Embers And Ashes

The day we were meant to be mated, my Alpha, Ford, was ambushed. Silver bullets shredded his car, sending it plunging off a bridge and into the river below. He was pronounced dead. Drowned. I was left pregnant with his heir, shattered by the raw agony of our severed mate bond. Then Ford's twin, Aiden, returned from abroad with his mate, Kyra. His identical face and a scent so similar to my mate's nearly drove me mad. A desperate part of me swore Ford was still alive. I told myself it was just grief. A widow's delusion. Until I overheard a hushed conversation and the horrifying truth slammed into me: the man pretending to be Aiden was Ford. He had faked his death. He'd let his own brother die in his place, all for Kyra—the other woman carrying his child. The grief that had crippled me instantly morphed into a cold, sharp rage. Ford didn't just break our bond; he shattered it. And I would make him pay. I wiped my tears and sent a single message to my brother, Billy, the Alpha of the Winterstone Pack. "Brother, I need a plane crash. He loves faking his death? Fine. Let him feel what it's like to truly lose a mate." Only when the news of my "death" spread did Ford reclaim his name. He knelt for seven days and nights in the ashes of the home we once shared, consumed by a grief of his own making.

‎ ‎He was born in blood, forged in betrayal, and crowned in darkness. She was broken, discarded, and ready to disappear. But when Kane Salvatore, the demon of Beltforte Dominia, drags Castelle Quinn back from the edge, their collision sparks a war. In his arms, she finds her prayers answered—brutal salvation. At her side, he finds freedom from his curse—the peace his demons never let him taste. For Castelle her heart craves darkness, and the demon—Kane— tastes like salvation. ‎Together, they will burn the world that tried to destroy them — and rise from the ashes, king and queen of ruin. ‎ ‎The only woman he has ever craved to own and possess. The Queen of his heart that satisfies his every need. ‎ ‎"Beautiful," he murmurs. The sight of her—bent over, wrists tied, ass raised, trembling—was a masterpiece.  ‎ ‎He nudges her legs further apart, admiring the way she opens for him. She's on full display—raw, submissive, exquisite. He pinched her inner thighs, watching her squirm, feeding on her whimpers.  ‎ ‎Then, he strikes.  ‎A sharp slap directly to her swollen clit making her scream. The sound alone could make him cum.  ‎ ‎He chuckles darkly. It unsettles her—and that’s exactly the point.  ‎He grabbed the flogger, trailing its strands over her back, down to her legs. With a swift motion, I bring it down hard. The crack fills the room. Her body jolts, red lines blossoming instantly on her skin.  ‎ ‎Again on her ass. Again on her clit.  ‎She shatters. 

I throw myself into cryogenic research so I can keep my only family on this Earth. However, halfway through it, my fiancé embezzles all the funds to propose to Sophia Kensington, his true love. I panic when I see the ice in Mom's brain start to melt. I have no money to continue with the research. I'm in utter despair when Leonard Shaw, a rising star in the biomedical field, comes to me with millions of dollars in funding. The research can continue. Just three days later, something goes wrong with the experiment. Mom explodes in cryogenic chamber. I'm shattered by this, but Leonard stays by my side throughout it all. He helps me move past this and continue with my research. I think he's the light of my life until I overhear his conversation with his secretary. "Is it worth it marrying someone you don't love for Ms. Kensington's sake, Mr. Shaw?" "Sophia is my life. I'm willing to do anything as long as she's healthy and happy." "But will Mrs. Shaw still continue helping Ms. Kensington if she learns you tampered with the data and killed her mother?" "She'll never find out. Besides, I'm already using the rest of my life to make it up to her. That's more than enough…" It turns out Leonard's love is just a conspiracy. My heart turns to ashes in that moment. I sign an agreement to seal my body cryogenically. He'll never find me ever again.

When Thalia wakes reborn in the heart of Silverpine—a secluded werewolf pack—she remembers only fragments: the terror of her escape, the fire she unleashed, the coven sisters she left behind. Haunted by guilt and desperate to hide her witch’s power, Thalia is forced to play the role of the Alpha’s fated mate to protect herself and the pack from enemies within and without. Silverpine is a fortress of secrets, suspicion, and pack law. The council circles, hungry for weakness. Livia, the Alpha’s rival, wants Thalia gone. Only a handful know the truth of Thalia’s magic—and if word spreads, it will mean death for her and danger for the wolves she’s learning to care for. As she navigates brutal trials and dangerous alliances, Thalia is drawn to Rowan, the troubled Alpha who carries scars—physical and emotional—from battles with witches long past. Their fake engagement ignites a bond that neither can ignore, but trust is as dangerous as betrayal. When Rowan’s need for a mate clashes with Thalia’s instinct for survival, both are forced to confront the wounds of their pasts. Haunted by memories of her old coven—of Mira, the friend she left to burn—Thalia must decide: keep hiding, or reclaim the full force of her power. But the magic that saved her may destroy everything she’s come to love. As rival packs close in and the council demands blood, Thalia must choose between saving Silverpine and saving herself. In the ashes of her past, can she forge a new future—or will old betrayals rise to consume them all? A witch among wolves. A lie that can’t last. And a power that refuses to stay buried.

“I was fighting for my life and you were screwing my nurse?" I yelled, staring at them in disgust, “I am your mate. I gave you an heir, yet you got her pregnant.” I was going insane watching her big bump and a smirk on her lips. “Phoenix! You cannot blame me entirely,” Aramis repeated himself like a broken record. How dare he blame me for his actions? How dare he fuck my nurse and got her pregnant? Heck! I have seen her walk around in my crown. “I am leaving with my kids.” That’s when my decision made him let out a gasp and stare at me with teary eyes. He can now cry all he wants; I have made my decision. He will not see me or our kids again. .. Unloved and untrusted by her family, Phoenix endeavored to become the best warrior there is to protect herself and her pack. Only to have everything stripped away from her. Losing her mate, her father, and then her wolf. She lost everything and found herself caged by her second change mate, Alpha King Aramis. Just when a hope sparkled, her mate impregnated her nurse. Like her name, will she be able to burn and rise from the ashes or lose herself forever in the hatred of Alpha King Aramis? Will the ruthless Alpha King ever change and Phoenix as his mate? Follow on their journey to find out.

"He vowed never to love her. Now he’ll stop at nothing to reclaim her.” When ruthless billionaire Adrian Blackwood and a sharp witted journalist Elena Carter find themselves entangled in each other's arms, they had an intoxicating one night stand that leads to a scandal that threatens to tear their world down. Their solution was straightforward: a marriage of convenience. No love. No strings attached. Nothing but cold, calculated damage control. Elena is faced with emotional neglect in a marriage that seems to slowly tear her apart. When framed for betrayal, Elena was sent packing and unknowingly to her she was pregnant. A secret she had kept hidden from Adrian. Four years later, fate draws them back into each other's lives. Adrian, colder and more commanding than ever before, discovers the truth: Elena is more than just a ghost from his past. She’s a mother. His child's mother. And the child she’s fiercely protecting bears his storm-gray eyes. Now, the CEO who once said love was a weakness is tearing the world apart to reclaim what is his. But Elena is no longer the woman he abandoned. Rising from the ashes of their failed marriage, she has created a life—and a legacy—that refuses to submit to his demands. But as explosive secrets resurface and old enemies emerge, Adrian and Elena are forced to play a deadly game in which the stakes are higher than pride or passion. Someone wants Elena destroyed. Someone wants Adrian broken. And their daughter's life is on the line.

Born under the silver glow of the moon, Liora was marked with a mysterious birthmark and a destiny she could neither understand nor escape. Raised in the Beta household, her life was one of cruelty...scorned by her stepmother Mariseth and tormented by her sister Ravena, whose envy grew sharper with every passing day. Liora’s only solace was Kaelen, the Alpha’s son, her childhood sweetheart and the secret keeper of her fragile hope. But everything shatters on the night of the shifting ceremony. While Ravena blooms into a powerful wolf, Liora collapses under the weight of the Moon’s power, left motionless and declared wolfless. Whispers spread like wildfire, unwanted, useless, broken. Yet, Kaelen’s lingering affection keeps her spirit alive… until the truth claws its way into the light. The Moon Goddess has chosen. Drawn by an irresistible bond, Kaelen and Ravena discover they are mates, bound by fate itself. To Ravena, it is triumph at last, the ultimate way to crush the sister she loathes. To Kaelen, it is torment; his heart burns for Liora, yet the pull of destiny ties him to another. And to Liora, it is the ultimate betrayal: abandoned by the one she loves, broken promises and hunted by the jealousy of her sister. But Liora’s birthmark holds secrets far greater than anyone realizes. A destiny tied not just to a pack, but to the balance of wolves and the Moon itself. As love turns to obsession, and envy turns to violence, the question lingers: Will Liora rise from the ashes of rejection to claim the power meant for her, or will the wolves who betrayed her destroy her first?

That night, Liam served me my usual evening tea. I trusted him completely—he was my mate, after all, and a respected healer of Thornpack. I shouldn't have. When I woke up the next morning, my head was spinning. The special safe where I kept the morphing inhibitor—the one I'd spent my entire savings to import from Europe for our daughter Isla—was empty. Racing to the healing center, I found Liam celebrating. He was handing out moon-blessed wine, beaming with pride as Natalie's daughter Anna showed off her perfect transformation. My inhibitor had been used on his first love's pup instead of our own daughter. The shock triggered something in my brain. When I collapsed, they diagnosed me with the rare tumor that plagued our kind. Without inhibitors, I couldn't stop Isla's transformation that came early, her six year old body couldn't handle the massive wolf form and the force ripped through her young body. And I, for one, don't even have enough money to keep her in a treatment center. She died in my arms three days later, her little claws drawing blood as the pain overwhelmed her. Until her last breath, she kept asking why Papa hadn't come. Now, in my cold, empty home, with the white porcelain urn containing her ashes on the table, I touch her and decide to sever our partnership.

Avyanna has spent her life mastering survival. A brilliant scholarship student by day, a strategist and fighter by necessity, she carries the weight of a childhood tragedy that left her orphaned. When she falls for Kairus Chu—the rebellious heir of a powerful conglomerate—she allows herself a fleeting moment of happiness. Their love defies all odds, culminating in a secret marriage despite his mother’s ruthless opposition. But behind the scenes, Avyanna’s trusted mentor, Lord Mendez, pulls unseen strings, shaping her fate for his own ends. Their love is shattered when Zhen, a cunning rival, conspires with Kairus’ mother to frame Avyanna for murder. Betrayed, sentenced to life in prison, and pregnant with Kairus’ child, she refuses to be broken. With her only ally, Huan Yue, she orchestrates a daring escape, vanishing in fire and blood—reborn as Bernadette Lu, a shadow queen of the underworld. Years later, Avyanna returns with a vengeance, dismantling the Chu empire piece by piece. She manipulates Dylan Chu, Kairus’ ambitious younger brother, and unearths the true enemy—Lord Mendez, the man who orchestrated her downfall and her parents’ deaths. As she leaves devastation in her wake, Kairus, now a pawn of his mother’s ambitions, is forced to confront the memories of the love he lost. As Zhen and the Chu matriarch fall, Avyanna stands at the precipice of her ultimate choice: to reclaim the love that once defined her or to walk away forever, knowing that vengeance has carved an unbridgeable distance between who she was and who she has become. When Kairus finally finds her, face-to-face with the daughter he never knew, the question lingers—can love survive the ashes of war?

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