Brutal

“Your family’s blood runs thick with treason.” The words seared into young Thorne Valtor’s mind as he watched his world crumble. His uncle’s guards dragged his father away in chains, accused of murdering the grandfather Thorne barely knew. His mother lunged forward, desperate to stop them, only to be cut down in a spray of blood right before his eyes. “Mother!” Thorne’s scream echoed uselessly as blades flashed again. His father broke free for a heartbeat, grabbing Thorne in a frantic escape attempt, but arrows felled him mid-stride. Thorne crumpled beside his father’s body, the warmth of life fading under his small hands. The uncle’s shadow loomed over him. “You’re no longer needed here, boy.” Sold into slavery to the neighboring kingdom of Eldoria, Thorne toiled in the brutal depths of their mining pits, his body scarred by whips and his spirit hardened by years of endless labor. Freedom came not from mercy, but from chaos: Eldoria fell under siege by a nameless horde wielding forbidden dark mage powers, their shadows twisting reality itself. Thorne fled through the carnage, crossing borders back to his homeland of Valeria, where he sought refuge in his father’s hidden sanctuary,a forgotten cavern etched with ancient runes. There, a sealed door his father had once whispered about beckoned. “It will open when the time is right.” The time was now. The door yielded, revealing five ethereal thrones occupied by spectral ancient mages. “He has returned, the chosen one.” They descended, pressing a glowing tome into his hands. “Within lies powers, Use it wisely, heir of the clovers. “Do the right thing.” Read on to unravel a tale where betrayal forges heroes, magic awakens legacies, and one boy’s choice could shatter empires or mend them.

They should have made sure he stayed down. Seventeen-year-old Theodore Cross knows his place at the bottom. Bullied. Broke. Beaten. Working dead-end shifts to pay off his dead father's debts while his mother slowly dies from an illness he can't afford to treat. When gang enforcers corner him in an alley and beat him within an inch of his life, Theo accepts his fate. He's always been prey. This is just how his story ends. Except it doesn't. An ancient dying werewolf fleeing from hunters finds Theo bleeding out and makes a choice. With its final breath, it passes on something that hasn't been seen in five hundred years: a Royal bloodline. Theo wakes to a new reality. Enhanced strength. Supernatural senses. And a mysterious Blood Moon System that treats his life like a game with quests, levels, and abilities that grow stronger with every challenge he conquers. But this power comes with brutal rules: The Masquerade must never be broken. The Midnight Council rules with an iron fist. Born werewolves see him as an inferior mutt worthy only of death. And inside him, a beast grows stronger each day, whispering promises of violence and domination. The people who made his life hell are about to learn a hard lesson "Theodore Cross is done being prey." From underground fight clubs to pack politics, from gang warfare to supernatural hunters, Theo must navigate a hidden world where one mistake means death. He'll build his own pack from outcasts and misfits. Face enemies who've had centuries to perfect their cruelty. And somehow keep the monster inside from consuming what's left of his humanity. Because in the end, the real question isn't whether he can survive. It's what kind of monster he'll become.