The Truths We Burn

It's been months since the day we stood above that empty grave that stunk of burnt flesh and secrets. All of us were dressed to the nines, one of us wearing a wedding dress, a day that was supposed to mark the beginning of a new adventure. It marked the bitter end of our vengeance. We have done things that have marked our souls for eternity. But before we get there, we have to go back. Back to where it all started. The place I could find in my sleep.

Welcome to Silver Falls University, where the elite come to thrive. My life as a queen bee was always traced for me. I'm rich, I come from an influential family, and I constructed my personality to become the girl everyone wants to be. I rule Silver Falls University with bright smiles and the pretense of being everyone's friend. But in a place where toxic rich kids love to see others fall, no one is safe.

I’m a golden boy. A genius law student, the heir to the Carson empire, and the dutiful son. Or, at least, that's what it looks like from the outside. Deep inside, I have the urge to set the world on fire. I keep these impulses in check, rarely indulging in mayhem. Until one night of debauchery backfires, and I'm caught by a villain. I bury the entire ordeal with the rest of my skeletons. That is, until that night walks into my classroom in the form of my new professor. Kayden Lockwood.

I already had a life. A future. A man I'd promised forever to. But the night I found Chase Rhodes—bleeding, broken, and more lost than I was—everything changed. I wasn't supposed to let him in. Wasn't supposed to write music with him in secret beneath the moon. What started as a quiet escape became something unstoppable. Our songs caught fire, and now the whole world knows our names. Music has a way of pulling the broken together, even when the timing is impossible and the fallout inevitable. But some hearts don't settle. Some songs were never meant to stay quiet.

My name is Rosa Capelli. I’m a vampire hunter with a side hustle in snarky comments, and my mission is simple: Protect the innocent from the predators that prowl among them. I kill monsters for a living, and I love my job. At least I did until he walked into my life—tall, dark, handsome…and very, very dead. He should be my sworn enemy. So why do I feel like he’s my soulmate, my lover, and my savior all wrapped up in one sinful package? Luca da Firenze is completely wrong for me. He’s too bossy, too powerful, too…deceased.

I've always been a tough North Shore girl. Fighting is in my blood, survival in my DNA. But two years ago, Caden King broke me, and he has proof of it. Now he wants to blackmail me into doing a job for him. The kind that puts my chance of escaping the North Shore at risk. The kind that means betraying my own crew.

She lost everything because of his lie. Now the only way to save what remains is to win a tournament designed to destroy her. When Prince Kyor twisted the truth about his mother’s death, Rose paid the price. Her family was stripped of their magic, cast into the slums, and left to wither in a world that once revered them. Now her parents are gone, and her younger sister’s life hangs in the balance.

In Ponderosa Springs, this version of Romeo and Juliet isn’t a tragedy. It’s war. Jude Sinclair is West Trinity Falls’ favorite exiled loner. Cocky. Insufferably hot. Family foe. Raised across the tracks in a rival town, he reeks of trouble. Which is the one thing I’ve always had a problem avoiding and now that he’s just down the hall, it’s harder to resist the pull. My father made one rule when Jude moved in, never trust a Sinclair. The last thing I need is for my new foster brother to make me question my loyalty with his filthy smirks and poet tongue.

Ten years ago, Phoenix Cassidy ripped my heart out and left me humiliated. Tonight, I’m here to return the favor. One night. One school reunion. One perfectly laid trap. I disappeared after what he did. I changed my name, buried the past, and swore I’d never let him touch a single part of me again. But standing in front of him again, it all comes rushing back. The ache. The betrayal. The fire. He doesn’t recognize the girl he destroyed. But by the time tonight ends, he’ll remember everything.

La Lune Noire has a pulse. It rules apart from its owners. Backroom deals and electro swing. Extravagant parties and bootlegger tunnels. The walls have secrets. The doors have codes. Ashes and lies. White oak and screams. Champagne and delusions. Hope is the gateway to hell.

My innocence was ripped from me one fateful night under the starless sky. Resulting in an unwanted teenage pregnancy and a secret the Camorra must bury. My father decided to hand me off to the highest bidder. The lucky winner? Tiernan Callaghan, psychopath extraordinaire. The Irish mafia prince wants me for all the wrong reasons. Alliance. Money. Prestige. War. I am but a pawn in his twisted game. The man who sits on a throne of his enemies' skulls thinks I'm a weakling. Little does he know, in this chess game, the underdog wins. Because the thing about bad bishops? They protect good pawns.

In the dark underbelly of the mob, Tristan Caine has been an anomaly. As the only non-blooded member in the high circle of the Tenebrae Outfit, he is an enigma to all. His skills are unparalleled, his morality is questionable, and his motives are unknown. He is lethal and he knows it. As does Morana Vitalio, the genius extraordinaire daughter of the rival family. What Caine does with weapons, Morana does with computers. When a twenty-year-old mystery resurfaces, Morana infiltrates Caine's house, intent on killing him, unaware of a tie that binds them together.

Cameron Mortem has a problem—he can't stop killing his partners. Officially labeled clinically insane, he's also one of the most lethal assets in the Dark Forces, a brutal underground military operation built on obedience, survival, and silence. But an experimental drug has fractured his control, making him a liability whenever someone else is on the field. As punishment, he's thrown back into the Under Trials—a merciless boot camp designed to break the weak and sharpen the ruthless. His one directive? Don't kill the new girl.

Marrying the 70-something head of the Cosa Nostra to save my father is the only good deed I’ve ever done. I’m burning and bitter under the fake smile and tight dresses, but I was keeping it together. Was. Until my fiancé’s nephew turns up to dinner uninvited. Angelo "Vicious" Visconti. A beautiful monster with cheekbones as sharp as his tongue. They say I shouldn’t be scared of him, because nine years ago, he went straight. He’s barely a Made Man anymore. But I say, he’s the most dangerous Visconti of all.

You want my advice? Never look a gift horse in the mouth. You don’t want to see the rotten teeth. In this case, the gift is a scholarship to attend the prestigious Neveah University. The rotten teeth? Well, they came in the form of my brand new stepbrother and his little cohort of entitled, arrogant best friends. Four dangerously handsome and stupidly wealthy men who made up their minds about me long before we met. Men who are used to getting everything they want no matter what the price.