Crack Ships の小説・ストーリー

Dmitri Volkov is the heir to one of New York’s most ruthless Russian mafia families—cold, controlled, and carrying scars no one is allowed to see. He has spent his life obeying blood oaths and burying every part of himself that doesn’t serve the syndicate. Love, especially love for a man, is a weakness he cannot afford. Ethan Moreau is a twenty-two-year-old French art student on scholarship at NYU—soft-spoken, openly gay, and painfully trusting. He came to New York to chase beauty in a city full of sharp edges, never expecting one of those edges to look back at him with ice-blue eyes. Their worlds collide by chance in Central Park. A fleeting encounter becomes stolen nights, desperate kisses in shadowed alleys, and whispered promises neither of them can keep. For Ethan, Dmitri is intensity and danger wrapped in tenderness he’s never known. For Dmitri, Ethan is the first crack of light in a life built on darkness—and the one thing that could destroy everything he’s been raised to protect. But secrets have weight. Dmitri’s family is closing in, a rival syndicate is circling, and every touch between them pulls the noose tighter. Misunderstandings fester into silence, jealousy into rage, and love into something that hurts to hold. When blood finally stains the canvas of their fragile world, Ethan will have to decide if he can love a man who was born to break hearts—and Dmitri will have to choose between the family that raised him and the only person who ever made him want to be free. In a city that devours the innocent, their story is a slow bleed of devotion, betrayal, and the kind of love that can ruin you completely.

After my mate, Regulus Thornfield, dies from an "accident", his twin brother, Lawrence Thornfield takes over his position as the Alpha. He also inherits me and my pup, Niall Thornfield. The new Luna, Alice Moreau, views me as a thorn in her side. She wants nothing more than to exile Niall and me. One night, I head over to the study to ask Lawrence to let me and Niall leave the pack. But I overhear his Beta asking him, "Alpha Regulus, your brother was the one who died in the accident. Why did you claim that you were the one that died?' The sounds of Regulus rapping his knuckles on the desk can be heard. "The elder council had forced me to mark Leah back then. The she-wolf that I've loved all this time has always been Alice. "Besides, Leah has a pup of her own. If I don't fake my death, Alice will be the one left with nothing." As I stand outside the door, I feel my nails digging into my palms. It turns out that my own mate is willing to fake his own death and abandon his own family just so he can return to his beloved she-wolf's side. At the crack of dawn, I place a transfer application on the desk of the elder council. "My personal assets are enough for me to raise my pup. Also, I refuse to be the third wheel in a relationship. Please let us leave the pack."

When I was in college, my mom had terminal cancer, and our family company collapsed due to heavy debts. Just when I was at my lowest, my childhood friend Zach Hall rushed back from overseas. For seven years, he stayed by my side and helped me heal. …Until the night before our engagement ceremony, when I was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer. I wanted to tell Zach, but instead, I overheard a conversation between him and the lead surgeon who had operated on my mother. "Zach, your fiancee's mother could've been saved back then. But you stopped me from treating her, just so Jessica could get that poor woman's corneas. If Jessica is the one you love, why marry your fiancee?" "I do feel guilty toward Annie, but I don't regret it. It was the only way for Jess to pick up a brush again and keep chasing her dreams." Through the crack in the door, I saw clearly the tenderness on Zach's face when he mentioned Jessica. "What if Annie finds out?" the surgeon asked. Zach fell silent, rubbing the band on his ring finger. "I don't know. I've already decided to marry her. I'll love her, protect her, and spend the rest of my life making it up to her." The pain hit me so hard at that moment that I almost collapsed, as if my heart was being ripped out.

"W-what are you doing?" I stammered, my eyes widening as he closed the distance between us. "Weren't you doing all that—biting your lips—just to get my attention? To seduce me?" His hot breath fanned against my face as he leaned in closer. I instinctively shifted back, but before I could react further, his hand wrapped firmly around my waist, pulling me impossibly close as his gaze dropped to my lips. "How about I bite them for you?" Before I could process his words, our lips met in a . It was too fast, too sudden. He started to pull away, but I couldn’t let him go. Something deep inside me clung to him, and before I knew it, I was deepening the . I didn’t understand why I couldn’t let him pull back—I only knew that I didn’t want to. ....... Klein has three talents: finding trouble, running his mouth and driving his infuriating hot yet ice-cold boss, Silvio Alvarez, completely insane. But when Silvio starts paying him unusual attention—watching him a little too closely and asking questions that feel a little too personal—Klein begins to suspect that his boss is hiding something far bigger than a bad temper. Klein is determined to crack the stone-hearted CEO. But the more he learns about Silvio, the stranger things get. His boss doesn’t just seem otherworldly—he might actually 'be' otherworldly.

Kael Draven is one step away from becoming the most powerful wolf of his generation. There's only one problem. He isn't exactly the kind of Alpha the public warms up to. Even after years of carefully curating his image, the verdict remains the same: he’s scary, unapproachable, cold, untrustworthy, impossible to love… ‘dead-eyed’, as one commentator once put it. Which is exactly why he has her. Elara Lennox. His wife. His fated mate. Once the internet's favorite Omega, Elara was known for her warmth, her charm and the kind of life people couldn't stop watching—something simple and real. Together, they were perfect. A flawless image of a flawless marriage, one the world couldn't get enough of. She was the softness to his edge. The light to his darkness. Everything looked perfect. Until now. When they're thrown into a brutal reality TV show built around failing marriages, their carefully constructed illusion begins to crack under constant surveillance and very public judgment. The rules are simple: fall back in love… or fall apart in front of millions. As tensions rise and a powerful rival Alpha steps into the spotlight, the truth becomes impossible to ignore: Elara was always perfect for Kael's image. But was he ever good enough for her? At all? Now, with the entire world watching—and voting— Elara must decide: will she keep fighting for a mate who never truly loved her, or finally, finally choose herself?

"A Game of Mirrors. A World of Nightmares." When a group of high school friends hears about “The Reflection Game,” a supposed urban legend said to reveal one’s true destiny, they can’t resist the temptation to try it. The rules seem innocent enough: light a candle, stand in front of a mirror, and chant a mysterious incantation. What starts as a fun dare quickly turns into a nightmare when the mirror fractures, pulling them into a dark and twisted version of their reality. In this sinister mirror world, nothing is as it seems. Their reflections are no longer harmless—they’ve come to life, embodying their worst fears, regrets, and buried secrets. The friends soon realize the reflections are not just malevolent; they are determined to replace them in the real world. As they navigate this dangerous realm, the lines between reality and illusion blur, testing their sanity and relationships. Trapped in an escalating fight for survival, the group must unravel the mirror’s dark origins and uncover the truth about its curse. But every step forward reveals another horrifying revelation, and escaping may require them to sacrifice more than they’re willing to give. Will they outsmart their reflections, or will they lose themselves in the shadows forever? The Reflection Game is a gripping supernatural thriller that delves into the fragility of trust, the weight of secrets, and the consequences of crossing boundaries best left untouched. Filled with spine-chilling twists, heart-pounding suspense, and a touch of psychological horror, this tale will keep readers on the edge of their seats, questioning what’s real and what lurks beyond the mirror. In this distorted reality, every crack in the mirror reveals dark truths about their deepest fears and buried secrets. As the friends struggle to survive, they must confront it.

I got into a car accident on my way to celebrate my daughter, Anna Chapman's birthday. When I wake up, I stare at my family, who has my bed surrounded. Then, I decide to crack a joke. "Sorry, but who are you people?" I do my best to suppress my smile as I look forward to how my family will comfort me now that I'm "amnesiac". Will my dad and my wife hold my hands out of heartbreak? Or will Anna rush over to hug me while crying for me? What I don't expect is that my family actually heaves sighs of relief after their initial shock. My dad is the first one to speak up, his tone tinged with relief. "It's a good thing that you've forgotten about your past. The truth is, you're the adopted son of the Gray family. Calvin is the actual heir of the Grays." My wife, Yvonne Stewart, points at me while telling Anna, "You should address him as Uncle Damian." Before I can recover from my shock, I see Anna, who I've risked my life to protect, run into Calvin Gray, the fake heir's arms. "Daddy, I was out having fun the whole day! Oh, I've missed you so much!" It turns out that my family wants nothing more than for me to lose my memories. In that case, I might as well abandon everything that's fake in my life.

His lips stretched into a predatory smile that sent chills skittering down my backbone. “Dance on the nails, Sin. Don't make me repeat myself.” He really was the devil. *** Bound to the notorious murderer who’s put a sword to her father’s neck, Princess Annora, fallen from grace, is made to live in Devil’sDen pack as the slave to her captor, Alpha Aegon. Being the fated mate to the Beta of the same vicious pack, Annora plans to use her mate’s feelings as a triumph card, driving her way up to the Alpha’s heart and hoping to put a knife in it. But life happens in reverse— the Alpha becomes the one ‘putting’ things in her. He’s elusive, the most dangerous man she’s ever known. But he’s just as sweet around the edge, alluring in all the forbidden ways. Her hate for him becomes a three-legged chair— wavering. Alpha Aegon hates the Stormbringers for everything they’d cost him, but taking their little white-haired princess was a complete crack in his mode of operation. As harmless as she might seem, everyone is a victim of her wits. Of course, he thinks he’s excluded. Aegon only finds out he’s been mastered in his own game when it's too late, and everything else hangs in the line. His life. Hers. His Virtuous Beta's. What evil befalls this forbidden attraction? How does Annora outsmart this charming man who’s laid waste to everything she’s ever known?

My husband and my best friend had seemingly vanished during my grandfather-in-law's funeral. As I searched for them, I passed Shawn Whitaker's coffin and suddenly saw a live chat window flash into view: [Oh goodie, we're finally dealing with a male lead with a 200 IQ! He dragged Best Girl straight into the coffin before that bitch could find out!] [Aww, he's comforting Best Girl because she's scared of the dark! Aaaaahhhhh!] [That annoying extra is still outside looking for Vincent. She's so dumb, oh my god. I'm right here cheering for Best Boy to cheat with Best Girl because I swear that bitch exists just to get in their way!] Fury surged through me. I moved to flip the coffin lid open, but Jasmine grabbed my arm. "Wait! He can't possibly be in there. I think he went to buy Grandpa coffin nails." [Get yourself a little sister who helps you find happiness like Jazzy, chat.] [And now, in the warm, cramped, humid darkness, two bodies collide and sparks fly. This is metal as hell.] [It's also dangerous as hell. I'm just glad our guy was smart enough to leave a crack for air.] I smirked. Oh, was he? I slammed the lid shut, dragged a nearby lounge chair over, and settled into it. "We've got an hour before the funeral begins, don't we? I think I'll keep Grandpa company." The audience was stunned. [An hour?! They're going to die in there!]

Victor and I were nothing more than a pair of sworn enemies married inside the camp. He hated me for handing over my frail sister to the research institute, all so they could extract the antiviral serum from her blood. And I hated him for never seeing anyone but her, even in the apocalypse, when she could barely lift a metal rod. For the ten years of the apocalypse, the words we said to each other most often were, "Die a miserable death." … However, when the zombie horde finally broke through the last line of defense, he chained me to the modified mech truck and went out alone to face it. "Live…" I watched as the tide of corpses swallowed him whole, the crack of breaking bones mixing with the sound of flesh being torn apart. On the edge of death, he pulled out my sister's faded photo and placed it over the one clean spot on his chest. "This life is yours. But if there's a next one, don't go near her again." … That night, when I returned, I blew up the camp. When I opened my eyes again, I went to the zombie king. His razor-sharp claws closed around my throat, and I smiled as I took hold of his hand. "Let's make a deal. Give humans five more years, and I'll willingly be your queen." Last time, he gave his life to save me. This time, I'll be the monster—so they can all get what they want.