Library Services Center Novels & Stories

"We all consume each other in our way. I merely take a more literal route. You... Alpha." His lip curled. "You would swallow me whole as a part of your pack, and take me as your slave. It is an act of violence, of control. But I..." He stepped closer, and the Alpha tensed, skittering back. "To consume something, to take it into yourself, is an act of love." • ───────────────── • He is a lycanthrope of the first kin. Blood of the fallen gods flows in his veins. Darkness is his refuge, carnage is his mark. And his appetite is that of wolves. In a world where power is wealth, Alphas and Kings war against each other to claim him as their own: to wield his violent nature and bind him to their thrones as a beast of massacre until his last breath. Orphaned by a war in the past, Avian grew as a street urchin first, then apprentice to a high priest within the kingdom walls. With a mind forged from years of survival and an uncanny, rare ability, her small world had managed to remain in one piece through the years. But that is disrupted when a rogue kingdom begins to encroach with the sole desire of conquering all kingdoms beneath the Vellene empire. And at the center of that kingdom lies a Lycanthrope feared by all.

From the time I was ten until I turned eighteen, my parents made me write 299 IOUs. Every time I needed money, I had to borrow it and pay it back as an adult. Then I got into a car accident. I needed money for surgery but was still short by 3,000. With no other options, I went to my parents for help. But they just gave me cold smiles. “Clara, you’re eighteen now. We have no obligation to give you money anymore. If you need it, write another IOU.” While holding back tears, I wrote my 300th IOU. After my surgery, I saw my adopted sister’s social media post. In the pictures, she was celebrating her 18th birthday on a cruise. She was the center of attention, like a princess. My parents had given her a luxury apartment in the city and a Maserati as birthday gifts. Even my childhood friend was looking at her with love in his eyes. She said they were the ones she loved and thanked them for giving her the best of everything. I looked down at the crumpled IOU in my hand and suddenly laughed. Once I paid off my debt, I would no longer need such a family.

I didn’t just lose my mate on the night of our Ascendance Ball. I lost my dignity. Standing in the center of the gilded ballroom, in a dress that cost more than my life, I watched Drail choose her. My best friend. He didn't just reject our fated bond; he laughed while doing it, his hand resting on her pregnant stomach. Cast out. Humiliated. Rogue. I ran into the storm and straight into the chest of a monster. Derek Montenegro. The Ruthless. The exiled Prince of the European packs. A man with tattoos crawling up his neck and a reputation for breaking bones as easily as he breaks hearts. He’s cold, commanding, and dangerously beautiful. He offers me a deal. A contract. "Marry me, Raya. Wear my mark. Become the Queen of the underworld, and I will give you the power to crush the people who broke you." I thought I was signing a deal with the devil to get revenge. I didn't know the devil had a twin. And I certainly didn't know that the rejection wasn't an accident—it was the first move in a war between brothers, and I am the weapon they both intend to wield.

Sora Robbins has spent years trapped in a painful marriage where her husband Melvin publicly shames her generous curves while privately using her body. When Melvin is presumed dead in a tragic accident, Sora’s guarded heart begins to open to two very different men who offer her something she has never known: genuine emotional care mixed with intense desire. Her dominant billionaire boss Jack Blackwood provides passionate protection and sees her strength, while her best friend’s gentle yet intense crippled brother George Harrison offers tender understanding and quiet devotion. As Sora starts healing and discovering her own power, Melvin returns alive but changed after two years of recovery under the obsessive care of Cassie Brown. What begins as individual connections erupts into a ruthless war among four dangerous men who will lie, betray, and kill to claim Sora completely. With family inheritance battles, corporate enemies, and dark secrets threatening everything, Sora must navigate jealousy, obsession, and her growing feelings while transforming from a broken, insecure woman into the confident, worshipped queen at the center of a dark reverse harem.

Eidolon Avenue: Where the secretly guilty go to die. One building. Five floors. Five doors per floor. Twenty-five nightmares feeding the hunger lurking between the bricks and waiting beneath the boards. The sequel to Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast (“a great read...powerful and jarring” - Cemetery Dance) returns to the voracious Eidolon as it savors The Second Feast. A narcoleptic man in apartment 2A battles a vengeful past determined to rob him of everything as he runs from the barbaric disaster of a delusional love. A woman in 2B, reinventing herself to please a callous boyfriend, discovers the horrors that wait in the shadows of her self-renovation. The man in 2C, a teacher at the nearby Catholic girl’s school, collapses beneath the brutal consequences of his lecherous desires. An older woman in 2D, after decades dedicated to the church, is cornered at last by the grisly carnage beating at the hollow center of her faith. And a college student in 2E, hungry to escape an ignored life of invisible anonymity, finds herself captured between the pages of a ravenous book. All thrown into their own private hell as every cruel choice, every drop of spilled blood, every silent, complicit moment of cowardice is remembered, resurrected and relived to feed the ancient evil that lives on Eidolon Avenue. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

My name is Sarah Holloway, and I'm the best warrior in the Snowlight Pack. I've been telling everyone in the pack that my mate hails from another pack, and that he's died in a battle. That's why I have no choice but to raise my daughter, Nora Holloway, on my own. No one knows that Nora's biological father is Alpha Larry Grayback of the Snowlight Pack. Seven years ago, after I accidentally spent a night with Larry, he warned me to never vie for the Luna position. After all, the Snowlight Pack's Luna should never be a shameless and power-yearning she-wolf like me. Since then, he forbids me from becoming his mate. Heck, not even Nora is allowed to call him "daddy". For so long, I've endured Larry's outrageous demands. When he misses Nora's birthday once again, I turn in the application to leave the pack so that I can leave with Nora permanently. Larry, who has always been calm and composed, suddenly loses his mind. He rushes into the admistration center and demands where we are. But this time, both Nora and I are never coming back.

He watched her in the distance, his mind clouded over in confusion. How could he, one of the coldest Alphas in the country, have a mate?The thought of having to take care of someone for the rest of his life haunted him. He always thought he was meant to run the most powerful pack that had no weaknesses; once his wolf becomes attached to hers, nothing can tear them apart. It is known to be the cause of the deaths of many great Alphas, and yet here he stood, unable to tear his eyes away from her.Her soft, shimmering lips stood out to him from across the clearing, occasionally being grazed by her soft, silky golden hair. Her delicate fingers brushed a strand from over her crystal blue eyes as they continued to gaze over the leather-covered book resting in the center of her lap.A soft breeze flowed over her bare shoulders, sending her scent right in his direction. A shiver traveled up his spine as his eyes rolled back into his head. A low growl erupted from his chest, wondering why she was all alone in an empty clearing. She seemed like a prize he had yet to win. (Complete

Aurora Hale believed the worst day of her life was the day her marriage ended. Betrayed, humiliated, and left with nothing, she thought she was finally free to rebuild her life quietly. But the moment her divorce became final, six of the most powerful billionaires in the world appeared in her life. Each of them knows her. Each of them has been watching her. And each of them claims they are here to protect her. Aurora soon discovers that her late father was not the man she thought he was. Hidden behind his quiet life was a secret empire built with the help of six powerful men. But the empire was never meant for power. It was built for one reason. Her. When a seventh billionaire, a man who betrayed her father and vanished fifteen years ago, suddenly returns from the shadows, Aurora realizes she is standing at the center of a dangerous game between the world’s most powerful men. Now enemies are watching. Secrets are unraveling. And Aurora must decide who she can trust among the six billionaires who claim her. Because the truth about why they protect her might be far more dangerous than the enemies hunting her.

Alpha Kieran personally invited me to serve as Beta of Silvercrest Pack. But on my second day in the territory, my neighbor Gloria dragged her disheveled daughter Daisy to the center of the training grounds and dropped to her knees, accusing my son Koda of sexually assaulting her barely-eighteen-year-old daughter. Daisy stripped off her clothes in front of everyone, revealing horrifying bruises and claw marks. Gloria had even paid top dollar for a witch to perform a memory trace spell. Daisy sobbed until she nearly passed out. "Koda said if I didn't do as I was told, he'd bite me to death..." The entire pack was in an uproar. Everyone was screaming for blood. "Alpha, why should someone like her be our Beta?" "Vera can't even control her own son — how is she supposed to lead this pack?" They even demanded that Alpha have Koda seized and executed on the spot. I wasn't the least bit worried. Because when they finally brought Koda to the training grounds and everyone got a good look at him — Every single person there, including Gloria's family, froze. I nearly burst out laughing. …

Seven years after I disappeared, my sister found my name on the organ donor registry. She stood in the transplant center, staring at the paperwork in the nurse's hands. Her brows knit as she looked at the photo attached to the file, along with the name I used to go by. "Where is he?" she asked. "He's in hospice on the twelfth floor," the nurse answered quietly. "Today is the last day he'll still be conscious. The surgery is scheduled for tomorrow morning." Her expression turned cold as she headed upstairs. The moment she pushed open the door, she saw me sitting on the bed, writing my final letter. "Landon." I looked up at her and smiled faintly. "You must have the wrong person, Ms. Bennett. My name is Jay Mercer. Not Landon Bennett." She stepped toward the bed, her tone rigid. "Come home. Apologize to Mason, and I'll hire the best specialists in the country for you—" "That won't be necessary." I didn't even look up again as I signed the last line of the organ donation papers. "I didn't do anything wrong. I'm not apologizing to anyone."