Novels by Rachel Holt

The safe house was a warzone. Smoke filled the corridors as Jacob moved through the chaos with lethal precision, dropping attackers with efficient brutality. Marcus Nico had sent at least twenty men—professionals equipped with military weapons and tactical gear.But they had made one critical mistake: they had threatened Anna.Jacob fought with a fury that bordered on supernatural, his mystical energy crackling around him like lightning. Every man who got past the outer defenses fell to his blades or his power. Leo covered the west corridor while Jacob secured the path to the bedroom where Anna had been sleeping.He burst through the door to find Anna pressed against the far wall, golden energy shimmering around her hands. Three bodies lay unconscious at her feet—attackers who had breached the room before Jacob arrived."Are you hurt?" Jacob demanded, scanning her for injuries."I am fine," Anna replied, though her voice shook. "They came through the window. I defended myself like you

Jacob stared at the ceiling of his office, unable to sleep despite the exhaustion weighing down his body. It was three in the morning, and he had been lying on the couch for hours, replaying the same conversation with Leo over and over in his mind."She deserves to know the truth," Leo had said earlier that evening. "All of it. Not just pieces you think are safe to share.""I know," Jacob had replied, though every instinct screamed at him to maintain the deception a little longer.Now, alone in the darkness, Jacob wrestled with the weight of secrets he had been carrying since the day he married Anna. She thought she had married Jacob Spencer, a wealthy businessman with a mysterious past. She did not know she had married a ghost—a dead boy who had spent fifteen years becoming a weapon of vengeance.The door opened quietly, and Leo entered carrying two cups of coffee. "I figured you would still be awake."Jacob accepted the coffee gratefully. "I cannot stop thinking about it. What happe

Anna woke to find Jacob's side of the bed empty and cold. She checked the clock—four in the morning. This was the third night this week he had disappeared before dawn, and her patience was wearing thin.She pulled on a robe and walked through the safe house, following the sound of quiet voices to Jacob's office. The door was slightly ajar, and she could see him hunched over his desk with Leo, both men staring at documents spread across the surface.Anna started to push the door open, then stopped when she heard her name."We need to increase security around Anna," Jacob was saying. "Double the guards, add more cameras, and I want someone watching her at all times when she leaves the house.""Sir, she is going to notice," Leo replied. "She already complains about the current security measures.""I do not care if she notices. I care that she stays alive."Anna frowned and quietly retreated to their bedroom before they could discover her eavesdropping. Something was wrong. Jacob had been

"Anna is the primary target," Ben confirmed, pulling up additional documents on his phone. "But Bishop's plan goes far beyond simple kidnapping. He wants to use her guardian abilities to unlock the full power of all five Krigg artifacts."Jacob's jaw clenched. "The artifacts cannot be activated by just anyone. It requires Krigg bloodline and specific knowledge that died with my family.""That is where you are wrong," Ben said, swiping to another document. "Bishop has been researching the artifacts for fifteen years. He discovered ancient texts that your family kept hidden—documents that explain how the artifacts truly work."He handed the phone to Jacob, who scanned the displayed page with growing horror. The text was written in old Seronian, but Jacob could read it well enough to understand the implications."According to these writings, the five Krigg artifacts were never meant to be used by Kriggs alone," Ben explained. "They were designed as a partnership between two bloodlines—th

Jacob's mystical energy exploded outward in a wave of golden light that shattered every window in the room. Glass rained down like deadly confetti as furniture slid backward from the force. Ben stood his ground, not flinching even as power radiated from Jacob like heat from a furnace."You were there," Jacob said, his voice barely human. "You knew they were going to kill my family, and you did nothing.""Yes," Ben replied simply. There was no excuse in his tone, no attempt to minimize what he had done. Just acknowledgment of terrible truth.Jacob's hands trembled with the effort of containing his rage. Every instinct screamed at him to unleash his full power, to make Ben Tate pay for his cowardice with blood. The old man had sat in meetings where Jacob's father's death was planned like a business transaction."Why?" Jacob demanded. "Why did you do nothing?"Ben walked calmly to the broken window and looked out at the Seron skyline. His back was to Jacob—a position of vulnerability tha

Jacob was reviewing security footage when Leo's voice crackled through the intercom. "Sir, you have a visitor at the front gate. Ben Tate. He is alone and says it is urgent."Jacob glanced at the monitor showing the elderly man standing calmly outside, his hands visible and empty. No security detail, no hidden weapons that the scanners could detect. Just an old man requesting an audience."Let him in," Jacob said. "But keep monitoring. If anyone else approaches within three blocks, alert me immediately."Anna was upstairs resting after an intense training session. Jacob made sure she was settled before heading down to meet his father-in-law's father in the main living area. Whatever Ben wanted to discuss, Jacob suspected Anna did not need to hear it.Ben entered the safe house with the calm dignity of someone who had made difficult decisions and come to terms with their consequences. His eyes swept the room, taking in the reinforced walls, sophisticated security equipment, and subtle

The observation deck at the top of the crystalline spire had become Jack's favorite place to think. From here, he could see the entire city spread out below—rebuilt stronger and more beautiful than it had ever been, filled with people living lives that would have been impossible without the protection his network provided.But tonight, as the dual moons cast silver light across the transformed skyline, Jack wasn't admiring their achievements. He was remembering where it all began."Hard to believe it started with Charles Oliver's execution," he said aloud, knowing his friends would hear him through their permanent mental link even though they were scattered across different dimensions on various missions."You mean it started with a weak boy nobody wanted," Lucy's voice replied warmly through their connection, her protective instincts wrapping around the memory with fierce affection.Jack smiled, pressing his hand against the medallion that had become part of his chest. The golden sur

The war room deep within the crystalline spire had become the nerve center for the most ambitious defensive project in dimensional history. Holographic displays showed the status of their entire universal cluster—thousands of realities connected by the portal network, each one now monitored by their expanded consciousness.Jack stood at the center of it all, no longer the weak boy who had once struggled to survive in a world that saw him as worthless. The medallion had become so integrated with his being that its golden surface was visible beneath his skin, pulsing with the rhythm of dimensional currents across countless worlds. But unlike the corrupt artifacts that had consumed previous wielders, his medallion was sustained by the bonds that connected him to his friends."Protocol Seven is now fully operational across all monitored dimensions," Sierra reported, her tactical awareness coordinating defensive measures on a scale that would have been incomprehensible months ago. "Early w

Six months after the dimensional crisis, their city bore little resemblance to the place that had nearly been destroyed by Vale's invasion. The rebuilding hadn't simply restored what was lost—it had created something entirely new.Where the old council headquarters had stood, a crystalline spire now reached toward the sky, its faceted surface designed to detect dimensional anomalies from hundreds of miles away. The building served as headquarters for the Dimensional Monitoring Initiative, the organization Jack and his friends had established to prevent future crises."Seventeen minor rifts detected across the northern sectors this week," Sierra reported during their morning briefing, her tactical awareness processing data streams that would have overwhelmed any individual mind. "All within normal parameters, but the frequency is increasing."Jack nodded, his consciousness simultaneously monitoring the reports while maintaining awareness of dimensional currents across their entire real

As the final seconds of his transformation ticked away, Jack felt his consciousness crystallize around a revelation that changed everything. The medallions' power didn't have to choose between perfect guardianship and human connection—it could create something entirely new."What if the burden doesn't have to be mine alone?" he said through their shared mental link, his voice carrying wonder despite his fading physical form. "What if we've been thinking about this wrong from the beginning?"Through their psychic connection, his friends felt his idea taking shape—not one guardian managing impossible responsibilities, but a network of consciousness that could handle the dimensional network's complexity while remaining anchored to humanity."You mean permanent integration?" Sierra breathed, her enhanced understanding immediately grasping the implications. "All of us linked directly to the dimensional network?""The ancient guardians failed because they became isolated from the people the

Jack's consciousness spread like spilled mercury across the dimensional network, his awareness touching worlds he'd never imagined. He could feel the pulse of life on countless planets, sense the delicate balance that held reality together, perceive threats to dimensional stability that existed light-years away.It was overwhelming and magnificent and terrifying all at once.Through his expanded perception, he could see their own world as just one node in an infinite web—small, fragile, but pulsing with the fierce determination of beings who refused to surrender to despair. He could feel Mrs. Sophie organizing relief efforts in the ruined city, Lord Rasmus's surviving soldiers helping with rescue operations despite their old conflicts, even the corrupted treasure hunters slowly recovering their humanity as the dimensional toxins were purged from their systems.But he could also feel himself slipping away from all of it. His connection to individual human concerns was fading as cosmic

The moment Jack's hand closed around Vale's dark medallion, reality screamed.Two opposing forces—one meant to protect, one designed to consume—collided within his consciousness with the fury of colliding stars. Jack felt his sense of self being torn apart and rebuilt simultaneously, his awareness expanding beyond the boundaries of single-dimensional existence.Vale's eyes widened in shock as his dark artifact began resonating with Jack's medallion, the two pieces fighting for dominance within the same host. "What are you doing, you fool? You'll destroy us both!""Maybe," Jack gasped, feeling the competing energies threaten to tear his mind apart. "But at least I'll take you with me."The dark medallion's hunger crashed against Jack's consciousness like a tidal wave of pure malevolence. It whispered promises of power beyond imagination, showed him visions of ruling infinite realities, offered him the ability to reshape existence according to his will. The corruption was overwhelming,