Outer Banks: Dead Break Novels & Stories

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.

“Are you going to treat me like the enemy?” Raffaele asked, hovering over me like a predator. “You are the enemy,” I sneered. He smiled. “Careful. You’re hurting my feelings.” “I hope I can hurt much more than that.” His eyes darkened. “You forget—I’m the one who can break you.” I vowed never to give my heart to a man. Never let one bend me. Never let one own me. Then a single night changed everything. When my best friend became a target, I took her place and caught the attention of the most dangerous man in the city. Raffaele, My friend's older brother, wasn’t supposed to see me. We were never meant to meet but the moment his eyes locked on mine, I became his new obsession. I don’t bend and he doesn't let go. Suddenly caught up in a world of blood and power, resisting a man like Raffaele might cost me everything...heart, body, and soul. He wants me, dead or alive.

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

In the island nation of Aurelia, where power is inherited and reputation is currency, Lillian Bloom lives quietly as a florist in Florentis Quarter, far removed from the elite who rule the city’s glass towers. Her world changes when she is thrust into a contract marriage with Nathaniel Crosswell, the ruthless young CEO of Aurelia’s most powerful conglomerate. Their union is meant to be nothing more than strategy. Protection. Control. But as Lillian enters high society, her presence unsettles powerful families and draws the attention of a mysterious matriarch who knows more than she should. Fragments of a forgotten past begin to surface—memories of rain, shattered glass, and parents lost in a car crash that was never an accident. Lillian is not an outsider. She is a missing heir to one of Aurelia’s wealthiest families, hidden to protect her life and erased from history. When the truth emerges, her marriage to Nathaniel becomes a battleground, pulling them into a war fought through corporate power, legal intrigue, and public perception. As enemies close in and secrets unravel, a marriage born of obligation transforms into something dangerous to an empire built on fear: love chosen freely. This sweeping billionaire romance blends mystery, legacy, and slow-burn passion in a story about reclaiming identity, redefining power, and choosing love on one’s own terms.

Five years ago, Mildred Jones disappeared after a scandal destroyed her life. The city called her broken. The powerful Knight family believed she was gone forever, but they were wrong. Now she returns as a billionaire CEO, armed with precision, power, and a plan built for one purpose which is revenge. Her first target is Jack Knight, the man whose betrayal ruined everything she once believed in, but when she crosses paths with James Knight, Jack’s cold, calculating older brother, her carefully built plan begins to fracture. James knows his family is hiding something. Mildred knows trusting a Knight could destroy her again, then a ghost from the past returns. As buried truths rise and loyalties collapse, Mildred is forced into a final choice, to destroy everything or uncover the truth that could rewrite her past because some secrets were never meant to stay buried, and some women cannot be broken.

After I fell while pregnant, my six-year-old son, Nico Bertelli, did not come to help me. When I woke up, the baby in my belly was gone. At my hospital bedside, Nico hid behind my husband, Roberto Bertelli, and mumbled, "Mommy, I thought you fainted on purpose to get my attention. You've pretended to pass out a few times before just to stop me from going out with Ms. Pelosi." Roberto chimed in coldly, "You're always pulling tricks to get attention. Nico doesn't even trust you anymore. You need to take a hard look at yourself and figure out why he prefers being around Martina Pelosi over you." I was completely heartbroken. The day after I was discharged, I went home, packed up everything that belonged to me, and left behind only two documents: a divorce agreement and a letter terminating my parental rights.

Sandara Vernace is one of Hornbrown Investments’ top financial managers. Whether it was stocks, bonds, mutual funds, nothing is too complex for her expertise. But when it comes to love, Sandara is about to play the riskiest game of her life. Her target? Kleinder Maze Velasco: the ruthless branch manager, influential gang member of No Mercy, and the one man who thinks someone like Sandara could never belong in his world. For six months, she plans to make him fall in love with her… only to break his heart in the end. Will Sandara succeed in turning Kleinder’s world upside down? And when secrets long buried come to light, will her carefully laid plan survive? Or will she lose more than she bargained for?

The day my girlfriend’s condition worsened and she needed urgent surgery, I publicly called her a burden in front of everyone. Despite her pleas, I abandoned her cruelly. Seven years later, she became a formidable international tycoon and returned home with great fanfare. To exact her revenge on me, the heartless man, she poisoned my mother into silence and sent my father to prison. Eager to see me beg for mercy, she mobilized every connection to track me down. At this point, her parents could no longer bear to watch. With tears streaming down their faces, they revealed the entire truth. “He died seven years ago to donate his organs to you!”

BLURB They called her daughter “defective.” They called her “human trash.” Garett Blackthorn abandoned her in an ICU while their child died. Then he signed divorce papers and married a crown. Cyhilenia died begging for her daughter’s life. She woke up wearing the face of Summer Varye, an abdicated heiress, Logan Dorne’s contract wife. Logan bought Summer for 20 million and a blood oath. Death doesn’t void it. Now his “wife” has blue eyes, steel-cutting claws, and a dead daughter’s locket around her neck. He thinks he claimed to be a runaway heiress. He doesn’t know he claimed a grieving mother with nothing left to lose. Cyhilenia will play Summer. She’ll wear the crown Garett threw away. And when she’s done, the Supreme Alpha who called her trash will beg on his knees. Because blood doesn’t void. And neither does a mother’s promise. He owns her contract. She owns his downfall.

As Jastrelle's golden girl, I draw lots to pick my groom, and fate finally hands me Felix Ledger, the childhood sweetheart I've wanted forever. During the impromptu wedding, a funeral convoy belonging to a scion of a rich family in Jastrelle passes right outside. I hate the omen. Felix laughs, pulls me into his arms, and places the veil over my head himself. "I'll take it as a good omen. With you, I'm covered from first breath to last," he says. His adoptive sister, Winnie Ledger, hears him, bursts into tears, and bolts outside. The funeral convoy runs her down, and she dies. Felix barely reacts. Three years later, Dad is framed, driven into bankruptcy, and falls gravely ill. He dies, and I lose everything. At the funeral, Felix sends everyone off, shoves me into the open grave, and buries me alive. He spits, "You rigged everything to get me. You left Winnie ruined. She bolted outside, and that funeral convoy ran her down. For three years, remorse has eaten me alive. I want you torn apart! "With your last protector gone, I can finally make you suffer a hundredfold the pain Winnie felt and ease my hatred!" When I open my eyes, I'm back at the groom-selection ceremony. Dad smiles as he hands me the lots. I shake my head, look out the window, and point at the funeral convoy passing outside. "I'm not choosing anyone. I'll marry that dead man!"