professional figure skating past I had spent years trying to bury? "Just let go and skate." He whispered, slowly releasing my hand. I took a deep breath, glided to the center of the rink, and landed a flawless double Axel. As the entire rink fell into a dead, shocked silence, I realized I had just exposed not only my own hidden past, but also the biggest secret of the campus god.
Chapter 1 No.1
Sage POV:
"Let me kiss you."
The request was a low, hurried murmur—warm, quiet, and laced with the faintest edge of mortification.
Stunned, I snapped my head up toward the sound.
Julian Andrews filled my vision. He easily towered a head over me, his lean, athletic frame silhouetted against the bright morning glare, casting a long shadow across the cobblestones. Briar University's star forward. Team captain. The athletic department's untouchable golden boy.
Campus rumor had it that Julian was notoriously indifferent, never sparing anyone a second glance.
Behind him, a solid wall of navy-and-gold varsity jackets blocked the brick path. His teammates were whistling, shoving each other, and effectively cutting off my only exit.
The sudden commotion immediately bottlenecked the morning foot traffic. Whispers rippled through the crowd, and within seconds, a dozen students reached into their pockets out of sheer muscle memory, black camera lenses catching the light as they aimed squarely at us.
Julian's sharp eyes tracked the movement, his jaw tightening into a hard, irritated line.
Before I could take a single defensive step back, he closed the distance between us. Leaning down into my space, his broad shoulders shifted in a subtle, fluid maneuver—throwing up an impenetrable physical wall that completely shielded my face from the intrusive glare of the cameras.
His sharp, striking face hovered breathtakingly close. His deep baritone brushed against my ear, lost to the autumn wind, meant for me alone:
"Sorry to drop this on you," he whispered, his pale blue eyes disarmingly earnest, holding a quiet heat that sent a tremor straight down my spine. "The guys backed me into a locker-room dare... but I'm not here to use you as a joke. We can fake it. Angle it so it looks real—whatever you're comfortable with. Just help me get them off my back, and I owe you one."
It was only then that my brain finally rebooted.
What on earth? He's actually trying to kiss me?
A sharp flare of pure absurdity hit me, and my gaze dropped to my reflection in the dark glass door of the adjacent building: an oversized, faded gray hoodie that swallowed my frame whole, soft, thin jeans worn at the knees, bare-faced dark circles carved beneath my eyes from forty-eight hours of non-stop coding, my dark hair hastily twisted into a cheap plastic claw clip, and a pair of oversized, thick black-rimmed glasses sitting heavy on the bridge of my nose, completely hiding my face.
I looked like a refugee from an all-night disaster. How had Briar's golden prince ended up in front of me?
When I looked back up, my breath trapped in my throat anyway. He was too close, his clean scent of winter mint and cedar wrapping around my senses. Having those pale blue eyes staring straight down at me made my chest tighten in a way I really didn't want to acknowledge.
"Clock's ticking, Cap!" Landon howled from the sidelines, hands cupped around his mouth as the rest of the players lost their minds laughing. "Plant one on her, or enjoy the five-AM bag skate!"
A raucous chorus of barks and chest-thumping went up from the team.
A few yards away, two girls heading toward the dining hall froze in their tracks, pointing their phones.
"Wait, who the hell is that?" one of them laughed loudly, zooming her camera in on my face. "She looks like she just crawled out of a dumpster. There's no way Julian's actually kissing her. Post it on Sidechat right now—this is going straight to number one."
The cruel words hit like a splash of ice water, snapping me out of my daze and instantly killing the stupid flutter in my chest.
I hated the attention.
Four years ago, after my family and my former training partner framed me and destroyed my competitive skating career, I swore I would never be public entertainment again. I buried my name, switched majors, and hid behind oversized fleece and thick glasses just to live an invisible life. If I ended up on the campus forums with Julian Andrews, the internet vultures would dox me before noon—and drag up the toxic scandal I had bled to walk away from.
My research was already on the verge of falling apart. I didn't have time for this circus.
I locked my grip around my heavy binders, my knuckles straining white.
"Find someone else for your dare, Andrews," I said coldly, taking a step back to put distance between us, my voice tight with adrenaline. "I'm not interested in being part of your game. Move."
I kept my head down, attempting to brush past him.
"You're Sage Kelley, right?"
The sound of my name brought my boots to an immediate halt.
I blinked up at him, caught completely off guard.
"Professor Beaumont's senior research student," Julian straightened up slightly, his cadence measured and even, carrying an intellectual sharpness that seemed impossible beneath a varsity jacket. "I saw your Havenwood Creek senior capstone proposal sitting on his desk over Sunday dinner."
My heart gave a hard, hollow thud. Professor Beaumont was my academic advisor—and the guardian of the final research endowment my late father had left behind.
Julian leaned in slightly, his voice dropping to a near-whisper against the whistle of the wind. "I spent an hour going over your codebase."
My lips parted. "You... read my proposal?"
"Your simulation keeps crashing because your core fluid algorithm strategy is flawed," Julian murmured, his pale blue eyes deadly sharp. "And Uncle Des mentioned that if you don't deliver a working version by this Friday, the department is pulling your grant—which means you don't clear your senior thesis, and you don't graduate in May."
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
Friday was the deadline. If the funding was pulled, the project died, my senior capstone failed, and I would be forced to stay another semester without my degree. Worse, my father's final ecological legacy would be reduced to scrap paper.
I had been panicking over that exact deadline for two days straight, and Julian had just laid it out like it was nothing.
Worse, I couldn't even brush him off. I had heard the rumors about Beaumont's nephew—the CS prodigy everyone in the department talked about. I just had never realized it was him.
"I know how to fix your algorithm," Julian stated plainly, laying his cards on the table, his gaze locking onto mine with an unshakeable, quiet certainty. "Help me get through this bet. In return, I'll rewrite your boundary calculations tonight. Deal?"
The Imperial Wolf Series
The Imperial Wolf Series Kate lives with her father, who is a rogue wolf and a drunk with a serious gambling problem. He has sold all of their possessions for gambling money or to cover his debts to the pack casino. When the Alpha's henchmen come to collect his latest debt, he has nothing to offer
Imperial Purple
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or we
Treacherous Living in the Imperial Harem
There were such a group of people living in the Imperial Harem: Empress Dowager, grasping great power in her hand and observing others in the Imperial Harem indifferently; Queen Mother Ji, the late Emperor’s first wife, focusing on supporting her relatives to grab powers in the imperial court; Queen
Imperial Guard Meets Runaway Prince
In another world, Shang-Yi Island, a territory nobody has successfully traveled into, relies on the Imperial Guard to ensure the safety of its citizens. Nineteen-year-old Qian Yuxi is the newly appointed Imperial Guard and rumoured lover of the island king Du Hui. But when Du Hui sends her on a miss
The heartbeat series
Heart Beat Series At sixteen, Antena's world is turned upside down when her mother forces her to transfer to an elite private school. Leaving behind her friends and the only life she's known, she steps into a world of privilege and pressure, where fitting in feels impossible. Lost in the unfamili
Dove's Cry The Series
Through The Silence: A girl who got kidnapped from birth and was raised in a basement and had never left. She was taken to be forced to marry the gang leaders son, he is meant to become the next gang leader. But he doesn't want to be a gang leader and plans to take the girl and run away from it all
Imperial CEO’s Unlimited Love
Annie encountered Bruce, the most powerful CEO in the city when she visited her best friend in the hospital. After being recognized as a thief who stole the dog by Bruce’s guards, she was immediately asked for payment and forced to make an apology to the master on her own. In order to prove herself,
Imperial CEO's Unrequited Love
"Three minutes ago, the doctor announced Lora Wood’s death. In the ward, Lora’s fiance hugged Lora’s younger sister tightly. And her father looked happy instead of sorrow. Originally, her fiance loves her sister and her biological father never takes Lora as his daughter. How pathetic! At that time,
The pureblood series: Living
A reluctant vampire, A terrible curse. Avery Gilbert comes in terms of being an undead as she tries to uncover the sinister plans of a man who had hunted her all her life.
THE PSYCHOPATH SERIES
--- (PROLOGUE) (np: "Too Good at Goodbyes" by Sam Smith) -- You must think that I'm stupid. You must think that I'm a fool. You must think that I'm new to this, But I have seen this all before. -- "One-sided love. How painful is that? When you love someone who doesn't love you back? When you'r
The Devil Billionaire Series
Warning! 18++ Dark romance, violence, sex and lots of sex, BDSM, age gap, sugar daddy/baby kink, kidnapping, etc. *** Series of stories of sizzling hot bad boy billionaires, who are devils in the sheets and out of it, tamed by feisty female leads. Each story can be read as a standalone, but some
The Black Alder Series
Warning. This book will contain scenes of Violence , Betrayal, and intimate scenes between a woman with more than one male at a time. With that said, Welcome to the Black Alder Series. This book will be written in three parts surrounding the lives of Elena, Kayla, and Arabella. Three women victi
The Billionaire Series: ASSASSIN
******COMPLETED****** A fearless and ruthless Assassin, Brianna Peters, was now able to finally execute her long-planned revenge against the person who ordered her parents’ untimely death when she was just five years old. Her first step was to get close to her enemy and that step was to become the n
The Lycan King Series
*This book is the The Lycan King Series, including The Lycan King and the Faye Queen, which you can also find in this bookstore! :) 'He was her saviour and she was his redemption.' Avalyn has been a slave of her fathers’ murderer for eight years before he sold her off in an auction. Nikolai did
The Fated Series
Book 1: A Choice Lost to Fate A fast paced wolf shifter mini-series *Contains spicy scenes, sexually explicit content and graphic language. Not suitable for all ages. Evandra Johnson is the Luna of the Pearl Pack and life is going great.... until it isn't. What she thought was a happy marriage to th
The Billionaire Escort Series
When billionaires don't have time to date but wanted their sex life to be as pleasurable and equally worth their time within their busy schedule, they all contacted Adriana's escort service company. Find out how their steamy encounters turned to their happy ever after in this sugary filled steamy
Desired By My Mate
Avery is the daughter of a strong Alpha of Moon Stone pack, however she is weak and she is treated like a slave in her own pack, her father decides to send her to a supernatural academy that would help her grow past her weakness and even be able to shift, there she finds out that her roommate happen
Be Modest,My Master of Imperial Guards
Ten years ago, Leng Qingtang rescued Gu Yunxi, orphan of a “sinful” criminal, all by himself, in order to repay his gratitude. Unexpectedly, they were tripped by their destiny. Ten years later, Yunxi heard and believed the false accusation, and bit the hands that fed her. With just one wrong move, l
