Liora Vale

I married the wrong man for all the right reasons. When my brother is framed for murder, my twin sister Leyla makes a desperate deal: marry Lucien Vale, the dead man's son, for two years in exchange for our brother's freedom. But I know something Leyla doesn't: Lucien Vale was my first love. The man who destroyed me at seventeen and moved on with his life. So when Leyla takes the deal, I make a choice. I'll take my sister's place. Lucien wants a wife to stabilize his empire? He'll get one. Just not the one he expected. The only problem? Somehow, Lucien already knows its not Leyla. And everything, the contract, the murder, the manipulation—was designed to trap ME. Some vows are made in desperation. Others are made in revenge. And the most dangerous ones? Are built on lies.

Aria Vale has spent her entire life living in her sister's shadow. Treated like an outsider by her own family and mocked for being wolfless at twenty, she never expected anything good from life.Everything changes when she discovers that Kael Voronov, the future Alpha, is her mate. But instead of accepting her, Kael rejects her in front of the entire pack. He breaks her heart and destroys the life she once knew.Forced to leave her home, Aria begins a new journey where hidden powers awaken and long-buried secrets come to light. As she grows stronger, the people who once looked down on her begin to realize she is far more than she seems.When the truth about Aria's past is finally revealed, will Kael be able to win back the mate he rejected or will he lose her forever?

There's a prophecy – a prophecy holding the fate of two worlds. On the edge of Lilah's field, at the twelfth hour of the fall of twelve, the three kings will unite, a daisy will be lost, or the worlds will be gone. The Oracle tells me that I am bound to the prophecy. That I cannot alter or change it. That I’m destined to be greater than what I am, but I already knew that. I’ve known that since the age of five. Now, can you guess who needs to die? Death doesn’t bother me. I will let the world burn if it means achieving my goals – because with every lick of the whip; he tore my flesh raw, as his laughter rang through the mansion, and my screams disturbed the heavens. No one cared to help, no one listened – definitely not the Gods. So why should I? ._. Eldora. A world woven together by magic. Cloaked in darkness and chaos, sin and deceit. Where no one is innocent; where both hands - and teeth - drip with the blood of others. And there is her. A lone wolf, watching the world tear itself apart. Watching the chaos, the death, the destruction as she fights a far greater war, within her. What's right and wrong? What's considered good and evil? Where does she stand in this enteral mystery, we call a universe? Coated in darkness and pain, she questions the meaning of life and death, and her purpose in this world of infinite possibilities. She finds only one answer: REVENGE. *WARNING this story contains abuse, suicidal thoughts, intense trauma, and erotic scenes. Please do not read if this is heavily triggering for you!*

When Clara Davis accidentally switches suitcases at the airport, she expects an awkward exchange— not a gun, stacks of cash, and a stranger calling her Mrs. Vale. Lucien Vale, a cold, beautiful man with blood on his hands, insists she’s his wife—and that men are hunting her. Dragged into a world of covert missions and deadly secrets, Clara must live under an alias to survive. But the longer she stays by his side, the more she questions everything: Is Lucien her captor or her protector? Is this marriage fake—or fate? One suitcase, one lie, one love that could cost them both their lives.

My wife, Valerie Larson, had a congenital heart condition. Despite that, she still wanted to have a child with her first love, Eugene Dyer. I refused without a second thought. Ten months later, Eugene's mother, Susan Turner, passed away. Her eyes were still wide open as if refusing to accept death without ever holding her grandchild. Overcome with guilt for failing his mother, Eugene took his own life in his small, rundown apartment. Valerie, consumed by grief and anger, took us on a road trip, only to crash the car head-on into a truck without hesitation. She shouted, "It's your fault Eugene died! If you had let me give him a child, he never would have ended up like that! His whole family is gone, so yours doesn't deserve to live either!" When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back on the day Valerie first asked to have Eugene's child. This time, I forced a small smile and said, "Darling, go ahead. Our whole family will support you."

Richard Franklin has left his Midwestern roots behind to live on the coast of Maine with his family. But in the autumn of the year 2000, he must return to his Illinois birthplace on a sorrowful journey. His wife Michelle has been killed in New England by a hit-and-run driver who is never found, so back home he comes with her cremated remains, to fulfill a final wish and on her birthday scatter her ashes in the park along the river in Blackwater Valley—simply Blackwater Val to locals—the small town where they both grew up and fell in love. With him he brings his six-year-old daughter Katie who still grieves for her lost mother: Katie, who can sometimes guess who’s going to be on the phone before it rings. Who can stop all the clocks in the house, and break up clouds in the sky with her mind, and heal sicknesses, and who sometimes sees things that aren’t there...people who are no longer alive. All gifts she inherited from her mother. Only something isn’t quite right in the Val. Sinkholes are opening up, revealing the plague pits the sleepy hamlet was built over in the 1830s, when malaria and cholera outbreaks ran riot. Mysterious bird and fish die-offs begin to occur, and Katie can see ghosts of the dead gathering all around. But what she can’t see is the charred, centuries-old malevolence which has been waiting for her, and wants her for its very own. Or the pale Sallow Man who haunts the town’s nighttime streets...or the river witch—another Blackwater Val, of sorts—each of whom will be drawn one by one into the nightmarish bloodletting about to take place. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing