Calico

Calico

Lynn Byrne · Ongoing · 52.6k Words

980
Hot
980
Views
0
Added
Add to Shelf
Start Reading
Share:facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsappreddit

Introduction

Jack and Maddie, we were this unlikely pair, a traumatized cop and a mob-connected reporter, trying to unravel the mysteries Calico was so intent on hiding behind its convenient ghost stories. We were digging, pushing, pulling at the threads of this town's dark tapestry, and every tug brought us closer to something far more horrifying than any phantom miner. It led us straight into a viper’s den. The Mongols. Not the motorcycle club. Not the historical horde. This was a different beast entirely. A powerful mafia syndicate that didn't just encompass states, but entire goddamn countries. A global disease with tendrils reaching into every dark corner of human enterprise. Could we escape? Or would we, like so many others who’d gotten too close to the truth in this cursed, sun-baked town, become just another urban ghost story, whispered about by tourists on a dusty afternoon? The thought tasted like ash, and the Maggie Mine suddenly felt a lot less like a tourist attraction and a lot more like a freshly dug grave.

Chapter 1

The sign for Calico was sun-bleached and peeling, like a scab on a forgotten wound. Some wag had put a cartoon ghost on it, a friendly, winking specter that looked like it wanted to sell you a timeshare in hell. The heat wasn't just heat; it was a physical weight, a smothering blanket woven from grit and regret. It pressed down on the roof of my car, on my shoulders, on the part of my soul I’d thought had died with Sarah.

I killed the engine. The silence that rushed in was worse than the rattling hum of the air-conditioning. It was a dead silence, the kind you find in places where bad things have happened and are getting ready to happen again. This was supposed to be a fresh start. A quiet little PI gig in the middle of nowhere, a place to lick my wounds and let the ghosts of my past fade into the background noise of a tourist town. A string of disappearances, the client had said over a crackling phone line. The local sheriff blamed it on Maggie Mine and the restless spirits within. Easy. Tidy. The kind of story that sells souvenir t-shirts and keeps people from asking the right questions.

But I knew about ghosts. The real ones don't rattle chains; they wear three-piece suits and leave behind mounds of paperwork and shattered widows. The real ones had put my wife in the ground. The evil I was running from had a face, a name, a balance sheet. And the feeling crawling up my spine as I looked at the faux-Western storefronts of Calico—a town propped up like a cardboard movie set—was that same kind of evil. It was hiding here, under the kitsch and the ghost stories, breathing in the arid desert air and waiting.

I got out of the car, the door groaning in protest. The air smelled of dust, hot asphalt, and something else. Something sweet and cloying, like overripe fruit left to rot in the sun. My gaze drifted toward the hills overlooking the town, where the skeletal headframe of the Maggie Mine broke the skyline. It didn't look like a tourist attraction. It looked like a gallows. And I had the sickening feeling that I hadn't come here to find a ghost. I'd come here to find a grave.

Now, graves were something that I knew too much about. I had buried my fair share of bad guys, but I had buried good people, too. Sarah was the only casualty that I had yet to accept. I blame myself because I tried to shield her from evil, but that evil always finds a way home, right?

My hand instinctively went to the worn leather of my shoulder holster. The weight of the .38 Special was a familiar comfort, a silent promise of retribution. This town felt wrong, a stage set for a play I'd already seen the ending of. I pulled my gaze away from the mine and focused on the address Vance had given me: a dusty, nondescript office just off Main Street. Time to find out what kind of ghost story I'd been hired to uncover.

The building was a relic, its paint faded to the color of old bruises. A faded sign, barely legible, proclaimed "Vance Geological Surveys." Vance himself was waiting inside, a picture of anxious respectability, his suit a little too sharp for this dusty corner of the world.

"Mr. Draven?" Vance rose, extending a hand slick with nervous sweat. "Thank you for coming. I'm Elias Vance. My brother, Thomas… he's gone."

"Gone how?" I asked, my voice a low rasp. The air in the office was thick with the smell of old paper and desperation.

"He was surveying near the Maggie Mine," Vance continued, his voice cracking, "and he just… vanished. The sheriff here is useless. Talking about spirits, about the mine being cursed. I need someone who deals with facts, Mr. Draven, not fairy tales."

The sheriff's faith in spectral explanations was the least of my concerns. My focus narrowed on the mine, on the silence that clung to it like a shroud.

"Vance," I began, my tone flat, "ghosts don't usually leave footprints." The masses are so eager to blame everything on the supernatural. I never believed in that horseshit. The real monsters don't play dress up or come out on Halloween. No, the real monsters wear designer suits, masks of kindness, and promise you paradise...all for a price, of course.

"And you think your brother's disappearance is tied to this mine, not some spectral hijinks?" I steered the conversation back to solid ground, ignoring the tremor in his voice.

"Absolutely," Vance insisted, leaning forward. "Thomas was meticulous. He wouldn't just wander off. There's something down there, Mr. Draven, something the authorities are either too scared or too complicit to find."

"Your brother was a geologist, you said?" I let the question hang in the air, watching his reaction. The man's desperation felt too performative, too rehearsed.

"Yes, Thomas Vance. A brilliant man. He was charting… mineral deposits." Vance's eyes darted to the window, a flicker of something unreadable crossing his face.

"Near the Maggie Mine?" I pressed, my own gaze now fixed on the street outside, on the shimmer of heat rising from the asphalt, on the dust motes dancing in the sunbeams that slanted through the grimy glass. The air tasted of it all – dust, desperation, and the faint, metallic tang of something far more sinister.

His demeanor shifted. He suddenly took on a nervous twitch. He wasn't telling me something...something important.

Last Chapters

You Might Like 😍

I Slapped My Fiancé—Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis

I Slapped My Fiancé—Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis

248.8k Views · Completed · Jessica C. Dolan
Being second best is practically in my DNA. My sister got the love, the attention, the spotlight. And now, even her damn fiancé.
Technically, Rhys Granger was my fiancé now—billionaire, devastatingly hot, and a walking Wall Street wet dream. My parents shoved me into the engagement after Catherine disappeared, and honestly? I didn’t mind. I’d crushed on Rhys for years. This was my chance, right? My turn to be the chosen one?
Wrong.
One night, he slapped me. Over a mug. A stupid, chipped, ugly mug my sister gave him years ago. That’s when it hit me—he didn’t love me. He didn’t even see me. I was just a warm-bodied placeholder for the woman he actually wanted. And apparently, I wasn’t even worth as much as a glorified coffee cup.
So I slapped him right back, dumped his ass, and prepared for disaster—my parents losing their minds, Rhys throwing a billionaire tantrum, his terrifying family plotting my untimely demise.
Obviously, I needed alcohol. A lot of alcohol.
Enter him.
Tall, dangerous, unfairly hot. The kind of man who makes you want to sin just by existing. I’d met him only once before, and that night, he just happened to be at the same bar as my drunk, self-pitying self. So I did the only logical thing: I dragged him into a hotel room and ripped off his clothes.
It was reckless. It was stupid. It was completely ill-advised.
But it was also: Best. Sex. Of. My. Life.
And, as it turned out, the best decision I’d ever made.
Because my one-night stand isn’t just some random guy. He’s richer than Rhys, more powerful than my entire family, and definitely more dangerous than I should be playing with.
And now, he’s not letting me go.
Badass in Disguise

Badass in Disguise

380.3k Views · Completed · Sherry
"Everyone out," I commanded through gritted teeth. "Now."
"Jade, I need to check your—" the nurse began.
"OUT!" I snarled with enough force that both women backed toward the door.
Once feared by Shadow Organization that drugged me to replicate my abilities into a more controllable version, I had escaped my restraints and detonated their entire facility, ready to die alongside my captors.
Instead, I woke up in a school infirmary with women arguing around me, their voices piercing my skull. My outburst froze them in shock—clearly they hadn't expected such a reaction. One woman threatened as she left, "We'll discuss this attitude when you get home."
The bitter truth? I've been reborn into the body of an overweight, weak, and supposedly dim-witted high school girl. Her life is filled with bullies and tormentors who've made her existence miserable.
But they have no idea who they're dealing with now.
I didn't survive as the world's deadliest assassin by allowing anyone to push me around. And I certainly won't start now.
The mafia princess return

The mafia princess return

428.3k Views · Ongoing · Tonje Unosen
Talia have been living with her mother, stepsister and Stepfather for years. One day she finally get away from them. Suddenly she learn she have more family out there and she have many people that actually love her, something she have never felt before! At least not as she can remember. She have to learn to trust others, get her new brothers to accept her for who she is!
Omega Bound

Omega Bound

488.4k Views · Completed · Veronica White
Ayla Frost is a beautiful, rare omega. Kidnapped, tortured, and trafficked to rogue clans and corrupt alphas to do with as they pleased.  Kept alive in her cage, broken and abandoned by her wolf, she becomes mute and has given up on hope for a better life until one explosion changes everything. 

Thane Knight is the alpha of the Midnight Pack of the La Plata Mountain Range, the largest wolf shifter pack in the world. He is an alpha by day and hunts the shifter trafficking ring with his group of mercenaries by night. His hunt for vengeance leads to one raid that changes his life. 

Tropes:
Touch her and die/Slow burn romance/Fated Mates/Found family twist/Close circle betrayal/Cinnamon roll for only her/Traumatized heroine/Rare wolf/Hidden powers/Knotting/Nesting/Heats/Luna/Attempted assassination
My Possessive Alpha Twins For Mate

My Possessive Alpha Twins For Mate

695.4k Views · Completed · Veejay
"No... You can't do this to me..." I almost squeezed the words through my teeth, my voice trembling.
My drunk stepfather remained indifferent, his weight suffocating, making it hard to breathe as my heart raced.
Suddenly, the door slammed open, and two figures burst in.
"Get off her!" a deafening roar echoed.
I didn't expect the twin brothers who'd bullied me at school to come charging in like gods to save me.
After my grandmother passed, I had to move in with my mom and stepdad, who treated me like a servant. I prayed every day for my 18th birthday to come, so l could leave and escape this broken home.
However, on my first day at my new school, l encountered the legendary twins everyone feared.
To make matters worse, the Moon Goddess revealed they were both my mates!
After helping me out with my stepdad, my twin mate cornered me, played with my hair, and whispered possessively, "You belong to us, our little mate..."
Mr. Ryan

Mr. Ryan

247.8k Views · Completed · Mary D. Sant
"What things are not under your control tonight?" I gave my best smile, leaning against the wall.
He came closer with a dark and hungry expression,
so close,
his hands reached for my face, and he pressed his body against mine.
His mouth took mine eagerly, a little rudely.
His tongue left me breathless.
“If you don't go with me, I'll fuck you right here.” He whispered.


Katherine kept her virginity for years even after she turned 18. But one day, she met an extremely sexual man Nathan Ryan in the club. He had the most seductive blue eyes she has ever seen, a well-defined chin, almost golden blonde hair, full lips, perfectly drawn, and the most amazing smile, with perfect teeth and those damn dimples. Incredibly sexy.

She and he had a beautiful and hot one-night stand...
Katherine thought she might not meet the man again.
But fate has another plan

Katherine is about to take on the job of assistant to a billionaire who owns one of the biggest companies in the country and is known to be a conquering, authoritative and completely irresistible man. He is Nathan Ryan!

Will Kate be able to resist the charms of this attractive, powerful and seductive man?
Read to know a relationship torn between anger and the uncontrollable desire for pleasure.

Warning: R18+, Only for mature readers.
Mated by Contract to the Alpha

Mated by Contract to the Alpha

275.4k Views · Completed · CalebWhite
My perfect life shattered in a single heartbeat.
William—my devastatingly handsome, wealthy werewolf fiancé destined to become Delta—was supposed to be mine forever. After five years together, I was ready to walk down the aisle and claim my happily ever after.
Instead, I found him with her. And their son.
Betrayed, jobless, and drowning in my father's medical bills, I hit rock bottom harder than I ever imagined possible. Just when I thought I'd lost everything, salvation came in the form of the most dangerous man I'd ever encountered.
Damien Sterling—future Alpha of the Silver Moon Shadow Pack and ruthless CEO of Sterling Group—slid a contract across his desk with predatory grace.
“Sign this, little doe, and I'll give you everything your heart desires. Wealth. Power. Revenge. But understand this—the moment you put pen to paper, you become mine. Body, soul, and everything in between.”
I should have run. Instead, I signed my name and sealed my fate.
Now I belong to the Alpha. And he's about to show me just how wild love can be.
Alpha Nicholas's Little Mate

Alpha Nicholas's Little Mate

113.8k Views · Ongoing · Becky j
"Mate is here!"
What? No—wait… oh Moon Goddess, no.
Please tell me you're joking, Lex.
But she's not. I can feel her excitement bubbling under my skin, while all I feel is dread.
We turn the corner, and the scent hits me like a punch to the chest—cinnamon and something impossibly warm. My eyes scan the room until they land on him. Tall. Commanding. Beautiful.
And then, just as quickly… he sees me.
His expression twists.
"Fuck no."
He turns—and runs.
My mate sees me and runs.
Bonnie has spent her entire life being broken down and abused by the people closest to her including her very own twin sister. Alongside her best friend Lilly who also lives a life of hell, they plan to run away while attending the biggest ball of the year while it's being hosted by another pack, only things don't quite go to plan leaving both girls feeling lost and unsure about their futures.
Alpha Nicholas is 28, mateless, and has no plans to change that. It's his turn to host the annual Blue Moon Ball this year and the last thing he expects is to find his mate. What he expects even less is for his mate to be 10 years younger than him and how his body reacts to her. While he tries to refuse to acknowledge that he has met his mate his world is turned upside down after guards catch two she-wolves running through his lands.
Once they are brought to him he finds himself once again facing his mate and discovers that she's hiding secrets that will make him want to kill more than one person.
Can he overcome his feelings towards having a mate and one that is so much younger than him? Will his mate want him after already feeling the sting of his unofficial rejection? Can they both work on letting go of the past and moving forward together or will fate have different plans and keep them apart?
The Son of Red Fang

The Son of Red Fang

177.3k Views · Completed · Diana Sockriter
Alpha werewolves should be cruel and merciless with unquestionable strength and authority, at least that’s what Alpha Charles Redmen believes and he doesn’t hesitate to raise his kids to be the same way.
Alpha Cole Redmen is the youngest of six born to Alpha Charles and Luna Sara Mae, leaders of the Red Fang pack. Born prematurely, Alpha Charles rejected him without hesitation as weak and undeserving of his very life. He is reminded daily of his father’s hatred for him paving the way for the rest of his family to become the same.
By adulthood, his father’s hatred and abuse towards him has spilled over into the rest of the pack making him the scapegoat for those with the sadistic need to see him suffer. The rest are simply too afraid to even look his way leaving him little in the way of friends or family to turn to.
Alpha Demetri Black is the leader of a sanctuary pack known as Crimson Dawn. It’s been years since a wolf has made their way to his pack via the warrior’s prospect program but that doesn’t mean he’s not looking for the tell tale signs of a wolf in need of help.
Malnourished and injured upon his arrival, Cole’s anxious and overly submissive demeanor lands him in the very situation he’s desperate to avoid, in the attention of an unknown alpha.
Yet somehow through the darkness of severe illness and injury he runs into the very person he’s been desperate to find since he turned eighteen, his Luna. His one way ticket out of the hell he’s been born into.
Will Cole find the courage needed to leave his pack once and for all, to seek the love and acceptance he’s never had?

Content Warning: This story contains descriptions of mental, physical and sexual abuse that may trigger sensitive readers. This book is intended for adult readers only.
Goddess Of The Underworld.

Goddess Of The Underworld.

323.9k Views · Completed · sheridan.hartin
Left at a pack border with a name and a stubborn heartbeat, Envy grows into the sharpest kind of survivor, an orphaned warrior who knows how to hold a line and keep moving. Love isn’t in the plan…until four alpha wolves with playboy reputations and inconveniently soft hands decide the girl who won’t bow is the only queen they’ll ever take. Their mate. The one they have waited for. Xavier, Haiden, Levi, and Noah are gorgeous, lethal, and anything but perfect and Envy isn’t either. She’s changing. First into hell hound, Layah at her heels and fire in her veins. Then into what the realm has been waiting for, a Goddess of the Underworld, dragging her mates down to hell with her. Then finally into lycan princess, stronger, faster, the moon finally answering back, giving her exactly what she needs to protect her family.

When the veil between the Divine, the Living, and the Dead begins to crack, Envy is thrust beneath with a job she can’t drop: keep the worlds from bleeding together, shepherd the lost, and make ordinary into armor, breakfasts, bedtime, battle plans. Peace lasts exactly one lullaby. This is the story of a border pup who became a goddess by choosing her family; of four imperfect alphas learning how to stay; of cake, iron, and daylight negotiations. Steamy, fierce, and full of heart, Goddess of the Underworld is a reverse harem, found-family paranormal romance where love writes the rules and keeps three realms from falling apart.
The Alpha Of The Shadow Pack And His Mute Luna

The Alpha Of The Shadow Pack And His Mute Luna

67.7k Views · Ongoing · Beatrice Putnam
She was born cursed and silenced. He was born cursed and destined to lose everything.

Vanessa, the mute runt of a cursed litter, has only ever known cruelty and abuse. Her voice stolen by a witch’s spell, her freedom crushed by a brutal father, she’s been promised to a monster she doesn’t want. But fate intervenes when she’s left for dead—bleeding, broken, and bound—only to be rescued by Alpha Alfred of the Shadow Pack.
Alfred, fighting against a generational curse that has doomed his brothers to remain wolves forever, never expected his fated mate to be a fragile girl on the brink of death. But the moment he breathes in her scent, everything changes.
Together, they must confront the past, survive betrayal, and uncover the true key to breaking the curses that bind them. Will their bond be strong enough to save them both?
Ignored By One Alpha, Chased By Another

Ignored By One Alpha, Chased By Another

79.5k Views · Ongoing · Riley Above Story
Since the age of 12, Aurora had known that she would be Raymond’s future Luna and wife.
However, just before inheriting his Alpha position, Raymond found his fated mate—a rogue girl named Giana.
Forced by his parents, Raymond had no choice but to marry Aurora. Yet on their wedding night, he abandoned her to be with Giana.
Tormented by the mate bond, Aurora ended up having an ONS with a handsome and charming man.
But how could that man turn out to be Raymond’s best friend, the Alpha King’s nephew, and notorious playboy—Kane…?