Rumble Fish

My mother-in-law, Eleanor, was having a heart attack, and my husband, Ben Dover—a heart surgeon—was the only one who could save her. Did I call him? Nope. I just stood there, watching her gasp like a fish out of water. In my last life, I'd begged Ben to come save her. He brushed me off, accusing me of interrupting his time with his mistress, Ima Schit. No matter how much I pleaded, he wouldn't come. Eleanor had died in the hospital. And when Johnny, my father-in-law, demanded answers, Ben flipped the script, saying I'd never even called. He made Eleanor's death my fault. Johnny, blinded by grief and fury, killed me. But plot twist—I woke up. Right back to the day this circus started.

I accompany my husband, Michael Yates, to a stationed assignment on a remote island. Out at sea, a sudden storm hits. The ship capsizes and begins to sink. As the commanding officer, my husband gives the last life vest to his so-called godsister, Naomi Hollister. I don't cry or scream. I just watch silently as he carefully fastens the straps around her body. In my past life, I had clutched my pregnant belly and begged him for help. After a brief hesitation, he finally put the vest on me. But Naomi was swept away by the waves, and her body later washed up on shore. Only half of it remained. Michael insisted it wasn't my fault. He also said that saving me was his duty, both morally and professionally. He even took leave to stay by my side before I gave birth. But when my water broke in the dead of night, he pushed me into the sea. His eyes were bloodshot and burning with hatred. "Leah, if it weren't for you, Mimi would still be alive! Did you really have to force me to give you the vest when you were just pregnant? Couldn't you have waited a little longer? Why do you get to live? Go down there and die with her!" I drown, and fish tear my body apart. I die without even a full corpse left behind. And then, I open my eyes. I'm back on the day of the storm.

When my husband accompanies his childhood sweetheart to the vet to treat her pet fish, my son accidentally spills his drink on her. My husband watches as his childhood sweetheart's eyes redden. Then, he slaps my son hard and throws a stack of cash at him. "This is your chance to make up for your mistakes. Buy Wendy a dress—make sure it's white!" My son dries his tears while holding onto the money. He roams the streets, searching for a white dress in the middle of the night. When he finally finds one, he ends up getting beaten to death by some drunk hooligans. Even in death, he clutches the bloodied skirt tightly. I burst into tears of despair as I hold onto his body and call my husband over a dozen times. However, he's too busy with his childhood sweetheart's fish. He blocks my number. When he finally calls me back, he sounds icy and angry. "Wendy is still waiting for that dress! Where has the little brat gone to? Can't he even handle such a simple task?"

Pregnant. It wasn't possible. My mate was impotent, doomed to be the first Alpha in generations unable to produce heirs. Yet this cheap plastic stick I had bought on a whim seemed to suggest otherwise. I swiped at the beads of sweat gathering along my hairline, my breaths coming faster. "This can't be right," I muttered. But the crimson line remained, taunting me. My wolf stirred restlessly, a pleased rumble echoing through our bond. "A pup! Our Alpha's pup," she purred. I pressed a hand to my still-flat stomach, emotions churning wildly. Of course I was overjoyed - as Luna, providing heirs was my most sacred duty. After nine months sharing Adrian's bed with no success, I had accepted my fate.

"What are you doing?" She asked breathlessly as she placed her hands on the hard surface of his chest. "I don't want you to run this time." He responded. She could feel the deep rumble of his voice through his chest as she slid her hands down an inch over his pectoral muscles. It was an involuntary move but as she felt his chest flex beneath her touch, she couldn't help but feel proud that she caused a reaction in him. His breath fanned over her lips and subconsciously her tongue darted out to wet them. "You don't want me to run?" Juliet asked as she regained her footing, and he slid his hands up to her rib cage slowly. "No." His voice was hard and firm. "No running." "No running from what?" She knew what he was saying but she wanted him to do something about it. It was a burning need racing through her body. Her eyes closed as the tip of his nose brushed against hers. "Me." At that moment her world stopped, and she refused to wait a second longer. She eagerly pressed forward to grab his lips with her own. They were soft and warm, but she only had a moment to dwell on that fact before he kissed her back with a heavy passion. One of his hands left her side to weave its way into her hair, pulling her impossibly closer. ❤️ He was dangerous, she just didn't know it. He was willing to give up everything for her. All he wanted was a woman he could call home. What happens when she learns his secret? What happens when his secret risks her life?

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

For years, no one had been able to activate the last dragon's heart. No one except a poor young thief. ___ She only had one job–stealing a precious stone. Yet it landed her with an overbearing dragon. ___ Locked and chained, Scar suddenly awakened when his heart palpitated for the first time in decades, coming face to face with a young girl cradling his heart. In his vengeful attempt to get it back, they activate the spell binding him to her. Now not only was his heart stolen, but he was also enslaved. Scar vowed to kill the girl once the bond was broken. The only problem is no one had ever successfully broken a dragon bond, nor would it allow him to harm its new master. ___ "Oh... um ... sorry. I didn't mean to…um.. pry. I'm... gonna go now." I stuttered, inching backward from his penetrating gaze, glancing around for a way out. "I don't know who you're, but I do know you're not here willingly. Seeing as you're chained and all." Silence. "How about I set you free, and in return, you get us out of here?" Silence. Maybe he couldn't talk, so I did the only thing I could. Grabbing the keys, I fumbled with the heavy chains of his cage. His gaze finally shifted to the wooden box I dropped on the floor. "Fancy, isn't it?" I said. "I've never seen anything like it before. But then again, I'm not familiar with expensive stuff." A deep rumble rattled from his throat, freezing me in place. I glanced up at him wearily. "Run." And then he was charging towards me. ___ Tropes: Enemies to lovers. Hidden identity. Reverse harem. Betrayal. Revenge. Arranged marriage. Contract. Escape with pregnancy. Forced proximity. ___

The world is filled with different creatures we usually don{t know about their existence, and between all of them we have Marina, a sweet, beautiful siren who gets kidnapped by a pirate crew while she attempted to save a group of fish from being captured. But when it seemed everything was lost for her, a member of the pirate crew falls for Marina and decides to help her, but this won't be easy, as the pirate's captain (the fierce daughter of a fearsome pirate) is obssessed with Marina, and will do whatever it takes to turn her into a public attraction that makes her rich.

I watch as he gently places the gun on the table. Seconds tick by a heavy silence filling the room. He takes a stand and makes his way to me. He takes a stance behind my chair and places his firm arms on my armchair, caging me. I bask in his scent and warmth. "You choose now Lana, here and now." He whispers into my ear. His traces my knuckles before grabbing my notebook out of my hands, and tossing it on the table. "I wasn't done with that." I say. He laughs, I feel his chest rumble as he laughs. I turn to face him, feeling my breaths shorten with each passing second. "Eyes on the prize, Lana." He turns my head back towards the table. "You choose the notebook you can go back to living your life in fear and delusion, then one day end up dead in a dumpster or," He brushes a strand of hair from my face, " You could pick up the gun and hunt your past which shall it be Lana?" I feel beads of sweat on my back and my anxiety prickling through my skin. I have to choose, here and now. I extend my hand and pick my choice.

Warning: Contains erotic content with dark themes like Voyeurism, somnophilia, light bondage etc “...how many times have I warned you I do not want scents of men around you?! Why are you always infuriate me!" He snarled, gritting his teeth and I smirked coldly. “Principal Dominick! How's that your business? You said you don't want to see me ever again? If I whore around in school, how does it matter to you? Act your age!” A rumble escaped his throat, as he grabbed me by my waist, and I hated how my body melted against this man. “You forget that you're mine…” he whispered into my ear. “The next time I see you around any man, Leila…” he dragged a long whiff of my scent. "I'm going to act my age, and like your father figure, I'm going to make sure I discipline you like the bad girl you've been. Don't tempt me… The next time you do, you won't properly walk for a week.” He bit my earlobes and sucked on it, making me moan, my body freezing in shock. ~ Abused by her cruel father and the rest of the world just for being wolfless, Leila lost the will to live. Praying for a mate who would change and provide a secure life for her little sister, her hope shatters when she gets rejected, ends up arrested for a crime, and yet again transferred to another school filled with things beyond her imagination. But that wasn't what was terrifying. It was this huge older man who turned out to be her principal and new guardian. Extremely forbidden to get involved with him, things slip out of control. What if Leila realizes her new life was accompanied with new waves of challenges, doom and a truth not to be known?