Empath Awakening: A Dark Omegaverse Cinderella Retelling (The Controllers)

Previously published as The Awakening by L.V. Lane

They call it awakening. Mine began the day my stepmother sold me to the Empire.
She took the money. I took the serum. And when the haze cleared, I emerged as an empath.

At first, I thought it was freedom—a chance to leave the house that had become my prison.

But it wasn’t the end of my troubles.
What happens inside the program is a secret.

A mate?
My choice, they said.
Only they lied. And powerful men who covet an empath don’t play by the rules.

He swore to cherish and protect me, but his protection feels a lot like possession. And now I’m trapped in a new kind of cage.