DarlingDarks
The Mantra is simple: Listen. Obey. Belong.
Dr. Elara Vance was a civilian trauma surgeon who lived by logic and the Hippocratic Oath. But when she is "recruited" in the dead of night by a Black Ops unit that officially doesn't exist, logic goes out the window. She is taken to a high-security mountain compound-not as an employee, but as an Asset.
Commander Malachi Creed is the man who runs the shadows. He is cold, efficient, and dangerous. He doesn't lead men; he owns them. And from the moment Elara is brought into his interrogation room, he decides he owns her, too.
To Creed, Elara is a vital mission he refuses to fail. To keep her "safe" from a world of rising political threats, he strips away her freedom, her phone, and her contact with the outside world. He replaces them with his presence, his rules, and a terrifyingly hypnotic set of commands he calls The Mantra.
As the lines between protection and imprisonment blur, Elara realizes that the greatest danger isn't the war brewing outside the compound walls-it's the man who watches her sleep through a surveillance feed and whispers "mine" against her skin in the dark.
In Creed's world, there is no escape. There is only the Mantra.