Vivian Vale was raised to be perfect — beautiful, silent, and useful to her powerful family. At her engagement gala, the lights go out for three minutes. When they return, her fiancé is dead, her white dress is covered in blood, and the whole city is ready to believe she killed him. The only man who saves her is Dante Cross, a cold and dangerous bodyguard who knows too much about the murder. But Dante is not her hero. He was hired to get close to her, uncover her family’s secrets, and destroy her if necessary. Vivian should run from him. Instead, she needs him. As they search for the truth behind the murder, Vivian discovers that her family has been lying to her for her entire life. Her name, her engagement, even her blood may not belong to the world she was raised in. Dante came to ruin her. But when everyone she trusts becomes her enemy, he may be the only monster willing to choose her.

Kai was only nineteen when the Shadow Beast took everything from him. One rainy night, he stood in the middle of a ruined street, staring at the blood of the person he failed to save. The monster was still behind him, breathing, waiting, hungry. Kai should have run. Instead, his shadow moved. It rose from the ground like something alive, dark and twisted, carrying a power no human was supposed to have. In a world where Shadow Beasts are born from fear, hatred, grief, and regret, only the Awakened can fight back. But every power has a price. The stronger the shadow, the closer its owner is to becoming a monster. Kai does not care. He wants strength. He wants revenge. And if the darkness created the beasts that destroyed his life, then he will kill the darkness too.