Crown With Blood

In the shadowed swamps of the South, where ancient cypress roots drink deep from the earth, something older and far more dangerous stirs. Rio never asked to be reborn into darkness, but as a fledgling vampire trained by the ruthless and alluring Odessa, he’s learned quickly that survival demands both strength and sacrifice. Haunted by the family he left behind, Rio carries the weight of his choices—yet he can’t ignore the fragile bond forming with Junie Elowen, a newly turned vampire whose bright green eyes hide grief, fear, and an untapped power that could change everything. Odessa’s control slips as her complicated attachment to Rio deepens, forcing him to question where loyalty ends and obsession begins. But greater threats rise when Cassian—an ancient vampire and Junie’s sire—emerges from the shadows, determined to claim what he believes is his. Power struggles ignite, alliances fracture, and the swamp itself seems to whisper warnings of blood yet to be spilled. A story of forbidden bonds, found family, and the price of power, Blood Beneath the Cypress is a dark, atmospheric tale where love and loyalty are as dangerous as the monsters lurking in the night.

Charlotte Whitmore is the daughter of a nobody, a hopeless romantic who believes in fairytales and Prince Charming. Fate finally smiles on her when she is contracted to marry the only man she has ever loved—Christian Hale, heir to the billion-dollar Hale Enterprise. But there is a condition: she must keep his fiancée alive. For three years, Charlotte gives her blood, her heart. She endures his coldness, his indifference hoping that one day, he will choose her. But he never does. When the woman in the coma awakens, Charlotte is discarded without hesitation. Secrets begin to unravel, and she realizes her prince was nothing but a beautifully dressed frog all along. Now she must prove to herself that she is more than a substitute bride. More than a tool for family contracts. More than a woman begging to be loved. She asks for a divorce. ******************************************* Christian Hale has always known his duty—to protect his family’s empire at all costs. Even if it means sacrificing his love. Even if it means sacrificing the woman he has loved for years. So when tragedy strikes, he binds himself to guilt and a deal that allows him to keep the love of his life close in the cruelest way. He believes time will give him a chance with her. But his calculated decisions begin to crumble when she finds out about his deal. Now she hates him. He must try to win her love again, even if it means him losing everything he has. And even the woman he loves at the end.

"They say the rich live beyond consequence. That no one bleeds behind a billion-dollar smile. They've clearly never met Rico Zane." Aria Lane didn't mean to sleep with a total stranger. Especially not the battered, bleeding man she pulled in off the sidewalk outside of an elite Manhattan nightclub. He had haunted eyes and a tempest brewing behind them. They had one night of weakness. One unforgettable mistake. And by morning, he'd vanished. Months later, she's now pregnant and swimming in secrets, Aria's life takes another sharp turn when stumbles into the father of her child again. This time, he's not bleeding in the shadows, he's standing in light and power. Rico Zane is not just anyone. He's the cold, brilliant CEO of Zane Industries. A billionaire who built a dynasty from the ruins of treachery and smashes anyone who gets in his path. And Aria? She's unfortunately the daughter of the one man who tried to ruin his family. To make matters more complicated, Rico's brother, who was presumed dead for years, returns to take the company and exact revenge on a past Aria is tied to by blood. While corporate wars rage and enemies loom in designer suits, Aria is swept up in a war of secrets, seduction, and strategy. She's both a pawn and a prize in a game of power where love is a liability… and trust a slow poison. Now forced into Rico's dangerous world for the sake of her unborn child, Aria must make a decision: does she stay with the man who sees her as both his weakness and his salvation? Or does she become the woman capable of rewriting her fate one secret at a time?

After two years of development, my game finally launched successfully. My wife had promised me a $75,000 bonus, but instead, she gave the entire $750,000 payout to her male secretary, Wayne. All she tossed me was a $50 grocery coupon. "You're just a stay-at-home husband," she said casually. "You don't spend much. Go buy some groceries and cook dinner." I stared at her in disbelief. "That money is for our son's transplant surgery," I said. "If it's delayed for even a few days, he'll die." Her expression did not change. "He's weak. If he dies, he dies," she said flatly. "At least you won't bring any more bad luck into the office and pass it on to Wayne." She turned away, her tone instantly brightening as she talked about taking Wayne out that night to celebrate with a lavish dinner worth tens of thousands of dollars. In that instant, my heart froze. She had forgotten one thing. The game might be registered under her name, but I still held the core encryption key. I picked up the phone and called a rival company. "You've been trying to get Genyxis's core technology for a long time, haven't you?" I asked calmly. "All I want is $75,000, and it’ll be yours.”

Laura Legoza was born into an ancient noble family as the youngest daughter, doted on by everyone. But since her mother's departure, her most trusted fiancé, along with her sisters, had branded Laura as an illegitimate child and conspired against her in various ways. She was imprisoned in an iron cage with wild wolves, enduring mockery and humiliation. Those who were once closest to her had become the most terrible demons to torment her. She wanted revenge. Recalling an array, she had read about in an ancient book, she used her own blood to summon the demonic werewolf Ned in the dead of night. "For humans to make a deal with me, it comes at the cost of flesh and blood," he said. "What use is this flesh and blood to me if I cannot have my revenge?" she replied. Laura had nothing left to lose in her quest to drag her former enemies down into the abyss. She would sacrifice anything for retribution. But the handsome Alpha werewolf, Ned, didn't want her life or her soul. He leaned in close, looking down into her eyes. "Let me taste the pleasures of you, human, and I will grant you your wish." he whispered. Was it right or wrong to sign a blood contract with such a dangerous Alpha werewolf?

In Valle Vitale, nothing stays buried. Not blood, not secrets, and certainly not the dead. Auryn was trained to be sharp, silent, and dangerous. Working as a risk analyst for Obsidian—a private security firm that caters to powerful clients with darker secrets than most—was supposed to be her quiet cover. But after a savage attack on her first night, she realizes nothing about Valle Vitale is safe. The creature that mauled her wore a familiar face. The man who saved her is her cold, beautiful billionaire boss—Killian DuskBane, an Halomir. And the people she had spent all her life loathing might be her only hope of surviving what comes next. Something ancient stirs in the dark, something that once shattered the world. And now, it’s calling to her. But she's just the spark. And every faction—Mystic, Halomir, Hollowed, and human, is about to burn.

When 20 years old Ella Hart loses her father in a mysterious plane crash, she’s placed under the guardianship of James Callahan, her father’s best friend, a powerful man with dark eyes and even darker secrets. Who had been there for her for eleven years she lost her dad. At first, James is everything she needs: stable, protective, and oddly comforting. But as weeks turn into years under his roof, Ella begins to feel a pull she can’t explain. The air thickens between them glances turn into touches, and innocence burns into obsession. What starts as forbidden passion quickly spirals into something deeper and more dangerous. Ella finds herself caught in a web of emotional addiction, surrounded by luxury, lies, and a man who will do anything to keep her even if it means rewriting her past. But just when she thinks she knows the truth, a single discovery changes everything. Her father's death? Not an accident. And the child she’s carrying? Might not be James’s after all… One house. One secret. One man who swore to protect her but may have destroyed everything she ever loved.

In a land ruled by the iron law of fate, being moonbound is a death sentence. Sevia, born under the cursed omen of the twin moons, has always felt hunted by shadows—especially the one in her dreams: a silver-eyed stranger who haunts her every night, whispering her name like a vow and a warning. When she flees an unwanted marriage and joins the mysterious Starveil Caravan Clan, she discovers that the man from her dreams is real—and far more dangerous than she imagined. Kael, a masked fugitive prince, is cursed with blood-magic that devours everything he touches—including her. Bound by fate, drawn to each other by a magic older than the gods, they fight a bond that threatens to consume them both. Because if they give in, it might not just cost them their lives—it might unmake the world. Some threads were never meant to be severed. But some should never have been woven at all.

My foster sister, Gloria Binder, and I married a pair of werewolf brothers. I married the older brother, the steady one who ran the Dixon household. She married the man who held power over the entire pack. We got pregnant in the same year. In a couple of months, they would be able to take a sample of our babies' cardiogen and use it as medicine to treat their fathers' illness. Two months before my due date, the gates of the outer villa were kicked open. The intruders beat me, fists and boots coming down hard, then forced a bowl of labor-inducing medicine down my throat. I screamed at the maid beside me to run and get my mate. But all I got back was his message. He was furious. "You said you wanted peace and quiet and insisted on staying at the secluded villa to rest. Now you're pulling something this low just to drag me over there? I don't have time to waste on you. Judy needs a few plants moved into her yard. She's delicate and can't do heavy work. I'm helping her." The medicine had already taken effect. I could feel the baby thrashing, as if it were about to tear its way out of me. I would have died from the pain if Gloria hadn't come back from gathering herbs and saved my life. She sent people to find my mate and demand justice for me. Yet, all she got was another message. "You're living just fine in the villa. Who would dare hurt you? I need to help my brother plant a few more shrubs for Judy. I don't have time for your petty drama!" Gloria was pregnant, too. After being beaten and kicked, she lost her baby. We lay in a pool of blood, holding each other. "Gloria," I whispered through tears, "I don't want to repay any debts anymore. I want to sever my bond with Lesley."

Scarlett was supposed to walk down the aisle in white silk, glowing with love and a secret growing inside her. Instead, she walked out of a hospital with shaking hands, a shattered heartbeat, and a womb that would never feel the flutter she had been so excited to announce. Her fairytale didn’t just crack. It detonated. On the same day she should have become a wife, she became a woman drowning in betrayal—betrayal delivered by the very man who had once fixed her broken-down car and promised her a forever. While the world demanded answers from Daniel Cross, the perfect fiancé on camera, Scarlett hid in a borrowed guest room, wearing a stranger’s dress and a grief no one could soothe. But heartbreak has a way of sharpening bones.