Small Delicate Poppy Tattoo

Everyone knew Elio Carbone, Don of the Carbone family, was a cold-hearted womanizer. He had one rule: never sleep with the same woman twice. But for me, he broke it. The first day after our breakup, he stood outside the old Bianchi estate for a day and a night, his entire security detail in tow, just to win me back. The second day, he flew to Sicily and bought the deed to my family's ancestral estate at auction for triple its value, and had it delivered to me. The third day, he tattooed my favorite flower, the lily, over his heart. The tattoo artist said he refused any anesthetic and didn't make a sound. Later, at a banquet for the Five Families, in front of all the other Dons, he sliced his palm and made a blood oath. He swore loyalty only to Eleonora Bianchi for the rest of his life; if he broke his vow, he would pay with his life. After a year of his relentless pursuit, his devotion finally wore me down, and I agreed to take him back. I truly believed him then. That Elio truly loved me. Until one night. He took me to an underground racetrack to broker a deal with an ally. But in the roaring crowd, I saw a girl, trembling and crying, her clothes in tatters. Ava was shoved to the starting line. She was the wager for the death race. One look was all it took for Elio's face to darken. The next second, he dropped his hand from my waist and, without a word, walked toward the track entrance. I stood frozen, watching his back as he disappeared into the driver's seat of a modified sports car. I used to wake up crying, terrified he would lose his life in one of these reckless races. He had smashed his trophies, burned his marker for the illegal track, and sworn to God he would never again enter such a life-or-death gamble. My hand drifted to my stomach, covering the secret I hadn't yet had the chance to share. His blood oath was broken. And so was I.

Anita," her angelic voice calls to me. Thunder rumbles in the distance. Her soft, delicate hands caressing my face, sparkling green eyes grounding me from the dark past I wish I could forget. "You're safe, it's okay." I bring my hand up, running my finger over the mound of scar tissue. The constant reminder of that night. The raised bump covers the bullet fragment embedded in my sternum. She takes my hands as more thunder rumbles and tears roll down my cheeks. "Breathe Anita," she says in a soothing whisper. My lungs were burning with the need for air and it was then that I realized I'd been holding it. I take in a gasping breath and recall the first time my eyes met her green eyes. My sister had been lifted off me and my eyes opening had startled her. The first time she touched me gave me strength to hold on. I held her hand tight, trying to tell her what happened, but couldn't get enough breath to form words. Sitting in the present going through the same as I had five years ago. "They were all found, Anita. They can't hurt you anymore. It's just a storm. All the doors and windows are locked, the alarm is set. It's just you and me." "Will you keep the light on tonight, please?"

The night before our wedding, Edward Fowler's friends gather for a celebration. A full set of sex toys lies in the gift box from his tomboy bestie, Winnie Spencer. I freeze, and Winnie shouts boisterously, "Don't you dare go easy on him, Sarah. That pup might look like someone who's abstaining, but he's actually pretty wild in the sheets. "During the start of the year, he only used three of these, yet he landed me straight in the hospital with injuries that took me half a month to heal!" She then hooks an arm around Edward's neck. "Let me give you a piece of advice as your buddy—you need to learn how to be gentle once you're married. "Sarah looks so delicate, so you'd better not pull the same stunt as last time. I was just recovering, yet you dragged me into it for two whole days. I almost died in bed!" My face darkens. Winnie covers her mouth in exaggerated shock. "It's just us buddies messing around. You're not mad, are you, Sarah?" Everyone is anticipating for me to snap. But instead, I let out a soft chuckle before replying, "Why would I be? I should be thanking you for being a free tutor instead. After all, someone who's in your line of work would charge at least three hundred dollars per night just for the same lesson."

Aylin, the unwanted princess of the werewolf kingdom, was hidden from everyone because her father was ashamed of her. She had accepted her destiny of being trapped inside the room with no kindness. But she misunderstood the power of a moon goddess when rogue vampires attacked the palace, leading her to meet the new dawn of her fate. Shaking her awake from her dream of grief when a handsome man with forest green eyes watched her as he had found something treasonable holding her in his embrace. The problem was way more complex because she couldn’t feel the mate bond, and he wasn’t ready to accept any mate or ready to mark her as his. Will their relationship survive this half-mate bond? or it will rip their expectation from each other? Her life flips over learning about his fear which was daring to crumble her delicate aspirations. But the sun rises again, giving her courage to find herself, letting her introduce herself to a secret of her existence. A secret that lurked new enemies to stand before them to fight, attacking their core beliefs when they found out she carries a broken piece of moon goddess soul in her. Will their love surpasses the boundaries drawn by their half-mate bond to unite? what were the reasons Rowan didn't want to mark his mate but wanted to keep her by his side? Will they willingly fight with their fears or loose their motives in the darkness of the time?

Lily, an orphan girl in a small pack, treated as the pack servant dreaming of her one true mate, gets her dreams shattered when her mate rejects her, only to get abducted by the famous Cold-hearted Alpha King Alex. Things take a turn when the sins of their parents begin to resurface in their lives pulling them into a series of chaotic events as they uncover buried secrets Will Lily ever get the love she longed for or will she die alone? Will Alex ever get to trust anyone again or will he continue to push people away? What secret does Lily discover that could ruin everything she has ever known? Read to find out.

When a child mysteriously disappears from a small town and even his mother seems indifferent, it’s time for the new sheriff to step in. Meet Chris Baker, the new sheriff of the quiet Adirondack town of Clifton Heights. As one inexplicable case after another forces him to confront the townsfolk in The Skylark Diner, it’s the furtive Gavin Patchett that hands Chris a collection of not-so-fictional short stories that tumbles him into a world of monsters, ageless demons, and vengeful citizens. As Chris reads through the stories the veil starts to lift, and he soon questions what is real and what’s not, and whether he really wants to know. Nothing will ever be the same again. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

Lindsey Johnson asks her fiance's true love, Stephanie Sullivan, to repay her debt. The next day, Jacob Whitaker throws at her a ledger that she had never seen before. Every single expense from their five-year relationship is recorded inside. From small things like two-dollar ice cream to the expensive items like the luxury bags he gave her. Even the costs of hotel stays and condoms are recorded in the ledger. "I'll split half the hotel bills with you. After deducting the 100 grand Stephie owes you, you still owe me 2.08 million. You have one month to transfer the month to my account."

All Hailey has ever known is the quiet, peaceful life she's lived in her small town of Silver Creek. But without warning, all that is about to change in the blink of an eye and life as she knows it is about to take a big turn. - Trey is a troubled man, haunted by his past and all he lives for now are the dangerous assignments he deals with every now and again. Currently, that assignment includes the daughter of an old time family friend. He has to protect her at all cost from the Leviathans and that shouldn't be hard. Except it is, as sparks begin to fly between them and feelings he's worked to keep buried starts to resurface again.

Being a teenager who has all she wants except the love and caring she craves for, all that Freezia Zarie Harrison ever wanted to do was to live a normal and simple life. A small family of her own, a loving husband and to become a successful fashion designer but all her dreams goes crushing down with a single agreement which compels her life to make an opposite turn. Nonetheless,Zarie goes with the flow of fate, realizing the puzzle of fate does not always fix itself in the manner we expect it to, because sometimes our destinies are more complex than we actually think. - Join me on this journey as we dive into the life of the lone teenager.

The moisture condensed from the atmosphere that falls visibly in separate drops came unexpectedly. People had no idea that raindrops carry an infected agent, which consists of a nucleic acid molecule in a protein coat and multiplies only within the living of a host. It's like a piece of code that can copy itself and has a negative effect, such as corrupting the system and destroying the mind's rational data. A virus that was so small and infectious that once infected, a person's body became a reservoir of virus particles, causing the infected person to become carnivorous. Every second is crucial. Who will save humanity from the undead army? Will you save the world even if around you is on the verge of death?