Spy Mage Academy - Chapter 41: [v1] - : Shadows of Light

When Jasmine’s fated mate Elliot rejects her for the Lycan Chairman’s daughter, she is left broken, humiliated and alone. To make matters worse, her father gets arrested for embezzlement, and Jasmine needs to raise ten million to release him.Desperate to save her father from a wrongful conviction, Jasmine takes the only job she can find—tutoring the bratty daughter of a rich werewolf family.But she never expected her employer to be the Lycan chairman himself: Gareth Laken. He is ruthless, dominant… and her ex-mate’s future father-in-law.Gareth thinks she’s a threat. A bitter ex-girlfriend out for revenge, waiting to harm his own daughter. But the more he watches her, the more he sees a woman refusing to be shattered by the world that betrayed her. A woman he can’t stop wanting, despite the huge age difference.Now, Jasmine is caught between two powerful men—one who destroyed her, and one who might destroy everything she has left to protect.Excerpt“You’re playing a dangerous game,” Gareth said, voice low, his towering frame just inches from mine.“I didn’t come here to play,” I shot back, even as my heart pounded. “But you should be asking Elliot why he keeps showing up at my door. I’m not the one chasing ghosts.”His eyes darkened, his gaze dropping to my lips. “He’s not the only one haunted by you.”I froze.I should have walked away.Instead, I whispered, “Then why do you look at me like you want to hate me and kiss me at the same time?”He didn’t answer.But his silence spoke louder than any lie.

Lilac has lived a life of suffering. From being forced to disguise himself as a girl to survive, to being labeled cursed after failing to awaken his heavenly gifts that everyone else could, he is shunned by all.To add salt to his wound, before he turns 18, his father vanishes, and his uncle seizes the throne that should've rightfully been Lilac's as the eldest son. Before Lilac could successfully flee, he is caught and traded to the monsters beyond the kingdom—beasts so feared that no one who sees them returns.But instead of death, Lilac is claimed by Sloan.Born cursed, Sloan is a prince of the Enwulves, an extinct hybrid wolf species. Even though he is a prince, he has lived life as an outcast due to his curse that causes him to forcibly transform every full moon, thus losing his humanity. His life has been mapped out for him, but when he finds Lilac—battered, freezing, and terrified—something shifts. For the first time, his rage stills. It was just a glimpse, a scent, a tiny whimper of fright.And that was it.Humans are meant to be slaves. Enwulves are forbidden from claiming them. Keeping Lilac means war.But Sloan has never followed rules, and Lilac has never belonged—until now.~~~ | ~~~“Are you afraid of me, little human?” Sloan husked out, cold lips grazing my bleeding fingers before his lips parted slightly to release hot breath over them. I trembled, rooted in the spot with fright and unable to breathe.Was this a trick question? Of course I’m afraid of him! Everyone is! Who wouldn’t be? Slaves are never supposed to be in his presence, except they suddenly desire a quick demise. Am I supposed to respond honestly or lie?When cold lips closed around my finger, I gasped in shock, a rush of fright and dread engulfing me. He was gonna bite off my finger right now, wasn’t he? Just because my stupid brain couldn’t come up with a response? The rumors said he was a heartless psychopath, but I didn’t think it was actually true!However, a hot tongue swiped over my fingertips and I sucked in a sharp breath, exhaling shakily while my chest expanded and my brain tried to figure out what was happening, and why my fingers weren't bitten off yet— or why I’m still breathing in his presence.Next, cold, long fingers wrapped around my wrist and my hand was being tugged upward, then a nose was digging into my pulse point, and I almost fainted when cold lips dragged over the sensitive skin there. The sound of a deep inhale filled up my ear next.“Fuck. You smell so good.”Oh heavens.This was worse than I thought.Instead of killing me, was he planning to… eat me… literally???! What the fuck?

The three-year marriage had been torturing her like shackles. Finally, she decided to break free from this cage, only to find that she was pregnant with triplets. When she was leaving, she had no choice but to leave her daughter, who was in critical condition due to premature birth, to her ex-husband, and then she flew far away with her two sons.Several years later, she returned to the country and wanted to secretly visit her daughter, but was discovered by her ex-husband!“Who are these two little boys?”“How do I know? Maybe they are your offspring.”The man gnashed his teeth and was about to snatch the sons away. She stopped him at once and said angrily, “Have you forgotten how you treated me before? How dare you take my sons by force?”He sneered and picked her up in his arms, saying, “Babe, my target is not them, but you!”

A dying old man entrusted him with the position of Sect Lord of a “great and glorious sect,” passing on a token and proclaiming him the future ruler of countless disciples.But when Li Xuan arrived at his inheritance…There were no disciples.No elders.No spirit beasts.No treasures.Only a collapsing gate, broken halls, and weeds taller than the main pavilion.The so-called supreme sect was nothing more than a ruined mountain with a fancy name.Just as despair set in, a mysterious voice echoed in his mind—[Sect-Building System Activated.]• The Host is invincible within sect territory.• The Host cannot leave sect territory.• Expand territory to receive rewards.• Recruit disciples.• Establish dominance.• Conquer realms.Each time the sect’s influence expands, divine rewards descend:Ancient techniques.Heaven-defying artifacts.Mythical beasts.Even fragments of lost realms.Trapped within his mountain yet unmatched inside it, Li Xuan begins rebuilding from nothing.One disciple becomes ten.Ten become a hundred.A hundred become an army of immortals.As territory spreads and realms begin to converge, the world slowly realizes:The ruined sect on the forgotten mountain…has become the axis of heaven and earth.Within his sect, all realms unite.