Twenty-five, and Leo Chen's world crumbled entirely on his birthday. His boss stole years of his architectural work, ignored and forgotten by everyone, he trundled home through pouring rain - until he spotted a woman stalked by two violent men. Defenseless and outmatched, he still chose to stand between them. The faded locket left by his long-lost father burned against his skin, awakening the ancient Heartbound System. The Veil unfolded before his eyes: hidden thresholds, corrupted wraiths, and the Obsidian Circle, a ruthless elite hunting thirteen seal keys to unleash an apocalyptic monster under New Harbor. Seventeen years ago, Leo's father sacrificed himself to guard the beast. Now Leo, the seventh heir, bears the weight his dad left behind. He's joined by Elena, a sharp, Veil-sensitive journalist bound to him by a quiet, unbreakable soul bond, a wise old mentor, and his loyal lifelong best friend. Once a quiet, overlooked office drudge who shrank from every fight, Leo now wields power forged from selfless courage. The Circle marches closer each day. He can no longer stay invisible. Win, or lose everything.

They tied me to the sacred stone and left me for the beast. Every full moon, the pack feeds a witch to the curse. Tonight, the witch was me. I braced for claws and teeth. Instead the Alpha froze mid-lunge and said my name - and then he said another name, one I had never heard, and every elder on that hillside went white. He doesn't want a wife. He wants to know what I am. He keeps me in his house, refuses to mark me, and bars a door at the end of the west corridor - the one with something behind it that has been saying my name since before I was born. Then my blood touched his oldest wound. Twelve years of ruin closed in a single breath. The pack votes to finish the sacrifice at the next full moon. The elders have written a trap into the fine print of their mercy. A man in a grey coat is paying for me to be delivered alive. And my mother's box just came back, carried by a stranger. He thinks he owns me. He still doesn't know whose blood is really cursed. *Read Chapter 1 - if you dare.*