Stumble Upon Alternatives

Seven years into our marriage, my husband, Lucas Thorne, is hailed as a legendary astronomer in the field of astronomy. It is no secret that he absolutely adores me, his wife. He always keeps a polite, distant demeanor with those around him. Even when his new assistant, Serena Cox, asks for his number, he coldly turns her down. In the year he proposed to me, he named a star "LAW", which was an acronym for "Lucas Adores Wilma". Since then, every asteroid he discovers is named with initials that hold a special significance only the two of us know. To others, they might just be scientific achievements. But to me, they are unspoken love letters. This goes on until this morning, when I stumble upon an unfamiliar phone. I unlock it easily with my middle name, thinking it's yet another quiet gesture of his love. But to my horror, I find a string of explicit messages between him and another woman. The person who was at the receiving end of those messages was none other than… Serena, his assistant.

Ever since my parents told me I'm not related to my family by blood, my Alpha older brother, Zachary Baker, treats me very coldly. Needless to say, I'm saddened by his behavior. When I'm about to leave the pack, I accidentally stumble upon Zachary's notebook. "Shit! Her scent changed. She smells like a mature she-wolf now, as sweet as honey. I can't control this damned restlessness anymore." "I really want to tear her clothes off right there on the training grounds." "She did some deep squats today. I really wanted to ram into her from behind at that moment." "If he dares to call me 'Zachy' again, I swear, I'm going to breed her and make her carry my pup right in front of the entire pack!" I put the notebook back in its original spot. Then, I slip into one of Zachary's shirts before climbing into his bed. "Take me, Zachy."

Three years of contract marriage, and Silas has been the picture of icy restraint — buttoning his shirts all the way to the top. Knowing he doesn't love me, I decide to stop lying to myself. But just as I'm about to flee with the divorce papers, I stumble upon a forum called Mischief & Mayhem. The pinned post screams in red letters: "URGENT! I'm actually an incubus. I've spent three years pretending to be cold and celibate so I won't scare my wife. But she just asked for a divorce and I can't hide it anymore... HELP: How do I win her back in 30 days without revealing what I am?" In the attached photo, a black heart-tipped tail is shamefully coiled around a suit trouser leg, its tip hooked around a tie. That tie — I bolt upright in bed. That's the limited-edition tie I gave Silas. My iceberg husband is secretly a lovesick male incubus?

In the tenth year of my pursuit of Henry Stone—the profoundly devoted deuteragonist in the novel—he arranges a lavish, extravagant wedding on my behalf. I still feel uneasy even though Henry continues to love me deeply after we get married. This is because the mission progress bar displayed by the system has never moved past zero. On our wedding anniversary, I happen to stumble upon a hidden diary in Henry's desk drawer, which reveals a very shocking truth—Henry has been reborn. He possesses full knowledge that this world is a novel and that I am the antagonist who poses a threat to the protagonist, Renee Schmidt. He puts on a careful act of profound love toward me, strictly for the purpose of shielding Renee, the person he truly cares for. I have just gotten the gist of the whole situation when the system's warning goes off. "You have failed your romance mission. Your existence will be terminated within 48 hours."

BLURB: She gave up her wolf to save him, expecting their bond to last for eternity. But instead, he rejected her. Despite knowing that getting rejected while wolfless would ruin her life and get dragged into the asylum owned by the deranged hybrid king, Azrael Vanderbilt. While in the asylum, she would stumble upon Azrael’s deadliest secret and her frustration would push her to blackmail him with the secret, knowing fully well that he might kill her for it. But Azrael would shock her with his own proposal: “Marry me, Little Dove. Become the Luna Queen of Fangshire. Take that power and destroy those who hurt and betrayed you.” She'd take it, desperate for an opportunity to pay her former mate back in his own coins but what she doesn't know is that Azrael is far deranged than the rumors about him, he's sinister and devilish. And he made her his fake Luna for far more sinister plans than she would ever know.

It was only meant to be a one-time, one-night solution to ONE problem. Okay, that's a lie. There are two problems: #1) I'm broke. Through no fault of my own, other than I fell down a rabbit hole so deep, I'm now buried in my sister's debt—with my name, Nikki St. Claire, stamped across it. #2) I honestly need a reprieve from my overly mundane, personal life. So when I stumble upon a highly exclusive and extremely secretive auction, I'm both intrigued and potentially saved, given I've left no "box" of what I'll do unchecked on the interview questionnaire, which exponentially increases the reserve that's set on me. Only thing is… The man who buys me turns out to be Jameson Richards. A drool-worthy billionaire bachelor. Also… My boss. How we got this tangled up in each other is a story unto itself. What we do once I accept his one-night contract is a tale riddled with lust and love.

In an East London lock up, two film makers, Jimmy and Sam, are duct taped to chairs and forced to watch a snuff film by Ashkan, a loan shark to whom they owe a lot of money. If they don’t pay up, they’ll be starring in the next one. Before the film reaches its end, Ashkan and all his men are slaughtered by unknown assailants. Only Jimmy and Sam survive the massacre, leaving them with the sole copy of the snuff film. The film makers decide to build their next movie around the brutal film. While auditioning actors, they stumble upon Melissa, an enigmatic actress who seems perfect for the leading role, not least because she’s the spitting image of the snuff film’s main victim. Neither the film, nor Melissa, are entirely what they seem however. Jimmy and Sam find themselves pulled into a paranormal mystery that leads them through the shadowy streets of the city beneath the city and sees them re-enacting an ancient Mesopotamian myth cycle. As they play out the roles of long forgotten gods and goddesses, they’re drawn into the subtle web of a deadly heresy that stretches from the beginnings of civilization to the end of the world as we know it. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

Who would have thought that one disastrous night could bind two strangers in a contract neither saw coming? Everlyn Ateya Wangari thought she had it all—a stable job, a loving boyfriend, and a future she had fought hard for. But that illusion shattered the moment she walked in on the man she had sacrificed everything for, tangled in the arms of another woman—her biggest rival at work. Betrayed and heartbroken, she storms out, only to stumble upon a high-stakes deal that has nothing to do with business and everything to do with revenge. Kurtis Otias, Nairobi’s most elusive billionaire bachelor and the newly appointed CEO of her company, is a man who never begs—except now. With a billion-dollar merger hanging by a thread, he needs a wife, and he needs one fast. A chance encounter. A reckless offer. A contract signed in desperation. One seeks power. The other seeks payback. But neither of them anticipated the one thing they couldn’t control—**love and obsession.** When emotions start to blur the lines of their cold arrangement, will they walk away unscathed, or will they destroy each other in a game where the rules were never meant to be fair?

(Completed)I always knew who I was born to be, but the Goddess had other plans. She deprived me of the one thing I needed to fulfill my duty. I disappointed my pack, I lost the ones I loved, and my purpose was losing its worth.I persevered for years, waiting for the day I could leave my pack. But my plans were thwarted yet again when She fated me as mate to an infamous Alpha. It would’ve been alright had I not known about his dirty little secret.Lost and confused, who would’ve known that I would one day stumble upon something that would undo everything I knew about the past. And because of it, I’d find myself asking about my real identity and destiny.I’m Anna Bella Fiora, future Head Gamma of the White Lake Pack. Well, at least I thought I was.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*This contains both parts:Part I: Broken Hearts and Fragile SoulsPart II: Cures and Soulmates---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------WARNING: CONTAINS MATURE THEMESINTENDED AUDIENCE: MATURE ADULT (18+)(Locked on 12/04/2020)Book Cover Designed By Saii Designs

When my boyfriend, Sebastian Passini, comes to me in tears, claiming his famiglia has been crippled and backed into a corner, I put everything my famiglia has at stake to pave the way for him. I withstand immense pressure from my famiglia, divert four million dollars, deploy our most elite soldati, and even fall out with my Madre, all to protect him. Yet, on the eve of his "counterattack," I stumble upon his true colors in my famiglia's underground chamber. Angelina Aureli chuckles beside him. "To swallow the Valerini famiglia whole, you put on a fine performance. Are you really going to sit back and watch Isabella hand over her famiglia's foundation to you?" Sebastian sneers, "Why else would I call her a fool? Her trust—and the Valerinis' resources—are nothing but stepping stones for me to rise to the top. Once I have everything in my hands, she and that old hag are dead!" I fish out my phone and revoke the final tranche of resources I had reserved for Sebastian. I should have known from the very beginning. He and I have never been on the same path. He wants plunder and destruction, and I'll make him pay for his greed in blood.