Slow Burning

After beautiful village girl Saffron heals a wounded dragon, she will be thrown into a world of gleaming palaces and dangerous secrets. While battles rage around her, Saffron will face a harrowing choice: return to her simple life or allow herself to be engulfed by the burning passion of the dangerous and intoxicating Dragon Prince. The Dragon's Coveted Wife is created by Lauren Rutherford, an EGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

At Blackwood Academy, money rules, and the rich dictate the game. Elena Kensington—the ruthless, spoiled daughter of a powerful businessman and politician—has never had to fight for anything. Everything, from her designer shoes to her fiancé, was handed to her on a silver platter. And she’s perfectly fine with that. Until she’s forced to work with Noah Carter, a brooding, brilliant scholarship student with nothing but his wits and a burning desire to escape the life he was born into. He doesn’t play by her rules. He doesn’t cower. He doesn’t beg. She wants to break him. He wants nothing to do with her. But obsession is a cruel, relentless thing. In a world where she owns everything and he has nothing to lose—who will break first?

I was nine months pregnant when a man ambushed me, dragging me to the rooftop and repeatedly stabbing me. He had a grudge against my husband for replacing him. Meanwhile, my husband, a rescue team leader, was frantically coordinating efforts to stop his depressed ex-lover from burning down a rental apartment. I never called for his help. In a previous life, I had desperately called him, and he had abandoned his ex-lover to rush to my side. As a result, my child and I survived the attack, but his ex-lover perished in the fire she ignited. My husband seemed unfazed, even booking a VIP delivery room for me. Yet, on the day I was to give birth, he bound me and brutally stabbed our newborn multiple times. "You were in on this plot, weren't you?" he snarled. "Those wounds? They're nothing! You weren't even close to dying!" "Oh, you like being stabbed so much? I'll give you exactly what you want!" Suddenly, I found myself back on the day of the kidnapping. This time, I decided to let him go save his precious ex-lover.

"How I talk to my employees is not and shouldn't be your business." He started taking slow steps towards me while I kept moving back till my back touched the wall. There's no escape anymore. He pressed his palms on the wall, caging me in. I inhaled his intoxicating scent not wanting to meet his eyes. He slowly leaned in as I could feel his musky breath in my ear. "You defy me so much that I want to hurt you." With that he disappeared. The only evidence that showed he was here was just the sound of the closing 'Love? A mere word or feeling that makes us do weird and dumb things. I didn't want to love him. I didn't want to want him. I didn't want anything to do with him but the heart wants what it wants. He was my worst nightmare and at the same time my solace. He was my enemy and at the same time my friend. I hated him the most but at the same time I loved him the most!' ______________ Ivory Addams, a young waitress, is thrust into a dangerous world when she's kidnapped by a Mafia king who believes she holds the key to saving his son's life. As she navigates her new reality, she's faced with an impossible choice - marry a Mafia Prince or risk losing everything she holds dear. As she uncovers dark secrets and fights for her independence, she becomes entangled in a deadly game of power, love, and survival. Can she navigate this treacherous world and protect herself from becoming a pawn in their dangerous games?

"I love you," he gazed at her eyes which are dropped on the floor while he cups her cheeks with his palm. She doesn't look at his eyes. She seems scared. But with what he doesn't understand. "Do you not like me? Even a little bit?" his voice enunciates but she doesn't response to it. He waits for her answer but she doesn't reply him. He tries to back away from her. But as he is leaving, she holds his hands suddenly. "I don't know. I don't know whether I like you or not. I just don't want you to go away. I just don't want you to leave me," she says with the tears sparkling on her eyes. "Esther!" He presses his forehead against her as his breaths fasten. He can feel that along with his, her breaths are quickened as well. He realizes that the fire is burning on both side and she is equally anxious as she is. A smile creeps on his lips as he feels that. "I love you, Esther. You're made for me and I am made for you. We are made for each other," he smiles and presses his lips against her. "You're day dreaming one more time? What the fuck are you dreaming about Esther? Is it about my old man? Are you dreaming about him?" He pushes her against the wall and punches hard on the wall making his knuckles be red and bleed. "Nooo...Nooo... Caden! You're wrong," she cries.

Taylor Williams didn’t grow up with the loving parents, white picket fence, and a dog. She’s struggled to get where she is and knows that with all she's endured, life can only get better. At 28 years old, she hails as one of the country’s top divorce lawyers and is ready to slow down and start a family with her husband. The only problem is he's shut her out and has treated her like everything but a wife since the night he came across her and his boss in a compromising situation. In spite of her innocence, she's determined to make it up to him. Isaac Warren is bad business; the kind of bad business that requires focus and determination in order to stay alive. It’s also the kind that caused him to shut himself off from serious relationships after the brutal murder of his fiancé three years ago. Now his cold exterior keeps everyone at bay except those he considers family. He doesn’t have room for anything more than the occasional tryst, especially not with the highly acclaimed lawyer he’s accidentally stumbled upon. When their paths cross, the attraction is undeniable no matter how much they try to fight it. Their denial of each other pushes Taylor into devastating situations and as the life she worked so hard to achieve spirals out of control, she decides to take matters into her own hands because it's impossible that the hand she’s been dealt is meant to be played alone and you know what they say about karma, right?

Have you ever woken one morning with a burning, insatiable desire to go out and kill someone? Sarah Killian, a notoriously foul-mouthed and mean-spirited serial killer for hire, along with her cohort assassin Mary Sue Keller, are back on assignment for the Trusted Hierarchy of Everyday Murderers (T.H.E.M.). After receiving an ominous warning from a mark-gone-wrong, it becomes clear that Nick Jin—Sarah’s former nemesis—is still at large and singling her out. Sarah and Mary Sue are dispatched to Tennessee to discreetly kill off an accused family of KKK organizers, but their true mission is to lure Nick Jin into a trap. But will Nick—always several steps ahead of T.H.E.M.—see their bait for what it is? One thing is guaranteed: blood will be shed. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

He stooped to my level. "Now, listen to me" he commanded and I instantly looked up at him. "Rule number one, no screaming. No matter what I do to you, I must not hear a single noise. If I do, it would most definitely get worse" he said and my heart hammered in my chest. "Rule number two, when I tell you to do something, you do it, or else, I will whip you repeatedly and make sure you're on the brink of death but just enough to keep you alive." He said with a wicked grin on his face. "Rule number three, follow those two rules" he said and got up. Out of the blue, he whipped me again and I screamed. I had never felt that much pain in my entire life. "Tsk tsk, you're a slow one" he said and I held my breath as I awaited the next whip. He whipped me again and I managed to stifle a scream. "Good girl" he said and went back to sit on his bed. "Now, strip." He ordered and I shakily got up and began to pull my clothes off my body. ... Kieran had a regular life until a ruthless Alpha turned it all upside down. She suffers and even gets rejected. What happens when she has a better second chance mate who is protective and the ruthless Alpha who made her life hell is butting into her life again?

"Did you think I’d just let you go?" Suzanne’s grip on her son tightened as Charles took a slow step forward, his smirk curling like smoke in the air. "I sent you the damn divorce papers, Charles. Sign them and leave." He chuckled. "Oh, I got them." Another step. "But I don’t sign away what’s mine." She backed up. "I am not yours. I stopped being yours the night you betrayed me." His jaw clenched. The silence stretched—thick, suffocating—before he lunged. Suzanne barely had time to gasp before his hands were on her, ripping their son from her arms. The boy hit the couch with a soft thud and let out a startled cry. "You son of a—!" She shoved at him, clawing, struggling, but he was stronger. His hands dug into her waist, yanking her against him, his breath hot and reeking of alcohol. "You’re mine, Suzanne," he growled, fingers digging into her skin. "And if I can’t have you—" his grip tightened, his lips brushing her ear, "no one will." Then—CRACK! Charles gone—ripped off her, sent flying across the room. Suzanne gasped, chest heaving, scrambling back just as her attacker crashed into a table. A voice, dark and furious, sliced through the chaos. "Touch her again, and I’ll kill you." Her heart stopped. She knew that voice. Liam Carter. --- Trapped in a loveless marriage to a ruthless CEO, Suzanne Smith thought she had no way out—until Liam Carter, her high school sweetheart, walked back into her life. He’s everything her husband isn’t—kind, passionate, and willing to fight for her. But leaving Charles Langford won’t be easy. His Lies. Betrayal. Violence. Will she escape his grip, or will her past consume her? How far will she go for freedom?

Sophia Blanc has worked hard to fight her demons and make an honest woman from the young girl riddled with guilt over past mistakes. Doing the job she loves the most, working as a nurse in St Peter’s hospital, she wanted nothing more than a quiet life where she could hide from the world and pretend that she wasn’t haunted by memories of her past. Until she met the suave Matt Wolffe. Matt Wolffe, also known as the Wolf of the business world and devourer of hearts was no stranger to the spotlight. It’s no secret that Matt Wolffe wants her…and she wants him too. And as they come together in a storm of desires ghosts of the past threaten to pull them apart. Author's note: Alright readers, you are in for a slow burn because, come on, my characters are not horny rabbits and this is my first CEO style romance so I'm testing the waters. So please support and comment on ways I can improve. Also please vote my book with gems. Thank you.