Second Lead Syndrome

I spend three torturous years in a dark underground cell after taking the fall for Cole Greyhouse, a member of the nobility. He once held my hand tightly and tearfully promised that he would wait for me to return. Then, he would take my hand in marriage. However, he doesn't show up on the day I'm released from prison. I head to the palace to look for him, but all I see is him with his arm around another woman. He also has a mocking smile on his face. "Do you really think a former convict like you deserves to become a member of the royal family?" Only then do I understand that he's long since forgotten about the three years he was supposed to wait for me. I'm devastated, and my heart dies. I accept the marriage my family has arranged for me. On the big day, Cole crashes my wedding with his comrades and laughs raucously. "Are you that desperate to be my secret lover, Leah? How dare you put on a wedding gown meant for a royal bride to force me into marriage? You're pathetic!" Just then, his uncle, Fenryr Greyhouse, the youngest Alpha King in Lunholm's history, hurriedly arrives. He drapes a shawl around my shoulders and slides a wedding ring onto my finger. That's when Cole panics.

Eidolon Avenue: Where the secretly guilty go to die. One building. Five floors. Five doors per floor. Twenty-five nightmares feeding the hunger lurking between the bricks and waiting beneath the boards. The sequel to Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast (“a great read...powerful and jarring” - Cemetery Dance) returns to the voracious Eidolon as it savors The Second Feast. A narcoleptic man in apartment 2A battles a vengeful past determined to rob him of everything as he runs from the barbaric disaster of a delusional love. A woman in 2B, reinventing herself to please a callous boyfriend, discovers the horrors that wait in the shadows of her self-renovation. The man in 2C, a teacher at the nearby Catholic girl’s school, collapses beneath the brutal consequences of his lecherous desires. An older woman in 2D, after decades dedicated to the church, is cornered at last by the grisly carnage beating at the hollow center of her faith. And a college student in 2E, hungry to escape an ignored life of invisible anonymity, finds herself captured between the pages of a ravenous book. All thrown into their own private hell as every cruel choice, every drop of spilled blood, every silent, complicit moment of cowardice is remembered, resurrected and relived to feed the ancient evil that lives on Eidolon Avenue. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

On the day Catherine’s younger sister died, everything fell into crumbles. Her adopted parents cast her off, her medical license was revoked, and her reputation was ruined. Her best friend, Monique, helped her in moving to another city to start a new life. She became a college professor despite her struggles of hiding her past. A young CEO suddenly entered her discreet yet peaceful world, changing her usual peace. He offered her a contract that she can’t refuse. She has to choose between peace and freedom. Find out what is Catherine’s choice and either her choice will lead her to happiness or another heartache. Catherine:" You must be sent by my younger sister to me. She might think that I will be lonely once she's gone so she brought you to me." Alexander: "On the day before I thought I died, your voice brought me back to life. I promise in front of the grave of your sister that I will protect and love you. You will never be alone anymore."

She was born to lead. Raised to suffer. Destined to rise. For years, Lyra has known nothing but pain. Enslaved by her own pack, starved, beaten, and unable to shift, she is a broken omega with no future. But on the night of her eighteenth birthday, after being rejected and left for dead, fate intervenes in the form of Kane, the handsome and powerful Lycan Prince. He senses her. Claims her. Saves her. But Lyra is no ordinary omega. Beneath the scars and suffering lies a forgotten Alpha’s bloodline - a truth buried by those who wanted her dead. As Kane fights for justice, uncovering the treachery that stole her birthright, a greater danger lurks in the shadows. A war is coming. A war tied to her very existence. With the kingdom on the brink of darkness and secrets leading them to a lost power, Lyra must embrace the strength inside her before it’s too late. Her enemies want her silenced. Her mate will burn the world to protect her. And the fate of the Lycans depends on what she does next. Her story has only just begun.

"No! It can't be!" I let out an internal hiss. "He would not dare come here!" "What the f*ck, Zara!" Levi bumped into me and growled behind me. "Sorry," I mumbled, wide-eyed. "What's going on with-" Levi's voice faltered when my father turned away from us and approached his table, confirming my worst fears: Noah f*cking Flinch! "Is that?" Levi mind-linked, and I nodded my head. "What brings him here?" He mind-linked. "Zara, I understand that you are familiar with Alpha Noah," my father said. I slowly nodded my head. "Great, Noah has also informed me that you are his fated mate." I slowly nodded, unable to utter a word. "He has requested your hand," my father continued. "Is that so?" I said. "Were you told by Noah that he rejected me more than a year ago?" "He did what?" Levi roared behind me. "There is more," I said. "He rejected me in favor of a mate he chose." **** Zara Silverwood is a silver wolf descended from one of the most powerful packs on the continent. A year after he rejects her, her fated mate comes knocking on her door to tell her he is back to claim her. After Zara turns down his proposal, he goes behind her back and asks her father for her hand. The old Alpha agrees to the arrangement. Zara is unhappy and decides to handle things on her own. She informs her father that she has taken a chosen mate, her Beta, and her best friend, Levi—only he has a little secret. What will happen when Zara's second chance mate attends her and Levi's mating ceremony? Will he stop the proceedings and claim her as his mate? Or is Zara's destiny already set? Will Zara find the happiness she so deserves?

Ella has spent her life as an outsider in the Silver Claw pack—a human raised among werewolves, never truly belonging. But on her eighteenth birthday, everything changes. Cole, the arrogant future Alpha and her worst tormentor, discovers she is his fated mate. Furious and in love with another, he’s forced into marriage by his father. Trapped in a loveless bond, Ella endures heartbreak, betrayal, and a devastating loss that shatters her. Eight years later, she returns—not as the weak girl he abandoned, but as a powerful woman, her name changed, her heart hardened. Now, Cole wants her back. He’ll beg, fight, and sacrifice everything to prove he’s changed. But some wounds never heal… and some love stories were never meant to be rewritten. Can Cole earn her trust before it’s too late, or will Ella walk away forever?

Vega’s life, a rich tapestry woven in the shadows, conceals more than meets the eye. Her indigo eyes, twin mirrors of a man she never knew, reflect a phantom figure who vanished before her very existence was etched into this world. The scars on her back, like ancient runes, tell a story of pain and survival—a narrative etched into her skin, whispered by the past she cannot fully recall. It haunts her dreams, a cryptic puzzle waiting to be solved. Driven by an unyielding need, Vega embarks on a quest to find the elusive man she calls her father. She seeks closure, to close the book on that enigmatic chapter of her life. But fate weaves an unexpected twist: she discovers she is the Alpha’s second chance mate. A cosmic bond, ancient and unbreakable, binds her to a destiny beyond her wildest imaginings. As Vega delves into her lineage, long-lost secrets emerge from the shadows. Yet, with revelations come dangers—dark forces that threaten her newfound life.

Czahryna "Yna" Torres' world shatters when her mother is diagnosed with cancer. Desperate for a lifeline, she strikes an unlikely deal with Julian Piers Ortiz—a billionaire shackled by his father’s demands. Julian offers to fund her mother’s treatment, but in return, she must pretend to be his lover. What starts as a cold arrangement soon turns into something dangerously real. Yna falls hard, and just when she dares to believe in love, the truth is exposed. Betrayed and powerless against Julian’s ruthless father, she vanishes—taking with her a secret that could change everything. Four years later, Yna returns, now a mother to a four-year-old daughter and determined to keep her past buried. But fate has other plans—her new boss is none other than Julian. Worse, he’s engaged to another woman. Julian is torn. The woman who once shattered him is back, reigniting emotions he thought he buried. But when he notices the uncanny resemblance between himself and Yna’s daughter, suspicion turns into obsession. He demands the truth, but Yna refuses to give in. Now, Julian must make a choice—honor the engagement that secures his future or risk everything to reclaim the woman and child who should have been his all along. Love. Lies. Redemption. When the past collides with the present, will Julian fight for his second chance, or will fate rip them apart once more?

In front of the orphanage gates, Rebecca Schwartz, the impoverished student I had been sponsoring, stood glaring at me with a face full of disdain. "If you don't let Freddie come along, I'm not going to your house either," she declared, her tone sharp and unyielding. In the past, blinded by love and hopelessly infatuated, I would have caved to her demands, humbling myself just to keep the peace. But things were different now—I had been reborn. Staring at this despicable pair, who had once caused my tragic demise, a tidal wave of fury surged within me. Yet, it settled into nothing more than a faint, icy smile on my lips. "Then stay here," I said, my voice cold and steady. "Rot in this place alongside your precious Freddie. After all, trash like you belong in the garbage heap."

Years spent in a lowly house made her reluctant to leave the comfort of her position, capitalizing on her fame and beauty, to make money. Until suddenly, a woman known as Monica proposed to Nathan while she was about to serve him in room 310. Slightly moved by the promise of freedom that had long been lost, Monica finally accepted Nathan's offer to become his second wife. Who would have thought that her arrival in the family would unravel one mystery after another? There are many secrets in Nathan's family, and who was Nathan's first wife, who had a face similar to his? Were they truly connected?