John Lloyd Cruz Lock Novels & Stories

Maya de Cruz is at the lowest point of her life—her career is in ruins, her uncaring family has her backed into a corner, and her past continues to haunt her. In the depths of her despair, Maya’s world tilts when Aaric Salvaterre Bernardi—her ex boyfriend, now her sister’s fiancé—appears with an offer too tempting to resist, one that could either save her or destroy everything she once held dear. Aaric, with his deadly charm and power to subdue anyone, drags Maya back into the web of his dangerous world. What begins as a risky deal slowly turns into a seductive and inescapable game of desire. Maya struggles to suppress the emotions slowly invading her heart, but Aaric's undeniable magnetism pulls her deeper into his orbit. Every glance, every word, unravels her defenses, leaving her at war with a dilemma that threatens to shatter her principles and pride. Amidst a swirl of intrigue and dark secrets that are increasingly revealed, Maya finds herself at the crossroads between a burning forbidden love and the threat of losing herself. As reason gives way to desire, a single question lingers like a haunting melody: will Maya dare to risk it all for the man who shattered her world, yet awakened a flame within her she thought had long died?  

Then, I feel it. That cold current in the atmosphere that screams all too loudly of one name. The name I dreaded the most in the whole world and beyond. Lycan king Duncan Smith, my ex-husband! Our shock mirrors each other as we lock gazes but mine is worse. “Ma’am, here’s the man that found your son. Alpha Duncan!” ***** In one single day, Lyra's marriage is turned upside down, as her husband, the Lycan king, brings in a pregnant woman who is none other than the woman who tormented her endlessly in her previous pack. But that is just the beginning. Lyra soon finds out that her husband has never truly loved her. He was only trying to use her for his selfish purpose, and to top it all, she gets framed for treason and thrown out of the pack. Determined to make a name for herself and pay back those who betrayed her in their own coins, she goes back into her old pack. Five years later, she's now the Alpha of the Blood Moon pack and what more can she ask for when she has the most protective and supportive beta by her side who plays "daddy" roles to her five year old son. What happens when some unexpected spark begin to ignite between them? But things are always not predictable in life— Her ex-husband soon regrets his actions and comes back begging on his knees.

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.

His hand slid beneath her shirt, warm against her bare waist. “Tell me to stop,” he whispered against her neck. She trembled, every nerve on fire. “I don't want you too.” ~~~ Audrey Dauval’s life shattered the night she opened the front door and found her mother’s lifeless body soaked in blood on the front porch. Everyone said it was an illness. Everyone said she imagined what she saw. But she knew exactly what she saw that night. When her distant, broken father sends her away to live with family friends in the eerie town of Ravenfalls, she thinks the worst is behind her. But nothing in Ravenfalls is normal. The woods, the town, it's gloomy and holds secrets. Lots of them. At school, two dangerously gorgeous rivals lock eyes with her, and that’s when everything changes. But what she feels for both of them... she feels for a third. Born from a bloodline of legendary werewolf hunters, Audrey is the target of a vengeful rogue pack that killed her mother and now wants her dead. As forbidden bonds grow and fated connections spark, Audrey finds herself torn between love, war, and the truth of who she really is. Three boys. One mate. And she can only choose one or lose them all. Who would she choose?

Esther, who gave up the inheritance of her father's company to get married to Michael, the love of her life, unfortunately caught her husband cheating with her best friend, Maya. She was framed by Maya and her husband, and no one believed her. She was forced to divorce Michael. Esther got involved in a car accident which made her lose her unborn child and her womb; she was told that she couldn't give birth again. Heartbroken, Esther went back home and took her rightful inheritance of her father's company. Esther made a promise to be man-free for the rest of her life and vowed to take revenge on her ex-husband and ex-best friend. After Esther became the CEO of her family's company, John came to Esther, demanding the fifty million dollars her late father owed him. He gave Esther an option to choose between paying off the debt within 3 weeks, or he would sign a marriage contract with her, and after she gave birth to him, the contract would be over. Esther was devastated, knowing she couldn't pay the debt in less than 3 weeks, and she couldn't give birth again. Will Esther pay him off within 3 weeks? Or will she go against the promise she made to herself?

In this post-apocalyptic world, all the supernatural species in the world belong to what is referred to as The Hidden. They have banded together to survive the humans destroying themselves and each other in hidden colonies around the world. Amara, future alpha of her pack, and her secret lover Trent, future alpha of an enemy pack, are caught in a love triangle of sorts. Amara’s parents keep trying to push her towards Tobias, alpha of an ally pack. Now the Council Collective is planning on going out to find human survivors and bring them back to integrate into their colony. Amara and Trent decide to go public and tell their families they are together. Alpha John, Trent’s father has other plans. He sends Trent on a mission to pick up survivors, making Amara think he has abandoned her. Not long after, Amara finds out she is pregnant. Amara chooses to go after Trent, and unbeknownst to him she discovers his deep dark secret. She runs away from Trent and everything she knows and ends up finding the last thing she thought she would ever find in this wreck of a world. Could she really have found her fated mate after all this time? And in a human? Will she go back to Trent? Or will she give this unexpected twist of fate a chance?

For eight years, I stayed by John Harlem's side, even without a title. I was there when he recovered and rose from his wheelchair, and I was there when he clawed his way out of depression. I thought that one day, if I endured long enough, he would see my sincerity and affection for him. And we might end up together. But when his first love returned to the country, all my hopes turned into delusions. He told me to put away feelings I should never have had and remain by his side as nothing more than his "sister". For her, he deceived me, humiliated me, and pushed me away. What he never knew was that in helping him heal, I had absorbed far too much of his darkness. The very day he stopped taking his medication, I was diagnosed with severe depression. In order to save myself, I chose to let him go… and married his uncle instead. But at my wedding, he set aside his pride and dignity, dropped to his knees before everyone, and begged me for nothing more than a single glance.

"Dad? Tell me it's not true! You didn't steal the painting from Mr. Miller, did you?" asked Rebecca almost in a whisper, her body trembling violently, she was not ready to hear the answer. "I'm sorry Becky, I'm so sorry..." Rebecca sat limply on the floor, unable to believe what she had just heard. "Okay, that's enough! You've heard it clearly, right, Ms. Beckett? Your father will pawn you to me until he could return the painting that he stole from me! John, take her!" interrupted James Miller, the billionaire whose painting was stolen by William Becket, Rebecca's father. From that day on, Rebecca's life was no longer the same, she had to give up her freedom by living with James Miller and serving all his needs. At first, everything was going fine until one day James Miller found out that William Beckett was collaborating with a Russian mafia in the theft of his painting and had absolutely no intention of returning the painting to him. He became very angry and began to make Rebecca's 'life' a threat. But one drunken night turned things upside down...

Ean's face twisted with anger as he grabbed me by the arm, dragging me toward the old, rusted freezer in the corner of the warehouse. "You're going to feel what Helen felt," he spat. "Maybe that'll teach you not to mess with her." I struggled against him, panic rising in my chest. "Ean, this is insane! It was an accident! Let me explain—" He wasn’t listening. He shoved me inside the freezing metal box and slammed the door shut. The echo of the lock clicking into place made my heart pound in my ears. I banged on the door with my fists. "Ean, please! You can’t do this!" I screamed, but the sound of his footsteps grew fainter as he walked away. He left me with nothing but a single bowl of water, like I was some kind of prisoner. I slumped against the cold metal, shivering. The temperature plummeted almost instantly. The hum of the freezer kicked in, and I realized too late—it wasn’t broken like he thought. It was working, and I was trapped. My body shook uncontrollably as the cold seeped into my bones. I screamed for help until my throat was raw, clawing at the walls in desperation. My bloody handprints smeared across the icy surface, a silent plea for mercy that no one would hear. Seven days passed. When Ean finally returned, the look on his face was one of smug satisfaction. He had expected me to beg, to apologize. But when they pried open the freezer, all they found was my frozen body, stiff and silent, my suffering long over.

The ambulance that's carting a pregnant woman is currently racing down the highway. The pregnant woman's water has already broken, which means she's in a dire situation right now. As I clutch the steering wheel tightly, I make sure to press the gas pedal all the way to the maximum. But the hospital director, Corey Johnston, who has tagged along for the ride, suddenly issues an order. "Pull up at the rest stop ahead." I'm momentarily stunned by the order. But I soon protest anxiously, "The patient can't afford to wait at all! She and her baby might die anytime soon!" Corey merely waves a hand impatiently. "Who's the one calling the shots here—me or you? I've been dabbling in the medical world for 30 years! As if a driver like you know better than me!" Thinking that Corey needs to go to the bathroom urgently, I soon park at the rest stop. But I witness him strolling into a supermarket leisurely, only to come out with two huge bags of snacks a long time later. "I bought my daughter the local specialities. She loves snacks like these the most." As Corey speaks, he tosses the snacks and his phone onto the front passenger seat. His phone screen flickers to life due to an accidental contact, which reveals the wallpaper of the lock screen. It's a photo of Corey and his daughter. I frown at the sight as my breath hitches in my throat. Why do I have a feeling that Corey's daughter looks quite similar to the pregnant woman in the ambulance right now?