Thorns of Ash

He hunts her for a chance to save his family. A bargain gone wrong makes her survival his own.Azara Thorn steals a relic from the Demon Court and escapes with blood on her gloves and a curse burning beneath her skin. The Court wants her alive. Azara knows how much mercy to expect from creatures who send hunters to collect their debts.Darian Ashclaw knows too. A disgraced wolf shifter, he accepts their terms because his clan’s sentence hangs over everyone he loves. Deliver Azara unharmed, and the Court will reconsider. Fail, and his bloodline burns.She intends to make his hunt a misery. He can endure her temper, her blade, and the dangerous magic answering her fury. Wanting her is another matter.Desperate for sanctuary, Azara strikes a bargain with a Fae king. But the protection ritual goes wrong, binding her to Darian instead. Distance tears pain through them both. His touch brings relief, forcing her closer to the man whose freedom depends on surrendering hers.With enemies hunting them through the Vale, every desperate escape demands greater trust. Every stolen moment makes Darian’s duty harder to bear. Azara has fought too fiercely for her freedom to place it in a hunter’s hands, yet those hands are becoming the ones she reaches for.Protecting her could condemn his family. Delivering her means betraying the woman he can feel beneath his skin.Thorns of Ash begins The Vale Series, a dark fantasy romance with enemies-to-lovers tension, a ruthless wolf shifter, dangerous bargains, and a magical bond that makes escape from each other agony. 6