The Runesmith - Chapter 540 – Taking A Loan.

By the coast, a hundred-meter Star Gate shimmered with flowing light.Beyond the Star Gate, an army forged of steel stretched as far as the eye could see.Above the Sky Dome, squadrons of fighter jets streaked across, weaving an iron curtain.In the distant ocean, scores of aircraft carriers, destroyers, and frigates dotted the seascape, ready for action.All cannons were aimed at the figure who emerged from the Star Gate.“In the name of the Federation Command Center, I order you to stand down, or what awaits you is total war,” said the voice.“War?”Gu Jinlai took a step forward, and his form swelled against the wind, in an instant growing from less than two meters tall to a colossal Chaos Demon God thousands of kilometers high, emitting the brilliance of a white dwarf star from his being, his own gravity causing thunder and lightning, as well as tsunamis and tides within a thousand-mile radius.He looked down...At the war weapons that seemed like toys.He reached out, and a hydrogen bomb fell into his hand.Within him, the electron-degenerate star core released Helium, Helium elements expanded, and the terrifying high temperature instantly caused Deuterium and Tritium, Hydrogen's isotopes, to fuse, the energy bursting forth, forming a blazing white brilliance on the ocean's surface that was like igniting a sun.Before this sun's energy could be released, he clapped his hands together, and the dazzling white, mixed with heat in the billions of degrees, was compressed and sealed within his palms, not a fragment escaping.“I think, you should choose peace.” he suggested.

Cairn is a prince who is already tired of ruling. Faced with an imminent coronation and an overbearing father, he wants nothing more than to drown his responsibilities in cheap liquor and poor decisions. With the help of his sister, he hatches a plan to escape the clutches of the throne once and for all. It all goes terribly wrong, and Cairn finds his priorities shifting in the face of unimaginable tragedy. The change of heart comes too late, however, and Cairn dies. He reawakens to find himself transported ten years in the past. He immediately begins to plan for the future, only to discover his killer has somehow followed him. To succeed, Cairn must unite the kingdom and discover the motivation of his killer, using as many tries as it takes. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++I exhausted pretty much every time loop story ever written and decided to write my own. You'll see a few similarities here between this story and some existing stories, at least initially. There's a lot of inspiration drawn from both MoL and Re:Zero, though in terms of pathos and darkness, this story leans more towards the latter. Be warned, it is something of a slow burn. The main character will grow and become powerful, but a theme of this story is that power comes slowly and often at great cost.

Zev prowled towards her, all shining, brutal beauty, his chin low and those incredible, piercing eyes fixed on her. He didn’t stop until they were toe-to-toe and he blocked her view of every other male in the circle.

His eyes dipped to her mouth as he leaned in, his whisper playing on her skin.

“You. Are. Mine.”

His deep voice twanged in her belly as the howls of the wolf pack rose from behind him to echo across the mountains of Thana, while the other Chimera protested his claim.

Fighting the urge to stroke his broad, bare chest with her shaking hands, Sasha forced herself to tilt her head and raise an eyebrow. “So bold for a pup who just found his fangs.”

The other males roared with laughter.

Ignoring their taunts, Zev’s eyes sparked and he leaned even closer, the scruff on his jaw tickling her cheek as he smiled. “So bold for a human who already knows the pleasure of gasping my name.”

She shivered when his teeth grazed her ear.

*****

Just days after Sasha gave herself to her childhood love, he disappeared. Five years later, on a dark city street, Zev came back—with danger on his tail.

Zev is Chimera: Half-human, half-wolf. Made in a secure research lab, his existence is a secret. But when the powerful men who created him try to kill the only woman who ever made his heart sing, Zev snaps their leash and steals her away to the brutal, hidden world of the Chimera clans.

Torn between the magnetic draw of her first love and the painful betrayal of his disappearance, Sasha tries to keep Zev at arms-length. But when they reach this mysterious world, Zev discovers that in his absence the humans took control and stole almost all the females. The Chimera are dying—and Zev isn’t Alpha anymore.

Now, Zev must fight his own people to win the right to mate his only love. Can he prove to her that his long-ago promise to protect her heart, as well as her body, was true? Or will the humans cross worlds to hunt the wolf and tear the lovers apart forever?

[Mature content, no sexual assault]