Left 4 Dead

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.

On my wedding day, the first love of my boyfriend appeared and declared she wanted my place at the altar. Sobbing theatrically, she pleaded, "Claire, I’m seriously ill. You have your whole life to be with Evan. Just let me have this wedding." And my boyfriend backed her up without hesitation. "Claire, you’re already pregnant with my child, and we’ve signed the marriage papers. You’ve got everything you need. This wedding? It doesn’t matter." The guests gawked, while I stood there as the punchline of their jokes. But instead of causing a scene, I kept my composure. That same day, I booked an abortion and looked his first love straight in the eye with a smile. "Sure, take the wedding, and take him too. He’s all yours."

Once, the love between me and my mate, Logan Hunt, seems almost invincible. He loves me, and I love him. Even if no one knows I'm the wife of Hunt Corporation's CEO—and our relationship remains a secret—we still love each other deeply. Until one day, his childhood sweetheart, Bianca Miller, returns to the city after a divorce. Since then, Logan has started coming home late. It hits me that our love may be nothing more than my one-sided feelings. I'm only one of his many. When Bianca moves into our home under the excuse of unfinished renovations, disrupting our private space, I know our relationship is destined to fall apart. If anyone is going to leave, it has to be me. So, I disguise the Mate Bond Dissolution Agreement as an inconspicuous document and make him sign it. Everything is on track until fear and anxiety dawn upon me. I find out I'm carrying a pup. Deep in my heart, I know Logan would never allow me to take away his pup. Therefore, I shrink myself and avoid him. The moment the agreement takes effect, I leave quietly, carrying our pup, an existence he knows nothing about. By the time he finds out the truth, I'm already gone from his world…

Fae’s been in love with Carl Easton for a long time. Orphaned by her mother when she was two and by her father when she was fourteen, she was fostered by the wealthy Eastons until she was eighteen. Fast-forward ten years, Fae attends a wedding and watches Carl marry her snake of a bestfriend. That night, she begs Carl's best buddy Jigo to help her forget. Hands down, he is the most gorgeous, sexiest man she has ever met. He is way out of her league and she will never have the guts to proposition him if she isn't drunk. Stoic and brooding, wealthier and more successful than Carl, he vibes power. She can never guess he was such a molten lava of emotions and the sweetest teddy bear behind closed doors. She spends part of the weekend in his bed then ran from him before she can get addicted to his brand of passion. She needs the distraction but he is more than she can ever dream of. It is foolish to hope for more. But he appears in her doorstep and seduces her to make him her willing rebound for as long as she needs him. No way will he let her go until they are done. And they spiral so fast that Fae can’t tell where distraction ends and falling in love begins…

There are monsters in this world. And they used to be us. Now it's time to euthanize to survive in a hospice where Emily, a woman haunted by her past, only wants to do her job and be the best mother possible. Post-infection Chicago. Christmas. Inside The Hospice, Emily and her fellow nurses do their rounds. Here, men and women live out their final days in comfort, segregated from society, and are then humanely terminated before fate turns them into marrow-craving monsters known as ‘Smilers.’ Outside these imposing walls, rabid protesters swarm with signs, caught up in the heat of their hatred. Emily, a woman haunted by her past, only wants to do her job and be the best mother possible. But in a world where mortality means nothing, where guns are drawn in fear and nobody seems safe anymore – at what cost will this pursuit come? And through it all, the soon to be dead remain silent, ever smiling. Such is their curse. It won't be long before that snow-speckled ground will be salted by blood. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

Jude Queens never believed in fairytales—until Malachi Flynn crashed into his world with a grin like summer and a spike that could stop time. Bound by their shared love for volleyball, their chemistry burned bright and fast, leaving everything else in the shadows. But just as Jude opened his heart, Malachi vanished without a word. Two years later, Malachi returns—older, familiar, and still devastatingly magnetic. The moment they lock eyes, the ache returns. So does the desire. But buried beneath Malachi’s smile are secrets that could shatter them both. Torn between anger and longing, Jude must decide: can he forgive the boy who left him in pieces, or is some pain too deep to heal? “Why Did You Leave Me When I Needed You Most?” is a sizzling, tender story of second chances, the scars we carry, and the hope that love—real, soul-deep love—can echo back stronger than before.

Jack Spencer used to be someone else. Someone older, someone hardened, someone who made the mistake of trusting the wrong people—and paid for it with his life. Now, he’s in a different body, staring at a future that doesn’t belong to him. He should be grateful for this second chance. He should want to start over. But how do you move forward when every part of you is still trapped in the past? How do you live when you already died once? Jack tells himself he doesn’t need friends. He doesn’t need love. He doesn’t need anything but distance. But the more he pushes people away, the more they insist on seeing the person he refuses to be. And when the remnants of his past begin creeping into his new life, Jack has to decide: Is he doomed to repeat the same mistakes, or can he finally break free from the dead-end path that refuses to let him go? (Trigger Warnings Included)

Four months before my mating ceremony with Alpha Marcus, his mother pulled me aside with that familiar look of disdain. "You're just a common Omega who don't understand proper pack etiquette. How can you possibly stand beside my son as Luna?" Her solution? Ship me off to some specialized Luna training academy to learn "proper manners." Marcus wrapped his arms around me that night, his breath warm against my ear. "It's all for our future, Sylvia. Trust me." My heart melted. Of course I trusted him. I would have done anything for him. I never imagined that the so-called Luna Etiquette Academy was nothing but a torture chamber designed to break female wolves. Four months of hell. Four months of having twisted ideologies beaten into me: "Lunas must submit to Alphas." Question anything, and silver whips would tear your skin apart. I lost my ability to shift completely. When I finally escaped that nightmare, I discovered the horrifying truth. Marcus hadn't sent me there to better myself. He'd sent me there to get me out of the way—so I couldn't interfere with his childhood sweetheart Victoria's mating ceremony. But when I exposed the academy's brutal reality at that very ceremony, when Marcus finally learned what he'd put me through, the powerful Alpha completely lost his mind.

I hated the heroine. Now I am her. When nineteen-year-old Ashley slips in the bathroom and dies with popcorn in her hair and a love letter unsent, she wakes up inside the worst romance novel she’s ever read as Arianna Salvatore, the pathetic, weepy female lead she couldn’t stand. The catch? Everyone thinks she faked a suicide attempt to win back Damian, her cruel, emotionally unavailable husband. And her sister? She’s gunning for him next. Ashley wants out. But the book has other plans and if she’s going to survive this twisted love triangle, she’ll have to rewrite the story herself. Goodbye, tragic heroine. Hello, chaos.

On the night of our ninth wedding anniversary, my husband—Damian Grant, the man who ruled the mafia by day and once ruled my heart by night—did not bring me roses. He gave the bouquet that should have been mine to Serena Lane, his personal assistant. Beneath the chandelier where we once danced on our wedding night, he turned to me with that same cold charm he once used to whisper sweet nothings in my ear. “She's pregnant.” Finally, everything fell into place. “She's a picky eater. From today onward, you’ll cook three meals a day for her. And no repeats. “She’s sensitive and hates sleeping alone, so you’ll need to move your things into the guest room.” The room fell silent. I did not raise my voice, nor did I shed a single tear. I simply picked up my packed suitcase and walked to the door. The butler tried to stop me, but Damian did not even blink. “She’ll come back.” He lazily swirled the wine in his glass. “She’ll come back crying and begging within three days.” Our guests burst out laughing. They placed a million-dollar bet right in front of me. They were betting on whether I would be back before the night was over, begging Damian to let me back in like a pathetic stray dog with my tail between my legs. However, they did not know I had already received the family heirloom from my real father. I booked my flight to get far, far away from everyone I used to know. This time, I really left.