5 Second Rule

I spend three torturous years in a dark underground cell after taking the fall for Cole Greyhouse, a member of the nobility. He once held my hand tightly and tearfully promised that he would wait for me to return. Then, he would take my hand in marriage. However, he doesn't show up on the day I'm released from prison. I head to the palace to look for him, but all I see is him with his arm around another woman. He also has a mocking smile on his face. "Do you really think a former convict like you deserves to become a member of the royal family?" Only then do I understand that he's long since forgotten about the three years he was supposed to wait for me. I'm devastated, and my heart dies. I accept the marriage my family has arranged for me. On the big day, Cole crashes my wedding with his comrades and laughs raucously. "Are you that desperate to be my secret lover, Leah? How dare you put on a wedding gown meant for a royal bride to force me into marriage? You're pathetic!" Just then, his uncle, Fenryr Greyhouse, the youngest Alpha King in Lunholm's history, hurriedly arrives. He drapes a shawl around my shoulders and slides a wedding ring onto my finger. That's when Cole panics.

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

She was born to lead. Raised to suffer. Destined to rise. For years, Lyra has known nothing but pain. Enslaved by her own pack, starved, beaten, and unable to shift, she is a broken omega with no future. But on the night of her eighteenth birthday, after being rejected and left for dead, fate intervenes in the form of Kane, the handsome and powerful Lycan Prince. He senses her. Claims her. Saves her. But Lyra is no ordinary omega. Beneath the scars and suffering lies a forgotten Alpha’s bloodline - a truth buried by those who wanted her dead. As Kane fights for justice, uncovering the treachery that stole her birthright, a greater danger lurks in the shadows. A war is coming. A war tied to her very existence. With the kingdom on the brink of darkness and secrets leading them to a lost power, Lyra must embrace the strength inside her before it’s too late. Her enemies want her silenced. Her mate will burn the world to protect her. And the fate of the Lycans depends on what she does next. Her story has only just begun.

On my 18th Birthday, My twin sister married my mate, Alpha Jacob, in my name. I was Alisa Clark, the she-wolf with the purest blood. The Alphas must feed on my blood. They were blessed with great power while they were cursed. The greater their abilities, the shorter their lives. My blood protected them from their curse Yet, my twin Jennifer took away my glory and had me tortured for 6 years! Worse still, My mate allowed it ** "You've been like a pig for us. He can smell you down here. He's known this whole time." She took out a mirror and held it up to my face. " You think he would ever accept such an ugly mate like this pig." I hadn't seen myself since I was twelve, vibrant and healthy. I was a child then, and now I looked like a ghost. My face was hollow and pale like a sick person. I saw the scar on my face, it burned and had inflamed my cheek so that it was swollen. My eyes were red from the tears. My hair was dull and limp over my skull. My purple eyes were the only piece of me that still held some semblance of life. I could see scars even on my neck, and I knew that my body was even more scarred, and even more pathetic... "How dare you be so stupid." Jennifer said. "How dare you think the Alpha wants you for more than your blood. Imagine him mating with you, when he could have me."

Ella has spent her life as an outsider in the Silver Claw pack—a human raised among werewolves, never truly belonging. But on her eighteenth birthday, everything changes. Cole, the arrogant future Alpha and her worst tormentor, discovers she is his fated mate. Furious and in love with another, he’s forced into marriage by his father. Trapped in a loveless bond, Ella endures heartbreak, betrayal, and a devastating loss that shatters her. Eight years later, she returns—not as the weak girl he abandoned, but as a powerful woman, her name changed, her heart hardened. Now, Cole wants her back. He’ll beg, fight, and sacrifice everything to prove he’s changed. But some wounds never heal… and some love stories were never meant to be rewritten. Can Cole earn her trust before it’s too late, or will Ella walk away forever?

"I like her," I said as I sat across from my mother unable to keep the frustration from boiling over. "Like who?" "Callie," I admitted, my chest tightening as I said her name. Her expression froze for a moment before she set the papers aside and leaned forward. "You’re joking, right? Callie is your brother’s girlfriend." "I don’t care," I snapped. "I can’t stand seeing him with her. She should be mine, and I’m not going to just sit back and watch them together." "Well, well. This is interesting." She sat back, steepling her fingers. "You really want her all to yourself?" "More than anything," I confessed. A slow smile crept across her face, and it sent a chill down my spine. "Don’t worry. I have a plan.” Whatever she had in mind, I knew it wouldn’t be simple. But if it meant having Callie… I was willing to do whatever it took. **************** Callie was given a choice by her new boss: either lose her job or act as his escort for his family’s Christmas and New Year celebrations, pretending to be his girlfriend. Left with no other option, she reluctantly agrees to be his escort but what she doesn’t realize is that she’s walking straight into a trap. Dive into a story of love, betrayal, romance, suspense, and a Christmas miracle. Second Chances Under the Tree is a gripping and intriguing read that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page.

Can two completely different people fall in love? They say opposites attract, but what happens when one is scorned by love while the other sees it as a second chance? To Imani, love is nothing more than an illusion A cruel trick. Betrayed by her father and forced into an arranged marriage with a man who sees her as nothing more than a trophy, she has no faith in love. To her, it’s a burden, not a blessing. Grady Jabri, a billionaire with everything except the one thing he truly desires—love. After losing the love of his life once, he swore he’d never let another chance slip away. And now, he’s found her. But there’s just one problem, She doesn’t remember him, and worse, she doesn’t believe in love at all. How can he make her see that love is real? That he is the one for her? And most importantly How can he win her heart without scaring her away? A story of love, trust, and the delicate dance of relationships.

The powerful Will Hudson, Bardou City's untouchable kingmaker, was set to marry my sister. Everyone said he was a monster, a man broken in body and mind, that marrying him was no different from stepping into hell itself. My sister, Carrie Wheaton, wept as if her heart would break. I pulled her aside and said, "I'll marry him for you. But in return, you'll stay in the countryside and guard the safe buried beneath Mom's grave. For three years, you mustn't open it." She thought it held a fortune—billions, perhaps—and joy lit up her face. She agreed without hesitation. I watched her greedy expression twist with excitement and couldn't help the cold smile that rose within me. 'Carrie, guard it well. Let's see if you can handle the kind of fortune that can destroy you.'

Czahryna "Yna" Torres' world shatters when her mother is diagnosed with cancer. Desperate for a lifeline, she strikes an unlikely deal with Julian Piers Ortiz—a billionaire shackled by his father’s demands. Julian offers to fund her mother’s treatment, but in return, she must pretend to be his lover. What starts as a cold arrangement soon turns into something dangerously real. Yna falls hard, and just when she dares to believe in love, the truth is exposed. Betrayed and powerless against Julian’s ruthless father, she vanishes—taking with her a secret that could change everything. Four years later, Yna returns, now a mother to a four-year-old daughter and determined to keep her past buried. But fate has other plans—her new boss is none other than Julian. Worse, he’s engaged to another woman. Julian is torn. The woman who once shattered him is back, reigniting emotions he thought he buried. But when he notices the uncanny resemblance between himself and Yna’s daughter, suspicion turns into obsession. He demands the truth, but Yna refuses to give in. Now, Julian must make a choice—honor the engagement that secures his future or risk everything to reclaim the woman and child who should have been his all along. Love. Lies. Redemption. When the past collides with the present, will Julian fight for his second chance, or will fate rip them apart once more?

Blurb She was the billionaire’s unwanted wife. Ignored, mocked, and betrayed, Nadira Lyriel Evahart died tragically at the hands of the family that never accepted her. But when she opened her eyes again, she was back on the night everything began—reborn in the billionaire’s bed. This time, Nadira refuses to be a pawn in her father’s schemes or a shadow in Thane Orion Nightingale’s empire. She will walk away, rebuild herself, and rise stronger than ever. Yet Thane—the cold, untouchable billionaire who once abandoned her—can’t seem to let her go. The more she resists, the more he wants her, not just as his wife… but as the woman who defies him at every turn. Reborn with a second chance, will she escape the same heartbreak, or is she destined to fall for the man who once destroyed her all over again?