Middle-aged

Ethan Cole returns to Crestfield City after five years of silence carrying nothing but a duffel bag and a debt that isn't his to pay. His father is dead. His family home has been seized. And the men he once commanded the brothers he bled beside are being decorated as national heroes for a mission that was his in every way that mattered. Nobody in Crestfield knows that Ethan Cole doesn't exist in any public military record. The name that exists classified, redacted, spoken only in the highest corridors of military intelligence is Ghost. The supreme commander behind three of the most consequential covert operations in recent history. The soldier four governments tried to eliminate and failed. The man whose real file carries a classification level that most generals will never hold clearance to read. Ethan isn't back for revenge. Revenge is beneath him. He's back because the people who destroyed his name made one critical miscalculation they assumed his silence was surrender. It wasn't. Working from a budget motel room and a mall security job, Ethan begins dismantling the corruption quietly and precisely freezing promotions, routing evidence to a journalist, cutting financial threads that connect his betrayers to a corrupt general named Hutchins who buried the true record of Operation Blackfall to protect his own interests. When Hutchins sends six armed contractors to silence him permanently, they end up on the ground in forty five seconds, and the footage reaches military high command before morning. The reckoning that follows is swift, public, and absolute. Hutchins is detained. Delta Seven faces tribunal. And in the middle of a half empty shopping mall, the second highest ranking officer in the country walks across the floor in full dress uniform and salutes a man in a security guard's uniform.

Noah Kane has spent his entire life being told he's worthless. An orphan with no family, no wolf, and no future, he's ridiculed at Blackwood Academy, where the strength of your bloodline determines your worth. Betrayed by the girl he loved and humiliated before the entire school, Noah believes fate has already abandoned him. Then he dies. As his blood soaks an ancient pendant left by his unknown parents, a voice echoes through the darkness. [Compatible Host Confirmed.] [The Last Lycan System Activated.] In an instant, Noah awakens the legendary bloodline believed to have vanished centuries ago—the blood of the Last Lycan King. Now every Alpha Lord, vampire house, hunter guild, and hidden faction wants him dead before he claims the throne that could unite—or destroy—the supernatural world. With every mission completed, the System unlocks new powers, forgotten memories, and terrifying truths about the massacre that wiped out his family. But strength comes with a price, and every evolution pulls him closer to the ruthless monster the world fears he will become. Standing in his way is Lyra Ashbourne, the proud daughter of one of the Twelve Alpha Lords. Raised to believe the Last Lycan is humanity's greatest threat, she's sworn to hunt him down. Yet every encounter shatters what she's been taught, forcing her to question her family, her loyalty, and even her own heart. As enemies become allies, secrets become weapons, and love blossoms in the middle of a war neither of them chose, Noah must decide whether to become the king history demands... or the man Lyra believes still exists beneath the beast. Because the greatest enemy isn't the hunters chasing him. It's the darkness awakening inside him. When the last Lycan rises, the world will either kneel... or burn.

"Mother," I opened my eyes. Everything around me is a haze. I gazed at the candlelight. It was wobbling from side to side. I noticed a woman seated near me, but everything was fuzzy. I heard a voice unexpectedly. It was a woman's voice, echoing in my ear. She was singing a low-toned lullaby. "Mother, is it you?" I heard my name, "Maxilin, I am here." "Mother," I said with a tremble in my voice. I have no idea what's wrong with me. I reached out cautiously to touch her, but she was out of my reach. "Where are you, mother?" "Oh, my beloved, try to hold me, come here, " "Mother," Maxilin tried to stand up, but he was too weak. Maxi narrowed his eyes in an effort to see her face clearly, but he couldn't because everything was fuzzy. A woman in a white outfit moved in front of his sight. Maxi took a few steps forward while still gripping the chair. "Mother, don't leave," he murmured, dizzily. As he said, he saw in his fuzzy vision that someone had opened the door. "Mother, please don't leave me," Maxilin pleaded. He let go of the chair's hold and dashed behind her. "Mother, don't leave me. Wait." In his frail state, he shouted and followed her. "Huf". In the middle of his path, he stopped. "Mother, you've left me here alone," "Maxi," he heard the voice unexpectedly. Maxi glanced up and looked around. It's all clear now, but he's stuck in the midst of the woods. He gazed up at the sky. A giant moon was staring at him, and a horde of deadly, voracious creatures were roaring around him. "Son," someone touched his shoulder, he looked back, saw a terrifying creature standing in front of him. "Hello, dear."