The Inherited

Lisa Knox The day I caught my husband and my sister having sex on the bed while my son had drowned in the pool was the day I made my decision and stood by it. Nothing was going to make me stay in this five years marriage. So, I took the divorce papers, signed it and left everything behind. Including the wealth and company I Inherited from my late dad. I had handed everything in my life over to him when I was blinded by love. Now, I vowed as I stepped out to get back everything until my sister and my ex husband are reduced to nothing. * Andrew McCarthy The day before my wedding, I had caught my first love and wife-to-be getting fucked by my PA in the study room. I had said nothing and simply went out to drink, completely hopeless for love. There I met her, a beautiful young lady whom I could use for the night. The sex had been good but that was about it. I cancelled the wedding when I got a call to come back home and take up the responsibility of a father, to adopt my niece because my twin brother had just been murdered. Five years later, everything is in chaos and I need a woman who is experienced in raising children who will stay. So when I met that lady from the one night stand again, I made up my mind to have her for myself. She would be my wife and would raise my daughter, no matter what.

In the fifth year of loving Gabriel, he inherited his late brother’s title as Vampire Lord— along with his brother’s widow, Chloe, the former Blood Queen, and, by blood and law, my kin-by-covenant. Every time he returned from her chambers, Gabriel would hold me gently and whisper, “Isabella, Chloe is only my Chosen Consort. Once she carries and delivers the Scion of the Blazetooth Coven, I will bind myself to you through a Blood Bond.” He said it was the only condition his family demanded for him to ascend as Vampire Lord. During the six months after we returned to Blazetooth Coven, he answer her summons a hundred times. At first, once a month. Then once a week. And eventually, every single night. On the hundredth night I stayed awake waiting for him, Chloe finally conceived. The news arrived together with another announcement— Gabriel and Chloe would soon be bound by Blood. My son looked up at me, confused and innocent. “Mom… didn’t they say Dad would form a Blood Bond with the Blood Queen he loves? Why hasn’t he come to take us home yet?” “Because,” I said softly, brushing my hand through his hair, “the Blood Queen he loves was never your mother.” “But that’s all right,” I added. “I’ll take you home. Our own home.” What Gabriel never realized was this— as the only daughter of a reigning Vampire King, I had never cared for the title of Blood Queen of Blazetooth Coven at all.

The next day I woke up, I am now the fiance of the Duke of Dubois Castle, or known as Lemon. “I am a demon who lives by desire and greed, you have yielded with the contract that you have exchanged with your life?” “Then what do you want?” “I want the whole of you Veta Le Blanchet, not just your blood, heart and soul, it is the whole of you.” Theroux Claude, the third prince of the kingdom. “Lady Le Blanchet, just how can you stand still this demon duke? If you ever get tired of him, you are always welcome to my palace.” Another troublesome man, my childhood friend when I was at the academy, Durand Gagnon. “I have attained this nickname not just because I follow all his Majesty’s order, but because I want to have a stronghold in the knight position so that I can support you my Lady, remember that my oath is only for you.” Then, what is my cousin thinking that he would say such things? “Sister, I have finally inherited the title of the Baron, please come back to our fief, and I will make sure to bring back the glory of our family!” As I try to relinquish the past, the more troublesome it becomes. Is clinging to the tiny bit of my life a wrong choice? And why is the temple spying on me? “Lady Le Blanchet is the only descendant of the family, you shouldn’t involve yourself farther with the Demon Duke.” “It’s done my Lady, as long as it is you, I can give everything, even if I destroy this Kingdom.” Hold on, just what on earth this demon wants from me?

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

I thought I'd inherited a quiet little farm. What I found was three mysterious men, a land bound by ancient magic, and a destiny I can't escape. From the moment I set foot on Hucow Hollow, nothing feels normal. The air hums with energy. The mist seems alive, whispering secrets and pulling me deeper into its fold. Something inside me changes. Power stirs in my blood, molding me in ways I can't explain—and the Hollow responds to my every heartbeat. Then they appear: Darius, the Herd King—commanding, magnetic, bound to the land by ancient right Vastian, his protector—strong, unyielding, with eyes that see straight through me Khael, his shadow—quiet, watchful, a mystery wrapped in darkness They tell me I was chosen. That the Hollow called me here. That its curse—and its awakening—are somehow tied to me. I didn't ask for this power, or for the bond that grows between us. But the deeper I fall into the Hollow's enchantment, the harder it becomes to deny what pulls us together. The Hollow doesn't just want balance—it wants its queen. And it won't rest until I claim my throne. * Belle’s books contain: reverse harem, bulls and hucow (human / cow play), high heat, milking, breeding, transformation, HEA / HFN, no cheating, primal / pet play, possessive dominant MMCs, submissive FMCs, NO noncon / dubcon The term hucow is a cross between human and cow involving elements related to lactation, breeding, bull and cow-like behavior, and incorporates domination (bull) and submission (cow) dynamics.

I married my vampire husband ten years ago and gave him a half-blood heir, abandoning my career as a painter to become a full-time mother. Fortunately, my son inherited my talent. At just six years old, he held his first solo art exhibition, inspired by the theme "My Mother." But he never let me attend, and he never let me see his paintings. My husband said my presence would make Luke nervous---that I should stay home and do the housework as a good wife and mother, and wait for them to come back. I told myself he was just young and didn't know better, that he was only pushing back against my discipline, not truly rejecting me. Until the day I snuck into the gallery wearing a surgical mask pulled low. In the center of the crowd, my husband held our son's hand while tenderly pulling a woman in a red dress into his arms. He turned to the guests and announced: "This is Luke's mother---my wife." The three of them stood together, beaming with perfect happiness. And I---the one who'd stayed up all night setting up this exhibition---stood before the paintings while not a single person recognized me. That was when I finally understood. My seemingly gentle, caring vampire husband had long ago given our son a replacement mother. And I was nothing more than the human nanny who'd served her purpose by producing an heir.

Aria’s story begins in silence. On the night her child is born beneath a bleeding moon, the world does the unthinkable, the moon answers a power older than mercy and takes her baby from her arms. No prophecy offers comfort. No god explains why. There is only absence, a wound carved so deeply into Aria that something inside her hardens into resolve. She was never meant to be a vessel. In a world ruled by ancient God's, sacred pacts, and power that demands obedience, Aria uncovers a truth far more dangerous than destiny, magic does not always need to be stolen, inherited, or bargained for. Sometimes, it listens. Sometimes, it can be refused. Bound by fate to Kael, a warrior forged for war and sacrifice, Aria is drawn into a conflict far older than the kingdoms trembling in its shadow. Alongside Azrael, Matteo, and Ren, the men shaped by loyalty, loss, and violence, she stands at the center of a prophecy written to break her. The Devourer, an ancient god of control and corruption, seeks to claim Aria as its final vessel and crown her queen. It promises salvation. Restoration. Even the impossible return of what she lost. Aria refuses. At the Hollow Crown, she denies divinity itself, shattering prophecy and forcing a god to retreat. But refusal leaves echoes. Fragments of corrupted power bleed into the world, and greater eyes turn toward her defiance. As stars realign and lost sanctums awaken, forces older than Gods, the Architects, shapers of fate itself, begin to watch. Aria is no ascended queen. She is a reckoning. And the world is no longer prepared for a woman who has already lost everything, and learned how to say no.

I threw myself into the sea out of despair. Unexpectedly, I returned to the fifth year after I became mates with Alpha Ethan Grant. Ethan is my mate. He is the strongest Alpha among all the packs. Our son, Chester Grant, inherited his bloodline. Like Ethan, he is a powerful, unyielding, born leader. To the world, I am the noble Luna. I am the one every she-wolf envies and strives to be. Yet, the first thing I did was venture deep into the forest where a witch lived. I asked the witch for a bone ring that would sever the blood bond with Ethan and Chester. "Wear this, and the bond between you and your mate and child will gradually sever within five days. The process is painful and irreversible. You mustn't regret it," the witch says. I immediately place the pale bone ring on my finger. While enduring the pain that pierces directly into my soul, I reply while trembling, "I will never regret it." Ethan's first love is Angelina Lark. In my previous life, Ethan permitted her to dethrone me from my Luna position. I was also injured in the process. Additionally, Chester complained that my scent was repulsive and called Angelina "Mommy". So, in this life, I don't want my mate or my son. I just want the freedom to live my own life. But after leaving, I hear that the strongest Alpha and his heir are searching the world with soldiers in tow. They swear to find the Luna who had taken their hearts.

On my eighteenth birthday, Alpha Alex Seinfeld placed photos of his two sons in front of me and told me to choose one to be my mate. Without hesitation, I chose his eldest son, Eric Seinfeld. Every werewolf in the room stared in disbelief. After all, everyone thought I was hopelessly obsessed with his younger son, Wayne Seinfeld. I had long decided that I would become his mate. In the past life, I got exactly what I wanted and completed the marking ceremony with Wayne. Because of that, he successfully inherited the Alpha position. But not long after the ceremony, I discovered he had been secretly seeing my younger sister, Nala Graham. My father flew into a rage and married Nala off to the Greywind Pack in the south. Wayne believed I was the one behind it. From that day forward, he hated me. He surrounded himself with countless shewolves. Every one of them looked similar to Nala. I knew he was trying to punish me. On the day my sister Nala gave birth to the Greywind Pack Alpha's pup, Wayne secretly replaced my pregnancy medicine with slow-acting wolfsbane. I died with resentment while pregnant with my unborn pup. Thanks to the Moon Goddess, I was given a second chance at life. This time, I decided to let them be with each other. What I never expected was that the Moon Goddess had also given Wayne a second life. He had been reborn too.

The Mother That Fed the Dark is a study of inherited guilt, ritual, and the long reach of a mother's choices. Amahle, a woman who practices the old rituals in secret, believes that her younger son , Sipho, was born as a spiritual "door" to be sacrificed for the sake of power and protection. During the ritual she performed , she got interrupted by the older son, Thando, who died instead. While the community believes Thando's death was accidental, Amahle knows better: it was the wrong son who died, and the ritual was left unfinished. Drenched in fear and resentment , Amahle raises Sipho as if he is the love of her life, while at the same time working to destroy him. Behind closed doors, she feeds the supernatural force from the failed ritual, which weakens Sipho, making him fearful and dependent. As Sipho grows, so do the misfortunes that follow him, and an unseen entity begins to present itself-first in dreams and whispers, then in the physical world . What we see is that the ritual did not bind to the house but to Sipho's bloodline. When Sipho leaves home, the haunting grows stronger. After Amahle's death, Sipho finds her secret notebooks , which reveal to him the shocking truth: that his brother's death was a mistake and, in fact, Sipho was never meant to die but to be the vehicle for the ritual, which he indeed is. Setting the family home on fire brings only temporary relief , but the curse does not break. In the final revelation, Sipho realizes that he is not the offering but the keeper, the living portal through which harmony, hardship, and magical power flow. Unlike his mother, he comes to the realization that he has a choice.