Echo Of Distant Water

My body drifted in the river for five years before a fishing enthusiast reeled it in. Even though the forensic pathologist managed to reconstruct my face from when I was alive through craniofacial reconstruction technology, the hatred my brother had for me remained as strong as ever. "That better be her body! She has been on the run for five years! Even in death, she doesn't deserve pity! In fact, it simply is a disgrace to have a murderer like her as the daughter of the Clarke family!" he hissed. Everyone thought he despised me with every fiber of his being. Yet, as he spoke, his entire body trembled. Who would have guessed that the distress call I made to him five years ago would end up becoming the main factor that hastened my death?

In the bustling heart of New York, Briget Morris, a determined saleswoman at a Jewelry shop struggles to make her dreams come to reality as she faces countless hardships and tragic issues in her past relationships. Giving up on love, she decides to face her career, work hard, and be the CEO of the best mining company in the USA. When she encounters Nicholas, a wealthy philanthropist who owns a mining company with haunted pasts, at a high-profile charity spotlight, their worlds collide in an unexpected way. As they navigate the complexities of love, ambition, and societal expectations. Nicholas and Bridget must confront their fears and insecurities. Will the shadow of their past tear them apart? Will Bridget give love a second chance?

In the moonlit forest, the Alpha and Alora engaged in a secret, passionate dance away from prying eyes and their pack's demands. A deep voice filled with desire rumbled like thunder in the night. "To me, you are the passion that flows through my veins, the intense desire that drives me. I long to have you, Alora, with an insatiable desire." She silently invited him with parted lips, her sultry gaze fixed on him. "You're the storm that ignites my senses. Your touches and kisses fuel my fantasies," she said in a seductive voice. In a world of forbidden love and thrilling action, Alora finds herself in a heart-pounding love triangle while seeking justice for her sister's tragic death. She's torn between mysterious Alpha Cassian and Lucien, her soulmate from a rival pack, and her choices either unite or divide the werewolf packs. As their enemy Orion seeks revenge, her journey reveals a world of mysteries. Ultimately, the conflict demonstrates that even the most chilling secrets can't withstand the destructive power of love, as affection, loyalty, and her unwavering spirit take center stage.

“You know your body is a walking temptation, you should cover it, instead of leading men astray with it," "I am inside the house," "Yes you are but there is a man here too and just in case you don't know, I do men and with a body like yours I don't mind throwing away all my morals to have that dick in my asshole pounding me and taking me to heaven," Jordan said biting down hard on his lips to control himself, but that control flew off the window when Liam dragged down his boxers revealing his hard huge groin. “What if I want to make you lose those morals?” He whispered walking up to him slowly… Jordan Bach has gotten through fazes of heartbreaks and was wary of love, but when a handsome stranger crashed into his bed the night of his best friend's wedding, he is ready to risk it all to find this stranger and give love another chance but Liam wasn't much of a stranger after all, and he wasn't someone Jordan had envisioned falling for...

Aria Morgan is hated by her father and despised by her pack. They choose a life of atonement for her. Atonement for her mother’s supposed betrayal of the Eclipse pack that led to the death of ten pack members. The only light in her life is her younger sister, Piper, who she will do anything to protect. Dane Holden, Alpha of the Shadow Vale pack, has spent years actively working to bring down anything associated with the Morgan family all because of a link between them and the death of his brother. As the next step of his revenge plan, he approaches Aria’s father with a contract that will tie him and Aria together in a chosen mate-bond. Betrayal and secrets run deep in both Dane and Aria’s lives. Things that they believed to be real were nothing more than lies wrapped up in honey to hide the truth from ever coming to light. Dane’s world turns upside down when he realizes that everything he had believed for the past four years has been nothing but a lie. What is worse is that he has repeatedly hurt someone who he should have protected. Will it be too late to fix things, or will he die before he can earn her forgiveness? Only time will tell...

Kellan Reed - I was born Runebound—measured, studied, trained to lead. My pack believes order is strength, that tradition is law. But law doesn’t hold when blood runs in the dirt. The Interregnum is here, and every whispered betrayal at Obscura smells of war. I thought I knew who I was supposed to be: heir, alpha, scholar. Then Ronan Draxmere walked onto campus, all sharp teeth and wild fury. Bloodpine. My opposite. My enemy. And yet, every time our eyes lock, I feel the pull of something I can’t name. Something dangerous. Something I might not survive resisting. Ronan’s Draxmere - Bloodpine wolves don’t play nice. We hunt. We take. We survive. That’s what my father drilled into me, and it’s why he sent me here: to prove strength where others crumble. But Obscura isn’t the battleground I expected. The dragon burns brighter than the legends, the heirs bleed unity, and Kellan Reed—the Runebound golden boy—looks at me like he wants to tear me apart and hold me together in the same breath. I should hate him. I do hate him. But my wolf doesn’t. And if the Interregnum comes for this place, they’ll find out just how dangerous a Bloodpine wolf can be when he’s fighting for something he swore he’d never want.

When disgraced journalist Elliot Dorne receives an anonymous invitation to Wintercroft Hall—a decaying mansion on a fog-shrouded island—he is promised the story of a lifetime. But upon his arrival, Elliot finds himself among six strangers, each with their own shadowy past. Their enigmatic host, the frail and reclusive Vivienne Ashworth, claims she has summoned them to reveal a deadly truth about the Ashworth family legacy. Before she can confess, Vivienne collapses, and chaos ensues. A violent storm traps the guests on the island, and the discovery of a gruesome murder sets paranoia ablaze. As Elliot uncovers cryptic messages, hidden rooms, and a chilling photograph that ties him to the Ashworth family, he realizes that nothing about this gathering is random. With the mansion’s dark history unraveling and secrets surfacing at every turn, Elliot must confront the ghosts of his own past to survive. But the deeper he digs, the clearer it becomes—someone inside Wintercroft Hall is playing a deadly game, and not everyone will make it out alive. When disgraced journalist Elliot Dorne is invited to the remote and crumbling Wintercroft Hall, he’s promised the story that could save his career. But the mansion’s sinister halls conceal more than just secrets—they harbor a legacy of betrayal, murder, and lies. Elliot is joined by six strangers, all summoned by the enigmatic Vivienne Ashworth. Frail and reclusive, she claims to know the truth about their darkest sins. Before she can reveal anything, a violent storm cuts them off from the outside world—and the first body is discovered. As cryptic messages and chilling clues emerge, Elliot realizes that his connection to the Ashworth family runs deeper than he could have imagined. Someone in Wintercroft Hall knows the truth about his past, and they’ll stop at nothing .

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

One night was enough to change everything, to destroy everything. He took away my family, everything I love and for some reason he left me alive, why? It's so painful to live after... "One fateful night, Anaís' family was brutally murdered, shattering her world and leaving her with no memory of the events. Consumed by guilt for not remembering and the weight of being the sole survivor, Anas was admitted to Ashwood Psychiatric Hospital with a diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). There, she met three mysterious boys who seemed to have her best interests at heart. However, as she got to know them, Anaís began to suspect that one of them might be the very person responsible for her family's tragic fate. Despite their different motives, they shared a common goal: to protect Anaís. But as she unraveled her feelings and suspicions, Anaís realized that the journey to uncover the truth was only just beginning.

Rejected and shattered, Aria Ravenshadow had always been the weakest in her pack—an omega, fated for rejection. When Alpha Jaxon Blackthorn cruelly denounces her in front of everyone, the last remnants of her fragile heart are crushed. Feeling lost and utterly alone, she runs, convinced there’s no place for her in a world where she’ll ever truly belong.But destiny has a different plan. When she stumbles into the territory of the ruthless twin Alphas, Kane and Zane Nightfire, Aria is unexpectedly offered a second chance. Though the brothers have sworn to remain unmated, they feel an unexplainable connection to the fragile wolf. Still, the fear of another rejection looms large over Aria. Weighed down by her past and unsure of her strength, she must face her own insecurities and tap into a power she never realized she had. Will her second chance mates accept her or will they reject her?