A Forgotten Shrine

Noah sat beside me. He lit a cigarette. I didn't understand why I was here. But it was true, I'd almost forgotten about Anthony, replaced by fear and curiosity. "What are we going to do?" I asked. "I mean. You said you'd help me with my problem." "Your problem? You're just heartbroken. Not a serious issue. You just need to get revenge." "How?" Noah took a drag from his cigarette. He was handsome, but the vibe he gave off made me scared. "Send him the same kind of video he made with that other woman." "I have to hook up with a stranger just to get revenge?" This was a crazy idea. "No way." "Then just deal with it and accept the fact that you're not more interesting than your boyfriend's side chick." What the hell was that?! I wanted to get even, but I didn't want to do something insane. I grew even more agitated. My phone rang again. I looked at the screen. My mom was calling me. This was bad. She couldn't know I was with Noah, or she'd kill me.

A powerful witch. A cursed vampire. A castle built on blood. And a secret that could destroy them both. Delphine Ashwood has never fit in—not with her coven, not with polite magical society, and certainly not with anyone who prefers witches quiet and predictable. When she’s hired to repair the failing wards of the infamous Castle Thorne, she expects cold stone, ancient curses, and another lonely contract. What she doesn’t expect is him. Theron Valemont, vampire prince and ruler of the forgotten court, is everything she hates: brooding, controlling, and hiding far too many secrets behind those ice-blue eyes. He didn’t summon her—and he wants her gone. But the castle has other plans. As Delphine unravels the threads of the ancient spell holding the fortress—and Theron’s legacy—together, she discovers a power buried beneath the stone. A power tied to her own bloodline. A power that was never meant to wake. Caught in a slow-burning battle between duty, desire, and destruction, Delphine and Theron must decide what they’re willing to sacrifice. Because the truth isn’t just dangerous. It’s hungry.

In the seventh year of marrying Don Sebastian Quinn, I finally stopped loving him. After finishing the family business in the afternoon, I found an excuse to go out for coffee; He wanted to take me to attend the family core meeting, but I politely declined by saying I had to fly to Paris to watch a show; When he finally refused his social engagement and tried to get intimate with me, I lied about feeling unwell and slept in a separate room. Even when his lover was wearing my silk nightgown and commanding the housekeepers in the living room, I calmly complimented her good figure. My indifference finally hurt this man. He forcefully grabbed my chin in the middle of the night, his eyes red. "Why aren't you mad seeing another woman sleeping in my bed? Nicola Scott, I'm your husband. Don't you care at all?" I looked at his out-of-control state and only smiled faintly, thinking, 'Sebastian, you've probably forgotten that I loved you the most during the years you punished me by making me kneel and reflect on my actions.'

Isolde Vancrest had witnessed the ultimate betrayal. Her long-time fiancé, Alan Princeton, had gotten his own sister-in-law pregnant, and he had the audacity to defend it. Alan: "You can't have children. The family can't end with me." How ironic. This was the same man who had once knelt nine times to propose, swearing he would rather be sterile than ever hurt her. If love was a joke, then pride had lost all meaning. That night, Isolde called the one man in Southbridge whose name most people feared to speak. By morning, she was his wife. When Alan saw her again, it was at her wedding. He dropped to his knees, eyes red. Alan: "Honey, I was wrong. Please… look at me." Isolde took a step back and fell into the arms of the man behind her. "The Prince," the ruthless ruler of half the city, wrapped an arm around her waist. "Seems you've forgotten your place." His voice was biting cold as he looked down at Alan. "Now she’s someone you don’t deserve to even look at."

When Annabelle learned of the pregnancy of her twin sister Annabella as well as her marriage to a powerful sultan, she was happy and was even more delighted when the latter invited her for the preparations. Annabelle found that these two months would be the perfect opportunity for them to get closer and share a certain complicity. And that...even though Annabella was mean and dismissive of her... Once there, Anabelle discovered that the powerful sultan who was going to marry her sister was none other than the man with whom she had spent an intense night of passion 3 months ago. If the Sultan seemed to have forgotten her, the passion between them was still present... As she couldn't shorten his stay, he had only to avoid her... Avoid her as much as possible. she could... But... Fate had other plans for them... Plans that risked ruining Annabelle's plans. - I'm pregnant, Kara... Said the young woman in a desperate tone as the tears came back to her cheeks. - Wait what? From whom...? Why are you crying...damn! - I'm pregnant by my brother-in-law. I am carrying the child of my sister's future husband!

Thrown from a world of science into one ruled by strength and survival, Alruna awakens in a strange land with no memory—only three daughters who call her "Mama" and a man she doesn't remember marrying. A gifted healer from a future long lost, Alruna must navigate the dangers of a medieval society where power is everything and her talents make her a target. As she slowly recovers her memories, she finds herself falling in love with Curtis, a steadfast beta whose quiet strength proves to be her greatest anchor. Together, they raise a family and fight to protect it from jealous rivals, political threats, and the shadows of Alruna's forgotten past. But when her half-sister Narah—a cunning omega with ambitions as sharp as her hatred—returns to claim what she believes is hers, Alruna must choose between survival and surrender. With danger closing in, her only hope lies in the fierce love she's discovered, the family she's come to cherish, and the village that now calls her its own. From amnesia to love, from exile to power—Alruna must rise, or lose everything she's fought to rebuild.

A mountain, once a towering monument to man's ambition, now sobbed rust and decay. Its skeletal skyscrapers clawed at a sky choked with ash, an endless darkness that reflected the desolation below. Here, where survival was a brutal equation of scavenged scraps and desperate violence, whispers clung to the crumbling ruins like the ever-present dust. Whispers of a legend, a shadow lurking in the deepest, forgotten heart of the mountain: a monster. They called him the Blood King, a name hissed with fear and reverence. Not just another vampire, but a predator whose power had once threatened to consume all of man-kind. He is said to be so great that no one was a match to his strength, his wrath so terrible, that the ancients themselves, the very inventors of their shadowed presence, had deemed him too dangerous to roam free. They imprisoned him, not in chains of iron, but in a cage of blood. A cage that could only be unlocked by the one whose essence was his destined key, his chosen one. A cruel contradiction, a punishment designed to bind him for eternity. Unknown to them all that the blood king’s chosen one was a human adventurer, who lived for the thrill and would do anything for a fearful adventure.

In an East London lock up, two film makers, Jimmy and Sam, are duct taped to chairs and forced to watch a snuff film by Ashkan, a loan shark to whom they owe a lot of money. If they don’t pay up, they’ll be starring in the next one. Before the film reaches its end, Ashkan and all his men are slaughtered by unknown assailants. Only Jimmy and Sam survive the massacre, leaving them with the sole copy of the snuff film. The film makers decide to build their next movie around the brutal film. While auditioning actors, they stumble upon Melissa, an enigmatic actress who seems perfect for the leading role, not least because she’s the spitting image of the snuff film’s main victim. Neither the film, nor Melissa, are entirely what they seem however. Jimmy and Sam find themselves pulled into a paranormal mystery that leads them through the shadowy streets of the city beneath the city and sees them re-enacting an ancient Mesopotamian myth cycle. As they play out the roles of long forgotten gods and goddesses, they’re drawn into the subtle web of a deadly heresy that stretches from the beginnings of civilization to the end of the world as we know it. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

“Tell me, Thalia, does it hurt to be cast aside, thrown to the wolves?” I laughed harshly, “Is this what it feels like? To be nothing? To be forgotten?” “Ronan… please…” Her voice was so soft, so broken that it almost made me feel sympathy for her, but in an instant, I crushed that emotion. I couldn’t allow her tears to sway me. “Don’t you dare cry,” I spat. “Save your pathetic, fake tears. They mean nothing to me now, just like you should have meant nothing to me then.” Thalia Sinclair was once a respected Luna, but her life fell apart when her mate rejected her and sold her to the cruel Rogue Sovereign. Forced to toughen up, she learned to survive alone, with no one to trust. Ronan Kane has waited for the moment to make Thalia pay for the hurt she caused him. But when their paths cross again, anger and pain mix with something neither of them can deny. Can they overcome their broken pasts, or will their scars keep them apart forever? Betrayal cuts deep. Vengeance burns hotter. Love is the deadliest weapon of all.

Exiled. Marked for death. Forgotten by her own blood. Michelle Morripin spent years living like a beast—until a cruel offer gives her the chance to reclaim what was stolen from her: her name, her place in the world… her revenge. All she has to do is bear the Supreme Alpha’s child. But there’s one problem: Matthew Dawolf doesn’t touch women. Legendary, untouchable, and feared, he keeps his distance from any female. No one has ever seen him falter. No one has ever seen him burn with desire. Until now. Disguised as a mere servant, Michelle infiltrates the castle, ready to complete her mission. But when she crosses paths with him, she realizes that the distant, indifferent Alpha everyone describes can’t take his eyes off her. He watches her. He hunts her. He wants her. And Michelle? She was supposed to seduce him. Complete her plan and walk away. But how do you escape the deadliest wolf in the kingdom when the real game has already begun—and the prize might be her own life?