Bloomed Roots

“I want you.” Aurora whimpered softly. “Tell me how much you want me, little wolf.” “I want you so bad.” She gasped when his lips grazed her ear, his breath making her shudder with need. Henry watched her with pleasure-laden eyes, his hand coiling round her waist possessively. “You belong to me, Aurora. You're mine.” … In the moonlit world of werewolves, Aurora Rose Thompson was a stunning young she-wolf with a fierce spirit and a beauty that rivaled the moon goddess. On her 18th birthday, the moon goddess paired her with the Alpha of her pack, Alpha Bishop Dawson, a union that seemed like a dream come true. But behind Bishop's chiseled facade and commanding presence lay a sinister plot: he didn't want a mate and he despised the mate bond. Two nights after they were mated, he cruelly rejected her and banished her from the pack. Enter Henry James Robert, the most powerful and ruthless Alpha King who had been mateless for more than a hundred years. He saved Aurora from Bishop's banishment and took her back with him to the lycan kingdom where he ruled. What he didn't expect was to fall desperately in love with her. A deep passion bloomed between them until everything shattered one day. Henry's dark secrets came to light, secrets he had managed to bury all these years. Hidden conspiracies arose, threatening to shatter the bond between him and Aurora. The truth about Aurora's identity is revealed, and when Bishop discovered that she was now Henry's mate, he suddenly wanted her back at all costs. Can their love survive the darkness of Henry's past and the treacherous forces that seek to destroy their bond? Or will the very thing that brought them together ultimately rip them apart?

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

Isaac held her hand with the depleting energy in him, his body shaking as he felt the steady stream of crimson fluid pumping out of his heart and flowing down his skin, staining his vest. She tried to pull the scissors out again, but he held on tighter, squeezing his face at the searing pain. "Love," He mumbled, looking into her cold eyes. Natalie pulled at the scissors, but he held on with every little energy he had in him, shaking his head in plea that she'd stop. She didn't, and his tenacity made her twist the tool, and he let out a painful groan, a hot drop of tear escaping his eyes. ... As he laid there with four bleeding puncture wounds in his body, his bloodshot eyes fell on her unconscious body, and more painful tears trickled down his face. He had failed. He had failed his wife and son. *** Natalie Cabel's life changes from bitter to bittersweet after a one-night stand with Isaac Bardekk, heir apparent to the throne of Bardaen. His love was contagious and bewitching, and she found herself helplessly wanting him in her forever. But a lady without roots could never be a crown princess of such a powerful kingdom, especially not one who lived a promiscuous life. Isaac, however, was not ready to give up as he promised her a new identity, prestige, and immunity in return for her being a faithful wife. For how long, though, and to what extent can she remain immune to hate and adversity from the queen consort? The queen mother? Her father-in-law, the king? And the subjects? If so, can she really uphold her faithfulness and be free from her husband's hate? Even when Vincent, Isaac's stepbrother, targets that?